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FMD4300 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Julia Hahn is a young, brilliant reporter with Breitbart News. She already has a reputation for fearlessly exposing corruption on both sides of the aisle. Julia does a brilliant job of exposing the truth about why FOX News will likely not be too disappointed that Trump has declined to appear on their upcoming debate. There are few news outlets that conservatives can turn to for the truth. This piece is disappointing because I, like many others have been relying on FOX News for years for unbiased reporting. When it comes to the truth about illegal immigration and amnesty, we need to keep a closer eye on FOX News, who appears to be no different than the rest of the networks when it comes to the invasion of our nation by illegals and Muslim refugees The announcement from Donald Trump s campaign that the Republican frontrunner will definitely not partake in Thursday night s Fox News debate has sent shock waves throughout the nation s political scene.At a press event Tuesday evening, Trump seemed to cite disparate treatment from the network as his reasoning for not participating. What s wrong over there, something s wrong, Trump said of the games Roger Ailes and the network are playing. In asking the question of what s wrong over there? Trump has shined a spotlight on one of Washington s best kept secrets: namely, Fox s role via its founder Rupert Murdoch in pushing an open borders agenda. The Trump campaign is a direct threat to Murdoch s efforts to open America s borders. Well-concealed from virtually all reporting on Fox s treatment of Trump is the fact that Murdoch is the co-chair of what is arguably one of the most powerful immigration lobbying firms in country, the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE).In addition to blanketing the country, media, and politicians with literature, advertisements, and a barrage of lobbyists pushing for open border immigration policies, the Partnership for A New American Economy (PNAE) was a prime lobbyist for one of the biggest open borders pushes in American history: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 2013 Gang of Eight immigration bill.While Donald Trump has pledged to deport those illegally residing in the country and temporarily pause Muslim migration, Rubio s immigration bill would have granted immediate amnesty and eventual citizenship to millions of illegal aliens, it would have doubled the annual admission of foreign workers, and it would have dispensed 33 million green cards to foreign nationals in the span of a single decade despite current record immigration levels.While Megyn Kelly made headlines with her heated questioning of Donald Trump, not one of the Fox News anchors asked Rubio in the first Fox News debate about his signature piece of legislation, which Murdoch s immigration lobbying firm had endorsed. Instead, they lobbed Rubio a series of softballs, such as asking Rubio if he could put God and veterans in the same sentence.Interestingly, Bill Sammon FOX News s vice president of News and Washington managing editor is the father of Brooke Sammon, who is Rubio s press secretary.As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told The New Yorker s Ryan Lizza back in 2013, Fox News was essential to the Rubio-Schumer effort to expand immigration levels beyond all known historical precedent. As Lizza wrote at the time:McCain told me, Rupert Murdoch is a strong supporter of immigration reform, and Roger Ailes is, too. Murdoch is the chairman and C.E.O. of News Corp., which owns Fox, and Ailes is Fox News s president. McCain said that he, [Lindsey] Graham, [Marco] Rubio, and others also have talked privately to top hosts at Fox, including Bill O Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Neil Cavuto God bless Fox, Graham said. Last time [i.e. during the 2007 immigration push], it was amnesty every fifteen seconds. He said that the change was important for his reelection, because eighty per cent of people in my primary get their news from Fox. He added that the network has allowed critics to come forward, but it s been so much better. Murdoch s support of open borders immigration policies has been identified as a potential conflict of interest for years. As ABC reported in 2013:Murdoch, Australian born and a naturalized U.S. citizen, has become an outspoken advocate for immigration reform and mass legalization of the country s undocumented immigrants, partnering with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in this cause. Whether Murdoch s personal views will percolate through his network, or at least temper criticism on the airwaves of those who don t share it, remains to be seen.In 2013, during the Rubio-Schumer Gang of Eight push, Mickey Kaus similarly pointed out:In 2007, John McCain s comprehensive immigrant-legalization bill failed after opponents flooded the Senate with calls, shutting down the switchboard It won t be that easy this time The GOP donor class is asserting itself One of the more influential members of this donorist class is Rupert Murdoch, which means that FOX News has for all intents and purposes switched sides, giving immigration comprehensivists a monopoly in the MSM five networks to none.Indeed, Murdoch has himself expressed his support for large-scale immigration. In a 2014 op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal s open borders opinion pages, titled, Immigration Reform Can t Wait, Murdoch wrote:When I learned that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had lost his Republican primary, my heart sank. Not simply because I think he is an intelligent and talented member of Congress, or because I worry about the future of the Republican Party. Like others who want comprehensive immigration reform, I worried that Mr. Cantor s loss would be misconstrued and make Congress reluctant to tackle this urgent need. That would be the wrong lesson and an undesirable national consequence of this single, local election result.In his Wall Street Journal op-ed, Murdoch echoed Rubio s position on granting citizenship to illegal immigrants. Murdoch wrote, We need to give those individuals who are already here a path to citizenship. Murdoch even decried Americans who opposed amnesty as, nativists who scream about amnesty a statement which is perhaps even more significant given the fact that Murdoch is himself a beneficiary of the nation s generous immigration policy.Murdoch praised President Obama for showing wise restraint on immigration, even though, at the time of Murdoch s writing, Obama had already implemented his first unconstitutional executive amnesty, giving away American jobs to illegal aliens including the jobs of black Americans whose have suffered some of the greatest harms from mass immigration.When asked about the president s unconstitutional 2012 executive amnesty, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA], Marco Rubio has said that, if he is elected president, he wouldn t undo it immediately. This was another statement of Rubio s which the Fox News anchors utterly failed to probe in their first debate to which they came loaded with questions for Trump, who unlike Rubio had not pushed an immigration plan backed by the network s founder.Murdoch also called for an unlimited number of foreign workers to fill coveted tech jobs through the H-1B visa program, which experts have described as an indentured servitude program:We need to do away with the cap on H-1B visas, which is arbitrary and results in U.S. companies struggling to find the high-skill workers they need to continue growing. We already know that most of the applications for these visas are for computer programmers and engineers, where there is a shortage of qualified American candidates.Contrary to Mr. Murdoch s assertions, there are more than 11 million Americans with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) who lack employment in these fields, and U.S. schools are graduating two times more students with STEM degrees than are annually finding employment in these fields.FOR ENTIRE STORY: Julia Hahn, Breitbart News | 0 | [
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FMD4301 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Was a law passed by Missouri Republicans that reduced the St. Louis minimum wage from $10 to $7.70? Claim summaries: Missouri's Republican-controlled state legislature passed a law in May 2017 rolling back a minimum wage increase enacted by the city of St. Louis.
contextual information: In mid-2018, a meme widely shared on social media decried the passage of legislation by Missouri Republicans that allegedly lowered the minimum wage in St. Louis from $10 to $7.70. The $2.30 reduction in pay, the viral graphic warned, would harm more than 35,000 workers and their families. Although the subject matter was already a year old by the time the meme was brought to our attention (the legislative change didn't "just" happen), it describes an event that really did occur. What it lacks, obviously, is context. The minimum wage is a perennial topic of debate in American politics. Although public opinion polls indicate general bipartisan support for minimum wage increases perceived as reasonable, partisan disagreement remains not only over what constitutes a reasonable minimum wage level but also over who should set it (local, state, or federal governments) and whether or not it should even exist. Proponents say a minimum wage is necessary to ensure livable earnings for workers with the least bargaining power. A minimum wage that is at least indexed to inflation, they argue, reduces wage inequality, injects money into the economy, and creates jobs by increasing consumer spending. Opponents argue that a too-high minimum wage hurts businesses and increases unemployment by forcing employers to lay off workers they can't afford. It also shuts younger and unskilled workers out of the workforce, they claim, because employers are unwilling to pay them higher wages. As of 2017, the U.S. federal minimum wage stood at $7.25 an hour, an amount that hadn't budged in eight years despite increases in the cost of living. For that reason, at least 29 states (including Missouri) had established statewide minimum wages above the federal floor. Individual cities and counties took action as well, in many cases adopting local ordinances that raised minimum wages even higher than those set by their states. One place this latter action occurred was St. Louis, Missouri, where city officials decided in 2015 that the minimum hourly wage needed to be raised to $10 ($2.30 above the state-mandated minimum of $7.70), with another increase (to $11) set to go into effect in 2018. The ordinance, which did not apply to small businesses employing fewer than 15 workers or grossing less than $500,000 a year, was intended to raise the standard of living for the lowest wage earners in a city where the poverty rate was twice the national average, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The increase in St. Louis will give an immediate raise to an estimated 35,000 workers who will make, on average, $2,400 more each year, said Paul Sonn, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit that advocates for a higher minimum wage. That is enough to make a real difference for a waitress or a nursing home worker who is trying to get by on less than $18,000 a year. Though its implementation was delayed for two years because of legal challenges by business groups, St. Louis's $10 wage floor finally took effect in May 2017, instantly adding an average of $200 a month to the incomes of tens of thousands of workers. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, a Republican, had been opposed to the increase all along, arguing that it would "kill jobs" and "take money out of people's pockets." A Republican lawmaker, Jason Chipman, introduced a bill (HB 1194) that would preempt local minimum wage laws everywhere in the state. Days after the St. Louis ordinance went into effect, the Republican-dominated Missouri legislature passed the preemption bill in a party-line vote, effectively overriding the local ordinance. When the bill became law at the end of August, St. Louis's minimum wage reverted to $7.70, the same as the state's. Some disagreement remains over how many workers were actually affected by the changes in St. Louis's minimum wage. The meme cited a number (35,000 workers) taken from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which attributed the estimate to the nonprofit National Employment Law Project (NELP). However, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis came up with a different estimate based on a distinction between resident and non-resident minimum-wage workers. Observing that "only one-third of the workers in St. Louis City are city residents, and less than half of the city workers earning less than $10 per hour are residents," the researchers calculated that approximately 20,000 St. Louis residents saw an impact on their earnings. Including non-residents, they estimated that around 32,500 workers were affected, a slightly lower number than that estimated by NELP. On 1 January 2018, Missouri increased its statewide minimum wage by 15 cents, to $7.85 per hour. In May, a ballot initiative was proposed to raise the minimum wage to $8.60 in 2019 and an additional 85 cents per year thereafter until it reaches $12 by 2023. | 1 | [
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FMD4302 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said during a visit to Berlin on Friday that Britain had still not clearly defined its positions on Brexit and that this was making negotiations with the EU-27 more difficult. Answering questions from an audience in Berlin after a speech on the French government s reform drive, Philippe rejected a suggestion that other European countries were being tough on Britain and said it bore blame for difficulties in the talks. Our aim is not to be tough with the British. What is true is that these are difficult negotiations, Philippe said. And they are difficult, they have been made difficult, because the initial positions of British diplomats still need to be clearly defined to a certain extent, he added, before heading to the chancellery for a meeting with Germany s Angela Merkel. Nearly three months into talks on the terms of Britain s departure from the European Union, the two sides have made little progress on the issues that Brussels wants resolved before talks on a future trading relationship begin. These include expatriate citizens rights, the Irish border and the bill that London should pay its EU partners to settle existing financial commitments. Philippe said he regretted Britain s decision to leave the EU and, coming from Normandy, felt like he was among cousins when he traveled to the United Kingdom. But he said it was important for the EU-27 and its lead negotiator, Frenchman Michel Barnier, to ensure that the interests of citizens on the continent were protected. For that, the bloc had to stick to its sequencing plan. It is our responsibility to ensure that the exit is done in an orderly manner, Philippe said. | 1 | [
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FMD4303 | 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 Fauci portrayed as the antagonist in 'Dallas Buyers Club'? Claim summaries: A periodic reminder that movies are not real life.
contextual information: In December 2021, a meme circulated on social media claiming that Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads the U.S. COVID-19 response and has become a figure of disdain for pandemic conspiracy theorists, was the real-life model for the villain in the 2013 movie "Dallas Buyers Club." The meme features images from the movie's promotional materials, including stars Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Jared Leto, alongside a black-and-white photograph of a young Fauci. It also includes text that reads: "Remember the movie 'Dallas Buyers Club' about a group of AIDS patients fighting for the right to use cheap, effective drugs against government bureaucrats in the pocket of Big Pharma? The bad guy was Dr. Anthony Fauci." First of all, we note that movies are not real life. Even if it were true that the villain in the movie was based on Fauci, that doesn't mean the story is completely factual rather than dramatized for the purpose of making a good movie. Producer Rachel Winter commented on this in a statement published by Slate in 2013: "[Screenwriters] Craig [Borten] and Melisa [Wallack] found the right blend of accuracy, not only for the medical details but for the legal and government issues that Ron faced. There was only so far we could go into 'procedural' mode; the movie had to be entertaining." And entertaining it was, racking up six Academy Award nominations and winning Oscars for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Various aspects of the movie's script do not align with the claim that the villain in the film was modeled after Fauci, and we could not find any public statements made by anyone involved with the film indicating that the antagonist was based on him. The film is a classic tale of the heroic man who uses his ingenuity and grit to confront the uncaring and callous bureaucrats of Big Government. Although the protagonist in the story is a real person, the antagonists appear to be fictional characters. We do not know whether they are based on real people or amalgamations of individuals the protagonist encountered during his life. McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, a hard-living Dallas electrician and rodeo rider who is diagnosed with HIV in 1985. At that time, an HIV/AIDS diagnosis was considered a death sentence because there was no treatment for the new epidemic. Woodroof is placed in a clinical trial for azidothymidine (AZT). The thrust of the movie is that there is a conspiracy between the government and the medical establishment to push "toxic" AZT on HIV patients, while Woodroof circumvents the system by going to Mexico and obtaining an unapproved cocktail of drugs and supplements from a doctor who lost his license to practice in the U.S. Woodroof then returns to form the Dallas Buyers Club with a transgender woman named Rayon (Jared Leto), where they illicitly sell the cocktail, initially for profit and later to save lives, only to be pursued by an FDA agent. The antagonist (or "bad guy") in the film is an FDA investigator, which is not an equivalent position to the one Fauci held at the time the events portrayed in the film took place. Fauci was an important public health figure during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but he was not an FDA agent. He spent his career at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (part of the National Institutes of Health), becoming that agency's director in 1984, one year before the events in the film. The Washington Post reported in 2014 that neither the portrayal of AZT nor Woodroof's legal troubles were accurate in the film, noting, "AZT is actually a very effective therapy against HIV/AIDS." It was known to prolong life after a diagnosis. While it is true that the doses prescribed early in the epidemic were often too high, resulting in deleterious effects, those effects could easily be countered by lowering the dose or stopping the drug. The Post noted that AZT became an important part of lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment for about a decade and, as such, saved "millions" of lives. The film included a title card at the end admitting as much. Its portrayal of the FDA's actions regarding such buyers clubs was also factually problematic, as in reality, the FDA did cooperate with them. Peter Staley, an HIV/AIDS activist who informally consulted on the film, told the Post: "The true story was that we made the system bend, and we used the system and needed the system. I wouldn't be alive today without the companies this film paints as evil, and I wouldn't be alive today without civil servants at the FDA who worked incredibly hard in the 1990s to get these drugs out there quickly." Furthermore, Woodroof's issues with the FDA largely stemmed from "his reluctance to stop using harmful treatments." In sum, there is no evidence that the antagonist in the movie was based on Fauci, and even if that were the case, it does not mean one should draw any real-world conclusions about Fauci based on a movie made for entertainment purposes. | 2 | [
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FMD4304 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 21st Century Wire says These family members made the president s life miserable, and a few just might continue for years to come Three members of our Top 10 actually managed to get stage time for the balloon drop at the closing of this week s Democratic National Convention.Notably, #3 on our list, Roger Headache Clinton moshed to the DNC s new pop anthem Stronger Together but it appears this has already been cut out of most mainstream video footage.As #8 on our list, Jeb would say, Please clap Not to be outdone: BROTHERLY LOVE: Hillary Clinton s brother, Hugh Rodham (center), seen lurking about the convention stage. THE BROTHERS RODHAM: Tony (left) and Hugh Rodham make #6 on our list of most embarrassing presidential family members as brothers-in-law of ex-President Bill Clinton.Certainly, these men may have just edged Billy Carter right off all master lists.WATCH THIS VIDEO AND MORE HEREREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4305 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Early next month, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives will take up a spending bill that provides funding for nearly every department in the federal government. It s a must-pass bill because, without it, the government will shut down. That s a non-starter for many Republicans, who still feel the pain of the last time there was a government shutdown. Republicans were largely unable to shift blame to the Democrats as they attempted to do, and their popularity suffered as a result. But despite the GOP s absolute grip on Congress, the bill is still subject to amendments, and one Democrat from Tennessee has a doozy in mind.Representative Steve Cohen is introducing amendments to the spending plan that would ban the use of federal funds at Trump-branded properties. It covers every business listed on Trump s financial disclosure form, including hotels, country clubs, and resorts. That means events like the ones at Mar-a-Lago where Trump has hosted dignitaries and foreign leaders would either be held elsewhere, or Trump would have to provide accommodations free of charge.Such an arrangement would have prevented the Secret Service from having to stay in a trailer outside Trump Tower, where they moved after price negotiations fell apart over them staying inside while protecting the president. It also would have precluded the State Department from spending upwards of $15,000 on rooms at a hotel that Trump recently opened in Vancouver. Most of all, it might reduce the amount of money you and I pay for the president to spend more than 20% of his time in office (so far) at his own resorts.In a statement Cohen released Wednesday morning, he said:Congress should not allow the President to use his office to profit himself and his family. The President s refusal to divest from his privately owned businesses creates a conflict of interest when steering federal spending to his resorts and other businesses The American people should have total confidence that the President is serving their interest, not his own financial enrichment. President Trump s refusal to disclose information to Congress or seek Congress s authorization for accepting profits from foreign governments stemming from his sprawling foreign financial interests is a brazen violation of the Constitution and a danger to our democracy.We couldn t agree more, Congressman. And while these amendments stand about a snowball s chance in hell of passing or possibly even being brought up for a vote it will be nice to see you force Republicans to go on record and either declare their allegiance to Donald Trump, or to the principles of conservatism.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD4306 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: PALO ALTO, Calif. — Donald J. Trump would not be Silicon Valley’s first choice as president. Or its second. Or maybe even its third. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee wants to restrict immigration while bringing back manufacturing. He compulsively uses tech products like Twitter but is not in awe of the people who built them. He made his fortune the way, by going into the family business, in the industry of real estate. He’s not the valley’s kind of entrepreneur. Worst of all, Mr. Trump is revealing Silicon Valley’s vulnerability. In recent years, technology companies have extended their enormous reach while becoming ever wealthier and more powerful. Yet Mr. Trump has paid no political price for attacking them, with broadsides in recent months against Jeff Bezos at Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and Timothy D. Cook at Apple. “There is some surprise among tech executives — or perhaps just naïveté — that the tech mainstream is now a target,†said Garrett Johnson, an entrepreneur and one of the founders of the Lincoln Initiative, which connects tech workers. For all these reasons, support for Mr. Trump here is minimal. Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech maverick who backed Ron Paul’s presidential bid in 2008 with millions of dollars in support, is a Trump delegate. Mr. Thiel, who was revealed last week as a secret backer of the wrestler Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media, is the candidate’s first, and so far only, prominent enlistee in Silicon Valley. Support for Mr. Trump here may deepen. Brian Krzanich, the chief executive of Intel, was planning to hold a for Mr. Trump on Thursday night at his Atherton, Calif. house that included “a full exchange of views,†an Intel spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Hours later, Intel said the event was canceled. It did not give an explanation. A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump did not return a message for comment. He is holding a rally in San Jose, Calif. on Thursday instead. The Trump campaign just opened an office in Burlingame, Calif. south of San Francisco and on the northern fringes of Silicon Valley. One recent afternoon, two volunteers were running a phone bank. Trump lawn signs were piled up, as were . Mr. Trump has no meaningful opposition in the California primary on June 7. “I have great respect for Silicon Valley and all of the people in Silicon Valley,†the candidate said in an email message through an aide. Silicon Valley technophiles cannot necessarily claim the same. In April, as Mr. Trump was wrapping up his quest for the nomination and beginning to look ahead to the general election, a handful of people who work in tech around the country gave a grand total of $5, 395 to his campaign, according to figures that will be released Thursday by Crowdpac, a that tracks donations. Add that paltry sum to the $16, 420 that Mr. Trump raised since last summer from people who work in tech and it is still nowhere near enough to cover the cost of a year at Stanford. Hillary Clinton has raised $2. 7 million from tech donors since beginning her campaign, while Bernie Sanders has raised $6 million, according to new Crowdpac research. Mr. Trump was largely his campaign. Now, however, he requires cash — and lots of it. “Out of the millions of people who work in technology, from engineers to Uber drivers, just 52 have given to Trump. He’ll need many more if he truly intends to build a finance organization,†said Mason Harrison, a Crowdpac spokesman. “Mitt Romney raised over $8 million from the technology sector in 2012. That’s a lot of money to leave on the table. †Whether those tech backers are out there, however, is an unsettled question. Scott Slinker, a entrepreneur in San Jose, Calif. gave the candidate $250 last summer. “I know Trump’s supporters are here,†he said. “They’re just not vocal. They don’t want to be stereotyped and pigeonholed and labeled. †In at least some cases, this is correct. One employee at a software firm declined to speak on the record, saying it would be a bad career move for a Google search of his name to turn up any Republican connection, let alone one with Mr. Trump. Mr. Slinker, whose latest Paradata, uses big data to help brands find suppliers, said Mr. Trump was a candidate very much in the spirit of Silicon Valley: “He’s a kind of guy. He has a lot of ideas and pivots away from them if they don’t work, just like the Valley does. He’s more viral than Facebook ever was. †Still, even Mr. Slinker says there is good reason for the lack of enthusiasm. “Silicon Valley is an extremely disruptive place, but the one thing it doesn’t want disrupted is Silicon Valley,†he said. “And so it’s pushing back on Trump. †The venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who backed Mr. Romney in 2012, said on Twitter that he was supporting Mrs. Clinton. Meg Whitman, a former candidate for governor in California who now runs Hewlett Packard Enterprise, labeled Mr. Trump “unfit to be president. †When Mr. Thiel was revealed as a Trump delegate, a columnist for the tech news site Pando said he was “utterly ashamed†that Mr. Thiel was a Pando investor. Mr. Thiel declined to comment. Another Trump supporter in Silicon Valley, Tyrone Pike, had some business dealings with the candidate many years ago in Atlantic City, N. J. and was favorably impressed. As for Mr. Trump’s more extreme pronouncements, “I kind of write them off,†said Mr. Pike, who sold a software to Citrix and is building another company. “He’s more of a moderate than any of his words. †Earlier in the primaries, Mr. Trump suggested boycotting Apple if the company did not help the government crack the iPhone used by one of the attackers in the mass shooting last year in San Bernardino, Calif. clashed with Mr. Zuckerberg over immigration and posted on Twitter that if Amazon “ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash. †Bobby Franklin, the president of the National Venture Capital Association, thinks Mr. Trump will pick up support among tech people as he moderates his views. “The Trump we have all witnessed for the past several months is probably not the Trump we will all be thinking about as we go into the voting booth,†said Mr. Franklin, whose organization does not endorse presidential candidates. “A general election candidate has always been different than a primary candidate. †Yet a few weeks ago, after Mr. Trump’s primary opponents all dropped out and he might have been expected to make conciliatory noises, he unloaded again on Amazon and Mr. Bezos. Mr. Trump said, among other things, that Mr. Bezos has “got a huge antitrust problem because he’s controlling so much. †Mr. Bezos owns The Washington Post, which has covered Mr. Trump intensively and critically. The internet tycoon said at a tech conference that he was “very, very comfortable with all of Amazon’s approaches and behaviors,†The Post reported. Mr. Trump’s comments signal a turnabout from Amazon’s experience under President Obama. The retailer helped instigate and was the major beneficiary of an antitrust case the Justice Department brought against Apple and the major book publishers. Jay Carney, a former press secretary for Mr. Obama, is now senior vice president for corporate affairs at Amazon. He declined to comment. The Obama administration was even closer to Google, drawing several staff members from the search giant, including Megan Smith, the chief technology officer of the United States. Mrs. Clinton is a closer fit with Silicon Valley than Mr. Trump, both ideologically and culturally, but she is not campaigning as tech’s champion. Whoever wins in November, the tech community is likely to look back longingly at the last eight years. “That tech is now a flash point in campaign debates is a reflection of the industry’s power and ubiquity in American life,†said Patrick Ruffini, a Republican strategist who has worked with the tech industry. “Silicon Valley will need to learn to expect that it won’t be seen as a benevolent actor in every quarter, and prepare accordingly. †In other words, he said, “the era of Silicon Valley exceptionalism is over. †| 1 | [
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FMD4307 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Donald Trump, who has been criticized for not doing enough to help pass health care legislation, will do more traveling to try to drum up support for tax legislation, a senior White House aide said on Monday. Specifically, Trump could travel to some Midwest states like Michigan and Wisconsin that he won during the 2016 presidential campaign but are still represented by Democrats in Congress. “In terms of travel, I think you will see him out there more ... in the states where we need votes,†said Marc Short, the White House’s legislative liaison. The Republican effort to repeal Obamacare failed in the Senate last week, leaving party leaders looking ahead to try to tackle an overhaul of the tax code. But it has also left many questioning how taxes will be different, especially if Trump, who suffers from low national approval ratings, does not become more actively involved in pushing for the bill. Short said that unlike the health care, which he called more complicated, the White House has been working to build support for tax reform among national groups aligned with their ideology. His remarks came at a tax panel discussion sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by Republican donors Charles and David Koch that organizes supporters across the country to contact their members of Congress in favor of conservative legislation. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, speaking on the same panel, echoed his remarks. “The message is [tax reform] may not be perfect for everything you want, but it’s going to be really really good for the economy and better than what we have,†Mnuchin said. | 1 | [
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FMD4308 | 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: Macy Neigh Claim summaries:
contextual information: FACT CHECK: Did Macy's refuse to hire an applicant because she was a veteran who had served in Afghanistan? Claim: Macy's refused to hire an applicant because she was a veteran who had served in Afghanistan. Example: [Collected via e-mail, August 2015] I just saw a post on Facebook stating that a veteran had applied to Macy's for a sales position and was told that because of her experience as a veteran she would not be hired. Origins: On 6 August 2015, the Facebook page of "Joe the Plumber" published the following status update and photograph: status update Someone at Macy's needs an attitude adjustment... Like if you agree. Share if you have more respect for our vets than Macy's does. No additional information was supplied by that Facebook page about the woman pictured (such as the specific Macy's involved, the date of the purported interview, or any other corroboration of the claim). Furthermore, the claim's appearance in August 2015 led people to believe that the individual depicted had been recently considered and presumably denied employment by the Macy's department store chain. This item was one of several "shunned serviceman" rumors that circulated in mid-2015, but it was over a year old at that point. A March 2014 article identified the woman as Army Specialist Kayla Reyes (then 21), and the Macy's location as one in Fresno, California, and according to the article, Reyes merely speculated on Instagram that her history of military service had adversely impacted her employment prospects, a claim she later appeared to downplay: shunned serviceman circulated article She says she interviewed for a sales associate position on Feb. 20. Reyes says once she told the hiring manager about her service overseas, the questions came back to Reyes's time at war. "Being that you've been over there, you wouldn't really know how to approach people," Reyes says that's what the manager told her. She continues, "Once a customer's in your face, you wouldn't know how to do it. You wouldn't know how to react." Reyes says she left the interview wondering if her military service did her a disservice when applying for a civilian job. A spokesperson for Macy's provided a comment for the March 2014 article (published less than a month after Reyes' Instagram post initially circulated) indicating that Reyes' application was still under active consideration at that time. By that point, Reyes maintained that she had accepted an alternate offer with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. After the claim recirculated in August 2015, the Facebook page of Macy's was deluged in angry comments from users over the more than year-old allegation. In response to one of those comments, a representative for Macy's stated that Reyes had in fact been offered (but declined) the position for which she interviewed: stated Thank you for reaching out to Macy's and giving us the chance to hear from us directly. Macy's commitment to our veterans is sincere and strong. As a company that stands for inclusion in the workplace and our stores, we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We proudly employ thousands of veterans within our organization, as we know that veterans possess leadership skills that are an asset in a dynamic department store environment. As with any prospective employee, we actively looked for appropriate and available positions that would be best suited for Ms. Reyes' skills and experience level, and, in fact, identified and offered her a job at our store. We were disappointed when she declined. At Macy's, we have created a special Military Executive Development Program where we train veterans for key executive roles, giving them the tools and industry training to position them for success. In addition, Macy's has partnered with the Got Your 6 organization for a campaign in our stores to raise funds and awareness to assist veterans as they return to civilian life. Last year, we raised over $3.4 million with our customers and look forward to raising more funds this year. Thank you. -Carlos at Macy's Last updated: 6August 2015 Originally published: 6August 2015 | 0 | [
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FMD4309 | 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 This Flyer Accurately Represent Derek Chauvin's Police Actions? Claim summaries: The trial of the former police officer charged in George Floyd's death was scheduled to begin in March.
