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FMD4100 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Legislation expanding the 2012 U.S. Magnitsky human rights act from Russian citizens to cover abusers in any country passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday as part of an annual defense policy bill, leaving the landmark measure on the verge of becoming law. The legislation was included in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, setting policy for the Department of Defense, despite the recent election of Republican Donald Trump as the U.S. president. Trump has signaled a softer line against Russia, which vehemently opposes the original Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, and its expansion. The Magnitsky Act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the 2009 death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian whistleblower. Backers of the bill have pushed for years to expand its impact to every country, and to make “significant†acts of corruption sanctionable offenses. “Visiting the United States and using our financial institutions are privileges that should not be extended to the worst actors in the international system,†Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. Cardin pushed the measure along with Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by an overwhelming margin on Dec. 2. The Senate vote sends the measure, including Global Magnitsky, to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law. A White House spokesman said shortly after the NDAA passed that he could not yet say how the president would proceed. | 1 | [
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FMD4101 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Immediately following the election, a few leftist designers announced they wouldn t work with Melania Trump. Their decision to not offer their fashion creations to Melania hasn t seemed to have had much of an effect on her. Melania has brought elegance, class and most of all, style back to the White House that we haven t seen since the Jackie Kennedy era.Apparently, Vanity Fair missed the excitement and enthusiasm so many women (and men) seem to have for seeing photos of the always meticulously dressed First Lady Melania Trump, because somehow, her name was kept off their Best Dressed Women of 2017 list, but several names that appeared on their list have many Americans scratching their heads in disbelief.Melania made her first major fashion statement on the day her husband was inaugurated as our 45th President, where she was seen wearing a stunning two-piece, robin s egg blue, Ralph Lauren suit.Later in the evening, Melania stunned again in a sleek white, off-the-shoulder column dress with a modest slit revealing her toned legs, as she and President Trump danced to Frank Sinatra s My Way. There have been countless photos of Melania carrying herself with grace, class, and elegance as truly one of the most well-dressed First Lady s in history.Melania stunned the world in her luxurious black pants suit on her first overseas trip to Saudi Arabia with President Trump:Again, Melania pulled off another amazing pants suit on her trip to Saudi Arabia, that even made some of us forget about the damage Hillary Clinton had done to the image of pants suits on women.But Vanity Fair s list apparently is less a list of well dressed individuals and couples, and more a list of individuals who lean left. Here are a few of the people who did make Vanity Fair s list:Here are a few of the people who did make Vanity Fair s Best Dressed Women list:Beyonce s sister, (Yes, the same sister who was caught on camera beating and kicking Jay Z in an elevator.) Solange Knowles made the list. Because why?We don t need to go into the whole love-fest between Solange s much more famous sister Beyonce and the Obama s, do we?And the entertainer Rhianna, who usually looks like she just walked out a freak show, and calls women up to the stage while she s performing to grind on them in front of a packed house, was also named as one of Vanity Fair s Best Dressed . Did we mention that she was a huge Obama supporter? When she visited the White House, she told her fans that the best part of the visit was that Obama was black . She probably just forgot that he is also white. Anyhow, it s probably pretty clear why Vanity Fair chose her.Vanity Fair even had a Best Dressed Couples category, and to the surprise of no one, the Obama s and the Macron s made the list that should have been renamed the High Profile People On The Left Who Wear Clothes . Of course, Michelle and Barack made the list. Even funnier, is the fact that Vanity Fair chose this photo to highlight Michelle s great taste in clothing.And then there s the leftist first couple of France, the Macron s. We must concede, that Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are the only leftists on this list that we believe actually have any business being on a Best Dressed list. Like Melania Trump, France s first lady never disappoints when it comes to fashion. Vanity Fair did however mention Melania and her fashion sense in arecent article, but it was anything but flattering, as they attempted to accuse her of copying (of all people) Michelle Obama, as a way to make her more appealing to Americans. LOL!From the Vanity Fair article:Melania Trump appears to be taking a page out of the Michelle Obama book of fashion. The usually designer-clad Trump flew from Camp David to D.C. over the weekend wearing a surprisingly affordable $75 pink gingham shirt from J.Crew along with a pair of matching J Brand pink pants and Manolo Blahnik flats. According to Yahoo Style Canada, the button-up top is a discontinued piece from the brand s 2012 collection. Perhaps she s been waiting to save the economical top for just the right moment in her First Lady reign.The mall brand is a major departure from the First Lady s typical designer wardrobe, which is occasionally criticized for being over the top and out of touch. Trump s predecessor Michelle Obama was often lauded for wearing J.Crew during her time in the White House, coming across as a more relatable and accessible First Lady than many in the past. It seems entirely possible that Trump is ripping out a page from the Obama handbook in order to drum up some much-needed goodwill from the public. | 0 | [
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FMD4102 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump is an unusual candidate who does a lot of unusual things. For example, after flubbing a debate performance in which he appeared volatile, irritable, and uninformed about key issues, he did not attempt to refocus his campaign on proven message points or topics where he has a firm grasp of talking points. Instead, he’s been lashing out at Alicia Machado while using apophasis to bring up Bill Clinton’s marital infidelity by saying he’s not talking about Bill Clinton’s marital infidelity.
It seems like a bad strategy because it almost certainly is in fact a bad strategy.
But not everyone sees it that way. In certain quarters, there’s a tendency to assume that Trump is crazy like a fox.
Jon Favreau, Barack Obama’s chief speechwriter for much of his career in national politics, sees the post-debate binge in that light.
Ken Baer, a veteran Democratic Party operative, even believes that Trump’s feud with the Khan family was a successful effort to distract attention from a bread-and-butter economic critique of Trump.
This view gives Trump far too much credit. All available evidence suggests that Trump is a poor candidate waging a poor campaign and blowing a very winnable race against a Democratic Party nominee who is herself relatively weak.
The presumption that Trump is performing well is based on a misreading of the underlying fundamentals of the election, and in its own terms arguably does a little bit to boost his electoral fortunes by cloaking his campaign in an undeserved shroud of competence.
The overwhelmingly probable conclusion is that Trump does things that don’t seem to make sense because he is a political neophyte who doesn’t know what he is doing.
The core fact about Donald Trump’s general election campaign is that it’s been singularly ineffective. Not only is he down in the polls right now, but he’s been consistently down in the polls for virtually the entire breadth of the campaign.
That doesn’t mean Trump “can’t win†or that Clinton has nothing to worry about. But it does mean that, as best we can tell, Trump started behind and has never really found a way to get ahead. And he’s been losing even though Clinton has been viewed more unfavorably than favorably since April, a bad dynamic that set in for her before the Democratic primary wrapped up.
People tend to discount the “Trump is losing†factor on the grounds that he “should†be doing worse. But this becomes circular — Trump’s weakness as a candidate is the only reason to expect him to lose. He is, in fact, losing because he is, in fact, running a bad campaign.
The reality is that the underlying fundamentals of the race — a two-term president leaving office amidst paltry economic growth — favor a Republican victory. That’s what Vox’s “Trump Tax†model says, but don’t take our word for it. Harry Enten at FiveThirtyEight thinks the same thing, as does Lynn Vavreck at the Upshot, and John Sides at the Monkey Cage.
Yet despite favorable fundamentals, Trump has been consistently behind in the polls — leading in broad averages only for a couple of days between the two parties’ conventions.
Not only has Trump been consistently losing despite favorable fundamentals, but he’s been consistently losing despite the luxury of running against an opponent with an underwater favorability rating.
Conversely, the fundamentals in the 2012 election favored Obama. Mitt Romney did slightly better than might be expected given the fundamentals, and ran ahead of the GOP Senate nominee in basically every state. That’s about what you would expect if you think of Romney as a handsome, telegenic, successful businessperson who governed as a moderate in a blue state before remaking himself as a conventional Republican. Obama’s attacks on Romney seem to have had replacement-level effectiveness at best, and still left Romney better regarded than a typical conservative Republican.
One source of confusion is that overall economic conditions are clearly better today than they were four years ago. History teaches us that what matters politically is short-term rates of change, not levels of prosperity.
Economic conditions are better in 2016 than they were in 2012. But growth was faster four years ago than it is today, when things seem to have leveled off after a nice 2015.
To make a long story short, Donald Trump is the GOP nominee in a year when a generic Republican would be favored to beat a generic Democrat. Rather than running against a generic Democrat, he is running against an unusually unpopular Democrat. And he is losing.
Of course, the mere fact that Trump’s overall campaign is ineffective doesn’t mean that every particular choice he makes is bad. But it does mean that there’s no particular reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. The big lesson of the 2016 campaign is that the fundamentals matter a lot. The electorate is polarized, and so even a really bad candidate has a high floor.
Clinton has major weaknesses in terms of weak economic growth and voter fatigue with Democratic Party leadership (manifesting in 2016 largely in millennial disaffection with Clinton, even as young voters eschew Trump). These factors keep Trump perennially within striking distance; it’s a very winnable election for him. But instead of winning, he is losing. And he has been consistently losing, because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. | 1 | [
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FMD4103 | 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: Juval Aviv Terrorist Predictions Claim summaries: Did Juval Aviv correctly predict upcoming terrorist attacks against the U.K. and the U.S.?
contextual information: Claim: Juval Aviv correctly predicted upcoming terrorist attacks against the U.K. and the U.S. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2007] FROM THE C.O. OF MOSSAD / PLEASE READ A week ago, I was able to attend a dinner with Juval Aviv - the Israeli Agent who the movie "Munich" was about... He was Golda Meir's bodyguard and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games. Tonight he shared information that EVERY American needs to know but our government has not shared. His bio is below, his book is "Staying Safe" and I suggest you buy and read it. First, I am going to share what he discussed in regard to the Bush Administration, 9/11 and Iraq and then I will share his predictions for the next attack on the U.S. (and he predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week - O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show and unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack occured). Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11 a month before it occured. His report specifically said they would use planes asbombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. The Administration ridiculed him and refused to respond (Congress has since hired him as a security consultant - but still the Administration does not listen to him). Within a month 9/11 occured. He didn't agree with going into Iraq - said it didn't make sense if we wanted terrorists responsible for 9/11 (and also he believes in Golda Meir's approach which was to bring justice to the terrorists but do not take down civilians - killing civilians only creates more terrorists - but similar to Bush, Israel's subsequent leaders were not as insightful as Golda Meir) - however, when we did decide to invade Iraq we should have learned from Israel's past mistakes. He very articulately stated that Israel's greatest mistake against their war on terror was to invade the West Bank and Gaza and stay there... He said they should have done the proven anti-terrorist strategy which was "Hit and Leave" instead of "Hit and Stay." Now we are stuck in Iraq and it is worse than Vietnam - Iraq is the U.S.'s West Bank/Gaza . He doesn't think we will ever be able to truly leave because even when we are able to pull our troops back we will still have to go back regularly which will keep us quagmired. We should have hit hard and left immediately - or actually, we shouldn't have gone in at all... Now for the scary stuff.... He predicts the next attack on the U.S. is coming within the next few months. Forget hijacking airplanes because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as the people on the plane will not go down quietly. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke- we are beingreactionary versus looking at strategies that are effective. 1) Our machines are outdated. They look for metal and the new explosives are made of plastic 2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire - we now have to take off our shoes, a group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives - now we can't bring liquids on board. He is waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on their underwear and light up in a plane or in the terminal and then we will all have to travel naked! 3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates, he says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times and on the front end when people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink (and I have done that for people myself) and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. Israel checks bags before people can enter the airport. Now, back to his predictions: He says the next attack will come in the next few months and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places that people congregate: Disneyland, Las Vegas, Big Cities (NY, SFO, Chicago, etc...) and there it will be shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, casinos, etc.. as well as rural America (Wyoming, Montana, etc...). The attack will be simultaneous detonations around the country (they like big impact) 5-8 cities including rural areas. They won't need to use suicide bombers because at largely populated places like the MGM Grand in Vegas - they can simply valet park! He says this is well known in intelligence circles but our government does not want to alarm Americans. However, he also said that Bush will attack Iran and Syria before he leaves office (we are being prepared for that! and I have to wonder if we are not hearing about this impending attack so America will support attacking Iran and Syria ?). In addition, since we don't have enough troops Bush will likely use small, strategic nuclear weapons regardless that the headlines the next day will read "US Nukes Islamic World" and the world will be a different place to such an extent that global warming will be irrevelent. He did a test for Congress recently putting an empty briefcase in 5 major spots in 5 US cities and not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago - someone tried to steal it! In Israel an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds with a citizen shouting "Unattended Bag" and the area cleared slowly, calmly and immediately by the people themselves. Unfortunately, we haven't hurt enough yet for us to be that concerned.... He also discussed how many children were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11 without parents to pick them up and the schools did not have a plan. Do you have a plan with your kids, schools and familiesif you cannot reach each other by phone? If you cannot return to your house? If you cannot get to your child's school - do they know what to do? We should all have a plan. He said that our government's plan after the next attack is to immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use their telephone, cell phone, blackberry because they don't want terrorists to be able to talk to one another - do you have a plan if you cannot communicate directly with those that you love? Again - I recommend his book, "Staying Safe" and I also recommend we heighten each other's attention now for the inevitable.... In fact, this week the Today Show began with a segment that Al Qaeda was resurfacing - the same kind of action on the Pakistani border occurred before 9/11... It is scary, but we do not have to panic, we just need to be aware.... Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has not been helpful and we cannot change things until 2008. However, remember that when you vote.... Juval Aviv holds an M.A. in Business from Tel Aviv University. He is President and CEO of Interfor, Inc. Based in New York with offices around the world, founded in 1979, Interfor providesforeign and domestic intelligence services to the legal, corporate and financial communities and conducts investigations around the world. In addition, Mr. Aviv serves as a special consultant to the U.S. Congress and other policy makers on issues of terrorism, fraud and money laundering. A leading authority on terrorist networks, Mr. Aviv served as lead investigator for Pan Am Airways into the Pan Am 103-Lockerbie terrorist bombing. He was featured in the recent film, Munich, as the leader of the Israeli team that tracked down the terrorists who kidnapped the Israeli Olympic team. Interfor's services encompass white-collar crime investigations, asset search and recovery, corporate due diligence, litigation support, fraud investigations, internal compliance investigations, security and vulnerability assessments. Since its inception, Interfors asset investigation services have recovered over $2 billion worldwide for its clients. Before founding Interfor, Mr. Aviv served as an officer in the Israel Defense Force (Major, retired) leading an elite Commando/Intelligence Unit, and was later selected by the Israeli Secret Service (Mossad) to participate in a number of intelligence and special operations in many countries in the late 1960s and 1970s. While working as a consultant with El Al, Mr. Aviv surveyed the existing security measures in place and updated El Al's security program, making El Al the safest airline in business today. Most recently, Mr. Aviv wrote Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business, (2004, HarperResource). He is also the author of several other published books on terrorism. He has been a guest on ABC Nightline, FOX News, CNN, BBC Newsnight, ZDF (German National Television) and RAI (Italian National Television) and has been featured in numerous articles inmajor magazines and newspapers worldwide Origins: Juval Aviv ian Israeli-American security consultant and writer and the president of New York-based Interfor Inc. (a corporate investigations firm). He was reportedly the source for the 1984 book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team (the basis for the 2005 Steven Spielberg film Munich), he is the author of Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business, and he has made predictions about imminent terrorist attacks on the United States (and the forms they might take) similar to the ones described above. However, some critics have expressed skepticism about Aviv's background, claiming that he has grossly exaggerated his "spymaster" credentials, as the Guardian maintained in a 2006 article about the film Munich: Our investigations show that Aviv never served in Mossad, or any Israeli intelligence organisation. He had failed basic training as an Israeli Defence Force commando, and his nearest approximation to spy work was as a lowly gate guard for the airline El Al in New York in the early 70s. The tale he had woven [in Vengeance] was apparently nothing more than a Walter Mitty fabrication. Similarly, Chris Thompson wrote in the Village Voice that: Most famously, Aviv has promoted the idea that he was the lead Mossad assassin tasked with avenging the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in a secret operation that was portrayed in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich. It was Aviv that actor Eric Bana was supposedly playing, though his name in the movie was "Avner." But throughout Aviv's rise as one of New York's biggest corporate spies and as a terrorism expert on television, there have been nagging questions about his legitimacy. Is this guy really who he says he is? Officially, the Israeli government says that Aviv is full of it. According to a 1990 letter from Yigal Carmon, then the Israeli prime minister's counterterrorism adviser, Aviv was never an assassin, let alone the person chosen by Golda Meir to avenge the Munich massacre. "Aviv does not work and has never worked for the Intelligence Community of the State of Israel," Carmon wrote in response to an inquiry from the U.S. government. In fact, Carmon added, the closest that Aviv ever came to intelligence work was as a security official for an El Al office in New York. "His work in that capacity was terminated at the initiative of the employer because of unsuitability resulting from negative character traits," Carmon wrote. "During the course of his work Yuval [sic] Aviv was found to be unreliable and dishonest." Nonetheless, Aviv has built a remarkable career for himself. In 1989, following the Pan Am 103 bombing that killed 270 people in Lockerbie, Scotland, airline officials hired Aviv to investigate the incident. His report alleging that the bombing was a CIA gun- and drug-smuggling operation gone terribly wrong was leaked to the press, reportedly by Aviv himself. News outlets like Time, NBC, ABC, and Barron's picked up the story. But as more skeptical journalists began to examine Aviv's report, Pan Am officials suddenly dropped their plans to use it as a defense, and the media outlets that had run Aviv's allegations squirmed under the scrutiny. A Brooklyn federal magistrate later found Aviv's report to be utterly without merit. Today, American intelligence officials who were charged with investigating the Pan Am 103 bombing are still furious with Avivand they fume over the fact that national television outlets treat him as anything but a fraud. "This crud, this piece of dirt, went around inventing stories about how this plane got destroyed, because he was paid money to do so," says Vincent Cannistraro, the former chief of operations and analysis at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. "The man is not worth being in human company, frankly." This guy's full of shit," says Larry Johnson, who served in the CIA and as a deputy director in the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism. "What's true is, yes, he has a security and corporate-intelligence firm, and he's big at playing up the Israeli mystique. If you say it with a foreign accent, you're good to go." Aviv, these senior counterterrorism officials insist, is no terrorism expert; instead, he's a liar who's been spreading falsehoods about his rsum and his prowess as an investigator. American RadioWorks, however, suggests that Aviv was the target of a smear campaign by the FBI for his report implicating U.S. govermment agents in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing: smear campaign In response to Aviv's report, and investigative news stories based on them, government officials launched an attack on Aviv that went well beyond simple denials. In letters to newspaper editors and on network TV, diplomatic and intelligence officials called Aviv a "fabricator" who had lied about his entire background. Asked recently to back up that characterization, Hurley, formerly of the DEA, faxed us a letter dated May, 1990. The letter, signed by Yigal Carmon, "Israeli Prime Minister's Advisor for Countering Terrorism," says Juval Aviv never worked for Israeli intelligence and was fired from a low-level job with El-Al airlines for "dishonesty." The letter is on plain white paper, not Israeli government letterhead. We faxed it to the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. A spokeswoman said the letter did not have the look of a letter sent from the Office of the Prime Minister. When reached at an office in Tel Aviv, Yigal Carmon said he "did not know of anyone called Juval Aviv" and refused to discuss the contents of any letter with us. A spokesperson for El-Al Airlines in Tel Aviv said he was unaware of any such incident of "dishonesty" by Juval Aviv, or of any firing of Aviv. Aviv, for his part, produces several documents that he's entered into court refuting the accusation that he lied about his background. The documents include an FBI memo about Aviv from 1982, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and a contract between Aviv and the US Justice Department, dated 1984. Both refer to Aviv's past association with Israeli intelligence. As late as 1993, an FBI agent wrote to Aviv asking for assistance in a tax-recovery investigation, even as other government officials were publicly calling Aviv a fabricator. Whatever Juval Aviv's credentials might be, we found no evidence to support the claim that he predicted the July 2005 London bombings during a Fox News interview conducted just one week before those attacks occurred. Although Aviv was a frequent guest on American news programs in the years after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, our search of television news transcripts did not turn up any appearances by him on such programs between 5 November 2004 and the day after the London bombings (8 July 2005). He was interviewed on Fox News several days after the London bombings and issued a warning about an "imminent" terrorist attack on the United States, but he did not appear just prior to the London bombings and correctly predict them. His predictions about terrorists hitting the U.S. in "six, seven, or eight cities simultaneously" sometime within the next "ninety days at most" are outdated, as he issued them back in July 2005. It seems safe to say from this vantage point that those predictions were not correct, as no such attacks occurred. July 2005 Last updated: 22 April 2013 Thompson, Chris. "Secret Agent Schmuck." The Village Voice. 16 October 2007. American RadioWorks. "Aviv: Fabricator or Smear Victim?" FOXNews.com. "U.S. Terror Attack 'Ninety Days at Most.'" 13 July 2005. The Independent. "Juval Aviv: The Good Assassin." 16 July 2006. | 0 | [
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FMD4104 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described Donald Trump as a “trustworthy leader†after meeting the U.S. president-elect on Thursday to get clarity on statements Trump had made while campaigning that had caused concern about the alliance. Abe, speaking after the hastily arranged 90-minute meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, reporters: “The talks made me feel sure that we can build a relationship of trust.†But he would not disclose specifics because the conversation was unofficial. Trump, in a brief entry on his Facebook page accompanied by a photo of the two men, said: “It was a pleasure to have Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stop by my home and begin a great friendship.†Japan’s leadership has been nervous about the future of an alliance that is core to Tokyo’s diplomacy and security. Trump had fanned worries in Tokyo and beyond with comments on the possibility of Japan acquiring nuclear arms, demands that allies pay more for keeping U.S. forces on their soil or face their possible withdrawal, and his opposition to the U.S.-led 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact. Abe had worked closely with President Barack Obama on the TPP trade pact, which was part of Obama’s push to counter the rising strength of China and a pillar of Abe’s economic reforms. “Alliances cannot function without trust. I am now confident that President-elect Trump is a trustworthy leader,†said Abe, describing the talks as “candid†and held in a “warm atmosphereâ€. Abe gave Trump a golf driver and received golf-wear in return, Japanese officials said. Photographs taken inside the ornate meeting room at Trump Tower showed Abe accompanied only by an interpreter and Trump by his daughter Ivanka, her husband and Trump adviser Jared Kushner, and Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn whom a senior Trump official said on Thursday had been offered the national security adviser position. Abe said he had agreed to meet again with Trump “at a convenient time to cover a wider area in greater depth.†It was unclear if that would happen before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump official Kellyanne Conway told CBS earlier on Thursday that “any deeper conversations about policy and the relationship between Japan and the United States will have to wait until after the inauguration.†Back in Tokyo, Finance Minister Taro Aso commented: “The meeting ran longer than planned, which means that they were on the same wavelength and it went well.†Some of Trump’s campaign rhetoric suggested an image of Japan forged in the 1980s, when Tokyo was seen by many in the United States as a threat to jobs and a free-rider on defense. A Trump adviser who spoke earlier in the week, however, stressed a more positive view and credited Abe with making changes. “Frankly, the prime minister has been more assertive and forthright in trying to make those changes to Japan’s global posture,†he said. Trump, a brash billionaire real estate magnate, and Abe, a political blue blood, share a stated desire to raise their countries’ global standing and both have support from right-wing constituencies. Abe has boosted Japan’s overall defense spending since taking office in 2012. He has also stretched the limits of its pacifist postwar constitution to allow the military to take a bigger global role. Japan’s defense spending, though, still stands at just over 1 percent of GDP compared with more than 3 percent in the United States. Abe was expected to see Obama at an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru on the weekend. Hours before Abe and Trump met, Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met in Lima to discuss the Paris climate accord | 1 | [
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FMD4105 | 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 a 1933 Article Report That Hitler Would Not 'Disrupt' Germany? Claim summaries: Events always seem more obvious and predictable after they have already taken place.
contextual information: In perhaps one of the worst miscalculations in modern political history, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in January 1933 in the hopes that he could successfully form a coalition government amidst a collection of competing minority parties (including his own Nazi Party) and that the worst impulses of Hitler and the Nazis could be "controlled" or "tamed" once they bore responsibility for leading the national government (rather than criticizing others' administration of it). But shortly after Hitler's swearing-in as chancellor on January 30, 1933, the Nazis began to systematically suspend civil liberties and eliminate political opposition, with the passage of the Enabling Act two months later effectively establishing Hitler's government as a legal dictatorship that could issue decrees without the involvement of the German parliament (Reichstag) or president. One example of the naiveté that held sway in Germany at that time caught the attention of Americans in February 2020, in the wake of impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump. That example took the form of a snippet from a purported 1933 Wall Street Journal article that was widely circulated via social media: This article did in fact appear in the February 2, 1933, edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Under the headline "Berlin Views Hitler Calmly," the report from the WSJ's Berlin bureau briefly referenced contemporaneous assessments of Hitler—that "there is usually wide discrepancy between the speeches of opposition politicians and the actions of the group when it gains power," that Hitler would not "disrupt the nation's affairs," and that it was "not believed" Hitler would "accomplish a change in the constitution"—and that a rise in stock prices indicated public confidence in these assessments:
Rise in Stocks Reflects Confidence He Will Not Disrupt Nation's Affairs Berlin is settling down to pass judgment on political developments. Politicians, economists, and bankers declare there is usually wide discrepancy between the speeches of opposition politicians and the actions of the group when it gains power. Consequently, it is not believed that Hitler will accomplish a change in the constitution or that [Reich Minister of Economics Alfred] Hugenberg will bring about a general reduction of interest rates. The government wants to obtain an adjournment of the Reichstag for several months, but it is questionable whether the Centre [Party] will approve of such action. After calmly dismissing the threat that Hitler posed (and which would come to pass in just a few short months), the article provided a short summary of the "considerable gains in stocks" that supposedly indicated good times were ahead under the new government—including, ironically, a rise in the price of stock in I.G. Farben, the German chemical company that manufactured the Zyklon B gas later used to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust:
I.G. Farben The Börse closed with considerable gains in stocks. Rhenish Coal advanced 7, Mannesmann Tube 5, I.G. Farben 4, and Rhine-Westphalia Electric 4. Bonds registered average losses of 2 points. Common stocks were favored as being less susceptible to talk of devaluing the currency or of other inflationary experiments. Furthermore, profits are expected to increase for many industries from expanded public works projects. The Wall Street Journal. "Berlin Views Hitler Calmly." 1 February 1933 (p. 12) | 1 | [
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FMD4106 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. environmental group the Sierra Club has asked the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general to investigate whether the agency’s head, Scott Pruitt, violated internal policies when he said he did not believe carbon dioxide was a major contributor to climate change, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Lawyers for the Sierra Club wrote to the EPA’s Office of Inspector General on Tuesday asking the independent watchdog to check whether Pruitt violated the EPA’s 2012 Scientific Integrity Policy when he told a CNBC interviewer on March 9, “I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.†The request ramps up tension between the U.S. environmental movement and the administration of President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax meant to weaken the U.S. economy and has packed his Cabinet with people who question the science of climate change. An overwhelming majority of scientists think that carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels is a major contributor to global climate change, triggering sea level rise, droughts and more frequent violent storms. “It’s pretty unprecedented to have the head of the EPA contradicting basic scientific facts,†Sierra Club Senior Attorney Elena Saxonhouse told Reuters on Wednesday. In the letter, the Sierra Club’s lawyers said Pruitt’s comments contradicted a “comprehensive review†of scientific research on climate change and appeared to be politically motivated. The EPA website says its policy is meant to maintain “a culture of scientific integrity for all its employees,†and requires EPA officials and staff to ensure the agency’s work respects the findings of the broader scientific community. “Administrator Pruitt’s comments are perfectly in keeping with the scientific integrity policy,†EPA spokesman John Konkus said in an email. “There is an ongoing scientific debate on climate change, its causes and its effect. That debate should be encouraged as the Administrator has done, not discouraged as Sierra Club is attempting to do.†A spokeswoman for the EPA’s inspector general said in an email the IG’s office could neither confirm nor deny investigation requests. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times while accepting campaign donations from the energy industry. Emails released on Feb. 22 by an Oklahoma Court showed Pruitt also used language provided by an energy company in one of his challenges of the EPA over methane emissions regulations. Sierra Club’s Saxonhouse said the group believed that the EPA’s scientific integrity policy applied to political appointees as well as career EPA staff, but said it was unclear how the agency could enforce it. “It shouldn’t just be a piece of paper or some words on a website. It’s intended to protect the public from bad decision-making that’s not based on real facts,†she said. | 1 | [
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FMD4107 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was on Meet the Press and let out another gibberish laden response to a question. Does anyone out there understand what she meant by her comments about the wall. How does it mean Trump is weak if he wants a wall? Twisted reasoning is all that comes from Pelosi these days especially when in 2006 most prominent Democrats voted to build a barrier at the border. Immoral and unwise ? How is it immoral and unwise to want to protect your people? You have to understand this part of the country. There s a community going through it. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE 2006 BORDER WALL FENCE?Remember the promise of a fence on our southern border? Yes, it was the plan but the $1.2 billion dollar plan was never executed as proposed. You can thank our Liar in Chief and a popular Republican for that WE RECENTLY POSTED THIS VIDEO OF AN IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL SAYING BUILDING A BORDER FENCE ISN T POSSIBLE EVEN THOUGH $1.2 BILLION WAS GIVEN IN 2006 FOR A FENCE: In his speech in El Paso on immigration reform on May 10, 2011, Obama declared that the fence along the border with Mexico is now basically complete. Like much of what comes out of the Obama administration, that was a lie. What was supposed to be built was a double layered fence with barbed-wire on top, and room for a security vehicle to patrol between the layers. Except for 36 of the seven-hundred mile fence, what was built looks like the picture above or the one below.But that doesn t stop your liar in chief. He claims. We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement, Obama said. All the stuff they asked for, we ve done. But even though we ve answered these concerns, I ve got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time. Maybe he s right the goal posts were moved, but to make the job easier.The Secure Fence Act was introduced on Sept. 13, 2006 by Rep Peter King (R-NY) and passed Congress on a bi-partisan basis. In the House of Representatives, the Fence Act passed 283 -138 on September 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006, the Fence Act passed in the Senate 80 -19. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 s goal was to help secure America s borders to decrease illegal entry, drug trafficking, and security threats by building 700 miles (1,100 km) of physical barriers along the Mexico-United States border. Additionally, the law authorized more vehicle barriers, checkpoints, and lighting as well as authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to increase the use of advanced technology such as cameras, satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles to reinforce infrastructure at the border. So far less than 40 miles of a real fence have been built most of it during the Bush Administration.Of the almost 700 miles of fencing, DHS reports there are currently 36.3 miles of double-layered fencing, as the bill required, the kind with enough gap that you can drive a vehicle between the layers. But the majority of the fencing erected has been made from vehicle barriers with single-layer pedestrian fencing, the kind of barriers that are designed to stop vehicles rather than people. The design specifications vary, depending on geography and climate characteristics, but according to the Customs and Border Patrol website, those include post on rail steel set in concrete; steel picket-style fence set in concrete; vehicle bollards similar to those found around federal buildings; Normandy; vehicle fence consisting of steel beams; and concrete jersey walls with steel mesh. The first blow against the promised fence was made by Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican Senator from Texas, at the urging of DHS she proposed an amendment to give the Department discretion to decide what type of fence was appropriate in different areas. The law was amended to read, Nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location. Hutchison s amendment was included in a federal budget bill in late 2007 despite the fact that Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., had a cow he argued the amendment effectively killed the border fence promised in the 2006 bill, he was right. Hutchison s intentions may have been honorable, but she didn t foresee Barack Obama being the next president.When Janet Napolitano became Obama s first DHS she took advantage of Ms. Hutchison s 2007 amendment, instead of building a fence which look something like the below, she built a fence that was mostly a combination of the two pictures above.When She was still Governor of Arizona Janet Napolitano said, You show me a 50-foot wall, and I ll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border. And she may be right The fence will never STOP all illegal crossings. The purpose of the fence is two-fold, slowing the intruders and making them visible to members of the border patrol. The rest of the work is done by human beings.Very little of the Israeli separation barrier erected to keep out terrorists is a wall, most of the 400 miles of the barrier which has received so much international scorn is a two layered fence like section of their barrier below. The fence has served its purpose, in 2002, the year before construction started, 457 Israelis were murdered; in 2009, 8 Israelis were killed.The reason it has been effective is not simply the fence itself but how the fence is guarded and patrolled. And that s what will make our fence along the Mexican border work.Here s the bottom line. Back in 2006 the people of the U.S. were promised a border fence. Since then thanks to Kay Bailey Hutchison and Barack Obama 95% of the fence wasn t built. The arguments against the fence are bogus especially if you look at Israel s history. It s time for America to demand that its leaders build the fence they promised. No one can honestly say it wont work, after all it hasn t been tried. Via: The Lid | 0 | [
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FMD4108 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will introduce bills as soon as Monday to toughen U.S. foreign investment rules amid growing concern about Chinese deals, according to a source familiar with the legislation. Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Republican leadership who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will introduce a Senate bill to broaden the government’s power to stop foreign purchases of U.S. firms by strengthening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS is an interagency panel led by the Treasury Department that reviews proposed transactions to review national security concerns. Rep. Robert Pittenger, a North Carolina Republican, will introduce an identical bill in the House of Representatives. At least four Democrats will back the bills, including Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa, said a source who spoke on background to protect business relationships. “The likelihood of Congress acting on this is pretty significant,†said the source. Rep. Denny Heck, a Democrat from Washington, said he was concerned about China at least partly because of allegations of stolen U.S. intellectual property. “China’s actions are clear – they are cheating the system. They are evading the rules meant to prevent them from accessing technology critical to our national security and we need to do something to stop them sooner rather than later,†he said in a statement. “With these changes, we hope to modernize and update the law in order to meet today’s threats from around the globe.†CFIUS already has a reputation for being tough on high-tech deals involving China in particular, and has blocked transactions that involve sophisticated semiconductors. It has become more conservative since President Donald Trump was inaugurated amid growing political and economic tensions between the United States and China. Since the inauguration, the panel has balked at approving a broader range of deals from China, according to lawyers who specialize in representing proposed transactions to the board. The bills would expand CFIUS’ power to look at smaller investments and joint ventures, according to sources who have read drafts of the bills. There have been calls for “green field†investment to be subject to CFIUS scrutiny, but under the bills CFIUS will only review these to ensure they are not close to sensitive military installations, the first source said. A green field investment is when a parent company starts a new firm overseas from the ground up. | 1 | [
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FMD4109 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Alain Soral is an influential French-Swiss thinker, author, and filmmaker. His beliefs are summarized as “French Third Position,” basically a third party for those that reject the traditional left and right political views, and there have been Third Position movements in many European countries over the past several decades.
Major beliefs of Soral’s ideology include nationalism, political sovereignty, social conservatism, anti-globalism, anti-immigration, anti-feminism, anti-bankster, and a non-interventionist anti-war foreign policy. A major slogan of Third Position is “Reconciliation” between the Labor Left and the Values Right—economic policy which values individual work and labor, and social policy focused on nationalism and traditionalism.
Early Life
Alain Soral was born in 1958 in southeastern France. He attended a well-regarded private Catholic school, before enrolling in the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, founded in 1648, and later transferred to study under the philosopher and economist Cornelius Castoriadis, a famous 20th century thinker.
Castoriadis
Castoriadis favored autonomous societies that are self-aware of their autonomy and independence, and believed societies should provide legitimacy for their laws and government actions. Historically, this was often done through absolute monarchy by invoking religion and God, with the monarch having a direct connection to the almighty (What God has commanded is what we must institute with the law).
Modern capitalist societies proved their legitimacy through circular tautology; that is they claimed that capitalism was logical and just, and therefore whatever a capitalistic society deemed profitable was therefore logical and just. A just autonomous society was always questioning and challenging its laws, but at the same time adhering to, respecting, and upholding the law.
Castoriadis described modern society as a struggle between creative imaginary and capitalist imaginary:
“The repetition of empty forms, of conformism, apathy, irresponsibility, and cynicism at the same time as it is that of the tightening grip of the capitalist imaginary of unlimited expansion of “rational mastery,” pseudorational pseudomastery, of an unlimited expansion of consumption for the sake of consumption, that is to say, for nothing, and of a technoscience that has become autonomized along its path and that is evidently involved in the domination of this capitalist imaginary. The other road should be opened: it is not at all laid out. It can be opened only through a social and political awakening, a resurgence of the project of individual and collective autonomy, that is to say, of the will to freedom. This would require an awakening of the imagination and of the creative imaginary”
Post-University
Soral loved books and knowledge, studying radicals from throughout the political spectrum. He was a dragueur de rue (street pick-up artist) when the PUA movement was virtually unknown. He developed a skill at attracting young, narcissistic, valueless city girls and claimed to bed hundreds of women, and published a book on game in 1996. His experiences with these women led him to develop strong anti-feminist beliefs.
He developed a strong dislike for the French Bobos—Bourgeois bohemians, younger wealthy highly educated narcissistic hedonists interested in fashion and trends. Perhaps something like rich hipsters, but less retro, more fashionable and trendy.
He joined the French Communist Party, motivated by his dislike of the bobos, and his camaraderie with the working man. The Communist Party, along with the Front National, were among the few opponents of the creation of the EU. Soral studied the works of Marx and other Marxists before leaving to join the far right Front National, where he was a speechwriter for Marie Le Pen. He noted that both Communists and Front National members were strongly nationalistic, and indeed many workers left the Communist Party to join FN around this time.
He became a strong critic of feminism and minority politics (gay, feminist, and Islamist or other racial multicultural groups). After Front National performed poorly in the 2007 elections, he formed Equality and Reconciliation , seeking to consolidate ideas on the left and right who believed in nationalism, patriarchy, anti-communism, anti-immigration, and anti-Zionism. E&R is an alternative news site, with some tendencies to the American alt-right, pro-nationalist, and critical of modern culture and feminism. He describes it as “Left for the workers and Right for morals.”
He is a boxer, and since 2004, has coached boxing. He records videos, has a regular feature naming the “cunt of the month,” and his works and website are very popular despite harsh attacks against him in the mainstream media.
Summary Of Views Trolling a feminist
Not much is available in English of Soral, and even English subtitles on his many videos are hard to find. I have but a cursory understanding of French, so I have relied on secondary sources and translations. His major beliefs are:
Anti-Feminism Views feminism as not pro-work, as women have always worked, but instead as anti-family and anti-mother. Discusses two classes of feminists: freaks and bitches. The real struggle is between rich and poor, not man and woman, who are naturally attracted to each other. He has attacked women’s magazines as altering the social conscience and relegating women to the status of objects. Stresses self-improvement and virility in men.
Anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism Opposed to valueless consumption and consumerism. In favor of bankster-free economics, and an end to the nanny state. Opposes “desire society” and the cult of celebrity.
Anti-imperialism Opposed to the Globalist Empire, and American Imperialism, attempting to spread its cultural, ideological, economic, social views everywhere and to destroy all nation-states.
Anti-Zionism Has attacked Jewish lobbying and intervention in French affairs. Made statements criticizing the Jewish people for being ostracized in societies around the world, throughout history, which earned him an immediate and harsh media blackout. He makes a distinction between French Jews and Zionism, saying that Zionists are opposing the interests of France and French Jews.
Anti-communitarianism Favors nationalism, not communitarianism. Calls communitarianism “a poison.” Opposed to ethnic, racial, sexual, Islamist or feminist communitarianism, which is opposed to morality and national standards. Opposes the public effeminate, homo and transsexual society, and laments the lack of strong male role models. Makes a strong distinction between homosexuality and the Gay Pride community movement, which promotes drag queens, parties, vulgar parades, and hypersexualization.
Anti-vulgarity Opposes vulgar language, dress, and speech, especially in women. Has said he prefers publicly wearing the Muslim veil to thong underwear. Would go crazy at a Slutwalk. Critic of profanity and vulgarity; proponent of morality and modesty.
Islam Feels the “menace of Islam” is an artificially created and manipulated threat; primitive Islamic society is not a real threat to modern western states, and capitalistic globalist interests manipulate the region to destroy the anti-globalist anti-feminist culture of Islam, to foster animosity between social groups, to possibly create a clash of civilizations, or world war, leading to a full globalist takeover, and to loot Mideast nations, and that the fundamental values of moderate Islam are perfectly compatible with French moderate Catholic views.
Anti-modern culture and mainstream media Opposed to the decline in western values and culture, and the sorry state of mainstream media, who has labeled him a pariah.
Le Neo masculinité
Many like-minded red pill men are turned off by the left-right politics in America. The third position combines right views on nation, morality, and law, with some left positions on social issues and economics. I believe if both the left and right hate you, you are probably doing something right. The ideas here strongly resonate with neomasculinity. Soral’s ideas are stimulating and interesting and definitely deserve further investigation.
An excellent summary of Soral and his beliefs is available here .