contextual information: Rumors are surging in the wake of George Floyd's death and resulting protests against police violence and racial injustice in the United States. Stay informed. Read our special coverage, contribute to support our mission, and submit any tips or claims you see here. Read contribute here George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pinned him to the ground and kneeled on his neck while Floyd repeatedly said, "I can't breathe." A bystander recorded the confrontation in a video that swiftly spread across social media as a deadly example of what many viewers dubbed racism by American cops. video The footage ultimately sparked an international reckoning over racism, marked by weeks of protests that largely began peaceful during the day and then escalated to chaos at night, with many U.S. cities reporting property damage, fires, and violent clashes between law-enforcement officers and protesters. protests violent clashes At the center of the civil rights movement were four former police officers charged in Floyd's death particularly Chauvin, 44, whom authorities arrested and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. A judge ruled he would stand trial on his own, separate from the other three defendants, beginning March 8, 2021, according to The Associated Press. (No, he did not commit suicide, like some rumors online claim.) The Associated Press some rumors online claim.) Photo by Ramsey County Sheriff's Office What follows is everything we know about Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), based on court records, news reports, and police documents evidence that pieces together a policing record that includes complaints against him, as well as several shootings of civilians. We should note at the outset that the office of Chauvin's former attorney, Tom Kelly, did not respond to Snopes' request for comment and his current attorney, Eric Nelson, declined to be interviewed. Additionally, Sgt. John Elder, a spokesman for MPD, declined to answer questions about Chauvin's career with that department (which ended with Chauvin's termination the day after Floyd died), asserting that, "We dont comment on former employees," and "Anything we say" could affect the current investigation into Floyds death. To structure our examination into Chauvin's career with MPD, we measured the validity of each point in the below-displayed flyer titled "Who is Derek M. Chauvin?" that went viral shortly after Floyd's death. That's a question the jury trial will legally determine. Prosecutors have charged Chauvin with second-degree murder and manslaughter after they say he kept Floyd pinned to the ground and knelt on his neck for almost eight minutes, including for nearly three minutes after Floyd became non-responsive. almost eight minutes Prosecutors also charged the three officers who watched the fatal confrontation between Floyd and Chauvin Tou Thao, J Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane with aiding and abetting second-degree murder (maximum prison sentence is 40 years) while committing a felony, and with aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter (maximum prison sentence is 10 years). As of this writing, they were scheduled to be tried together separate from Chauvin's case beginning Aug. 23, The Associated Press reported. reported According to the complaints, which will serve as the basis to prosecutors' arguments to try to convince jurors to convict the former police officers, Lane and Kueng responded to a 911 call reporting that someone had used a counterfeit $20 bill at a South Minneapolis convenience store. According to video evidence cited in the court documents, upon arriving at the scene the two officers approached Floyd, who was sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle also occupied by two other persons. As Lane began speaking with Floyd, the officer pulled his gun out and instructed Floyd to show his hands. Floyd complied with the order, whereupon the officer holstered his gun. Lane then ordered Floyd out of the car and "put his hands on Floyd, and pulled him out of the car," handcuffing him, the complaint stated. Minutes later, while the officers tried walking Floyd to their squad car, "Floyd stiffened up and fell to the ground," and told the officers he was claustrophobic, the court documents allege. Chauvin and Thao arrived at the scene at that point. The officers tried again to get Floyd into a squad car but were unsuccessful in doing so, according to the complaints. While the officers tried to force Floyd into the vehicle, he began asserting that he could not breathe. "Floyd did not voluntarily sit in the backseat and the officers physically struggled to try to get him into the vehicle," read the complaint outlining the charges against Chauvin. It continued: The defendant pulled Mr. Floyd out of the passenger side of the squad car at 8:19:38 p.m. and Mr. Floyd went to the ground face down and still handcuffed...The defendant placed his left knee in the area of Mr. Floyd's head and neck. Mr. Floyd said, "I can't breathe" multiple times and repeatedly said, "Mama" and "please," as well. At one point, Mr. Floyd said "I'm about to die." The defendant and the other two officers stayed in their positions. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office, which encompasses Minneapolis, ruled Floyd's manner of death a homicide. manner of death It is important to note here: In the county office's preliminary autopsy report, medical investigators said Floyd's underlying health conditions, such as coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease, contributed to his death in similar ways as Chauvin's restraint. But an autopsy commissioned by Floyd's family had different results; it determined he did, in fact, die of asphyxiation. (Read more about those findings here.) preliminary autopsy report similar ways here All of that said, in reference to the first claim in the flyer, attorneys representing Chauvin are likely to argue in the upcoming trial that he did not murder Floyd but rather operated within the law as an officer. Prosecutors and viewers of the viral video have said otherwise. You can read the full charges against Chauvin here; Thao here; Kueng here, and Lane here. Chauvin here Thao here Kueng here Lane here The second claim in the flyer (that the restraint technique used was not part of MPD training) was false. At the time of Floyd's death, MPD's Policy & Procedure Manual (which governs everything from how officers should dress on the job to what tactics are OK to use during arrests) included the below-displayed section obtained by Snopes. In other words, department policy permitted officers to use what it considered a "non-deadly force option" by kneeling on a suspect's neck if they had received lessons in how to do so without applying pressure to the suspect's airway. Officers could use "light or moderate pressure" to get someone under "control" or "adequate pressure" to make someone unconscious in situations they deemed appropriate. Policy & Procedure Manual However, in the aftermath of Floyd's death, MPD agreed to ban officers from using chokeholds and neck restraints at the request of state authorities. As a result of that change, the police manual now reads: agreed request The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), which provides legal services to police by drawing from about a dozen attorneys, is providing legal representation for Chauvin. Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association And initially, yes, the association had assigned Tom Kelly to Floyd's case. Kelly was one of the defense attorneys who represented St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer Jeronimo Yanez, who was acquitted on all charges in connection to the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a Black man, during a traffic stop in 2017. who represented acquitted Philando Castile But on June 3, 2020, Eric Nelson of the Halberg Criminal Defense firm took over Chauvin's case, Reuters reported. Kelly told that news outlet the association had originally assigned the case to him because he was the on-call attorney at the time of Chauvin's arrest. But he gave up the case for medical-related reasons. Reuters reported In short, Kelly, a lawyer who indeed argued Yanez's case, also represented Chauvin but only for about nine days. The flyer's claim was outdated. By and large, this assertion is true. Below, we lay out everything we know about the shooting of Leroy Martinez in 2011, which the flyer claimed was "an inappropriate police shooting" involving Chauvin and resulted in MPD placing him on administrative leave. According to news reports, on Aug. 8, 2011, Chauvin and other officers chased down Martinez, 23, in a public housing complex in South Minneapolis after they said they heard gunshots and saw Martinez running with a gun. (The Indian County-Today news outlet confirmed that Martinez is an Alaskan Native.) Indian County-Today One of the officers shot Martinez in the torso, and as he recovered in the hospital, Martinez faced second-degree assault charges in connection with a shooting that had taken place before police arrived on the scene. Here's how The Star Tribune newspaper reported the incident: According to that newspaper's coverage, a witness who said she watched the shooting from her balcony in the housing complex maintained to journalists that police weren't telling the full story. The witness said Martinez had thrown down his gun and was holding his hands in the air when one of the officers (not Chauvin) shot him, after warning that he would open fire. reported police All officers involved, including Chauvin, were placed on three-day administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings, and eventually exonerated of any wrongdoing. Whether the flyer is correct in describing the shooting as "inappropriate" is a subjective issue. The police chief at the time said he believed the officers acted "appropriately and courageously," suggesting they had acted within department policy under the circumstances, The New York Times reported. The New York Times reported This claim in the flyer is largely true. Here's what we know about that incident: incident While responding to a call of domestic violence at a South Minneapolis apartment in May 2008, Chauvin opened fire on a 21-year-old Black man, Ira Latrell Toles. The Associated Press reported at the time: Ira Latrell Toles For a period of time there was an open 911 line into the residence and the 911 operator could hear a woman yelling for someone to stop hitting her, police said. Officers were refused entry when they arrived at the residence but could hear the assault continuing so they forced their way in. Police say Toles tried to run from officers, and when they tried to subdue him he tried to take an officer's gun. They say the officer shot him to prevent that from happening. The two officers on the scene are on paid administrative leave, which is standard in shootings. Police have not released their names. Toles, who survived the shooting and later faced criminal charges, recalled the incident differently. Following Floyd's death, he told The Daily Beast that yes, the mother of his child had called police on him that night, and that he had locked himself in the bathroom with an unlit cigarette after officers broke down the apartment door. Then, Toles alleged, Chauvin busted in the bathroom door and started hitting the 21-year-old without warning. Daily Beast Chauvin later told investigators that, because Toles supposedly failed to comply with officers' commands, he attempted to hit the young man in the head with the butt of his handgun and then opened fire when he thought Toles reached for his gun, The Star Tribune reported. Toles ex-girlfriend reported that Chauvin fired his firearm about two seconds after he entered the bathroom after Toles. The Star Tribune reported In summary, the flyer's point is accurate, with the caveat that only Toles' account suggested that he was unarmed at the time of the confrontation. This claim is true. In 2006, Chauvin and five other officers opened fire on a truck in South Minneapolis while investigating a reported stabbing, killing 42-year-old Wayne Reyes. According to MPD's account of the incident, Reyes pulled out a shotgun when police pulled him over to ask him questions about the reported assault; the officers believed Reyes had stabbed his girlfriend and another friend in a domestic dispute, according to news reports. In total, the six officers fired 42 rounds in four seconds, according to the The Washington Post. Reyes (who the Canadian national news outlet, APTN News, reported was a member of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Band in Minnesota) was struck multiple times and died. However, it was unclear if Chauvin fired any of the fatal shots. The Washington Post reported In the end, a grand jury ruled the officers' actions appropriate, and Chauvin was recommended for a Medal of Valor following the shooting, according to The Star Tribune. The Star Tribune In reference to the flyer accusing Chauvin and the other officers of striking Reyes with 16 bullets, exactly, no reports corroborated that number. Otherwise, however, the claim about Reyes circulating after Floyd's death was accurate. This accusation is largely unproven based upon the available evidence. Here's what we can confirm: Roughly four years into Chauvin's MPD career, in 2005, he and another officer used a squad car on duty to chase a car that ended up crashing into another vehicle, killing three people, according to news reports. news reports But we have not yet uncovered further details on why the officers were chasing the car, or whether the other drivers (and their conditions) were major factors in the collision. So in reference to the flyer, while it was true Chauvin and another officer were involved in a deadly car chase, no trusted evidence showed the officers' actions indeed caused the three fatalities. Although MPD has not fulfilled requests for records to determine why, or under what circumstances, conduct complaints were filed against Chauvin prior to Floyd's death, this claim was somewhat true. Snopes obtained Chauvin's Employee Complaint Profile Card, which provided few details other than a tally of 17 complaints against him throughout his MPD career. Employee Complaint Profile Card, The only allegation that resulted in disciplinary action (two letters of reprimand) was filed in 2007, when Chauvin allegedly pulled over a woman for going 10 mph over the speed limit, frisked her, and put her in his squad car, according to news reports. The woman's baby and dog were reportedly inside the vehicle during the traffic stop. news reports reportedly Another complaint was filed by a 48-year-old man who said officers (one of whom was later identified as Chauvin) banged on his car window with a flashlight and attempted to force him to the pavement during a traffic stop in 2013, The Star Tribune reported. The man, a mental health worker, said he was driving home from working a double shift at Hennepin County Medical Center and believed officers had mistaken him for someone who had been using his name. In other words, it was undetermined based on verifiable evidence whether all the complaints against Chauvin accused him of using excessive use of force, or whether they included allegations that he had violated other aspects of MPD policy. Anyone can file a complaint against a police officer for any reason. Also unclear was whether, or to what extent, the complaints were connected to the incidents described above that resulted in civilian deaths or injuries. After graduating high school in 1994, Chauvin worked restaurant jobs as a prep cook, joined the U.S. Army, and eventually attended St. Paul's Metropolitan State University, The Star Tribune reported. There, his focus shifted to police work -- he eventually earned a degree in law enforcement -- and he joined MPD's ranks in 2001, at age 25. The Star Tribune reported We also know that Chauvin and Floyd both worked at the same Minneapolis nightclub, El Nuevo Rodeo. Maya Santamaria, who owned the building that housed the club, confirmed with Snopes that both men worked at the business during periods that overlapped (Chauvin worked as an off-duty police officer), but it was unknown whether they ever ran into each other or were introduced. confirmed MPD leaders commended Chauvin's work at various points throughout his career, according to the news archives. For example, they awarded him a Medal of Commendation in 2008 after he apparently disarmed a man during one of his nightclub security shifts. news archives In 2010, Chauvin married his wife, Kellie Chauvin. The two had met at Hennepin County Medical Center, where she worked as a radiologic technician and he brought someone one night for a health check before an arrest, she told The Pioneer Press for a story about her preparation to compete in Mrs. Minnesota America. story Additionally, the couple owned and rented two homes in Woodbury, a suburb east of St. Paul, before they bought a home in Oakdale, Washington County, according to property records compiled by The Star Tribune. In 2011, they also bought a townhouse near Orlando, Florida, where voting records showed Derek Chauvin is registered to vote. Woodbury Just weeks after Floyd's death, Kellie Chauvin filed for divorce and sought to change her last name. As of this writing, the court sealed access to records in the case, citing privacy and safety concerns. Nonetheless, the couple's financial situation emerged in international news headlines in July, when authorities accused them of failing to report income from various jobs. international news headlines Washington County prosecutors charged Derek and Kellie Chauvin with aiding and abetting tax evasion and tax fraud. According to the criminal complaint, they failed to report more than $460,000 in Minnesota income over five years and failed to pay almost $38,000 in taxes owed during that time frame, according news reports. news reports Lastra, Ana and Eric. Rasmussen. "George Floyd, Fired Officer Overlapped Security Shifts at South Minneapolis Club." KSTP-TV. 28 May 2020. Richmond, Todd. "Officer Accused in Floyds Death Opened Fire on 2 People." The Associated Press. 29 May 2020. Evelyn, Kenya. "George Floyd Killing: Two Officers Involved Previously Reviewed for Use of Force." The Guardian. 28 May 2020. Van Berkel, Jessie. George Floyds Death Returns Spotlight to Sen. Amy Klobuchar Prosecutor Past." [Minneapolis] Star Tribune. 29 May 2020. Bierschbach, Briana. "Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in Custody After Death of George Floyd." [Minneapolis] Star Tribune. 29 May 2020. [Minneapolis] Star Tribune. "Buildings Damaged in Minneapolis, St. Paul after Protests." 29 May 2020. Xiong, Chao and Paul Walsh. "Ex-Police Officer Derek Chauvin Charged with Murder, Manslaughter in George Floyd Death." [Minneapolis] Star Tribune. 29 May 2020. Furber, Matt et. al. "Minneapolis Police, Long Accused of Racism, Face Wrath of Wounded City. The New York Times. 27 May 2020. Scher, Isaac. "The Police Officer Who Knelt on George Floyds Neck Has Been Involved in Shootings and Was the Subject of 10 Complaints." Business Insider. 28 May 2020. Melendez, Pilar. "Minneapolis Man: Cop Who Kneeled on George Floyd Tried to Kill Me in 2008." The Daily Beast. 29 May 2020. Pioneer Press. "Minneapolis Police Officer Involved in Weekend Shooting ID'd." 26 May 2008. Minneapolismn.gov. MPD Frequently Requested Public Information. Accessed 29 May 2020. WCCO-TV. "Lawyer: Wife of Charged Ex-MPD Officer Derek Chauvin Files for Divorce". 29 May 2020. This report was updated to include information about Chauvin and his jury trial set to begin in spring 2021 that emerged after the initial publication of this report. | 2 | [
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FMD4310 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Spain s King Felipe VI on Tuesday accused Catalan secessionist leaders of shattering democratic principles and dividing Catalan society, as thousands took to the streets to protest against a violent police crackdown against the banned independence referendum held on Sunday. The televised speech, a rare intervention by the 49-year-old monarch who is normally silent on politics, was a sign of how deeply Spain has been shaken by the Catalan vote and a police crackdown that injured 900 people. On Tuesday tens of thousands of Catalans demonstrated in the streets of the northeastern region against action by the police who tried to disrupt Sunday s vote by firing rubber bullets and charging into crowds with truncheons. Tuesday s protests shut down road traffic, public transport and businesses. The referendum and its aftermath have plunged Spain into its worst constitutional crisis in decades, and are a political test for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a conservative who has taken a hard line stance on the issue. Late Tuesday Catalonia s leader, Carles Puigdemont, told the BBC that the region will declare independence in a matter of days. Pro-independence parties who control the regional government staged Sunday s referendum in defiance of the Constitutional Court, which had ruled that the vote violated Spain s 1978 constitution which states the country is indivisible. Catalonia, Spain s richest region, has its own language and culture and a political movement for secession that has strengthened in recent years. Those who participated in Sunday s ballot voted overwhelmingly for independence, a result that was expected since residents who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the referendum. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said the result is valid and must be implemented. Outside of Catalonia, Spaniards mostly hold strong views against its independence drive. In his televised address, the king said the irresponsible behavior of the Catalan leaders had undermined social harmony in the region. Today Catalan society is fractured and in conflict, he said. They (the Catalan leaders) have infringed the system of legally approved rules with their decisions, showing an unacceptable disloyalty towards the powers of the state. The king said the crown was strongly committed to the Spanish constitution and to democracy, and underlined his commitment to the unity and permanence of Spain. He had earlier met Rajoy to discuss the situation in Catalonia. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in the region backed independence. But a majority wanted a referendum to be held, and the violent police crackdown angered Catalans across the divide. I m not in favor of independence, but I m against repression, said Erwin, a 25-year-old pilot at one demonstration, wearing a Spanish flag. One of his companions was wearing the red-and-yellow striped Catalan flag. Several demonstrations unfolded across Catalonia on Tuesday. To the north of Barcelona, a line of tractors moved down a road blocked to traffic, accompanied by protesters chanting Independence! and The streets will always be ours! FC Barcelona, the city s football club, joined the strike, saying it would close for the day and none of its teams would train. Carmaker SEAT (VOWG_p.DE) was forced temporarily to shut a production line when a road closure cut supplies. Crowds gathered outside the local headquarters of Spain s ruling People s Party (PP) and the Spanish national police headquarters in Barcelona, whistling and waving the red-and-yellow regional flag. What happened on Oct. 1 has fired up independence feeling that will never die, said 18-year-old student Monica Ventinc, who attended a protest on Tuesday. On financial markets, Spain s 10-year borrowing costs hit their highest level in nearly three months as tensions between Madrid and Catalonia spilled on to the streets. | 1 | [
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FMD4311 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Republicans just keep digging their political graves deeper.The Affordable Care Act currently provides health insurance to 30 million Americans. The plans are broader than ever before and people can t be discriminated against just because they have a pre-existing condition.People who didn t have affordable access to medical care now have it.But Republicans have been trying to take it away from them for years and are still trying to do so even though Americans across the country have made it clear that they support the landmark healthcare law.The latest Republican to desperately try to justify repealing the Affordable Care Act is Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall, who claims the free market provides better and more affordable healthcare while also claiming that poor people don t want healthcare. Just like Jesus said, The poor will always be with us, Marshall told STAT News. There is a group of people that just don t want health care and aren t going to take care of themselves. But Marshall, like most Republicans, is lying.As it turns out, people who gained health insurance through Medicaid expansion are, in fact, using preventive care services to take care of themselves.So saying that poor people don t want healthcare is absolutely ridiculous.But Marshall continued to insist that poor people don t want to take care of themselves. Just, like, homeless people. I think just morally, spiritually, socially, [some people] just don t want health care. The Medicaid population, which is [on] a free credit card, as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And I m not judging, I m just saying socially that s where they are. So there s a group of people that even with unlimited access to health care are only going to use the emergency room when their arm is chopped off or when their pneumonia is so bad they get brought [into] the ER. Again, Medicaid recipients are using preventive services such as mammograms and cholesterol checks by an increase of 60 percent and 20 percent.In addition, Marshall envisions a healthcare system that only the wealthy can afford. In doing so, he based his vision on the hospital he ran before taking office. Our vision was that we would look more like a hotel with customer service that delivered five-star health care, he said. So our cafeteria looks more like a coffee shop than it does a sterile hospital dining room. We have bright windows everywhere, and outside of every window there s a garden. Thinking that healing is more than just a knife and a needle. The price of a stay at a five-star hotel can range well into the hundreds upwards to thousands of dollars per night, hardly something a low-income American can afford.While Marshall argues that free market healthcare is more affordable, the facts paint a far different picture.For example, a British couple were on vacation in New York when the woman unexpectedly went into labor 11 weeks early. She gave birth at a private hospital and was slapped with a $200,000 medical bill.The same thing happened to a Canadian woman who was vacationing in Hawaii, only she got slapped with a $1 million medical bill.These are the astronomical prices that Republicans like Marshall think Americans should have to pay. Such prices are financially crippling to low-income Americans, and medical bankruptcy is one of the major reasons why the Affordable Care Act was passed in the first place.Because while Marshall claims that government healthcare is more expensive, had the two women above given birth in their home countries, their care would have been free because Canada and England both have national healthcare services paid for through taxes. Even a private hospital a England would have only cost the British couple $15,000, far lower than the $200,000 bill issued by the kind of five-star American hospital Marshall thinks should be the future of healthcare.In short, Republicans don t think poor people should get access to affordable healthcare. They think healthcare is for rich people. That s morally repugnant and is exactly why Republicans should be ousted from office en masse in 2018. This country needs a healthcare system that works for everyone. Republicans are content with just letting people die.Featured image via Flickr | 0 | [