Read More: What Is Neomasculinity? | 0 | [
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FMD4110 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump just delivered a humble and heartfelt speech in Detroit.https://youtu.be/BecyLcXD2LgHe s been bashed on social media all day for his visit. Hillary s thugs were out in force because they re shaking in their boots that Trump might win. The people deserve better and hopefully they ll wake up and break free of doing the same thing they ve done for decades. Detroit needs someone like Trump!DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY:I m protesting #TrumpInDetroit pic.twitter.com/UucWlm4aK8 madamecain (@madamecain) September 3, 2016Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump praised the black church Saturday at the Greater Faith Ministries International church as he made his first direct outreach to African-American voters.TRUMP IN DETROIT: I will always defend your church so important and defend your right to worship, said Trump, who was introduced by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson to polite applause.The New York businessman emphasized issues such as fighting for good-paying jobs, expanded school choice and a civil rights agenda in his first campaign appearance before a predominantly African-American audience. He acknowledged the discrimination African-Americans still face in the country and pledged to work to heal it. We re all brothers and sisters, he said in measured tones from notes during almost 10 minutes of remarks. We must love each other and support each other and we are all in this together. The nation is too divided and talk past each other, Trump said. I m here today to learn about how to move beyond racial and economic divides. I am here to listen to you, he said.The real estate developer noted that he had seen people sitting on the street and inactivity and a lack of jobs in the surrounding neighborhood when he came to the church. We re going to turn it around. We re going to turn it around, pastor, Trump said to Bishop Jackson after noting that he had seen people sitting on the street and the lack of activity and jobs in the surrounding neighborhood.Before the service, he shook hands with the audience and showed off a baby to the congregation. Trump sat in service with Omarosa, the villain from his The Apprentice reality television series and his director of African-American outreach.He also introduced and hugged Dr. Ben Carson, the native Detroiter who ran against him in the Republican presidential primaries and now is an adviser. It was uncertain whether Carson would take Trump on a tour of a Detroit neighborhood after the service. VIA: DETROIT NEWS | 0 | [
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FMD4111 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has clearly stated his leaks did not come from Russia. Watch:Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who is a close associate of Julian Assange, said he has met the DNC leaker and he s not Russian. h/t GPI have watched incredulous as the CIA s blatant lie has grown and grown as a media story blatant because the CIA has made no attempt whatsoever to substantiate it. There is no Russian involvement in the leaks of emails showing Clinton s corruption. Yes this rubbish has been the lead today in the Washington Post in the US and the Guardian here, and was the lead item on the BBC main news. I suspect it is leading the American broadcasts also.A little simple logic demolishes the CIA s claims. The CIA claim they know the individuals involved. Yet under Obama the USA has been absolutely ruthless in its persecution of whistleblowers, and its pursuit of foreign hackers through extradition. We are supposed to believe that in the most vital instance imaginable, an attempt by a foreign power to destabilize a US election, even though the CIA knows who the individuals are, nobody is going to be arrested or extradited, or (if in Russia) made subject to yet more banking and other restrictions against Russian individuals? Plainly it stinks. The anonymous source claims of We know who it was, it was the Russians are beneath contempt.As Julian Assange has made crystal clear, the leaks did not come from the Russians. As I have explained countless times, they are not hacks, they are insider leaks there is a major difference between the two. And it should be said again and again, that if Hillary Clinton had not connived with the DNC to fix the primary schedule to disadvantage Bernie, if she had not received advance notice of live debate questions to use against Bernie, if she had not accepted massive donations to the Clinton foundation and family members in return for foreign policy influence, if she had not failed to distance herself from some very weird and troubling people, then none of this would have happened.It is terrible that the prime conduit for this paranoid nonsense is a once great newspaper, the Washington Post, which far from investigating executive power, now is a sounding board for totally evidence free anonymous source briefing of utter bullshit from the executive.In the UK, one single article sums up the total abnegation of all journalistic standards. The truly execrable Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian writes Few credible sources doubt that Russia was behind the hacking of internal Democratic party emails, whose release by Julian Assange was timed to cause maximum pain to Hillary Clinton and pleasure for Trump. Does he produce any evidence at all for this assertion? No, none whatsoever. What does a journalist mean by a credible source ? Well, any journalist worth their salt in considering the credibility of a source will first consider access. Do they credibly have access to the information they claim to have?Now both Julian Assange and I have stated definitively the leak does not come from Russia. Do we credibly have access? Yes, very obviously. Very, very few people can be said to definitely have access to the source of the leak. The people saying it is not Russia are those who do have access. After access, you consider truthfulness. Do Julian Assange and I have a reputation for truthfulness? Well in 10 years not one of the tens of thousands of documents WikiLeaks has released has had its authenticity successfully challenged. As for me, I have a reputation for inconvenient truth telling.Contrast this to the credible sources Freedland relies on. What access do they have to the whistleblower? Zero. They have not the faintest idea who the whistleblower is. Otherwise they would have arrested them. What reputation do they have for truthfulness? It s the Clinton gang and the US government, for goodness sake.The worst thing about all this is that it is aimed at promoting further conflict with Russia. This puts everyone in danger for the sake of more profits for the arms and security industries including of course bigger budgets for the CIA. As thankfully the four year agony of Aleppo comes swiftly to a close today, the Saudi and US armed and trained ISIS forces counter by moving to retake Palmyra. This game kills people, on a massive scale, and goes on and on. For entire blog post, go to: Craig MurrayIt s worth mentioning, the murder case of Seth Rich, a 27 year old DNC operative has not yet been solved.Possible Whistle Blower on Democratic Party Voter #Fraud assassinated in Washington DC,not in MsM https://t.co/Cbem0AJvw5 #DNC Egypt Built (@HosamDakhakhni) July 12, 2016On August 9, 2016 Julian Assange offered a $20,000 reward for information that would lead to the conviction of the person or people who murdered Seth Rich. Why did Assange make that offer?ANNOUNCE: WikiLeaks has decided to issue a US$20k reward for information leading to conviction for the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016While Wilileaks Julian Assange was being interviewed by John Pilger, he brought up the death of Seth Rich:Watch Assange s reaction to Pilger s question during the same interview in slow motion here. What do you think? Is he nodding in agreement to his question about Seth Rich?THE RUSSIA HOAX: Julian Assange acknowledges murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was Wikileaks' source. Why is MSM covering this up? #Trump pic.twitter.com/FS297JooQI ViveLaFrance (@vivelafra) December 11, 2016Here is part of the conversation:Julian Assange: Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27 year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington.Reporter: That was just a robbery, I believe. Wasn t it?Julian Assange: No. There s no finding. So I m suggesting that our sources take risks.Perhaps Obama should stop blaming the Russians and start asking the FBI and CIA to take a closer look at the unsolved murder of Seth Rich. But if the answer lies within the Democrat Party, that s probably not gonna happen. Obama and Hillary would rather start a war with Russia | 0 | [
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FMD4112 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Asher Edelman inspired the character Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone s 1987 film, Wall Street, played by Michael Douglas. The infamous stockbroker, who made a fortune buying and selling companies in distress, was recently asked on CNBC s Fast Money, who he would endorse for Bernie Sanders. His answer was surprising, but his reasoning is not: Bernie Sanders, no question, said Edelman. , I think it s quite simple again. If you look at something called velocity of money That means how much gets spent and turns around. When you have the top one percent getting money, they spend five-ten percent of what they earn. When you have the lower end of the economy getting money, they spend a hundred, or a hundred and ten percent of what they earn. As you ve had a transfer of wealth to the top, and a transfer of income to the top, you have a shrinking consumer base, basically, and you have a shrinking velocity of money. Edelman argued redistributing wealth, especially at the point we are at now with levels of income and wealth inequalities continually growing, is what is best for the economy. Greed and corruption may allow the wealthiest to gain short term profits, but as the middle class disappears and the working class becomes ever burdened, the economy begins to sputter into stagnation.Senator Bernie Sanders economic policies aren t radical, socialist, or unrealistic. They are simply what is needed to be implemented to fix a broken, rigged economy. Edelman may be a member of the top one percent, but he is intelligent enough to realize trickle down economics doesn t work, and the Republicans who insist on perpetuating economic policies surrounding that myth continue to damage the United States economy.The rich getting richer don t create jobs, customers do. If there aren t any customers to purchase goods and services, such as a middle and working class who earn enough to have disposable income, the economy will falter.Featured image via Addicting Info archives | 0 | [
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FMD4113 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: CLEVELAND — marriage and transgender rights are emerging as points of serious strain between social conservatives and moderates who are trying to shape the Republican platform, reviving a festering cultural dispute as thousands of party activists and delegates prepare for their convention. Caught in the middle is Donald J. Trump, who claims “tremendous support, tremendous friendship†from gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, and has gone further than most party figures to embrace them. Gays, in fact, are one of the few minority groups Mr. Trump has not singled out for criticism. But as the presumptive Republican nominee, he is also trying to assuage doubts about the convictions of his conservatism. The uncomfortable dynamic Mr. Trump has created for himself is perhaps best illustrated by his own calendar. He huddled last month at a Manhattan hotel with hundreds of religious conservatives, many of them — like James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council — outspoken opponents of new legal protections for gay and transgender people. A few days later, he took what an aide described as a friendly and supportive call from Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympic decathlete who came out as transgender last year. One of the most contentious issues confronting delegates when they meet on Monday to debate the platform will be whether to adopt a provision defending state laws that try to prevent transgender people from using the public restroom of their choice. At times Mr. Trump has criticized those laws. And he has said Ms. Jenner can use whatever bathroom she prefers at his properties. But he has also promised not to interfere with the platform, which serves as the party’s official declaration of principles. Even as Mr. Trump keeps his distance from the debate, other Republicans who share his more accepting view of gay and transgender issues are working aggressively to tone down some of the platform’s language. The existing platform, adopted in 2012, is replete with disapproval of homosexuality. It calls court decisions favoring marriage “an assault on the foundations of our society†and accuses the Obama administration of trying to impose “the homosexual rights agenda†on foreign countries. Paul E. Singer, a billionaire Republican who has financed gay rights battles across the country, is now funding an effort to write into the platform language more inclusive of gays, lesbians and transgender people. The goal of his group, the American Unity Fund, is not to get the party to endorse marriage but to add a more statement that commits the party “to respect for all families,†though there is still fierce resistance from the right. “We don’t have to say we’re tolerant because we are tolerant of other views,†said James Bopp Jr. a member of the platform committee from Indiana who has long supported efforts to make the platform more strongly in favor of traditional marriage. Such language promoting tolerance, he added, would be “redundant and superfluous. †Advisers for the American Unity Fund, who say they know they are fighting a steep uphill battle, argue that the Republican Party can no longer afford to alienate people on gay rights issues. “We’ve got to make room for people with diverse views on civil marriage,†said Tyler Deaton, the group’s senior adviser. “This platform doesn’t even make room for people who support civil unions or domestic partnerships or people who support basic legal equality. †Both parties adopt new platforms at their conventions every four years. A draft of the 2016 version has been put together over the last several weeks by the Republican National Committee, with help from conservative activists. Members of the platform committee received the draft on Sunday evening and will add or change certain provisions over the next two days. The draft circulating Sunday night condemned the Obama administration’s effort to deny funding to states that prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, accusing the administration of trying to impose a cultural revolution. “They are determined to reshape our schools — and our entire society — to fit the mold of an ideology alien to America’s history,†the draft reads. Another section criticizes those who boycott businesses that deny services to couples. Though he will almost certainly not mention it when he accepts the nomination next week, Mr. Trump’s actions and words on gay rights have been more supportive than those of any Republican presidential nominee, even if they fall short of the full social and legal acceptance that his expected opponent, Hillary Clinton, has promoted. He has boasted of his friendships with many gay people, saying “I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay. †He has supported AIDS charities for years, and welcomed gay couples at his Palm Beach club when doing so was considered remarkable. And he has recently started insisting that he would be a better friend to the gay community than Mrs. Clinton, even though he opposes legal rights like marriage. But as he tries to convince social conservatives that he is not acting as a moderate, Mr. Trump has been largely with the platform. “His guys have not shown up and said, ‘Change this, change that,’†David Barton, a platform committee member from Texas, said. The Republican platform committee has long been dominated by some of the party’s most stalwart activists. And some of them have hardly been shy about their views. There is Cynthia Dunbar of Virginia, who has compared the gay rights movement to Nazism. Hardy Billington, a committee member from Missouri, placed an ad in a local paper asserting that homosexuality kills people at two to three times the rate of smoking. And Mary Frances Forrester of North Carolina has claimed that the “homosexual agenda is trying to change the course of Western civilization. †Mr. Bopp of Indiana recently wrote to delegates to say that the Republican Party has always opposed threats to traditional marriage “beginning with our opposition to the ‘twin relics of barbarism’ of slavery and polygamy in our 1856 platform. †As dominant as those conservative voices have been, delegates who want to see a more inclusive platform are gaining seats on the committee. Many of them believe the Republican Party needs to have a serious debate this year about whittling down a platform that has grown long and become riddled with additions. Boyd Matheson, a platform committee member from Utah, noted that at 33, 000 words, the 2012 platform was “six or seven times longer than the Constitution. †Recent platforms have become, he said, “these laundry lists and litmus tests of ‘thou shalts’ and ‘thou shalt nots. ’†The party’s first platform in 1856 was fewer than 1, 000 words. As an alternative this year, Mr. Matheson proposed a document that he said adheres to the founding principles of the party, like equal rights and economic opportunity. It contains no mention of marriage or transgender issues. “That does not elevate the discussion we need,†Mr. Matheson said. It is not the discussion Mr. Trump is eager to have, either. Asked in a recent interview about the platform, he declined to comment, saying only that he was “looking at it. †But as a reminder of how unorthodox a Republican Mr. Trump is — and of how contrary many of his views on issues like trade, foreign policy, eminent domain and gay rights are to the party’s doctrine — there is no more vivid example than the platform. “The bigger problem for Trump and the Republican National Committee,†said Lanhee J. Chen, who led Mitt Romney’s platform efforts in 2012, “is the fact that there are these major disagreements between where Trump is on some of these issues and where the activist base of the party is. †Differences between a candidate’s views and what is written in the platform are nothing new, of course. Bob Dole admitted he had not read the entire document when he was the Republican nominee in 1996. And he publicly repudiated parts of it that called for a constitutional amendment to deny automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants. It is not clear Mr. Trump would ever go that far, given how little attention he has paid to the party’s traditions and sacraments. “I don’t know if Trump really cares,†Mr. Chen added. | 1 | [
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FMD4114 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Americans love to complain about their polarized politics. And why not? It’s the root of congressional stalemates that keep us from dealing with all the important issues of our time, from illegal immigration to bankrupt entitlement programs and government debt — not to mention the waves of hot air that blow over us from cable news talk programs.
But is polarization really such a bad thing?
Political polarization impedes steps necessary to solve mounting national problems. These problems include rising levels of government debt; illegal immigration; spending on entitlement programs; the deterioration of America’s roads, bridges, railways and airports; the impending failure of employee pension systems; and lackluster economic growth, not to mention various pressing international issues.
If the two parties cannot compromise to address these issues, then they will gradually grow to a point of crisis, at which point it may be too late to do very much about them.
Political polarization between the two parties has grown to a point that Americans have not seen since the 1890s, and perhaps not since the 1850s when the nation was in the process of coming apart over the slavery issue.
Scholars have found that Republican voters and officeholders have become much more conservative since the 1970s while Democrats have grown increasingly liberal. From the late 1930s into the 1960s, roughly half the members of the House and Senate were “moderates†as measured by their voting records. The parties had not yet separated into rival ideological camps.
Today less than 10 percent of the members of Congress can be called moderates on a liberal-conservative scale.
By the same process, the ideological distance between Democrats and Republicans has increased year by year. Students of public opinion have observed a similar pattern among voters: They are now sharply polarized, express strong dislike for the opposing party and its voters, and do not trust the government to enact policies in the public interest.
There was a time in America when parents feared that a son or daughter might marry someone of a different religious faith; today, they tend to worry more that a child might marry someone of a different political faith.
In addition, the various states in the union have moved in opposite political directions, some becoming havens for Democrats and others for Republicans. It would be easy to point to other measures of increased polarization. A polarized and distrustful political system will never yield the compromises needed to address the serious problems the country is now facing.
It is true that President Barack Obama achieved some victories in this polarized environment, but at a high cost to his popularity and the Democratic Party’s standing in Congress. In addition, some of his signal achievements — such as his health care bill and the nuclear treaty with Iran — will be reversed as soon as a Republican president is elected.
It is hard to know exactly what has caused political polarization. To some extent, people “vote with their feet†and gradually separate into different jurisdictions based upon political views and lifestyle preferences. This process is aided by technology that allows citizens to communicate only to those already in agreement.
Over time in any political system the rival “teams†will accumulate grievances against one another to the point where they lose any interest in communicating across party lines. This happened in the 1850s: We know what happened as a consequence of that development. Things are not going to get that bad in America this time around, but they could get plenty bad if and when we have another serious recession or the stock market loses 30 percent or 40 percent of its value. Sadly, it appears that as a nation we are no longer capable of making preparations for such events.
James Piereson is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. Reach him at [email protected].
Three weeks before Halloween in 2002, the chambers of Congress considered House Joint Resolution 114.
If it passed, that meant then-President George W. Bush would be permitted to “use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines and appropriate†against Iraq.
A total of 296 members of the House of Representatives voted for the resolution; 77 members of the Senate voted yes. That meant 68 percent of the House voted for a U.S. war against Iraq, and 77 percent of the Senate voted likewise.
The vote also meant Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, New York senators, had much in common with Mitch McConnell, a senator from Kentucky, and social conservative Rick Santorum, then a senator from Pennsylvania.
Two liberal Democrats: Clinton and Schumer. Two conservative Republicans: McConnell and Santorum.
However on Oct. 10 and 11, 2002, that foursome all voted the same.
They answered “Aye†in support of Bush’s war to eradicate Saddam Hussein’s supposed stash of “weapons of mass destruction.â€
However, suppose that Fearsome Foursome and other rivals didn’t jump into the same bed. Then, perhaps the U.S. wouldn’t have launched a complicated and protracted war that ultimately became a widely unpopular conflict in a foreign land. A Vietnam 2.0, in retrospect.
Perhaps, instead of congressional bipartisanship (i.e. legislative kumbaya), political polarization was needed to prevent the loss of 4,486 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, 2,345 in Afghanistan, with 1 million wounded, all at a cost of potentially $6 trillion.
History has shown us that political polarization can be a positive tool when influencing and assessing the well-being of Americans.
Said Stanford University political science professor David W. Brady: “The U.S. Congress was polarized in the Civil War era and in the New Deal era and it was via polarized voting that got the 13, 14 and 15 amendments passed. ... In the New Deal era, it was polarized voting that passed all of the legislation that makes up the modern welfare state — Social Security, WPA (Works Progress Administration), unemployment compensation. If you believe this was good legislation, then you believe that sometimes polarized voting does good things.â€
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,†which included former slaves recently freed, and the 15th Amendment prohibits federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color or previous condition of servitude.â€
Most of us assuredly support the positive ramifications of Social Security and unemployment compensation legislation. Just ask anyone who is retired and/or unemployed.
Political polarization also is a surefire way to induce passion among the voting ranks. Just examine the fan fervor that follows every step taken by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson. That fervor likely will translate into huge numbers at the primaries and polls come 2016.
We see a clear line of demarcation among our Republican and Democratic and independent presidential candidates, as well as their supporters. No ambiguity. No indifference. No waffling.
But we do see heightened passion and intense debate.
That’s political polarization at its best. Not its worst.
Gregory Clay is a Washington columnist and a former editor for McClatchy-Tribune News Service. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. Follow him on Twitter at @gregory_clay. | 1 | [
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FMD4115 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Posted by Matthew Bernstein | Nov 9, 2016 | American Strength People Thought It Would Be A Good Idea To Deface A Memorial Dedicated To Military Veterans
Despite all the talk of the election that has been discussed there is another significant event and pseudo-holiday coming up in two days. That would be Veteran’s Day. It’s a holiday that, as stated, is designed to make sure that we can remember our veterans from all military encounters.
It’s something that should be taken very seriously, considering the fact that these veterans gave the ultimate price to make sure that YOU have the freedoms that you do now. And some people in the United States do, considering that there is memorials set up to honor these veterans.
Except not everyone thinks that these memorials should be taken seriously. In fact, there are some people out there that don’t respect the memorials and everything that they stand for. They think it’s a good idea to DISRESPECT the memorials that are out there.
The most recent example comes from someone who is against the Dakota Access Pipeline. They were so against it that they thought the best course of action would be to vandalize a memorial that was set specifically for World War II veterans in Washington. That came from the National Park Service on Tuesday. People Thought It Would Be A Good Idea To Vandalize A World War II Memorial
A spokesman by the name of Mike Litterst said that someone spray-painted the North Dakota section of the memorial. A photo that was provided by the park service showed the phrase “#NoDAPL” was written in paint. Yes they thought the best way to protest this would be to vandalize a memorial designed to honor military service members.
That is honestly the most disgusting thing that could have EVER happened. There shouldn’t EVER be a reason that someone should vandalize a MILITARY memorial just to get their point across. These people put their lives ON THE LINE to make sure that you have the right to protest like you are doing!
The person that vandalized this memorial was protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has been fighting along with other tribes and environmental groups in an effort to stop the completion of the nearly $4 billion pipeline. They claimed that it was going to threaten the water supply for millions of people.
The supporters of the pipeline have said that it is a safer way to move oil rather than trucks and trains. Considering that oil is very flammable and accidents can happen, I would rather see something be moved safely. But no matter what side you are on, vandalizing a memorial designed for military veterans is something that SHOULDN’T happen!
As of right now, the United States Park Police are investigating the vandalism. But there is good news about this whole thing. The vandal had used paint to make his mark. And a paint stripper has been used to remove much of the damage that had been done.
The pipeline protests have been going on for a long time. But President Obama has said that the federal government was looking for ways to “reroute” parts of the pipeline. It sounds like another attempt to appease people on the president’s behalf.
But the bottom line is that these people thought it was a good idea to make their message heard by spray painting a VETERANS MEMORIAL! That is the ultimate sign of disrespect! And it makes it worse when you factor in that Veteran’s Day is literally two days away. It’s like they don’t care about the fact that these veterans made the ultimate sacrifice so they could pull those actions. These Men Risk Their Lives So That Families Across The USA Can Enjoy Freedom
Every American should honor the fact that these veterans have given everything that they possibly could to make sure that the freedoms of the United States stay that way. And every memorial that is destroyed and vandalized is just another reminder that not everyone believes that military veterans should be thanked.
Those people are some of the worst Americans on the planet. If you want to protest something, then fine, but there is NO EXCUSE for anyone to vandalize a memorial designed to honor those that served. And the simple fact that someone thought it was a good idea is sickening.
There are several ways to make your point but this is among one of the absolute worst out there. And what is even worse is that there are people that are going to think that it was a good idea.
Sadly this isn’t the first time that this has happened. There were people that thought it was a good idea to vandalize a September 11, 2001 memorial . And the worst part of that was they actually did it. In a college town in California people thought it was a good idea to destroy something that means a lot to some people here in the country.
That wasn’t the only time that this has happened. Just a couple weeks ago there was another report that someone thought it would be a good idea to destroy a veterans memorial . Yes there are people here in the United States that want to make sure that military people don’t get the respect that they deserve. It’s like these people have just lost all respect for those that have given everything and more for the safety of the country.
Share this article to make sure that we can find the person, or people, that is responsible for destroying a monument that is dedicated to our military veterans. What makes it worse is that it is so close to Veteran’s Day. The pure timing of this entire action is something that should make every red-blooded patriot in the country angry.
We need your help to make sure that the people that are responsible for this action are caught and brought to justice. This type of activity is simply unacceptable. But with your help we can find the protestors that are responsible and make sure they pay for their crimes. | 0 | [
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FMD4116 | 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: Why Is Charles Shaw Wine So Cheap? Claim summaries: Was Charles Shaw wine sold so cheaply because airlines could no longer use corkscrews after 9/11?
contextual information: Claim: Charles Shaw wine was sold cheaply because airlines could no longer use corkscrews after 9/11 and dumped their stocks of wine. Origins: We tend to equate quality with cost, so the appearance of an underpriced wine of surprising virtue is bound to spark its share of interesting backstories. We view wine as a luxury item, and since we reject the intellectual construct that such an item can be both good and inexpensive, we instead seize upon plausible-sounding (but apocryphal) tales to explain the disparity between cheapness and quality. Good wine must be expensive, and if a good wine is being vended at a bargain price, there must be a calamitous reason for this fortuity. In early 2002, rumors of airlines dumping their Merlot (and the like) were launched from this springboard. As the Los Angeles Times noted in a 2002 article about the burgeoning sales of Charles Shaw label wines: The morning after a friend served Anna McNeal a glass of Charles Shaw Merlot, she made a beeline to the Mid-Wilshire Trader Joe's to stock up on the wine selling at an astonishing $1.99 a bottle. "I had to come and get a case," she said in a checkout line with half a dozen other shoppers who had somehow heard of the mysterious "Napa" wine. Since it was introduced in February, Charles Shaw wine has gained a cult-like following in Southern California, with wine drinkers backing their cars up to the loading dock of the Los Angeles-based discounter to lay in a supply of the Trader Joe's exclusive. "It's selling like crazy," said Jon Fredrikson, a wine consultant based in San Mateo County. "A great story for consumers." Why was such a popular wine (Charles Shaw was one of the top 20 brands in the U.S.) being sold so cheaply? As usual, consumers collectively created several inventive urban legend-like explanations for this seemingly inexplicable phenomenon: Security regulations enacted after the September 11 terrorist attacks prohibited the carrying or use of corkscrews on commercial flights, so several airlines dumped their large stocks of wine on the market, thereby depressing prices. Financially-distressed United Airlines attempted to raise some quick cash by selling its food service stocks, including an ample supply of Charles Shaw wine. Charles Shaw himself, engaged in a bitter divorce struggle, attempted to reduce the value of his winery's assets by flooding the market with cheap wine. Also as usual, the real explanation why many wine brands (not just Charles Shaw) could be had so cheaply at the time (2001) was a mundane one: the market was experiencing a wine glut. The wine boom of the 1990s led vineyards to increase production, but a downturn in the U.S. economy and the effects of September 11 resulted in a greatly lessened demand (particularly in the restaurant industry), creating such an oversupply that many wines were selling for less than the cost of production. Some vintners in northern California were even allowing their grapes to wither on the vine because the cost of picking them exceeded their market value. The Charles Shaw label (known in local slang as "Two-Buck Chuck") was the focus of those "cheap wine" rumors because it bore a prestigious Napa label, even though it sold for less than $2 per bottle. The catch was that it's made with cheaper grapes from California's Central Valley rather than more desirable grapes from the Napa Valley, but because the label's parent company does own a winery and bottling facility in Napa, it is allowed to put "Napa" on the Charles Shaw label (which only indicates that the wine is "bottled and cellared" in Napa) even if the grapes used in the wine actually come from some other part of California: Napa Valley [W]ine industry experts say that despite the classy Napa label, there probably isn't a hint of those pricey grapes in a bottle of Charles Shaw Merlot, Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon. Even with the depressed market, grapes from Napa sell for around $2,000 a ton, said Brian Sudano of Beverage Marketing Corp. To make money on a $2 bottle, he added, a vintner would have to buy grapes for around $200 a ton the price of less desirable Central Valley grapes. This summer the market price for those grapes hit a low of $60 a ton. Swimming in excess wine, [Bronco Wine Co. head] Franzia revived the Charles Shaw label, believing it would be more cost-effective to dump his wine on the consumer market than to pour it on the ground. Taking advantage of the depressed wine grape market, he also bought up excess stock from other Central Valley vintners, according to several wine industry sources. "Franzia was able to take advantage of distress sales by other vineyards, said [wine consultant Jon] Fredrikson. "And he's got the high-speed production lines to do it and still make money." The Bronco Wine Co. produces a variety of low-cost wines, and its president, Fred Franzia, has earned the enmity of plenty of other Wine Country citizens: Franzia was forced to step down as Bronco's president for five years after Bronco was fined $3 million in 1993 for misidentifying grape varietals on its labels, and other Napa vintners have long been disputing Bronco's use of "Napa" in the names of wines, such as their "Napa Ridge" variety, made from grapes grown elsewhere (but so far the courts have sided with Bronco). That enmity was famously (albeit accurately) expressed in 2011 by Chris Knox, a self-described vintner who once caustically asserted on Quora, in a since deleted response to an inquiry about why Trader Joe's wine (and the Charles Shaw blend in particular) was sold so cheaply, that those wines were inexpensive to buy because they were ... well, made cheaply: asserted The basic gist of it all is that Two Buck Chuck is owned by Bronco Wines, which is owned by Fred Franzia, a trash-mouthed, unapologetic downright crude and shrewd business man who sees it as his mission to pretty much remove any shred of pretentiousness (and dare I say integrity and quality along with it) from the wine world. He started by buying the then failing Charles Shaw label years ago along with massive amounts of bulk wine in the 90's for pennies on the dollar and a staggering 35,000 acres of land in the very cheap San Joaquin Valley which he then planted to vines. That gives his Bronco Wines the prestige of holding the most acreage of vines of any American winery, even surpassing Mondavi and Gallo. A few things to keep in mind about his vineyards: one is that they are located in what is known as the Central Valley in the California wine world which is notoriously flat and quite hot producing massive yields of overripe grapes. The other thing is that Fred Franzia is no dummy he planted those vineyards in such a way as the rows run north-south, giving the vines maximum sun exposure and he made the rows as long as he possibly could, minimizing the number of turns his tractors would need to make. And third, these aren't hand-picked vineyards ... they are all machine harvested. And that means these large tractors with huge claws go down the rows of vineyards grabbing the grapes and depositing them in its huge receptacle. And it not only grabs ripe grapes, but unripe and down right rotten ones as well and throws them all together. Add to that leaves, stems and any rodents, birds, or insects that may have made those vines their home they all get thrown into the bin as well. And guess what? You think there's going to be any sorting when that truck arrives at the winery (or should I say processing facility)? Nope. Everything, and I do mean everything (including all those unripe grapes, rotten grapes, leaves, stems, birds, rodents, and insects) gets tossed into the crusher and transferred to large tanks to ferment. So think about all the animal blood and parts that may have made their way into your wine next time you crack open that bottle of Two Buck Chuck! Hardly even seems worth the $2 does it? If you were to taste that wine right after it was made, I guarantee you it would be undrinkable. They will then manipulate the finished wine in whatever way necessary, including adding sugar or unfermented grape juice if needed to make the wine palatable. And then the wine goes into bottling, packaging and shipping facilities, all of which Fred Franzia owns himself. They then get put on trucks (also owned by Fred Franzia) and shipped to Trader Joe's. The only part of the process Fred doesn't own is Trader Joe's itself and I'm sure if he got his way, he'd include that in his empire as well. So the summary is this to make $2 wine one must compromise all sense of integrity and quality, own tens of thousands of acres of vineyards in the worst possible wine region possible where land is incredibly cheap and yields are exceptionally high, use machines to execute every part of a homogenized system that substitutes manipulation for hand crafted quality, and own every step of the winemaking process including bottling, packaging and distribution, all while giving the finger to the entire wine industry and plowing down anyone who gets in your way. According to a CNBC report on the controversy engendered when Knox's comments were widely republished three years later: Franzia does use mechanized harvesting, as do an increasing number of grape growers. He insists the machines shake loose everything but the grapes, and there are other methods along the way to filter out leaves, twigs and animal residue. "We're in the grape-picking business," he said. "We're looking for quality wines and quality grapes. We're not looking for animals." Some animal matter does end up in winemaking, as it does in almost all agricultural products. "If you worry about things like that, you shouldn't eat anything, you shouldn't drink anything," Franzia said. "When the wine's fermenting, they're going to eliminate anything that's possibly there." But what about this mysterious "Charles Shaw"? Was he a real person? Indeed he was. Shaw, a Stanford Business School graduate, bought a Napa winery with his wife, Lucy, in 1974 and began to produce Charles Shaw Beaujolais. However, after the Shaws divorced in 1991, they sold the winery. The Charles Shaw label possessed a good reputation, though, and Bronco Wine Co., a mass-market wine conglomerate located in the Central Valley's Stanislaus County, bought it up and revived it in 2002 for sales of a line of inexpensive wines through the Trader Joe's chain of grocery stores. Trader Joe's Additional information: Charles Shaw (Interbrand) Last updated: 15 August 2014 Brown, Corie. "Hard Times at the Winery? Not for Everyone." Los Angeles Times. 26 February 2003 (p. F1). Emert, Carol. "Wine Drinkers Gaga Over 'Two-Buck Chuck'." San Francisco Chronicle. 26 December 2002. Moran, Tim. "$1.99 Wine Is Hottest Deal in Dodge." The Modesto Bee. 25 December 2002. Wells, Jane. "The Really Big Ruckus Over 'Two Buck Chuck.'" CNBC. 14 August 2014. | 1 | [
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FMD4117 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Separatists looked set on Friday to regain power in Catalonia after voters rejected Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy s attempt to neuter its independence movement, instead re-igniting the country s biggest political crisis in decades. Spanish markets recoiled at a surprise result that is also a setback for the European Union, which must now brace for more secessionist noise as it grapples with the disruption of Brexit and simmering east European discontent. By risking a parliamentary election in the region, Rajoy appears to have made the same mistake that leaders including Greece s Alexis Tsipras, Britain s David Cameron and Italy s Matteo Renzi have made in recent years: betting that voters would resolve their troublesome domestic conundrums for them. For an interactive graphics package, click tmsnrt.rs/2AGBazV With well over 99 percent of votes from Thursday s election counted, separatist parties had secured a slim majority. Spain s stock market fell around 1 percent and the country s borrowing costs rose as investors bet the ensuing ramp-up in tensions with its richest region will hurt the euro zone s fourth-largest economy. Rajoy ruled out calling national elections over events that have weakened his authority, while both he and exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont said they were open for dialogue. But they offered no details and such calls in the past have failed to yield any solution. After several strained months that saw secessionists organize an illegal referendum on Oct. 1, and police confiscate urns to try to prevent it from taking place, the election result has done nothing to resolve the standoff either. The secessionists kept a majority, but it was reduced and they may have difficulty forming a government; and support for unionist party Ciudadanos has surged, but not enough to catapult them into power. The divisions are huge. It will take time to mend them and that should be the priority for all political actors, reconciliation within the remit of the law, Rajoy told a news conference at the government s Moncloa headquarters. With Catalonia accounting for a fifth of its economy, Spain had already trimmed growth forecasts for 2018, and the prospect of prolonged uncertainty worries business leaders. More companies leaving, less economic activity there | 1 | [
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FMD4118 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Tom Hayden on the Vietnam War and America’s Collective Memory Posted on Oct 26, 2016
Tom Hayden was a crucial figure in the student activist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, known for participating in anti-war protests and demonstrating for civil rights. Notably, he demonstrated against the Vietnam War and was even arrested for his anti-war efforts. Hayden died on Sunday at the age of 76, but even in the last few years he continued to remind America of the importance of activism.
In a speech given last year at “Vietnam: The Power of Protest,” a conference in Washington, D.C., Hayden cited his activist history and urged Americans not to forget the powerful political movements of earlier decades. “[T]he struggle for memory and for history is a living thing,” he told the audience. “Each generation has to wrestle with the history of what came before, and ask: Whose interest does this history serve? How does it advance a legacy of social movements? How does it deny that legacy?”
Hayden then began to explain the importance of remembering the widespread political activism of the ’60s and ’70s. “We gather here to remember the power that we had at one point, the power of the peace movement, and to challenge the Pentagon now on the battlefield of memory,” he said. He continued:
There came a generation of career politicians who were afraid of association with the peace movement, who were afraid of being seen as soft, who saw that the inside track was the track of war. Our national forgetting is basically pathological. Our systems—politics, media, culture—are totally out of balance today because of our collective refusal to admit that the Vietnam War was wrong and that the peace movement was right. In the absence—in the absence of an established voice for peace in all the institutions, the neoconservatives will fill the foreign policy vacuum. Am I right? Will it not? Will it not advise both parties? I think, though, that American public opinion has shifted to a much more skeptical state of mind than earlier generations, but the spectrum of American politics and media has not.
In order to fully unify, Hayden concluded, America must remember its past. Although he noted the many successes of the anti-war and pro-civil rights movements, he argues that activists must accept that they “all walked away” when the Vietnam War ended. “We might have been united,” Hayden said, “but instead, we were relegated to wondering what might have been.”
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Watch Hayden’s full speech in the video below:
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FMD4119 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A British parliamentary committee has written to Facebook s Mark Zuckerberg asking for information on any paid-for activity by Russian-linked Facebook accounts around the 2016 EU referendum and the 2017 UK election. The request was made by Damian Collins, chair of parliament s Digital, Media and Sport Committee as part of its effort to gather evidence for an inquiry it is conducting into fake news. Part of this inquiry will focus on the role of foreign actors abusing platforms such as yours to interfere in the political discourse of other nations, Collins wrote in a letter to Zuckerberg circulated to media by the committee. He asked Facebook to provide examples of all adverts bought by Russian-linked accounts, of all pages set up by Russian-linked accounts, information on the targeting of such adverts and pages and how many times they were viewed. I believe that the information I have requested is in line with that already supplied to Facebook to several United States Senate Committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, in relation to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, wrote Collins. The committee of British lawmakers launched its inquiry into fake news in January but it was suspended when a general election was called for June. The closing date for submitting evidence is Nov. 7. The inquiry aims to shed light on issues such as the impact of fake news on public understanding of the world and response to traditional journalism, the responsibilities of social media platforms and how people can be educated to assess news sources. The issue of whether and how much Russia intervened in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is a huge issue in Washington, where it is the subject of multiple investigations. Facebook said on Oct. 2 that some 10 million people in the United States saw politically divisive ads on its network that were purchased in Russia in the months before and after the presidential election. In Britain, interest in whether Russia also played a part in domestic political processes such as the June 2016 referendum on withdrawing from the European Union and the June 2017 general election has been increasing in recent weeks. Last week, another member of parliament, Ben Bradshaw, called on the government to get to the bottom of reports of opaque funding sources for some elements of the pro-Brexit campaign, citing widespread concern over foreign and particularly Russian interference . Russia has denied interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. | 1 | [
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FMD4120 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A dozen politically active pastors came here for a private dinner Friday night to hear a conversion story unique in the context of presidential politics: how Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal traveled from Hinduism to Protestant Christianity and, ultimately, became what he calls an “evangelical Catholic.â€
Over two hours, Jindal, 42, recalled talking with a girl in high school who wanted to “save my soul,†reading the Bible in a closet so his parents would not see him and feeling a stir while watching a movie during his senior year that depicted Jesus on the cross.
“I was struck, and struck hard,†Jindal told the pastors. “This was the Son of God, and He had died for our sins.â€
Jindal’s session with the Christian clergy, who lead congregations in the early presidential battleground states of Iowa and South Carolina, was part of a behind-the-scenes effort by the Louisiana governor to find a political base that could help propel him into the top tier of Republican candidates seeking to run for the White House in 2016.
Known in GOP circles mostly for his mastery of policy issues such as health care, Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of the Ivy League’s Brown University, does not have an obvious pool of activist supporters to help drive excitement outside his home state. So he is harnessing his religious experience in a way that has begun to appeal to parts of the GOP’s influential core of religious conservatives, many of whom have yet to find a favorite among the Republicans eyeing the presidential race.
Other potential 2016 GOP candidates are wooing the evangelical base, including Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
But over the weekend in Lynchburg — a mecca of sorts for evangelicals as the home of Liberty University, founded in the 1970s by the Rev. Jerry Falwell — Jindal appeared to make progress.
In addition to his dinner with the pastors, he delivered a well-received “call to action†address to 40,000 Christian conservatives gathered for Liberty’s commencement ceremony, talking again about his faith while assailing what he said was President Obama’s record of attacking religious liberty.
The pastors who came to meet Jindal said his intimate descriptions of his experiences stood out.
“He has the convictions, and he has what it takes to communicate them,†said Brad Sherman of Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville, Iowa. Sherman helped former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in his winning 2008 campaign for delegates in Iowa.
Another Huckabee admirer, the Rev. C. Mitchell Brooks of Second Baptist Church in Belton, S.C., said Jindal’s commitment to Christian values and his compelling story put him “on a par†with Huckabee, who was a Baptist preacher before entering politics.
The visiting pastors flew to Lynchburg over the weekend at the invitation of the American Renewal Project, a well-funded nonprofit group that encourages evangelical Christians to engage in the civic arena with voter guides, get-out-the-vote drives and programs to train pastors in grass-roots activism. The group’s founder, David Lane, has built a pastor network in politically important states such as Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and South Carolina and has led trips to Israel with Paul and others seeking to make inroads with evangelical activists.
The group that Lane invited to Lynchburg included Donald WildÂmon, a retired minister and founder of the American Family Association, a prominent evangelical activist group that has influence through its network of more than 140 Christian radio stations.
Most of the pastors that Lane’s organization brought to Lynchburg had not met Jindal. But they said he captured their interest recently when he stepped forward to defend Phil Robertson, patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty†television-show family, amid a controversy over disparaging remarks he made about gays in an interview with GQ magazine.
Throughout his Lynchburg visit, Jindal presented himself as a willing culture warrior.
During his commencement address Saturday, he took up the cause of twin brothers whose HGTV reality series about renovating and reselling houses, “Flip It Forward,†was canceled last week after a Web site revealed that they had protested against same-sex marriage at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
The siblings, Jason and David Benham, both Liberty graduates, attended the graduation and a private lunch with Jindal, who called the action against them “another demonstration of intolerance from the entertainment industry.â€
“If these guys had protested at the Republican Party convention, instead of canceling their show, HGTV would probably have given them a raise,†Jindal said as the Liberty crowd applauded.
He cited the Hobby Lobby craft store chain, which faced a legal challenge after refusing to provide employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives as required under the Affordable Care Act. Members of the family that owns Hobby Lobby, who have become heroes to many religious conservatives, have said that they are morally opposed to the use of certain types of birth control and that they considered the requirement a violation of their First Amendment right to religious freedom.
The family was “committed to honor the Lord by being generous employers, paying well above minimum wage and increasing salaries four years in a row even in the midst of the enduring recession,†Jindal told the Liberty graduates. “None of this matters to the Obama administration.â€
But for the pastors who came to see Jindal in action, the governor’s own story was the highlight of the weekend. And in many ways, he was unlike any other aspiring president these activists had met.
Piyush Jindal was born in 1971, four months after his parents arrived in Baton Rouge, La., from their native India. He changed his name to Bobby as a young boy, adopting the name of a character on a favorite television show, “The Brady Bunch.â€
His decision to become a Christian, he told the pastors, did not come in one moment of lightning epiphany. Instead, he said, it happened in phases, growing from small seeds planted over time.
Jindal recalled that his closest friend from grade school gave him a Bible with his name emblazoned in gold on the cover as a Christmas present. It struck him initially as an unimpressive gift, Jindal told the pastors.
“Who in the world would spend good money for a Bible when everyone knows you can get one free in any hotel?†he recalled thinking at the time. “And the gold lettering meant I couldn’t give it away or return it.â€
His religious education reached a higher plane during his junior year in high school, he told his dinner audience. He wanted to ask a pretty girl on a date during a hallway conversation, and she started talking about her faith in God and her opposition to abortion. The girl invited him to visit her church.
Jindal said he was skeptical and set out to “investigate all these fanciful claims†made by the girl and other friends. He started reading the Bible in his closet at home. “I was unsure how my parents would react,†he said.
After the stirring moment when he saw Christ depicted on the cross during the religious movie, the Bible and his very existence suddenly seemed clearer to him, Jindal told the pastors.
Jindal did not dwell on his subsequent conversion to Catholicism just a few years later in college, where he said he immersed himself in the traditions of the church.
He touched on it briefly during the commencement address, noting in passing that “I am best described as an evangelical Catholic.†Mostly, he sought to showcase the ways in which he shares values with other Christian conservatives.
“I read the words of Jesus Christ, and I realized that they were true,†Jindal told the graduates Saturday, offering a less detailed accounting of his conversion than he had done the night before with the pastors. “I used to think that I had found God, but I believe it is more accurate to say that He found me.†| 1 | [
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FMD4121 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: In many ways Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar, symbolize their country s emergence after decades of isolation. Both from modest, provincial backgrounds, they worked hard to pursue careers that would have been impossible in the junta era into which they were born. Following are profiles of the two journalists, who were arrested on Dec. 12 and have been held since then without contact with their families or a lawyer, accused of breaching the country s Official Secrets Act: Wa Lone, 31, grew up in Kin Pyit, a village of some 100 households in the Shwe Bo district north of Mandalay, on Myanmar s dry central plain between the mighty Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers. One of five children, his parents were rice farmers and there was little money. His mother died from cancer when he was young. But he was a good student, according to friends and family, and took a keen interest in news from an early age. One of his brothers, Thura Aung, remembers Wa Lone, aged around 10, watching bulletins on a shared TV in their village. Sometimes he would play at being an anchor, said Thura Aung, 26. He always said he wanted to be a reporter in the future. After finishing school at 16 he enrolled as a student at a government technical university, but left after a couple of semesters because his family could not afford the tuition. Around 2004 he went to Mawlamyine, Myanmar s fourth biggest city, living in a Buddhist monastery where his uncle was a monk. In exchange for a place to stay, he would get up at 5 a.m. to clean and prepare food for the monks before going to work at a photo services business. Wa Lone showed a talent for design and photography, and soon set up a small photo services shop of his own, which he ran with Thura Aung. In December 2010, having saved a little money, the brothers moved back to Yangon, where Wa Lone could pursue his boyhood dream. Living in North Okklapa township, near the city s airport, they re-established their photo services business, while Wa Lone also enrolled in a media training school and later began taking English classes. Mindy Walker, an American teacher who met him in 2012, recalls a skinny kid from the village who had little interaction with foreigners . He was so nervous he fled her English class the first time he was called on to answer a question. We still joke about that moment and he tells every new student in our class that story so that they feel more confident, said Walker in an email. His heart is huge and he is always encouraging others to succeed. Within five or six months Wa Lone had landed his first job in journalism on the weekly People s Age in Yangon, where his editor was Pe Myint | 1 | [
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FMD4122 | 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: Seller of Beechcraft aircraft Claim summaries: Did the U.S. government unfairly exclude Hawker Beechcraft from bidding to supply military aircraft for Afghanistan?
contextual information: Claim: The U.S. government unfairly excluded Hawker Beechcraft from bidding to supply military aircraft for Afghanistan. Examples: [Collected via e-mail, December 2011] "Any president whose actions so consistently refute his own words must have deep contempt for the intelligence of the American public." The obama administration told U.S. owned Hawker Beechcraft earlier this week they are being excluded from bidding on the US Air Force contract for a light attack aircraft. That leaves Brazilian owned Embraer as the likely recipient of the lucrative deal. I found this one hard to believe so I did a little research. It was tough because this was completely ignored by the main stream media. This is a double slap in the face of the United States. At a time when jobs, the economy, and security are the most critical priorities for our country, the Obama administration decides to send a defense contract to a foreign owned company. This has to be the stupidest thing this administration has done to date. This is not just a dumb decision, it is a perfect example of why this president is such a poor leader. He talks about wanting jobs. He says we need to force companies to repatriate billions of dollars that Americans keep overseas. He wants to raise taxes so he can spend billions on stimulus that does nothing to stimulate anything. And when it's time to act, he sends our tax dollars overseas at the expense of American jobs and income for an American company. This is nothing more than a Chicago-style political pay back; but this time it is at the expense of our national security. How much more damage will obama be allowed to do in the next 14 months? One of the lead stories in the media this week blasted congress for insider trading. If this contract goes to Embraer it will be a huge pay off to another George Soros company. When will the 4th estate do it's constitutionally protected job and expose the real obama to the American people? Origins: On 30 December 2011, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it had awarded a $355 million contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) for 20 light air-support/single-engine turboprop aircraft that will serve as both trainers and ground-attack planes for Afghanistan's air force. Wichita-based aircraft manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft (HBDC) had hoped that their AT-6 aircraft, an armed version of their T-6 trainer which is currently used by the U.S. military, would be chosen for the contract, but the U.S. Air Force (USAF) excluded the AT-6 from the running, leaving the A-29 Super Tucano built by Sierra Nevada Corp. in partnership with Brazil-based Embraer as the lone eligible supplier. Hawker Beechcraft Corp. has since filed suit against the U.S. government over the exclusion, maintaining that the Air Force had not provided them with sufficient detail about the reasons behind their exclusion and that Embraer had been unfairly favored: The suit alleges the exclusion was "arbitrary and capricious" and seeks to prevent the government from awarding a contract until Beechcraft can make its case in court. "This is yet another example of the Air Force's lack of transparency throughout this competition," said Bill Boisture, Hawker Beechcraft chairman and CEO, in a statement. "With this development, it now seems even clearer that the Air Force intended to award the contract to Embraer from early in this process." "We think we were wrongfully excluded from the competition," Boisture said. "We don't understand the basis for the exclusion, and frankly, we think we've got the best airplane. "So we're going to take every avenue available to us to make sure our product is fully evaluated and recognized for what it is. There are several issues here that just, frankly, don't make sense." The Air Force maintains that the process was fair, that Hawker Beechcraft was excluded because "multiple deficiencies and significant weaknesses found in HBDC's proposal make it technically unacceptable and results in unacceptable mission capability risk," and that the company failed to respond to its notice of exclusion in time to request a debriefing or file a protest: respond Lt. Col. Wesley Miller, an Air Force spokesman, said the contest "was conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations" and that the evaluation of the aircraft "was fair, open and transparent." In dismissing Hawker Beechcraft Corp from the competition, the Air Force found Hawker Beechcraft's bid "technically unacceptable," one that would result in an "unacceptable mission capability risk." The Air Force said the company missed a three-day deadline to file a request for a debriefing and a 10-day deadline to file a protest. It is not possible at this point to definitively determine why the USAF excluded Hawker Beechcraft from the Light Aircraft Support (LAS) bidding, as ongoing litigation prevents the Air Force from releasing information regarding the competition, but according to industry observers the primary issue behind Hawker Beechcraft's disqualification was that the LAS contract called for a non-developmental, production-ready aircraft, and Hawker Beechcraft's AT-6 was still a developmental aircraft. observers According to SNC's own statement on the issue: statement In its Request for Proposal, the Air Force specifically sought a non-developmental, in-production aircraft so that warfighters in-theater could have an advanced solution quickly and so that American taxpayers would not have to pay development costs. The plane proposed by SNC's competitor is a developmental aircraft that is not in production and has never been used for light air support or any other purpose. The AT-6 is a developmental aircraft. With only two prototypes in existence, it has never been in production. In contrast, the aircraft selected by the Air Force and to be provided by SNC, Embraer's A-29 Super Tucano, is a light air support aircraft that is currently in use with six air forces around the world. Unlike the AT-6, the A-29 Super Tucano has more than seven years of real-world combat and training experience behind it. This means that its operational costs are known and that all costly development issues related to weapons load, maneuverability and operations have already been worked out. Only the A-29 Super Tucano has actually flown in combat. More significantly, only the A-29 was built from the ground up to perform counterinsurgency and light air support operations. The A-29 is larger in size allowing it to make full use of the 1,600-hp engine without power limitations due to torque. It sits higher off the ground and has a broader stance, increasing stability on unprepared airfields. The A-29's longer tail section increases longitudinal stability and provides exceptional accuracy for the delivery of weapons. Only the A-29 delivery system is specifically designed with the five NATO hard points for external stores, translating into maximum operational flexibility for the war fighters in the theater. The AT-6 carries no munitions in its native configuration. This is a critical difference. The A-29 also is munitions-certified with over 130 operational external load configurations. The AT-6 is not yet munitions-certified. In February 2012, the Air Force announced it was canceling the contract with Sierra Nevada Corp. pending an investigation of the award: General Donald Hoffman, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command, has started an investigation, Jennifer Cassidy, an Air Force Spokeswoman, said. She said she didn't know whether the contract would be re-opened for competition and didn't elaborate on the reason for the cancellation. "While we pursue perfection, we sometimes fall short, and when we do we will take corrective action," Michael B. Donley, the Air Force secretary, said in a statement. "Since the acquisition is still in litigation, I can only say that the Air Force Senior Acquisition Executive, David Van Buren, is not satisfied with the quality of the documentation supporting the award decision." The awarding of the Air Force contract to a partner of Brazil-based Embraer did not necessarily mean that all the jobs connected with the contract would be sent overseas, as Embraer said that its partner, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp., would build the turboprops in Jacksonville, Florida, if it won the contract: The A-29 Super Tucano will be built in America. Embraer will make the plane at a new production facility in Jacksonville, Fla. Over 88 percent of the dollar value of the A-29 Super Tucano comes from components supplied by U.S. companies or countries that qualify under the Buy America Act. No new jobs are being created in Brazil as a result of this contract. Despite the claim made in the example text reproduced above that the subject of Hawker Beechcraft's exclusion was "completely ignored by the mainstream media," it has in fact received widespread news coverage in a variety of media sources, including at least five of the nine highest-circulation newspapers in the U.S. (The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the San Jose Mercury News, the New York Post, and the Chicago Tribune). widespread Also, we found no evidence to support the claim that "If this contract goes to Embraer it will be a huge pay off to another George Soros company," as we turned up no information indicating that George Soros holds an ownership stake in Embraer. The closest connection we found between George Soros and Embraer seems to be that the former is one of the leading shareholders in China's Hainan Airlines Group (HNA), and HNA bought ERJ-145 jets from Harbin Embraer, a partnership between Embraer and the Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation of Harbin, China. However, that connection makes Soros a customer of Embraer, not an owner, and therefore does not put him in a position to profit from the awarding of an Air Force contact to Embraer. shareholders Last updated: 5 March 2012 Hodge, Nathan. "Hawker Beechcraft Sues Over Air Force Bidding." The Wall Street Journal. 28 December 2011. Hodge, Nathan. "Embraer Hits Defense Barrier." The Wall Street Journal. 11 January 2012. Ivory, Danielle. "Air Force Cancels Contract to Sierra After Hawker Protest." San Francisco Chronicle. 1 March 2012. McMillin, Molly. "Hawker Requests GAO Review of Air Force Deal." The Wichita Eagle. 22 November 2011. McMillin, Molly. "Hawker Beechcraft Files Suit Over Air Force Contract." The Wichita Eagle. 28 December 2011. Associated Press. "Hawker Beechcraft Sues Over Air Force Contract." 28 December 2011. Associated Press. "Air Force Temporarily Halts Work After Hawker Beechcraft Lawsuit." The Washington Post. 5 January 2012. | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD4123 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: George Soros financed street riots in Hamburg during the G20 summit: his representatives paid 150 euros a day to each participant of the protest and gave them Molotov cocktails. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4124 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Melania Trump, who has been all but invisible as her husband confronts a campaign crisis over allegations that he sexually assaulted women, emerged on Monday to forcefully defend him and question the honesty of the women making the accusations. Ms. Trump, in an extensive interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, said the women who had accused Donald J. Trump of groping and kissing them were lying, and likened her husband to a teenage boy who engages in macho boasting. She echoed her husband’s complaint that he was the victim of a broad conspiracy between the news media and the Clinton campaign. “I believe my husband, I believe my husband — it was all organized from the opposition,†Ms. Trump said. “They can never check the background of these women. They don’t have any facts. †Her appearance comes as Mr. Trump and his aides grapple with the worst stretch of the campaign so far, after the airing 10 days ago of an “Access Hollywood†recording from 2005 that captured Mr. Trump bragging to the host Billy Bush that he kisses women without invitation and that he can grab women’s genitals because he is a “star. †Ms. Trump, 46, called the exchange between Mr. Trump and Mr. Bush “boy talk,†and said Mr. Trump had been “egged on†by the host “to say dirty and bad stuff. †But she stressed that she believed that Mr. Trump was simply being boastful and did not engage in the behavior he described. “Sometimes I say I have two boys at home: I have my young son, and I have my husband,†she said with a slight laugh. “But I know how some men talk, and that’s how I saw it, yes. †Mr. Trump’s aides have been eager for his wife to make a public show of support for him, especially after the “Access Hollywood†recording dominated several media cycles and drove some Republican elected officials to abandon his candidacy. A week ago, Mr. Trump’s adult children, along with aides to his campaign, urged Ms. Trump to agree to a interview with her husband, an echo of the “60 Minutes†interview that Bill and Hillary Clinton did in 1992 after sexual infidelity allegations arose against Mr. Clinton. That appearance helped stabilize Mr. Clinton’s presidential campaign. But Ms. Trump had little interest in it, and the idea died. Ms. Trump has never enjoyed the political stage, and was stung by media coverage in July, when it was revealed that her anticipated Republican National Convention speech borrowed lines from Michelle Obama’s 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention. She has been absent from the campaign trail since, save for brief appearances at the first two general election debates, and has been spending time with the couple’s young son, Barron. She put out a written statement of support for her husband after the tape surfaced. But with Mr. Trump’s favorability among women perilously low, his advisers wanted Ms. Trump to do more. Seated in the family’s penthouse atop Trump Tower, Ms. Trump seemed occasionally ill at ease but determined to convey several points: that her husband is a gentleman, that the media is out to get him and that she is staying strong despite the ugliness. She showed an ability to remain on message that her husband sometimes lacks. “I watched TV hour after hour bashing him,†Ms. Trump said of the television coverage the weekend the recording was first revealed. She said her husband was defending himself against the accusations because “they’re lies. †She also said her husband was approached by many women who were sexually forward with him. “I see many, many women coming to him and giving the phone numbers and, you know, want to work for him or inappropriate stuff from women,†she said. “And they know he’s married. †Ms. Trump steadily answered most of Mr. Cooper’s polite but probing questions, though she suggested that some information she would keep private, including the details of the conversation the couple had after the tape came out. She also taped an interview for “Fox and Friends†that will appear Tuesday morning. Mr. Trump has vehemently denied the claims of his accusers, calling them elements of a conspiracy led partly by news media outlets, particularly CNN and The New York Times. Yet despite Mr. Trump’s criticism of CNN and its reporting, and even as some of his supporters at a rally on Monday used an chant, Ms. Trump still selected Mr. Cooper to interview her. Asked on Fox whether it was fair for her husband to bring up Mr. Clinton’s past, Ms. Trump said, “Well, if they bring up my past, why not?†She was alluding to a television ad run during the Republican Party’s nominating fight that featured a nude photo spread from Ms. Trump’s days as a model. Speaking to Mr. Cooper, Ms. Trump repeatedly denounced what she saw as the meanness and inaccuracy of media accounts about her, and she said she would like to work to protect children from the toxic dangers of negativity and anger on social media. She has withdrawn from her own social media accounts, Ms. Trump said, rarely posting during the campaign. “I see the negativity, and it’s not healthy,†she said. But when asked whether she has advised the same to her husband, a frequent Twitter user who often attacks others on his feed, she replied, “That’s his decision. He’s an adult. †“I give him many advices, but sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn’t, and he will do what he wants to do at the end, and I will do what I want to do,†she said. | 1 | [
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FMD4125 | 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: Elena Kagan Tied to Obama's Birth Certificate Claim summaries: WND falsely claimed Obama nominated Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court as a reward for getting 9 eligibility challenges about his birth certificate dismissed.
contextual information: Claim: President Obama nominated Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court as a reward for her help in getting nine challenges to his eligibility dismissed. Example: [Collected via e-mail, August 2010] Well, someone figured out why Obama nominated Elana Kagan for theSupreme Court. Pull up the Supreme Courts website, go to the docketand search for Obama. She was the Solicitor General for all the suitsagainst him filed with the Supreme Court to show proof of natural borncitizenship. He owes her big time. All of the requests were denied of course.They were never heard. It just keeps getting deeper and deeper, doesn't it? The American people mean nothing any longer. It's all about paybacktime for those that compromised themselves to elect someone thatreally has no true right to even be there. We should be getting sosick of all of this nonsense. The USA has finally become the laughingstock of the world. GOD help and deliver us. Variations: An e-mailed screed claiming that thisarticle is wrong is itself wrong. screed Origins: Rumors that Elena Kagan was nominated for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama as a tit-for-tat payment of Kagan's assistance in using her position as U.S. Solicitor General to fend off lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility for the presidency began circulating in August 2010, prompted by a 4 August 2010 online article published byWorldNetDaily (WND). That article claimed that Kagan "has actually been playing a role forsome time in the dispute over whether Obama is legally qualified to be in the White House" and that a "simple search of the high court's own website reveals Kagan's name coming up at least nine times on dockets involving Obama eligibility issues," then went on to suggest that all nine of the referenced docket items article were dismissed due to Kagan's influence, an action for which President Obama "owes her big time" and has rewarded her with a quid pro quo Supreme Courtnomination. One small problem for the advocates of this political conspiracy theory: None of the nine docket items cited by WND was about "whether Obama is legally qualified to be in the White House." The WND article simply cites the results of a non-specific search on all Supreme Court docket items containing the names "Obama" and "Kagan" and misleadingly claims them all as "involving Obama eligibility issues," without regard for the real underlying issues of those cases.* search * Each of the docket items included the name of the lower court from which it was appealed, as well as a case number. Using those pieces of information as reference points for looking up the subject of each of the cited docket items (as WND utterly failed to do) revealed that NONE of the nine entries cited by WND had anything at all to do with cases challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to hold the office of President of the United States; in fact, most of them actually stemmed from cases which were originally filed against the federal government long before the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama (but which since "rolled over" to the current administration). The nine entries cited by WND comprised cases filed by: Gary William Holt, a federal prisoner in Tennessee who was convicted of firearms-related offenses and whose case is a prisoner civil rights issue filed during the Bush administration. Gary William Holt Jerome Julius Brown, whose case not only long antedates the Obama administration, but is also largely incomprehensible and has nothing do to with eligibility issues. The case was originally dismissed by a lower court that could not discern either "which claims are made against which defendants on what basis" nor what "relief [the] plaintiff demands," and a description of the case provides some idea of why the lower court found it unworthy of consideration: Jerome Julius Brown description This matter is before the Court on the Complaint filed by Plaintiff Jerome Julius Brown ("Brown"), who refers to himself as "U.S. Bounty # 1014, U.S.A., Mr. Jerome Julius Brown Sr. et al." On June 7, 2010, Brown filed a one-page Complaint accompanied by 167 pages of attachments. The one-page Complaint is incomprehensible. It consists of several disjointed sentence fragments that do not make sense. It refers to a "petition for writ and attachments," an appeal from a magistrate judge, the United States Marshals Service, "assessment & taxation no real property data land condemnation business check card" and demands $70,000.00. The attachments include copies of his Maryland Driver's License, a business check card apparently issued to him by Chevy Chase Bank, and a Federal Express account card. Other attachments demonstrate that he has filed other lawsuits against Chevy Chase Bank, and that he has filed other lawsuits against other various persons and entities. Also included among the attachments are copies of various checks drawn on what appears to be a business account for "Zip One Mail Contractor Courier" and "Jerome Julius Brown," an "ID Theft Affidavit" that refers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a credit report for Brown that includes handwritten notes regarding purported fraud and identity theft, and what appears to be a copy of a home equity loan application. Louis Lutz, a truck driver who was employed as a U.S. Army civilian contractor in Iraq between 2004 to 2006 (long before the advent of the Obama administration) and whose case has to do with the combatant status of civilian contractors and employees working in Iraq and Afghanistan, not presidential eligibility issues. Louis Lutz Two filings involving Abdul Hamid Abdul Salam Al-Ghizzawi, a Libyan citizen seeking release from his incarceration at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. (Al-Ghizzawi was finally released in March 2010, after seven years of imprisonment.) Abdul Hamid Abdul Salam Al-Ghizzawi released Three filings involving Jamal Kiyemba, a Ugandan who was incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station for four years beginning in 2002. (Although Kiyemba was released from Guantanamo in 2006, due to "some procedural detail of the American legal system, Jamal Kiyembas name remains in the headlines of the highly public legal battle that began as Kiyemba v. Bush and which sits now on the desks of the nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States under its new name: Kiyemba v. Obama." The case is a separation-of-powers issue that has nothing to do with presidential eligibility.) Jamal Kiyemba The Real Truth About Obama, Inc., a case which, although the plaintiff's name might suggest a presidential eligibility issue, is actually a challenge to three Federal Election Commission regulations which the plaintiff organization alleges are "unconstitutionally overbroad" and thereby infringed their right "to disseminate information about presidential candidate Senator Obama's position on abortion." The Real Truth About Obama, Inc. After we published our article on this topic, WND hurriedly scrubbed the original article from their site without explanation, then misleadingly replaced it three days later with a thoroughly rewritten article on a different topic which was prefaced by an Editor's Note acknowledging their error: replaced Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described a series of cases for which Elena Kagan represented the government as eligibility cases. Those cases, in fact, were a series of unrelated disputes pending before the Supreme Court and the references have been removed from this report. Many people unfamiliar with the function of the Solictor General's office have claimed that even if the referenced docket items are not cases involving eligibility issues, they somehow demonstrate a questionable or inappropriate connection between Barack Obama and Elena Kagan, as if the latter personally represented the former in court and was rewarded for her efforts with a Supreme Court nomination. This claim is also false One of the duties of the Solicitor General is, in layman's terms, to act as advocate for the United States before the Supreme Courtin any lawsuits filed against the federal government over abridgements of constitutional rights; thus the current Solicitor General's name will appear on virtually every Supreme Court docket item entered during his or her tenure. (Indeed, a simple search of docket items for the name "Elena Kagan" turns up over 500 matching entries.) Because such lawsuits often name the President of the United States as a respondent, it is also not uncommon for the current president's name to appear on such docket items (even if he was not yet in office at the time the underlying cases were originally filed in lower courts). In all such cases, however, the Solicitor General functions as a representative of the interests of the federal government, not as personal counsel for the President. (Several dozen Supreme Court docket items still identify Barack Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, as a respondent, and in every one of those cases the Solicitor General is likewise listed as an attorney for the respondent.) search George W. Bush *NOTE: Immediately after we published this piece, WND scrubbed all references to the original article from their web site without explanation. Three days later, WND misleadingly replaced the original with a thoroughly rewritten article on a completely different topic. Last updated: 3 August 2015 | 2 | [
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FMD4126 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: This cop killer was a hateful, racist sub-human. He not only hated white people and cops, he bragged about it. The scary thing is, much like ISIS, who has no trouble recruiting people with hate in their hearts, there are no shortage of people to carry out Obama s war on cops in America. These are terrorists and our very own President has inspired these people to act on their hate for Whites, for cops and for America. This, is Obama s real legacy The 29 year old ex-marine, Gavin Eugene Long, who ambushed and killed three unsuspecting Baton Rouge police officers on Sunday morning, hated those who did not share his skin-tone and harbored a particular hatred for the police. As revealed in the hours after the shootings, a Youtube account operated by Long under the handle I Am Cosmo where the alleged killer posted dozens of clips, provides insight into what motivated the young man to kill three police officers and wound three more on his 29th birthday.In the Youtube videos, Long rants against crackers, and makes multiple references to the July 5th killing of Alton Sterling at the hands of police officers only five miles away from Sunday s attack. The videos also detail that Long is a member of the Nation of Islam, labelled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its black supremacist and racist views towards Jews, Asians, and whites which the group s leaders argue have sucked the blood from and exploited the black community.As Daily Caller details, the 29-year-old was a native of Kansas City, Missouri and was honorably discharged from the Marines in 2010 after reaching the rank of E-5. He preferred to go by the name Cosmo Ausar Setepenra rather than Gavin Eugene Long.In a video published on Thursday, the racist shooter says that If I would have been there with Alton Clap before promoting a book that he wrote that discusses black liberation ideology. I wrote it for my dark-skinned brothers, said Long. If you look at all the rebels like Black Panthers, Huey P. Newton, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad, they was light-skinned. But we know how hard y all got it. https://youtu.be/kGuUq6eUoFwThe assailant also suggested that the black community should buy only from black-owned businesses rather than working for the white people. In one video Long is heard lamented working for the white people. He encouraged one man riding in his vehicle as he filmed using a body camera to shop only at black-owned businesses. He brought up a hypothetical scenario in which a family member who wanted to buy carpet was forced to buy from non-black business owners saying Who s she going to f with? The cracker, the Arab, the Chinese? These Arabs, these Indians, they don t give two fucks about us, said the shooter.Come to think of it, he may have a point. Via: Zero HedgeThis loser has his own Youtube channel. If you care to stomach has cancer-like rhetoric, you can find his channel HERE. | 0 | [
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FMD4127 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. senators reached an agreement on Monday on legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, including a provision that would prevent the White House from easing, suspending or ending sanctions without congressional approval. The agreement, to be filed as an amendment to an Iran sanctions bill, is intended to punish Russia over issues including its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for the government of Syria in that country’s six-year-long civil war. [L1N1J41LS] The Iran bill is due come up for a vote as soon as this week. Besides the provision setting up a process for Congress to review changes in sanctions, the measure would put into law sanctions previously established via presidential executive order, including some on certain Russian energy projects and debt financing in some industries. It would impose new sanctions on Russians found to be guilty of human rights abuses, supplying weapons to Syria’s government and conduct cyber attacks on behalf of Russia’s government, among others. The measure also would allow new sanctions on Russian mining, metals, shipping and railways. The legislation is backed by both Republicans and Democrats, and is expected to easily pass the Senate. It was introduced amid an intense focus in the U.S. capital on relations with Russia, and investigations by the Department of Justice and congressional committees of whether Russia sought to influence the 2016 U.S. elections to help elect Republican President Donald Trump, and whether Trump associates colluded with Moscow as it sought to influence the election. To become law, the legislation would have to pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by Trump. If Trump objected, some of its backers said they expected enough congressional support to override a veto. “These additional sanctions will ... send a powerful and bipartisan statement to Russia and any other country who might try to interfere in our elections that they will be punished,†Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. Russia has denied attempting to interfere in the U.S election, and Trump has dismissed any talk of collusion. The measure also authorizes “robust assistance†to strengthen democratic institutions and counter disinformation in European countries that might be targeted by what the legislation’s sponsors described as Russian aggression. In December, the final full month of President Barack Obama’s administration, Washington sanctioned Russian businessmen and companies for Moscow’s role in Ukraine via executive order. | 1 | [
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FMD4128 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: With the U.S. election just days away, Americans can expect to see an occasional “nasty woman†and “basket of deplorables†knocking on doors this Halloween alongside the usual parade of goblins, ghosts and ghouls. Revelers are planning costumes inspired by the campaign for the Nov. 8 election, seeking catharsis and humor at the end of the often bitterly fought White House race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Ted Wright, a marketing executive from Atlanta, said he and his wife were planning to dress as a “bad hombre†and “nasty woman,†respectively, references to Trump’s much-ridiculed remarks about some Mexican immigrants and Clinton during a presidential debate on Oct. 19. “This is one of those elections where it’s very difficult to discuss [it] in polite company,†said Wright, 49, a Republican who said he would not vote for Trump. “That is why we’re going ‘bad hombre’ and we’re going ‘nasty woman.’†Hannah Hemperly, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, said she planned to dress up as a “nasty woman†as well. “When (Trump) was calling (Clinton) a ‘nasty woman,’ I think I just felt solidarity with Hillary,†said Hemperly, who lives in Chicago and planned to vote for the Democratic nominee. Jake West, who works at a Chicago-area architecture firm, said he was going to assemble a group of friends to dress as a “basket of deplorables,†a reference to Clinton’s infamous put-down during a fundraiser of some Trump supporters. West, 43, latched onto the idea “because that word, that phrase, ‘basket of deplorables’ has been flying around so much.†More traditional election-related costumes were also popular ahead of the fancy dress parties and parades planned for the days around Halloween, Oct. 31. Foam Clinton and Trump masks priced at $12.99 were among the top-sellers at Spirit Halloween, according to a spokeswoman for the chain, which specializes in costumes and party supplies. By Wednesday, the Clinton mask had sold out online. Corey Campbell of Virginia said he would shave his beard to mark a briefly famous moment in the campaign. Campbell planned to dress as Ken Bone, the mustachioed, red sweater-wearing audience member who became a social media sensation after he cut into the campaign acrimony to ask an earnest question about energy policy during a town hall presidential debate on Oct. 9. Campbell, who said he was leaning toward voting for Trump, called Bone “a bright moment in this crazy campaign cycle.†“I think the only way you could not have a little campaign fatigue after this cycle is if you haven’t been paying attention.†| 1 | [
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FMD4129 | 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 Olive Garden facing closure? Claim summaries: An online ad promoting a list of restaurants closing in 2020 may have stopped breadstick-lovers in their tracks.
contextual information: In December 2020, an online advertisement displayed a picture of an Olive Garden Italian Restaurant sign along with text that read: "Closing Time: Here's All The Restaurant Chains Closing in 2020." This advertisement was misleading. Olive Garden is not closing all of its restaurants. Readers who clicked the advertisement were led to a 50-page story on the website Money Pop. 50-page story While the advertisement promised a list of restaurant chains that would be closing in 2020, the headline on the actual story was different: "These Popular Restaurant Chains Are Losing Money Fast." headline The story mentioned Olive Garden, but it only mentioned that two locations had closed in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Birmingham, Alabama, in March and April, respectively. Springfield, Massachusetts Birmingham, Alabama Olive Garden did not go out of business in 2020, but that's not to say it hadn't faced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus had led to the closure of dine-in services at thousands of different restaurants across the United States. This meant less revenue, which resulted in lost jobs. In many cases, restaurants closed. lost jobs restaurants closed On June 22, 2020, Nation's Restaurant News reported that National Restaurant Association President and CEO Tom Ben said the restaurant industry had faced "catastrophic losses." reported Darden Restaurants owns the Olive Garden brand, as well as LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, and Eddie V's. On Dec. 9, 2020, InvestorPlace.com reported that Darden had managed to survive the pandemic thus far, but it also asked: "What's next for Darden Restaurants?" reported The bull case is built on a bear case regarding other restaurants. Without government help, small operators are closing by the score. This means chains like Darden may be all thats left when people again feel safe to eat out. Darden has managed to make money at Olive Garden while closing half its tables. It reinstated the dividend and paid back its $270 million emergency loan. Once the pandemic is over, Cramer predicts, fast-casual chains like Olive Garden will be the height of fine dining. the height of fine dining. Darden is expected to report earnings Dec. 18, for the quarter ending in November. The estimate is for 72 cents per share of net income on $1.7 billion of sales. That would beat last years profit on 17% less revenue. on $1.7 billion of sales on 17% less revenue The Money Pop story also mentioned The Cheesecake Factory on its list. We previously covered that rumor as well. previously covered Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising "arbitrage." The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads. submit ads to us | 0 | [
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FMD4130 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump convenes a gathering of leaders of some of the largest technology companies at his New York headquarters on Wednesday as he continues to form his administration before taking office on Jan. 20. The session is billed as an introductory meeting that would not result in any job or investment announcements, sources said. Below is a list of attendees expected at the summit, according to sources. Trump’s transition team has announced the meeting but did not name any invited executives during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. * CEO Larry Page of Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company * Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook * Facebook Inc COO Sheryl Sandberg * Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos * Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk * Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella * Oracle Corp CEO Safra Catz * In addition, the technology news website Recode reported that Intel Corp executives were invited. An Intel spokeswoman declined to comment. * The Wall Street Journal reported Palantir Technologies Inc CEO Alex Karp would also attend the meeting. | 1 | [
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FMD4131 | 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: U.S. Air Force Celebrates DOMA Ruling Claim summaries: Photograph shows U.S. Air Force jets celebrating a Supreme Court ruling regarding the Defense of Marriage Act?
contextual information: Claim: Photograph shows U.S. Air Force jets celebrating a Supreme Court ruling regarding the Defense of Marriage Act. Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2013] THIS PICTURE IS CIRCULATING ON FACEBOOK, STATING THAT THE US AIR FORCE SENT UP THESE JETS WITH COLORED SMOKE TO SYMBOLIZE THE GAY PRIDE FLAG AND CELEBRATE MARRIAGE EQUALITY AS DEFINED BY THE SUPREME COURT ON 26 JUNE 2013. THE COLORS ARE ALL WRONG, AND IT LOOKS PHOTOSHOPPED. I WOULD LOVE FOR IT TO BE REAL, BUT I DON'T WANT TO REPOST ANYTHING MISLEADING. Origins: On 26 June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of United States v. Windsor, which struck down a section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that strictly defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, thereby paving the way for same-sex couples who are legally married to access numerous federal privileges and programs that use marital status as a criterion for eligibility (such as Social Security survivors' benefits and the ability to file joint tax returns). Shortly afterward, the photograph displayed above was widely circulated on social media with claims that it pictured U.S. Air Force jets participating in a celebration of the DOMA ruling, the colored smoke trails behind them symbolizing the rainbow of colors that became the standard symbol of the gay community in the 1970s. However, this image has nothing to do with a purported celebration of the DOMA ruling by the U.S. Air Force, as this same picture has been widely reproduced on numerous websites all over the world since well before June 2013. The source of the original (as displayed on Flickr) appears to be a photograph taken at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) Airshow in Fairford, Gloucestershire (UK), on 17 July 2010. Flickr RIAT Last updated: 27 June 2013. | 0 | [
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FMD4132 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: KULESZE KOSCIELNE, Poland — The roofs of this tiny village cluster around the soaring steeples of St. Bartholomew Church like medieval cottages at the base of a castle, alienated from the cosmopolitan life of cities such as Warsaw by a chasm that is economic, cultural and political. Asking how many people here attend Sunday Mass elicits puzzlement. Everyone, of course. There are no shopping malls, no boulevards and no doubt where political sentiments lie: The village voted 83 percent for Poland’s ruling populist party, joining a rural electoral wave that swept the party to power a year ago — even as urbanites in Warsaw gave it less than a third of their vote. “The elites in the city are detached from reality,†said Joszef Grochowski, 60, a lifelong village resident and mayor since 2003. “They no longer understand the needs of ordinary people. †Populist, political parties are on the move in Europe. If they are far from homogeneous, these parties share common ground in their core constituencies, rural voters. Just as Donald J. Trump rolled up a big rural vote in his unexpected presidential victory, Europe’s populists are rising by tapping into discontent in the countryside and exploiting rural resentments against urban residents viewed as elites. The parallels are striking: Mr. Trump played on issues such as immigration, trade and globalization, while attacking elites in both parties and mocking political correctness. European populists routinely hammer the same themes while also bashing the European Union as a technocratic colossus wrongly undermining the sovereignty of individual nations. As populists have steadily gathered strength in Europe, the split has been telling in recent elections in Britain, Italy, France, Austria, Lithuania and elsewhere. In the countryside, residents, on average, are older, poorer, less educated and more receptive to the populist message that they are the true protectors of their nation’s culture and heritage. And voting against the elites who they think belittle them can be doubly satisfying, analysts say. Rural residents say they are often mocked and marginalized as backward for choosing the traditional, life their grandparents lived, and also derided as bigots for their reluctance to embrace the more ethnically diverse, sexually open worldview of the cities. “We are living the same lives, of course,†said Pawel Spiewak, a sociologist at the University of Warsaw. “We have the same cars. But we are listening to different music. We are using different words. We are even eating completely different things. †Only last week, the Italian referendum that drove from power the country’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, showed glimpses of a similar split. In predominantly rural Puglia, in Italy’s poorer south, more than of voters rejected Mr. Renzi’s referendum. In cosmopolitan Milan, in Italy’s more prosperous north, only 49 percent voted no. Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union swung on the votes of marginalized, poorer rural residents, as well as people in smaller cities, who shared the same resentment of the cultural and economic dominance of London. Immigration was an especially potent issue in England. France has already seen the steady ascent of the nationalist Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front. But even the country’s establishment party is turning toward the countryside. Last month, François Fillon, a former prime minister, was the surprise winner of the primary, a race he ran on themes of nationalism and traditional values. His support was strongest outside Paris. Establishment Europe rejoiced last week when Alexander Van der Bellen of the Green Party won the presidency in Austria in a runoff against Norbert Hofer, a populist leader. But Mr. Van der Bellen’s victory was at least partly explained by a concerted effort to woo rural voters after narrowly winning the first round of voting in May on the strength of urban votes. He visited dozens of rural settings, posed repeatedly in front of the Austrian flag and won 200 more communities than he did in the first round as his victory margin soared to almost 300, 000 votes. Romania has seen a similar situation, as the populist Social Democrats have lost ground in the countryside after the National Liberals began to compete more vigorously there — indicating that there is a way to loosen the populist grip over rural areas through attentive politicking. In some cases, the politicians leading the populist revolt are similar to Mr. Trump in that they come from the ranks of the rich or the politically privileged. Andrej Babis, a Czech billionaire who started his own party, is considered likely to be his country’s next president. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s governing Law and Justice Party, has been a potent political force for decades but has deftly positioned his party as populist outsiders. “Trump may be a billionaire, but he is also absolutely despised by the elites and that alone has given him a tremendous advantage among people from poorer, rural areas,†said Jaroslaw Fils, a sociologist at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, noting that Mr. Kaczynski has exploited the same resentments in Poland. “On paper, he is hardly a hero for the underprivileged, but, again, he is so despised by the Polish elites that he has become someone the people in the country can identify with. †Mr. Fils said city dwellers deepen rural resentments by blithely portraying the countryside as a place of backwardness. “Residents of rural areas are perhaps the only social groups that we can still openly ridicule,†he said. “It’s not politically correct to laugh at gay people, ethnic minorities, obese people. But hardly anyone will tell you off for laughing at peasants. †Europe’s populists cannot be defined strictly through a lens. Some are right wing, while others are left wing. Some want to draw closer to Russia, others to the West. In the formerly Communist nations of Eastern Europe, populists on the left and the right woo rural voters by playing off nostalgia for lost greatness, and the old era of authoritarian leaders and governments that provided for people. “Where the countryside was mobilized,†said Marian Lesko, a political analyst in Slovakia, “victory belonged to coalitions that weren’t the biggest fans of liberal democracy and democratic values. †This is why populists on the left and the right are strong in the countryside. In the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, the populist president, draws greater support outside the capital. In Hungary, the ruling party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban also does best outside the capital of Budapest. In the Baltic nation of Lithuania, fervor has coalesced around the Peasant’s and Greens Union, which stormed to victory in the fall parliamentary elections on a populist platform and strong rural support leery of the immigrants filing into the country’s cities. “People who live in the countryside want the state to provide them with a sense of stability and predictability,†Mr. Fils said. “The state that wants to bring in thousands of refugees who come from the ominous Middle East doesn’t provide any of these things. †The village of Kulesze Koscielne sits at a crossroads near the main highway connecting Warsaw with Belarus, down a series of increasingly narrow and unevenly paved roads. There is a small, unmarked general store, a village hall, a pub, a gas station and a school building. Roughly 400 people live in the village. “This area has always been conservative, always,†Mayor Grochowski said. “The ethos of the people who live here is work and faith. †Distrust of outsiders runs deep. When Poland voted in 2004 to join the European Union, a national majority voted yes. In Kulesze Koscielne, sentiment was strong the other way. Even as villagers now recognize the benefits brought to Poland by joining the European bloc, there is also irritation over issues such as homosexuality and immigration. “They can do this in the big cities where people are used to that, but it wouldn’t work in the country,†the mayor said. “People here are so set in their ways. What we believe in are the ground rules set by God. You cannot go around them. You cannot escape them. †A short walk down the main street, Jolantyna Kaminska, the headmistress of the village school, sat in her sparse office with the sound of children occasionally permeating the thick walls. She said she knew many urbanites considered village life claustrophobic, yet it is this cultural conformity that makes people feel safe. Village residents do not feel antipathy toward those in the big city, she said. If anything, they pity them for losing touch with Poland’s traditional values. “In the big city,†she said, “they have the freedom — or, I would say, the frivolousness of thinking. †| 1 | [
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FMD4133 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Trump Take Credit for 'Beautiful' COVID-19 Vaccine? Claim summaries: The former president of the United States no longer has access to a Twitter account, but he's still getting his message out.
contextual information: On March 10, 2021, an image began circulating on social media that supposedly showed a statement from former U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he implored American citizens to remember that the United States wouldn't have had these "beautiful" COVID-19 vaccine shots for another five years (a dubious claim) if it weren't for him. Trump released several statements after he left office on January 20, 2021. Since the former president was banned from Twitter (as well as other social media networks) for posting content that could have incited more violence after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, these statements are being released via email and are subsequently shared on social media by reporters. Margo Martin, the lead press secretary for the office of the 45th president, confirmed to Snopes via email that this was a genuine statement released by Trump. While this is a real statement, the claims made within it (that the United States would not have had a vaccine for five years if it weren't for Trump) are dubious at best. The Trump administration attempted to speed up the development of a vaccine via Operation Warp Speed. Although the Trump administration certainly deserves some credit for aiding the development of a vaccine, some companies, such as Pfizer, developed vaccines without funding from the Trump administration. It should also be noted that companies outside of the United States managed to develop vaccines without much aid from the former president. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4134 | 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: Scam involving a $150 anniversary coupon from Lowe's Claim summaries: Don't believe what you see. It's easy to steal the colors, logos and header of an established organization.
contextual information: In late 2019, social media users began seeing posts touting that "LOWES has announced that everyone who shares this link will be sent a $150 coupon for its anniversary TODAY ONLY": This coupon offer was fake, just another iteration of similar scams that have made the online rounds several times before. In May 2015, a fraudulent offer for $100 Lowe's coupons started circulating on Facebook. The message linked Facebook users to a fraudulent web site adorned with the Lowe's logo, and instructed them to follow a simple set of instructions: Scams like these require users to pass the fake coupon on to their Facebook friends, which widens the pool of potential victims. Next, they direct people to fill out a simple survey, which seems like a harmless task but is used to coax sensitive information such as email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and credit card numbers out of victims. Finally, users who complete the survey will never receive a free Lowe's gift card but instead will likely sign up for difficult-to-cancel "Reward Offers" or have their personal information used for nefarious purposes. The Better Business Bureau provides these three tips to identify scams on Facebook: Facebook Don't believe what you see. It's easy to steal the colors, logos and header of an established organization. Scammers can also make links look like they lead to legitimate websites and emails appear to come from a different sender.Legitimate businesses do not ask for credit card numbers or banking information on customer surveys. If they do ask for personal information, like an address or email, be sure there's a link to their privacy policy. Watch out for a reward that's too good to be true. If the survey is real, you may be entered in a drawing to win a gift card or receive a small discount off your next purchase. Few businesses can afford to give away $50 gift cards for completing a few questions. Lowe's also posted a warning about this scam on their Facebook page: Facebook In April 2017, two years after we first debunked the initial coupon scam, a new version of it appeared, taking in unsuspecting Facebookers yet again: Those who clicked on this image on Facebook were taken to a page with a dubious URL& (in this case, https://www.lowes.com-holdit.us/?sfpzbJt) and asked to take a simple survey and then to "like" and "share" the page: Needless to say, anyone who attempted to redeem these coupons at Lowe's will be unsuccessful (and probably a little embarrassed), and if they have followed the online instructions, they have set themselves and their friends on social media up for, at best, a like-farming scam. A simple racket, certainly, but an effective one. scam | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4135 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: This is sad and infuriating.In February, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich suffered the loss of his father.Despite his dad s death, an insurance agent called to inform Reich that his dad is behind on his car insurance payments.Now, one would think that being informed of the death would not only draw condolences, but also an end to the business at hand considering deceased people can t drive, nor can they pay insurance from the grave.But this auto insurance agent couldn t get the reality of the situation through his thick skull. He proceeded to try and bully Reich into paying hundreds of dollars and even informed Reich that not paying would affect his father s credit rating.Reich described the phone call on Facebook. I just got a call from my father s auto insurer, telling me he s behind on his payment. I explained he died in February. He still needs to pay for the last two months, said the man from the insurance company. But he can t pay. He s deceased, I said. He owes $348.62, for the period April 24 to June 24, he said. But he didn t drive then. He died in February. No one has driven his car since he died. Well, someone has to pay or his insurance will be cancelled, and it will hurt his credit rating. I m sure he d be okay if it s cancelled, I said. And I don t think he cares about his credit rating. Are you infuriated yet?Clearly, this insurance agent must be a truly heartless person. He even became snippy with Reich upon hearing that Reich s father won t care about his credit rating and the conversation continued to go in circles as the insurance agent tried another intimidation tactic and didn t seem to get that his client was dead and no longer needed car insurance. Are you trying to be smart with me? asked the man from the insurance company. No, I m just trying to tell you that my father is deceased and he doesn t need car insurance. Have you cancelled his car registration? No, I haven t got around to that. Well, you should. If he s deceased, he shouldn t have a registration. I understand. Nobody s supposed to have a registration if they re not paying their auto insurance. Right. So, are you going to pay the insurance that s due? I wasn t planning to. Then it s an illegal car. But it won t be on the road. Still illegal. Sorry. That could be a problem for him. He s no longer with us. I know. You made that clear. I m referring to his estate. I don t see how. Well, let s say the state of Florida imposes a penalty for having a car registered in his name but no insurance. And let s say that penalty holds up any legal proceedings in resolving The insurance agent STILL tried to get Reich to pay the insurance, even going so far as to talk about a hypothetical situation in order to force Reich to reach into his pocket and pay for something that was no longer necessary.Frustrated and growing tired of the phone call, Reich asked the insurance vampire who he is supporting for president. And the answer explains everything. May I ask you a personal question? Personal? Who do you support for President? For President? I don t mean to pry. [chuckling] Oh, no problem, he said. You have a favorite candidate? I asked. As a matter of fact, I do, he said. And who is it? That Trump fella. Really? Yeah, Trump. Good man. No bullshit. Here s the post via Facebook.Personally, I would have hung up the phone rather than keep repeating myself to the same asshole, but there you have it, folks. An ignorant insurance agent who tries to bully money out of people even if they are dead. That sounds exactly like the kind of person who would support Donald Trump.Featured image via Comunicas | 0 | [
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FMD4136 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Troops serving at China s first overseas military base, in the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti, should help promote peace and stability, President Xi Jinping told them in a video chat, encouraging them to promote a good image. China formally opened the base in August on the same day as the People s Liberation Army marked its 90th birthday. It is China s first overseas naval base, although Beijing officially describes it as a logistics facility. Djibouti s position on the northwestern edge of the Indian Ocean has fueled worry in India that it would become another of China s string of pearls military alliances and assets ringing India, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Speaking to China s Djibouti-based forces during a visit to a joint battle command center in Beijing, Xi got a good understanding of the base s operations and the lives of the soldiers there, China s Defence Ministry said late on Friday. Xi encouraged them to establish a good image for China s military and promote international and regional peace and stability , the ministry said. The soldiers responded that they would not let Xi or China down, it said. China began construction of the base in Djibouti last year. It will be used to resupply navy ships taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in particular. Chinese President Xi Jinping is overseeing an ambitious military modernization program, including developing capabilities for China s forces to operate far from home. During his visit to the command center, Xi also instructed the armed forces to improve their combat capability and readiness for war, the ministry said. Xi said progress in joint operation command systems, especially in efficiency at the regional level, was needed and troops must conduct training under combat conditions. Djibouti, which is about the size of Wales, is at the southern entrance to the Red Sea on the route to the Suez Canal. The tiny, barren nation sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia also hosts U.S., Japanese and French bases. There has been persistent speculation in diplomatic circles that China would build other such bases, in Pakistan for example, but the government has dismissed this. | 1 | [
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FMD4137 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Palestine Palestinians check the flat of Amjad Aliwi after Israeli authorities demolished it in the northern occupied West Bank city of Nablus on October 11, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
A new report has revealed that the number of Palestinian homes demolished by Israeli authorities in the largest division of the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the current year stands at more than 700.
Israel's Hebrew-language Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday that a total of 780 Palestinian homes have been demolished in Area C of the West Bank, which constitutes about 61 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli military control, since January, leaving 1,129 people homeless.
That compares to 453 demolitions in the area last year, which left 580 Palestinians without any place of residence.
The newspaper noted that a total of 125 Palestinian homes have also been destroyed in East Jerusalem al-Quds since the start of the year, up from 78 last year.
The demolitions affected 164 Palestinians in the region, marking an increase from 108 the previous year.
The revelations came only two days after Israeli military forces razed three Palestinian homes in the Beit Hanina and Silwan neighborhoods of East Jerusalem al-Quds, displacing at least 44 people, including minors.