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FMD4312 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: As a side note, the illegal aliens who are being dropped off across America in vans are OTM s or Other Than Mexicans. Can the mainstream media PLEASE start doing their job and exposing this corrupt administration? In a surprising discovery, the Palm Beach Post first reported that according to state records, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen who as we reported earlier was licensed as a security guard and also holds a firearms license was employed by the US subsidiary of G4S plc, a British multinational security services company, whose US-headquarters are located in Jupiter, Fla, and which also happens to be the world s largest security company by revenue.Shortly thereafter, G4S confirmed that Omar Mateen has worked for the company since 2007. This is the statement released from G4S: We are shocked and saddened by the tragic event that occurred at the Orlando nightclub. We can confirm that Omar Mateen had been employed with G4S since September 10, 2007. We are cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the friends, families and people affected by this unspeakable tragedy. In other words, Mateen who according to preliminary reports, had been on a terrorist watchlist, and who still managed to obtain weapons thanks to his various licenses and permits just last week, was employed by one of the world s largest security companies, where he may have had extensive clearances well above his pay grade, not to mention access to sophisticated military weapons and equipment.But where it gets more disturbing is that as Judicial Watch reported several days ago, in a post titled, DHS Quietly Moving, Releasing Vanloads Of Illegal Aliens Away From Border , border patrol sources said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was quietly transporting illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to Phoenix and releasing them without proper processing or issuing court appearance documents. As a reminder, the government classifies them as Other Than Mexican (OTM) and this week around 35 were transferred 116 miles north from Tucson to a Phoenix bus station where they went their separate way. Judicial Watch was present when one of the white vans carrying a group of OTMs arrived at the Phoenix Greyhound station on Buckeye Road.And this is where the Mateen-G4S link emerges: as JW reported previously, a security company contracted by the U.S. government is driving the OTMs from the Border Patrol s Tucson Sector where they were in custody to Phoenix, sources said. The firm is the abovementioned G4S, the world s leading security solutions group with operations in more than 100 countries and 610,000 employees. G4S has more than 50,000 employees in the U.S. and its domestic headquarters is in Jupiter, Florida.Judicial Watch noted that it had filed a number of public records requests to get more information involving the arrangement between G4S and the government, specifically the transport of illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to other parts of the country. The photo below shows the uniformed G4S guard that transported the OTMs this week from Tucson to Phoenix.Outraged Border Patrol agents and supervisors on the front lines say illegal immigrants are being released in droves because there s no room to keep them in detention. They re telling us to put them on a bus and let them go, said one law enforcement official in Arizona. Just move those bodies across the country. Officially, DHS denies this is occurring and in fact earlier this year U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske blasted Border Patrol union officials for denouncing this dangerous catch-and-release policy. Kerlikowske s scolding came in response to the congressional testimony of Bandon Judd, chief of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union that represents line agents. Judd told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that illegal immigrants without serious criminal convictions can be released immediately and disappear into the shadows. Kerlikowske shot back, telling a separate congressional committee: I would not stand by if the Border Patrol was releasing people without going through all of the formalities.Meanwhile, the Hill reported that Mateen s employment, and gun licenses, were untouched even though the FBI confirmed it had interviewed the 29-year-old three times before the shooting took place early Sunday morning. An official said that the FBI first became aware of the suspect, Omar Mateen, 29, in 2013 when he made inflammatory comments to coworkers alleging possible terrorist ties. In the course of that investigation, Mateen was interviewed twice, but the FBI was unable to verify the substance of his comments. Via: Zero HedgeShares in G4S have fallen heavily after the UK security services company said Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was an employee.G4S said Mateen was an armed security officer and that it was trying to establish whether weapons used in the attack on the Pulse gay nightclub were related to his work. The company supplies its armed employees with guns in the US and does not allow them to use their own.G4S shares dropped by as much as 7.5% and were the biggest fallers among leading UK shares. The company employs 620,000 people in more than 110 countries and the US is one of its biggest markets.Jasper Lawler, an analyst at CMC Markets, a City spread betting firm, said it did not look good for G4S to have employed Mateen while he was being investigated by the FBI. G4S has more than 50,000 employees in the US, a large proportion of which are involved in government contracts. If the name of G4S starts getting dragged through the mud, US contracts may become harder to come by. Via: Guardian | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4313 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: The region I represent, both currently and in the future, has more automotive plants than the entire state of California.
contextual information: Like most members of Congress, Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur is a big booster of her congressional district. During a May 17 appearance on C-SPAN, Kaptur described the reconfigured area that shell represent if she wins her race against Republican Samuel Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher as the crown jewels of Ohio.To illustrate the areas industrial prowess, Kaptur discussed how she enjoys pulling her car over beside the railroad tracks in Toledo and watching all the flatbeds go by, full of steel coils, bar steel and other metals bound for auto plants or gas drilling facilities elsewhere in Ohio.One of Kapturs boasts about the areas manufacturing accomplishments got PolitiFact Ohios attention.The region I represent, both currently and in the future, has more automotive plants than the entire state of California, Kaptur said.Could the slice of Ohio that Kaptur now represents, as well as the new district that stretches along Lake Erie between Toledo and Cleveland, really have more auto plants than the nations most populous state?Getting the answer was be easier than we thought.It turns out that California no longer has any auto plants. The last car one -a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors in Fremont- closed in 2010.The Los Angeles Times saidthe plants closure marked the the end of large-scale auto manufacturing in California, which over the years boasted a dozen or more plants building vehicles ranging from Studebakers to Camaro muscle cars.Toyota made Corollas cars and Tacoma pickup trucks at the plant in Fremont, while GM made Pontiac Vibes.GM dropped its portion of the plant in its bankruptcy. Then Toyota scrapped its portion. At the time, the United Auto Workers union criticized Toyota for the decision, saying it was dumping the plant because it was the companys only unionized facility in the United States.Tesla Motors wants to reopen that factoryto manufacture its all-electric Model S sedan, but hasnt yet done so.The district that Kaptur currently represents has four auto plants, according to her spokesman, Steve Fought: Chryslers Toledo Supplier Park and Toledo North plants, GMsToledo Transmissionplant, andKBIs bearing plantin Sandusky. The new Ninth District will have three more: FordsBrook Park Engine Plant, FordsAvon Lake plant, and GMsParma Metal Center.The number of auto plants in Kapturs current and new congressional districts both exceed the number of auto plants in California - zero.On the Truth-O-Meter, Kapturs claim rates True. | 1 | [
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"1",
"2"
] | 1 |
FMD4314 | 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 Audrey Hepburn Author These 'Beauty Tips'? Claim summaries: "For attractive lips, speak with words of kindness," the viral quote begins.
contextual information: Internet users often refer to the following quote: "For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives and the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years. Image via Pinterest. Proving that even the famous go in for glurge, Hepburn, who died in 1993, was not the original author of the quoted list of beauty tips. However, she considered the quote one of her favorites and quoted it in public a number of times. Its true author was humorist Sam Levenson (who said, "Insanity is hereditary: You can get it from your children"). However, despite the confusion over who wrote the piece, it's clear Hepburn never had a hand in any of it beyond repeating a favorite essay in public, always carefully crediting its author. That some have now come to think of this as "her" list is a regrettable misattribution. Biographies of Hepburn maintain that, as a 13-year-old, she did indeed serve as a courier and occasional secret messenger for the Resistance in World War II (like many other children in Holland), carrying messages and illegal leaflets stuffed into her socks and shoes. In addition to her fabled acting career, which included the 1953 Best Actress Oscar for "Roman Holiday," Hepburn was a long-time activist for charitable causes and, in 1988, was named the official spokesperson for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). When asked in January 1992 if she had any personal beauty secrets besides Levenson's philosophical tips, she said, "If I had them, I'd make a fortune. But I know what helps: health, lots of sleep, lots of fresh air, and a lot of help from Estee Lauder." Donnally, Trish. "This Beauty Shares Her Tips." The San Francisco Chronicle. 27 January 1992 (p. D5). This article was updated to meet Snopes' current standards for article formatting and include recent examples of the claim. | 0 | [
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"1",
"2"
] | 0 |
FMD4315 | 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: Has American Airlines received billions in federal aid and subsequently laid off 30,000 employees? Claim summaries: A tweet attempted to raise the alarm on the airline's alleged pay discrepancies for rank-and-file workers.
contextual information: In June 2021, as airlines experienced a surge in demand, multiple news outlets reported that American Airlines (AA) was cutting about 1% of its flights in the coming weeks amid bad weather and labor shortages. Reuters reported: "American Airlines said the incredibly quick ramp up of customer demand also came at a time when bad weather caused multi-hour delays over the last few weeks, disrupting flight and crew work hours. The company said some of its vendors were also struggling with labor shortages, impacting the airline's operations." news outlets reported Responding to that latter reason for the cuts, one Twitter user authored the below-displayed tweet that makes several claims about the company's budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly explains why AA was struggling to fill job positions. one Twitter user COVID-19 pandemic We contacted the tweet's author to learn their process for composing the post, as well as their potential connection to the airline. We have not received a response, but we will update this report when, or if, that changes. Nonetheless, the tweet includes the following claims: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Doug Parker But, before we proceed, let us note here: The airline's communication team's statements to news media regarding the upcoming flight cancellations through mid-July (see CNN's story here, CNBC's coverage here, and NBC's article here), including to Snopes, said "labor shortages [among] some of our vendors" (emphasis added) were affecting operations. See the statement we received, for example: here here here That umbrella term, "vendors," could include companies that operate independently but have a contract with American to provide goods or services for its flights, such as aircraft equipment manufacturers or business that sell blankets or pillows for passengers. Snopes asked a company spokesperson what vendors, specifically, faced employment gaps and impacted flights, and he did not answer the question. While the spokesperson shared other comments (which we included in the sections below), he also did not share a response to critics who believed the company should shift around funds, including those provided by the federal government, so that the CEO received less compensation and rank-and-file staff earned higher paychecks. For that reason and others, this fact check does not address that underlying argument of the tweet. Not quite but the airline company did take advantage of other federal grants and loans. Let us explain that conclusion. Only companies that qualified as a "small businesses" (criteria here), or had 500 or fewer employees, were eligible for PPP loans. American, on the other hand, documented about 133,700 full-time employees, ranging from pilots to flight attendants to mechanics, federal regulatory documents showed. here regulatory documents showed Rather, AA utilized the government's Payroll Support Program (PSP), a different financial boost established by the CARES Act that provided $25 billion for various airlines' payroll expenses. Payroll Support Program The U.S. Department of the Treasury distributed the money, in part, based on air carriers' payroll expenses from April 2019 through September 2019, and said it "must exclusively be used for the continuation of payment of employee wages, salaries, and benefits." U.S. Department of the Treasury According to that federal agency's database of recipients and AA spokesperson Matt Miller, American was budgeting with $12.7 billion from the program, as of this writing. The majority of that amount (almost double what was described in the viral tweet) was one-time grant money, while about one-third represented loans that the airline carrier needed to pay back. agency's database 12.7 "These funds ensured we could keep our team members on payroll throughout the pandemic despite the significant drop-off in demand for air travel," wrote Miller in an email to Snopes. Yes, Parker, who is paid almost entirely in stock awards, took home $10.66 million in total compensation in 2020, according to Miller and The Dallas Morning News. (The carrier's headquarters is located in Dallas-Fort Worth, making the Dallas newspaper a primary source of news about it.) The Dallas Morning News That compensation was based on the company's profits in 2019 (so it did not factor in the financial struggle of the pandemic), and was his smallest paycheck since taking the helm. The newspaper reported: "Parker's compensation has mostly hovered between $11.1 million and $12.3 million a year during his time as CEO, with the exception of 2013 when he made $17.6 million based largely on bonuses he had for merging his former airline, US Airways, with American Airlines." CEO Parker gave up his cash salary in 2015 to move to the all-stock compensation plan, along with benefits including flights and life insurance premiums. Miller told us: "Being paid in stock ensures his compensation is at-risk, based on the results the company achieves, and aligned with our shareholders interests," he said. "Dougs realizable compensation for 2020 was considerably less approximately $2.9 million, or 23% of the target." This is false. While the company did cut some supervisor and support staff jobs, and it was true that its workforce overall declined by about 31,000 positions in 2020, it was erroneous to attribute that decrease exclusively to involuntary layoffs. According to annual reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained by Snopes, AA's payroll indeed shrunk from about 133,700 full-time employees at the end of 2019 to roughly 102,700 such workers. That was a 23% workforce reduction, totaling about 31,000 positions. However, neither those regulatory documents, nor a news story by the Dallas Business Journal about them, said that decrease was because executives enacted widespread layoffs. news story by the Dallas Business Journal It was true American briefly furloughed 19,000 employees in fall 2020 and then brought them back weeks later, after the company secured more PSP funding from the federal government. furloughed 19,000 employees Then, months later, news reports said the company warned 13,000 employees of possible lay offs, pending the country's rate of vaccinations and interest in traveling. As of this writing, however, those worker remained in their jobs, Miller told Snopes. news reports But, as we noted, there were some permanent job losses during the pandemic. The airline cut about 30% of its management and administrative positions, totaling roughly 5,000 jobs, according to news reports and Miller. Those were the only involuntarily layoffs, based on our research. We found no evidence of widespread layoffs for employees who maintain the company's operations or deal with customers, like the tweet implied. Rather, Miller said, the company documented tens of thousands fewer workers in 2020 compared to 2019 because it had expanded its "early out program." A slew of front-line workers agreed to voluntarily terminate their employment to take advantage of severance benefits, or to leave the company for months on end for partial compensation. "Ultimately our headcount is smaller than it was before the pandemic, but the vast majority of that reduction is from voluntary departures," Miller said. "Any front-line employees who departed the company did so voluntarily via an early out program. The only involuntary departures were on the management side." In sum, we rate this multi-pronged claim a "Mixture" of true and false information. | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD4316 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: One “brutally honest†Oscar voter says nominee Meryl Streep played her role in this year’s Florence Foster Jenkins “like a clown†— and believes the actress was only awarded a nomination in return for delivering her infamous Trump speech at last month’s Golden Globes. [“I thought Meryl [Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins] played it like a clown — she’s cute and adorable, but this woman didn’t matter to me in the end — but people are gaga over Meryl, and I think she solidified her nomination when she gave that speech at the Golden Globes,†the anonymous Oscar voter told the Hollywood Reporter. The Academy member — a female member of the acting branch — added: “I don’t think she would have gotten nominated without it. †In January, Streep used her Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at the Golden Globes to rebuke President Trump for what she called his “disrespect†and his “violence†the actress also challenged a “principled press†to stand up to the president, and urged Hollywood to support the Committee to Protect Journalists. The ’s Globes speech was lauded by the film industry and the press and set the tone for other awards shows to feature screeds. Later that month, actors including Ashton Kutcher and Julia trashed Trump and his executive order on immigration from the podium at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In February, a number of artists at the 59th annual Grammy Awards used their performances to make political statements, including Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and Katy Perry. The Hollywood Reporter solicits opinions from anonymous Oscar voters every year in the week before the ceremony. While the responses of one Academy member are hardly an indication of how the entirety of the 6, 000+ members will ultimately vote, the “brutally honest†ballots usually offer a refreshing perspective on the process. In addition to her comments on Streep, this year’s anonymous voter said La La Land star Emma Stone’s performance wasn’t “as wonderful†as everyone is saying, the thriller Arrival “just sucked†and the Denzel Davis starring Fences underwhelmed because “they just filmed the play. †See the rest of the anonymous voter’s “brutally honest†ballot here. The Academy Awards air Sunday night on ABC. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4317 | 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 George Soros providing financial support for debit cards distributed by the United Nations to refugees? Claim summaries: Conspiracy-pushing blogs seized on a Slovenian "report" and conflated separate refugee aid programs.
contextual information: In November 2018, various conspiracy-pushing websites latched onto a dubious post originating from Europe to incite hysteria about both refugees and the United Nations. The original story, published on the right-wing Slovenian website Nova24TV, "revealed" that immigrants were spotted in Bosnia and Herzegovina using MasterCard debit cards and included an accusation sourced from an anonymous "local police officer": Migrants who are caught and sent back, in a few days or weeks, again try to illegally enter Croatia. Some of them are really poor, but many are well-equipped: they have new footwear, new clothes, sophisticated smartphones, and some also have MasterCards with no names, just numbers. The cards can be used to withdraw money from ATMs, but we do not know who funds them. The story also included a stock photograph of young black men who had no connection to the events described in the article, alongside the caption "The image is symbolic." The "report" was soon picked up by equally dubious websites, some of which included the same image without mentioning that it was a stock photo used only for "symbolic" purposes. Now the mystery has been solved regarding how so many poor migrants have been able to fund their illegal journeys to Europe. The UN, EU, and Soros, in partnership with MasterCard, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars providing migrants with prepaid debit cards, and European taxpayers have not been informed that their taxes are being spent on handouts to illegal immigrants. What those sites did, however, was expand on the original story by employing a familiar anti-Semitic dog whistle and attempting to tie the claim to liberal billionaire George Soros by falsely citing Nova24TV's piece—even though it did not mention him—and saying that the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was working "in cooperation" with Soros. In reality, these posts conflated an existing United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) program with a separate humanitarian partnership involving Soros and the credit card provider MasterCard. The UNHCR's program was launched in Moldova in 2011 and expanded in 2016. That program provided aid to 10.5 million people across 94 countries between 2016 and August 2018, with recipients accessing their money via cash machines or "mobile money" electronic payments distributed through specialized cell phones. Vulnerable persons fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in Moldova can now use debit cards under a new UNHCR initiative to expedite the distribution of the agency's monthly subsistence allowances. Moldova is the first country in Europe where the UN refugee agency has implemented the debit card scheme to streamline the distribution of its monthly financial support via Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). The new card scheme was launched by UNHCR in cooperation with BCR Chisinau S.A. It enables needy refugees, asylum seekers, and beneficiaries of humanitarian protection to receive convenient debit cards that they can use to withdraw the monthly support. "UNHCR is very pleased to launch this initiative in Moldova as it enables people to withdraw funds at nearby bankomats at their convenience rather than having to commute to a central distribution point to collect the allowance," said Peter Kessler, UNHCR's representative in Moldova. "Refugees have often suffered indignities and find it difficult to integrate into a new, safe host country," he added. "Having these cards is another step towards helping them more actively participate in daily life and maintain a greater degree of dignity." The sums being distributed to beneficiaries of the UNHCR initiative are modest, currently not more than 500-600 Moldovan leu (30-36 euros) per person each month. Experienced aid workers—including staff of the Ministry of Interior's Refugee Directorate, UNHCR, and its implementing partners—meet regularly to review applications for assistance. Recipients of the cards were pleased to gain bankomat access and avoid having to pay for city buses to go and collect their monthly support. Asylum seekers only receive social support for six months under the UN scheme while they await their decisions. However, refugees and beneficiaries of humanitarian protection may be assisted for longer periods if they are sick, have disabilities, or are elderly or unemployed. One of the most important benefits is that the debit cards will also give the recipients access to bank accounts, where they may eventually save money and earn interest. The UNHCR initiative was unrelated to either of two similar separate MasterCard-sponsored aid programs. The first, a June 2016 partnership between the credit card company, the Serbian Ministry of Labor, and the humanitarian group Mercy Corps, sought to provide prepaid debit cards to refugees to help meet basic needs. The global organization Mercy Corps launched the pilot program in partnership with MasterCard and the Serbian Ministry of Labor to distribute prepaid debit cards to eligible refugees traveling through Serbia. Families received cards with a value of about $235 (210 Euros), and individuals approximately $78 (70 Euros). The money could be used to make purchases that help meet immediate needs. It was the first such program in the region to use an international cashless payment mechanism to help the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants seeking haven in Europe. "By leveraging our technologies and products such as MasterCard Aid Network and Prepaid, MasterCard collaborates with partners to provide essential services at the most critical times of refugees' lives." To date, MasterCard Aid and Prepaid cards have been deployed in humanitarian responses across Africa, Asia, and Europe—in countries such as Turkey, Kenya, Yemen, Nepal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Niger, the Philippines, and Greece—and are on track to support thousands of beneficiaries. "We are working with Mercy Corps to provide assistance to thousands of refugees in Europe to cover their basic needs and allow them to live with dignity during one of the most difficult times in their lives." A separate partnership between MasterCard and Soros to launch a "standalone entity," Humanity Ventures, was first announced in January 2017. That program sought to provide private sector solutions to social issues such as joblessness, lack of access to healthcare, inadequate education, and financial exclusion among migrants and their host communities. Operating as a standalone entity, Humanity Ventures would initially combine solutions designed to expand access to healthcare and education, foster local economic development and entrepreneurship, and enhance the delivery of aid. One such solution is the MasterCard Aid Network, an award-winning digital voucher platform designed in partnership with humanitarian organizations. With the creation of Humanity Ventures, Soros could invest up to $50 million to make these solutions even more scalable and sustainable. The social enterprise could also serve as an incubator and accelerator for smaller projects committed to mitigating the migration crisis. Designed to combine the need for business returns with social impact, Humanity Ventures would also act as a new model for how civil society, governments, and the private sector improve quality of life and drive economic growth. Migrants are often forced into lives of despair in their host communities because they cannot gain access to financial, healthcare, and government services. "Our potential investment in this social enterprise, coupled with MasterCard's ability to create products that serve vulnerable communities, can show how private capital can play a constructive role in solving social problems," said George Soros. Humanity Ventures is intended to be profitable to stimulate involvement from other businesspeople. "We also hope to establish standards of practice to ensure that investments are not exploitative of the vulnerable communities we intend to serve." The UNHCR has been involved with a program to provide cash to refugees via debit cards to help meet immediate needs, and George Soros has been involved with a program to assist migrants in partnership with MasterCard, but Soros is not funding the distribution of MasterCard debit cards to refugees via the United Nations. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4318 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Is the email concerning the Equifax Data Breach Settlement authentic? Claim summaries: Such emails claimed to offer a free membership in Experian IdentityWorks for four years.