International bodies and rights groups argue that Israel’s sustained demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds are an attempt by the Tel Aviv regime to uproot Palestinians from their native territories, and confiscate more land for expansion of illegal settlements.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian lands have created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
The Palestinian Authority wants the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinians state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. Loading ... | 0 | [
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FMD4138 | 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 CDC Lower Speech Milestones for Kids Due to Effects of Masking, Lockdowns? Claim summaries: Children who are 30 months old should have a vocabulary of around 50 words, the new CDC guidelines say.
contextual information: In early 2022, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many were debating the effects of masks and lockdowns on early childhood development. Internet rumors abounded, including one claiming that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lowered the standard milestones for measuring childhood development largely because of the allegedly deleterious effects of pandemic safety measures, particularly wearing masks. One post claimed, "The CDC just quietly lowered the standards for speech in early childhood development. Now children should know about 50 words at 30 months rather than 24 months. Instead of highlighting the harmful effects masks and lockdowns have had on children, the CDC just lowered the bar for milestones." In February 2022, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement describing updates to their developmental milestone checklists. The updates included adding checklists for ages 15 and 30 months; now there is a checklist for every well-child visit from 2 months to 5 years. Before this, in addition to checklists for older age groups, there was already a checklist for children 2 years old (24 months). That checklist is on the CDC's website. The checklist for 24-month-olds never stipulated the number of words a child should be able to speak at that age, only that a 2-year-old says sentences with 2 to 4 words. (See archived versions of that same checklist from 2020 and 2017, for example.) The CDC specified the following in its Language/Communication Milestones for a 30-month-old child: "Says about 50 words; says two or more words, with one action word, like 'Doggie run'; names things in a book when you point and ask, 'What is this?'; says words like 'I,' 'me,' or 'we.'" The point about knowing 50 words was new (for any age group) and had not been part of the 2-year milestones on the CDC website prior to this addition. According to Dr. Paul H. Lipkin, who assisted with the revisions, the goal of the checklist was to identify developmental delays early. "The earlier a child is identified with a developmental delay, the better, as treatment and learning interventions can begin," he said. "At the same time, we don't want to cause unnecessary confusion for families or professionals. Revising the guidelines with expertise and data from clinicians in the field accomplishes these goals." Review of a child's development with these milestones also opens up a continuous dialogue between a parent and the healthcare provider about their child's present and future development. Dr. Paul H. Lipkin noted that according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a child saying fewer than 50 words at 2 years old is a sign of a language disorder. ASHA released a statement about the updated milestones, expressing concern: "ASHA has reached out to the CDC, expressing its concern about inconsistencies and urging the agency to utilize the expertise of SLPs when making changes to developmental milestones in speech, language, feeding, and social communication." In general, ASHA is supportive of efforts to help identify children earlier, but the milestones presented to parents must be evidence-based for families to make well-informed decisions about their children's care. That said, the CDC's milestone revisions were already in development before the pandemic began, with a broad literature search underway in 2019. According to a research article detailing the process and philosophy behind the revisions, the new milestones aim to capture the 75th percentile, or what three-quarters of children are expected to achieve at a particular age, instead of the previously used 50th percentile, which was found to be less helpful for families and clinicians. The CDC's milestones are intended to help parents identify autism and developmental delays in their children, and not act as a screening tool for medical professionals. "The revised developmental milestones are written in family-friendly language and identify the behaviors that 75% or more of children can be expected to exhibit at a certain age based on data, developmental resources, and clinician experience," their news release stated. As of this writing, no evidence has emerged that shows masking negatively affects childhood development. The AAP website states, "A key part of learning to communicate for a child is watching the faces, mouths, and expressions of the people closest to them. Babies and young children study faces intently, so the concern about solid masks covering the face is understandable. However, there are no known studies that show the use of a face mask negatively impacts a child's speech and language development." Furthermore, consider this: visually impaired children develop speech and language skills at the same rate as their peers. In fact, when one sense is taken away, the others may be heightened. Young children will use other clues provided to them to understand and learn language. They will watch gestures, hear changes in tone of voice, see eyes convey emotions, and listen to words. A 2021 University of Miami study also found, "Wearing a mask in school does not hinder a young child's ability to learn language, even if they have hearing loss." Meanwhile, studies of the effects of a range of pandemic lockdowns on childhood development have shown mixed results. A study conducted by the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) in the U.K. showed that the pandemic had a significant adverse impact on mostly vulnerable, low-income older children and those from minority ethnic backgrounds. However, the study emphasized that more research was needed on the effects of the pandemic on childhood development for children aged 0-5 years. A number of studies by an international consortium of researchers from 13 countries, including the University of Oslo, the University of Göttingen, and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, looked at the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on early development. Shortly after isolation began in March 2020, parents were asked to fill out questionnaires and were then contacted at the end of the lockdown. The studies found that "despite having increased exposure to screen time during lockdown, children learned more words during the lockdown period in March 2020, relative to before the pandemic. This is potentially due to other activities that parents undertook with their children during lockdown." Another report on behalf of the International Society for Social Pediatrics & Child Health (ISSOP) included studies conducted across 22 countries and a wide age range (0-18 years) and concluded that "pandemic school closure and lockdown have adverse effects on child health and well-being in the short and probably long term." A January 2022 report in Nature detailed how varied the data could be: "Some babies born during the past two years might be experiencing developmental delays, whereas others might have thrived, if caregivers were at home for extended periods and there were more opportunities for siblings to interact." As with many aspects of health during the pandemic, social and economic disparities have a clear role in who is affected the most. Early data suggest that the use of masks has not negatively affected children's emotional development, but prenatal stress might contribute to some changes in brain connectivity. The picture is evolving, and many studies have not yet been peer-reviewed. One particular study by Brown University's Advanced Baby Imaging Lab found that the pandemic-born babies they tested scored lower during early learning tests, including for language, puzzle-solving, and motor skills. However, other researchers argued that these tests were not necessarily indicative of longer-term problems, and the findings are currently under revision. While the CDC did update its checklist to include developmental milestones for 30-month-old children, those changes were already in process before the pandemic began. The 50-word expectation was new and did not exist in older versions of the milestones. Furthermore, there is no evidence to date that masks cause developmental delays in children, and the evidence regarding the effects of lockdowns on childhood development has been mixed. Given all of the above, we rate this claim as false. | 0 | [
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FMD4139 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: in: Multimedia , Science & Technology , Sleuth Journal , Special Interests You know all of those cool, sci-fi gadgets that people are beginning to get that are connected to the internet in their homes? The voice controlled thermostats, the wireless printers and cameras, the home security systems, the food scale that sends the calories to your phone app, those “smart” appliances that text you to pick up milk, and the DVRS that can be programmed via your phone from work? Apparently, those things may not be so smart after all because they played a big role in the cyber attack that took place last Friday. Security analysts believe that Friday’s attack on popular websites such as Reddit, Twitter, Netflix, and Spotify was the first one carried out by hackers who used the “ Internet of Things. ” Here’s how the Internet of Things works: Who else thinks that this is how Skynet got started? Maybe it’s just me. The attack was on one service, Dyn. The massive attack took down the internet across the country. The website Downdetector provided a map that shows how much of the US was affected: The attack was on one company, and everything else fell over like a row of dominoes. All of the companies involved use Dyn , a cloud-based Internet performance management company. Dyn was the target of the attack, and that, in turn, affected other companies. Dyn is sort of like a phone book that directs users to the internet address of the website. On Friday a distributed denial of service attack, (DDoS) affected Dyn by sending thousands of messages at the same time, which overwhelmed the service. Security company Flashpoint said it had confirmed that the attack used “botnets” infected with the “Mirai” malware. From their site: Flashpoint has confirmed that some of the infrastructure responsible for the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Dyn DNS were botnets compromised by Mirai malware. Mirai botnets were previously used in DDoS attacks against security researcher Brian Krebs’ blog “Krebs On Security” and French internet service and hosting provider OVH. Mirai malware targets Internet of Things (IoT) devices like routers, digital video records (DVRs), and webcams/security cameras, enslaving vast numbers of these devices into a botnet, which is then used to conduct DDoS attacks. Flashpoint has confirmed that at least some of the devices used in the Dyn DNS attacks are DVRs, further matching the technical indicators and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with previous known Mirai botnet attacks. While Flashpoint has confirmed that Mirai botnets were used in the October 21, 2016 attack against Dyn, they were separate and distinct botnets from those used to execute the DDoS attacks against “Krebs on Security” and OVH. Earlier this month, “Anna_Senpai,” the hacker operating the large Mirai botnet used in the Krebs DDoS, released Mira’s source code online. Since this release, copycat hackers have used the malware to create botnets of their own in order to launch DDoS attacks. It is unknown if the attacks against Dyn DNS are linked to the DDoS attacks against Krebs, OVH, or other previous attacks. Given the proliferation of the Mirai malware, the relationship between the ongoing Dyn DDoS attacks, previous attacks, and “Anna_Senpai” is unclear. Coincidentally, many of the vulnerable “smart” devices are made in China. Many of the devices involved come from Chinese manufacturers, with easy-to-guess usernames and passwords that cannot be changed by the user – a vulnerability which the malware exploits. According to the BBC : “Mirai scours the Web for IoT (Internet of Things) devices protected by little more than factory-default usernames and passwords,” explained cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs, “and then enlists the devices in attacks that hurl junk traffic at an online target until it can no longer accommodate legitimate visitors or users.” The owner of the device would generally have no way of knowing that it had been compromised to use in an attack, he wrote. Mr Krebs is intimately familiar with this type of incident, after his website was targeted by a similar assault in September, in one of the biggest web attacks ever seen…That attack began around 8 p.m. ET on Sept. 20, and initial reports put it at approximately 665 Gigabits of traffic per second. Additional analysis on the attack traffic suggests the assault was closer to 620 Gbps in size, but in any case this is many orders of magnitude more traffic than is typically needed to knock most sites offline. (source ) I’m sure those easy passwords and vulnerabilities aren’t deliberate. China would never sneak Trojan horses into the USA, would they? Article first appeared at DaisyLuther.com Submit your review | 0 | [
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FMD4140 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Shawn Helton 21st Century WireAnother active-shooter false alarm made the headlines this past week, as war propaganda images continue be dispensed by Western media multiple narratives that have contributed to an environment of confusion, fear and uncertainty in the War On Terror era.The timing of these current events cannot be overstated, revealing a deeper social engineering agenda at play underneath the larger geopolitical drama unfolding worldwide PULP FICTION Photo illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton The Nonexistent Shooter & Loud Noises This past weekend, according reports, another active shooter scenario played out at LAX International Airport, a story which dovetailed an alleged active-shooter hoax at JFK International Airport earlier in August. CBS s Los Angeles affiliate CBSLA, described the latest incident at LAX in the following passage: The LAX Airport Police Department on Sunday discounted reports of a shooter at the airport saying loud noises apparently set off a panic. Several terminals were evacuated. Many people went on social media to say they were standing on the tarmac surrounded by tons of police.The incident was first reported just after 8:30 p.m.The LA Airport PD cannot confirm an active shooter was ever identified. The CBS article continued by discussing eyewitness accounts of the alleged active shooter event at LAX, as well as JFK airport, two incidents which oddly resulted in the same bizarre conclusion out of law enforcement as the panic was supposedly caused by loud noise: Earlier this month, JFK officials said an elaborate hoax was perpetuated there, as well. Reports of a shooter at JFK were discounted as bogus, according to the New York Times.KCAL9 Anchor Leyna Nguyen was at the airport returning to Los Angeles from Atlanta. She said it was surreal to see so many people running.LAFD is also on scene investigating and noted no significant incident has been noted thus far as of 8:47 p.m.At of 9:40 p.m., police officially said there was no shooter and no incident. It will still take some time to re-screen all the passengers, officials said. Interestingly, even though individual accounts of this week s LAX event varied, a Yahoo News reporter named JP Mangalindan, stated that he was in the terminal at the time of the shooting. However, following the panic inducing incident, he posted to social media with the following message, after police had already confirmed there was no shooter two hours earlier: Shooters at LAX running around. Cops running around. I m down on the ground, at 11:51pm.Question: Why would Mangalindan state that multiple shooter s were running around at 11:51pm when cops disclosed that the situation was basically a non-incident by 9:40pm?It s possible that Mangalindan was confused during the heat of the moment but however you look at it, his messages may have caused additional panic, potentially creating a greater risk for passengers fleeing the airport to safety.Here s a string of tweets confirming Mangalindan continued to heighten the situation from inside LAX Eventually Mangalindan conceded that the event was in fact a false alarm (was this a potential drill?) at 1:08am, according to the Daily Mail as he readied himself for a future pizza delivery.As this story rapidly unfolded, there proved to be other bizarre aspects associated with the official narrative, as a man dressed as the fictional character Zorro (armed with a plastic sword), was initially apprehended in dramatic fashion following the reported active shooter scenario at LAX. He was then promptly released by authorities after the strange incident. ZORRO? An unidentified actor dressed as Zorro was an initial suspect during an active-shooter alarm at LAX. (Image Source: Daily Mail)Active Shooter or Live Drill?The Daily Mail described the LAX false alarm in the following manner: An actor returning from an audition dressed as masked hero Zorro, complete with plastic sword, shut down LAX airport and sparked fear of an active shooter situation on Sunday night.The unidentified, middle-aged black man dressed in an all black satin costume with gloves, hat and large belt was apprehended on a bench as he waited for a ride home .Police were initially responding to claims that a man had opened fire near a baggage reclaim, and set about evacuating thousands of passengers and grounding flights.After a thorough search and the eventual arrest of the costumed man outside a terminal, LAPD admitted the entire incident was a false alarm. The Daily Mail article continued by adding that, LAX also tweeted that the reports of a shooting had not been confirmed and police were investigating, before adding which parts of the airport have been shut. Upper/Departures & Lower/Arrivals levels of Central Terminal Area (CTA) closed. Pls check w/ airlines if heading to LAX (sic), a tweet read. Was it possible that the event at LAX was a drill? EVACUATION Passengers ordered to evacuate after reports of an active-shooter at LAX. (Image Source: twitter)LAX International Airport is no stranger to active shooter situations and drills Back in 2002 according to reports, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet [a person previously known to Egyptian authorities with multiple ID s] 41, went to the ticketing counter of El Al, Israel s national airline, at Los Angeles International Airport July 4 carrying two handguns and a hunting knife. He opened fire at midmorning, killing two people and wounding three others before he was killed by an El Al security guard. The incident occurred days after the airport was slated for a $9.6 billion airport security redesign proposal, something that would require passengers to go through screening prior to reaching their terminal for boarding a plane. The event conveniently underscored new security measures put in place after 9/11, insuring the continued growth of the TSA. Additionally, the Hadayet shooting displayed many of the conflicting aspects reported following other high profile shootings today.In 2013 21WIRE reported that the LAPD conducted an active shooter drill in October with the Los Angeles Airport Police Department at the L.A./Ontario International Airport, acting out an almost exact scenario that played out during a TSA-related shooting at LAX in November.According to a report by the San Bernardino Sun, written by Doug Saunders, the active shooter drill had an armed man shooting three people before officers locked down the scene. THE AIRPORT SHOOTER LAPD shooting drill at L.A./Ontario International Airport, month prior to LAX shooting in November of 2013.Setting the StageFollowing a major LAPD airport drill a month earlier, it was reported that Paul Ciancia moved through a crowded LAX airport terminal asking people if they were TSA agents or not, supposedly letting go those who were not agents prior to opening fire.It was also alleged that Ciancia, was carrying anti-government and anti-TSA writings contained in a bag on his person, one such paper was even an apparent reference to the global conspiracy meme NWO (New World Order), adding a conspiratorial twist to the dramatic shootout.All too often we see the stage persona of any alleged killer being touted as hard evidence, despite the fact that even strong circumstantial evidence of any apparent crime would likely result in many hours of analysis and debate, potentially without a definitive conclusion, even if the evidence eventually reached a court room setting.Mass media appeared to have worked out their own formula for laying out a familiar series of polarizing political points in the aftermath of this tragic mass-shooting, as they have with many others since. Appearing once again, to purposefully redirect the public to look at a ready-made laundry list of hateful rhetoric and random writings as an ironclad motive for the crime. Rapidly descending into an overindulgent barrage of media speculation and theorizing. UNNATURAL BLOOD Incredibly thick, red acrylic paint-like blood appears next to what is meant to be the shooter allegedly a person said to be Paul Ciancia. The image in question was initially released by the NY POST immediately after the incident.Some critics of the event stated that Ciancia s blood could have been mixed with a coagulant called Celox, noting that this blood also looked suspiciously like the blood left at scene of the Boston Bombing.Watch the LAPD describe 2013 s dramatic TSA involved shooting which was allegedly carried out by Paul Ciancia Not more than 3 weeks ago we practiced the exact scenario that played out today we played out today. the LAPD s response to 2013 s LAX shooting The photographs below were obtained from a Facebook page by the name of Team LAX that was referenced in an article by Digital Journalism Saturday, November 2nd, 2013.The Team Lax page, is the official event page for the LAX Airport Police and the images below were posted on October 8th of 2013. Here s a description of the photos from the same post on Facebook: As we posted previously, this past weekend Airport Police officers participated in an active shooter drill at Ontario Airport. An integral part of this training were the many volunteers who brought reality to the scenario by acting as victims. These victims were actually Youth Cadets from Airport Police and several divisions of the LAPD. The LAPD cadets came from the following divisions: Pacific, Hollenbeck, Southwest, Mission, Devonshire, Hollywood, West L.A., Topanga, Central, Rampart, Wilshire and 77th. Leading the cadets were Youth Services Officers (YSO s), William Lara and Ericka Holliday from LAXPD and LAPD Sgt. Stephen Showler, Pacific Division Training Coordinator. 69 cadets participated on Saturday and 115 on Sunday. We d like to thank all the Youth Cadets for their participation and boundless energy in making this training so realistic for our officers. MOCK SHOOTING Youth Cadets with L.A. airport police act out an active shooter drill in October of 2013. (Image Source: SocioEconomic History).The actors used in these drills (photo, above) might as well be mannequins, because the idea that you can recreate a real-life defensive strategy from a choreographed shooting scenario is far-fetched, especially when you consider the video game, Hollywood film style, hair-trigger, shoot first narrative repetitively on observed during these staged events offering very little in terms of a defensive game plan.There is no question that active shooter drills have been used to get the public to accept and acquiesce to new rules of engagement in the War On Terror era and arguably, they ve flatlined in terms of public safety while continuing the steady growth of the security apparatus in America and abroad. SHELTER IN PLACE The strange scripted scene at JFK International Airport in August after false reports of an active shooter running loose. (Image Source: mashable)The Panic RoomWhile the recent LAX/JFK airport active shooter situations were fear inducing in and of themselves, we once again saw the larger role played by mass media in distorting fact, which was also on display earlier this summer, when they inaccurately claimed there was an active shooter at a US military facility.In July of 2016, while US media including ABC, CNN and other went into a code orange alert mode for over 2 and a half hours, 21WIRE had already recognized that an apparent active shooter situation at Joint Base Andrews was only a drill, and called it correctly when the news first broke.Here s a passage from 21WIRE discussing the nature of the Joint Base Andrews drill: We re told that initial reports of a active shooter were prompted by an emergency 911 call to outside law enforcement about a gunman seen on the base. The fact that this alleged distress call came from a staff member at the Malcolm Grow Medical Facility located inside Andrews (one of the country s most secure closed military facilities) should have raised some pertinent questions like why base security were not informed first, as one would expect. Furthermore, any reports by the US mainstream media characterizing the event as a genuine active shooter crisis should have been immediately squashed by the fact that Joint Base Andrews was also running a no-notice Active Shooter Exercise scheduled for 9am that morning. Sadly, this did not happen, and all US media outlets began their crisis reporting complete with the usual panel of security experts and justice correspondents on CNN and other mainstream networks. In an article from the LA Times, we see that the controversial think-tank Rand Corporation is observing the psychological effects of mass shooter/active shooter situations, no doubt gauging the social engineering aspects of these events: For all the investments in post-9/11 security improvements and training, the confusion and chaos stemming from a false report of violence can actually be harder to handle than dealing with a gunman, officials say. The hunt for a gunman takes much longer when there is no one to find. To keep people calm, you d like to say that there s nothing going on, but you don t know that, and you can t say that, said Brian Jenkins, a security and terrorism expert at Rand Corp., the Santa Monica think tank. People do unpredictable things in panic situations. Adding to the danger of these modern active shooter events, it was recently reported that local law enforcement in Punta Gorda, Florida, accidentally used live rounds during a so-called shoot/don t shoot scenario, fatally shooting one woman participating in the drill that suddenly went live. Punta Gorda Police Department (Facebook)Staged Propaganda, False Imagery & Embedded Journo s As staged active shooter drills and mass casualty incidents have become the norm, we ve also seen an escalation in war time images meant to polarize the public, something aimed at shifting attitudes politically.In February 2015, 21WIRE reported how British journalist John Cantlie s video message From Inside Aleppo was part of an elaborate PR effort to humanize ISIS and its future generation of fighters. The decidedly pro-ISIS video was heavily promoted by the intelligence group SITE as well as the ISIS media arm, Al Hayat Media Center.Mainstream pundits and broadcast journalists maintain that Cantlie is and was under duress, having been forced into operating as a crack reporter for the ISIS terror brand. The narrative borders on the ridiculous, yet it has been totally accepted without question.Cantlie s prominent role in the YouTube video series Lend Me Your Ears, prompted some in new media circles to question the British journo, along with his links to USAID connected reporter, James Foley one of the as of yet, forensically unproven deaths at the hands of the estranged terror persona Jihadi John .Nothing in the video appeared to be authentic, as Cantlie failed to disclose the true nature of the West s role in inciting terror in the region, through its various arms trafficking and Train and Equip programs linked to so-called moderate rebels in Syria.Recently, 21WIRE contributor Branko Mali of Kali Tribune, deconstructed another active Gladio-style shooting in Munich, Germany, and its apparent relation to the bizarre incident in Nice, France. In fact, rather uncannily, journalist Richard Gutjahr, was in France to capture the white lorry truck rampage on Bastille Day as well as the strange shooting incident in Munich. Here s a passage from his report, an article which outlines deep media and political ties: He [Richard Gutjahr] is a M nchen based journalist, talk show moderator, blogger and new media technologies enthusiast, currently employed by Bavarian TV company, BR 24. For uninitiated into Gutjahr s impressive, if somewhat bizarre, CV his name will probably remain in memory simply because he decided to visit Nice for an extended weekend to experience the July, 14. Bastille Day celebration and, quite accidentally, found himself on the balcony of his hotel room, when white lorry driver commenced his rampage. While driving through M nchen, Richard got the call from a friend informing him that there s a shootout in the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum.The whole episode reminds one of Goran Tomasevic, a Serbian photographer who works with Reuters and has also captured pivotal political events over the past 20 years, such as his picture of a U.S. Marine witnessing the toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue, the Arab Spring, so-called moderates in Aleppo and the suspiciously staged Westgate Mall massacre in Kenya in 2013.Similarly, new forms of subliminally arresting and deceptive propaganda have appeared recently in Western media and more broadly, over the past year from NGOs linked to the military alliance NATO and to known Islamist terrorist groups.Over the last two weeks, an emotionally charged scene supposedly depicting a Syrian child rescued after an airstrike became a polarizing story exploited by Western media.Here we see 21WIRE contributor, Jay Dyer of Jay s Analysis discuss the dust boy propaganda Aleppo Syria Dust Boy Image StagedWhile watching the entire video footage of the event, the dust-covered boy who appears to be bleeding after an apparent airstrike (yet the blood has already coagulated) is left unattended, as he is oddly propped up in an ambulance seat while being photographed by Mahmoud Raslan an alleged media activist who has been seen fraternizing with terrorist groups in Aleppo. This has prompting some critics to charge that Raslan may actually be linked to the White Helmets, a group funded largely by NATO and an NGO embedded with Al-Qaeda members, who regularly dispense staged humanitarian media images and video for public consumption.From this information, we might observe that the recent so-called rescue operation in Aleppo, was specifically produced for maximum emotional impact and internet viral capability, and always dovetailing with the West s regime change plot in Syria with the support of a so-called first-responder or human rights NGO.The strange and disembodied footage of a blood and dust-covered boy, was also reminiscent of last year s migrant crisis image of a child washed ashore yet the mainstream media failed to question the geopolitical angle behind the photograph as well as the engineered migrant crisis itself.In many ways, this type of drive-by shock and awe imagery is linked to past political staging in the Middle East, as well as other hotbed areas around the world. STAGING WAR An allegedly staged war image from the Ukraine. (Image Source: rt)It was also recently revealed that a war image in the Ukraine had supposedly been staged just as things have been politically been heating up in that region. RT explains:The dramatic picture in question which went viral this month shows two Ukrainian soldiers, carrying their wounded comrade, while a huge explosion is visible behind their backs, sending a plume of smoke into the air.The author of the photo Dmitry Muravsky, an amateur photographer who served as an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Minister claimed it was made on June 4 in the village of Shirokino, located on the firing line between the government forces and rebels in east Ukraine.However in an open letter signed by numerous Ukrainian journalists and photographers, people claimed it was a fake and said they strongly condemn such manipulative activities. Interestingly, in 2014, The UK s Express discussed a book entitled Five Came Back by movie historian Mark Harris that revealed a handful of legendary Hollywood directors had faked combat footage in Second World War documentaries that have been considered genuine for almost 70 years. John Ford, John Huston, Frank Capra, William Wyler and George Stevens all enlisted despite their glittering Hollywood lifestyles and joined other filmmakers recording the Allied advance across occupied Europe and in the Pacific.Their films were allegedly created to boost morale among troops and cinema audiences the world over, including apparently staging much of the epic scenes during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1944.Additionally, the report states that Decades later both Capra and Huston admitted in interviews that some of their bogus work was disgraceful but Huston was less frank publicly about the authenticity of his acclaimed documentary The Battle Of San Pietro, which, in 1991, was selected for America s prestigious National Film Registry of the Library of Congress because it was considered historically significant. The West continues to see a media blitz of false, fake and doctored criminality often masking many real-life conspiracies READ MORE DAILY SHOOTER NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Daily Shooter Files | 0 | [
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FMD4141 | 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: Jang Sung-taek Executed by Hungry Dogs? Claim summaries: Was North Korean official Jang Sung-taek executed by being thrown into a cage with 120 starved dogs?
contextual information: Claim: North Korean official Jang Sung-taek was executed by being thrown into a cage with 120 starved dogs. Example: [Collected via e-mail, January 2014] Did North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un kill his uncle by feeding him and his assistants to starving dogs? Origins: On December 13, 2013, North Korean state media announced that Jang Sung-taek, the uncle of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, had been tried by a special military tribunal of the Ministry of State Security and executed. Jang, who was vice-chairman of North Korea's National Defence Commission (a very high political position) and considered to be North Korea's second most powerful man, had been accused of "anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts," including affairs with multiple women, harboring "politically motivated ambition," obstructing "the party's guidance over judicial, prosecution, and people's security bodies," and hampering "the nation's economic affairs." Jang Sung-taek's execution was perceived in the Western press as evidence that Kim Jong-un was engaging in a ruthless purge of potential political rivals, providing "another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime." The South Korean press and similar news outlets initially reported that Jang had (presumably) been executed by a machine gun firing squad, as two of his confidants had been the previous week. The North's official media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reported that Jang Song-thaek, who served as a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, was executed shortly after a military trial found him guilty of "anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional" charges. "The accused is a traitor to the nation for all ages who perpetrated anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts in a bid to overthrow the leadership of our party and state and the socialist system," the viciously worded report stated. Jang "would be sentenced to death," as the special military tribunal confirmed that his subversion attempt "is a crime punishable by Article 60 of the DPRK Criminal Code," citing its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The decision for capital punishment "was immediately executed," the report said, condemning him as "a wicked political careerist, trickster, and traitor for all ages in the name of the revolution and the people." Seoul's ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker Seo Sang-kee, head of the legislature's Intelligence Committee, said the North is presumed to have used a machine gun in executing Jang, just as it did when removing his two close confidants the previous week. However, the Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po reported (in an account picked up two weeks later by Singapore's Straits Times and then spread by Western news outlets) that Jang had been executed via a process known as quan jue (i.e., execution by dogs), in which he and five of his aides were stripped naked and thrown into a cage with 120 dogs that had been starved for three days. The famished dogs then proceeded to tear apart and devour Jang and his aides in an hour-long process that was personally supervised by Kim Jong-un and witnessed by 300 senior officials. Beijing's displeasure was expressed through the publication of a detailed account of Jang's brutal execution in Wen Wei Po, its official mouthpiece in Hong Kong, on December 12. Unlike previous executions of political prisoners, which were carried out by firing squads with machine guns, Jang was stripped naked and thrown into a cage along with his five closest aides. Then, 120 hounds, starved for three days, were allowed to prey on them until they were completely consumed. This is called "quan jue," or execution by dogs. The report stated that the entire process lasted for an hour, with Mr. Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, supervising it along with 300 senior officials. The horrifying report vividly depicted the brutality of the young North Korean leader. However, this item stemmed from a single source (Wen Wei Po), which has a poor reputation for reliability (it ranked 19th out of 21 print media sources for reliability in a survey of Hong Kong residents) and cited no source for its reporting. As it turned out, the tale was nothing more than a bit of fiction that originated from a social media post by a satirist in China. As blogger Trevor Powell pointed out, the original report lifted the story nearly word-for-word from an 11 December social media post by Pyongyang Choi Seongho, a China-based satirist with millions of followers. The background of the personality's page on Tencent Weibo, China's second most popular microblog, shows a cartoon Kim Jong-un standing on a balcony flanked by military aides, his arms raised and his middle fingers extended. Trevor Powell noted that Choi's post included all of the grisly details that made their way into the American press: Jang and five of his aides were stripped naked, thrown into a giant cage, and "entirely devoured" by 120 Manchurian hunting dogs that had been starved for three days. Kim conducted the hour-long spectacle himself before an audience of 300 North Korean officials, it added. Last updated: January 6, 2014. Fisher, Max. "No, Kim Jong Un Probably Didn't Feed His Uncle to 120 Hungry Dogs." The Washington Post. January 3, 2014. O'Carroll, Chad. "Rumor Jang Song Thaek Was Killed by Hungry Dogs Re-Emerges." NKNews.org. January 3, 2014. Shears, Richard. "Stripped Naked, Thrown Into a Cage and Torn Apart by 120 Starving Dogs." The Daily Mail. January 3, 2014. Zurcher, Anthony. "Did Kim Jong Un Feed His Uncle to Dogs?" BBC News. January 3, 2014. South China Morning Post. "Post Tops Survey on Newspaper Credibility." January 2, 2014. | 0 | [
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FMD4142 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Sanders and Trump supporters are poles apart on many major issues, but a rally shows their shared revolutionary fervor and, in some cases, even an affinity.
Or so say many of the homemade signs here on a cool evening at Saint Mary's Park in the South Bronx on Thursday, as an estimated 15,000 people thronged to hear the presidential candidate with the oft-punned name.
Noah Biron, a 19-year-old waiter at a country club in Connecticut came of age politically via the unexpected inspiration from the senator from Vermont. Climate change is his No. 1 issue, he says, as he holds a “Mother Earth†poster. He’s also been drawn to Bernie Sanders's proposals for education reform and free tuition for all.
“Bernie is an honest man,†Mr. Biron says. “He speaks his mind – a lot like Trump – but with a lot more love.â€
References to the controversial real estate mogul, however, were very few at the rally, in fact. And surprisingly, when there were, there was little vitriol toward the leading GOP candidate, who has also on the Republican side. Sanders supporters here say they see common ground with Trump supporters in their desire to shake up the Washington establishment and their candidates' populist messages.
The actress and Coney Island native Rosario Dawson, who opened the evening rally on Thursday, even described Donald Trump as, in many ways, a fellow revolutionary at this moment in American political history.
“We need to be reaching out and talking to those folks who are supporting Trump,†Ms. Dawson told the Bronx crowd. “Why? Because they are supporting him for a reason. They are standing up behind him because he’s opposed to the establishment as well. And they’re literally standing behind a guy who they know will go into the Oval Office and say, ‘You’re fired!’ ’’
“I can understand that,†Ms. Dawson continued. “But I’m supporting the guy who’s looking at all of us and saying, ‘You’re hired.’ â€
Trump's inflammatory comments about Muslims, Latino immigrants, and women seemed less top of mind in Saint Mary's Park than his supporters’ demand for economic change. While supporters of the two insurgent candidates share a belief they've been left behind by the globalized, digital economy, a new Pew Research Center survey shows that supporters of the two insurgent candidates are far apart on the issues. For example, 69 percent of Trump supporters think that immigrants are a burden on the US, while 14 percent of Sanders voters share that belief. Some 64 percent of Trump voters believe that Muslims should be subject to greater scrutiny, while just 12 percent of Sanders supporters do. Some 77 percent of Sanders voters believe that the government should be responsible for providing health care for all; just 14 percent of Trump voters do.
References to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, drew boos, hisses, and even shouts of anger. And while the Democratic race has not been nearly as much of a bitter intra-party battle as the Republican side, there are continuing signs of deep divisions among the Bernie and Hillary factions.
Dawson excoriated “the other Democratic candidate†for referring to undocumented workers as “illegals†and for using the terms “superpredators†and “deadbeats†when talking about crime and welfare reform in the past. “Shame on you, Hillary,†she said, also referencing the FBI investigation into her use of a non-government email server.
Much of this, of course, can be attributed to the heat of the presidential race, and former Secretary of State Clinton’s commanding, if not nearly insurmountable, lead in the race for the Democratic nomination. But person after person at the rally expressed a deep distaste for “the other candidate.â€
“I don’t trust her, and I don’t think I would support her even if the Democratic party chooses her,†says Stephanie Edwards, a public relations specialist from Washington Heights in Manhattan, and an eight-year veteran who served as a combat medic with the US Army. “I feel like it’s time to break the mold, it’s time to do something different.â€
She notes, too, that “this is the first time I’ve ever gotten involved in a campaign to this magnitude,†volunteering for Sanders’s phone banks and canvassing operations after hearing something she’s never heard before from a politician. Now 40, this was her first political rally.
Clinton’s support for the crime bill signed into law by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, directly affected her family, say Ms. Edwards. Her uncle was deported to the Dominican Republic after being convicted of two misdemeanor crimes in New York, she says.
Kevin Rose, a bartender in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, who immigrated from Canada 20 years ago, recently became a citizen just to vote for Sanders, he says. But he would “absolutely not†vote for Clinton. “I don’t trust her; never have, never will,†he says. “I will likely still vote for Bernie as a write-in campaign, if she wins.â€
Another speaker at the rally, the Puerto Rican rapper and multiple Grammy winner Residente, told the diverse crowd that “It will represent an insult to consider yourself Latin American and vote for her,†since she praised former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, “the author of the most despicable Latin American genocide and the architect of Latin American dictatorship, responsible for all of those who disappeared in the '60s, '70s and '80s,†he said.
Still, a path to a Sanders victory seems remote, and the delegate math is more than daunting. Sanders must win about 57 percent of the remaining delegates – or win most of the remaining races by landslides – just to barely surpass Clinton with a majority of pledged delegates. Then, he must convince enough superdelegates, those unbound party leaders and elected officials who overwhelmingly support Clinton at the moment, to shift their allegiance to his campaign.
But most of the pledged delegates will be allocated in five big states – New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and California – where Clinton currently leads Sanders in polls. In New York, the former senator here leads her former colleague from Vermont 54 percent to 42 percent, released Thursday.
Sanders supporters, however, remain undaunted. And Clinton events don’t show nearly the same fervid, boisterous support – some even call it love – that is present at the Vermont candidate’s rallies.
“A great nation is judged not by how many millionaires and billionaires it has,†he told his Bronx supporters on Thursday. “It is judged by how it treats the most vulnerable people in that country.â€
He told the Bronx crowd of 15,000 how his father came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 “without a nickel in his pocket.†He described how his family lived in a 3-1/2 room, rent-controlled apartment in nearby Brooklyn, where he went to high school, years ago. “So I learned a little bit about what it means to grow up in a family that has no money, and I also learned a little bit about the immigrant experience. Those lessons I will never forget.â€
At this, the crowd erupted. Among those jumping and shouting was Raquel Rodriguez, a 21-year-old student and first-time voter, holding a sign with the '70s-era saying, “The revolution will not be televised.â€
Her hand-made poster also slyly included the digital age slogans, #FeelTheBern, #BernieOrBust, and #StillSanders, as well as a diss: “Hey CNN, are you seein’ this?â€
Young people, she notes, prefer the free-wheeling hashtag communications of social media, especially since Sanders supporters say news networks have been ignoring their candidate while televising entire rallies of the Republican front-runner, the Queens-born billionaire Donald Trump – himself a master of the provocative tweet.
It’s statements like these that inspire Ms. Rodriguez, who takes college courses online, and says she never thought she would get so involved in politics – or “this revolution.â€
“I cannot currently afford to get into a regular college or university, and that’s why I’m so pro-Bernie, so pro-education reform,†she says. “I’ve seen countless kids in situations like mine fall behind, and just sort of fall by the wayside of the educational locomotive. It’s disgraceful, it really is.
“But Bernie’s been there from day one fighting for the people,†Rodriguez continues. “Bernie is only involved in politics because he gives a (darn), and that is a beautiful thing.†| 1 | [
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FMD4143 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed militias converged on Islamic State in separate offensives against the militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Sunday. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab militias (SDF) said it had reached Deir al-Zor s industrial zone, just a few miles to the east of the city after launching operations in the area in recent days. The Syrian army and its allies, backed by Iran and by Russian air cover, meanwhile advanced from the west to seize full control of the Deir al-Zor-Damascus highway, a Hezbollah-run media unit reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 17 civilians had been killed by Russian air strikes in Deir al-Zor on Sunday. The attacks squeezed Islamic State in its last major Syria stronghold in areas near the border with Iraq. The group has come under pressure since losing its de facto capital Mosul in Iraq this year and is surrounded by the SDF in Raqqa, its former Syria bastion. The jihadist group still holds much of Deir al-Zor province and half the city, as well as a pocket of territory near Homs and Hama further west, however, and is mounting counter-attacks. Sunday s advances mean that U.S.-backed forces and the Syrian government side, boosted by Russian military support, are separated only by about 15 km (10 miles) of ground and the Euphrates River in Deir al-Zor. Much of northeast Syria to the east of the Euphrates is held by the SDF, which is dominated by the Kurdish YPG militia. The Syrian government and its allies are increasingly capturing the remaining areas Islamic State holds to its west. Government troops linked up with forces already in Deir al-Zor at the Panorama entrance to the city, bringing the whole road under their control for the first time in years, the Hezbollah media unit reported. The Syrian army and its Iran-backed allies, which include Lebanese Hezbollah, this week broke a three-year siege by the jihadists of a government-held enclave in Deir al-Zor and an adjacent air base. Syrian state TV broadcast footage of Syrian officers who had been holed up in Deir al-Zor emotionally greeting their superiors after being surrounded by IS since 2014. The United Nations estimates that some 93,000 people were living in extremely difficult conditions in government-held parts of Deir al-Zor, supplied by air drops to the air base. Syrian government forces and their allies have been able to turn their attention to the fight against Islamic State in eastern Syria after recapturing many areas in the west from rebels. The SDF on Saturday announced an operation to capture northern and eastern parts of Deir al-Zor province and staged attacks from the northern countryside and southern Hasaka, which is under YPG control. The SDF, backed by U.S.-led air strikes and special forces on the ground, has captured most of Raqqa, upstream along the Euphrates, from Islamic State. Islamic State has lost nearly half of its territory across both Iraq and Syria, but still has 6,000-8,000 fighters left in Syria, the U.S.-led coalition has said. The forces leading the SDF s operation in Deir al-Zor say they do not expect clashes with Syrian government forces, but will respond if they come under fire. Syria s crowded battleground has shown the risks of escalation between world powers militarily involved in the six-year-old Syrian conflict. In June a U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet near Raqqa in and the SDF accused the Syrian government of bombing its positions, raising tension between Washington and Moscow. The Cold War foes have also engaged over Syria, however, including setting up communication channels for flight safety in Syrian airspace. Both countries say the priority in Syria is to defeat Islamic State. Rounds of Syria talks between world powers have increasingly focused on Islamic State. Negotiations where Syria s opposition has repeatedly called for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad have failed to bring an end to the conflict. | 1 | [
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FMD4144 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: No need to file rules don t apply to Obama s amnestied illegals Illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty can claim back tax credits for work they performed illegally, even if they never filed a tax return during those years, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has confirmed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).In a written response to questions Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Koskinen following a February hearing on the IRS budget, the IRS commissioner clarified his earlier assertions that illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty and Social Security numbers can access Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) for years they were working in the country illegally.Back in February, Koskinen said that in order to claim the tax credits the amnestied illegal immigrant would have had to have filed returns in the past.In his written statement to Grassley, released Wednesday, Koskinen went another step, saying an illegal immigrant granted amnesty could claim back tax credits regardless if they had filed returns in the past. To clarify my earlier comments on EITC, not only can an individual amend a prior year return to claim EITC, but an individual who did not file a prior year return may file a return and claim EITC (subject to refund limitations under section 6511 of the Internal Revenue Code). I would note that filing new returns for prior years would likely be difficult, since filers would have to reconstruct earnings and other records for years when they were not able to work on the books, Koskinen said in his written response.According to the IRS, illegal immigrants granted amnesty, and with it Social Security numbers, can claim up to three years prior in back tax credits. Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code requires an SSN on the return, but a taxpayer claiming the EITC is not required to have an SSN before the close of the year for which the EITC is claimed. At your request, the IRS has reviewed the relevant statutes and legislative history, and we believe that the 2000 Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) on this issue is correct, Koskinen added.With this benefit Illegal immigrants granted amnesty could receive tens of thousands of dollars in back tax refunds.Via: Breitbart News | 0 | [
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FMD4145 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The list of priorities U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released this week for the renegotiation of NAFTA with Mexico and Canada is reasonable and in line with what the Trump administration has promised to focus on, the head of America’s largest railroad said on Thursday. “It was a very reasonable document,†Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) Chief Executive Lance Fritz said in an interview about a list of priorities released this week by Lighthizer. “From our perspective, he (Lighthizer) hit all of the elements that we’ve heard from the administration and they make sense.†Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement if it is not renegotiated in favor of the United States. Talks with Mexico and Canada on revisions to the treaty, which came into effect in 1994, are due to start in mid-August. The top priority for the talks listed by Lighthizer’s office was shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico. Union Pacific’s Fritz said that Lighthizer’s focus on intellectual property, labor laws and dispute resolution mechanisms all make sense. “What makes most sense to us is elements (of Lighthizer’s priorities) focusing on the streamlining of freight across the border,†he added. About 40 percent of Union Pacific’s freight volume is based on international trade and about 12 percent is based on cross-border trade with Mexico. Fritz said that Mexico should continue to be a “good driver†for Union Pacific’s growth. The CEO spoke to Reuters after Union Pacific posted a better-than-expected second-quarter profit that was lifted in part by a 25-percent jump in coal revenue. Major U.S. railroads have seen a resurgence in coal volumes this year, following two years of precipitous declines as many utilities switched to burning cheaper natural gas and as unseasonable weather resulted in large stockpiles of unburned coal. Union Pacific said on Thursday that coal volumes in the third quarter should be relatively flat versus the same period in 2016. “We expect coal to be a bit more stable moving forward and that’s dependent on natural gas pricing and to some degree weather,†Fritz said. “The large inventory overhang has largely been consumed and that’s the good news.†| 1 | [
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FMD4146 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: When supporters of the Democrat Party start using ads that appear to be inspired by Islamic acts of terror, you know they are not the party your parents and grandparents supported, and they re certainly not the party that most Americans want to be affiliated with. When the Latino Victory group released a disgusting video (see below) a couple of days ago, many thought that it was made to resemble terror attacks that have become all too common in European nations. Sadly, today, that concept of using a truck as a weapon to kill innocent people became a reality in New York City, as an Islamic terrorist driver used a rented Home Depot truck as a weapon to kill 9 innocent people and to injure dozens more.Note to Democrats: Creating a terror-inspired ad with a man chasing down innocent kids in a truck through their neighborhood is not funny, and it s definitely not a clever way to get people to vote for your candidate. According to FOX News Democratic candidate for Virginia governor Ralph Northam is not distancing himself from the controversial ad suggesting supporters of Republican candidate Ed Gillespie are seen as Confederates who attack minority children.The new opposition ad titled American Nightmare was released Monday by Democratic group Latino Victory Fund (LVF) and is scheduled to run through Election Day. The opposition ad shows minority children seemingly being chased by a driver in a pickup truck, decked out with a Confederate flag, a Gillespie for governor bumper sticker and a Don t tread on me license plate.The driver makes his way toward the scared children who shout, Run! Run! Run! when they see the truck. The ad concludes with a scene of a Charlottesville-like rally, with a narrator asking: Is this what Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie mean by the American Dream? The Latino Victory group tweeted the video that was so violent, that Twitter has now suspended their account. Here is what their tweet said:Ed Gillespie and Donald Trump promise the American dream, but can only deliver an American nightmare. No more. Vote @RalphNortham. #GameOnVA pic.twitter.com/mwpWXM47HZ Latino Victory (@latinovictoryus) October 30, 2017Northam s campaign told Fox News Tuesday that the ad was not shocking based on Gillespie s campaign. Independent groups are denouncing Ed Gillespie because he has run the most divisive, fear-mongering campaign in modern history, Northam campaign spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said in a statement to Fox News. It is not shocking that communities of color are scared of what his Trump-like policy positions mean for them. But Gillespie said the ad was an attack on his supporters, whom he calls good decent hardworking Virginians who love their neighbors. - FOX NewsMaking an ad that depicts a white man with a confederate flag flying from his pick-up truck, sporting an Ed Gillespie (Republican candidate for Governor) bumper sticker on the back, chasing minority kids around their neighborhood is not only sick, it is hateful and divisive. It s ironic that the end of the ad, the words REJECT HATE are flashed across the screen with a message asking, Is this what Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie mean by The American dream ? | 0 | [
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FMD4147 | 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: When a Writer Falls in Love with You Claim summaries: Rumor: Canadian rapper Drake penned a viral quote about falling in love with a writer.
contextual information: Claim: The viral quote "If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die" was written by Canadian rapper Drake. Example: [Collected via Twitter, January 2015] If a Writer Falls in Love with you, You shall Never Die #ReadSomewhere #ReadSomewhere Gaonka6hhora (@Gaonka6hhora) February 9, 2015 February 9, 2015 Origins: In January 2015, Canadian musician Aubrey Drake Graham, better known as the rapper Drake, incorrectly attributed a viral Tumblr quote about a writer's falling in love to Mustafa the Poet when he posted the meme to his Instagram page: @mustafathepoet A photo posted by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Jan 14, 2015, at 9:11 PM PST. Hundreds of thousands of viewers liked the photo, and many who saw the above-displayed Instagram post believed it was written by Drake, while others noticed the musician's attempt to credit the original author and praised Mustafa the Poet for penning the viral phrase. However, the phrase "If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die" was written neither by Drake nor by Mustafa the Poet. The true author is Mik Everett, who first published the quote back in 2011 on her blog: Mik Everett blog. Lots of things might happen. That's the thing about writers. They're unpredictable. They might bring you eggs in bed for breakfast, or they might all but ignore you for days. They might bring you eggs in bed at three in the morning, or they might wake you up for sex at three in the morning, or make love at four in the afternoon. They might not sleep at all, or they might sleep right through the alarm and forget to get you up for work, or call you home from work to kill a spider, or refuse to speak to you after finding out you've never seen To Kill a Mockingbird, or spend the last of the rent money on five kinds of soap, or sell your textbooks for cash halfway through the semester, or leave you love notes in your pockets, or wash your pants with Post-It notes in the pockets so your laundry comes out covered in bits of wet paper. They might cry if the Post-It notes are unread all over your pants. It's an unpredictable life. But what happens if a writer falls in love with you? This is a little more predictable. You will find your hemp necklace with the glass mushroom pendant around the neck of someone at a bus stop in a short story. Your favorite shoes will mysteriously disappear and show up in a poem. The watch you always wear, the watch you own but never wear, the fact that you've never worn a watch: they suddenly belong to characters you've never known. And yet they're you. They're not you; they're someone else entirely, but they toss their hair like you. They use the same colloquialisms as you. They scratch their nose when they lie like you. Sometimes they will be narrators; sometimes protagonists, sometimes villains. Sometimes they will be nobodies, an unimportant, static prop. This might amuse you at first or confuse you. You might be bewildered when books turn into mirrors. You might try to see yourself as your beloved writer sees you when you read a poem about someone who has your middle name or prose about someone who has never seen To Kill a Mockingbird. These poems and novels and short stories will scatter into the wind. You will wonder if you're wandering through the pages of some story you've never even read. There's no way to know and no way to erase it. Even if you leave, a part of you will always be left behind. If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die. Vibe NY Mag On 23 January 2015, Mik Everett took to her website to express her frustrations with being a virally famous yet unknown author. A portion of Everett's article is republished below: website Last Monday, I woke up to something weirder than I could possibly imagine. I woke up to find that Drake had posted a quote by me on Instagram and that he'd credited the quote to another author. There is no Thought Catalog article entitled What to Do If a Famous Rapper Steals Your Quote. There is no Buzzfeed article on how to cope with the rabid fans of a rockstar insisting that you've stolen from him. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a very common problem to have. Sure, I've heard of academic and artistic plagiarism before, usually involving two high-profile entertainment news celebrities. But I'm not a celebrity. I've sold, like, two hundred copies of each of my books. I live well below the poverty line. I'm a regular person who said something kinda catchy once on the internet, and lots of people liked it. And Drake liked it. I am so disconnected from that quote and the people who use it; I am simultaneously on the outside looking in on the very idea of fame and in the very middle of it. To be clear here, nobody broke any laws. Drake did not take credit for the quote. He attempted to cite the quote, like we all learned how to do in middle school. He just cited the wrong poet. That poet (he goes by Mustafa) did give me appropriate credit for the quote eventually. After Drake had reposted the quote and attributed it to Mustafa, I think it kinda blew up in his face, and people started hounding him to give me credit. And he did add my name in. But on the internet, that doesn't matter. Everyone else is still attributing the quote to Mustafa. And there's no way to fix it. Just try messaging Drake on Instagram. On one hand, it's not that big of a deal. The quote has been used several million times on the internet and is rarely credited to me. On the other hand, I would really, really, really like to make a living as an author. And in our day and age, there are no more camera-shy Thomas Pynchons. To be a financially successful author is inextricable from being a famous author. We hope this helps Mik Everett garner some of the recognition she deserves. Last updated: 10 February 2015. | 0 | [
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FMD4148 | 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 Video Offer Real Footage of the Titanic Sinking? Claim summaries: The unsinkable vessel sunk in 1912.