contextual information: In late January 2022, Google users looked to Reddit and elsewhere to find out if an email for the status of the Equifax data breach settlement was a "scam or legit," as readers often do after receiving such notices. The email had the subject line, "Equifax Data Breach Settlement (Credit Monitoring Instructions and Activation Code)," and linked to the website, experianidworks.com/equifaxsettlement. It promised a free four-year membership for the credit monitoring service Experian IdentityWorks. Google Reddit experianidworks.com/equifaxsettlement This was a legitimate notice for a data breach settlement for Equifax. Readers might remember making a claim in the settlement back in July 2019. Users who opted to receive credit monitoring instead of a check were sent activation codes in the new email for Experian IdentityWorks. The official website for the settlement was equifaxbreachsettlement.com. back in July 2019 equifaxbreachsettlement.com The official settlement website documented the fact that in September 2017, Equifax was "the victim of a criminal cyberattack," giving the attackers "unauthorized access to the personal information of approximately 147 million U.S. consumers." This included "peoples names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some instances drivers license numbers, credit card numbers, or other personal information." documented Equifax Numerous lawsuits were brought on behalf of consumers whose personal information was impacted as a result of the Data Breach. Chief Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia is overseeing these lawsuits. These lawsuits are known as In re: Equifax Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 1:17-md-2800-TWT. The consumers who sued are called the Plaintiffs. Equifax, Inc., and two of its subsidiaries are the Defendants. Plaintiffs claimed that Equifax did not adequately protect consumers personal information and that Equifax delayed in providing notice of the data breach. The most recent version of the lawsuit, which describes the specific legal claims alleged by the Plaintiffs, is available here. Equifax denies any wrongdoing, and no court or other judicial entity has made any judgment or other determination of any wrongdoing. here In the end, both sides of the legal battle "agreed to a settlement after a lengthy mediation process overseen by a retired federal judge." That settlement allowed claimants to choose to receive a check or credit monitoring. Anyone who chose to receive a check might eventually receive an amount much smaller than expected, as the "alternative compensation of up to $125" would "likely will be substantially lowered" to a "small percentage" of what was expected. In 2017, the Equifax website provided steps for consumers to take following a security breach at the company. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) The email that began to be sent in late January 2022 provided a status update on the Equifax data breach settlement. According to a copy of the email that we reviewed, it read as follows: Equifax Data Breach Settlement (Credit Monitoring Instructions and Activation Code) Issue Date: January 31, 2022 Claim No. (removed)Dear (removed): You filed a claim in the Equifax Data Breach Settlement and chose to receive free, three-bureau (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) credit monitoring from Experian for four years. Implementation of the Settlement was delayed by appeals; however, the Settlement is now effective because appellate courts have affirmed it. This email provides additional information about the services provided by Experian as part of the Settlement and how you can enroll. You are receiving free membership in Experian IdentityWorks for four years. You must enroll by June 27, 2022. This service is free for you and provided as a Settlement benefit. You do not need to provide any payment information to enroll and you do not need to cancel the service when it ends. We encourage you to enroll today. HOW TO ENROLL: Visit the Experian IdentityWorks Website: www.experianidworks.com/equifaxsettlement Enter Your Activation Code: (removed) www.experianidworks.com/equifaxsettlement You must use the above code to enroll by June 27, 2022 (your activation code will not work after this date). If you have questions, need help with Identity Restoration (either because you were a victim of fraud or identity theft) because of the Equifax data breach, or would like another way to sign up for Experian IdentityWorks, please call Experians customer care team toll-free at 1-877-251-5822. So that the team may better serve you, please be prepared to provide them with engagement number (removed) so that you may access the Settlements Identity Restoration services for assistance with fraud or identity theft. For more information on Identity Restoration services, visit www.experianidworks.com/equifaxsettlement. www.experianidworks.com/equifaxsettlement The email also broke down exactly what is included in the four-year membership to the credit monitoring service known as Experian IdentityWorks: Experian IdentityWorks - Daily Credit Monitoring* from each of the three nationwide Consumer Reporting Agencies showing key changes to your Consumer Reports;- Automated alerts when new accounts are opened; inquiries or requests for credit reports are made for the purpose of determining credit; changes to address; and negative information (including delinquencies or bankruptcies);- On-demand online access to a copy of your Experian Consumer Report, updated monthly;- Automated non-credit alerts, using public or proprietary data sources, for example: when certain information is found on a suspicious website or the dark web; when names, aliases, and addresses have been associated with your Social Security Number; when a payday loan or unsecured credit has been taken or opened using your Social Security Number; when your information matches information in arrest or criminal court records; when your information is used for identity authentication; when your mail has been redirected through the U.S. Postal Service; when banking activity is detected related to new deposit account applications, changes to personal information, and new signers are added to accounts; and when a balance is reported on your credit line that has been inactive for at least six months;- Up to One Million in Identity Theft Insurance** which provides coverage for certain costs and unauthorized electronic fund transfers;- A customer service center to assist with enrollment, monitoring alerts, disputes, fraud, and other Credit Monitoring Service questions;- Full Identity Restoration Service if you are the victim of fraud or identity theft (which includes a dedicated identity theft restoration specialist who will provide you with step-by-step assistance, and form letters to contact companies, government agencies, and Consumer Reporting Agencies), and- Child Monitoring Services (for Class Members under the age of eighteen). * Daily credit reports are only available online. If you do not register online, you can call for additional reports each quarter after you sign-up.** The Identity Theft Insurance is underwritten and administered by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, an Assurant company. Please refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions. Close-up of code on a computer screen for the Apache Struts framework, which was exploited by computer hackers using a Remote Code Execution exploit in order to allegedly steal the personal information of millions of people from credit bureau Equifax, Oct. 2, 2017. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) To reach the administrator of the Equifax data breach settlement or to inquire about its status, the email said to call 1-833-759-2982. Meanwhile, any questions about Experian IdentityWorks can be directed to the phone number 1-877-251-5822. Equifax We previously reported on other legal matters involving settlements for National Grid and a Plaid Inc. National Grid Plaid Inc | 1 | [
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"2"
] | 1 |
FMD4319 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: How long will it take for Obama s Army to descend on Mississippi? Black Lives Matter is far from a spontaneous movement. Obama and his race hustler friends have been working towards this goal for decades. It s really quite sad to see the racial divide in America today. College kids are being indoctrinated into thinking White=bad and Black=victim. How can this possibly be a good thing for our nation? Obama has made no secret about wanting to take America down a few notches, it doesn t take a brain surgeon to see that by dividing our nation by race, ethnicity, gender and income, we will never be able to come together when faced with a crisis. Make no mistake about it, with all of the un-vetted refugees' we re bringing to America, all of the illegals we re allowing to flood across our borders, and all of the dangerous prisoners (including Gitmo) Obama is releasing from our prisons, we WILL be faced with a crisis before Obama leaves office. January 2017 can t come fast enough A house divided against itself cannot stand -Abraham LincolnUPDATE Friday: Bryant spokesman Clay Chandler tweeted an updated Proclamations page, which now includes Confederate Heritage Day, as well as Vernon Dahmer Day, Irish Heritage Month and Ronald Reagan Day but no Black History Month.Two weeks before the Mississippi Legislature allowed 19 state flag bills to die in committee, Gov. Phil Bryant took out a pen and signed an official governor s proclamation, declaring the month of April Confederate Heritage Month, a routine occurrence in Mississippi and several other southern states.The proclamation, which does not appear on the State of Mississippi s website with other proclamations, such as about emergency inclement weather, is posted on the website of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which is ferociously against changing the Mississippi flag to remove the Confederate battle flag which supporters like to call the Beauregard flag from its canton.On Bryant s gubernatorial letterhead, the proclamation starts out by explaining that April is the appropriate month to honor Confederate heritage because it is the month in which the Confederate States began and ended a four-year struggle. It adds that the state celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on April 25 to recognize those who served in the Confederacy. It then explains that it is important for all Americans to reflect upon our nation s past and to gain insight from our mistakes and successes, adding that we must earnestly strive to understand and appreciate our heritage and our opportunities which lie before us. Bryant refuses to take a position on changing the Mississippi flag, saying it should be up to the voters, who decided in 2001 to leave the old flag in place, in a vote that fell largely along racial lines.For entire story: Jackson Free Press | 0 | [
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FMD4320 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Under continued pressure from fans, parents and lawmakers to address the growing problem of head trauma in football, the N. F. L. will spend another $100 million on the development of new technology and more research on the effects of head injuries. The initiative, announced by Commissioner Roger Goodell in an open letter Wednesday, comes on top of more than $100 million the league has spent on new equipment and studies on the impact of concussions and repeated head blows. This time, the league said, the money will be earmarked for “independent medical research and engineering advancements†to advance the “prevention, diagnosis and treatment of head injuries enhance medical protocols and further improve the way the game is taught and played by all who love it. †The N. F. L. has said details on its initiatives will be shared with the public, including other sports leagues and the parents of young football players, to address criticism that it has been in how it has spent the money and that it has worked behind the scenes to steer money to friendly doctors and researchers. “We know there is skepticism about our work in this area,†Goodell said in his letter. “That’s why both the process and the results of our work will be shared with the medical community and the public at large. †Much of that letter trumpeted the N. F. L. ’s existing programs and previous rule changes, as well as the money it has already spent on research. But the main development on Wednesday was the league’s commitment to spend yet more money to address the problems associated with head trauma. Doctors generally applauded the N. F. L. for its latest effort, although they also said they wanted to see how the money would be spent. “The more money that’s out there, that’s good,†said Dr. Robert Cantu, a of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Boston University School of Medicine and the medical director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “The reality is, the words are all good, but it’s the deeds that count. †Despite having already committed tens of millions of dollars on new technology and research, the league remains under intense scrutiny for its handling of head injuries. Barely a week goes by without a debate over whether a player hit on the field has received proper treatment. In the game last week, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was repeatedly hit in the head by opposing players and was not taken off the field to be evaluated, spurring arguments in the news media and on social media. The N. F. L. ’s top medical officers have had to answer questions on Capitol Hill, where they have admitted a link between head hits and the degenerative neurological condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C. T. E. The league will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit with former players who said the league hid from them the dangers of concussions. To reassure jittery parents, the league has also funneled tens of millions of dollars into U. S. A. Football to teach safe tackling techniques to coaches and young players. The N. F. L. though, came under fire when U. S. A. Football admitted that its claim that the Heads Up program had reduced concussions was based on faulty preliminary data. The money that the N. F. L. has spent to address head injuries has also been questioned. Last year, the N. F. L. was accused of preventing $16 million of its money from being spent on a study on the impact of head injuries that was being led by a doctor who had been critical of the league’s efforts. The study involved doctors from Boston University. To address this criticism, the league will establish an “independent, scientific advisory board†that includes doctors, scientists and clinicians “to engage in a clear process to identify and support the most compelling proposals for scientific research into concussions, head injuries and their effects,†the letter said. The board will have up to seven members, whose names will be announced by the end of the month. It will focus predominantly on neuroscientists and those with experience in the scientific grant process. The N. F. L. has also spent $14 million of the $30 million it pledged to the National Institutes of Health. The league will also hire a chief medical officer to work full time with its medical staff, medical committees at the N. F. L. and the N. F. L. Players Association and the broader scientific and medical communities. Still, fundamental questions remain about the N. F. L. ’s approach and the game of football itself. The league, for instance, has invested money in companies that are trying to design a safer helmet, and its new initiative includes investing to find “design solutions. †Yet doctors contend that helmets, which are designed primarily to prevent skull fractures, do little to reduce concussions and medical problems associated with repeated head blows. The league said Wednesday that $40 million would be spent on research in the next five years “to examine the effects of concussion, the incidence and prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and what can be done to improve player health. †| 1 | [
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FMD4321 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: He called the family “dirty Arabs†and tried to run over the mother with a car, the authorities said. An Oklahoma man’s animosity toward the family living next door, according to court records, took a fatal turn this month when he shot one of the sons on the porch of their house in Tulsa. The man, Vernon Majors, 61, was charged Tuesday with murder in the killing of his neighbor, Khalid Jabara, 37, on Aug. 12, according to a statement by the district attorney, Steve Kunzweiler. Mr. Majors, who had recently been released on bond after being suspected of hitting Mr. Jabara’s mother with a car, was also charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, threatening an act of violence and malicious intimidation or harassment — the last count a misdemeanor reflecting the years of racism and violence that the authorities say has pervaded the stretch of grass connecting their yards. Rebecca a friend who is serving as a spokeswoman for the Jabara family, said Mr. Jabara’s death had devastated the Lebanese community in Tulsa. “From a larger community’s perspective, what they see is a man shot and killed by a man who called them ‘dirty Arab,’†Ms. said in a telephone interview. “There is no nuance. When people are using ethnic and racial slurs, this isn’t just people being sensitive about it, but that they should be taken seriously. †Marvin Lizama, Mr. Majors’s lawyer for the earlier case, said in an email on Tuesday that he had no comment on the new charges. St. Antony Orthodox Christian Church, where Mr. Jabara’s funeral was held last Thursday, posted a smiling photograph of him on its website, mourning the “tragedy†of his killing. “Those of us at St. Antony will always remember the young man who grew up in our parish,†the announcement said. “Khalid had a huge heart. †The Committee said that Mr. Jabara was clearly targeted because of his ethnicity. “The unfortunate murder of Jabara is a reflection of the impact and power of hateful rhetoric in politics and the society at large,†the group said, adding that allowing such to continue “will lead to additional hate crimes against minority and immigrant communities. †News of Mr. Jabara’s death found a home on social media with the trending #justice4khalid, where it was given broader context within the national discussion on race and violence. Nearly 3. 6 million Americans trace their roots to an Arab country, many with ancestral ties to Lebanon, according to the Arab American Institute. While Oklahoma is not among the states with large populations, it does have a community in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Ms. a lawyer and former employee of the institute, said. Like others in Tulsa, the Jabara family, who are Orthodox Christians, can trace their roots back to a village in southern Lebanon called Marjayoun, which families fled to escape war. Mr. Jabara’s parents moved with Khalid and his older sister Victoria in 1983 and settled in the United States, where his younger brother Rami was born, Ms. said. While his siblings have moved away, Mr. Jabara had stayed to help with his parents’ catering business and medical care. “Khalid’s heart was big,†his sister Victoria Jabara Williams said in a Facebook post. “He cared for our entire family, our friends and people he didn’t even know. †Mr. Majors, also known as Stanley Vernon Majors, moved next door to the Jabara family in 2011, Ms. said. While it was not immediately clear when the troubles started, family and court records document a history of animosity and of calls to the police to report racial slurs, harassment and threats by Mr. Majors. In 2013, Mr. Jabara’s mother, Haifa, took out a protective order against Mr. Majors, which court records show that he violated. In September 2015, Mr. Majors rammed Ms. Jabara with his car, and he was charged with assault and battery, according to the documents. Ms. Jabara had broken bones and a collapsed lung, the family said. In May 2016, the district attorney’s office tried to keep Mr. Majors in jail to await trial, citing his “wanton disregard for the life of the victim and the safety of the public. †Mr. Majors, however, was able to make bail and was released. According to the police and Ms. Mr. Jabara was home with his father on Aug. 12 when he called the police out of fear of Mr. Majors. Officer Leland Ashley said the police received a call from the Jabara house saying that Mr. Majors had banged on a window. Ms. Williams said her brother had called the police to report that Mr. Majors had a gun. The police responded but left without taking any action. Then, just before 7 p. m. Officer Ashley said, a neighbor reported that there had been a shooting. Mr. Jabara was taken to the hospital, where he died of his wounds. Mr. Majors was arrested, hiding near a library, about 11 p. m. the officer said. Mr. Kunzweiler, the district attorney, said in an emailed statement before announcing the charges that the family “did everything they were supposed to do and the system failed them. †Ms. Williams said her family had lived “in fear of this man and his hatred for years. †“He should not have been released without monitoring,†she wrote. “Yet he was released and put back next door to us, the family he assaulted just months before. This is troubling at any time, but profoundly disturbing given the current climate of our country and the increase nationally in cases of hate crimes. †| 1 | [
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FMD4322 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: B b..but Al Gore and Barack Obama say Scientists were exposed for manipulating climate data during the 2011 Climategate scandal when 5,000 emails were released from scientists proving that the science behind their studies is inconclusive and mostly a result of manipulating climate data to fit the political message they were trying to convey.Three themes emerged from the emails that were released in the Climategate scandal: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political cause rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data. ForbesA new report on global warming data has now proven President Donald Trump to be right to pull out of the Paris Agreement. The report analyzed climate data such as Global Average Surface Temperature (GAST), the NOAA, and HADLEY.SHFTPLan reports: According to the report, which has been peer reviewed by administrators, scientists and researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and several of America s leading universities, the data is completely bunk: In this research report, the most important surface data adjustment issues are identified and past changes in the previously reported historical data are quantified. It was found that each new version of GAST has nearly always exhibited a steeper warming linear trend over its entire history. And, it was nearly always accomplished by systematically removing the previously existing cyclical temperature pattern. This was true for all three entities providing GAST data measurement, NOAA, NASA and Hadley CRU.As a result, this research sought to validate the current estimates of GAST using the best available relevant data. This included the best documented and understood data sets from the U.S. and elsewhere as well as global data from satellites that provide far more extensive global coverage and are not contaminated by bad siting and urbanization impacts. Satellite data integrity also benefits from having cross checks with Balloon data.The conclusive findings of this research are that the three GAST data sets are not a valid representation of reality. In fact, the magnitude of their historical data adjustments, that removed their cyclical temperature patterns, are totally inconsistent with published and credible U.S. and other temperature data. Thus, it is impossible to conclude from the three published GAST data sets that recent years have been the warmest ever despite current claims of record setting warming.Finally, since GAST data set validity is a necessary condition for EPA s GHG/CO2 Endangerment Finding, it too is invalidated by these research findings. (Full Abstract Report) Fox News reported on President Trump pulling out of the Paris Agreement per his campaign promise: he is leading. President Trump is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord.It is the right decision for a number of reasons.First, the Paris Accord is being treated by many as a treaty with treaty obligations, but President Obama never submitted it to Congress for passage.Second, though President Trump could have left it in place and done nothing, his successor could have easily revived it if left in place.Third, the structure and implementation of the Paris Accord set a terrible precedent. President Obama worked for what amounts to a global agreement with voluntary measures, but those measures would impact the American economy. But, despite that impact, President Obama did not present the Paris Accord to Congress for ratification or debate. Members of the liberal establishment were outraged.Obama criticized President Trump s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate agreement with the following statement : A year and a half ago, the world came together in Paris around the first-ever global agreement to set the world on a low-carbon course and protect the world we leave to our children.It was steady, principled American leadership on the world stage that made that achievement possible. It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well. And what made that leadership and ambition possible was America s private innovation and public investment in growing industries like wind and solar industries that created some of the fastest new streams of good-paying jobs in recent years, and contributed to the longest streak of job creation in our history.Simply put, the private sector already chose a low-carbon future. And for the nations that committed themselves to that future, the Paris Agreement opened the floodgates for businesses, scientists, and engineers to unleash high-tech, low-carbon investment and innovation on an unprecedented scale.The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we ve got. But of course, like all Champagne Socialists, their credo is do as I say, not as I do, with Obama jacking up his carbon footprint when abroad. Who could forget Obama s massive convoy during a recent speaking gig in Milan?The Independent Journal Review reported: Former President Barack Obama traveled to Italy this week to make a speech on climate change at the Seed & Chips: The Global Food Innovation Summit in the city of Milan.It seems like Obama has taken a page out of Leonardo DiCaprio s book of do as I say, not as I do and took a private jet to Milan. Not only that, he had a 14 car convoy to get into the city, which also included protection from above with a helicopter.It doesn t end there. According to The Daily Mail, 300 police officers were used to protect the former president.The fleet of 14 included multiple SUVs, police cars, and sedans not to mention a few motorcycles. Here s another look at the convoy:While in Milan, Obama also met with former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who was a close partner during their respective times in office. Gateway Pundit | 0 | [
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FMD4323 | 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: 'Costco' Power Generator Scam Hits Facebook Marketplace Claim summaries: Here's everything we know so far about this scam that advertised Honda and Ryobi portable power generators on Facebook Marketplace.
contextual information: On July 11, 2022,we received reader mail asking us about sponsored posts on Facebook Marketplace that advertised portable power generators at Costco Wholesale. The sponsored posts led to a page that, to some viewers, may have looked like an official website for Costco. However, that was not really the case. The page was designed by scammers to try to fool users into losing money. One of the sponsored posts on Facebook Marketplace read, "30-day money-back guarantee!" and led to expeditaeos.com. The real website for Costco is costco.com. Facebook Marketplace costco.com That sponsored ad on Facebook looked like this: Once users clicked the sponsored post on Facebook, they were directed to the look-alike website that featured the Costco logo and 22 different products, most of which were portable power generators. The brands for the generators included Honda, Generac, Ryobi, and Toro. Such generators can easily sell for well over $1,000. On the scam page, however, the generators were supposedly available for less than $100. Costco scam While scanning the products, we came across another red flag that this was a scam: The fake page attempted to convince onlookers that they could buy Honda generators from Costco, when, in reality, Honda generators are not sold at Costco stores, nor are they available on the companys website. Honda generators are not sold at Costco stores The scammers appeared to be targeting users Paypal accounts. While checking out, the website asked people for Paypal.com login information even when they wanted to pay with credit or debit cards. We previously reported on a similarly-run scam about a supposed giveaway of pricey items from Traeger Grills. That scam also targeted users' Paypal information. Paypal Paypal.com reported We strongly recommend against ordering any products that claim to be sold by Costco unless the address bar at the top of your web browser specifically says that you are visiting costco.com. The scam involving portable power generators was not the first fraudulent scheme we've seen on Facebook using Costco's name and logo. Less than a month prior, scammers created a Facebook page named "Costco Wholesale Fans" and falsely claimed that the company was giving away TVs for free. (Additionally, we previously reported on a similar scam about Walmart, not Costco, giving away televisions for free.) claimed reported Walmart In sum, no, Costco was not advertising and selling deeply discounted power generators through Facebook Marketplace. We recommend caution when clicking on sponsored posts on Facebook that claim to provide steep price cuts on products that are normally pricey and quite useful. Facebook | 0 | [
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FMD4324 | 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: Accused Cascade Mall Shooter Arcan Cetin Voted as a Non-Citizen? Claim summaries: Accused Cascade Mall shooter Arcan Cetin reportedly was registered to vote and participated in three elections, despite being a green card holder and not a naturalized citizen.