contextual information: More than a century after the infamous sinking of the RMS Titanic, which resulted in the death of more than 1,500 passengers, the internet continues to obsess over the tragedy. Case in point: July 2022, a fake video shared to TikTok that claimed to show the sinking of the cruise liner racked up nearly a half-million likes. A caption accompanying the video read, Rare footage of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. However, the video is a fake. Titanic left its port of Southhampton, England, for its transatlantic maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. Four days later, the nearly 900-foot vessel collided with an iceberg near Newfoundland, Canada, at 11:40 p.m. Two hours and 40 minutes later, the vessel broke in two and sank, according to the Titanic Inquiry Project. Because many of its passengers were noteworthy individuals, the sinking of Titanic quickly became one of the first international news stories of the 20th-century and along with it came a slew of misinformation, notes the Titanic Newspaper Archives. Newfoundland, Canada Titanic Inquiry Project Titanic Newspaper Archives Apparently, that legacy of misinformation has followed the wreckage 110 years later. The room that appears in the video presumably contains the Grand Staircase, which was described as one of the most impressive features on board the RMS Titanic and the center of first-class activity. James Camerons 1997 film classic "Titanic" resurfaced the fame of the centerpiece. described Titanic Public Domain Back to the TikTok video. How do we know that is is fake? First, listen to the audio. You can hear dramatic screaming in the background, but there are no visible people in the frames. Lets also mention that handheld video cameras werent a thing in 1912. Sure, cameras in the 1910s were more mobile than those of previous decades, but The Living Image vintage camera museum notes that cameras of this era [were] still mainly of wooden, folding construction heavy and not easily mobile. There is surprisingly little genuine film footage of the Titanic both right before and after the disaster, but it does exist. British Path was a producer of newsreels throughout the 20th century, reported the pop-science website IFLScience. A six-minute newsreel produced in the aftermath of the disaster spans multiple scenes after the vessel sunk and the ensuing search for survivors. The first scenes from the footage below depict the Titanic as it left port for disaster. cameras in the 1910s notes British Path IFLScience the vessel sunk As you can see, authentic film footage from 1912 is much different than the clips shared to TikTok. Lastly, we checked the Instagram account associated with the TikTok profile. It led us to a person presumably named Taylor Tituss, who has a description in the profile reading, I make video edits for fun. Taylor Tituss "So, to clear things up, the video is fake," Tituss told Snopes, adding that he took the footage from a YouTube clip posted to the platform in May 2021. A caption accompanying the video, which had over 1.5 million views as of this writing, claimed the following: Mr Joseph Davies a 17 year old boy who was a Photographer on the Titanic the day it perished down in the Atlantic ocean in 1912.This footage was recovered in 2020 by a historian Investigating the sinking of the titanic.He commented "A camera was found in the Atlantic ocean where the titanic sits to rest. It was a miracle the camera was still intact after it was found in 1989.""After years and years of trying to recover the footage found in the films, they were unsuccessful until in 2020 when they became successful recovering the footage using state of the art technology." Mr Joseph died during the sinking of the titanic, the end bit where the video cuts out is when Mr Joseph drowned to his death trying to capture the sinking of the titanic. His remains were never found. We previously fact-checked the claim that an "old camera" from the Titanic was found deep in the ocean. That's also false, as is the below video: "old camera As we previously reported, a young girl named Bernice Palmer did capture photographs of the iceberg that Titanic collided with, as well as images of survivors. The Natural Museum of American History published that Palmer carried a handheld camera on the ship that responded to the Titanics distress call: reported published In 1900, the Eastman Kodak Company came out with the handheld box camera known as the Brownie. An immediate hit, more than 100,000 were sold in its first year. Canadian Bernice Bernie Palmer received a Kodak Brownie box camera, either for Christmas 1911 or for her birthday on January 10th, 1912. In early April, Bernie and her mother boarded the Cunard liner Carpathia in New York, for a Mediterranean cruise. Carpathia had scarcely cleared New York, when it received a distress call from the White Star liner Titanic on 14 April. It raced to the scene of the sinking and managed to rescue over 700 survivors from the icy North Atlantic. With her new camera, Bernice took pictures of the iceberg that sliced open the Titanics hull below the waterline and also took snapshots of some of the Titanic survivors. We've looked into a number of rumors and claims surrounding the sinking of Titanic (did we mention that the internet is obsessed?). Let's sink these rumors once and for all. Here are some other Snopes fact checks that you may enjoy: Was the Hidden Truth of Titanic Covered Up for Decades? Is This the Final Photograph of the Titanic? Were These Actual Mistakes in the 1997 Titanic Film? Did Divers Exploring Titanic Make Deeply Shocking New Discovery? Is the Door from Titanic on Display at Disney Springs? Sources Apr 15, 1912 CE: Titanic Sinks | National Geographic Society. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/titanic-sinks. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. Cameras of 1910s Era. Old Vintage Cameras, Old Fashion Camera. https://licm.org.uk/livingImage/1910Room.html. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. Cameron, James. Titanic. Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Lightstorm Entertainment, 1997. Grand Staircase. Titanic Wiki, https://titanic.fandom.com/wiki/Grand_Staircase. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. Grand Staircase of the Titanic. Wikipedia, 29 June 2022. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grand_Staircase_of_the_Titanic&oldid=1095579315. Interesting Clips on TikTok. TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@clipz_r_us_/video/7123906717020278062?_r=1&_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8l7jDOO69%2F8FwrVlvu2ep8xdlY7z%2BELF9%2FTqCesNUwIiXYwhQ2PZfUzJ4G27YFO7FJsTC1abD8k5j58W4GgA%3D&checksum=4302d0d8b587eafda1c7e917ee37f34a2a7c46f1be0920292ec1b49166236792&language=en&preview_pb=0&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAA-lkqwAHfStUeZkapDd_k_rjsEJRnnBbKhvq05zi0bVTQSKzFBdqKThheOb99NdEv&share_app_id=1233&share_item_id=7123906717020278062&share_link_id=f95dae62-97b3-4e7b-83c9-248e6b8c6dde&source=h5_m×tamp=1659422273&u_code=dd6mf0739ffej6&ugbiz_name=Main&user_id=6844018106214646789&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=android&utm_source=copy. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. This Haunting Video Is The Only Genuine Footage Of The Titanic Before And After It Sank. IFLScience, https://iflscience.com/this-haunting-video-is-the-only-genuine-footage-of-the-titanic-before-and-after-it-sank-59628. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. Titanic Disaster Newspaper Archive. https://www.paperlessarchives.com/titanic_newspaper_archive.html. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. Titanic Inquiry Project - Main Page. https://www.titanicinquiry.org/. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. Titanic Real Footage: Leaving Belfast for Disaster (1911-1912) | British Path. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05o7sOAjtXE. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05o7sOAjtXE. Accessed 2 Aug. 2022. | 0 | [
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FMD4149 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: An NYPD officer was assassinated early Wednesday by an ex-con who marched up to her NYPD vehicle and pumped a bullet into the helpless cop s head, authorities said.Officer Miosotis Familia, 48, was mortally wounded by the 12:30 a.m. gunshot on a Bronx street as she neared the end of her Fourth of July shift, cops said.Cop-killer Alexander Bonds, dressed in black from head to toe, was then shot to death in a gunfight with two cops responding to a desperate call for help from Familia s partner. Shots fired! the officer screamed moments after the gunshot. I need a f ing bus! 10-85 10-85! My partner s shot! My partner s shot! My partner s shot! Hurry up central! Police Commissioner James O Neill said there was no doubt the paroled gunman targeted the 12-year NYPD veteran for execution at E. 183rd St. and Creston Ave. NY Daily NewsSo why is the same media who blames President Trump for violence committed against Republicans not asking if cop-killer Alexander Bonds was inspired by Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Black Lives Matter and Hillary Clinton, who made her support for the cop-hating movement a focal-point of her campaign for president?Only two years ago, Black Lives Matter supporters were filmed chanting Pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon! at the MN State Fair. President Barack Obama and his radical AG were silent."Pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon" #BlackFair #BlackLivesMatter #FTP #ACAB pic.twitter.com/NaQNehnd5g EMP THY (@MrNikoG) August 29, 2015President Barack Obama actually lectured mourners on bigotry, slavery and oppression at the memorial service for slain police officers who were killed by a Black Lives Matter supporter. Instead of using the opportunity to condemn the growing, violent movement, he actually appeared to be condoning it. While paying tribute to the fallen officers for sacrificing their lives to protect others from a sniper, Mr. Obama also called on law enforcement agencies to root out bigotry. We have all seen this bigotry in our lives at some point, Mr. Obama told an audience of several hundred at a concert hall in Dallas. None of us is entirely innocent. No institution is entirely immune. And that includes our police departments. We know this. The officers Michael Smith, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa were killed by a black sniper who told police he targeted white officers during a Black Lives Matter protest.The day after the memorial service for the Dallas cops who were murdered by a Black Lives Matter supporter, President Barack Obama invited BLM leaders to the White House for a private meeting:It should come as no surprise to anyone that the most recent assassination of an innocent cop was at the hands of Hillary Clinton supporter Alexander Bonds, given her outreach to the Black Lives Matter terror group during her campaign. Wikileaks even released an email showing how radical group Center For American Progress was advising her on how to fake empathy for parents of kids killed by cops. Wikileaks released an email from Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden, coaching Hillary on how to best gain the trust of the Black community by going directly to the victims being held up by Black Lives Matter movement as heroes, and faking empathy with the parents. She also mentions it would be a good idea to use the idea that their grief should be magnified because it happened at the hands of law enforcement officers (the state).Given all that has happened over the last few days with the Black Lives Matter movement, I thought it would be a good idea for Hillary to pen an op ed, discussing the pain people feel as parents at the loss of their children to these incidents of police brutality, how as a parent, she knows that pain is magnified because it happens at the hands of the state, and her commitment to solve the problem as President.Given her strong words on Charlotte, it could serve as a reminder that she gets it that racism isn t like everything else. She wouldn t have to mention Bernie s name, but I think it could really respond to the sense of continual injured dignity .I think, but others will know better, that it will move around the social media networks. > > Anyway, just thought I d share with you guys . >> Thanks! > > Neera >While Barack Obama was in office, radical activist, hate-monger and racial division expert Al Sharpton was a regular visitor. Obama s former AG Eric Holder was caught using taxpayer funds to pay protesters to march against George Zimmerman during the Trayvon Martin case in Sanford, FL. Upon the unbelievable discovery, the media was predictably silent.The culprit behind a shocking unprovoked attack on a female police officer had spouted anti-cop rhetoric in the past and urged people to vote for Hillary Clinton.Bonds, who the source said boasts up to six different aliases, recently spoke critically of law enforcement on Facebook. He said police in Oakland, Calif., were wrong to stop a child riding a bicycle.Authorities are trying to piece together a motive after NYPD officer and mother of three Miosotis Familia was brutally gunned down in cold blood by Alexander Bonds early Monday morning while she sat in a temporary headquarters vehicle at East 183rd Street and Morris Avenue in Fordham Heights.Bonds was subsequently killed by two other officers called to the scene while Familia died in hospital. This is absolutely an unprovoked attack, said NYPD Commissioner James P. O Neill. Police say surveillance footage shows Bonds pulling up his hoodie before purposefully walking up to the vehicle and shooting through the passenger side. Speculation as to why 34-year-old Bonds, who had previously served seven years in prison for a Syracuse robbery, gunned down Familia has begun to center on his political beliefs.Bonds Facebook page reveals that days before the presidential election, he posted a video of a woman alleging that voting machines were switching Hillary Clinton votes to Donald Trump.Watch video Bonds made below, where he tells his Facebook followers about his hate for cops. He calls police faggots and accuses them of raping children. He also says he s up and ready for the cops, using his time in jail as an example of how he got ready for them. He posted the words Mad as hill above the video.On the same day he urged people to get mad about the election and vote. When asked who he was voting for, Bonds responded that he couldn t vote (due to his felony conviction), but said people should vote for Hillary Clinton.Bonds also posted Malcolm X memes as well as videos of confrontations between black people and police officers. Previous ambush-style murders of police officers have been motivated by extremist anti-cop Black Lives Matter -style rhetoric, as well as mass shootings of police officers like the Dallas massacre, which was celebrated by BLM sympathizers. Infowars | 0 | [
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FMD4150 | 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 a woman the primary earner for managing a fraudulent foster care scheme within the family? Claim summaries: The facts just don't add up in this email sent to the Rush Limbaugh Show.
contextual information: The item reproduced below originated as an e-mail sent to radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in July 2010 by Dr. Sebastian J. Ciancio, a urologist practicing in Danville, Illinois. In that e-mail, the doctor encouraged the radio host to "share this story with your listeners so that they know how the ruling class spends their tax dollars." In this example collected from the Snopes inbox in August 2010: I was speaking to an emergency room physician this morning. He told me that a woman in her 20's came to the ER with her 8th pregnancy. She stated "my momma told me that I am the breadwinner for the family." He asked her to explain. She said that she can make babies and babies get money for the family. The scam goes like this: The grandma calls the Department of Children and Family Services and states that the unemployed daughter is not capable of caring for these children. DCFS agrees and states that the child or children will need to go to foster care. The grandma then volunteers to be the foster parent, and thus receives a check for $1500 per child per month in Illinois. Total yearly income: $144,000 tax-free, not to mention free healthcare (Medicaid) plus a monthly "Link" card entitling her to free groceries, etc, and a voucher for 250 free cell phone minutes per month. This does not even include WIC and other welfare programs. Indeed, grandma was correct in that her fertile daughter is the "breadwinner" in the family. Variations: In December 2010 the following photograph was added to circulating versions of this item, even though the pictured family has no connection to the story and no mention of race appeared in the original text: In 2014, the setting was moved from Illinois to Florida. The gist of this "story" is the claim that an Illinois woman who was pregnant with her eighth child (while still in her 20's) admitted to an emergency room physician that she was deliberately having children and giving them up to foster care in order to earn money for her family, with her grandmother volunteering to raise the children and collecting $1,500 per month from the state for each child, for an annual tax-free income of $144,000 (plus additional benefits). Is the story true? It's a second-hand account, and Dr. Ciancio declined to identify the physician who supposedly told it to him, which makes verification of that aspect of the tale difficult. Nonetheless, whatever a pregnant patient may have told an unnamed emergency room physician, the scenario described simply isn't possible. According to payment rates published by the State of Illinois' Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), monthly payments for licensed relative home care range from $384 to $471 per child, depending upon the age of the child: payment rates The maximum monthly payment (for a child age 12 and over) is $471 per month, not $1,500 per month, so the largest amount of money a foster parent caring for eight children would receive in a month (assuming all of those children were at least 12 years old) would be $3,768, for an annual total of $45,216 a far cry from the $144,000 yearly income claimed above. (And even the $45,216 figure is a generous projection, given that it's an obvious impossibility for a woman who is pregnant with her eighth child to already have eight children all over the age of twelve.) Pickel, Mary Lou. "Tea Party at the Capitol."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 28 February 2009. | 0 | [
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FMD4151 | 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: Sharpie Anniversary Giveaway Scam Claim summaries: Sharpie isn't giving away a giant set of markers to celebrate their anniversary -- the offer is another online survey scam.
contextual information: In February2016, links began circulating on Facebookpromising a treasure trove of Sharpie brand markers to users who completed a short series of steps: The embedded links led toURLs which were generated seemingly at random and didn't link to Sharpie's web site. Users who clicked through to claim the promised prize were routed to pages which appeared plausibly Facebook-esque(but werehostedoff Facebook): As evidenced by the above-reproduced screenshots, the associatedURLs don'tmatch the official domains of Sharpie or Facebook. The fake giveaway was another version of the common survey/sweepstakes scams which urge readers to share freebie bait on Facebook, which then spreads the scam to more friends and groups. Most social media users are familiar with survey scams conducted in this fashion: Kohl's, Costco, Home Depot, Lowe's,Kroger, Best Buy, Macy's, Olive Garden, Publix, Target, and Walmart are among brandsused as enticementsbyscammers, many aiming to capturepersonal information and valuable page likes from Facebook users. Kohl's Costco Home Depot Lowe's Kroger Best Buy Macy's Olive Garden Publix Target Walmart scammers A July 2014 article from the Better Business Bureauexplained how to identify and avoidbad actorsimitating high-profilebrands on social media: article Don't believe what you see. It's easy to steal the colors, logos and header of an established organization. Scammers can also make links look like they lead to legitimate websites and emails appear to come from a different sender. Legitimate businesses do not ask for credit card numbers or banking information on customer surveys. If they do ask for personal information, like an address or email, be sure there's a link to their privacy policy. When in doubt, do a quick web search. If the survey is a scam, you may find alerts or complaints from other consumers. The organization's real website may have further information. Watch out for a reward that's too good to be true. If the survey is real, you may be entered in a drawing to win a gift card or receive a small discount off your next purchase. Few businesses can afford to give away $50 gift cards for completing a few questions. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4152 | 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: It wasnt all women that lost jobs (in the December jobs report), it was mostly Black and Latina women. In fact, white women gained employment. Claim summaries: There was a net loss in jobs from November to December.
contextual information: When the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its latest job numbers, the Jan. 8, 2021, release revealed a jaw-dropping statistic: from November to December, the U.S. economy lost 140,000 jobs. Then came another shocking detail: only women lost jobs as a group. On Jan. 9, 2021, Wisconsin Treasurer Sarah Godlewski tweeted a link to a CNN article about the job losses among women, commenting, "This headline is hiding something from you. It wasn't all women that lost jobs; it was mostly Black and Latina women. In fact, white women gained employment. Any response we have to this pandemic and economy must also address structural inequality." When asked for a source, Godlewski's office pointed to the CNN article, dated Jan. 8, that she retweeted. That article noted that the U.S. economy lost 140,000 jobs overall, with women losing 156,000 jobs while men gained 16,000 jobs. Her office also highlighted this paragraph in the article: "Black and Latina women disproportionately work in some of the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic, often in roles that lack paid sick leave and the ability to work from home. As schools and daycares closed, many were forced to make hard trade-offs between work and parenting. Those sectors are less likely to have flexibility, so when employers are inflexible or women can't come to work because of caregiving responsibilities, they have to exit the workforce," said Nicole C. Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. We conducted our own check of the BLS numbers, and the preliminary November and December figures reflect what was in the CNN article. However, Godlewski's claim specifically addressed the difference in outcomes for Black and Latina women, as groups, compared to white women. The BLS conducted a separate survey known as the Current Population Survey, which measures employment for Black, Hispanic or Latina, and white women ages 20 and older. This data was part of the Jan. 8 release of the December jobs numbers. Participating households responded to the survey in the week of Dec. 6. That data, which is not seasonally adjusted, indicates that the number of employed Black women decreased by 82,000 from November to December, and the number of Hispanic or Latina women employed decreased by 31,000. Meanwhile, the number of employed white women increased by 106,000 during the same time span. The overall number of women in the labor force has been fluctuating since the March-to-April numbers, which marked the first full impact of the pandemic. There was a decrease from July to September. Laura Dresser, an economist with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that prior economic declines were led by male-dominated fields, such as construction and manufacturing. The pandemic-driven decline, she said, has strongly affected areas such as the restaurant and education industries, which employ a high number of women workers. "And those jobs are low-wage jobs," Dresser said. "They're held disproportionately by women. They're held disproportionately by people of color." With a link to a news article, Godlewski claimed, "It wasn't all women that lost jobs; it was mostly Black and Latina women. In fact, white women gained employment." Federal statistics show that, as a group, women accounted for all of the job loss from November to December. What's more, the number of employed white women increased during that time frame, while the numbers for Black and Hispanic or Latina women fell. We rate this claim True. | 1 | [
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FMD4153 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: News, information and analysis from the black left. Black Agenda Report for Week of Oct 31, 2016 Submitted by Nellie Bailey a... on Mon, 10/31/2016 - 20:45 Venezuela The Missing Black Movement Ingredient: Self-Determination
The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will hold a National Black Political Convention on Self-Determination, November 5 and 6, in Washington, DC. “If you go through history, the fundamental thing that we’ve confronted is the loss of our self-determination as a people,” said Black Is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela . The Coalition has put forward a 19-point position on the need to put self-determination at the center of Black struggles. The 19 points “give us the beginning of some kind of a plan,” said Yeshitela. “It says, specifically, here is our view on self-determination and the subject of reparations, Black women, the question of police invasion and brutality in our community,” and many other issues. The “Moment of Truth” for the Empire
“We are entering a new moment in American history,” said Dr. Anthony Monteiro , the Duboisian scholar and Black Radical Organizing Committee activist. “It is a moment of truth for the ruling class, for the ruling elite. What do they do when they are trumped at home -- forgive the pun -- and trumped internationally?” he asked. “Do they back off of empire, do they readjust, do they become peaceful, or do they up the stakes and attempt to resolve all problems with war abroad and oppression at home?” Dr. Monteiro is one of the planners of a Revolutionary Science for Radical Times conference, in Philadelphia, December 9 and 10. Hard Times in Venezuela
Despite what the corporate media are telling you, Venezuelans are not starving and the Socialist Party government will not be toppled any time soon. However, the rightwing opposition “is smelling blood” due to an economic crisis that “has made it very difficult for people to get access to imported goods, and many goods are very expensive,” said political science professor George Caccariello-Maher , of Drexel University, author of We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution . Corruption, smuggling and money speculation are serious problems, said Caccariello-Maher. However, the strength of the Left lies in the nation’s grassroots organizations and communes. “It would be very difficult for an opposition government to come in and attempt to throw them off their land” or return property to the private sector, he said. Happy Birthday, Rev. Pinkney!
Benton Harbor, Michigan, human rights leader Rev. Edward Pinkney, currently serving a 2 ½ to 10 year sentence on election tampering charges, turned 68 years old this month. Marcina Cole , a courtroom observer at Pinkney’s trial, teamed up with David Sole , of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, to throw a birthday party for Pinkney, in absentia, in Detroit. “He’s definitely in support of other inmates, doing ministry work, and looking forward to being out very soon,” said Cole. She reported that Green Party vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka visited the political prisoner on October 19. “This was historical,” said Cole. “They know how powerful Rev. Pinkney is” -- and that he has allies on the outside. Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour. | 0 | [
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FMD4154 | 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 Cesar Sayoc an Obama-Supporting Stripper Before Trump's Rise? Claim summaries: Cesar Sayoc, Jr., the alleged anti-Democrat mail bomber, was a stripper at various points in his life, but there is no evidence that he ever held pro-Obama views.
contextual information: On 27 October 2018, a Facebook account bearing the face of controversial 19th-century Canadian Prime Minister John H. Macdonald shared a post that alleged two facts about Cesar Sayoc, the accused perpetrator of several attempted mail bombings: that he used to work as a stripper, and that he was long known to support Obama during that time: controversial post It is unclear what the author of this post meant to imply by combining the fact that Sayoc worked in strip clubs with the false assertion that he was an Obama supporter, but of the two claims raised, there is only support for the first. In the days following Sayocs arrest, several media outlets attempted to profile the man who had covered his live-in van with Trump memes and sent what appeared to be pipe bombs to Trumps political and media opponents. These profiles describe a directionless individual who worked at strip clubs in various capacities throughout his life, but who only found a political awakening in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, when he became a supporter of President Trump. several media outlets Was Cesar Sayoc a Stripper? Several individuals have stated that Cesar Sayoc has not only been employed at strip clubs, but worked as a stripper himself. Ohio event promoter Tony Valentine told the Washington Examiner that he hired Cesar Sayoc to strip on multiple occasions during the 1990s and that Sayoc, now 56, traveled the country for similar appearances. told "He really couldn't find his niche in life, and I guess he found it now," Valentine told the Washington Examiner. "Back in the '90s, he was running around from Minnesota to the Carolinas to Florida. He was like a gypsy." For two months in 2004, according to a profile in the New York Times, Sayoc was married to a woman who was also a stripper. That womans mother told the Times that the two went on the circuit together as dancers: profile He had a short-lived marriage to a woman identified in court papers as Roberta Altieri that ended in divorce in Oklahoma City in 2004, according to court records. Billie Mode, the mother of his ex-wife, said the couple worked in strip clubs and were married just two months. They were dancers, Ms. Mode said. They went on the circuit together. According to Valentine (the event promoter who had worked with Sayoc in the 1990s), he had heard that, as of about five years ago, Sayoc was working as an employee at a female strip club while performing on the side at an all-male strip club in Florida. More recently, he has appeared in posts on the Facebook page "Chippen Fellas," apparently run by Sayoc himself to promote his Hard Rock International Entertainment brand. This page advertised all-male shows and in one instance included a dated picture of someone who appears to be Sayoc alongside more recent photos of younger men. It is unclear whether he ever performed with this group or merely served as a manager: appeared According to the Times, Sayoc showed up to work as a DJ at a West Palm Beach strip club named Ultra the day before he was arrested. work Did Sayoc Support Obama and Other Democrats In The Past? There is no evidence to support the claim that Sayoc, who sent a pipe bomb to the Obama family, ever supported President Obama. Sayoc registered to vote as a Republican in Florida on 4 March 2016, just ahead of the March 2016 Republican primary, according to the Associated Press. Some have attempted to use doctored images from a MyLife.com background check to assert he was a registered Democrat, but this claim is not rooted in reality. A check of the official Florida voter registry indicates he is currently registered as a Republican. according doctored images voter registry By all accounts, Sayoc lived a fairly apolitical life leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Ronald Lowy, a lawyer for the Sayoc family who represented Cesar during a 2002 case in which he threatened to bomb an electric company over a bill he disputed, told the Times that although Sayocs family members were Democrats, Cesar himself seemed to have no outspoken partisan views during the 2002 case. told Lowys recollection jibes with what a different lawyer, Daniel Lurvey (who represented Sayoc against theft charges in 2013 and 2014), remembers of the mans political leanings. He told the Washington Examiner that he could not recall Sayoc ever discussing politics. Instead, it appears that Sayocs chief interests during this time were bodybuilding and wrestling: told When they first met [over the 2002 bomb threat case], Mr. Lowy said, Mr. Sayoc brought in a scrapbook filled with notes and photographs he had collected from wrestlers, bodybuilders and strippers, table scraps from a world that he idolized. He comes across like a 15-year-old, Mr. Lowy said. He has a total lack of maturity. [...] He said that Mr. Trumps angry rhetoric and his appeals to the forgotten man and woman during the 2016 campaign seemed to strike a deep chord with Mr. Sayoc, whose father had abandoned the family when he was a child. By 2015, it became clear that Sayoc was an outspoken and enthusiastic Trump supporter. That year, In what may have been an effort to make a false insurance claim, he reported to police that $45,000 worth of suits and costumes he needed for his business were stolen from his van. According to the Times, that police report noted that of the 139 pieces he said were taken, 11 were the presidents clothing brand. According Sayoc also attended a Brevard College alumni event with members of his college soccer team that year, during which he quickly made clear he was a fanatical supporter of Mr. Trump, and bombarded them with racist and misogynist conspiracy theories. Two managers at a pizza shop where Sayoc worked in 2017 recall the man making racist remarks while explicitly attacking President Obama and praising President Trump: He loved Adolf Hitler; he talked about Adolf Hitler a lot, said Debra Gureghian, 56, a manager at the Fort Lauderdale pizza shop where Mr. Sayoc worked for about a year in 2017. He would say, I like his politics, we should have more people like him. Mr. Sayoc went on paranoid, racist screeds, saying that blacks and Hispanics were taking over the world. He referred to Mr. Obama with a racist slur and said he was not a citizen... Teresa Palmer, 48, another manager, said that she also recalled [his pro-Trump-stickered white] van, and that Mr. Sayoc would say nasty things about minorities. She remembered him mentioning Mr. Trump, but only recalled him saying that Mr. Trump made a great president. During this time, Sayoc was an outspoken proponent of conservative conspiracy theories and pro-Trump memes, which he shared both on social media and the windows of his sticker-covered white van. There is no such support for the notion that he was pro-Obama, pro-Democrat, or even political at all prior to 2015. proponent Hopper, Tristin. "Here is What Sir John A. Macdonald Did to Indigenous People."
National Post. 28 August 2018. Nelson, Steven. "Mail Bomb Suspect Cesar Sayoc Was a 'Big Muscle Head' Stripper, Says Former Boss."
Washington Examiner. 26 October 2018. Healy, Jack, et al. "Cesar Sayoc, Mail Bombing Suspect, Found an Identity in Political Rage and Resentment."
New York Times. 27 October 2018. Balsamo, Michael, et al. "Florida Trump Supporter Charged in Chilling Mail-Bomb Plot."
Associated Press. 26 October 2018. Lopez, German. "The Pipe Bomb Suspect Made Vitriolic, Threatening Posts Against Democrats on Social Media." | 2 | [
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FMD4155 | 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: Obama Required Banks to Lend Money to Poor People Claim summaries: Barack Obama filed a lawsuit to require banks to 'make loans to poor people'?
contextual information: In 1994, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Citibank, demanding that loans be made to poor people and others who could not show proof that they could pay the money back. The basis of the lawsuit was the 14th Amendment, which requires "fair and equal" treatment for all citizens. The legal theory was that failing to loan money to poor, indigent, or unemployed people was, on its face, a discriminatory act by lending institutions. Thousands of loans were processed, and of course, many went into default, partly explaining why we are in the financial mess we are in. It is easy for some people to point the finger of blame at President George Bush for this crisis because he is sitting in the hot seat. What many people do not know is that the suit was filed during the Clinton Administration. The lawyer filing the suit was none other than Barack Hussein Obama.
This item seeks to shift much of the blame for America's current economic woes onto Barack Obama by claiming that as a young lawyer, Obama filed a lawsuit requiring financial institutions to lend money to "poor people" and "others who could not show proof that they could pay the money back." Although there is a vague element of fact underlying this politicking, the piece quoted above is woefully incorrect in all its particulars. The 1994 case of Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank had nothing to do with requiring lenders to do business with people "who could not show proof that they could pay the money back." The case was a class-action lawsuit against Citibank Federal Savings initiated by a Black Chicago woman, Selma Buycks-Roberson, who claimed she was unfairly denied a mortgage based on her race. The lawsuit sought to end the practice of redlining, a discriminatory practice by which banks, insurance companies, and other business institutions refuse or limit loans, mortgages, insurance, etc., based solely on the geographic area in which the applicant lives—a practice that commonly excludes minorities in inner-city neighborhoods, regardless of their income or ability to pay. Specifically, the lawsuit charged that Citibank "rejected loan applications of minority applicants while approving loan applications filed by white applicants with similar financial characteristics and credit histories." The case was eventually settled out of court, with some class members receiving cash payments and Citibank agreeing to help ease the way for low- and moderate-income people to apply for mortgages.
Although Barack Obama was involved with the Buycks-Roberson case, he did not file the lawsuit, nor was he the lead attorney in the matter. He was a junior member of an eight-lawyer team that worked on the case; Obama admits he played a mostly behind-the-scenes role at his law firm, Miner Barnhill & Galland. He researched the law, drafted motions, prepared for depositions, and did other less glamorous work during his three years full-time and eight years "of counsel" to the firm. "He wrote lots of substantial memos, but he didn't try any cases," said Judson Miner, a partner in the firm who was Obama's boss. Obama represented Calvin Roberson in a 1994 lawsuit against Citibank, charging the bank systematically denied mortgages to African-American applicants and others from minority neighborhoods. "I don't recall him ever standing up and giving an impassioned speech; it was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff," said Fay Clayton, the lead lawyer on the case. "He was the very junior lawyer in that case," said attorney Robert Kriss. "He had just graduated from law school. I don't recall him being in court at any time I was there. I was the lead lawyer for Citibank, and he was not very visible to me." Kriss, Clayton, and every other co-counsel and opposing counsel interviewed for this story praised Obama's legal ability, temperament, and everything about his courtroom demeanor, even though they agree he did not say much in the courtroom.
On February 23, 1995, Obama billed 2 hours and 50 minutes for an appearance before Judge Ruben Castillo on behalf of his client and also for reviewing some documents in advance of a deposition. That cost Citibank—which ultimately had to pay the winning side's fees—$467 at Obama's hourly rate of $165. Miner commanded the higher rate of $285 an hour. During his appearance before the judge, Obama said he would need more time to file a response to a motion, and the judge agreed. That was all Obama said during the half-hour hearing. His final bill on the case was 138 hours, or $23,000. Last updated: September 5, 2012. Associated Press. "Some Cases Obama Worked on in His Career as an Attorney." February 20, 2007. | 0 | [
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FMD4156 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Trump Tweet That Drug Testing Will Be Mandatory for Public Benefit Recipients? Claim summaries: A fake tweet attributed to President Trump suggested mandatory drug testing would be imposed on recipients of public assistance.
contextual information: In January 2017, a screenshot of a tweet purportedly sent by President Donald Trump (pledging "mandatory drug testing" for recipients of public assistance) circulated on social media. The text of the suspiciously undated tweet read "Drug test will be mandatory before receiving anything the government has to offer! We have to clean up these streets!": Twitter's advanced search tool returns no results for such a tweet, and the deleted tweet archive Politwoops also has no record of President Trump's issuing such a statement via Twitter. results Politwoops Although President Donald Trump has tweeted about drug tests and drug testing in the past, none of those tweets mentioned a connection to qualifying for public assistance: drug tests drug testing The San Fran crash was totally the pilot's fault - may be too late for drug testing, RIDICULOUS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2013 July 9, 2013 Given the lack of standard Twitter formatting, and the lack of any attendant news coverage about it (despite all the attention paid to Trump's Twitter feed by the news media), it's safe to say this tweet was fabricated and does not represent any statements made by President Trump via Twitter in January 2017. | 0 | [
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FMD4157 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: It was a few minutes after 7 p. m. on Tuesday when Trump TV conked out. “We have to pause,†said Avi Berkowitz, the director, as he stared at a black square on his laptop where, moments earlier, Episode 2 of “Trump Tower Live†— the talk show produced by the Donald J. Trump campaign — had been streaming. The panelists on the show, standing a few feet away in a makeshift studio inside a bland Trump Tower office, glanced around, confused. A makeup artist hired for the occasion fiddled with her phone. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and the night’s special guest, kept criticizing Hillary Clinton, until somebody noted that the camera had shut off. news, this was not. The set consisted of two wooden tables pressed together, facing a single camcorder on a tripod. The director, who eventually got the feed working again, was a recent Harvard Law School graduate with no broadcasting background. Yet “Trump Tower Live†has been seized on as a harbinger of a potential Trump media empire to come. The show, set to air through Election Day, debuted this week with a crawl — filled exclusively with headlines favorable to Mr. Trump — and onscreen graphics borrowed from the cable news playbook. Essentially agitprop presented as news, the program is fueling speculation that Mr. Trump wants to start a network, purveying news and opinion tailored to the candidate’s worldview. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s has met with a prominent media banker and other industry figures to discuss options for a television venture. The proximity to Mr. Trump of Stephen K. Bannon, a top campaign adviser and the mastermind of Breitbart News, has also stoked talk of plans for a national media outlet. But speaking at Trump Tower on Tuesday before an evening taping, the creators of the show — who all work for the Trump campaign — dismissed such speculation as baseless. “That’s part of a narrative that the media is trying to spin, in order to somehow suggest that Mr. Trump is not going to win this election,†said Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer who often appears on television on behalf of the Trump campaign and who serves as a of “Trump Tower Live. †The show “is not a trial balloon,†he added. “It’s a channel for messaging to voters that haven’t been reached yet. †Judging by the scene at Tuesday’s show, the production was minimal: a team, including a microphone operator in a navy blue Make America Great Again windbreaker, in a room overlooking the Trump Tower atrium. As talk shows go, the mood was remarkably placid — perhaps because the hosts never disagreed with one another. The panelists — including a former lieutenant governor of New York, Betsy McCaughey — denounced the Affordable Care Act and accused Mrs. Clinton of committing a variety of criminal acts. There was no green room for guests, but bottles of spring water were available. As he waited for the broadcast to start, Mr. Giuliani said that he “would have loved†a similar tool during his time as mayor. “This is a very effective way to get your message over and above all the interpretations — misinterpretations — that occur,†Mr. Giuliani said. “I wish we could have done it. It would have been a big help. †Monday’s premiere episode attracted about 60, 000 live viewers at one point, solid for Facebook, if meager for cable news. Tuesday’s edition, which aired after one of Mr. Trump’s rallies, saw a to 23, 000 viewers, though Cliff Sims, Mr. Epshteyn’s said his team was still working out kinks. “It’s an evolving thing,†said Mr. Sims, who built an online news and radio network called Yellowhammer in his native Alabama before taking a leave to join the Trump campaign. “We’re experimenting a little bit with the form it will take. †Mr. Sims pitched the idea for a Facebook Live special on the night of the final presidential debate that broadcast attracted millions of views and led to about 150, 000 people donating to the campaign. For its daily show, the campaign is considering afternoon broadcasts, and it is looking to see whether airing before or after a speech by Mr. Trump has an effect on viewership. While many noted that Monday’s episode aired at 6:30 p. m. opposite major network newscasts, Mr. Sims said that was a coincidence tied to Mr. Trump’s schedule that night. Still, the “Trump Tower Live†crew has not shied away from asserting that it offers a corrective to traditional news. “We’re excited to be bypassing the media,†Mr. Epshteyn said on Monday’s broadcast, prompting Mr. Sims to add, “It would be malpractice on our part if we didn’t utilize these massive social media platforms that we have. †Mr. Trump, for his part, has said he is focused on winning the election, not creating a media property. He told a Cincinnati radio host on Tuesday, “I have no interest in Trump TV,†and industry executives say the costs for a news channel would be prohibitive. Even Sean Hannity of Fox News, a dedicated Trump partisan, sounded skeptical when asked about the idea in an interview in Las Vegas last week. “Good luck,†Mr. Hannity said. “It’s going to cost you half a billion just to get in the water. †Still, Mr. Berkowitz, the Trump Tower Live director, sounded bullish about his show’s ambitions. “Younger people don’t watch CNN they just don’t,†Mr. Berkowitz said, as the studio set was dismantled around him. “This is how they get information,†he added. “This is the best way to bring it to them. And we’re happy to do that. †| 1 | [
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FMD4158 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Cerrar Normas comunitarias
El registro y la autorización del usuario en las páginas web de Sputnik a través de una o varias cuentas implica la aceptación de las siguientes reglas y condiciones de uso.
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La administración se reserva el derecho a eliminar los comentarios realizados en otro idioma distinto al usado en el contenido principal del material presentado.
Los comentarios publicados por los usuarios en todas las versiones de la web sputniknews.com pueden ser editados.
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La administración tiene derecho a bloquear el acceso del usuario a la página o a eliminar su cuenta sin previo aviso en caso de una violación de las normas de publicación de comentarios o si en sus acciones existen indicios de violencia.
El usuario puede iniciar la recuperación del acceso a su cuenta enviando un mail a la siguiente dirección:
El mensaje debe contener: Asunto: Restauración de la cuenta/desbloqueo del acceso Nombre de acceso del usuario Las explicaciones sobre el motivo de las acciones que acabaron en una violación de las reglas y en el consiguiente bloqueo.
La restauración de la cuenta o el desbloqueo del acceso se efectuarán sólo si los moderadores lo consideran adecuado.
En caso de violación reiterada de las condiciones de uso y un nuevo bloqueo, el acceso del usuario no podrá ser restaurado y, en consecuencia, el bloqueo será definitivo.
Para comunicarse con el equipo de moderadores, por favor, escriba al siguiente correo electrónico: Iniciar sesión | 0 | [
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FMD4159 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Fraudulent Scheme Involving Government Grants Claim summaries: Are telephone solicitors looking to hook you up with a variety of government grants?
contextual information: Scam: Telephone solicitors call out of the blue, looking to hook you up with thousands of dollars worth of government grants (aka free money) they claim you are eligible for. REAL FRAUD WHICH COSTS ITS VICTIMS AROUND $250. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004] There is a telephone scam targeting people across the nation. The caller identifies himself as a representative of the Government Grant Association. The caller then leads the person to believe they have qualified for a government grant, and in order to pay out the grant, they need the person's bank account number or they have the account number and need the person to verify it. Origins: A new form of the "prepayment" con has been blanketing the US throughout 2004. Through it, the unsuspecting are lured by the promise of government grants into agreeing to have an "up-front fee" (usually $249) siphoned from their bank accounts. Though the fee is taken immediately, the grants never materialize, leaving those who have been led to believe they were about to be enriched to the tune of thousands of dollars sadly disappointed and a few hundred dollars poorer. "Prepayment" frauds are far from brand new; many successful flim-flams hold out the carrot of big money (which never materializes no matter how hard it is chased after) to seduce the gullible into parting with some of their hard-earned funds. Those so deceived have acted on the belief they were arranging hard-to-secure loans at very favorable rates, often with distant countries said to be eager to lend to Americans. Or they were promised access to little-known and almost-forgotten college grants. Or they received the news they'd won foreign fabulous wealth in lotteries they had no recollection of entering. Even the venerable Nigerian scam is a prepayment con: though its victims initially believe that for helping distressed foreigners move large sums of cash from their country they will receive millions of dollars, very early in the process they discover they will have to pay numerous sums to various individuals to bring this about. Folks conned via prepayment schemes mistakenly believe they stand to gain vast amounts of something for practically nothing. Acting on that faith, they willingly part with funds they would ordinarily be reluctant to spend, yet which, by comparison to the prizes about to be gained, momentarily appear to be relatively small sums. The 2004 'government grant' fraud operates on that principle. Those contacted by such cheats are told they are entitled to claim government grants worth anywhere from $8,000 to $25,000. In return for their banking information and what now seems an insignificant processing fee of $249, said grants will be directly deposited into their accounts. Those who suspect something might be wrong with the notion of the government handing them money for no discernible reason are told they are eligible for this form of largesse as a reward for having paid their taxes promptly for the past few years or because they are senior citizens. Individuals who further question the process are issued all manner of guarantees, including the provision of 800 numbers to call if at any time they wish to bow out and have their up-front fees refunded. "Supervisors" may join phone conversations between scam artists and their potential victims to assure those expressing doubts about the government wanting to give them money that everything is meticulously legitimate. The doubters may also be given the addresses of websites to examine which, they are told, will explain in far greater detail how these grants operate. These promises and seeming proofs serve only one purpose, and it is not the protection of the consumer; they work to lend an air of legitimacy to the pitch so as to soothe the suspicions of those about to be taken. Very few will think to call those numbers; they will instead trust that what they have been told are guarantees are, in fact, valid ones. Those inquisitive enough to dial those 800 numbers find they either go unanswered or have been disconnected. Those operating versions of this scam have, in the past, identified themselves as representatives of granting agencies with names such as the Government Grant Center, Consumer Grants USA, Ultimate Funding Inc., Government Grant USA, Federal Government Information Center, Federal Government Grant Information Center, National Grant Center, Federal Research Funding, Customer Care Plus, and Department of Revenue. However, the absence of a purported grant facilitation entity from this list does not prove it is legitimate, so no comfort should be taken from its absence. Swindlers routinely invent impressive-sounding names and titles for themselves and the entities they supposedly represent. "That's what scam artists do," said Pat Coakley of the Better Business Bureau, "they operate under a variety of names and phone numbers, then leave town and start all over again under other assumed names." As to how the con is run, one of our readers who was contacted by someone intent on victimizing him with the 'government grant' scheme reported this exchange: [Bryan] Good morning, this is Bryan. [Swindler] My name is Alec Watson. (Female with an Indian or Pakistani accent.) [Bryan] This is Bryan. [Swindler] Can I speak with Bryan P. please? [Bryan] Speaking. (I never answer in an affirmative manner anymore. I once had my long-distance carrier changed because I said yes when they asked me if I was Bryan. Once they recorded my yes, they had me saying yes to anything.) [Swindler] Again, my name is Alec Watson from the Las Vegas Government Grant Processing Center. And you have been approved to receive an eight thousand dollar grant. We would like to verify your information. Do you live at _____? Do you still work for _____? [Bryan] Correct. Why would I get a grant for $8,000? [Swindler] We have noticed that you have paid your taxes on time for the last 20 years. Can you please verify your bank? [Bryan] North Island Financial Credit Union. [Swindler] Can you tell me what your bank routing number is? [Bryan] No, I cannot. [Swindler] Bryan, we can process you for $8,000 for a full free grant. We can automatically withdraw the processing amount from your bank account. Do you think that a cost of $257 is worth receiving $8,000? [Bryan] Well, if you're charging me $257, then it isn't free, now is it? [Swindler] I can give you a few minutes to get your checkbook. [Bryan] I am at work. I do not have a checkbook with me. (Not kidding; my wife knows better than to send me to work with a checkbook during the holidays.) [Swindler] A deposit slip? [Bryan] No. [Swindler] Sir, we cannot finish without your banking routing number; can you call someone at home and receive it? [Bryan] Why can't you subtract the money from the grant? [Swindler] Because we are not allowed to touch the grant money. Did you get your checking information yet? [Bryan] Please remove me from your calling list. [Swindler] Bryan, you don't want the $8,000? We are not authorized to remove you. [Bryan] Okay, I found you on the web, and it says you are a rip-off. Please let me talk to a supervisor. [Swindler] CLICK. As Bryan experienced, the quite reasonable question of "Why can't you deduct the fee from the funds you'll be sending me?" is always countered by the claim that it is impossible to do so. Others who have been party to such come-ons report being told laws precluded the use of the grant (or loan or scholarship or lottery prize) for anything other than its designated purpose, which included barring the use of even a small part of those funds for payment of processing fees. Bryan's example also shows how much he was pressured to provide his banking information. Someone less aware of the possibility of being conned might well have given up that number under such a barrage. The scam succeeds as well as it does, thanks in part to the many television commercials touting free government money. (Such advertisers are vending books containing the contact information for a variety of government grants, loans, and subsidies.) Though there are genuine government grants to be had, they are not available to just anyone for no purpose. Forget about the ads on TV; there are not untold troves of government funds available just for the asking. Grants are awarded on the basis of specific criteria having been met for specific programs. Such grants are very strictly administered, require the completion of a great deal of paperwork, and are overseen at every step. These are not "Fill out a simple form, then cash a huge check" types of propositions; these are "Prove to us that you qualify under this program, then, provided you are engaged in the activity we are interested in fostering, we might subsidize some of your costs" sorts of deals. The hoops to be jumped through are many and varied, and there is precious little by way of a freebie to it. Regarding the government grant scam, keep these three points in mind: The U.S. Government does not telephone people to offer them grants. Grants are never guaranteed, nor are they issued for no apparent purpose, so folks should be downright suspicious of any talk of grants where the words "free" or "guarantee" are mentioned. Real government grants require extensive documentation with great attention to detail. There is nothing simple or painless about securing a government grant. How To Avoid Falling Victim To Prepayment Scams: Above all else, have nothing to do with 'deal of a lifetime' offers that require payment in advance of fees. Do not fall for schemes whereby you are required to prepay taxes on lottery winnings, or pay to have a prize shipped to you, or are to be charged a loan application fee. Do not pay someone for the privilege of working for them. With regard to 'free government grants' come-ons, disabuse yourself of the notion that the U.S. government is in the business of providing grants (aka free money) to whichever of its citizens have made it their habit to pay their taxes on time. (Rather, the U.S. government offers a disincentive to those who are tardy with their payments; it assesses penalties for deadlines missed and charges interest on the amounts overdue.) Stop believing in the chimera of "something for nothing." | 2 | [
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FMD4160 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: José Estrella pulled a handkerchief to cover his face as he began to speak. The air around the morgue in Mocoa was filled with the smell of the dead, he said, who included his sister and two nephews. “Now the bodies are decomposing because they are in open air,†said Mr. Estrella, his voice cracking as he spoke by telephone. He was unable to retrieve the bodies, he said the morgue, overloaded with the dead, was understaffed. The bodies were piling up on Monday morning in Mocoa, a Colombian city where mud and debris had made it impossible in places to see that anyone had ever lived there. Rescue workers continued to scour the rubble for the dead. And family members, like Mr. Estrella, pleaded for the bodies of loved ones so they could offer them a proper burial. The provincial capital in the southern mountains of the country was devastated by a flood of water and debris on Saturday that has so far claimed at least 262 lives. The heavy rains caused nearby rivers to rise, generating a torrent that leveled homes and neighborhoods. “The putrefaction is beginning,†said Nixon Piaguaje, a local radio journalist. Rescue teams, some covered in mud, waded through a landscape of stone and earth in what in many cases had become a search for bodies rather than survivors. Hundreds of relief workers arrived in the town to distribute supplies. President Juan Manuel Santos acknowledged “bottlenecks†in the relief process, but said more help would be arriving soon and promised a full reconstruction of the city. Edgar Ruiz, an indigenous leader, expressed frustration in a phone interview after trudging through the mud searching for lost members from his community, the Siona people. So far, he said, he had located six families alive from his group, but eight more were unaccounted for. “We went to the health centers and the morgue as well, but they were nowhere,†he said. Mr. Santos said that at least 43 of the dead were children. “We send our prayers to all of them,†he said. “To their families we send condolences and the sympathy of the entire country. †Colombian television transmitted images of loved ones still searching for lost children in the rubble. “I did everything that was possible: I told my son don’t let go, and he said he wouldn’t,†Yuri Narváez told Colombian television station Caracol TV. “But the current came and we lost him. †Mr. Piaguaje, the radio journalist, said there were so many bodies that there was no one to bury them all. “When someone finds a cadaver, they take them to the cemetery and just leave them there,†he said. He said scores of bodies were still lying in open air. On Monday afternoon, Mr. Estrella, the man who was unable to get the bodies of his relatives in the morgue, recalled rushing to the neighborhood of San Miguel after hearing the mudslide to see if his family members were still alive. Instead he looked on as rescue workers pulled out their bodies: First his sister, who lay near the ruins of her home, then her two daughters, one 8, the other just 5 months. He said he had since been haunted by the smell of the dead. “You smell it for hundreds of feet,†he said. “There are people who faint when they open the bags and the bodies are putrefied. †| 1 | [
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FMD4161 | 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: Missing Child: Kyron Horman Claim summaries: A now 15-year-old boy named Kyron Horman disappeared from his Portland, Oregon, home in June 2010 and is still missing.
contextual information: OK folks, we don't often get serious but this is important. Little Kyron Horman has been missing and his mother just put up this billboard in WA state.... please share everyone... please! This boy needs to be home with his Momma :((( As noted on the web site of National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Kyron Richard Horman, then seven years old, went missing from his Portland, Oregon, home back in June 2010: Kyron Richard Horman He was last seen at school on June 4, 2010. Kyron was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with "CSI" in green letters and a handprint graphic. He was also wearing black cargo pants, white socks, and black Sketchers sneakers with orange trim. Kyron may wear glasses. More than two years later, this missing child case was brought to widespread public attention in conjunction with legal maneuvering, in which a $10 million lawsuit was brough by Kyron's biological mother, Desiree Young, which sought to compel Kyron's stepmother, Terri Horman, to either return Kyron or provide information about what had happened to him: More than two-years after 6-year-old Oregon boy Kyron Horman disappeared, the boy's stepmother is asking a judge to delay hearing a civil suit that says she knows the child's location. The lawsuit was filed against Terri Horman by Kyron's biological mother, Desiree Young, asking the judge to order the stepmother to return Kyron or, if he's dead, say where his remains are located. The lawsuit also seeks $10 million. Terri Horman says in a brief that a criminal investigation is under way, and the civil suit should be stayed two years while it plays out. Investigators have long focused on Terri Horman, although they have not named her as a suspect or filed criminal charges. The lawsuit accuses her of kidnapping Kyron, by herself or with help. The boy was reportedly last seen on the morning of June 4, 2010 at Skyline Elementary School in Portland, where his stepmother had taken him for a science fair. Five years on, Kyron's case was still being actively pursued by law enforcement, friends, and family: As the five-year anniversary of Kyron Horman's disappearance approaches, The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office wants the public to know the search is still active. Friends and family members said they plan to put together another search effort this summer. But Lt. Steve Alexander said the sheriff's office had to date received more than 4,000 tips in the case. And he said the investigation is definitely still active. "A full time sheriff's office detective is primarily assigned to the Kyron Horman missing child investigation, and efforts to locate Kyron," Alexander said. "Additionally, a now-retired FBI Agent with years of experience in the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment teams continues his involvement in this case, reviewing the evidence amassed by investigators." He said tips in the case come in from all over the world nearly every day. Kyron's stepmother Terri Horman, whom a judge described as a prime suspect in her stepson's disappearance, has twice tried to change her name, and in January 2016 she was reported to have moved out of Oregon to California: The stepmother of missing Portland boy Kyron Horman has moved out of Oregon. In October [2015], Terri Horman changed her Oregon driver's license to an address in Sacramento, California. In August 2014, Terri Horman tried to change her name to Claire Stella Sullivan. During a court hearing, Horman said she wanted a new name to "start over a new life without the stigma of Horman attached to it." A Douglas County judge denied that request. Four months later, Horman applied for another name change in Lane County. She wanted to change her name to Claire Kisiel, but later withdrew the request In a 20 January 2016 interview with People magazine, Terri Horman asserted she had nothing to do with Kyron's disappearance: Terri has never been named a suspect or a person of interest in the case surrounding Kyron's disappearance, which officials for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department say is an "ongoing investigation." Still, a cloud of suspicion has followed Terri, and she's ready to answer questions that people have wanted to know. Terri [says] she did not harm or kill Kyron and has no idea what happened to him or where he is. "The answer is what I've said a hundred times I don't know." A Facebook group has been established to help disseminate information about Kyron and raise funds for ongoing search efforts. Facebook Leibowitz, Barry. "Kyron Horman's Stepmom Wants Delay in Lawsuit."