contextual information: On 24 September 2016, Washington State resident Arcan Cetin was arrested for the shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, on 23 September 2016, in which five people were killed. Afterwards, Seattle-area radio station KVI reported that Cetin had registered and voted in Washington state despite his status as a non-citizen. KVI election officials and Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman have confirmed that the suspected mass murderer at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, WA, Arcan Cetin, was illegally registered to vote in the state. Cetin is an immigrant from Turkey who has resident alien status, not U.S. citizenship. KVI's John Carlson interviewed Secretary Wyman about this issue and sought answers regarding who has the authority under Washington law to determine if voters are illegally registered. The lack of definitive answers raises serious questions about the validity of Washington elections as the November 8, 2016, election approaches. Seattle's KING-TV provided a slightly more detailed version of the story: federal sources confirm that Cetin was not a U.S. citizen, meaning he cannot legally vote. However, state records show that Cetin registered to vote in 2014 and participated in three election cycles, including the May presidential primary. Cetin, who immigrated to the United States from Turkey as a child, is considered a permanent resident or green card holder. While a permanent resident can apply for U.S. citizenship after a certain period, sources tell KING that his status had not changed from green card holder to U.S. citizen. While voters must attest to their citizenship upon registering online or at the Department of Licensing Office, Washington state does not require proof of citizenship. Therefore, election officials say the state's election system operates, more or less, under an honor system. "We don't have a provision in state law that allows either county election officials or the Secretary of State's office to verify someone's citizenship," explained Secretary of State Kim Wyman. "So, we're in this place where we want to ensure we're maintaining people's confidence in the elections and the integrity of the process, but also that we're giving this individual, like we would any voter, his due process. We're moving forward, and that investigation is really coming out of the investigation from the shootings." The penalty for voting as a non-U.S. citizen could result in five years of prison time or a $10,000 fine, according to the Secretary of State's Office. However, shortly afterward, KING reported that Cetin was, in fact, a naturalized citizen: KING 5 [has] learned that Arcan Cetin, the 20-year-old who killed five people at Cascade Mall on Sept. 23, is, in fact, a U.S. citizen. For days after the shooting, Cetin was described by local and federal law enforcement as a permanent U.S. resident. He immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey when he was a child, after his mother married an American citizen. A federal official told KING that further investigation revealed that Cetin is a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means he was legally registered to vote. KING's initial story questioned state officials about how Cetin could register and vote without being a citizen. The topic of legal permanent residents gaining the right to vote has been debated in Seattle and was the subject of a ballot initiative in 2015: "LPRs [lawful permanent residents] contribute to society exactly the way a citizen would," says Ruchika Tulshyan, who is originally from Singapore and moved to Seattle when Amazon hired her husband. "We pay taxes, we follow the law, we are held to the exact same standards financially and in all fiduciary matters, but we're not given the chance to vote." The 2015 ballot initiative was largely of interest to green card holders aware of their voting restrictions. However, in 2010, the New York Times reported that it wasn't uncommon for legal permanent residents to vote and "unwittingly" break the law, believing that exercising a common civic duty was neither illegal nor discouraged. One legal permanent resident facing deportation stated that he had unknowingly broken the law by registering to vote 18 years prior, eight years after immigrating to the United States: "The way Joseph E. Joseph tells it, he was just doing his civic duty. On his way home from work one evening in 1992, he came across a group of volunteers in Brooklyn registering people to vote. Mr. Joseph, a legal permanent resident who had immigrated from St. Kitts eight years earlier, decided it was time to sign up. He cast a ballot in that year's presidential election, he said, and in every one since. His participation in American democracy came at a steep cost: the government is now trying to deport him." In the United States, only citizens are allowed to vote in national and statewide elections. While immigrants who are granted permanent residency—a green card—enjoy an array of privileges, including the right to work, they can lose them all and be expelled from the country if authorities discover that they have even registered to vote. Uncovering an immigrant's voting history is not always difficult. Many proudly acknowledge having voted when applying for American citizenship. "I thought that was expected of me," said Mr. Joseph, who volunteered the information on his citizenship application in 2008 and during his naturalization interview in 2009. "I felt like I was part of the democracy." United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) doesn't record instances of non-citizens voting, but the Times stated that "[m]any election law experts said there was no evidence that the violations happened frequently—or at least enough to skew election results." A New York metro-area legal aid group said that at least eight green card holders faced deportation for registering to vote in the years before the 2010 article was published, having inadvertently broken the law (and jeopardized their immigration status) in most instances. A lawyer and former immigration judge concurred, stating that most legal permanent resident voters were under the impression they were allowed and encouraged to vote. A USCIS spokesman confirmed that immigrants were not informed of the restriction when granted their green cards, possibly adding to the confusion: "It really annoys me that they're just trying to do their civic duty for no pecuniary gain at all, yet they wind up in removal proceedings," said Jeffrey N. Brauwerman, a lawyer in Coral Gables, Fla., and a former immigration judge, who has represented four immigrants that the government tried to deport for registering to vote. William G. Wright, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency did not provide specific information on voting rights when granting green cards. However, he pointed out that voter registration forms explain that an applicant must be an American citizen. Immigrants and their advocates, however, say there is widespread confusion, even among native-born Americans, about who is allowed to vote. Volunteers, whether working for political parties or nonpartisan causes, sometimes give incorrect advice when registering new voters. Complicating matters, permanent residents are permitted to vote in some municipalities, though not in New York City. Elections officials around the country do not customarily verify the citizenship of newly registered voters. Arizona is the only state that requires proof of citizenship; Georgia passed a similar law, which has not taken effect. As the Times noted, both green card holders and registration volunteers are often befuddled by the intermittent ability of legal permanent residents to vote in some elections, exacerbated by a tacit assumption on the part of ineligible voters that their registrations would have been rejected by municipalities were they not permitted to participate. Complicating matters in Cetin's case was that he emigrated from Turkey as a small child and may not have been fully aware of the restrictions forbidding legal permanent residents from voting. However, Washington state voter registrations indicate that Cetin registered to vote on 27 September 2014 and subsequently participated in two elections. Washington's Secretary of State confirmed that in addition to charges relating to the mall shooting, Arcan Cetin could face additional penalties for alleged illegal voting. | 2 | [
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FMD4325 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Kentucky state Representative Dan Johnson, who was facing sexual assault accusations, died in a probable suicide on Wednesday, Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said. Johnson, 57, also the leader of the Louisville-area Heart of Fire Church, held a news conference on Tuesday at which he denied accusations contained in a report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. The report, published earlier in the week, included accusations from a woman that Johnson molested her in 2013 when she was a teenager. Johnson, whose press conference was widely reported by local media, also defied calls by some legislators to step down. On Wednesday evening, Johnson was found dead in a probable suicide from a single gunshot wound near Louisville, the coroner said, adding that an autopsy would be performed on Thursday. Billings said law enforcement officials had been searching for Johnson after someone read a post on his Facebook page, became concerned and contacted police. The post has since been taken down, but the Courier-Journal reported that it appeared to be a farewell and read in part, “the accusations from NPR are false, GOD and only GOD knows the truth. Nothing is the way they make it out to be.†The death comes amid a national reckoning over sexual harassment and abuse that has included allegations of misconduct in a number of state legislatures, including in Kentucky. Kentucky Republican Jeff Hoover recently resigned his post as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations. “Saddened to hear of tonight’s death of KY Representative Dan Johnson,†Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin wrote on Twitter. “My heart breaks for his family tonight...these are heavy days in Frankfort and in America...may God indeed shed His grace on us all...we sure need it.†Michael Skoler, President of Louisville Public Media, which operates the investigative reporting center, said in a statement on social media that the organization reached out to Johnson numerous times during its seven-month investigation but that he declined to discuss the group’s findings. Johnson was elected in 2016 despite becoming known for a 2016 Facebook post comparing President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama to monkeys, WDRB-TV has reported. | 1 | [
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FMD4326 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Argentine President Mauricio Macri s business-friendly coalition is poised to win an important Senate seat in two weeks, opinion polls showed on Sunday, potentially damaging former populist President Cristina Fernandez s attempted comeback. Esteban Bullrich, formerly Macri s education minister, received 33.9 percent of voter intention in the contest for Buenos Aires province, home to about 40 percent of voters, according to a poll by consultancy Management & Fit seen by Reuters. Fernandez earned 29.6 percent of voter intention. Another poll by Poliarquia Consultores published in La Nacion newspaper showed Bullrich earning 37.7 percent of voter intention, compared to 35.2 percent for second-place Fernandez. A loss would diminish her chances of returning to the presidency in 2019. The Oct. 22 legislative elections will be closely watched by investors as a signal of Argentines appetite to return to Fernandez s interventionist policies, and as an indication of Macri s ability to carry out the rest of his agenda. The one who is weak is the Peronist party, the one who is expanding and getting more influence is the government, Poliarquia director Alejandro Catterberg told Reuters. Cristina is only really present in Buenos Aires. While Macri s Let s Change coalition will not obtain a majority in either house of Congress, a strong performance would help in negotiations with opposition lawmakers over reforms to Argentina s tax code and capital markets regulations. The winner receives two seats for their coalition while the second-place finisher receives one, meaning Fernandez will likely enter the Senate either way. Moderate Peronist Sergio Massa is polling a distant third, the surveys showed. Since taking office in December 2015, Macri has introduced a number of reforms economists say were necessary to stabilize Latin America s No. 3 economy, including allowing the peso currency to float and cutting subsidies for energy consumption. Fernandez has criticized the measures during the campaign. The opinion polls show Bullrich has gained momentum since narrowly losing an Aug. 13 primary. Government data shows the economy improving in recent months, while Macri s nationwide approval rating has risen to its highest level since early 2016 at 46.5 percent, according to Management & Fit. Its poll of 1,000 respondents in Buenos Aires was conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, and has a 3.1 percent margin of error. Poliarquia consulted 1,130 respondents between Oct. 3 and Oct. 6. It has a 2.97 percent margin of error. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4327 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Washington (CNN) Donald Trump got a morale boost this week -- but it likely won't be enough to propel him to the White House.
After weeks of devastating headlines, the Republican nominee seemed to give himself a break. He largely avoided incessant talk about allegations of sexual assault by multiple women and claims that the election is rigged -- both of which made wavering Republicans nervous.
The drumbeat of WikiLeaks disclosures yielded material to lambast Hillary Clinton and her family's foundation. And news of rising Obamacare premiums gave him an opening to criticize President Barack Obama's legacy that Clinton is running to inherit.
Trump edged up in some state surveys and CNN moved two crucial states -- Florida and Nevada -- from lean Democratic to battleground status on its electoral map.
But 11 days before the election, Trump is down six points in CNN's Poll of Polls. His path to the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency remains daunting and it will be tough to overcome the deficit in the remaining time. Trump seemed to acknowledge the challenges Thursday.
With the new changes, CNN's electoral college map leaves Clinton with 272 electoral votes from states either solidly or leaning in her direction. Trump has 179 electoral votes from states either solidly or leaning in his direction. That leaves 87 electoral votes up for grabs at the moment. Trump will have to pitch a perfect game to secure the ones he needs, especially as he struggles to pull states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania or Michigan out of Clinton's column.
"To have a fighting chance in this election of getting to 270 electoral votes, he has to win North Carolina, Ohio and Florida. If he does win all three that still gives him only 253 electoral votes," said Ford O'Connell, a GOP strategist. "The biggest problem for the Trump campaign is overall, where are you going to get 270? He basically almost has to run an inside straight and almost has to have them all fall into his hands."
Trump and his aides insist he has a path and momentum, citing huge crowds, long lines for early voting and the few polls in his favor. A Fox News poll Wednesday put the national gap to Clinton at only three points and a Bloomberg Politics survey in Florida said he was two points up.
"I think we're going to have a tremendous victory," Trump told CNN's Dana Bash Wednesday. "If I didn't think it, I wouldn't say it."
Trump's schedule shows that he knows the stakes.
He spent several days in Florida earlier this week, was in North Carolina on Wednesday and spent Thursday in Ohio. Without that trio, Trump has no platform to mount what even then would be a long shot bid for the White House.
Clinton is of the same mind. She was in Florida Wednesday and plans to go back Saturday. She campaigned in North Carolina with first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday. Clinton could effectively stop Trump in his tracks if she can win either state -- barring a huge and unpredictable upset elsewhere.
If Trump does win North Carolina, Ohio and Florida, he can trace the narrowest of routes to 270 electoral votes by winning New Hampshire, a congressional district in Maine, Iowa and Nevada. But Clinton is leading or in a tight race in those states. Trump also cannot afford to drop any red state, and is already fighting rearguard actions in Arizona and Utah, and some Democrats believe that Georgia could be competitive.
Again, Trump's travel is instructive -- he is campaigning in Maine, New Hampshire and Iowa on Friday.
Some Democrats worry Clinton's biggest risk is that her voters think she has the presidency in the bag and will fail to show up to vote.
"No complacency here," Clinton said Wednesday at a rally in Tampa, Florida. "Donald Trump says he can still win and he is right. That is why it is so important everyone gets out and votes."
Clinton's advisers also warn that the race will probably narrow in the days to come.
"Quite likely we are in store for one final round of tightening," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted Wednesday.
In essence, Trump's hopes rely on a huge turnout of his base voters, who are largely white and working class. He also needs significantly depressed enthusiasm among Clinton voters and a poll-defying shock on the scale of Brexit, the surprise British vote this year to quit the European Union.
Trump has repeatedly said the polls are wrong. And it's true that some pre-election polls underplayed the size of Obama's re-election victory in 2012 and the Democratic mid-term election debacle two years later.
But if he goes into Election Day with his current deficit, Trump would require a massive polling miss outside the margin of error in multiple states.
The Republican nominee's own strategy makes his task even more difficult.
Since he has likely alienated minority and educated women with his rhetoric and behavior, Trump must pull in vast numbers of new white voters — some who may have voted for Democrats in the past -- to make up for the shortfall.
But the Fox News poll, like some other recent surveys, suggested Trump is underperforming 2012 nominee Mitt Romney among this core constituency. Romney won white voters by 20 points over Obama according to exit polls, but Trump is only 14 points ahead of Clinton in the poll with the same voting group.
Trump's problems with educated white female voters have been well documented.
If those numbers hold, it means that the GOP nominee must reverse trends in which white voters have become a smaller share of the electorate in recent elections.
"There are just not enough white men in these battleground states for him to win this election," said Tharon Johnson, who ran Obama's southern states strategy in his 2012 re-election bid.
Still, Bloomberg's poll of Florida does suggest Trump has some traction in the state he regards as a second home — even though most other recent surveys have given Clinton a lead of a few points. Some close observers of Sunshine State politics do believe his intense campaigning is having an impact.
"I think it has moved some polls. He has been very strategic about going into some of the media markets where there are a lot of suburban voters," said Professor Susan MacManus of the University of South Florida, who does not rule out a late Trump surge. "Never say never in our state. On paper, it should be Hillary's to lose. But it's not an on paper election. She has soft spots in her base, so does Trump." | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4328 | 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 'QAnon Shaman' Jake Angeli Turning His Back on Trump? Claim summaries: Wearing horns and furs on his head, Jake Angeli was a highly visible figure in the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
contextual information: Weeks after the U.S. Capitol insurrection, reports surfaced claiming that a highly visible member of the right-wing mob the self-described "QAnon digital soldier" who was photographed shirtless, wearing horns and furs on his head was abandoning former President Donald Trump as a demagogue. reports QAnon digital soldier For example, a Jan. 29 Vice headline read: "The 'QAnon Shaman' just Flipped On Trump." headline read The assertion had some truth to it. In an interview with The Associated Press, the lawyer representing the man Jacob Chansley or "Jake Angeli" of Arizona said his client's attitude toward the president had changed since the deadly siege, and he was willing to testify in Trump's historic second impeachment. That trial by the U.S. Senate was set to begin the week of Feb. 8 and would either convict or acquit the former president of inciting his supporters to break into the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try to halt a ceremonial vote to affirm the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. halt a ceremonial vote The attorney, Albert Watkins, said he wants senators to hear the perspective of someone who was incited by Trump, according to the Jan. 30 story. The Associated Press continued: Jan. 30 story Watkins said his client was previously 'horrendously smitten' by Mr. Trump but now feels let down after Mr. Trump's refusal to grant Chansley and others who participated in the insurrection a pardon. 'He felt like he was betrayed by the president,' Watkins said. Here is a full list of the people Trump pardoned or commuted during his final hours in office. full list We reached out to Watkins to determine the legitimacy of the news story. In an email, we sent him a link to The Associated Press reporting, asked him if it was indeed accurate, and, if so, inquired why or under what circumstances his party decided to offer Angeli's testimony. He responded in an email message to Snopes: "My client is available if called upon to testify. No statement to the contrary has been made." In other words, it was true to claim that Angeli who was arrested and charged on Jan. 9 for insurrection-related crimes including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, and disorderly conduct was willing to testify in Trump's Senate impeachment trial, which may determine whether Trump can run for political office in the future. Jan. 9 whether However, the nature of Angeli's testimony, should he be asked to speak during the trial, remained unknown as of this writing. "The words of Trump supporters who are accused of participating in the riot may end up being used against him in his impeachment trial," The Associated Press reported, though no evidence existed to determine whether Angeli would indeed share his experience to help senators convict the former president. In sum, while it was true that Angeli was willing to testify at Trump's second impeachment trial, it was not known whether he was preparing to make a statement that would help or hurt the efforts of senators who believe the former president is guilty of inciting the insurrection. For those reasons, we rate this claim a "mixture" of truthful, false, and undetermined information. | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD4329 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) a congressman who at one time cracked jokes about shooting undocumented immigrants has recently called President Barack Obama out for being the most racially-divisive president America s had since slavery.Brooks, who happens to be the chairman of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz s Alabama leadership team, made these comments during a radio interview on the Dale Jackson Show on Thursday. Commenting on the president s State of the Union speech, the Alabama Republican said, There probably has not been a more racially-divisive, economically divisive, president in the White House since we had presidents who supported slavery. Host Dale Jackson pressed Brooks to clarify what exactly he meant considering that Obama is the nation s first black president and Brooks explanation threw Obama a bone for not being the absolute worst president in the entire history of the United States just within the last 150 years: We did have presidents in the first 80 to 100 years of our country that supported slavery. You cannot say Barack Obama was worse than them. But he s probably the worst one since the Civil War and the passages of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. You can listen to the recording of the show below: Later in the show, Jackson commented on how much racial tensions have become a focal point in the political arena, and Brooks accused Obama and Democrats of using race and sex to divide Americans to a level of perfection not heretofore seen. In true GOP fashion, Brooks chose not to give specific reasons why Obama was racially divisive but his Civil War comment means that he s forgotten quite a bit about history, and how racist some of America s presidents from the last 150 years were. To say that Obama is more racially divisive than post-Civil War presidents such as Andrew Jackson, Rutherford Hayes, Woodrow Wilson and even George W. Bush is absolutely ridiculous.Brooks should know a bit about being racially divisive himself he s made several racist statements in the past. For example, there was that time he said Syrian refugees wanted a paid vacation, spread lies about Obama s childhood past in Indonesia, blamed a measles outbreak on illegal aliens, and stated that Obama s immigration policy was based on skin pigmentation. Featured image via Listerhill Credit Union / Flickr | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4330 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Not that it matters, but since it appears that no one has read the bill, it s probably not that unlikely that Democrat senator Ron Wyden misspoke In a speech on the Senate floor on May 22, Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon ridiculed those who thought climate change regulation would be part of Obamatrade:We ve heard suggested, for example, that it s a backdoor route to immigration reform or action on climate change . My sense is that the rate these hypotheticals are going, you re bound to hear that a future president working on a trade deal might have second thoughts about the Louisiana purchase.But in an interview on NPR s Marketplace yesterday (June 3), President Obama said that enforcing climate change regulations will indeed be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Obamatrade pact that he is currently negotiating with Malaysia and 10 other countries. He said:If we want to solve something like climate change, which is one of my highest priorities, then I ve got to be able to get into places like Malaysia, and say to them, this is in your interest. What leverage do I have to get them to stop deforestation? Well part of the leverage is if I m in a trade relationship with them that allows me to raise standards.In December, Obama will negotiate a multi-country climate agreement in Paris. We already know from Obama s joint announcement with China that he will commit the United States to a huge reduction in carbon emissions of 26%-28% from 2005 levels, but he will let China, already a much larger carbon emitter, continue to expand its carbon emissions until 2030.Via: American Thinker | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4331 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Tweet Widget by Yessenia Funes
The fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline isn’t only about water rights and sacred sites; it’s also about the U.S. government’s historical refusal to honor treaties—when “they interfered with Manifest Destiny.” Washington violated its treaty with the Sioux in 1877, and later declared its power to void all Native treaties. “There are now talks of using the treaty to legally regain land rights to end the pipeline's construction.” One Treaty Could Change the Fight to Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline by Yessenia Funes
This article previously appeared in ColorLines and Portside .
“ Highway 1806 has become the no surrender line.”
When activists talk about the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline [1] and the Native uprising surrounding its construction, they often frame it with regard to the environment. Water. Sacred burial grounds. Grandmother Earth.
Opponents site potential environmental risks to water resources like the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to defend their stance against the 1,172-mile long pipeline, which would have the capacity to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota to markets across the U.S.
What many ignore, however, is another facet of the #NoDAPL [2] movement: Native sovereignty.
Most of the confrontations between water protectors and law enforcement are occurring near the Standing Rock Reservation. The reservation currently takes up roughly 3,625 square miles [3] across southeastern North Dakota and into South Dakota. More than 8,000 people [4] live in scattered communities, all connected by a common history—one which includes land theft and treaty violations.
The construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has brought this history to the current day. “Our standoff is on treaty land, so we have every right to defend what is rightfully ours,” says Cody Hall, a Lakota civil rights activist with the Cheyenne River Tribe who has spent time on the frontlines in North Dakota.
When he speaks of “treaty land,” he’s referring to land allotted to the Great Sioux Nation by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 and 1868.
“Our standoff is on treaty land, so we have every right to defend what is rightfully ours.”
The revised treaty established the Great Sioux Reservation in 1868, which the federal governement would eventually shrink to what became the Standing Rock Reservation. The treaty land crisscrossed between seven present-day states—North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana—including the reservation and unceded territories reserved for hunting.
These boundaries were created to ensure peace between Native people and colonizers. The temptations of gold, however, meant that travelers were soon in tribal territory. Almost immediately after its conception in 1851, the U.S. violated the treaty by not policing its citizens' entry onto Native land.
For Native Americans, treaties function as the law of the land. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution clearly states:
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The U.S. government would honor treaties—until they interfered with Manifest Destiny. “It was all about colonial expansion,” says Frank Pommersheim, a professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law who specializes in Indian law. In 1877, without consent from the Sioux, the United States stole their sacred Black Hills. The land was the center of their world, their birthplace.
This act set in stone U.S.-tribal relations. From then on, the United States slowly diminished the land it left for tribal peoples. By 1889, the Great Sioux Reservation became what it is today: 3,625 square miles tucked between North and South Dakota, stripped of ancestral burial grounds and lush buffalo populations with which the Sioux used to coexist.