CBSNews.com 25 July 2012.
| 1 | [
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FMD4162 | 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: Every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns.
contextual information: It seems every political reporter is asking: Where are Donald Trump's tax returns? The presumptive Republican nominee for president has refused to release his tax returns thus far, citing an IRS audit. Presidential candidates are not required to release tax returns, but the information helps the public vet candidates' finances, revealing details such as charitable giving, investments, and the tax rate they pay. The IRS has recently stated that an audit does not prevent a person from releasing their own tax information. On the Democratic side of the race, Sen. Bernie Sanders has released his 2014 returns, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has released annual returns going back to 2000. In a May 15 interview with Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace noted that it has become customary over the past several decades for presidential candidates to release their tax returns. "He says that he's not going to release them until an IRS audit is complete," Wallace said, speaking of Trump. When asked this week what his effective tax rate is, Trump replied, "It's none of your business." Wallace pointed out that every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns. Noting that it was not good that Mitt Romney stalled on releasing his tax returns in the 2012 race, Priebus said, "I'm not sure whether Americans actually care or not whether Donald Trump releases his taxes or not." We have looked into the history of candidate tax returns before, but we haven't dug into the story of former President Richard Nixon's audit, so we thought we should put Wallace's claim on the Truth-O-Meter. The Tax History Project has compiled the tax returns of many current and former candidates and presidents, all the way back to Franklin Roosevelt's 1913 returns. Each Republican nominee in the past nine presidential elections has released his tax returns: Ronald Reagan (1980, 1984), George H. W. Bush (1988, 1992), Bob Dole (1996), George W. Bush (2000, 2004), John McCain (2008), and Mitt Romney (2012). That leaves one nominee since Nixon, Nixon's vice president, Gerald Ford. Ford assumed the role of president after Nixon resigned in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal. Ford ran for re-election as the Republican nominee in 1976, ultimately losing to Democrat Jimmy Carter. Ford never released his full tax returns; he released summary data about his returns from 1966 through 1974. The summary data includes his total income and the total tax he paid but not an itemized breakdown. Back to Nixon. Nixon did not release his tax returns in 1968 or 1972. The IRS audited Nixon in 1973 when questions arose about a questionable charitable donation and speculation that Nixon had tried to manipulate the tax system, according to a paper prepared for the United States Capitol Historical Society. (This happened around the same time as the Watergate investigation but was a separate issue.) Nixon famously stated amid this scandal: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook." Nixon eventually released a slew of financial information to the public in December 1973, including the previous four years of tax returns, to try to quell the criticism. He also asked a congressional committee to examine them. However, the congressional investigation ultimately found that Nixon owed $476,431 (approximately $2.3 million in today's dollars) in unpaid taxes and accrued interest. We asked Joe Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project, if the IRS has audited any presidents or presidential candidates since Nixon. He said he doesn't know, and it would be impossible to know unless the auditee volunteered that information because the IRS can't confirm or deny anything about a particular taxpayer. Thorndike added, though, that he thinks it's likely the IRS has audited candidates and presidents in recent years. Our lack of knowledge about presidential and candidate audits is one reason why it's important for public officials to release their tax returns publicly, he said. "Disclosure is the only way voters can be sure that these returns are getting adequate scrutiny." Our ruling: Wallace said, "Every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns." The IRS did audit Nixon, and he did release his tax returns, but he released them after he won re-election. His successor, Ford, released a tax summary spanning several years but never his full returns. That being said, every Republican nominee since then—six nominees over nine elections—has disclosed their tax returns. Wallace's recounting of history is a little off, though the essence of his point is correct: The Republican nominees have released their tax returns in the last nine presidential cycles. We rate this claim Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4163 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: So you mean they didn t have to burn the city down?Attorneys for the six police officers charged in Freddie Gray s death say prosecutors steered investigators away from allegations about Gray s behavior in past interactions with law enforcement.The attorneys claim detectives were told Gray had a history of participating in crash-for-cash schemes in which people hurt themselves to collect settlements a piece of information attorneys say would be useful for their case.Gray died on April 19, a week after suffering a critical spinal injury in the back of a police van while being arrested. Gray s death spurred days of largely peaceful protests followed by rioting and looting on April 27.Six officers were charged with crimes ranging from misdemeanor assault to depraved-heart murder in the case, where Gray was heard by bystanders screaming in pain as he was put into the van.He continued to scream during the trip in the van, during which he was put in additional restraints at one point, and was eventually given medical attention but slipped into a coma.In a motion filed Thursday in Baltimore Circuit Court, defense attorneys allege that investigators for the Baltimore Police Department had information that Gray had a history of intentionally injuring himself in order to collect insurance money.The attorneys allege in the filing that police investigators knew that Gray once injured himself so severely while in a Baltimore jail that he required medical attention.The attorneys say in documents that when police investigators tried to follow up on the evidence, Assistant State s Attorney Janice Bledsoe told them not to do the defense attorneys jobs for them. Bledsoe is prosecuting the officers, and also represented Gray in 2012 when he pleaded guilty to cocaine possession, according to the Baltimore Sun.Defense attorneys also say in the motion that high-ranking members of the state s attorney s office met with Dr Carole Allen of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner a week before Gray s autopsy was complete and his death ruled a homicide.In addition, attorneys say the prosecutors didn t provide the medical examiner s office with a copy of the statement of Donta Allen, a man who had been inside the police van where Gray suffered his injury.Investigators initially said Allen told them that Gray had been banging himself, like he was banging his head against the metal like he was trying to knock himself out or something .But Allen later told the media that police had exaggerated his account and said he heard very little banging for like four seconds . I know that man for a fact did not hurt himself . Rochelle Ritchie, spokeswoman for State s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, declined comment on the recent filing.The officers are scheduled to face trial in October, with a hearing on motions set for one month prior. All six have pleaded not guilty.Defense attorneys have asked a judge to move the trial out of Baltimore, arguing that pre-trial publicity will taint the integrity of the jury pool.Additionally, defense attorneys have asked for State s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and her office to be removed from the case, citing alleged conflicts of interest. The most recent filing is in support of that request. The statement to investigators `not do the defense attorneys jobs for them would seem to indicate some level of knowledge that exculpatory evidence exists which could benefit the officers charged in Mr. Gray s death and that the prosecutor did not want this information uncovered by investigators, the attorneys wrote in the motion. Via: Daily Mail | 0 | [
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FMD4164 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: I did not play any role in bringing the company to RI as did others in government. I was tasked with handling the legislation affecting the company by my superiors.
contextual information: Steven M. Costantino, a former House Finance Committee chairman, was more than a hundred miles away, working in Vermonts state government, when newly disclosed public records and emails fueled a wave of recent headlines on the $75 million 38 Studios boondoggle. From the other side of the Green Mountains, he could feel the spotlight. The states financing of the upstart video-game company, to the tune of $75 million in loan guarantees, lured 38 Studios from Massachusetts to Providence in 2010, but left Rhode Island taxpayers vulnerable in the companys 2012 bankruptcy. Amid the torrent of new headlines about 38 Studios, Costantino, who is now commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, issued the following statement on Sept. 27: My only involvement in the matter in RI was because of my former position in the RI legislature. I did not play any role in bringing the company to RI as did others in government. I was tasked with handling the legislation affecting the company by my superiors. Costantino acknowledges he was involved with the legislation, but denies any role, compared with what others in government did, to bring Curt Schillings 38 Studios to Rhode Island. How can he have been both involved and not involved? Unfortunately, the former lawmaker did not respond to our request for an interview, leaving us to sort out this contradiction on our own. The freshly released emails and deposition transcripts hark back to early 2010 when Rhode Islands courtship of 38 Studios began to get serious. The documents give the public a window into which state officials were driving the 38 Studios deal. Costantino comes across as a behind-the-scenes facilitator, helping to lay the groundwork for the public financing. The comments recorded in the depositions and other records show that Costantino: Developed the idea for guaranteeing 38 Studios loans. He was the first to advocate for 38 Studios receipt of a $75-million state guaranteed loan, according to Keith Stokes,chairman of the R.I Economic Development Corporation at the time. And J. Michael Saul, then the EDCs finance director, recalls that Costantino proposed the expansion of an existing loan guarantee program during a visit to 38 Studios headquarters in Maynard, Mass. And at the conclusion of the meeting, Saul testified, he turned to me and asked me the question: If we were to increase the $50-million (loan program) to $125 million would this -- Im paraphrasing here -- would this be helpful to get this done? In another email, an EDC lawyer, Robert I. Stolzmanadvised Carcieris chief of staff Andrew Hodgkin that he had sent him several documents including a draft authorizing the RIEDC to guarantee 38 Studios debt (at the suggestion of House Finance Chairman Costantino, the draft reflects a larger authorization for this as a Jobs Creation Guaranty Program). Costantino, in his deposition in 2014, did not to dispute anything in the Stolzman note. Was among just a few lawmakers in the loop. Only House Speaker Gordon Fox, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, Sen. Daniel DaPonte, and Costantino knew about the 38 Studios transaction when the General Assembly approved the bill for the guarantees in 2010, according Marcel A. Valois,the EDCs former director. Another email from Stolzman, the EDCs lawyer, suggests that Sharon Reynolds, the House fiscal adviser, and Costantino were privy to certain background and summary information on the 38 Studios transaction before Governor Carcieri. Shielded the 38 Studios transaction from public scrutiny. During a videotaped discussion of the bill on the House floor on April 13, one lawmaker asked about the origins of the loan guarantee legislation and who was behind it. There's always conversations with lobbyists and small businesses, Costantino said. He didnt name 38 Studios. Later on in June of 2010, Costantino told Stolzman he hadnt told a Providence Journal reporter about his visit to 38 Studios. And Costantino said he wanted to know what EDC staffers were saying about the deal. Steered the legislation for 38 Studios guaranteed loan. In two separate April 2 emails with the numerals 38 noted in the subject line, Stokes mentions Costantinos role in scheduling the legislation, advising others that Steven Costantino wants to move on it next week and that Costantino has advised him that House Speaker Fox wants to post the item for hearing. Our ruling In his defense, Costantino issued a statement in which he said: I did not play any role in bringing the company to RI as did others in government. I was tasked with handling the legislation affecting the company by my superiors. In other words: Dont blame me, I was just doing my job. But the records and comments of people involved illustrate that Costantino played a key part in Rhode Island's courtship of 38 Studios. The legislation he helped pass, offering valuable loan guarantees, was his idea, according to one former EDC official. During the process, Costantino shielded his idea from the type of full political scrutiny that might have killed it. He did this by not naming 38 Studios on the House floor when he was asked who was pushing for the loan-guarantee program. When the deal was done, the CEO of Schilling's company thanked all members of the General Assembly and singled out five elected officials by name, including the former House Finance Committee chairman. Costantino played a pivotal role in creating the 38 Studios mess. In some ways, the record shows he bears as much responsibility as the other elected government officials who tasked him. We rate his statementFalse. (If you have a claim youd likePolitiFact Rhode Islandto check, email us at[email protected]. And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.) | 0 | [
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FMD4165 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick was a member of Congress for 14 years, serving Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. Early in her career, she was selected to serve on the Defense Sub-Committee of Appropriations, and became the first African American to do so. This committee (on paper) has jurisdiction over the budget for the United States Department of Defense, it’s the largest appropriations bill in the United States Federal Government. She was also a board member of the United States Air Force Academy from 2003-2007. She has a long list of very significant accomplishments and achievements while serving as a member of Congress, and you can read about them HERE . Currently, she is the founder of and managing partner of J & A Global Partners, LLC. She had this to say about the UFO/extraterrestrial topic at the citizens hearing for disclosure last year (more information on the hearing later in the article). “We’ve all been in congress long enough to know something about this world and our country and how it operates. Everything that you’ve said here, this congressperson knows it to be true, from people we know and things we’ve done in our own lives. The President and the military, there’s always a friction there, governments or military, who has the power? I think it’s important that we work with the foreign governments, there’s been 10 or 15 already identified who have acknowledged this existence. I want to be a part of that, I want to go and I want to see, so I’m presenting myself for that, I want to do that.” Please start the video at 1:04.21 to see the statement. Below is a statement regarding UFO technology, the propulsion systems they use and how it’s quite clear that they don’t burn any fossil fuels. At the event where these words were given, there was plenty of information presented regarding the involvement of private contractors and industry, and how some of this technology threatens those industries. Related CE Articles: FREE ENERGY “The public private partnerships that I mentioned the other day have to do it. Once upon a time this country had horse and buggies, we moved to cars and now it’s moving to something else. When you talk about oil, gas and coal, yeah that’s the money, and it’s about money and power, but who’s to say that we can’t transition so we faze out of oil, gas and coal. I don’t think the UFO issue is separate from this.” Related CE Article: The Black Budget As far as foreign governments already acknowledging this existence, it’s true. Mexico, for example, has released a number of files documenting various UFO incursions. They’ve even released video footage of military jets scrambled to take a closer look. Below are just a few examples, amongst many: “The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data. Maybe when this group of nations acquires more precise and definite information, it will be possible to release the news to the world” – General Carlos Castro Cavero, Spanish Air Force General (1976) One case in particular I’d like to start out with is the incident over Tehran, Iran. This incident occurred on the night of September 18th, 1976. A four page U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and NSA report describes the encounter in detail. (source) (source) Furthermore, both of the pilots involved discussed the event years later. Both of the F-4 interceptor pilots reported seeing the object visually, it was also tracked on their airborne radar. Both planes experienced critical instrumentation and electronics go offline at a distance of twenty-five miles from the object. Here is an excerpt from the report: “As the F-4 approached a range of 25 nautical miles it lost all instrumentation and communications. When the F-4 turned away from the object and apparently was no longer a threat to it, the aircraft regained all instrumentation and communications. Another brightly lighted object came out of the original object. The second object headed straight toward the F4. ” (source) (source) Perhaps the most dramatic of all were two encounters that year on December 16th by the Chilean Air Force: “Two pilots on a training mission, each flying an F5 fighter aircraft, tracked the object on their airborne radar. It gave a return equal to ten or more aircraft carriers-except this object was in the air, not floating on the water. Each pilot assumed his radar equipment was faulty, until he learned that the other pilot was also getting the same return. Not only this, but ground radar from a nearby airport also picked up the object and confirmed its huge size. The pilots also saw the object with their own eyes. One pilot later said that at a distance of twenty miles, it looked “like a plantain banana swathed in smoke.” The pilots were frightened, having no missiles or weapons. As they approached the massive object, which had been motionless all this while, it took off at an unimaginable speed. All at once, it vanished from the three radar screens.”(1) Related CE Article: This Is What Happens When A UFO Is Tracked On Military Radar About The Hearing From April 29 to May 3, 2013 researchers, activists and military/agency/political witnesses representing ten countries gave testimony in Washington, DC to six former members of the United States Congress about events and evidence indicating an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race and the planet. The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure was a very large event in terms of size, scope and the involvement of former members of the US Congress. With over 30 hours of testimony from 40 witnesses over five days the event was the most concentrated body of evidence regarding the extraterrestrial subject ever presented to the press and the general public at one time. You can find out more about the hearing HERE . Many clips are also available on youtube. We Are Not Alone There is an overwhelming amount of evidence suggesting that we are not alone, and this idea continues to gain more and more popularity as we move towards 2015. For example, NASA and the Library of Congress recently gathered together scientists, theologians and philosophers to discuss how they are going to prepare the world for extraterrestrial contact. You can read more about that HERE . CE has covered this topic for quite sometime now. To see our most recent posts on the UFO/extraterrestrial subject, visit our exopolitics section by clicking HERE . Sources: Most of them are embedded within the article (1) Huneeus, J, Antonio, “A Chilean Overview,” MUFON UFO Journal, 6/86; Huneeus, J. Antonio, “A Historical Survey of UFO Cases in Chilie,” MUFON 1987 International Symposium Proceedings ( MUFON, 1987.) Dolan, Richard. UFOs For the 21st Century Mind: New York: Richard Dolan Press, 2014
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 0 | [
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FMD4166 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Former DEA Prescription Head Drops a BombShell — Congress Protects Big Pharma & Fuels Opioid Crisis Source: Claire Bernish Congress would rather protect the profits of pharmaceutical companies than the health of those addicted to dangerous opioid drugs, says a former head of the DEA responsible for preventing abuse of medications.
Joseph Rannazzisi, former Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, asserts Big Pharma and its lobbyists have a “stranglehold” on legislators in Congress and have engineered the protection of a $9 billion per year industry over the health of American citizens, according to a report from the Guardian .
“Congress would rather listen to people who had a profit motive rather than a public health and safety motive,” he said, according to the outlet. “As long as the industry has this stranglehold through lobbyists, nothing’s going to change.”
Rannazzisi explained lobbyists have spent millions thwarting legislative and policy efforts to provide guidelines for reducing the prescribing of opioid medications closely related to heroin — and helped limit the DEA’s powers to discipline those who dispense unusually high dosages of the same.
A pharmacist himself, Rannazzisi severely criticized lawmakers he claims hold a double standard — publicly vowing to combat the opioid epidemic, while essentially working on behalf of pharmaceutical companies to ensure the industry’s profits.
“These congressmen and senators who are using this because they are up for re-election, it’s a sham,” he told the Guardian . “The congressmen and senators who are championing this fight, the ones who really believe in what they’re doing, their voices are drowned out because the industry has too much influence.”
With the unique insight of having been an insider, Rannazzisi excoriated the duplicity evidenced between legislators’ public lamentation of addiction and deaths from the opioid crisis during election years, and private efforts to protect drugmakers from liability.
And he would know. According to Rannazzisi’s LinkedIn profile, as Chief of Diversion, he had been tasked with “oversight and control of all regulatory compliance inspections and civil and criminal investigations of approximately 1.6 million DEA registrants”— but if the standards are lowered by Congress to allow greater leeway in prescribing opioids, the threshold of criminality is raised.
As the Guardian points out, legislation to fight the opioid epidemic, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act , did, in fact, pass in July — but partisan controversy erupted when Republicans failed to provide funding to give the law sharp teeth. Democrats then issued a report titled “ Dying Waiting for Treatment ” in response, which “likened the Republican response to the opioid crisis to ‘using a piece of chewing gum to patch a cracked dam.’”
Indeed the report sharply criticized the bill, equating its policies to ‘empty promises’ for the lack of financial follow-through.
As the Washington Post detailed in a report earlier this month, the DEA launched an aggressive campaign to rein in distribution of opioids by pharmaceutical manufacturers to illegal ‘pill mills’ and corrupt pharmacies, who cared little whether the drugs wound up on the streets.
Headed by Rannazzisi, the Office of Diversion Control sent investigators into the field, and began issuing hefty fines and filing lawsuits against the distributors responsible for the proliferation of opioids on the streets.
But the disproportionately powerful pharmaceutical industry — fearing a potential significant loss in profits — fought back. Hard.
According to the Post , the deputy attorney general summoned Rannazzisi to a meeting in 2012, concerning the cases of two unnamed major drug companies.
“That meeting was to chastise me for going after industry, and that’s all that meeting was about,” the now-retired DEA official told the Post .
Then, in 2014, came what constituted a hand out to the pharmaceutical industry by the Department of Justice and congressional legislators: the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act — legislation initiated by the Healthcare Distribution Management Association — the industry group representing distributors at the heart of the controversy.
An analysis of lobbying records by the Post found “the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, spent $13 million lobbying House and Senate members and their staffs on the legislation and other issues between 2014 and 2016.”
Rannazzisi argued his case to congressional staffers in a phone conference in July 2014, and recalled telling them, “This bill passes the way it’s written we won’t be able to get immediate suspension orders, we won’t be able to stop the hemorrhaging of these drugs out of these bad pharmacies and these bad corporations.”
Stunned at the massive — and ultimately successful — effort to take the bite out of DEA attempts to hold distributors and drugmakers responsible for their role in an epidemic estimated to take 19,000 lives every year, Rannazzisi likened the legislation to a “free pass” for legal drug pushers.
“This doesn’t ensure patient access and it doesn’t help drug enforcement at all,” he told the Guardian. “What this bill does has nothing to do with the medical process. What this bill does is take away DEA’s ability to go after a pharmacist, a wholesaler, manufacturer or distributor.”
“This was a gift. A gift to the industry,” he added.
After heading the diversion office for a decade, Rannazzisi retired in 2015 — likely disgusted over legislators’ dedication to the legal drug industry, rather than the people whose interests they’re ostensibly obligated to protect.
“The bill passed because ‘Big Pharma’ wanted it to pass,” he told the Guardian in no uncertain terms. “The DEA is both an enforcement agency and a regulatory agency. When I was in charge what I tried to do was explain to my investigators and my agents that our job was to regulate the industry and they’re not going to like being regulated.”
Big Pharma relies overwhelmingly on lobbyists filling the coffers of politicians to ensure they ignore the crisis gripping the nation. As the Center for Public Integrity found , the Guardian noted, Purdue Pharma — at the heart of the epidemic for its highly-addictive drug introduced in the late 1990s, OxyContin — spent a breathtaking $740 million in the last ten years on congressional lobbying efforts.
However, Big Pharma’s power to influence policy and legislation extends far beyond simple but effective lobbying — the government-run Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC) has been accused by Sen. Ron Wyden of being a tool to “weaken” CDC guidelines for limiting overprescribing of opioids.
Wyden wrote to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell of his concerns the IPRCC had been staffed with ‘experts’ with conflicts of interest for their close ties to Big Pharma, including a scientist with a $1.5 million endowment from Purdue, reported the Guardian .
“You’ve got a panel that’s certainly got a fair number of people that have a vested interest in this problem of overprescribing. That’s something you’ve got to root out,” Wyden asserted . “The role of the pharmaceutical companies on these advisory panels troubles me greatly. Science is getting short shrift compared to the political clout of these influential interests.”
Families of countless addicts and victims of the opioid industry would undoubtedly find the direct influence of Big Pharma’s pro-opioid cash appalling — yet it continues to this day. Policies and legislation have not yet been given the appropriate funding needed to effectively combat the problem, which swirls out of control while politicians and drugmakers reap blood-tainted profits.
“Corporations have no conscience,” Rannazzisi flatly told the Guardian . “Unfortunately, with my job, I was the guy who had to go out and talk to families that lost kids. If one of those CEOs went out there and talked to anybody, or if one of those CEOs happened to lose a kid to this horrible, horrible domestic tragedy we have, I’d bet you they’d change their mind.
“When you sit with a parent who can’t understand why there’s so many pharmaceuticals out in the illicit marketplace, and why isn’t the government doing anything, well the DEA was doing something. Unfortunately what we’re trying to do is thwarted by people who are writing laws. Share This Article... | 0 | [
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FMD4167 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Madrid government sacked Catalonia s president and dismissed its parliament on Friday, hours after the region declared itself an independent nation in Spain s gravest political crisis since the return of democracy four decades ago. A new regional election will be held in Catalonia on Dec. 21, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a televised address on a day of high drama. As well as removing Carles Puigdemont as head of the autonomous region, he also fired its police chief and said central government ministries would take over the Catalan administration. Spain is living through a sad day, Rajoy said. We believe it is urgent to listen to Catalan citizens, to all of them, so that they can decide their future and nobody can act outside the law on their behalf. As he spoke, thousands of independence supporters packed the Sant Jaume Square in front of the Catalan regional headquarters in Barcelona, their earlier joyful mood somewhat dampened by Rajoy s actions. In a stunning show of defiance of Madrid, the Catalan parliament had voted in the afternoon to make a unilateral declaration of independence. Despite the emotions and celebrations inside and outside the building, it was a futile gesture as shortly afterwards the Spanish Senate in Madrid approved the imposition of direct rule. Several European countries, including France and Germany, and the United States also rejected the independence declaration and said they supported Rajoy s efforts to preserve Spain s unity. The crisis has now reached a new and possibly dangerous level as independence supporters have called for a campaign of disobedience. Immediately after news of the vote, Spanish shares and bonds were sold off, reflecting business concern over the turmoil. Catalonia held an independence referendum on Oct. 1 which was declared illegal by Madrid and marred by heavy-handed national police tactics to stop it. Although the referendum endorsed independence, it drew only a 43 percent turnout as Catalans who oppose independence largely boycotted it. The independence push has caused deep resentment around Spain. The chaos has also prompted a flight of business from Catalonia and alarmed European leaders who fear the crisis could fan separatist sentiment around the continent. Catalonia is one of Spain s most prosperous regions and already has a high degree of autonomy. But it has a litany of historic grievances, exacerbated during the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship, when its culture and politics were suppressed. In Barcelona, Jordi Mercade, a 32-year-old engineer celebrating with friends, said he had mixed feelings about the day s events. It s a day for history but many of us here also know we are not independent. They have the force. We are proud to having declared independence but we know this is not something definitive. It is not certain whether the new election can resolve the crisis, as it could increase the numbers of independence supporters in parliament. Also unclear is how Rajoy s other measures will work on the ground, because of the reactions of civil servants and the regional police, know as the Mossos d Esquadra, who are reported to be divided in their loyalties. The main secessionist group, the Catalan National Assembly, called on civil servants not to follow orders from the Spanish government and urged them to follow peaceful resistance . Tensions are likely to rise significantly over the coming days, Antonio Barroso of Teneo Intelligence said in a note. Demonstrators might try to prevent the police from removing Catalan ministers from their offices if the central government decides to do so. This increases the risk of violent clashes with the police. SHORT-LIVED LIBERTY A big crowd of independence supporters gathered outside the regional parliament in Barcelona, shouting Liberty in Catalan and singing traditional songs as the independence vote went through. Among them was Monica Sanz, 44, a university lecturer who wore a Catalan flag around her neck. We tried all peaceful means. Moderate people have reached this point because it was impossible to make an agreement with Spain, she said. The motion, passed after a passionate debate from advocates and opponents of independence, said Catalonia constituted an independent, sovereign and social democratic state. Lawmakers from members of three national parties | 1 | [
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FMD4168 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Are US Citizens Married to Immigrants Excluded from COVID-19 Stimulus Checks? Claim summaries: The answer, in part, depends on how couples filed their taxes.
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.
In the weeks that followed the U.S. federal government's March 2020 approval of a $2.2 trillion stimulus package, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to jumpstart a pandemic-broken economy, journalists and economists combed through the legislation's 247-page PDF document outlining who would receive financial help. Early news reports on the bill highlighted its funding boosts to help newly unemployed Americans, small businesses facing diminished profits, health care facilities on the frontlines of fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus disease, and qualifying taxpayers by giving them one-time checks of about $1,200 (or more depending on how they filed taxes and their number of children). Then, in mid-April, more headlines focused on the intricacies of the multi-faceted policy package, including the claim that U.S. citizens married to immigrants wouldn't qualify for the one-time payments like other taxpayers.
Numerous readers contacted Snopes to investigate the truth behind the claim. For our examination, we first looked at where the claim originated. On April 20, the Los Angeles Times published a news story headlined, "These U.S. citizens won't get coronavirus stimulus checks because their spouses are immigrants," featuring stories of four couples, each of which includes an immigrant and will not be receiving the payments, as well as commentary from immigrant-rights advocates. The following day, CBS News published a story that cited the LA Times' reporting. Then, on April 22, Yahoo!'s lifestyle section republished an article from the so-called ScaryMommy website, a self-proclaimed source of "entertainment and information for millennial moms online." The post included editorialized phrasing, such as: "They just hate immigrants, and now, by default, American citizens who associate with them," the Scary Mommy post read, referring to the federal administration under U.S. President Donald Trump. "The government is leaving those people (and their families) out of help, and it's heartbreaking." A rush of tweets, some lacking important context, followed. Among the sharers of the LA Times story was U.S. Sen. Claire Celsi, a Democrat from Iowa, who said on Twitter: Responding to her tweet, however, one user wrote: "I'm an immigrant. My wife is a U.S. citizen. We got $2,400 as a direct deposit on April 15th. This is no less misleading than posting 'immigrants commit crimes.' It's technically true, but there is no causal link."
Cue this fact check on who is and isn't eligible for the stimulus checks, called Economic Impact Payments, based on 2019 or 2018 tax returns. For those who are eligible, the CARES Act authorized the federal government to send: Additionally, for single tax filers with higher annual salaries but less than $99,000, the federal government is reducing the payments by $5 for each $100 above the $75,000 threshold (similar math goes for payments to families). But to qualify, a recipient must be a "U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or qualifying resident alien" under guidelines established by the Internal Revenue Service. The latter two categorizations cover foreign-born residents who have obtained green cards to prove their legal status to work and live in the country and Social Security Numbers (SSN). The provision in the CARES Act outlining the payments states: That means immigrants who do not have legal status are excluded from the stimulus payments, even if they have work visas or use an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (which the IRS issues to workers without SSNs) to pay annual taxes. Additionally, if they file joint tax returns with their spouses, both parties are ineligible for the checks; the CARES Act's provisions require both parties on a couple's return to have SSNs and will not accept joint returns with one or more Individual Taxpayer ID numbers. (Different standards apply to military couples, however: "If either spouse is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces at any time during the taxable year, then only one spouse needs to have a valid SSN," according to the IRS.)
According to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research center, roughly 1.2 million immigrants without green cards are married to a U.S. citizen. Of that amount, the spouses who are U.S. citizens and filed single tax returns, regardless of their partner's immigration status, qualify to receive an individualized payment amount based on their income. Given that significant caveat, as well as the fact that immigrants with green cards are eligible for the checks, we rate this claim a "Mixture" of true and false: U.S. citizens who filed joint tax returns with spouses who are immigrants without Social Security Numbers won't receive the payments, but spouses of immigrants with legal status will. | 2 | [
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FMD4169 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Kremlin-backed television station RT America registered Monday with the U.S. Department of Justice as a foreign agent in the United States, the outlet s editor in chief said and the Department of Justice confirmed later in the day. U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report in January that the television station, which broadcasts on cable in the United States, is Russia s state-run propaganda machine and that it contributed to the Kremlin s campaign to interfere with last year s presidential election in favor of Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. After that report, the Department of Justice insisted that RT America comply with registration requirements under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). Under the act, RT will be required to disclose financial information. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations of election meddling and said it views the actions against RT as an unfriendly act. But RT s editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, said on Monday that it would comply with the demand in order to avoid further legal action by the U.S. government. Between a criminal case and registration, we chose the latter. We congratulate American freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it, Simonyan said on Twitter. The Department of Justice confirmed that it received a registration from T&R Productions LLC, which has operated studios for RT, hired and paid U.S.-based employees and produced English-language programming. Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals, said acting Assistant Attorney General Dana Boente. In October, Twitter announced it would no longer allow advertisements from RT and another Kremlin-backed news organization, citing intelligence that the television station participated in efforts to influence the election. FARA requires foreign governments, political parties and the lobbyists and public relations firms they hire in the United States to register with the Department of Justice. FARA was first passed in 1938 in the lead up to World War Two in an effort to combat German propaganda efforts. Foreign government-owned news organizations, including China Daily, the English-language newspaper owned by China s government, register under FARA. The law applies to companies that are owned or controlled by foreign governments. The United States and Russia are engaged in a back-and-forth over foreign agent registration. Russia s parliament warned on Friday that some U.S. and other foreign media could also be declared foreign agents in response to the actions against RT, requiring them to regularly declare full details of their funds, financing and staffing. U.S. government-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), CNN and Germany s Deutsche Welle could all be affected by the retaliatory measures, a senior Russian lawmaker said earlier on Monday. While traveling in Asia, Trump touted the relationship between himself and Russia and posted on Twitter that improved relations with the country would a good thing, not a bad thing. | 1 | [
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FMD4170 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 97925 Views October 29, 2016 BROADCAST King World News FOR DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PLAY OR DOWNLOAD AUDIOS: CLICK HERE Rick Rule: Chairman / Founder of Sprott US Holdings & President of USA; Portfolio Manager – Rick is known as one of the most “street-smart” people in the natural resource sector and gold world with nearly 40 years of experience. USA Inc. manages over a billion and through acquisition is now part of the $7 billion LP. USA Inc. provides investment advice and brokerage services to high net worth individuals, institutional investors and corporate entities worldwide. Rick and his team are also successfully involved in agriculture, alternative energy, conventional energy, forestry, infrastructure, mining and water resources investing on a world wide basis. Rick Rule: Chairman / Founder of Sprott US Holdings & President of USA; Portfolio Manager – Mr. Rule has dedicated his entire adult life to many aspects of natural resource securities investing. In addition to the knowledge and experience gained in a long, successful and focused career, he has a worldwide network of contacts in the natural resource and finance worlds. As Chairman of Sprott US Holdings, Mr. Rule leads a highly skilled team of earth science and finance professionals who enjoy a worldwide reputation for resource investment management. Mr. Rule and his team have long experience in many resource sectors including agriculture, alternative energy, forestry, oil and gas, mining and water. Mr. Rule is particularly active in private placement markets, having originated and participated in hundreds of debt and equity transactions with private, pre-public and public companies. USA Inc – (“Sprott USA”) is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser firm that is a member of the Sprott Group of Companies (“Sprott Group”). The Sprott Group offers a collection of investment managers united by one common goal: delivering excellent long-term returns to our investors. Our investment team pursues a deeper level of knowledge and understanding which allows it to develop macroeconomic, sector and company insights. With decades of combined experience, our investment professionals will provide you with service that cannot be found in many investment management companies. Our portfolio managers have experience in the technical side of the business, so we feel that our investment advisory service is invaluable to our clients. We know that you have other obligations and priorities in your life, so let us use our experience and sector knowledge to your advantage. Please CLICK HERE for Sprott’s free report on Energy and Metals investing, and to receive Sprott’s free e-newsletter, Sprott’s Thoughts. Natural Resource Managed Account Investing RESOURCE-FOC– USED WEALTH MANAGEMENT USA Inc. – (“Sprott USA”) is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser firm that is a member of the Sprott Group of Companies (“Sprott Group”). The Sprott Group offers a collection of investment managers united by one common goal: delivering long-term returns to our investors. Sprott USA offers a Managed Account program for investors looking for distinctive and personalized resource portfolio management. LP – (“SAM”) is a Toronto-based alternative asset manager that offers a wide variety of investment solutions to Canadian and international investors. Our product offerings include mutual funds, alternative strategies, physical bullion trusts and tax-efficient funds. With a history dating back to 1981, our team of investment professionals is united by one common goal: delivering outstanding long-term returns to our clients and investors. To achieve that end, we have assembled a group of best-in-class portfolio managers, market strategists, technical experts and analysts that is widely-recognized for its investment expertise and unique investment approach. We are committed to conducting deep fundamental research to develop unique macroeconomic insights. About author | 0 | [
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FMD4171 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Sarah Palin opened her mouth again and people quickly corrected her stupidity.Ever since the United Nations passed a resolution rightfully condemning Israel s continued refusal to stop building new settlements on Palestinian land, conservatives have been fuming about it.Donald Trump even threatened the United Nations and has been trashing the international organization.But now Sarah Palin is also telling Trump to ditch the U.N. in a move that would be similar to Brexit, in which the United States would pull out of the organization just as the United Kingdom pulled out of the European Union, a move that millions of UK voters now regret. I think many of us have called for America to really step up and consider what it is that we are funding and supporting via the U.N., and how it works so hard really against U.S. interests, and just saying look what the U.K. just did, Palin told Breitbart. This is such an encouraging time, where it s not just us, but those across the pond, too, are understanding that their nation s sovereignty and security are on the line here, with the ties that bind us to interests that really don t further our agendas. Yes, God forbid that other nations have opinions, too. When the U.K. made its move, it was just another reason to call yet again for the U.S. to get the heck out of the U.N. and get the U.N. out of the U.S., Palin continued. Let s get going on putting America first so that we can sweep our own porch before telling other nations how to sweep theirs. But the United Nations does not tell America what to do. U.N. resolutions must be approved by the Senate to apply to the United States and we have the power to veto resolutions.Palin then pleaded with Trump to pull America out of the United Nations. I called for our next president, Donald Trump, to call for the unshackling of the political bands tying us to the U.N.. By exiting the U.N., where injustice is actually rewarded, we then will be able to uphold America s reputation as the leader, and as the kind and compassionate and generous nation that we are as the nation sharing values that, when emulated by any other nation, can bring justice and equal rights to any other nation. She then claimed that a revolution put Trump in office and that the same revolution will end the peacekeeping organization that has been around since after World War II. It s our money funding the lion s share of the globalist circus. It s we the people needing to rise up and make this a part of the revolution that we have just so benefited from. Last time I checked, it s not a revolution when a presidential candidate loses the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes and has one of the smallest margins of victory in the electoral vote in history.But Palin crowed about her interview on Twitter and was soon put in her place by people with functioning brains.@SarahPalinUSA @BreitbartNews yeah! I ve been tired of the lack of large scale violent conflict between states. #NewYearsResolution #WW3 PussyGrabber45 (@PussyGrabber45) December 29, 2016@eric42025 @SarahPalinUSA @BreitbartNews since the UN s creation there hasn t been a global war. how am I wrong? #factslivesmatter PussyGrabber45 (@PussyGrabber45) December 29, 2016@eric42025 @molliesdadtaken @BreitbartNews US paid $654 million to the UN in 15. For 1/4 the price of an aircraft carrier, we have #peace PussyGrabber45 (@PussyGrabber45) December 29, 2016@SarahPalinUSA @BreitbartNews Palin should call for herself to go back to her ice cave!???? Kathy Palko (@chattykay) December 29, 2016@SarahPalinUSA If you only knew what that meant. Deez Nuts (@KDogPeele) December 29, 2016@SarahPalinUSA You are one SCARY person. Jack BluePNW (@BluePNW) December 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA @BreitbartNews and you should be shackled to the titanic. Ratigan512 (@ratigan512) December 29, 2016@SarahPalinUSA UN includes World Health Organisation. Saves us from ebola and other horrors. We ALL need the UN Lev Szeps (@LevSzeps) December 30, 2016@SarahPalinUSA @BreitbartNews really? Become isolationists? How stupid is that? Maryann Horsley (@thebooklady01) December 30, 2016Indeed, not only would America become isolationist, it would be giving up international power and prestige and the power vacuum in the United Nations would be filled by Russia and China, both of which certainly do not have our best interests at heart.There is a reason why we helped found the United Nations and getting rid of it now when we need it more than ever before would be a grave error that would put the world on the path to selfishness and the brink of war unlike anything we have ever witnessed.Featured image via Huffington Post | 0 | [
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FMD4172 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. President Donald Trump is undermining international stability with his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital and move the U.S. embassy there, the leader of Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) said on Wednesday. Affirming his support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, Martin Schulz said Trump s decision, taken despite warnings from a wide range of U.S. allies, risked setting back the peace process in the Middle East. Trump is due to announce later on Wednesday that the United States recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move its embassy there, breaking with longtime U.S. policy and possibly stirring unrest. | 1 | [
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FMD4173 | 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 Pelosi Pass a Bill Allowing Her Husband To Make Millions Selling USPS Property? Claim summaries: A meme circulating on Facebook appears to be a rehash of another version from 2013.
contextual information: In late August 2020, readers inquired about a meme circulating on Facebook that claimed falsely that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had rigged legislation to help her husband benefit financially from selling off property belonging to the U.S. Postal Service. The meme's text reads: This is Paul Pelosi (aka, Nancys Husband). He owns Financial Leasing Services LLC, a San Francisco based Real Estate and Venture Capitalist Firm. His net worth is 120 million. Why is this important? His wife sits on the House Appropriations committee. This committee appropriates funds to the United States Postal Service ( and others). Why is this important? Easy. She passed a bill to sell off 9 billion dollars ( yes 9 BILLION WITH a [smile emoji] worth of FEDERALLY OWNED POST OFFICE PROPERTY AND AWARDED THE THE CONTRACT TO, none other, Financial Leasing Services LLC. Her husbands firm. Why is this important? The commissions rate was set at 9%. That is almost a 1 BILLION dollar contract. If thats not enough, lets look at the new stimulus package. Nancy wants 25 billion in the stimulus package for the postal service where only 1.25 billion goes to making sure voting ballots are legit. The other 23.5 billion is going to upgrading the facilities so they are more attractive to potential buyers for her husbands firm. Corrupt to the core. It's true that Speaker Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi owns and operates Financial Leasing Services, a San Francisco-based investment company. Financial disclosures in 2018, the most recent available, show Speaker Pelosi's estimated net worth to be $114 million. owns estimated But Speaker Pelosi doesn't sit on the House Appropriations Committee. Her spokesman Drew Hammill told us by email she hasn't been on the committee since 2002. Furthermore, we found no evidence that a bill to sell off $9 billion-worth of federally-owned U.S. Postal Service property exists. doesn't sit It's true that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would, if signed into law, provide $25 billion to shore up the Postal Service and rectify delays in mail delivery service, but it doesn't allocate $1.25 billion toward "making sure voting ballots are legit." The funding was originally on the table during negotiations over a coronavirus stimulus package, but those negotiations broke down. Whether the stand-alone Postal Service funding bill will be signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely. bill originally unlikely The meme seems to be a rehash of a similar one that dates back to 2013 except in that case the subject of the claim was Richard Blum, the husband of U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., who like Pelosi hails from San Francisco. similar one Mikkelson, David. "Did Dianne Feinstein Get Her Husbands Company a USPS Contract?" Snopes. 23 April 2013. Rayome, Alison DeNisco. "What the New USPS Bill Means for the Next Stimulus Package." CNET. 24 August 2020. Pramuk, Jacob. "House Passes Bill to Put $25 Billion Into USPS and Reverse Changes Amid Uproar." CNBC. 22 August 2020. Henney, Megan. "How Much Money is Nancy Pelosi Worth?" Yahoo! News. 17 July 2020. Wildermuth, John. "Pelosi's Husband Prefers a Low Profile." San Francisco Chronicle. 1 January 2007. | 0 | [
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FMD4174 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The National Interest
Last week, the New York Times ran a news story on inflatable jets and missile launchers being added to the Kremlin’s arsenal. Using balloons as weapons of war may sound strange and lead one to think Moscow has concocted a novel method of war. Upon deeper analysis, what the Russians are doing is nothing particularly new. The British and American military famously employed inflatable tanks in World War II in order to deceive the Germans. The Serbs more recently used decoys during the intervention in the Balkans to trick NATO bomber pilots. The method to this inflatable madness is based on well-established military thinking, going all the way back to ancient China. To get a better sense of what the Russians are doing and how they understand warfare, one only needs to pick up a copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War .
“Warfare is the Way (Tao) of deception. Thus although [you are] capable, display incapability to them. When committing to employ your forces, feign inactivity. When [your objective] is nearby, make it appear to be distant; when far away, create the illusion of being nearby.”