In 1903, fewer than 30 years after the Black Hills seizement, the Supreme Court ruled in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock [5] that Congress may unilaterally break treaties between the U.S. and Native Americans using its plenary power. “It is unfortunately a part of American law. That basic precept is totally unacceptable to Native people in the context of treaties,” Pommersheim explains. "It is just a collision between cultures and different understandings and interpretation of what treaties actually mean."
“Almost immediately after its conception in 1851, the U.S. violated the treaty by not policing its citizens' entry onto Native land.”
He is correct that a vast number of Native Americans find this unacceptable.
“To us [these treaties] are very much still alive and a part of our everyday life,” says Remi Bald Eagle, the intergovernmental affairs coordinator for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. “We still honor those treaties, and I know the chairman has said that he expects America to do the same.”
And while the U.S. has violated said treaties over the past century, it’s never declared the treaties null or void, Bald Eagle adds.
With the Treaty of Fort Laramie in mind, water protectors opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline have tried to take action. On October 23, pipeline opponents declared eminent domain [6] over land owned by Energy Transfer, the company behind the pipeline, by citing the treaty. Joye Braun, an Indigenous Environmental Network organizer, said in a statement:
We have never ceded this land. If DAPL can go through and claim eminent domain on landowners and Native peoples on their own land, then we as sovereign nations can then declare eminent domain on our own aboriginal homeland. We are here to protect the burial sites here. Highway 1806 has become the no surrender line.
The Sacred Ground Camp had already existed for over a month with about 300 people camped out, but occupiers extended the camp on October 23 by creating three road blockades to prevent militarized law enforcement from entering. (This came just a day after police arrested roughly 127 water protectors [7] directly across the road from where private security for Energy Transfer had unleashed dogs [8] on activists one month earlier.) The camp also intended to halt construction where the remaining proposed pipeline route would connect with the Missouri River.
Four days after declaring eminent domain for the camp, on October 27, law enforcement from seven states arrived there fully equipped with riot gear, all-terrain vehicles, armored vehicles and helicopters. They arrested 141 water protectors [9]—after beating them with batons and issuing pepper spray. Law enforcement ultimately destroyed the camp, along with its tipis and sweat lodges.
“We did everything in our power that we could do to defend our camp in a nonviolent approach,” says Cody Hall of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “Because the only way to really defend it would have became a violent approach because you're meeting officers with a force of weaponry.”
“We still honor those treaties, and I know the chairman has said that he expects America to do the same.”
There are now talks of using the treaty to legally regain land rights to end the pipeline's construction, according to Hall and others on-site. There is a precedent for taking this approach: In May, the Lummi in Washington state called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject a coal terminal permit on the premise that it would harm Lummi fishing grounds, which the federal government is legally mandated to protect per an 1855 treaty. The Lummi won [10]. No terminal was built, fishing grounds were not harmed and the treaty was honored.
“[DAPL] brings to the surface all the issues dealing with treaties," says Bald Eagle. "It brings up all the wrongdoings that have been happening in the past. The American government has repeatedly shoved all of their wrongdoings underneath the rug, and the issue with the Dakota Access Pipeline has pulled that rug off, and now we have to look at everything that’s been done wrong.”
He lays out three choices for the U.S. government: correct its wrongs, put the rug back or commit another wrong.
President Barack Obama [11], when interviewed by social media news site NowThis, stated that the Corps is figuring out [12] how to reroute the pipeline over the next several weeks, saying, "There is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans." But construction has nearly reached the Missouri River, sacred water for the Sioux. Several more weeks may be too late. Yessenia Funes is the climate justice reporter for Colorlines. She was previously an editor at YES! Magazine, where she covered racial justice with a solutions lens. Her work has appeared in Grist, AlterNet, Public Radio International, and Truthout. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4332 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Top advisers to Donald Trump assured Republican Party leaders on Thursday that the New York billionaire would adopt a more presidential demeanor soon, to temper the image projected during his campaign so far. Trump’s representatives, including newly recruited senior advisers Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, met privately with leaders of the Republican National Committee at an oceanside resort hotel where the party is holding a three-day meeting. “The part that he’s been playing is now evolving into the part that you’ve been expecting. The negatives will come down, the image is going to change,†Trump senior adviser Paul Manafort assured the party leaders, according to an audiotape of the session heard by Reuters. Trump has been “projecting an image†to energize voters, Manafort said, adding that he will soon concentrate on “crooked Hillary,†the nickname that Trump has given to Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton. “You’ll see a different guy,†said Manafort. But in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump suggested he was not ready to change from the style that has brought him close to the Republican presidential nomination. “I just don’t know if I want to do it yet,†he said. In recent weeks, Trump has railed against the party for developing what he said was a “rigged†system in which Cruz was able to amass delegates in Colorado without Republicans actually voting. Chatting over shrimp, crab legs and an open bar, Trump’s advisers expressed confidence that their candidate would win the Republican presidential nomination without the party having to resort to a contested convention in Cleveland in July, according to three attendees. Trump, 69, needs 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright for the Nov. 8 election. Rivals Ted Cruz, 45, and John Kasich, 63, are trying to stop him from getting a majority of delegates, so they can force a contested convention in which one of them could emerge as the nominee. Cruz told a conservative talk radio host, Mark Levin, that Manafort’s comments show that Trump’s campaign style “is just an act.†Party leaders told reporters after the session that Trump’s envoys said Trump, as the Republican nominee, would be able to expand the party’s electoral map to include several states Republicans have not won in a general election in a generation. One attendee, South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Matt Moore, said the Trump team told the group it expected Trump to adopt a “more presidential demeanor†over the next few weeks.Moore said he was taking a wait-and-see attitude on whether Trump would change. “The proof is in the pudding,†he said. Manafort told reporters after the meeting that “we talked about how we’re going to expand the map.†As for how to change the negative image some voters had of Trump, Manafort said: “We just have to present him in a way that shows all sides of Donald Trump.†Former presidential candidate Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has endorsed Trump, also addressed the group. Talking to reporters as he walked into the meeting, Carson said his message was that Republicans should “stop fighting among ourselves†and unite behind Trump. “I don’t think anyone can win if the Republican Party and the conservatives don’t consolidate,†he said. Trump, who has alarmed some establishment Republicans with his comments on immigration, Muslims and trade, has begun to moderate his message in recent days. Trump’s campaign has hired staff versed in the ways of Washington and has begun holding regular meetings on Capitol Hill with current and potential supporters. Trump clashed again on Thursday with Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, this time over a North Carolina law passed last month requiring transgender people to use government and school bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates. During an appearance at an NBC “Today†show town hall, Trump sided with critics of the law, passed by a Republican-controlled legislature, saying it was unnecessary and that North Carolina was “paying a big price†because of negative business reaction. His comments drew immediate criticism from Cruz, a staunch social and fiscal conservative who supports the law and said Trump had caved to political correctness as he seeks to broaden his appeal. | 1 | [
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FMD4333 | 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 Kamala Harris provide bail for 'violent rioters' amid the George Floyd protests? Claim summaries: The claim appeared to stem from a June 2020 tweet from Harris.
contextual information: On Aug. 11, 2020, then-U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden selected California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris as his Democratic running mate in the race against Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Joe Biden Kamala Harris Donald Trump Mike Pence Following that announcement, Trump and his supporters attempted to call attention to what they framed as immoral judgment by Harris the Trump campaign alleged she wrongly encouraged Americans to help people who were arrested during protests over the police in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. George Floyd For example, in an Aug. 17 speech to supporters in Mankato, Minnesota (which is about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis), Trump said, according to a Factba.se transcription of the event: Factba.se transcription Kamala Harris encouraged Americans to donate to the so-called Minnesota Freedom Fund do you know that is? which bailed out the rioters, looters, assaulters, and anarchists from jail. And Biden's staff did the same thing; they donated a lot of their money to get them out of jail so that everyone was right back on the streets. Think of that: This is what is running for office. Less than two weeks later, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, doubled down on the president's claim, alleging in a tweet: "Kamala Harris helped violent rioters in Minnesota get out of jail to do more damage." Sen. Tom Cotton tweet Around the same time, at least one conservative website purported in a headline that Harris donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF), which indeed gives cash to people who cannot afford bail so they don't have to wait in jail until court hearings, or agree to high-interest loans. one conservative website Over the course of months, numerous Snopes readers contacted us to investigate whether Harris had actually given money to the Minnesota-based organization, and, if so, whether those contributions allowed for any of the roughly 170 people who were arrested during protests to get out of jail and commit more crimes. First, let us identify what appeared to be the basis of those assertions. Following Floyd's death, supporters of the civil rights movement nationwide (including many celebrities) donated more than $30 million to MFF, according to the nonprofit and news reports. High-profile donors used social media to promote their contributions, and Harris, on June 1, used her official accounts as a vice presidential candidate to express her support for the fundraising effort. including many celebrities more than $30 million accounts "If you're able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota," she wrote on Facebook and Twitter, including links to an MFF donation page on the left-leaning fundraising site, ActBlue. @MNFreedomFund In other words, while it was true Harris publicly expressed support for the nonprofit and encouraged others to donate to it in summer 2020, she did not say on social media or via any other public statement that she herself donated money to the organization. Next, we analyzed how Harris' 2020 campaign spent money and if, or to what extent, it helped the nonprofit, despite the fact she had not publicly declared the possible financial tie in a speech, interview, or on social media. Based on campaign filings compiled by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Center for Responsive Politics, no expenditure receipt listed "Minnesota Freedom Fund" debunking the possible claim that she used campaign money to help the nonprofit. Federal Election Commission Center for Responsive Politics Snopes reached out to MFF, asking if Harris at any point donated money and, if so, for the contribution's details. Greg Lewin, the organization's interim executive director, responded to us via email: "No, we have nothing in our records indicating a donation from Vice President Harris." We also reached out to Harris' press secretary, Symone Sanders, to comment on critics' accusations, but we have not heard back. We will update this report when or if we do. (As part of a wide-sweeping proposal to reform the country's criminal justice system, the Biden-Harris administration has pledged to eliminate the country's cash-bail system.) has pledged Now, let us move to the latter claim regarding the people who MFF helped during the protests, in light of Harris' June 1 posts praising the organization's work. Established in 2016, MFF is among the many nonprofits that attempt to counteract inequities in the country's cash-bail system by paying detainees' criminal and immigration bonds. Then, when those people attend court proceedings to determine the outcome of their case or whether they indeed broke the law prior to their arrest they must return the full value of the cash bail to the Minnesota-based nonprofit. The MFF website states: inequities states Weve never made decisions based simply on pretrial charge and we wont now. [...] We have always prioritized those who are unable to pay for freedom and face the greatest level of danger and marginalization. We will continue to center and prioritize the following groups in our bail payment: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Those experiencing homelessness People arrested who live in Minnesota Those who have been detained while fighting for justice Nearly half the people we pay bail for have had their case completely dismissed, suggesting there was never a case for the arrest or charge to begin with. Therefore, if a judge has decided that someone can be released so long as they can afford the price, we will pay that fee if we can afford it. Like in dozens of U.S. cities where people protested Floyds death, peaceful marches during the day between May 26 and early June set the stage for vandalism and destruction at night. However, the overwhelming majority of people who were arrested during the large gatherings whether chaotic or peaceful did not need the MFF's help. Citing accounting by the American Bail Coalition (a trade group of insurance companies who profit from underwriting bail bonds) and Hennepin County jail records, The Washington Post reported in September that all but three of the 170 people arrested during the protests were released from jail within a week. Of the 167 released, only 10 had to put up a monetary bond to be released, and, in most cases, the amounts were nominal, such as $78 or $100. In fact, 92 percent of those arrested did not have to pay bail and 29 percent of those arrested did not face charges, the news outlet reported. American Bail Coalition The Washington Post "We have paid all the protest bails that have come our way," the MFF website said. "[Many] of the people who were arrested during the uprising werent detained and instead were given citations then released, have been released with no bail, or held with no bail." said However, among the small group of people who did receive direct bail assistance from the nonprofit, one man was arrested on suspicion of shooting at police with an AK-47-style mini Draco pistol in the early hours of May 30, as well as a woman who allegedly stole from a cell phone store in a Minneapolis suburb and other businesses the day prior, according to The Washington Post and other news reports. As of September, the nonprofit paid $75,000 in cash to help the former suspect and $750 to assist the latter. AK-47-style mini Draco pistol woman The Washington Post news reports Additionally, a 32-year-old man whom MFF bailed out on an assault charge in July a case that was unrelated to the protests was charged with committing third-degree assault the following month, leaving the victim with a traumatic brain injury and a fractured skull, according to news reports. Lewin said in a statement afterward that the organization needs to "strengthen our internal procedures" to ensure its clients stay out of the criminal justice system after their first go-around. news reports statement In sum, while Harris indeed expressed public support for MFF following Floyd's death, it was false to claim she donated money to the organization, or that it helped protesters "get out of jail and do more damage," like Cotton alleged. Rather, no evidence existed to show the handful of people who received direct bail assistance for arrests related to the demonstrations committed more crimes after their initial detainment. For those reasons, we rate this claim "false." | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4334 | 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: Home Sales Tax Claim summaries: Does a provision of health care legislation impose a 3.8% sales tax on all home sales?
contextual information: Claim: A provision of "Obamacare" health care legislation creates a 3.8% Medicare tax on real estate transactions. Health care legislation imposes a 3.8% tax on all home sales. Health care legislation imposes a 3.8% transaction tax on profits over the capital gains threshold. Example: [Collected via e-mail, April 2010] 3.8% tax on real estate transactions. Under the new health care bill, did you know that all real estate transactions are subject to a 3.8% "Sales Tax"? You can thank Nancy, Harry, and Barack (and your local Congressmen) for this one. If you sell your $400,000 home, this will result in a $15,200 tax. Remember Obama's battle cry: take from the workers and give to the drones. TAX ON HOME SALES imposes a 3.8 percent tax on home sales and other real estate transactions. Middle-income people must pay the full tax even if they are "rich" for only one day—the day they sell their house and buy a new one. Origins: One of the provisions in the reconciliation bill (HR 4872) passed in conjunction with the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) health care legislation calls for high-income households to be subject to a new 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income starting in 2013: HR 4872. The PPACA creates a new Code Section 1411, which will generally impose a 3.8 percent tax on the lesser of "net investment income" or the excess of modified adjusted gross income over a "threshold amount" (generally, $250,000 for taxpayers filing a joint return, $125,000 for married taxpayers filing a separate return, and $200,000 in all other cases). Net investment income generally means the excess of (i) interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, rents, income from passive activities, income from trading financial instruments and commodities, and gain from the disposition of certain non-business property, over (ii) allowable deductions properly allocable to such income. In determining the amount of net investment income, special rules apply with respect to dispositions of equity interests in certain partnerships and S corporations, and to distributions from certain qualified plans. This additional tax applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. This is a complicated section of a complicated piece of legislation, and the 3.8% Medicare tax has been frequently misreported as amounting to a 3.8% "sales tax" on all real estate transactions. This is incorrect: the Medicare tax is not a sales tax, nor does it apply to all real estate transactions; it is a tax on investment income (income which may or may not derive from the sale of property) only for persons who earn more than the amounts specified in the bill. First of all, the Medicare tax will be imposed only on individuals with an income above $200,000 and couples with a joint income of more than $250,000, a figure which currently excludes about 97% of all U.S. households. Second, the tax will not be assessed on every house sale, but only on real estate transactions that produce profits over a specified dollar amount. As Sara Orrange, Government Affairs Director of the Spokane Association of Realtors, noted in response to a repetition of the "sales tax" rumor in the Spokane Spokesman-Review: In his recent guest column regarding the impact of the health care bill, Paul Guppy of the Washington Policy Center claimed that a 3.8 percent tax on all home sales was a part of the recently passed legislation. This is inaccurate and needs to be corrected. The truth about the bill is that if you sell your home for a profit above the capital gains threshold of $250,000 per individual or $500,000 per couple, then you would be required to pay the additional 3.8 percent tax on any gain realized over this threshold. Most people who sell their homes will not be impacted by these new regulations. This is not a new tax on every seller, and that correction needs to be made. This tax is aimed at so-called "high earners"—if you do not fall into that category, you will not pay any extra taxes upon the sale of your home. For example, let's assume that a couple with an income of $325,000 bought a house in 2004 for $300,000 and resold it in 2013 for $850,000, thus producing a $550,000 profit. Since U.S. law allows a couple to exclude from their gross income profits of up to $500,000 from the sale of their principal residence, the taxable gain from this sale would be $50,000 (i.e., a $550,000 profit minus the $500,000 exclusion), and the couple's taxable income would now be $375,000 (i.e., the original $325,000 plus the $50,000 of taxable profit from their home sale). The 3.8% Medicare tax would now apply to whichever of the following dollar figures is the lesser: exclude a) The amount by which the couple's taxable income now exceeds the $250,000 income threshold level. b) The amount of taxable income gained from the sale of their home. In case (a), the dollar figure would be the couple's taxable income ($375,000) minus the income threshold level ($250,000), or $125,000. In case (b), the dollar figure would be the amount of taxable income gained from the sale of their home, which, as detailed above, was $50,000 (i.e., $550,000 profit minus the $500,000 exclusion). The second dollar amount is the lesser of the two, and therefore the couple would have to pay an additional tax of 3.8 percent of $50,000, which would amount to $1,900. (If the hypothetical couple had realized less than a $500,000 profit on the sale of their residence, none of that gain would be subject to the 3.8% tax.) The referenced tax is therefore not a tax on all real estate sales; it is an investment income tax which could result in a very small percentage of home sellers paying additional taxes on home sales profits over a designated threshold amount. In short, if you're a "high earner" and you sell your home at a substantial profit, you might be required to pay an additional 3.8% tax. However, given that only about 3% of U.S. households have incomes that exceed the specified income threshold amount, the existing home sale capital gains exclusion on a principal residence ($250,000 for individuals, $500,000 for couples) still stands, and the national median existing-home price in January 2012 was only $154,700, the Medicare tax will likely affect only a very small percentage of home sellers when it is implemented in 2013. Additional information: The 3.8% Tax: Real Estate Scenarios & Examples Last updated: 15 March 2012 Sahadi, Jeanne. "Medicare Tax Hikes: What the Rich Will Pay." CNNMoney.com. 25 March 2010. | 1 | [
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FMD4335 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: JERUSALEM — For three hours, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel held forth on all sorts of topics — on Israel and the Middle East, on his record and on his plans. One subject that Mr. Netanyahu studiously avoided in his expansive conversation with American visitors last weekend, though, was the United States election. Much of the rest of the world is absorbed by the contest between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton, but it is a topic Mr. Netanyahu will not touch. Four years after he was accused of meddling in the American election on behalf of President Obama’s opponent, the hardly bashful Israeli leader this time has taken a virtual vow of silence. The unusual reluctance comes after years of toxic relations between him and Mr. Obama, culminating in an acrid public feud over the nuclear agreement with Iran. With Mr. Netanyahu seemingly aligning himself during that fight with Mr. Obama’s Republican critics, some Israel backers feared the country was squandering its traditional bipartisan support. The prime minister now seems intent on extricating himself from the partisan tussle. “Everybody understands here in Israel that the most important thing for us is to go back to where we were for the last 68 years, which is bipartisan,†said Yair Lapid, a centrist party leader who hopes to succeed Mr. Netanyahu. “This is why nobody will take sides in a presidential campaign. †But if Israel is staying away from the American campaign, the campaign is staying away from Israel, too. While it was an occasional topic of questioning during primary debates, it has been all but absent from the discussion in the general election. In part, that reflects a campaign of invective that has overlooked many policy questions. But it also underscores the plethora of other issues that have seized Washington’s attention, principally the rise of the Islamic State, the war in Syria and relations with Russia. The dispute, once a dominant part of any White House foreign policy, seems to be slipping to a issue. During his meeting last weekend with a bipartisan delegation of former American national security officials, Mr. Netanyahu expressed concern about the United States’ pulling back from the region. Dennis Ross, a Middle East adviser to Mr. Obama and other presidents who organized the visit, said afterward, “Everyone feels they have a stake in the election, and they want an America that will be engaged and that will be effective in the region. †Still, Mr. Netanyahu scrupulously avoided addressing the election itself. “I think we were all struck by the fact that it wasn’t raised,†said Meghan O’Sullivan, a former adviser to President George W. Bush. Similarly, during a meeting last week, Senators Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, and Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, mentioned the election only to have Mr. Netanyahu skirt the subject. What a difference four years makes. Back in 2012, Mr. Netanyahu hosted Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama’s challenger, in Jerusalem and lavished praise on him. While Mr. Netanyahu’s team at the time denied any effort to influence the election, Mr. Obama’s camp was convinced otherwise. The rift widened when Mr. Netanyahu accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress in 2015 to assail Mr. Obama’s efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran curbing its nuclear program. Nachman Shai, who heads a parliamentary caucus on relations, said Mr. Netanyahu had steered away since then from openly courting Republicans. “Because he had these tough eight years with Obama, he can’t afford it again,†Mr. Shai said. “He needs a direct line with the U. S. president. †This spring, Mr. Netanyahu canceled a trip to Washington to attend a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, which aides explained by saying he wanted to avoid meeting with candidates. Last fall, amid controversy over Mr. Trump’s call to bar Muslims from entering the United States, the Republican abruptly announced and then just as abruptly canceled a visit to Jerusalem, saying of Mr. Netanyahu, “I didn’t want to put him under pressure. †Even Mr. Trump’s Aipac speech vowing to dismantle the Iran agreement was greeted with silence in Jerusalem. “If Bibi was going in any way to support or give Trump some type of compliment, that would have been the time to do it,†Gadi Wolfsfeld, a scholar at Hebrew University, said at the time, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname. Israel Hayom, the newspaper financed by the American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, an ally of Mr. Netanyahu, championed Mr. Trump with a blast of positive coverage at the time. But like Mr. Adelson himself, who has endorsed Mr. Trump without following through on promises of large contributions, the paper has not been the unrestrained cheerleader some expected. The newspaper Haaretz, however, wrote this week that leaders of the Trump campaign’s efforts to recruit votes among American citizens here have ties to Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition. In a first for an American candidate, thee Trump campaign plans to open what it calls a “floating office†moving from home to home in West Bank settlements in coming days. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Obama have tried lately to put their difficulties behind them by negotiating a American security aid package for Israel. The deal is all but complete, and the White House has been discussing how to announce it. The two leaders will both attend the United Nations General Assembly conclave this month, but it seems most likely that it would be signed by officials. But to Mr. Netanyahu’s consternation, administration officials are still debating whether the president will lay down a final marker before the end of his time in office on the impasse, perhaps with a speech outlining terms for an agreement or even a United Nations resolution. Some argue it would be a way to stop waiting for the two sides to finally step up others consider it a fruitless waste of the president’s waning time in office. Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment this week on the American election. Over the summer, the prime minister told reporters “it’s not smart to interfere,†saying he would be “happy to work with whoever gets elected. †He has made clear to advisers that they should not discuss the election even in private. Dani Dayan, the normally outspoken Israeli consul general in New York, articulated the official line in an interview with The New York Times Editorial Board last month: “Any American president is good for Israel. †But that is not an opinion universally held in Jerusalem. While Mr. Netanyahu may be more comfortable with Republicans who share his hawkish security views, Mr. Trump is an unknown who has criticized American intervention in the Middle East and called for curtailing foreign aid. His initial promise to be “a neutral guy†between Israelis and Palestinians disturbed many here before he later voiced steadfast support for Israel. Mrs. Clinton, on the other hand, is a known quantity, for better or worse. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is still popular here, and many noticed that at the Democratic National Convention, he wore a pin spelling Hillary in Hebrew. But Mrs. Clinton’s history as Mr. Obama’s secretary of state makes her suspect in Mr. Netanyahu’s camp, and neither Clinton has warm feelings toward the prime minister. “I don’t know who is better in terms of Israel,†Mr. Shai said. “We know a lot about Hillary and we know very little about Donald Trump. †| 1 | [
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FMD4336 | 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 Sex Traffickers Tagging Cars as Potential Targets? Claim summaries: Human trafficking is a real problem in the world, but the schemes outlined in many viral rumors like this one are not.