This line from Sun Tzu is especially important in Russian military thinking of recent years. The Kremlin’s use of misinformation in the media is a particularly obvious example of deception, but the actual movement of men and material is just as important—especially to nations sharing a border with Russia. Moscow is intent on ensuring the West that Russian troops can mass at a moments notice and be rapidly deployed to far-flung corners of the country. Russia could inject itself into numerous theaters on its periphery and beyond, including the Baltic states with the threat of little green men, to continued military drills with China in the South China Sea to the risk of rekindling war in Nagorno-Karabakh . All of these scenarios prove irksome for policy makers in Washington. Dealing with rapidly deployable troops, that have the ability to stoke conflicts thousands of miles apart, makes deciphering the Kremlin’s actions a frustrating ordeal.
“Probe them to know where they have excess, where an insufficiency.”
NATO pilots have been working overtime to deal with frequent Russian incursions into allied airspace. The most recent incident occurred only two weeks ago, in which Norway, the United Kingdom, France and Spain scrambled aircraft to confront Russian TU-160 bombers flying near their territory. Russia’s high-profile encounters, including a very close flyby of a U.S. Navy ship and barrel rolling over an American reconnaissance aircraft, clearly demonstrates that it is trying to determine how and in which ways NATO will respond. These actions aim to keep allied forces on their toes, judging reaction times and what assets are used to counter their forces.
“Thus one who excels at moving the enemy deploys in a configuration (hsing) to which the enemy must respond. He offers something that the enemy must seize. With profit he moves them, with the foundation he awaits them.”
The Russians are very fond of this method, which is usually characterized by instigating incidents in order to execute their so-called reflexive control . This concept focuses on creating international incidents and forcing others to react them, in which the only plausible outcome is usually in favor of the Kremlin. The most notable case of this logic was applied in Russia’s entry into the Syrian civil war. Although Moscow’s intervention has had its pitfalls, largely driven by having to work with troublesome allies in Tehran and Damascus, it has made itself the primary external actor in the country. The slow American response to the Syrian war allowed Moscow to enter the fray and change the reality on the ground. In doing so, the momentum of the conflict swung in favor of the Russian-led coalition with President Assad’s grip on power secured. Whether the West likes it or not, the Russians will now be part of the peace process. Calls by France and the United States to investigate Russia’s bombing campaign as a war crime will not change this reality. The end result is that the Russian-led coalition is setting the pace in the conflict, with Washington and the West struggling to keep up.
These selected passages from the Art of War help shed light on the Kremlin’s calculus. A strong case can be made that the Russian are employing these means in order to maximize the effectiveness of their armed forces in the face materially stronger opponents like the NATO alliance. Although these deceit-based tactics are signs of weakness, it does not make their use any less dangerous. If one is to believe Moscow is undermining the American-led world order, forcing NATO to continually be on alert is certainly resource draining and creates domestic pressure through the questioning of the alliance’s worth and purpose. While Putin may not be a grand strategist—given the hardships Russia faces through its own actions—he has been doing his homework on war. In order to avoid direct conflict with Moscow and better understand its methods, policy makers would be wise to read up on its approach to war and tactics they are likely to employ.
Blake Franko is an assistant editor at the National Interest. | 0 | [
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FMD4175 | 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: Inheritance of a common family name Claim summaries: Are you in line for a windfall inheritance because you share your surname with a dead person?
contextual information: We all dream of rich relatives kicking the bucket and leaving us their fortunes, which is why this "unexpected inheritance" scam works as well as it does. My name is Becky J. Harding, I am a senior partner in the firm of Midland Consulting Limited: Private Investigators and Security Consultants. We are conducting a standard process investigation on behalf of HSBC, the International Banking Conglomerate. This investigation involves a client who shares the same surname with you and also the circumstances surrounding investments made by this client at HSBC Republic, the Private Banking arm of HSBC. The HSBC Private Banking client died in testate and nominated no successor in title over the investments made with the bank. The essence of this communication with you is to request you provide us information/comments on any or all of the four issues: 1-Are you aware of any relative/relation who shares your same name whose last known contact address was Brussels Belgium?2-Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such a person at the Private Banking Division of HSBC Bank PLC?3-Born on the 1st of october 19414-Can you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume status of successor in title to the deceased? It is pertinent that you inform us ASAP whether or not you are familiar with this personality that we may put an end to this communication with you and our inquiries surrounding this personality. You must appreciate that we are constrained from providing you with more detailed information at this point. Please respond to this mail as soon as possible to afford us the opportunity to close this investigation. Thank you for accommodating our enquiry. Becky J. Harding.For: Midland Consulting Limited.09/02/2004 Imagine being transformed overnight from office drudge to a member of the jet set it's the stuff of daydreams! (or at least the impetus to buy lottery tickets). Because this urge for the big "something for nothing" runs so deep in us, it makes us vulnerable to the machinations of con men, which is what these e-mailed come-ons areabout.This scam has been part of the grifters' bag of tricks for many a year. It was only a matter of time before it began showing up on the Internet, where those who make their livings by defrauding others have an even easier time vending their cons to the unwary. Though the text quoted above as our example is one of the more common forms this sort of come-on takes in the wilds of cyberspace, the scam can be dressed out any number of ways. How it is worded is far less important than its thrust its "hook" that you might be entitled to an inheritance you had no reason to expect was coming your way. Although the names change from e-mail to e-mail, the scam itself is immutable: potential victims receive notification they share the surname of a recently deceased person who failed to leave a will. This notification purportedly comes from a representative of a firm of "Private Investigators and Security Consultants," with said representative stating he or she is "conducting a standard process investigation on behalf of[name of large financial entity, such as Barclays or HSBC]." Recipients of those e-mails are then asked three or four questions along the lines of the following: How the about-to-be-scammed answer the questions is unimportant the queries are there merely to lend a patina of legitimacy to the inquiry. Regardless of whether potential victims respond with the news that none of their relatives have been to Brussels or whether they claim great-uncles whom the family subsequently lost track of after they settled there, the game is now afoot. In either case, they will be assured there is a very real chance significant inheritances are about to come their way, provided one small insignificant detail is first taken care of: payment of a fee to advance the matter. Similar to the Nigerian Scam and the foreign lottery fraud, the promise of untold wealth is used to distract the overly trusting away from the sorry fact that they are being asked to send money. In all three cases, the con works the same way: after being mesmerized by the vision of riches to come, those being taken advantage of are required to open their wallets and whip out their checkbooks to bring about the happy event. Nigerian Scam lottery There is no dead Uncle Fred, no rich deceased Reese. It's all a lie told to part you from your cash. So far we've seen versions of this scam emanating from supposed private investigating firms named Cappa Consultants, Midland Consulting Limited, and De Rosenberg Consulting, but the names the fraud artists choose to adopt for the purpose of parting the unwary from their money are unimportant; it's all a con. The names of genuine banking concerns (such as HSBC and Barclays) are dragged into the fray willy-nilly by the ill-intentioned to make the matter look more credible, but these real entities have nothing to do with the con. Indeed, as one official at HSBC responded to a query about these supposed windfall inheritances: It has come to our attention that a variation on an email is being circulated that has no connection to HSBC Republic. The email claims that HSBC Republic has employed investigators to contact the family of a deceased client who died intestate. To our knowledge such claims have no validity and we strongly recommend that recipients of such emails do not respond to the sender. Regards Web AdministrationHSBC Republic In another form of the scam, folks are contacted through regular mail by "estate locators" who say those receiving their notices are named beneficiaries of unclaimed family inheritances. Recipients are lured into mailing fees for estate reports, which will supposedly explain where their inheritances are located and how they can be claimed. These "estate locators" may also offer to process claims against these estates for a fee. It does occasionally happen someone so contacted does eventually find he or she has a right to claim against the estate of a distant relative who died without leaving a will. But in those cases, the amount garnered generally proves not to have been worth going after (indeed, often less than what was paid to the "locator" for the information). Estates do hire actual "heir locators" to find missing beneficiaries, but those so engaged are paid by the estate, not by the folks they find. There are also heir locators who freelance on a contingency basis, entering into agreements with those they connect with their rightful inheritances for percentages of sums so recovered. While this might sound like the scam being described above it's not these legitimate heir locators receive payment only after estates are settled and heirs so found have received their bequests. Ergo, if a "locator" is asking you to pay up front, it's a scam. Those still clinging to the hope that there might still be something to their pie-in-the-sky e-mail, that hints at a life of luxury are just in the offing, should pause to consider that professionals in the process of contacting legitimate heirs do so through recognizable law firms, with the contact coming in the form of an actual letter (as opposed to an e-mail) on that firm's letterhead. We find it somewhat amusing that "intestate" (meaning to die without leaving a will) is so often mis-rendered in the e-mails distributed by the defrauders: it either comes out as "in testate" or as "interstate" (which we presume means to die between two highways). What You Can Do: Additional information: Phony Inheritance Scam (United States Postal Service) Phony Inheritance Scam (United States Postal Service) Last updated: 27 November 2011 Choney, Suzanne. "Key Flaws Reveal Truth Behind New E-Mail Hoax."Copley News Service. 7 July 2003. Bangor Daily News. "Be Wary of Inheritance Notifications."2 February 2004 (p. A5). | 0 | [
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FMD4176 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Tillerson was leading the field after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took his name out of the running for the job. New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported that Tillerson was expected to meet with Trump today.- BreitbartThe 64-year-old veteran oil executive has no government or diplomatic experience, although he has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The pick would put to rest weeks-long speculation of who would earn the post as the U.S. s top diplomat, and would place Tillerson fourth in line to the presidency.He will also be paired with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton as his deputy secretary of state, one of the sources added, with Bolton handling day-to-day management of the department. NBCTillerson is a surprising choice, particularly for establishment political forces who urged Trump to select Mitt Romney for the job. Romney signaled interest in the position, appearing publicly to recant his opposition to the president-elect s victory.It also shows that Trump will start fresh with his diplomatic team, rather than selecting a life-long politician. Tillerson has spent his life in the private sector, working with Exxon-Mobil and has business relationships around the world.Trump took a break from his deliberations over who to pick for the secretary of state job and other positions by attending the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore.He was joined by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who withdrew from consideration as secretary of state on Friday. | 0 | [
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FMD4177 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Former soccer star George Weah was set to win the first round of a presidential election in Liberia after the elections commission said on Sunday he was leading with 39 percent of votes and less than 5 percent of precincts still to be counted. He will face Vice President Joseph Boakai, who was in second place with 29.1 percent, in a second round poll next month. Boakai was more than 280,000 votes ahead of the third placed candidate, lawyer Charles Brumskine, on 9.8 percent. The final certified results from Tuesday s poll must be announced by Oct. 25. But with more than 1.5 million votes counted so far and 95.6 percent of polling stations having reported, it was mathematically impossible that Brumskine could move into second place. Turnout based on votes counted so far was nearly 75 percent. A total of 20 candidates competed in last week s poll seeking to succeed Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in what would be Liberia s first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years. Weah and Boakai had both predicted outright victory in the first round. Supporters at Weah s headquarters in the capital Monrovia crowded around cars listening to the results broadcast on the radio and voiced frustration as it became clear that a second round of voting was unavoidable. We need to be calm. But we are worried that they are going to cheat us. We feel disenchanted from 2005 and 2011. People say no second round because of the desire they have, Weah supporter Luke Harris, 31, said. Weah, a national hero in Liberia, became the first non-European to win European soccer s player of the year award in 1995, the same year he picked up the African and world player of the year awards. He finished runner-up to Johnson Sirleaf in a 2005 election that helped draw a line under years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. He was the vice-presidential candidate on a ticket with Winston Tubman, who lost to her six years later. Officials from both Weah and Boakai s campaigns said they would accept the result. We are disappointed that there is going to be a run off. We had anticipated that we would win in the first round. But we will accept it and go with it, said Mohammed Ali, spokesman for Boakai s ruling Unity Party. Even before Sunday s results announcement, both campaigns had already begun courting other candidates, seeking their support in the run-off. Ali confirmed that Boakai s campaign had met with fourth placed candidate Alexander Cummings and ex-warlord-turned-senator Prince Johnson, who was in fifth place. Johnson said he had also been contacted by Weah. Brumskine has denounced the vote, claiming it was plagued by fraud and called for a new election though international observers gave the poll a clean bill of health. The vote will be re-run in two polling places in Nimba County on Tuesday, however, due to irregularities, although that measure only concerns a few thousand votes. | 1 | [
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FMD4178 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: On Tuesday, Shaun King, the “senior justice writer†for the New York Daily News, announced his boycott of the National Football League. The former black lives matter spokesman, deposed after the discovery that he is white and not the African American he claimed to be, accused the NFL of being “bigoted†against black people because it hasn’t hired protester Colin Kaepernick. [King made his proclamation after it became clear that American anthem protester and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick would not find a team to take him on after he became a free agent at the tail of last season. Kaepernick spent the entirety of the season refusing to stand for the national anthem and spoke out against the U. S. A. our police, soldiers, and other first responders. He also repeatedly said the country was “never great. †But after the season ended, in February the player announced both his free agency and an end to his protests. But despite his new status and his pledge to end his embarrassing protests, Kaepernick has not been able to find a team to hire him for the coming football season. His inability to find a berth has sparked numerous protests by fans and sports reporters alike. Kaepernick was even the subject of a politician’s decree when a socialist Seattle City Council member wrote an open letter demanding that the Seattle Seahawks bring him on. The demands ultimately fell on deaf ears. With Kaepernick left out in the cold, football fan Shaun King now says he can’t watch football anymore. “I can’t, in good conscience, support this league, with many of its owners, as it blacklists my friend and brother Colin Kaepernick for taking a silent, peaceful stance against injustice and police brutality in America,†King blathered in his June 6 column. “It’s disgusting and has absolutely nothing to do with football and everything to do with penalizing a brilliant young man for the principled stance he took last season. †The white man who posed as a black man for a decade fulminated at Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll for turning his back on Kaepernick and signing white quarterback Austin Davis instead. King labeled Davis a “scrub†over the incident. King, who admitted that he lied about being black, went on to rail at the Seahawks for hiring Davis who has far fewer accomplishments in the NFL than Kaepernick. The activist insisted that there could be only one reason that the Seahawks took a pass on Kaepernick: It’s racism. It’s bigotry. It’s discrimination. Period. It’s not football. Don’t call it football. If you call the decisions by 32 teams to not sign this man a football decision, you don’t know football and probably voted for Donald Trump. Nearly 100 quarterbacks — 96, in fact — are usually signed to teams in the NFL. That Colin Kaepernick is not one of them is disgusting. Of course, he’s one of the top 96 quarterbacks in the league. Kaepernick’s longtime rival, Richard Sherman, said he believed Kaepernick was a quarterback. King went on to add that the “ridiculous fragility of the conservative white male fan base†has kept Kaepernick on the sidelines. Finally, this very white “black activist†added that his decision was sealed when ESPN announced that it had rehired country singer Hank Williams, Jr. to once again sing his iconic Monday Night Football theme song at the start of each Monday game. Williams had been fired six years ago for being a conservative. “Hank Williams, Jr. is basically Donald Trump with a guitar. He’s a bigot,†King growled. “Everybody knows it. His songs and statements have echoed bigotry for years, but now that Obama is out of office, he’s back. †King continued, bellowing: Hank Williams, Jr. and Austin Davis are employed right now, and Colin Kaepernick isn’t. Shame on this league for following Trump’s lead in spirit, tone and now in actions. I’m appalled. As a lifelong fan, I’m deeply disappointed. What I do know is this — I can’t support this product. Warming to his closing statements, King then blamed his little son for launching the boycott with a claim that his boy told him they could no longer watch football, “After what they’ve done to Colin and with all of those owners loving Donald Trump so much. †So, in the face of all this purported “injustice,†King has set out on his road to boycotting the NFL: Maybe if Colin Kaepernick gets a deal, it would change my mind, but deep damage is already done. As a leader in the Black Lives Matter Movement, as a voice in the resistance to Donald Trump, and as a friend of Colin Kaepernick, I cannot, in good conscience, support the NFL any longer. If I did, I’d struggle to look my own son in the eyes or look at myself in the mirror. As a reminder, King is boycotting a sports league that is almost 70 percent African American. It is a business where the average rookie salary is $365, 000 a year, a number that goes up by tens of thousands every year the player stays signed to an NFL team. It is also a league where the average player’s salary is about $1. 9 million annually. This is the same sports league that Shaun King says isn’t black enough and is unfair and discriminatory to blacks. But, this is also a man who directly equates to being “tolerant†and right thinking. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 | [
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FMD4179 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The two masked killers burst through a door and, without saying a word, swept the conference room with semiautomatic rifle fire, spraying more than 100 rounds before they fled, just two or three minutes later. A new report chronicles in vivid detail the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. where Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and wounded 24 others. The couple pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, committed the rampage and died hours later in a wild shootout with the police, when Mr. Farook was shot 25 times and Ms. Malik was hit 13 times. The report contains the first official account of how the killers were identified and tracked down, with a handful of officers playing crucial roles. And it reveals a wealth of specifics that had not been made public before, including the number of gunshots, and the horrors that officers and victims encountered. The scene that police officers found minutes after the massacre overwhelmed the senses: dozens of maimed or dead bodies, spattered and pooling blood, the haze and smell of gunfire, a shattered pipe pouring water from the ceiling, a wailing alarm. And wounded victims pleading for help, clutching at officers whose first priority was to find the attackers. The report was produced by the Police Foundation, a policy study group in Washington, with help from the Justice Department and local law enforcement agencies the authors interviewed more than 200 people, from police chiefs to survivors. After The New York Times obtained a draft version and reported on its contents, the Justice Department on Friday released the final document. Some details changed — including the number of times the killers were shot, how many shots they fired and how their vehicle was traced — but the overall picture was unaltered. Three men tried to stop the slaughter, rushing Mr. Farook, but he shot all three, the earlier version of the report said. It did not say whether the men survived. The anecdote was left out of the final report, but a Justice Department official confirmed that it was correct. The report shows how officers from multiple agencies handled a rapidly unfolding crisis, making decisions on the fly, often with little coordination or direction. The results were quick, sometimes heroic responses that may have saved lives but also created confusion and mistakes, though none proved fatal. Perhaps most disturbing, more than six hours passed before officers searched a bag the killers had left at the scene of the shooting. Inside were three pipe bombs. The victims were familiar with the site of the massacre, a conference room at the Inland Regional Center where about 80 employees of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health were attending a training session. They had met there before — in fact, many of them had attended training in that same room a year earlier. Mr. Farook, 28, was born in the United States to parents from Pakistan. Ms. Malik, 29, was born in Pakistan but had lived much of her life in Saudi Arabia. After they met and married in 2014 in Saudi Arabia, she moved to the United States, obtained legal residence and gave birth to a daughter. Mr. Farook, a food inspector whose colleagues never suspected him of radicalism, put the bag with the bombs in the room and left. He and his wife returned about half an hour later, shortly before 11 a. m. masked and clad in black, armed with rifles — a civilian variant of the military rifle — and semiautomatic pistols. Mr. Farook’s rifle had been modified in a failed attempt to make it fully automatic. The first people killed were two men sitting outside along the walkway to the conference room. One was shot while eating at a picnic table the other was found with his cellphone still in his hand. The couple then entered the conference room and opened fire, calmly emptying and reloading their rifles. A county official quoted in the draft version of the report said he thought at first that it was “the most glorified training I had ever seen,†adding, “probably on the second or third clip, it finally clicked that this wasn’t an exercise. †Some people ran through the far door, deeper into the building. Others ducked under tables or hid in bathrooms, closets and cupboards. One woman dashed through the door the attackers had entered, but they shot her dead as she fled. A bullet ripped through a wall and wounded a woman in another room. One woman quoted in the earlier version of the report said that as she lay wounded, a female who had been shot in the head asked her to call her mother to say goodbye. She tried to comfort the other woman, saying she was all right. “‘I’m not, I’m bleeding from the mouth,’ the colleague said before closing her eyes for good,†the report said. Within six minutes of the first 911 call, San Bernardino officers reached the center — not a team, just the scattered few who arrived fastest. One was riding in a car driven by a trainee when the call came, he took the wheel, sped to the scene, grabbed his shotgun and helmet, and told the trainee to hide. Thinking the attackers were still present, the first four officers entered the south side of the conference room. They followed their training, arranging themselves like the points of a diamond. They stuck to the guideline “locate, isolate, evacuate,†meaning find and neutralize the threat before helping victims. Officers from the county Probation Department quickly arrived and set up a triage area for the wounded. “The terror in their eyes was unbelievable it was scarier than the wounds,†a probation sergeant said. The draft version of the report quoted another sergeant describing a woman with “a hole in her leg that was the size of a cereal bowl,†who said, with a blank expression, “I am going to die, please don’t let me die. †A San Bernardino SWAT team reached the scene within 11 minutes of the first call. A second SWAT team, drawn from the police departments of surrounding cities, came shortly after. Soon there were legions of officers from several local agencies. Many of them “†heading to the scene without waiting for instructions, which produced a rapid response but also uncertainty about who was doing what. The report describes confusion and missteps similar to those that marked the police response to other mass attacks, like the Washington Navy Yard shooting in 2013 and the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. in 2012. But the authors of the report also praised San law enforcement agencies, noting that they had learned from previous episodes and had practiced working together. The SWAT teams went room to room through the multiple buildings of the Inland Regional Center, which houses social service agencies, but they had no protocol for marking which rooms had been searched. Officers stood outside with their guns trained on the second and third floors of one building, incorrectly suspecting that the shooters were hiding there. So many emergency vehicles were parked at random angles that ambulances could not get close to the complex, and officers carried the wounded out. Despite the confusion, emergency workers got all of the wounded to hospitals within 57 minutes of the first 911 call — inside the “golden hour†that experts say is a critical benchmark. All of them survived. Investigators spent almost three hours inspecting a package on the second floor that proved harmless, but officers did not notice the bag containing the pipe bombs until 5:08 p. m. After the shootout with the terrorists, some officers said that while they were still trying to record the crime scene, federal agents were already removing evidence like weapons and a cellphone. A rookie officer got a crucial piece of information while interviewing witnesses and forwarded it to his father, a police sergeant. A county health worker had noticed that Mr. Farook had left early and told the officer that “there was just something about the shooter, from his body language to his body composition, that seemed familiar. †A search turned up several people in the region named Syed Farook, and officers were sent to all of the addresses. After the police put out word that a black S. U. V. had been seen leaving the center, several people called with tips, including one caller who had memorized a Utah license plate. A Police Department analyst found that the vehicle belonged to a rental car company and learned by calling the company that the S. U. V. had been rented by a Syed Farook. Word went out on the radio that he lived a few minutes away, in the city of Redlands. Among those responding was a San Bernardino police narcotics team, but other officers did not know that. The narcotics officers were undercover, driving unmarked cars and not talking on their radios, in case criminals were listening. As they neared the Redlands address, the narcotics officers saw the S. U. V. and followed it. One officer flagged down a passing Redlands police sergeant and told him what was happening the sergeant put the information out over the police radio. The sergeant and a sheriff’s deputy joined the undercover officers following the couple. After the couple drove back to San Bernardino, the sergeant tried to pull them over, alerting them that they were being followed. Ms. Malik started shooting at the officers through the back window of the S. U. V. Mr. Farook then stopped the vehicle and stepped out, firing his rifle as his wife kept shooting from the back seat. Together they fired at least 81 shots and had almost 2, 400 more rounds of ammunition, but as more officers arrived, they were heavily outgunned. Most of the shots that hit Mr. Farook struck his legs, possibly because officers believed — erroneously — that the couple were wearing body armor. Two of the 13 rounds that hit Ms. Malik struck her in the head. The shootout lasted about three minutes, but in that time, 24 officers fired at least 440 rounds, riddling the S. U. V. with bullet holes. By the time it ended, more than 175 local, state and federal officers were at the scene. Remarkably, only two officers were hurt, each with a wound to the thigh. One did not realize he had been hit until 13 hours later, when he took a shower. | 1 | [
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FMD4180 | 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: Ronald Reagan: 'If Fascism Ever Comes to America, It Will Come in the Name of Liberalism' Claim summaries: The former California governor and future U.S. president made the comment during a 1975 interview with "60 Minutes" over a discussion of his economic philosophy.
contextual information: On 21 August 2017, the conservative non-profit organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA) posted a meme juxtaposing a 42-year-old quote by then-former California Governor Ronald Reagan with a 2016 photograph of anti-fascist protesters in Dover, England. The intention was to create the impression that "antifa" demonstrators represented fascism coming to the United States in the same way that Reagan had predicted decades earlier. That quote was taken from a December 1975 interview of Reagan conducted by Mike Wallace for the 60 Minutes news magazine television program. We have found no record of anyone, other than Reagan himself, having made the "profound" statement that "If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism." Most likely, the future President was recalling a variant of a maxim (commonly misattributed to author Sinclair Lewis) that holds that "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." TPUSA shared the Reagan meme on their official Facebook feed at a time when anti-fascist activists, or "antifa," had garnered both notoriety and heightened media scrutiny following violent incidents at white supremacist rallies in Berkeley, California, and Charlottesville, Virginia (in April and August 2017, respectively). After white supremacists (who have adopted the moniker "alt-right") were widely condemned for an outbreak of deadly violence at a protest in Charlottesville, some conservatives responded by claiming "antifa" protesters deserved equal condemnation. The bottom image in the TPUSA meme (which has been shared thousands of times) wasn't taken in the United States, despite the implication created by its inclusion here. The photograph was taken in Dover, England, on 30 January 2016, by Press Association photographer Gareth Fuller and depicts anti-fascists who clashed with nationalists during an anti-immigration rally in the Kent County town. The connection between "liberals" and the "antifas" suggested by this meme isn't quite so apt, as most "antifa" activists are anarchists and/or subscribe to political philosophies that are much further left on the political spectrum than those of mainstream "liberals." Likewise, although the Reagan quote sought to draw a connection between liberalism and fascism, the latter is generally considered to be a form of extreme right-wing ideology. | 1 | [
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FMD4181 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and Walt Disney Co CEO Robert Iger said on Thursday they would leave White House advisory councils after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Trump decided to pull the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement designed to fight climate change despite entreaties from U.S. allies and corporate leaders in an action that fulfilled a major campaign pledge. “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,†Musk said in a Twitter post. He is a member of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a business advisory group, and Trump’s manufacturing jobs council. Musk said on Wednesday that he had done “all I can†to convince Trump to stay in the accord, and threatened to leave the presidential advisory councils if Trump announced a U.S. exit from the accord. Iger wrote on Twitter that “as a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.†He is leaving the business advisory group. Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] CEO Travis Kalanick quit the business advisory council in February amid pressure from activists and employees who opposed the administration’s immigration policies. Trump created the business advisory group in December before taking office to assist him in making policy decisions. The group is led by Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of Blackstone Group LP and includes Indra Nooyi, the chief executive of PepsiCo Inc and Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co . Late on Thursday, BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Larry Fink said he would continue to serve on Trump’s CEO Forum, despite reservations about the White House decision to withdraw from the Paris accord. “I accepted the invitation to serve on the President’s CEO Forum because I believe I can contribute to the policy dialogue in Washington and serve as a voice for investors,†Fink said in a statement. “I am a strong believer that our industry needs to have a voice with governments around the world,†said Fink, whose company is the world’s largest asset manager, with $5.4 trillion under management. “I do not agree with all of the president’s policies and decisions, including today’s announcement to exit the U.S. from the Paris Agreement which I believe is a critical step forward in addressing climate change.†Asked about Musk’s resignation, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox News that “anybody who read the agreement and understood it would realize that this was not really about climate, this was about U.S. money going to other countries and it didn’t solve the climate problem.†Musk has met with Trump several times and spoken with him about the long-term goal of his company SpaceX for flights to Mars carrying humans. The White House is planning to a hold a meeting with technology leaders on June 19, an administration spokesman said Wednesday. General Motors Co said Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra would remain on the presidential advisory panel, adding that her participation “provides GM a seat at an important table to contribute to a constructive dialogue about key policy issues.†In 2013, GM signed a declaration joining other major companies arguing that responding to climate change was good business. The automaker said on Thursday that despite the withdrawal it “will not waver from our commitment to the environment.†It was unclear whether Ford Motor Co’s new chief executive, James Hackett, would join Trump’s panel. Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker said on Thursday the No.2 U.S. automaker believes “climate change is real, and remain deeply committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our vehicles and our facilities.†| 1 | [
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FMD4182 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room tonight 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for bar fly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along side Jay Dyer of Jay s Analysis, Daniel Spaulding from Soul of the East, Infidel Pharaoh and Randy J (21WIRE & ACR contributor), for the hundred and twenty second episode of BOILER ROOM. Turn it up, tune in and hang with the ACR Brain-Trust for this weeks boil downs and analysis and the usual gnashing of the teeth of the political animals in the social reject club.This week on the show the ACR Brain-Trust is back with another meeting of the Social Reject Club in the No Friends Left Zone and the gang is discussing the aftermath of the Charlottesville protests and subsequent vehicle incident that left a woman dead. We examine the media psyops which aim to hoodwink the public into believing that there is a large force of racist neo-Nazis that consist of anyone right-of-center in the political spectrum and to tie them to President Trump. Known strategies of agitation propaganda and violent cultural revolution are analyzed and parallels are made to other events such as the Arab Spring in Egypt and the land rights movement of the Bundy Ranch.Direct Download Episode #122Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved! Reference Links, for your consideration and research: | 0 | [
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FMD4183 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald J. Trump implored supporters on Thursday to rally behind him by portraying himself as a victim of “false smears†from a growing number of women accusing him of making unwanted advances — a brazen attempt to stabilize his campaign amid a new round of criticism from Republican allies and a searing denunciation by Michelle Obama. By Thursday night, at least six women had publicly accused Mr. Trump of groping and forcibly kissing them over the decades, a pattern of sexual assault that he denied in the presidential debate on Sunday after bragging about such behavior in a 2005 recording that was unearthed last week. Mr. Trump dismissed all the allegations on Thursday and even lashed out at one of the women, a former writer for People magazine, seemingly implying that she was not attractive enough for him. “Look at her — look at her words,†Mr. Trump said at a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla. “I don’t think so. †The allegations about Mr. Trump’s treatment of women became the focus of the political world, a remarkable turn as the sexual history of a presidential nominee became a dominant and unavoidable issue in the final weeks of the race. Rarely, too, has a candidate in a general election so darkly insinuated that a conspiracy of forces was trying to undermine him and his admirers, as Mr. Trump did Thursday at events in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio. With Hillary Clinton assuming a low profile on Thursday to keep the public focus on Mr. Trump, Mrs. Obama drew wide praise from Democrats and on social media for her intensely personal remarks about the revulsion and depression that she felt over Mr. Trump’s comments about women. Speaking to several hundred voters and students at Southern New Hampshire University, Mrs. Obama said she could not “stop thinking about this — it has shaken me to my core. †“This is disgraceful, it is intolerable, and it doesn’t matter what party you belong to,†Mrs. Obama said. “No woman deserves to be treated this way — none of us deserves this kind of abuse. †The New York Times reported on Wednesday night that two women said Mr. Trump had touched them inappropriately, forcefully groping or kissing them. Their stories echoed a 2005 recording on which Mr. Trump boasts of being able to sexually assault women because of his celebrity. Other news organizations, including The Palm Beach Post, BuzzFeed and People magazine, also reported on women who had troubling encounters with Mr. Trump, who said at the debate Sunday that he had never acted on his “locker room talk†in the 2005 recording. In a series of messages posted on Twitter on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump called the Times article a “total fabrication†and denied charges by the People magazine writer, Natasha Stoynoff, that he had forced his tongue down her throat while she was working on an assignment about his first anniversary with his wife, Melania. But at his rallies in West Palm Beach and later in Cincinnati, Mr. Trump also unveiled a new campaign strategy, beseeching his supporters to view him as a political martyr for their cause and stick by him in the face of ugly accusations about his personal conduct. “I take all of these slings and arrows, gladly, for you,†Mr. Trump said to cheers in West Palm Beach. “I take them for our movement, so that we can have our country back. Our great civilization here in America and across the civilized world has come upon a moment of reckoning. †Mr. Trump said that “a conspiracy against you, the American people†was underfoot, charging that the Clinton campaign, the news media and other forces were trying to vilify parts of the electorate that did not share their views. “The establishment and their media neighbors wield control over this nation through means that are very well known — anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe and morally deformed,†Mr. Trump said. “They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again, they will do worse than that. They will do whatever’s necessary. †And he spoke about how Mrs. Clinton had met “in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U. S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her friends and her donors,†phrasing that drew criticism from the League as reminiscent of historical slurs against Jews. Mr. Trump also warned through his lawyer that he might sue The Times for libel if it did not retract the article and apologize. “Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se,†Marc E. Kasowitz, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, wrote in a letter to The Times. “It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump’s candidacy. †David E. McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for the Times, wrote to Mr. Kasowitz that the newspaper “did what the law allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. †“If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight,†Mr. McCraw wrote. The Clinton campaign said that the latest allegations showed that Mr. Trump was unfit to be president and that he lied in the debate Sunday. Mrs. Clinton, at a in San Francisco on Thursday, leveled a broad attack on Mr. Trump over his past insults and treatment of people. “It’s more than just the way he degrades women, as horrible as that is,†she said. “He has attacked immigrants, Latinos, people with disabilities, P. O. W. s, Muslims and our military, which he’s called a disaster. There’s hardly any part of America that he’s not targeted. †At the rally in New Hampshire, Mrs. Obama was particularly withering about how Mr. Trump’s treatment of women was, in her view, a sign of weakness. “We simply cannot endure this or expose our children to it any longer, not for another minute, let alone another four years,†the first lady said. “Now is the time to stand up and say, Enough is enough. †The Trump campaign has been thrown into turmoil by the allegations and the damage that the recording has done to his standing among women and with the Republican leaders who have disavowed him or revoked their endorsements. National and state polls show Mr. Trump’s support has plummeted in the last two weeks. In an effort to turn things around, he has stepped up his personal attacks on Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, over his marital infidelity. Mr. Trump also dispatched his daughter Ivanka to the Pennsylvania suburbs on Thursday in the hope that she could lift his standing in the crucial swing state. Some of Mr. Trump’s staunchest allies have been unusually critical of him during the most difficult stretch of his campaign. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and presidential candidate in 2012 who wanted to be Mr. Trump’s running mate, suggested on Thursday that there were two Donald Trumps. “There’s a big Trump and a little Trump,†he said in an appearance on the Fox Business Network. “The little Trump is frankly pathetic. †But at Mr. Trump’s rally in West Palm Beach, the candidate’s most ardent fans stood by him. Mr. Trump said that he would soon provide evidence that the allegations of improper behavior were not true. He claimed that the women who were coming forward were not properly vetted and that in some cases their stories did not add up. But it was The Times that was the particular target for his scorn. He said he was preparing to sue and contended that “the great editors of the past from The New York Times and others, ladies and gentleman, are spinning in their grave. †Mr. Trump appeared to take comfort from the cheering crowd as he lamented the hurtfulness of the attacks he has been facing. Describing the “horror show of lies, deceptions and malicious attacks†Mr. Trump told his supporters: “This election will determine whether we remain a free nation or only the illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests, rigging the system and our system is rigged. †| 1 | [
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FMD4184 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: As Republicans jockey for their party’s top spot in the 2016 presidential election, more than two dozen GOP governors are meeting in Las Vegas to discuss how best to promote and capitalize on their executive winning streaks at the national level.
With a slight advantage over Republicans in electoral votes and growing support from Hispanic and Asian-American voters, conventional wisdom holds that Democrats are favored to win the White House in 2016. But President Obama will leave few coattails in 2016 – only 27 percent of registered voters would vote for him again, giving Republicans a meaningful shot at making gains at the state and national level.
The dissatisfied majority of American voters will be looking for real change in 2016. They want a leader they can support – someone who understands the economy and will support job creation, not create broad, business-choking rules often overturned by federal courts.
The eventual GOP presidential nominee has an opportunity to capitalize on this era of public discontent and lead our country forward, united behind a shared goal of economic prosperity and growth. And he or she should start by taking cues from the Republican chief executives leading some of the most prosperous states in the nation.
Over the last four years, the GOP has excelled at the state level. In the last election cycle, Republicans picked up seven governorships, including swing states won by President Obama – Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin – and true blue states like Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts. Since 2006, 44 of the 50 states have had a Republican governor. And the trend continues. On Nov. 3, voters in Kentucky elected their second Republican governor in four decades, Matt Bevin, in a big upset.
Voters increasingly look to governors to make tough choices against special-interest groups. That’s why presidential contenders should take a cue from them. If Republicans present a vision of the American Dream boosted by free-market innovation, choice in jobs, choice in providers of services and a well-run government making tough decisions for a better future for our children, they will capture and inspire American voters.
Between 2011 and 2014, GOP governors cut taxes by $36 billion, while Democratic governors raised them by $58 billion. And Republican governors are pushing back against unions by eliminating mandatory union membership, government union-dues collection, union-mandated labor for government projects and the protection of incompetent teachers. The 10 most business-friendly states in America are run by Republican governors.
Republican executive leadership is about more than just fiscal competence, however. It’s rooted in a philosophy that citizens are adults and can make decisions on what they want better than government can.
This GOP message of choice should resonate with voters across the political spectrum. Republicans support choice in doctors and health care savings accounts, choice in urban schools, choice for workers on whether to join unions, choice in construction workers for government projects, discretion in sentencing for nonviolent crimes and choice of taxicabs or Uber, hotels or Airbnb. This message works. In the November election, voters in San Francisco overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have made it much harder for Airbnb to operate in the city.
Too often, the left speaks with a unified voice, but their loyalty to interest groups such as teachers, unions and trial lawyers means they often struggle to affect change through choice or challenge the status quo.
Democratic presidential hopefuls are selling smoke and mirrors, pushing for new and broader regulations and new taxes. They’ll promise a cornucopia of seemingly free gifts – college tuition, student-loan forgiveness, greater entitlements and more unemployment compensation.
Today, more Americans identify as independents than with either major party – a trend that is accelerating. A Gallup poll released in January found the number of self-identifying independents had grown to 43 percent of the electorate, up from 35 percent in 2008. That increase in the number of independents is concomitant with an overall decline among respondents self-identifying as Democrats or Republicans.
As the GOP finalizes its national party platforms, Republicans should focus on the benefits of the sharing economy, greater use of technology, data-based decision making, less litigation, clear and simple regulations, and empowering Americans and free markets. These are the critical issues driving our economy and sure to drive American voters to the polls next November.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,200 consumer technology companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. His views are his own. Connect with him on Twitter: @GaryShapiro | 1 | [
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FMD4185 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Anti-Empire Report #146 By William Blum – Published November 6th, 2016 L ouis XVI needed a revolution, Napoleon needed two historic military defeats, the Spanish Empire in the New World needed multiple revolutions, the Russian Czar needed a communist revolution, the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires needed World War I, Nazi Germany needed World War II, Imperial Japan needed two atomic bombs, the Portuguese Empire in Africa needed a military coup at home, the Soviet Empire needed Mikhail Gorbachev … What will the American Empire need? ABOVE: Nuremberg tribunal. A new one is in order to try most of the political leaders, CEOs, media barons and their prostitutes, and similar agents of domination, exploitation, endless war, and imperialism for the past 100 years. “I don’t believe anyone will consciously launch World War III. The situation now is more like the eve of World War I, when great powers were armed and ready to go when an incident set things off. Ever since Gorbachev naively ended the Cold War, the hugely over-armed United States has been actively surrounding Russia with weapons systems, aggressive military exercises, NATO expansion. At the same time, in recent years the demonization of Vladimir Putin has reached war propaganda levels. Russians have every reason to believe that the United States is preparing for war against them, and are certain to take defensive measures. This mixture of excessive military preparations and propaganda against an “evil enemy” make it very easy for some trivial incident to blow it all up.” – Diana Johnstone, author of “Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton” ALL IN THE FAMILY Just pals, all of them, just pals. It’s all been such a joyful ride. Obviously neither Clinton, nor Obama, or Carter, find anything amiss in celebrating George W Bush, one of the worst criminals in modern history. (George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, April 25, 2013. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In September 2013 President Obama stood before the United Nations General Assembly and declared, “I believe America is exceptional.” The following year at the UN, the president classified Russia as one of the three threats to the world along with the Islamic State and the ebola virus. On March 9, 2015 President Barack Obama declared Venezuela “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. Vladimir Putin, speaking at the UN in 2015, addressing the United States re its foreign policy: “Do you realize what you have done?” Since the end of World War 2, the United States has: Attempted to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments, most of which were democratically-elected. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders. Attempted to suppress a populist or nationalist movement in 20 countries. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.* Plus … although not easily quantified … has been more involved in the practice of torture than any other country in the world … for over a century … not just performing the actual torture, but teaching it, providing the manuals, and furnishing the equipment. *See chapter 18 of William Blum, “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower” On October 28, 2016 Russia was voted off the UN Human Rights Council. At the same time Saudi Arabia won a second term, uncontested. Does anyone know George Orwell’s email address? A million refugees from Washington’s warfare are currently over-running Europe. They’re running from Afghanistan and Iraq; from Libya and Somalia; from Syria and Pakistan. Germany is taking in many Syrian refugees because of its World War Two guilt. What will the United States do in the future because of its guilt? But Americans are not raised to feel such guilt. “ The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful.” Vice-President Dick Cheney – West Point lecture, June 2002 Two flew over the cuckoo’s nest: “We are, as a matter of empirical fact and undeniable history, the greatest force for good the world has ever known. … security and freedom for millions of people around the globe have depended on America’s military , economic, political, and diplomatic might.” – Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney, “Why the world needs a powerful America” (2015) State Department spokesperson Mark Toner: “Assad must go even if Syria goes with him.” Many of the moves the Obama administration has made in terms of its Cuba policy are in lockstep with Bill Clinton’s, as expressed in the recommendations of a 1999 task force report from the Council on Foreign Relations. The report asserted that “no change in policy should have the primary effect of consolidating, or appearing to legitimize, the political status quo on the island.” A successful American regime change operation in Syria would cut across definite interests of the Russian state. These include the likely use of Syria as a new pipeline route to bring gas from Qatar to the European market, thereby undercutting Gazprom, Russia’s largest corporation and biggest exporter. Assad’s refusal to consider such a route played no small role in Qatar’s pouring billions of dollars in arms and funds into the Syrian civil war on behalf of anti-Assad forces. “War with Russia will be nuclear. Washington has prepared for it. Washington has abandoned the ABM treaty, created what it thinks is an ABM shield, and changed its war doctrine to permit US nuclear first strike. All of this is obviously directed at Russia, and the Russian government knows it. How long will Russia sit there waiting for Washington’s first strike?” – Paul Craig Roberts, 2014 Iran signed the nuclear accords with the United States earlier this year by agreeing to stop what it never was doing. Any Iranian nuclear ambition, real or imagined, is of course a result of American hostility towards Iran, and not the other way around. If the European Union were an independent and rational government it would absolutely forbid any member country from stockpiling American nuclear weapons or hosting a US anti-ballistic missile site or any other military base anywhere close to Russia’s borders. Full Spectrum Dominance , a term the Pentagon loves to use to refer to total control of the planet: land, sea, air, space, outer space and cyberspace. Can you imagine any other country speaking this way? Henry Kissinger at the Paris Peace Talks, September 1970. “I refuse to believe that a little fourth rate power like North Vietnam does not have a breaking point.” In 2010, WikiLeaks released a cable sent to US embassies by then- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She wrote this: “Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, al Nusra and other terrorist groups … worldwide.” Surely this resulted in at least Washington’s much-favored weapon: sanctions of various kinds. It did not. US General Barry McCaffrey , April 2015: “Because so far NATO’s reaction to Putin’s aggression (sic) has been to send a handful of forces to the Baltics to demonstrate ‘resolve,’ which has only convinced Putin that the alliance is either unable or unwilling to fight. So we had better change his calculus pretty soon, and contest Putin’s stated doctrine that he is willing to intervene militarily in other countries to ‘protect’ Russia-speaking people. For God’s sake, the last time we heard that was just before Hitler invaded the Sudetenland.” No, my dear general, we heard that repeatedly in 1978 when the United States invaded the tiny nation of Grenada to protect and rescue hundreds of Americans who supposedly were in danger from the new leftist government. It was all a fraud, no more than an excuse to overthrow a government that didn’t believe that the American Empire was God’s gift to humanity. Since 1980, the United States has intervened in the affairs of fourteen Muslim countries, at worst invading or bombing them. They are (in chronological order) Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Yemen, Pakistan, and now Syria. How our never-ending mideast horror began: Radio Address of George W. Bush, September 28, 2002: “The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given. The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist groups, and there are al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq. This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year.” Yet … just six weeks before 9/11, Condoleezza Rice told CNN: “Let’s remember that his [Saddam’s] country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.” The fact is that there is more participation by the Cuban population in the running of their country than there is by the American population in the running of theirs. One important reason is the absence of the numerous private corporations which, in the United States, exert great influence over all aspects of life. “The U.S. is frantically surrounding China with military weapons, advanced aircraft, naval fleets and a multitude of military bases from Japan, South Korea and the Philippines through several nearby smaller Pacific islands to its new and enlarged base in Australia … The U.S. naval fleet, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines patrol China’s nearby waters. Warplanes, surveillance planes, drones and spying satellites cover the skies, creating a symbolic darkness at noon.” (Jack A. Smith, “Hegemony Games: USA vs. PRC”, CounterPunch) Crimea had never voluntarily left Russia. The USSR’s leader Nikita Khrushchev, a native of the region, had donated Crimea to Ukraine in 1954. Crimeans were always strongly opposed to that change and voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia after the US-induced Ukrainian coup in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin refers to the Ukrainian army as “NATO’s foreign legion”, which does not pursue Ukraine’s national interests. The United States, however, insists on labeling the Russian action in Crimea as an invasion. Putin re Crimea/Ukraine: “Our western partners (sic) created the ‘Kosovo precedent’ with their own hands. In a situation absolutely the same as the one in Crimea they recognized Kosovo’s secession from Serbia legitimate while arguing that no permission from a country’s central authority for a unilateral declaration of independence is necessary… And the UN International Court of Justice agreed with those arguments. That’s what they said; that’s what they trumpeted all over the world and coerced everyone to accept – and now they are complaining about Crimea. Why is that?” Paul Craig Roberts: “The absurdity of it all! Even a moron knows that if Russia is going to put tanks and troops into Ukraine, Russia will put in enough to do the job. The war would be over in a few days if not in a few hours. As Putin himself said some months ago, if the Russian military enters Ukraine, the news will not be the fate of Donetsk or Mauriupol, but the fall of Kiev and Lviv.” In a major examination of US policy vis-à-vis China, published in March 2015, the authoritative Council on Foreign Relations bluntly declared that “there is no real prospect of building fundamental trust, ‘peaceful coexistence,’ ‘mutual understanding,’ a strategic partnership, or a ‘new type of major country relations’ between the United States and China.” The United States, the report declares, must, therefore, develop “the political will” and military capabilities “to deal with China to protect vital U.S. interests.” “John F. Kennedy changed the mission of the Latin American military from ‘hemispheric defense’ – an outdated relic of World War II – to ‘internal security,’ which means war against the domestic population.” – Noam Chomsky Cuban baseball players who are paid a million dollars to play for an American team are not “defectors”, a word which has a clear political connotation. Boris Yeltsin was acceptable to American and Europeans because he was seen as a weak, pliable figure that allowed Western capital free rein in the newly opened Russian territory following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin’s era was also a time of rampant corruption by Russian oligarchs who were closely associated with Western capital. That corrosive culture came to a halt with the election of Vladimir Putin twice as president between 2000-2008, and again in 2012. Many ISIS leaders were former Iraqi military officers who were imprisoned by American troops. The fight isn’t against ISIS, it’s against Assad; at the next level it isn’t against Assad, it’s against Putin; then, at the next level, it isn’t against Putin, it’s against the country most likely to stand in the way of US world domination, Russia. And it’s forever. Connecting to the US-based Internet would mean channeling all of Cuba’s communications directly to the NSA. George W. Bush has been living a comparatively quiet life in Texas, with a focus on his paintings. “I’m trying to leave something behind”, he said a couple of years ago. Yeah, right, George. We can stand up some of the paintings against the large piles of Iraqi dead bodies. Seymour Hirsch: “America would be much better off, if, 30 years ago, we had let Russia continue its war in Afghanistan … The mistake was made by the Carter administration which was trying to stop the Russians from their invasion (sic) of Afghanistan. We’d be better off had we let the Russians beat the Taliban.” ( Deutsche Welle , April 2, 2014 interview) We’d be even better off if we hadn’t overthrown the progressive, secular Afghan government, giving rise to the Taliban in the first place and inciting the Russians to intervene on their border lest the Soviet Islamic population was stirred up. The former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in an interview in 1998 summed up exactly what the US thinks of the UN: “The UN plays a very important role. But if we don’t like it, we always have the option of following our own national security interests, which I assure you we will do if we don’t like what’s going on.” She is now a foreign-policy advisor to Hillary Clinton. “A leader taking his (or her) nation to war is as dysfunctional in the family of humankind as an abusive parent is in an individual family.” – Suey Kane “It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy. Power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy … The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.” – Boutros Boutros-Ghali , Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996 “Interventions are not against dictators but against those who try to distribute: not against Jiménez in Venezuela but Chávez, not against Somoza in Nicaragua but the Sandinistas, not against Batista in Cuba but Castro, not against Pinochet in Chile but Allende, not against Guatemala dictators but Arbenz, not against the shah in Iran but Mossadegh, etc.” – Johan Galtung, Norwegian, principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies “No mention was made that Iraq’s Christians had been safe and sound under President Saddam Hussein – even privileged – until President George Bush invaded and destroyed Iraq. We can expect the same fate for Syria’s Christians if the protection of the Assad regime is torn away by the US-engineered uprising. We will then shed crocodile tears for Syria’s Christians.” – Eric Margolis, 2014 “Jewish Power is the capacity to silence the debate on Jewish Power.” – Gilad Atzmon “We need a trial to judge all those who bear significant responsibility for the past century – the most murderous and ecologically destructive in human history. We could call it the war, air and fiscal crimes tribunal and we could put politicians and CEOs and major media owners in the dock with earphones like Eichmann and make them listen to the evidence of how they killed millions of people and almost murdered the planet and made most of us far more miserable than we needed to be. Of course, we wouldn’t have time to go after them one by one. We’d have to lump Wall Street investment bankers in one trial, the Council on Foreign Relations in another, and any remaining Harvard Business School or Yale Law graduates in a third. We don’t need this for retribution, only for edification. So there would be no capital punishment, but rather banishment to an overseas Nike factory with a vow of perpetual silence.” – Sam Smith “I have come to think of the export of ‘democracy’ as the contemporary equivalent of what missionaries have always done in the interest of conquering and occupying the ‘uncivilized’ world on behalf of the powers that be. I have said that the ‘church’ invented the concept of conversion by any means, including torture and killing of course, as doing the victims a big favor, since it was in the interest of ‘saving’ their immortal souls. It is now called, ‘democratization’.” – Rita Corriel “It is more or less impossible to commemorate the war dead without glorifying them, and it is impossible to glorify them without glorifying their wars.” – Paul Craig Roberts Any part of this report may be disseminated without permission, provided attribution to William Blum as author and a link to williamblum.org is provided. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS PLEASE COMMENT AND DEBATE DIRECTLY ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP CLICK HERE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Veteran political analyst and foreign policy critic Bill Blum is the author of Rogue State, among other books. Note to Commenters Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: [email protected]
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What will it take to bring America to live according to its own propaganda? =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. | 0 | [
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FMD4186 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Islamic State is brutal, but for a purpose. It can succeed in the short term because locals don't appear to have any other options.