contextual information: In August 2020, a photograph showing the figures "1f1b" written on the back window of a vehicle began circulating on social media, accompanied by a warning about an alleged tactic used by sex traffickers to flag potential targets. Those sharing this meme claimed that this term stood for either "1 female 1 boy" or "1 female 1 baby," asserting that cars were being tagged with these codes by sex traffickers. The meme gained viral traction when it was posted on actor James Woods' Twitter account. The text read: "A very close friend of mine was out today doing shopping with her child at the Bricktown Walmart. When she left the store, a lady stopped her and made her aware of what was written on her back window (1f1b). I'm just going to assume that it stands for 1 female 1 baby. She was then informed that this is how sex traffickers are tagging cars. Please, please, mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, be AWARE! Feel free to share! Won't be tagging my friend for personal reasons." The claims made in this viral social media post are unfounded. Police in Bricktown, New Jersey, have stated that they are unaware of any such activity. Before we examine the police statement regarding this matter, let's consider the game of telephone that helped this rumor spread. The text of this post indicates that this incident happened to a "friend of mine." As we read further, we see that this "friend" was warned about this new criminal tactic by a random stranger—not a police officer, a news reporter, or even a Walmart employee, just an anonymous "lady." The original post received a few thousand shares, but this version gained far wider circulation. As the rumor spread, the details became increasingly muddled. One poster, for instance, claimed that this incident took place in Bricktown, Oklahoma City, despite the fact that there is no Walmart in that location. When we trace this rumor back to its origins, we find that the claim is based on something someone saw on Facebook, written by a person asserting that their friend had heard from a stranger that the code "1f1b" was being used by sex traffickers to flag future targets. In other words, this rumor lacks credible origins. The local Patch website reported that Brick Township Sgt. Jim Kelly said the department had not been notified. "We have no reports of anything like this," Kelly stated. He also mentioned that the department has not been alerted by state or federal authorities about any information indicating that criminals are marking vehicles "as a method for anything." It's simply another Facebook rumor without any facts, Kelly said. A new variant of this rumor emerged on social media in July 2021. "AND THIS, THIS IS WHY I CARRY! Not only do I carry, but I'm educated in how to defend myself if ever put in a circumstance like this! Please be aware of your surroundings AT ALL TIMES!" On July 27, 2021, a post described an incident that occurred around 3:30 PM between Prairie Grove and Hogeye, where a truck was stopped by a black Tahoe. A man exited the vehicle and began asking the female driver for directions. She rolled down her window but kept her seatbelt on and doors locked. As the man approached, he punched her in the left eye and cut her arm. Thankfully, she was armed and managed to grab her gun. He fled the scene. She called the police, who advised her that the mark "1FW" on her back window is a human trafficking mark. She had been marked somewhere, and the man followed her, making a move to take her when she was on a road alone. Thankfully, she returned home to her family that night. We are told they often mark mailboxes and trash cans too. This particular marking stands for one female white. This is not the first time that such baseless warnings have gone viral on social media. In July 2019, for example, we reported on the false claim that sex traffickers were flagging targets by placing zip ties on houses, mailboxes, or vehicles. In December of that year, a false rumor circulated that sex traffickers were lying down in front of vehicles to trick them into stopping. That same month saw the spread of another false rumor claiming that roses were being placed on cars to mark potential targets. Human trafficking is a real problem in the world, but the schemes described above are not based on any real-world threats. In fact, The Polaris Project, a non-profit that runs the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, states that the forced kidnapping aspect of the aforementioned rumors is one of the most prevalent myths regarding trafficking: "The most pervasive myth about human trafficking is that it often involves kidnapping or physically forcing someone into a situation. In reality, most traffickers use psychological means such as tricking, defrauding, manipulating, or threatening victims into providing commercial sex or exploitative labor." | 0 | [
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FMD4337 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev named Yerbolat Dosayev and Askar Zhumagaliyev deputy prime ministers on Tuesday, according to documents published on his website. Dosayev has previously run Baiterek, a state holding company in charge of banking and finance, while Zhumagaliyev has served as chief executive of state-owned nuclear company Kazatomprom, one of the world s biggest uranium miners. | 1 | [
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FMD4338 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Trump and Brexit Defeat Globalism, for Now Anyway 14, 2016
Trumpism as a stress test for democracy …. A series of populist anti-globalism shocks is a test for Western democracies. Trump’s stunning ascent to the White House is the clearest signal yet of an anti-establishment revolt unfolding in major democracies, stretching across the Atlantic. – Swiss Info Tech
Was Trump’s victory actually created by the very globalist elites that Trump is supposed to have overcome?
There are some who believe the elites are actually splintered into numerous groups and that domestic US elites have positioned themselves against the banking elites in London’s City. We see no fundamental evidence of this.
The world’s real elites in our view may have substantive histories in the hundreds and thousands of years. US elites are basically in the employ of a handful of families, individuals and institutions in our view.
It is confusing because it is hard to tell if Hillary, for instance, is operating on her own accord or at the behest of higher and more powerful authorities.
It is probably a combination of both but at root those who control central banks are managing the world’s move towards globalism. History easily shows us who these groups are – and they are not located in America.
This is a cynical perspective to be sure, and certainly doesn’t remove the impact of Trump’s victory or his courage in waging his election campaign despite what must surely be death threats to himself and his family..
But if true, this perspective corresponds to predictions that we’ve been making for nearly a decade now, suggesting that sooner or later elites – especially those in London’s City – would have to “take a step back.”
More:
The vote to propel Trump to the US presidency reflects a profound backlash against open markets and borders, and the simmering anger of millions of blue-collar white and working-class people who blame their economic woes on globalisation and multiculturalism.
“There are a few parallels to Switzerland – that the losers of globalisation find somebody who is listening to them,” said Swiss professor and lawyer Wolf Linder, a former director of the University of Bern’s political science institute.
“Trump is doing his business with the losers of globalisation in the US, like the Swiss People’s Party is doing in Switzerland,” he said. “It is a phenomenon which touches all European nations.”
Again, this article presumes that Trump has “won” and that he intends to attack the larger globalist enterprise and the bankers funding it. On the other hand, it could be that both Trump and Brexit have been engineered to look as if the tide is turning against globalism when it is not.
Why would those in charge want to portray this point of view when it may not be so? Because of what we call the “Internet Reformation” that has blasted open the secretive manipulations of the globalist elite in the past decade or so.
It is almost impossible for globalists to promote internationalist memes in this environment. Yet it is the secretive injection of internationalist memes into the body politic that moves society toward the globalist enterprise.
As we have suggested before, it is perfectly possible that a decision has been made to pretend to grant the larger society a “victory” over internationalism.
Following this analysis, certain trends would be identified and encouraged that would seem to portray globalism as falling back on its metaphorical heels.
In truth, if this analysis is correct, globalism’s retreat is a kind of pretense that will steer society less obviously in a globalist direction.
One way this could happen is by ensuring the splintering of Europe – but not in a way that actually reduces control from Brussels. It will APPEAR to be so but won’t actually happen. The same thing could take place in the USA under Trump.
Again, this is not to say that Trump is party to this plot or even approves of it. But the idea that Trump is part of a co-option is certainly a feasible alternative to an alternative analysis that takes what is happening at face value.
Nonetheless, even if an alternative elite strategy has been decided on to realize globalism in another fashion, it ought to be pointed out that things have changed. And the Internet and its revelations are surely responsible.
This is a very big deal and it is one that ought to be emphasized repeatedly. Brexit and Trump could be, somehow, the result of a different elite approach – but the approach HAS changed nonetheless.
Think of it this way: Hillary represented the blunt approach toward the realization of further globalism. Her way included an aggressively expanded war and the pursuit of other globalist trends.
Trump, rhetorically anyway, has a different approach in mind that would gut many internationalist trends.
If Trump follows through on his rhetoric, the trend toward an internationalist world will be reduced. And while there is controversy over Trump’s recent staff appointments we should also bear in mind that the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) both seem to be failing now.
If indeed Trump’s election has damped the progress of TPP, and TTIP, this is a huge event. As we’ve pointed out, both agreements effectively substituted technocratic corporatism for the current sociopolitical model of “democracy.”
The elites were trying to move toward a new model of world control with these two agreements. This is similar to what happened after the advent of the Gutenberg Press when the elites of the day moved away from royal control and apparently swapped in democracy.
It seems evident that internationalism is now going to take a longer time to realize than we thought. However, this observation may not be entirely accurate if Trump turns out to be something other than his rhetoric suggests – or if Brexit is denied in Europe.
Additionally, one of the elite’s most powerful, operative memes today is “populism vs. globalism” that seeks to contrast the potentially freedom-oriented events of Trump and Brexit to the discarded wisdom of globalism. See here and here.
The reality of these two events, the victories of both Trump and Brexit, stand as signal proof that elite stratagems have been defeated, at least temporarily. Though whether these defeats have been self-inflicted as part of a change in tactics remains to be seen.
Conclusion: But the change has come. One way or another the Internet and tens of millions or people talking, writing and acting has forced new trends. This can be hardly be emphasized enough. Globalism has been at least temporarily redirected | 0 | [
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FMD4339 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Apple Inc (AAPL.O) will likely seek to invoke the United States’ protections of free speech as one of its key legal arguments in trying to block an order to help unlock the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, lawyers with expertise in the subject said this week. The company on Thursday was granted three additional days by the court to file a response to the order. Apple will now have until Feb. 26 to send a reply, a person familiar with matter told Reuters. The tech giant and the Obama administration are on track for a major collision over computer security and encryption after a federal magistrate judge in Los Angeles handed down an order on Tuesday requiring Apple to provide specific software and technical assistance to investigators. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook called the request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation unprecedented. Other tech giants such as Facebook Inc (FB.O), Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google have rallied to support Apple. Apple has retained two prominent, free-speech lawyers to do battle with the government, according to court papers: Theodore Olson, who won the political-speech case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, and Theodore Boutrous, who frequently represents media organizations. Government lawyers from the U.S. Justice Department have defended their request in court papers by citing various authorities, such as a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld an order compelling a telephone company to provide assistance with setting up a device to record telephone numbers. The high court said then that the All Writs Act, a law from 1789, authorized the order, and the scope of that ruling is expected to be a main target of Apple when it files a response in court by early next week. But Apple will likely also broaden its challenge to include the First Amendment’s guarantee of speech rights, according to lawyers who are not involved in the dispute but who are following it. Compared with other countries, the United States has a strong guarantee of speech rights even for corporations, and at least one court has ruled that computer code is a form of speech, although that ruling was later voided. Apple could argue that being required to create and provide specific computer code amounts to unlawful compelled speech, said Riana Pfefferkorn, a cryptography fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society. The order against Apple is novel because it compels the company to create a new forensic tool to use, not just turn over information in Apple’s possession, Pfefferkorn said. “I think there is a significant First Amendment concern,†she said. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the possible free-speech questions on Thursday. A speech-rights argument from Apple, though, could be met with skepticism by the courts because computer code has become ubiquitous and underpins much of the U.S. economy. “That is an argument of enormous breadth,†said Stuart Benjamin, a Duke University law professor who writes about the First Amendment. He said Apple would need to show that the computer code conveyed a “substantive message.†In a case brought by a mathematician against U.S. export controls, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, found in 1999 that the source code behind encryption software is protected speech. The opinion was later withdrawn so the full court could rehear the case, but that rehearing was canceled and the appeal declared moot after the government revised its export controls. The FBI and prosecutors are seeking Apple’s assistance to read the data on an iPhone 5C that had been used by Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino shootings that killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a holiday party. U.S. prosecutors were smart to pick the mass shooting as a test case for an encryption fight with tech companies, said Michael Froomkin, a University of Miami law professor. That is because the shooting had a large emotional impact while also demonstrating the danger posed by armed militants, he said. In addition, the iPhone in dispute was owned not by Farook but by his employer, a local government, which has consented to the search of the iPhone. The federal magistrate who issued the order, Sheri Pym, is also a former federal prosecutor. “This is one of the worst set of facts possible for Apple. That’s why the government picked this case,†Froomkin said. Froomkin added, though, that the fight was enormously important for the company because of the possibility that a new forensic tool could be easily used on other phones and the damage that could be done to Apple’s global brand if it cannot withstand government demands on privacy. “All these demands make their phones less attractive to users,†he said. | 1 | [
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FMD4340 | 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: Wisconsins rainy day fund is 165 times bigger than when we first took office.
contextual information: One of Gov. Scott Walker's talking points -- a claim about the size of Wisconsins budget stabilization fund -- is striking in seemingly contradictory ways. Here is how Walker phrased the claim Aug. 3, 2015 at a presidential candidateforumin New Hampshire: Our rainy day fund's 165 times bigger than when we first took office. On one hand, 165 times sounds like a huge increase. On the other, what was the size of the fund if it could be made 165 times larger? So let's dig in a little. To back Walker's claim, the governor's office cited two state reports. They show that the so-called rainy day fund was$1.68 millionwhen Walker took office and now is$280 million. That's more than 165 times bigger. Some history The Wisconsin Legislaturecreatedthe budget stabilization fund with a 1985law.No significant depositswere made during the first 20 years of the funds existence, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the states budget scorekeeper. But the 2001-03 state budget added a requirement that whenever the state budget runs a surplus, 50 percent of the surplus must be transferred to the fund. So, a governor is required to put money in the rainy day fund whenever there is a surplus; it's not a voluntary act. At the same time, a governor can take some credit for there being a surplus in the first place. There have beenthree depositsto the rainy day fund as a result of budget surpluses since Walker took office in January 2011: Fall 2011:$15 million. That was a result of a surplus in the final budget of Walkers predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. (The end of that budget, it should be noted, came at the beginning of Walker's term. So, adjustments and actions in the final six months under Walker helped lead to the surplus.) Fall 2012:$109 million. While that was the largest deposit to the fund in state history at the time, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelnoted, it was only enough to run state government for about three days. Fall 2013:$153 million. Those deposits, plus interest earned, put the total in the rainy day fund at $280 million. In 2014, with another surplus projected, Walker proposed a combination of tax cuts and adding another $117 million to the rainy day fund. But the tax-cutlegislationhe later signed suspended the required contributions to the fund for the 2013-15 biennium. (The state's fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30.) Had the requirement remained in effect, it would have meant another$113 millionin the rainy day fund. Walker instead used the money instead to help cut taxes. Still, theres no question the fund has grown significantly under Walker. Our rating Walker said Wisconsins rainy day fund is 165 times bigger than when we first took office. The $280 million currently in the budget stabilization fund is 165 times larger than the $1.68 million when Walker took office. Walker signed a tax cut law in 2014 that contained a provision voiding a requirement that would have put another $113 million into the fund. But that doesnt change how much larger the fund is.. We rate Walkers statement True. (Editor's note:After this item was published, a spokeswoman for Walker's gubernatorial office noted that the budget that resulted in the Fall 2001 contribution overlapped with Walker's time in office. The item has been adjusted to reflect that. It does not change the rating.) | 1 | [
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FMD4341 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Amanda Taub, New York Times, November 1, 2016
Call it the crisis of whiteness.
White anxiety has fueled this year’s political tumult in the West: Britain’s surprising vote to exit the European Union, Donald J. Trump’s unexpected capture of the Republican presidential nomination in the United States, the rise of right-wing nationalism in Norway, Hungary, Austria and Greece.
Whiteness, in this context, is more than just skin color. You could define it as membership in the “ethno-national majority,” but that’s a mouthful. What it really means is the privilege of not being defined as “other.”
Whiteness means being part of the group whose appearance, traditions, religion and even food are the default norm. It’s being a person who, by unspoken rules, was long entitled as part of “us” instead of “them.”
{snip}
“It’s fundamentally about ‘who are we?’” said Eric Kaufmann, a professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. “What does it mean to be part of this nation? Is it not ‘our’ nation anymore, ‘our’ meaning the ethnic majority?
“These kinds of questions are really front and center, even though they’re not necessarily verbalized.”
The questions can seem like a sudden reversal after decades of rising multiculturalism, through the civil rights movement in the United States and the European Union’s opening up of borders.
{snip}
White people’s officially privileged status waned over the latter half of the 20th century with the demise of discriminatory practices in, say, university admissions. But rising wages, an expanding social safety net and new educational opportunities helped offset that. Most white adults were wealthier and more successful than their parents, and confident that their children would do better still.
That feeling of success may have provided a sort of identity in itself.
But as Western manufacturing and industry have declined, taking many working-class towns with them, parents and grandparents have found that the opportunities they once had are unavailable to the next generation.
That creates an identity vacuum to be filled.
“For someone who is lower income or lower class,” Professor Kaufmann explained, “you’re going to get more self-esteem out of a communal identity such as ethnicity or the nation than you would out of any sort of achieved identity.”
{snip}
A recent Gallup study found that Mr. Trump’s supporters tend to earn above-average incomes for their communities, but also tend to live in majority-white areas where children are likely to be worse off than their parents.
{snip}
The formal rejection of racial discrimination in those societies has, by extension, constructed a new, broader national identity. The United States has a black president; London has a Muslim mayor of Pakistani descent.
But that broadening can, to some, feel like a painful loss, articulated in the demand voiced over and over at Trump rallies, pro-Brexit events and gatherings for populist parties throughout Europe: “I want my country back.”
The mantra is not all about bigotry. Rather, being part of a culture designed around people’s own community and customs is a constant background hum of reassurance, of belonging.
The loss of that comforting hum has accelerated a phenomenon that Robin DiAngelo, a lecturer and author, calls “white fragility”–the stress white people feel when they confront the knowledge that they are neither special nor the default; that whiteness is just a race like any other.
Fragility leads to feelings of insecurity, defensiveness, even threat. And it can trigger a backlash against those who are perceived as outsiders.
{snip}
For decades, the language of white identity has only existed in the context of white supremacy. When that became taboo, it left white identity politics without a vocabulary.
If you are a working-class white person and you fear that the new, cosmopolitan world will destroy or diminish an identity you cherish, you have no culturally acceptable way to articulate what you perceive as a crisis.
Some of these people have instead reached for issues that feel close to their concerns: trade, crime, the war on drugs, controlling the borders, fear of Islamist terrorism. All are significant in their own right, and create very real fears for many people, but they have also become a means to have a public conversation about what society’s changes mean for white majorities.
{snip}
There will not likely be a return to the whiteness of social dominance and exclusive national identity. Immigration cannot be halted without damaging Western nations’ economies; immigrants who have already arrived cannot be expelled en masse without causing social and moral damage. And the other groups who seem to be “cutting in line” are in fact getting a chance at progress that was long denied them.
Western whites have a place within their nations’ new, broader national identities. But unless they accept it, the crisis of whiteness seems likely to continue. | 0 | [
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"2"
] | 0 |
FMD4342 | 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 it stated by Donald Trump that the Earth is flat? Claim summaries: Rumors that the President-elect believes the world is flat originated from a hoax and satire web site.
contextual information: In December 2016, rumors flew about Donald Trump's personal beliefs and connections as he continued to announce picks for his incoming administration. One such rumor was a meme with a quote that purported to be from the President-elect, painting him as a flat-earther: flat-earther mocked up Speaking to reporters in Baltimore on Monday, following the 138th conference for the National Guard Association of the United States, the Republican Partys presidential nominee revealed that he is a member of a growing population known generally as flat earth truthers. I fly a lot, and I mean a lot. No one flies more than me. Listen, I own a jet. I own a 757, beautiful plane, its the best plane! If the world were round, believe me, I would know! The comments came in response to a question from AP reporter, Charles Darr, regarding the future role of the National Guard, as private companies proliferate space travel. Mr. Trump, if elected, are you willing to increase taxes in order to meet the growing budget demands of the National Guard, as existential threats from our enemies grow along with the advancement of space travel technology? Darr asked. The presidential hopeful replied that such a future is nonsense, adding that the round earth people, and you know who they are, these people have an agenda. CNN.com.de (like many pages of its ilk) is not affiliated with the legitimate news organization CNN. The site uses a web address similar to CNN.com's in order to trick readers into believe that they are reading genuine news items. However, this web site does not publish factual stories. publish While there is no disclaimer on the web site that specifically states its content is fictional, it does provide several hints that its stories are hoaxes. For instance, the provided contact number of (785) 273-0325 does not lead to CNN's, but that of the Westboro Baptist Church. (785) 273-0325 | 0 | [
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"1",
"2"
] | 0 |
FMD4343 | 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: Freezing of military wages Claim summaries: President Obama plans to freeze the pay of active duty military personnel?
contextual information: Claim: President Obama plans to implement a pay freeze for active duty military personnel in 2011. Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2010] On Facebook, there is the following message "reposted" by a friend, and who knows how far it has circulated: "Dear Mr. President, I hear you would like to freeze pay rates for active duty starting next year. Would you also consider cutting your own pay to save more money for our country? While you're at it, let's cut congressmen's pay too. If the people who risk their lives don't get an increase in pay, why would we continue raising pay for those who take no risks and reap the benefits? Repost if you agree!" Origins: At the time this item was circulating via Facebook postings in November 2010, it was not true that President Obama had announced an intention to freeze the pay of active duty military personnel starting in 2011. (In fact, President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal, submitted in February 2010, called for a 1.4% military pay increase for the following year.) The November 2010 circulation of this item was prompted by a draft report prepared by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (NCFRR), a bipartisan body created by President Obama "to address our nation's fiscal challenges." Among the 58 recommendations included in that draft report, released in November 2010, was a recommendation for a three-year freeze on basic non-combat military pay and allowances. Regular Military Compensation (excluding combat pay) for military personnel, which includes basic pay, basic allowances for housing and subsistence, and federal income tax advantages that accompany the allowances, is expected to grow by $9.2 billion from 2011 to 2015. A three-year freeze at 2011 levels for these compensation categories would save the federal government $7.6 billion in compensation and tax expenditures, as well as another $1.6 billion in reduced retirement accrual, totaling $9.2 billion in discretionary savings by 2015. However, as noted above, the NCFRR's report was merely a draft, and a military pay freeze was just one of several dozen potential items offered to achieve the goal of saving $200 billion in federal expenditures through 2015. Any such proposal, even if considered, would still have to overcome several hurdles before being enacted, including approval by 14 of the 18 commissioners who comprise the NCFRR and subsequent approval by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. In December 2010, Congress approved President Obama's recommended 1.4% pay increase for military personnel, while President Obama announced that he would freeze for two years the salaries of all other federal government workers. As for presidential compensation (which is currently set at $400,000 per year, with a $50,000 expense allowance), the salary of the President of the United States is established by Congress, so a president cannot technically "cut his own pay" (although he might opt to decline some or all of his salary or donate it to charity). Members of Congress could vote to decrease their salaries (which are currently set at $174,000 per year), although they have already voted to decline their cost-of-living pay increases in 2009 and again in 2010. Last updated: 13 January 2011 Pincus, Walter. "House Approves Defense Bill with Lower Pay Raise for Military." The Washington Post. 18 December 2010. Vinch, Chuck. "Panel Calls for 3-Year Freeze on Military Pay." Army Times. 11 November 2010. | 2 | [
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"1",
"2"
] | 2 |
FMD4344 | 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 Pat Sajak 'Leave Behind' a Net Worth That Made His Family Cry? Claim summaries: Pat Sajak's net worth was the subject of misleading online advertisements that made it appear that the "Wheel of Fortune" game show host had died.