Why is Angela Merkel calling for a ban on the full Islamic veil?
This undated file image posted on a militant website last year shows fighters from the Islamic State marching through Raqqa, Syria.
In the early days of the Islamic State, back when it was still taking shape from the remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Muslim scholars advised the group to take a page from the United States military’s playbook.
During the Sunni Awakening of 2008, American troops had successfully nurtured tribal councils and militias as partners to eject murderous insurgents from their homeland in western Iraq.
Al Qaeda in Iraq failed because of its “brutality, zealotry, and arrogant belief that it was a state,†said critics – both jihadi and non-jihadi – according to Will McCants, director of the Project on US Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
So what did the Islamic State do? It doubled down.
By 2014, “those were the very qualities that made the Islamic State so successful,†says Dr. McCants, author of the new book, “The ISIS Apocalypse.â€
It is well known that the Islamic State is now governing a wide swath of Syria and Iraq through a modern-day reign of terror. What is less well-known is why that approach has been so successful – even attracting tens of thousands of foreigners.
The answer appears to be in how that brutality takes shape.
Toward local populations that have little choice but to obey, the Islamic State can promise – and carry out – untold savagery. On Sunday, the Islamic State killed some 70 members of a tribe in Iraq that had tried to rise up against the group. To the foreign fighters who pledge their lives to the cause, by contrast, the Islamic State promises lakeside homes in Raqqa, Syria, and high salaries.
The campaign of fear and intimidation that hangs over locals works largely because there are no other options. Sunni Muslims in IS-held territory trust the Syrian and Iraqi governments – which are run by other religious groups – even less than they trust the Islamic State. And no foreign power is likely to step in and tip the power balance toward local tribes, as the US did in the Sunni Awakening.
The result is a pseudo-state that breaks all the modern rules – governing through a very calculated mix of opportunism and oppression.
“It was a tough thing for me to see, because I had bought into the idea, put around by the western analytical community – but also by [former Al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden himself – that if you’re going to wage an insurgency and create a long-lasting state, you need to win over popular support,†says McCants.
“The Islamic State has done the exact opposite.â€
For all its wanton spectacle, the brutality of the Islamic State is not random. It is part of a carefully calibrated state-building strategy that the group has been ramping up for years.
The group’s approach to establish control “began with infiltration and ended with conquest,†as a Rand Corporation report released this month put it. “Time after time, place after place, the group would establish an intelligence and security apparatus, target key opponents, and establish extortion and other criminal revenue-raising practices,†it noted. “Clandestine campaigns of assassination and intimidation have been part of the group’s playbook for more than a decade.â€
Reports from groups on the ground, as well as social media, show that “ISIS does rely on brutality much more than Al Qaeda,†says Harleen Gambhir, a counterterrorism analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, using a common acronym for the Islamic State. This includes “intentionally inspiring terror, pushing the bounds so that it can intimidate those under its control.â€
Sunday’s slaughter was a typical example, Ms. Gambhir says. “These sorts of mass executions come frequently for those even vaguely hinting at rebellion.â€
This summer, an uprising in Libya was brutally put down by an IS affiliate, which “mass executed those in local tribes,†she adds. This in turn “eliminated all hints of social rebellion.â€
What the Islamic State has shown is that, in the short term, “brutality … can be much more effective than worrying about others,†McCants says. “If you look at what IS has done, you can see examples where control has been established by extreme brutality and kept up by extreme brutality.â€
The question is whether the Islamic State can maintain such a state over the long term. Al Qaeda has long argued that its vision of establishing an Islamic caliphate is more sustainable.
“It thinks ISIS is going to burn out, because of the way it treats locals,†Gambhir says.
The Islamic State instead has put a priority on bringing in foreign fighters.
“ISIS fighters … are given preference in obtaining food and basic needs of living,†she adds.
There are clear signs that locals are chafing mightily under Islamic State rule, says McCants. But “unless they get help from the outside,†they are going to have trouble throwing off the group.
That help is not likely to come from the US. “I have no doubt we could do it, should we choose to,†says McCants, but such an operation would necessarily include troops on the ground and embroil the US in the Middle East again.
Moreover, it would “let the local governments off the hook,†especially in Damascus and Baghdad, McCants says. As a result, the problems that allowed the rise of the Islamic State in the first place, including Sunni disenfranchisement by Shiite-dominate governments, would continue.
“This leaves us in the unsatisfying position of not having terrific options in the near term for destroying the IS,†McCants says.
In some ways, the US might have more options in Syria, McCants says, because it is not working with the government. “Syria is always seen as the hard case, but we also have greater freedom of choice.â€
The US could work with Kurdish forces to clear areas, then build up local Sunni militias to hold them. Yet Turkish officials balk at the idea of empowering Kurdish forces, given the large Kurdish minority in Turkey.
As in 2008, the most promising center of gravity for the fight against the Islamic State is the Sunni tribes. “Many Sunnis support the group either because of intimidation or because they view it as their only protection against other groups,†the Rand report notes. “Although this will be difficult, Iraq, at least, can start by ensuring fair treatment of the population when towns are recovered, and by speeding the reconstruction of those towns.â€
The question becomes how to empower them, given the limited tools the US has at its disposal.
In theory, Iraqi government officials agree with the plan to engage Sunni tribal militias to some extent, “but there’s been a lot of foot dragging,†he adds. “We could start arming the tribes ourselves, but if they are not part of the Iraqi central government, we’re kind of pushing the state of Iraq in a particular direction of a more federal state.â€
Still, McCants says, the Sunni tribes “should be our center of gravity, too.†| 1 | [
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FMD4187 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Feds get a warrant to start search for classified info in 650,000 emails - thousands of them from her private server - on sexting Weiner's laptop. Clinton faces ongoing FBI probe even if she's elected President By Wills Robinson Daily Mail November 1, 2016 The FBI now has a warrant to read the emails from Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton ‘s most trusted aide, which were among hundreds of thousands discovered on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Law enforcement officials confirmed that investigators gained permission to start trawling through the 650,000 emails discovered on the laptop on Sunday evening, NBC reported. Thousands of them could be from Clinton’s private server. Feds seized the laptop belonging to Weiner, Abedin’s disgraced husband, in September after DailyMail.com exposed his sexting of a 15-year-old girl. In early October, agents told FBI heads they’d found emails on the laptop from Abedin that may have been deleted from Clinton’s private server but their warrant did not allow them to read emails that were not linked to the Weiner investigation. The newly reopened investigation will take time due to the sheer volume of emails to be read, the Wall Street Journal reported. It will likely take agents until well past the election to assess how many, if any, contain classified information – leaving Clinton with the prospect of facing an ongoing investigation even if she is elected president. The Democratic candidate already shows signs of slipping in the polls after an ABC News/Washington Post tracker poll revealed Trump was just one point behind – an 11 point change since last week. And since FBI director James Comey’s shock announcement on Friday that the Clinton private server probe was to be reopened, questions have continued to mount over Abedin’s future on the Clinton campaign. She has stayed behind in New York while her boss hits the campaign trail. Abedin has pleaded ignorance about how the emails ended up on husband Weiner’s laptop. She swore under oath while testifying in a lawsuit brought against the State Department by Judicial Watch that she had handed over all of her devices that could hold emails relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. If she’s found to have lied she could face up to five years in jail. On Sunday, Clinton – no longer accompanied by Abedin – said at a Florida rally that she would not be ‘knocked off course’ by Friday’s shocking development. ‘I’m not stopping now, we’re just getting warmed up,’ she declared to a packed crowd with many gay and lesbian supporters in the city of Wilton Manors. ‘We’re not going to be distracted, no matter what our opponents throw at us.’ Donald Trump delivered a swift kick to disgraced former Democratic congressman Weiner on Sunday, thanking him for preserving the emails that could bring Clinton down. | 0 | [
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FMD4188 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: If we didn t know better, we d almost believe our Federal Government was attempting to give special privileges to Spanish speaking citizens. Perhaps they re establishing a precedent for taxpayer funded benefits for millions of illegal immigrants who will soon be American citizens The Social Security Administration (SSA) approved disability benefits for hundreds of Puerto Ricans because they do not speak English, despite the fact that Puerto Rico is a predominantly Spanish-speaking territory.According to a new audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the agency is misapplying rules that are intended to provide financial assistance to individuals who are illiterate or cannot speak English in the United States. Under the rules, Puerto Ricans are allowed to receive disability benefits for their inability to speak English as well. We found the Agency did not make exceptions regarding the English-language grid rules for claimants who reside in Puerto Rico, even though Spanish is the predominant language spoken in the local economy, the OIG said.The audit said a person applying for disability in Puerto Rico who cannot speak English may increase his/her likelihood of receiving disability benefits. The agency does not currently have a system in place to keep track of the number of beneficiaries who receive disability insurance for not being able to speak English.However, the OIG was able to identify 218 cases between 2011 and 2013 where Puerto Ricans were awarded disability due to an inability to communicate in English. Furthermore, 4 percent of disability hearings in Puerto Rico involved looking at the individual s ability to speak, read, write, and understand English.Though 95 percent of Puerto Ricans speak Spanish at home, according to the rules a Spanish-speaking nurse in Puerto Rico would be considered unskilled, the OIG said.The SSA told the OIG that the rules are applied one-size-fits-all. SSA managers at various disability decision levels stated Social Security is a national program, and the grids must be applied to the national economy, regardless of local conditions, the audit said.The SSA takes into account an individual s education level when considering awarding disability benefits if they do not qualify for medical reasons. Part of the education requirement involves looking at a person s ability to speak English, to determine whether it limits his ability to find a job.Last year Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) raised concerns that the Obama administration was broadly applying the education rule under the Social Security Act to allow individuals to receive disability payments solely because they cannot speak English.He noted that the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) rolls swelled 230 percent between 2000 and 2010, while the U.S. population only grew 9.7 percent.Former SSA judges have also testified that individuals have been approved for disability in the United States without having to prove they cannot speak English.The hundreds of Puerto Ricans noted in the OIG s report have received disability insurance despite a 1987 U.S. District Court ruling that appears to contradict the SSA s policy. Benefits were denied on the grounds that it is the ability to communicate in Spanish, not English, that is vocationally important in Puerto Rico. It should be noted, however, that the court explicitly declined to apply this rationale outside of this one case, the OIG said.The SSA agreed with the OIG s recommendations to figure out how many individuals have been awarded disability based on their inability to communicate in English, and to evaluate the appropriateness of applying the English-speaking rules to Puerto Rico.The SSA is currently gathering information for a proposed regulation that could lead to changes to the English-speaking rule, the agency said.Via: Free Beacon | 0 | [
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FMD4189 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: In President Obama's interview with Matt Yglesias on foreign policy, he did something interesting when pressed on how he squares support for human rights with a foreign policy that has included a number of alliances with dictators. Obama said that the US could only do so much, and that sometimes he has to "recognize the world as it is" and make practical tradeoffs. And, he said, "The trajectory of this planet overall is one toward less violence, more tolerance, less strife, less poverty."
On the surface, it seemed like a dodge, an argument that the US doesn't have to worry too much about promoting democracy and human rights, which will arise naturally. But Obama returned to this point at the very end of the interview, and said something that's crucial to understanding his worldview and the role he sees American foreign policy playing in the world:
Obama's point here is that the arc of history bends naturally toward democracy and human rights, and that the best thing the US can do is not to solve every crisis individually — which can sometimes make things worse — but rather to help bend that arc in the right direction globally.
The world is, in the long view, getting much better for human beings: people are healthier, freer, and safer than they've ever been, and those trends are holding. The best thing the United States can do for the world, Obama thinks, is strengthen the forces that drive this progress.
In this long view of foreign policy, the best weapon in the war for human rights and democracy isn't the US military or economic sanctions; it's the forces of human progress themselves.
That the world is getting much better is, at this point, an undeniable fact. People live longer and healthier lives than they ever have. Deaths from war are at an all-time low. After the Cold War ended, democracy spread rapidly, and is now the dominant form of government worldwide.
But Obama also has a theory of why humanity has gotten better. Modern creations like the global economy, a US-led global network of alliances, and international institutions like the UN, in this thinking, all work together to, in the aggregate, reduce suffering and promote freedom.
Obama lays this out in one paragraph, right at the beginning of the interview. It's the golden ticket to understanding everything he says later on:
I think it is realistic for us to want to use diplomacy for setting up a rules-based system wherever we can, understanding that it's not always going to work. If we have arms treaties in place, it doesn't mean that you don't have a stray like North Korea that may try to do its own thing. But you've reduced the number of problems that you have and the security and defense challenges that you face if you can create those norms. And one of the great things about American foreign policy in the post-World War II era was that we did a pretty good job with that. It wasn't perfect, but the UN, the IMF, and a whole host of treaties and rules and norms that were established really helped to stabilize the world in ways that it wouldn't otherwise be.
There are two things to understand how boring-sounding international institutions can help accelerate the forces of history like this. First, institutions provide material things — medicine, financial assistance, economic growth — that make people's lives longer and richer. Second, they deter and co-opt bad actors, and encourage what you might call good international behavior.
The American-led alliance system, for example, deters aggression in Europe and East Asia; Russia's bad behavior in eastern Europe likely would have been a lot worse if NATO didn't exist to deter it, for example, or if the EU didn't exist to organize sanctions. More broadly, the ever-expanding webs of international trade ties and political organizations such as the EU make war costly and cooperation with the global community more desirable. By making wars more costly, institutions help protect the spread of democracy, which in turn further reduces the likelihood of war because democracies tend not to fight each other.
The United States is far from the only player in these international institutions by their very nature, but as the single most powerful and most important member, the US has been crucial to bringing other countries on board, and helping to enforce and maintain that liberal international system.
Of course, you can't credit international institutions alone for the spread of prosperity and democracy: these are huge, complicated historical phenomena with lots of causes. But Obama is quite right to say that the design of the post-World War II international order, and its expansion after the end of the Cold War, have helped protect and encourage the long-term historical trends.
That's fine for the long view, but Obama also has to manage foreign policy now, day-to-day. And, on that view, it can look like he's significantly less active on global human rights. Obama hasn't seriously challenged Chinese authoritarianism or Saudi theocracy. Iran and Russia pose major threats to stability in Europe and the Middle East. And North Korea is still North Korea.
In the Vox interview, Obama's direct response to this line of criticism is pretty weak: the Internet will fix it. "I am a firm believer that particularly in this modern internet age, the capacity of the old-style authoritarian government to sustain itself and to thrive just is going to continue to weaken," he said.
Still, his longer-view, implicit argument is a great deal stronger: the best way to deal with authoritarianism in the long run is to build up the global institutions that have accelerated positive trends worldwide — and to prevent other countries from weakening those institutions and trends.
China is a good example of this. As a rising power that has been at times hostile to Western power, it was widely expected to challenge the US-dominated global order — potentially catastrophically — and in some cases it has. But, since 2008, the country has generally worked within and even endorsed that international system. This was mostly out of self-interest, but the Obama administration has worked to make sure that China's self-interest and that of the international system lined up. The result has been China buying into those positive trends of the status quo, rather than overturning them.
For example, China helped the United States and global economic institutions rescue the global economy after 2008 by refraining from turning to trade protectionism. According to Tufts Fletcher School Professor Dan Drezner, that's evidence that "China is not proposing a serious challenge to what the liberal international order looks like." China benefits from a fairly open international trading regime and would suffer if security competition with the United States ramped up.
Roping China into these systems demonstrates Obama's strategy in action. Throughout the interview, he mentions the need to get China on board with helping maintain global institutions: "you've got to step up and help us underwrite these global rules that in fact help to facilitate your rise," he says, addressing China's leaders.
Obama has attempted to integrate other bad actors into the global system to make them less likely to cause trouble. The opening to Cuba is the clearest example, but so too are his overtures to Iran on nukes and the original (if ill-fated) Russia reset. "We can't guarantee that [Iran makes] a rational decision [on nukes] any more than we can guarantee Russia and Mr. Putin make rational decisions about something like Ukraine," he said. "But we've also got to see whether things like diplomacy, things like economic sanctions, things like international pressure and international norms, will in fact make a difference."
And while these bad actors are co-opted or contained, by sanctions or international isolation, the rest of the world will continue to improve, bringing more states into the global system and depriving its enemies of potential allies. That'll make it harder for these states to sustain aggressive foreign policies — and even brutal repression at home — in the face of long-run international pressure.
This long-run vision is, in many wells, quite compelling. But it doesn't do a whole lot for protestors in Hong Kong, Saudi women demanding the right to drive, or Ukrainians gunned down by Russian troops in Donbas. What about abuses that are happening now?
That's where Obama's recognition of America's policy limits kick in. Yglesias calls this Obama's Undoctrine: avoid costly and counterproductive mistakes, particularly military ones. In the area of human rights, that means avoiding ostentatious pressure that might backfire.
For instance, Obama avoided openly embracing Iran's green protest movement in 2009, and he's kept support for the Syrian rebels to a relative minimum. That's because, in a lot of these cases, Obama thinks high-profile American statements or actions can backfire.
Instead, Obama argues, we have to take human rights wins where can get them. Not every issue is amenable to American pressure or direct action. "Our successes will happen in fits and starts, and sometimes there's going to be a breakthrough and sometimes you'll just modestly make things a little better," he says.
This may not always be a satisfying approach to spreading human rights — long-views rarely are — but it has the virtue of being a smart one. | 1 | [
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FMD4190 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: France said on Friday it had been informed by the United States before the U.S. military strikes on Syrian military positions and that Russia should use this “warning†to push for a political solution to the Syrian conflict. France, a key backer of rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly called on him to step down and this week said a suspected chemical attack by Assad’s forces was a test for U.S. President Donald Trump. “The United States has started clarifying its position because over the last few days we heard one thing and then another,†Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told Reuters and France Info radio in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, where he was on a diplomatic visit. “Here, we have an action that is a sort of condemnation, through military strikes on a military base, of what this criminal regime is doing.†In Paris, President Francois Hollande confirmed French backing for the U.S. action, saying France had been seeking U.S. missile strikes in 2013 after a previous chemical attack. Assad bore “full responsibility for this development,†Hollande said in a joint statement with Germany from the Elysee after speaking with Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said France and Germany would continue efforts through the United Nations to achieve the best response to chemical attacks. The U.S. missile strikes came in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in northern Syria earlier this week which killed at least 70 people. Ayrault, who was informed ahead of the strikes by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said he did not believe Washington wanted to continue its strikes and that the escalation of the U.S. military role in Syria, in which two U.S. warships fired dozens of cruise missiles at an Assad-controlled airbase, was a “warning.†France, a NATO ally, has been a vocal critic of Washington’s policy in Syria since the previous administration of Barack Obama pulled back from launching strikes against Assad following the 2013 chemical attack that killed hundreds of people. French planes had been minutes away from taking off when Obama backed down. “A signal was sent, because yet again a red line was crossed by Assad,†Ayrault said. “The use of chemical weapons is appalling and should be punished because it is a war crime,†Ayrault said. He said Paris’s only military role in Syria at present was its part in the coalition fighting Islamic State and that it had no intention of entering the conflict between Assad and rebels. The conflict is now in its seventh year and has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions. “We are not seeking any confrontation, but Russia and Iran must understand that backing the Assad regime makes no sense,†he said, urging Moscow to now fully back a UN Security Council resolution that sets out the path for a transition to peace in the country. “Peace negotiations (are going on) for a political transition, to rebuild the country and enable the return of refugees and that will not happen with Bashar al-Assad,†he said. “I will tell the Russians: ‘Stop playing. Stop hesitating and pretending. Play your role and implement resolution 2254’(the UN resolution that sets out a roadmap for peace talks)â€. | 1 | [
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FMD4191 | 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: No, Dominion Voting Systems is not owned by Joe Biden's nephew. Claim summaries: The claim is just one iteration of a conspiracy theory about Dominion Voting Systems.
contextual information: Voting in the 2020 U.S. Election may be over, but the misinformation keeps on ticking. Never stop fact-checking. Follow our post-election coverage here. here On Dec. 11, 2020, a Twitter user posted a new permutation of a conspiracy theory about Dominion Voting Systems, the technology firm that provided voting systems in multiple U.S. jurisdictions in the November 2020 election, and which has also been the target of a disinformation campaign falsely claiming its systems were used to perpetrate widespread voter fraud. technology firm falsely claiming One of the narratives in the election fraud conspiracy theory holds that voting machines provided by Dominion switched votes from ballots cast for U.S. President Donald Trump to his challenger, Joe Biden, who is now president-elect. Trump has refused to accept his electoral loss, and has perpetuated the lie that Dominion machines were used en masse to flip votes. perpetuated Hence, more than a month after Biden was declared winner of the election, conspiracy theories continued to flourish. In this case, a Twitter user falsely claimed that Dominion is owned by a member of Biden family, namely his nephew. But the tweet in question is nothing but a patchwork of misleading screenshots and assumptions, based on people sharing a common surname. We cropped the user's name out below: falsely claimed The screenshots in the meme above contain what appear to be the professional biographies of two men, Stephen Owens and R. Kevin Owens, neither of which mentions Dominion. The meme included in the tweet points to President-elect Biden's sister and campaign manager Valerie Biden Owens, with the alleged clincher being that Stephen Owens, a co-founder of Staple Street Capital, an investment firm that owns 75% stake in Dominion, shares a surname. However, "Owens" is a common last name, so that hardly serves as proof at all. co-founder owns Valerie and her husband, John T. Owens, have three children, none named Stephen. A spokesperson for Staple Street confirmed in an email to Snopes that Stephen Owens has no relation to the Biden family. three children And although the meme includes mention of R. Kevin Owens, an attorney who is related to Valerie's husband, we see no connection between this person and Dominion. related In other iterations of this conspiracy theory, the voting systems company has been falsely linked to deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as well as various Democratic politicians, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and the Clinton Foundation, the charitable foundation run by former President Bill and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Hugo Chavez including Trump's own administration has undermined his post-election disinformation blitz by stating the November 2020 election was "the most secure in American history." undermined "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a Nov. 12, 2020, statement. statement Updated to note that a Staples Street representative confirmed Stephen Owens isn't related to the Bidens. | 0 | [
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FMD4192 | 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 Pelosi Write This Letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler? Claim summaries: A laptop stolen during the January 2021 U.S. Capitol riots provided fodder for conspiracy theorists.
contextual information: In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, right-wing conspiracy theorists and internet users began to share a letter, supposedly written by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Ted Wheeler, mayor of Portland, Oregon. The letter appeared to encourage Wheeler to "stick to the proven Democratic play book" and "blame Trump" for civil unrest in the city in August 2020. share unrest The letter was dated Aug. 27, 2020, and read as follows: Dear Mr. Wheeler, I have seen your response to the riots in your city and I am urging you to stick to the proven Democratic Play book. I would like to review this with you now.1. Deny there is a Problem. (Press will support this)2. Refer to everything as peaceful and calm. (Press will help here also)3. When all hell breaks loose, go on camera and show your support for anybody breaking the law. (Press will praise you for this, you will be a new hero, trust me).4. When you can no longer keep any order "BLAME TRUMP!" (I cannot over emphasize #4, This has worked every time we have used it and again the Press has told me they will support and fact check any claim we make!! THIS IS POLITICAL GOLD!!)5. Go on Television and Condemn TRUMP and refuse any assistance! We CANNOT give TRUMP any victory before the election!!!!! Many of those who shared the letter claimed additionally that it had been obtained from a laptop stolen from Pelosi during the riots. One widely shared screenshot indicated that the letter had also been shared on the social media website Parler by the controversial pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood. claimed additionally obtained indicated controversial pro-Trump On Jan. 10, Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores, and Amazon removed the site from its online platform, meaning we could not access Wood's Parler posts at the time of this writing, so we can't verify whether he did share the Pelosi letter. removed However, we do know the letter was fake. First of all, it bore several prima-facie hallmarks of being inauthentic: the informal style and tone ("stick to the proven Democratic Play book"); the scattered use of all caps ("THIS IS POLITICAL GOLD!!"); frequent deployment of exclamation marks; inappropriate capitalization ("Play book" and "Problem") and inappropriate lack of capitalization ("best wishes"). Those traits immediately marked the letter as being more akin to a hyper-partisan Facebook post than formal written correspondence between the speaker of the U.S. House and the mayor of a major American city. On Jan. 6, Capitol rioters did steal a laptop from a conference room used by the speaker of the House. However, Pelosi's Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hamill quickly clarified on Twitter that the laptop was used only for giving presentations. In an email sent to Snopes, Hamill explained that not only was the letter fake, but the laptop in question would not have allowed anyone access to Pelosi's personal, private correspondence in the first place. clarified Furthermore, a spokesperson for Wheeler confirmed for Snopes that the Portland mayor had never received any letter from Pelosi that matched the content of the one shared widely in January 2021. Those dual attestations, combined with the unavailability of evidence to authenticate the letter, and the existence of convincing indications that it was not written by Pelosi, mean we are issuing a rating of False. | 0 | [
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FMD4193 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Republican rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz ganged up on front-runner Donald Trump at a raucous debate on Thursday in a last-ditch bid to keep the billionaire from winning victories next week that could set him up to clinch the presidential nomination. The CNN-hosted debate at the University of Houston was the two first-term senators’ last, best chance to try to shake up the race for the Republican nomination. The contest is dramatically shifting toward Trump, who is leading in opinion polls in nearly all 11 states set to make their choices on next Tuesday. Rubio and Cruz landed blows on Trump, took some withering fire in return and may wonder why they did not pursue such a strategy in the debates of past weeks and months when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, now out of the race, was the lead Trump attacker. A confident-sounding Trump was unbowed and dismissed the attacks from his center-stage position. He declared Rubio a “choke artist†for a faltering debate in New Hampshire, again labeled Cruz “a liar†and urged his rivals to take their best shot. “Swing for the fences,†he said, wielding a baseball metaphor. Rubio, who got some momentum with a second-place finish to Trump in South Carolina last Saturday and has picked up some Bush supporters, gave his most aggressive performance to date. The senator from Florida wants to be the last Trump opponent standing and perhaps stretch the contest to the Republican nominating convention in July. He brought up Trump’s four past bankruptcies and his use of imported Polish workers to work at a Florida resort, and pointedly suggested the New Yorker would not be where he is today in the real estate business without a family inheritance. Without the family money, Rubio said, “You know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan.†Significantly, Rubio sought to raise doubts about the depth of Trump’s policy knowledge, a point of attack that Trump’s critics in the Republican establishment have been urging candidates to pursue for months. Rubio pointed out that Trump’s sole plan to replace and repeal Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law is to allow insurance companies to operate across state lines. When Trump repeated the same point twice, Rubio interrupted. “Now he’s repeating himself,†said the senator, who was skewered at a debate in New Hampshire last month for robotically repeating his talking points. Trump fired back: “I watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago, and I gotta tell you it was a meltdown. I watched him melt down on the stage like I’ve never seen anybody.†Cruz, who needs to win his home state of Texas when it votes on Tuesday, also piled on Trump, saying his rival would be a weak Republican opponent to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 general election because he had donated to the Clinton Foundation founded by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Cruz said Hillary Clinton would say to him, “‘Gosh, Donald you gave $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. I even went to your wedding.’ ... He can’t prosecute the case against Hillary.†Trump ridiculed Cruz for his inability to win more than the early voting state of Iowa and taunted him for being behind Trump in opinion polls in Texas. Since a second-place finish in Iowa, Trump has won New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. “If I can’t beat her (Clinton), you’re really going to get killed aren’t you? ... I know you’re embarrassed, but keep fighting,†Trump said. The crossfire was so intense that CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer lost control of the proceedings at times. Among the other two candidates on the stage, Ohio Governor John Kasich turned in a positive performance with an optimistic message, hoping Rubio and Cruz will falter and he will end up as the central Trump alternative. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, flagging in the polls, provided some comic relief. He said that, as president, when considering potential Supreme Court nominees he would look at “the fruit salad of their life†and asked plaintively for more time to talk: “Can someone attack me please?†Even with his bombast, Trump turned in a more measured performance than usual, defending his moderate positions on Planned Parenthood and retaining popular parts of the Obamacare law, perhaps mindful that he is closing in on a victory in the Republican race. He said he would not support a ceasefire deal about to go into effect in Syria and declared that Libya would be better off had Colonel Muammar Gaddafi not been toppled from power by a U.S.-backed uprising in 2011. Pressed on whether he would release his tax records as 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney said he should do, Trump said he would eventually do so after a “routine audit†is completed. This did not satisfy Romney, who tweeted that there was no legitimate reason for withholding them even if they were under audit. Rubio went after Trump hard on illegal immigration. He said Trump may talk tough on illegal immigration now, but previously said Romney lost his race against Obama by promoting the idea that illegal immigrants should self-deport. “A lot of these positions that he’s taken now are new to him,†Rubio said. Trump said Romney lost in 2012 because he was a terrible candidate. “Excuse me, he ran one terrible campaign,†Trump said. While Trump has scored early victories and is well ahead in national opinion polls, he has some ways to go to clinch his party’s nomination, which is decided by the number of delegates sent to the July party convention following the state-by-state nominating contests. So far Trump leads the race with 81 delegates, with Cruz and Rubio well behind at 17 apiece. To secure the nomination, a candidate needs 1,237 delegates. Super Tuesday will be critical because there are nearly 600 delegates at stake in Republican races that day. (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson and Valerie Volcovici in Washinton; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney, Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4194 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: This post was originally published on this site Russia calls on Western countries to persuade Ukraine to carry out its obligations as part of the Minsk settlement process, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday in remarks announcing preparations for four-way talks next week. “Russia sees its task in encouraging Western partners who have influence on the leadership of Ukraine to urge Kiev to strictly follow the obligations assumed in the framework of the Minsk process,” the ministry said. The ministry said it was preparing for Normandy format talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk next Tuesday, November 29, after receiving an invitation from Germany and France. DONi News Agency | 0 | [
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FMD4195 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: George Takei has been on a social media role since the start of the Trump era, providing astute commentary with a brilliant wit that has made him beloved to millions. His latest Twitter poem something he does fairly often might be one of my favorite posts of his yet.Here it is:The crisis has grown very direTrump threatens with fury and fireSo before war's begunAgainst Kim Jong-unWe'd better make Donnie retire George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 9, 2017 The crisis has grown very dire Trump threatens with fury and fire So war s begun Against Kim Jong-un We d better make Donnie retire I d say we re all thinking something pretty similar! Or, at least, according to the latest polling, an overwhelming majority of us are (sorry Trump fans, but those are the facts).Here are a few of his other latest Twitter poems:You tweet us ad nauseumMueller's not tricked cause of 'emSo tweet your memoirsDuring years behind barsYou no doubt'll serve lots of 'em George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 8, 2017Happy Bday oh dearest ObamaThanks for 8 yrs of no dramaFor your wisdom and strengthFor sparing no lengthAnd no daily national trauma George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 5, 2017Things just went south in a hurryNow that they've sat a grand jurySubpoenas galoreI've popcorn. Want more?As karma unleashes its fury. George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 4, 2017Putin tried this n that hackeeInstalling a personal lackeyIt's since come to passWe sanctioned his assWhile Trump is increasingly wacky George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 2, 2017Keep it up, George! You can bet it pisses Trump off every time he sees one, considering how thin his skin is.Read more:Featured image via Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for GLAAD | 0 | [
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FMD4196 | 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: Vladimir Putin did not refer to Obama as foolish for his socialist policies. Claim summaries: A years-old fake quote from Vladimir Putin started recirculating on the internet for some reason in February 2016.
contextual information: On 15 February 2016, the Facebook page "The Original Wake Up People" posted a years-old memefeaturing a quote ostensibly uttered by Vladimir Putin: This is not a real quote from the Russian president.The above-displayed quote has been circulating since 2009 in one form or another (usually in the form of a meme such as the above image) when it was originally published on the satirical web siteScooter's Report: published Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin haswarned the Obama administration against adopting further socialism, saying Russian historyclearly proves it is a recipe for failure. "Any fourth grade history student knows socialism has failed in every country, at every time in history," saidPutin. "President Obama and his fellow Democrats are either idiots or deliberately trying to destroy their own economy." Scooter's Report, whichfrequently featured anti-Obama rhetoric, has adisclaimer on the web site that states, "Like I have to tell you: This isfictitious satire and any resemblance to persons, places, or events is coincidental." Putin has, however, addressed the responsibilities of businesses to the community in the past: addressed We need business to understand its social responsibility, that the main task and objective for a business is not to generate extra income and to become rich and transfer the money abroad, but to look and evaluate what a businessman has done for the country, for the people, on whose account he or she has become so rich. | 0 | [
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FMD4197 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Trump and Sanders get all the attention for their passionate support. But supporters at a Hillary Clinton rally are passionate, too – in their own way.
As yet another general joins Trump's team, what does the pick reveal?
Retired deputy sheriff Debbie Boyd wears her support for Hillary Clinton at a rally at the University of California, Riverside, on Wednesday.
The retired deputy sheriff wears a white straw hat on which a miniature Hillary Clinton doll sits, surrounded by flowers and little American flags. Red, white, and blue peace signs clatter around her neck, and “Hillary†stickers adorn her cheeks. She even carries around a picture-book biography of Mrs. Clinton that she hopes to get autographed.
“She sends a message to little girls about what it means to be a leader,†says Ms. Boyd, a mother of two, when asked what excites her about her candidate.
Few others standing in line for the Clinton rally at the University of California, Riverside on Tuesday wear their support as overtly as Boyd, a former Republican who switched parties to vote for Barack Obama in 2008. The orderly, almost quiet scene outside the venue seems to illustrate one of the most persistent criticisms leveled against Clinton: her lack of likability, expressed in part by a relative disinterest among her supporters.
And when placed beside the more outspoken advocates for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – some of whom came to the Tuesday rally to protest Clinton’s candidacy – or the outrage that marks followers of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, Clinton voters do appear almost dispassionate.
But none of that means the former secretary of State fails to inspire, her supporters say. To them, the ability to excite and rile up a crowd is less important than experience, a sense of respect, and the skill to negotiate one’s way out of a problem. These voters say they choose to show their enthusiasm in less sensational ways, whether it’s donating to Clinton’s campaign or encouraging others to educate themselves and turn out to vote.
“I’m not looking for someone to entertain me,†says Boyd, as she squats on the grass to add tinsel to her “Hillary†poster. “I’m looking for someone to lead this country.â€
Which isn’t to say passion doesn’t exist among Clinton supporters. Inside the Johnson Family Practice Center at UC-Riverside, a current of anticipation runs through the gathering – an intimate affair that is typical of Clinton’s rallies. When she at last appears just after 6 p.m., the crowd cheers, waving campaign-issued balloons and posters.
“We are very enthusiastic,†says Sebastiano Grasso, a local artist, dismissing any suggestion that Clinton is unable to galvanize her supporters. “We’re just not punching people, yelling at people.â€
Others, like Carrie Lucas, say they show their enthusiasm with actions, not words. Ms. Lucas, a ballroom dancing instructor from Corona, Calif., says she donates to the Clinton campaign with every paycheck.
“I put my money where my mouth is,†she says.
Denise Davis, a school administrator at the University of Redlands, defends Clinton’s ability to move her constituency.
“If you’ve ever seen her live in person, she’s completely energizing,†Ms. Davis says, recalling how she managed to convince her mother to vote for Clinton over President Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries. “She went to see Hillary speak and that’s what swayed her decision.â€
But Davis's support for the former secretary of State goes beyond optics. To her, Clinton embodies progress that is earned over decades.
“She’s very much interested in progressive, social change, and she’s in a position to make that change happen,†Davis says. “She would be the first female president – that’s huge in itself. But she has the best ability to make change happen.
“That’s what fires me about her.â€
Likability was not always a criterion for electability. Indeed, the Founding Fathers would “be horrified by the modern presidential campaign,†Slate’s John Dickerson noted in 2012.
“In their day,†he wrote, “no man worthy of the presidency would ever stoop to campaigning for it.â€
Particularly since the advent of television, however, the charm factor has haunted many a losing candidate.
“There’s an assumption that the candidate you want to win is the candidate you prefer to†hang out with, says Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University’s School of Public Affairs in Washington. “It becomes a cue for whether [or not] you trust this person, whether they’ll understand people like you, whether they’ll have your interests at stake, whether they get what it’s like to be a real American living in this country right now. It’s all rolled up in this term called ‘likability.’ â€
“I don’t think Hillary Clinton … comes off as a warm and fuzzy person you want to hang out with after work,†she says.
And it shows, at least in the polls. As of mid-May, only 40.2 percent of Americans saw Clinton as a favorable candidate, according to the Huffington Post, which tracks data from more than 400 surveys nationwide. Mr. Trump is doing just worse, with 38.7 percent of voters viewing him as favorable in the same period. The figures represent some of the lowest favorability ratings for presidential candidates in American history.
For Clinton, the problem is that “it’s hard from the outside to think of any non-career or pre-career aspect to her life,†writes New York Times columnist David Brooks. “Except for a few grandma references, she presents herself as a résumé and policy brief.… It’s hard from the outside to have a sense of her as a person; she is a role.â€
Yet the folks at the Clinton rally on Tuesday applaud her rational approach, saying they support her precisely because she is about her work and not her celebrity.
“She has done so much for this country,†says Earlene Freeman, a retired registered nurse, as she leans on her walker. “She will better represent the values that I have; she wants people to reach their potential.â€
“And it’s time for a woman to be president,†she says.
Clinton’s younger supporters seem to be thinking along similar lines.
“Her approach is very analytical,†says Callie Scoggins, a senior at Redlands East Valley High School, about a half-hour drive from Riverside. “She won’t be quick to do something without considering the consequences.â€
“What it comes down to,†adds Tyler Washington, a new graduate at Riverside, “is that the other candidates are like the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, offering magical rewards. Clinton is like the mom telling you to eat your vegetables.â€
That may not make her likable, he says, but “those thinking with their brains understand what’s more important.â€
“We don’t need a slogan,†adds Mr. Grasso, the artist. “We need solutions.†| 1 | [
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FMD4198 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Honduran opposition battling President Juan Orlando Hernandez over a disputed presidential election proposed on Tuesday that a run-off be held if authorities would not recount the entire vote. TV star Salvador Nasralla, who claimed victory in the Nov. 26 election after early results put him ahead of Hernandez, has been locked in a bitter row over the vote count since the process broke down and suddenly swung in the president s favor. The dispute has sparked deadly protests and a night-time curfew in the poor, violent Central American country. On Tuesday, Nasralla said the electoral tribunal should review virtually all the voting cards. If you don t agree with that, let s go to a run-off between (Hernandez) and Salvador Nasralla, he said on Twitter. Former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a 2009 coup and now backs Nasralla, said that the opposition was seeking a total recount of the vote, or legislation to permit a run-off, which is not used in Honduras. Hernandez, who has been praised by the United States for his crackdown on violent street gangs, indicated later on Tuesday that his party might be willing to check all votes. We re open to checking, that there s a review of one, two, three, however many, he said. They talk about 5,000 (polling stations), of more, of less; there s no problem, but it has to be under the procedures established by Honduran law. Hernandez has not claimed victory in broadcast comments in recent days, but said on Tuesday that there will soon be time to celebrate, and praised his center-right National Party for containing itself during the turmoil that has followed the vote. That doesn t mean it s not a vigorous party, and when they see it in the street, they ll see something extraordinary they haven t seen yet, he added, without elaborating. Authorities took a week to count votes in the nation of 9 million people, but the Organization of American States (OAS) said results were marked by irregularities and errors. The tribunal has not declared an official winner, but the results gave a 1.60 percentage point advantage to Hernandez over Nasralla, who says tally sheets from ballot boxes were altered and has declared himself the rightful winner. On Tuesday, the top official at the electoral tribunal, David Matamoros, invited the opposition to compare their copies of voter tally sheets with the official body s versions. Matamoros also said the tribunal would extend a deadline for legal challenges to Friday from Wednesday. Street protests in favor of Nasralla that began last week continued on Tuesday afternoon. Dozens of people, including police officers, gathered at the Tegucigalpa headquarters of Honduras elite police force yelling Out, JOH, referring to Hernandez s initials. Some rebel police officers had refused to crack down on demonstrations on Monday, urging the government to resolve the political deadlock. But the police force said on Tuesday it had agreed to a deal under which it will not be asked to repress legitimate protest. If demonstrators are caught breaking curfew, their cases will be reviewed, but police officers will also accompany them home, a spokesman said. Nasralla s center-left Alliance bloc previously demanded a recount of nearly a third of tally sheets, a request that was backed by the OAS and European Union election observers. The Alliance is also expected to formally contest the results. Early last week, Nasralla, a 64-year-old former sportscaster and game show host, appeared set for an upset victory, gaining a five-point lead with more than half of the ballots tallied. The count halted for more than a day, and began leaning in favor of Hernandez after resuming. | 1 | [
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FMD4199 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Thursday 27 October 2016 by Davywavy Destruction of Walk Of Fame star leaves Donald Trump down to his last six Horcruxes
Stabbing a copy of The Art Of The Deal with a Basilisk’s tooth is the next step to eliminating Donald Trump, according to experts this morning.
Donald Trump howled in agony and demanded a flask of serpent’s milk to help him recover some strength after the destruction of his first Horcrux on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame yesterday.
Trump, whose unusually-styled hair is believed to hide a face on the back of his head, is understood to have concealed fragments of his soul in multiple receptacles in an attempt to protect himself from defeat in the forthcoming election.
Fragments are believed to be hidden in places as diverse as the fabric of Trump Tower, a pussy he grabbed without warning in 2003, and Mike Pence’s unnaturally shining white head of hair.
The last Horcrux is believed to be the one national poll which has shown him in the lead. If destroyed, this would cause his organisation to fail and his acolytes, known as the Debt Eaters for their habit of bankruptcy, to disband.
“The Orange Lord is not concerned by this petty attack,” said a spokesman for the Trump campaign.
“Only a cowardly child would act like this, and Donald challenges his attacker to meet him in debate where he shall win, and win, and win again.”
To show he meant business, Trump took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves to threaten anyone who would wish him harm.
However when Trump handed his jacket to his spokesman to hold, the spokesman cried ‘Dobby’s Free!’, and vanished. Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently | 0 | [
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