contextual information: In February 2021, Pat Sajak's net worth became the subject of a misleading online advertisement. Sajak is, of course, well known as the host of the game show "Wheel of Fortune" since the early 1980s. The ad claimed, "Pat Sajak's Net Worth Left His Family in Tears," and the accompanying picture was of Sajak captured at a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game in 2018. Another ad displayed on the same page reported similar claims about former "Family Matters" actor Jaleel White, who portrayed the nosy neighbor Steve Urkel on the sitcom. A second, similar ad stated, "At Age 73, Pat Sajak Leaves Behind a Net Worth That Will Boggle Your Mind," accompanied by a picture taken in 2007. However, there is no indication that Pat Sajak's net worth has left anyone in tears or with a "boggled" mind. Furthermore, the "Wheel of Fortune" game show host was still alive at the time these advertisements appeared. Pat Sajak was not the first celebrity to be the subject of a misleading net worth advertisement. In fact, he wasn't even the first game show host featured in one of the "net worth left his family in tears" ads. We previously reported on a similar story for the late "Jeopardy" game show host Alex Trebek. Other celebrities whose names and likenesses have been used in such misleading ads include Pierce Brosnan, Chuck Norris, Richard Gere, Clint Eastwood, and Sean Connery. Trebek and Connery both died in 2020, but the claims about their net worths leaving their families "in tears" were nothing more than a ploy by advertisers. Readers who clicked on the net worth ads for Pat Sajak were led to a 233-page slideshow article in which Sajak didn't appear until page 94. Pat Sajak, EST. $65 MILLION Television personality and talk show host Pat Sajak was born on October 26, 1946, in Chicago. While serving in the U.S. Army, he also hosted a musical show on American Forces Radio during the Vietnam War. After the war, Sajak anchored a five-minute newscast and served as a substitute weatherman at NBC. Many know him now as the host of the long-running television game show "Wheel of Fortune." Pat Sajak is reportedly worth $65 million. Interestingly enough, Sajak shared that he grew up practically dirt poor, with his parents, who eventually separated when he was young, being unable to afford even the most trivial items. He started as a DJ and soon became a weatherman for KNBC-TV. In 1981, he was invited to host the television game show "Wheel of Fortune," and Sajak has been hosting it ever since. There has been no shortage of these strange net worth advertisements online. It's likely that misleading ads will continue to be displayed for other celebrities in the future, dead or alive. 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 many pages. This practice is called advertising "arbitrage." The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it costs to show the initial ad that lured viewers 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. | 0 | [
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FMD4345 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in Austria from 2019, the country s supreme court ruled on Tuesday and said a law to the contrary violated the principle of non-discrimination. The move brings Austria into line with many other European nations including Germany, France, Britain and Spain. It also comes at a time when stories of sexual harassment under the #MeToo hashtag have flooded social media, sparking a rethink of attitudes towards sexual discrimination. Today is a truly historic day, said lawyer Helmut Graupner, who represented the two female plaintiffs in court. Austria is the first European country to recognize marriage equality for same-gender couples as a fundamental human right. All the other European states with marriage equality introduced it (just) the political way, he said in a Facebook post. Austria s constitutional court examined a 2009 law that allows registered partnerships for same-sex couples but prevents them from getting married. It acted at the request of two women who were rejected by two lower authorities. The distinction between marriage and registered partnership can no longer be upheld without discriminating against same-sex couples, the court said in a statement. The resulting discriminatory effect is seen in the fact that ... people living in same-sex partnerships have to disclose their sexual orientation even in situations, in which it is not and must not be relevant, and ... are highly likely to be discriminated against, the court said in its ruling. The conservative People s Party (OVP), who s leader Sebastian Kurz is expected to be sworn in as chancellor next month, said it will accept the ruling. The far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Kurz s chosen government coalition partner criticized the ruling. Now there is equal treatment for something that s not equal, said Herbert Kickl, FPO General Secretary, in a statement. A marriage between women and men needs protection as only these partnerships can create children, he said. The OVP and the FPO voted against same-sex marriage in parliament a few months ago. The court decision comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a plan to curb violence against women and weeks after Scotland apologized to gay men for historical convictions. The Homosexual Initiative Vienna (HOSI) welcomed the court s decision. We are very happy, said HOSI chairman Christian Hoegl. We want to use the opportunity for a renewed call for a fundamental reform of marriage. Same-sex marriage is legal in 25 countries. Australia aims to pass a law to this effect early next month after 62 percent of voters favored marriage equality in a national survey. In Germany, women and men are allowed to wed to a same sex partner since October. The first country to legalize same-sex marriage was the Netherlands in 2001. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4346 | 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: Poison Pill Amendment Claim summaries: Poison pill amendment inserted into Health Care Bill by Senator Reid makes proposed bill unamendable if passed.
contextual information: Claim: "Poison pill" amendment inserted into Health Care Bill by Senator Reid makes proposed bill unamendable if passed. false Example: [Collected via e-mail, March 2010] The impudent tyranny of Sen. Harry Reid Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is proving once again the maxim that darkness hates the light. Buried in his massive amendment to the Senate version of Obamacare is Reid's anti-democratic poison pill designed to prevent any future Congress from repealing the central feature of this monstrous legislation! Beginning on page 1,000 of the measure, Section 3403 reads in part: ". it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection." In other words, if President Barack Obama signs this measure into law, no future Senate or House will be able to change a single word of Section 3403, regardless whether future Americans or their representatives in Congress wish otherwise!! [Rest of article here.] here Origins: The gist of this piece, a reproduction of a Washington Examiner editorial, is that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada furtively slipped language into a health care reform bill which would absolutely prevent Congress from ever modifying or repealing the section of the bill to which it applied. Although the language cited does appear in the bill, it has been quoted out of context and its applicability has been exaggerated. editorial It is true that beginning on page 1,001 of the referenced measure, Section 3403 reads in part: '... it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.'" However, that sentence fragment is a misleading, selective excerpt which doesn't provide the full context. The passage reads, in full: measure (A) IN GENERAL It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, or amendment, pursuant to this subsection or conference report thereon, that fails to satisfy the requirements of subparagraphs (A)(i) and (C) of subsection (c)(2). (B) LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO THE BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS IN OTHER LEGISLATION It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report (other than pursuant to this section) that would repeal or otherwise change the recommendations of the Board if that change would fail to satisfy the requirements of subparagraphs (A)(i) and (C) of subsection (c)(2). (C) LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO THIS SUBSECTION. It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection. What that means, in effect, is that Congress may not make modifications to the referenced section if such modifications do not meet criteria specified elsewhere ["subparagraphs (A)(i) and (C) of subsection (c)(2)"] in the measure. Those criteria are: (A) REQUIREMENTS. Each proposal submitted under this section in a proposal year shall meet each of the following requirements:(i) If the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made a determination under paragraph (7)(A) in the determination year, the proposal shall include recommendations so that the proposal as a whole (after taking into account recommendations under clause (v)) will result in a net reduction in total Medicare program spending in the implementation year that is at least equal to the applicable savings target established under paragraph (7)(B) for such implementation year. In determining whether a proposal meets the requirement of the preceding sentence, reductions in Medicare program spending during the 3-month period immediately preceding the implementation year shall be counted to the extent that such reductions are a result of the implementation of recommendations contained in the proposal for a change in the payment rate for an item or service that was effective during such period pursuant to subsection (e)(2)(A). (C) NO INCREASE IN TOTAL MEDICARE PROGRAM SPENDING. Each proposal submitted under this section shall be designed in such a manner that implementation of the recommendations contained in the proposal would not be expected to result, over the 10-year period starting with the implementation year, in any increase in the total amount of net Medicare program spending relative to the total amount of net Medicare program spending that would have occurred absent such implementation. In other words, these prolix passages do not absolutely bar any changes to the measure; they're simply protections that prohibit Congress from enacting modifications to the referenced section that would create an increase in net Medicare program spending or cause it to go over budget. Moreover, page 1002 specifically states that such protections may be waived by a three-fifths vote of the Senate: (D) WAIVER. This paragraph may be waived or suspended in the Senate only by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. (E) APPEALS. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required in the Senate to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under this paragraph. Last updated: 22 March 2010 | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD4347 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: European powers are announcing new ultimatums to the authorities of Venezuela. For example, Emmanuel Macron is demanding Maduro to call new elections and leave the office. The current President of France has a popular rating of 28 %. And the numbers of people who are protesting his policies in the streets are no smaller than in Venezuela. According to this logic, Marine Le Pen could also proclaim herself the president. | 0 | [
"0",
"1",
"2"
] | 0 |
FMD4348 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Atlanta NAACP is totally over the top on this demand: Those guys need to go. They can be sand-blasted off, or somebody could carefully remove a slab of that and auction it off to the highest bidder, said NAACP Atlanta branch President Richard Rose.The Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called Monday for the removal of the 90- by 190-foot carving of three Confederate leaders, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, from the side of Stone Mountain, television station WSB reported Tuesday. Those guys need to go. They can be sand-blasted off, or somebody could carefully remove a slab of that and auction it off to the highest bidder, NAACP Atlanta branch President Richard Rose told WSB: Stone Mountain Park is a state park of Georgia about 30 minutes outside Atlanta and the sculpture in question is part of what s described as the largest high relief sculpture in the world. The sculpture was dedicated by Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1970 and finished in 1972.A spokesman for Stone Mountain Park told WSB any change or removal of the monument is up to the Georgia legislature.The call for the massive carving s removal comes on the heels of the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds in South Carolina. The legislature voted to remove the flag after a 21-year-old white supremacist, who was repeatedly photographed posing with the Confederate flag, was charged with killing nine worshippers at one of the state s oldest black churches.VIA: TPM | 0 | [
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FMD4349 | 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: Might the ongoing Supreme Court case lead to a more powerful presidential pardon? Claim summaries: Gamble v. United States concerns a felon who was arrested for possession of a firearm. It could also have significant bearing on the Presidents much vaunted pardon power.
contextual information: This article discussed the potential implications of a case that was, at the time of writing, undecided by the Supreme Court. On 17 June 2019 the Supreme Court decided that case, rejecting arguments that could have resulted in a stronger presidential pardon. Far from Kavanaugh's being a deciding vote on the case, the court ruled 7-2 against the notion that Federal and State prosecution for the same crime violates the so-called double jeopardy clause of the Constitution. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented. decided On 29 November 2015, a motorist named Terance Gamble, who had been convicted of second degree robbery seven years earlier, was pulled over by an Alabama police officer because of a faulty headlight on his vehicle. Upon searching the car, the officer found a handgun, among other items. It is illegal under both Alabama law and United States law for convicted felons to possess firearms, and Gamble was eventually sentenced to one year in prison on that charge by the state of Alabama. Terance Gamble During Gamble's prosecution under Alabama law for possession of a firearm as a felon, the Federal Government also charged him with the same crime. Gambles lawyers argued that this second conviction was a violation of the U.S. Constitutions ban on double jeopardy, which is intended to protect people from being prosecuted for the same crime more than once. The double jeopardy clause is found in Fifth Amendment to the U.S. constitution, which states (in part) that "No person shall ... be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. Specifically, the clause has been interpreted to be a prohibition on: interpreted Gamble has been in federal prison since entering a guilty plea on 18 October 2016 that allowed him to appeal his case. In June 2018, the Supreme Court agreed to hear his argument that he has been unconstitutionally punished multiple times for the same crime. While the case is about the constitutionality of a man being charged twice for the same gun possession incident in a narrow sense, the case more broadly has the potential to significantly alter 150 years of Supreme Court precedent. Since the 1850s, the Supreme Court has allowed for one explicit exception to the Constitutions double jeopardy protections: cases of dual sovereignty (or separate sovereigns) which stem from view that the federal government and state governments are distinct entities with occasionally overlapping jurisdictions. (Exceptions to this exception exist which seek to limit double prosecutions at the federal level, but as this case shows they do not always have that effect.) federal level, This separate sovereigns exception to double jeopardy, though built on several previous rulings, was made most explicit in a 1920s bootlegging case, United States v. Lanza, which allowed a man to be charged with bootlegging crimes by both the state of Washington and the federal government. With respect to that case, Chief Justice William Howard Taft argued: United States v. Lanza We have here two sovereignties, deriving power from different sources, capable of dealing with the same subject matter within the same territory. Each may, without interference by the other, enact laws to secure prohibition, with the limitation that no legislation can give validity to acts prohibited by the amendment. Each government, in determining what shall be an offense against its peace and dignity, is exercising its own sovereignty, not that of the other. The separate sovereigns exemption has for much of its history been a controversial precedent which critics maintain is not rooted in the original text of the Constitution but is instead cobbled together from different partially relevant Supreme Court decisions -- decisions rooted in a time when the federal government was less powerful and whose questions never directly sought to address the explicit matter of double punishment for the same crime in state and federal jurisdictions. This argument is reflected in Gambles filing. filing The government argues in this case that the precedent is well-established through myriad Supreme Court cases and consistent with the Founding Fathers' vision of state and federal government duality: The dual-sovereignty principle has been long held, and consistently endorsed by this Court, which has recognized its soundness as a matter of [p]recedent, experience, and reason alike, The Court explained the roots of the principle more than 150 years ago. And in 1959, the Court described a challenge to the dual-sovereignty doctrine as not a new question, having been invoked and rejected in over twenty cases" ... Each sovereign is entitled to exercis[e] its own sovereignty to determin[e] what shall be an offense against its peace and dignity and prosecute the offender without interference by the other. Under petitioners interpretation of the Double Jeopardy Clause, one sovereigns efforts (successful or not) to enforce its own laws would vitiate the other sovereigns similar law-enforcement prerogatives. But that cannot be squared with the Constitutions bedrock structure of governance. In this case, Gamble has explicitly asked the Supreme Court to rule on a single specific question: Whether the Court should overrule the separate sovereigns exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause. The reason Gamble v. United States is generating buzz from people other than constitutional law scholars is that the separate sovereigns exception also prevents President Trump from pardoning people for state crimes. Under current Supreme Court precedent, a presidential pardon of an individual does not prevent that individual from being prosecuted for the same or similar crimes under state law. Under the dual sovereignty doctrine, Adam J. Adler wrote in the Yale Law Review, as long as two offenses are defined by different jurisdictions, they cannot constitute the same offense. wrote The Congressional Research Service issued an August 2018 report on the potential ramifications of the case, and this report included a discussion of its possible effect on the presidential pardon power: report The Gamble case may nevertheless have significant collateral legal effects ... A win for Gamble could also indirectly strengthen the Presidents pardon power, by precluding a state from prosecuting an already-pardoned defendant who has gone to trial on an overlapping offense. Some pundits have speculated that the reason why certain politicians seem to be in a rush to seat Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is that is that he has a notably strong view of presidential powers and therefore would be a vote in favor of Gamble and for an expansion of presidential pardon powers -- and the Supreme Court announced they would be hearing this case the day after Justice Kennedys retirement. This temporal proximity has prompted some commenters to opine that the rush might be motivated by a desire to limit the presidents legal liability in the Russia probe and other investigations: strong view day after While we cannot speculate on the motives of politicians who are supporting Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, The Atlantic reported that prominent political legal scholars agree in a general sense with the view of this cases having importance with regard to President Trumps pardon power: reported Within the context of the Mueller probe, legal observers have seen the dual-sovereignty doctrine as a check on President Donald Trumps power: It could discourage him from trying to shut down the Mueller investigation or pardon anyone caught up in the probe, because the pardon wouldnt be applied to state charges. Under settled law, if Trump were to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, for example -- he was convicted in federal court on eight counts of tax and bank fraud -- both New York and Virginia state prosecutors could still charge him for any crimes that violated their respective laws ... If the dual-sovereignty doctrine were tossed ... then Trumps pardon could theoretically protect Manafort from state action. If Trump were to shut down the investigation or pardon his associates, the escape hatch, then, is for cases to be farmed out or picked up by state-level attorneys general, who cannot be shut down by Trump and who generally -- but with some existing limits --can charge state crimes even after a federal pardon, explained Elie Honig, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey. The Atlantic also reported that at least one member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who approved Kavanaugh for a floor vote before the full Senate, Orrin Hatch, has publicly weighed in on the topic (unmotivated, he says, by the implications for the pardon power), filing an Amicus Curiae brief in favor of Gamble which argued that the pervasive federalization of criminal law to cover conduct that traditionally was prosecuted and punished by the states, and that falls within the states core legislative interests, threatens to undermine the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause unless the dual sovereignty doctrine is overruled in this context. Amicus Curiae Oral arguments for the case have not been scheduled but will occur during this Supreme Court term. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh could become a deciding vote in the case. Supreme Court of the United States. Brief for Petitioner (No. 17-646)."
24 October 2017. Cornell Legal Information Institute. Double Jeopardy."
Accessed 3 October 2018. U.S. Department of Justice. 9-2.031 - Dual and Successive Prosecution Policy ("Petite Policy")."
Accessed 3 October 2018. Supreme Court of the United States. United States v. Lanza, 260 U.S. 377."
11 December 1922. Supreme Court of the United States. Brief for the United States in Opposition (No. 17-646)."
16 January 2018. Adler, Adam J. "Dual Sovereignty, Due Process, and Duplicative Punishment: A New Solution to an Old Problem."
Yale Law Journal. November 2014. Hsin, S. "When Does Double Prosecution Count as Double Jeopardy?"
Congressional Research Service. 16 August 2018. Kirby, Jen. "7 Legal Experts on How Kavanaugh Views Executive Power And What It Could Mean for Mueller."
Vox. 11 July 2018. Vazquez, Maegan. "Supreme Court Agrees to Hear 'Double Jeopardy' Case in the Fall."
CNN. 22 June 2018. Bertrand, Natasha. "A Supreme Court Case Could Liberate Trump to Pardon His Associates."
The Atlantic. 25 September 2018 Supreme Court of the United States. Brief of Senator Orrin Hatch as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner (No. 17-646)."
11 September 2018. Updated [17 June 2019]: Added note that the Supreme Court ruled on this case. | 1 | [
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FMD4350 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Federal corruption charges were announced on Thursday against two former close aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a senior state official and six other people, in a blow to the governor’s innermost circle and a repudiation of the way his prized upstate economic development programs were managed. The charges against the former aides, Joseph Percoco and Todd R. Howe, and the state official, Alain Kaloyeros, were the culmination of a federal investigation into the Cuomo administration’s efforts to lure jobs and businesses to upstate New York’s limping economy by furnishing billions of dollars in state funds to developers from Buffalo to Albany. In doing so, says a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, Mr. Percoco and Mr. Howe sought to enrich themselves through bribes, using their positions to help particular companies receive “hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts and other official state benefits. †The charges mark the second major inquiry of the Cuomo administration by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan eight months ago, after investigating Mr. Cuomo’s handling of an anticorruption panel that he had created and abruptly shut down, Mr. Bharara said there was “insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime. †At a news conference at which he announced the charges, Mr. Bharara was asked if he would essentially give Mr. Cuomo a “clean bill of health†again. “There are no allegations of any wrongdoing or misconduct by the governor, anywhere in this complaint,†Mr. Bharara replied. “That’s all I’m going to say. †If the charges did not hit Mr. Cuomo directly, they did hit him in a peripheral and personal manner: Mr. Percoco and Mr. Howe were both loyalists of Mr. Cuomo and his father, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, for whom they had also worked. Andrew Cuomo once referred to Mr. Percoco as “my father’s third son, who I sometimes think he loved the most. †Mr. Cuomo had also spoken highly of Dr. Kaloyeros, depicting him as a visionary in the field of nanotechnology, which Mr. Cuomo has heralded as a potential boon for the state economy. Mr. Bharara’s office and F. B. I. agents in Buffalo had been examining whether state officials awarded lucrative projects to a few favored developers who had donated to the political campaigns of Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat. One major area of interest was the administration’s plan to inject $1 billion in state funds into factories, research facilities and other projects, known together as the Buffalo Billion. The resulting investigation yielded a rich narrative of three trusted counselors to Mr. Cuomo conspiring to help the favored contractors, rigging bids and doling out other favorable treatment. The complaint also portrayed the defendants as trying to conceal the schemes, sometimes in unusual ways. In emails and other correspondence, Mr. Percoco and Mr. Howe referred to bribe money as “ziti,†a term used in “The Sopranos,†the complaint says. Mr. Percoco, Mr. Howe and others also called one another “Herb†as a term of endearment, while discussing the arrangement. Mr. Bharara said at a news conference on Thursday that he hoped the case would go to trial “so that all New Yorkers can see, in gory detail, what their state government has been up to. †Mr. Percoco, who had served as Mr. Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary, is accused of soliciting and taking more than $315, 000 in bribes from 2012 to 2016 from two companies: Competitive Power Ventures, an energy company that was seeking state approval to build a power plant in the Hudson Valley, and COR Development, a major developer in the Syracuse area that ended up with several large economic development projects. The bribes were arranged by Mr. Howe, who counted both companies among his clients, the complaint said. Mr. Howe is cooperating with the investigation, prosecutors said, and pleaded guilty this week to extortion, wire fraud and related conspiracy charges. His lawyer, Richard J. Morvillo, would say only that his client “has accepted responsibility for his actions and will testify truthfully if called upon. †In one instance cited in the complaint, prosecutors say Mr. Howe sent an email to Dr. Kaloyeros saying he had “vitals for Buffalo and Syracuse friends. †He was working with a prominent corporate donor, LPCiminelli, a builder based in Buffalo, to create a request for proposals that effectively made LPCiminelli the only eligible bidder. Neither the energy company nor the developers in Buffalo and Syracuse are named in the complaint, but several defendants charged are among the companies’ top officials. They include Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr. who oversaw lobbying and public relations for Competitive Power Ventures, which is based in Maryland and Massachusetts Steven Aiello, the president of COR Development and Joseph Gerardi, another executive at COR. The complaint also charges Louis Ciminelli, the founder of LPCiminelli and Michael Laipple and Kevin Schuler, two other LPCiminelli executives. Mr. Kelly is accused of offering and paying Mr. Percoco more than $287, 000 in bribes in exchange for Mr. Percoco’s help. The payments were made to Lisa Mr. Percoco’s wife, who was ostensibly employed as a consultant to Competitive Power Ventures’s educational outreach arm starting in 2012. Competitive Power Ventures wanted Mr. Percoco’s help obtaining a state contract worth approximately $100 million to finance its power plant in the Hudson Valley, as well as millions of dollars in energy credits for a power plant it was building in New Jersey. The COR executives, Mr. Aiello and Mr. Gerardi, were accused of giving Mr. Percoco about $35, 000 in bribes to use his position in the governor’s office to promote the company’s economic development projects. According to the complaint, they sought Mr. Percoco’s help in reversing a decision by the state’s economic development agency that would have forced COR — Mr. Cuomo’s largest donor in central New York — to make an expensive labor peace agreement pushing the state to release payments that it owed to COR and getting a $5, 000 raise for Mr. Aiello’s son, who worked for Mr. Percoco at the governor’s office. The charges in the complaint included bribery, extortion under color of official right, and wire fraud and honest services fraud conspiracies. The defendants appeared in federal courts in Manhattan, Syracuse and Buffalo on Thursday and were ordered released on bond. The expected charges against Mr. Percoco were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Percoco’s lawyer, Barry A. Bohrer, characterized the prosecution as “an overreach of classic proportions,†adding that a Supreme Court decision in June that overturned the corruption conviction of former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia established that his client’s conduct was lawful. “Mr. Percoco performed services honestly and within the bounds of the law at all times,†Mr. Bohrer said. A lawyer for Mr. Aiello and Mr. Gerardi declined to comment. Mr. Kelly’s lawyer, Daniel M. Gitner, said his client was innocent and “will be exonerated. †LPCiminelli, citing its three executives named in the complaint, said it was “confident that all company officials acted appropriately and legally†and would be vindicated. Virtually all the projects were shaped under the umbrella of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute and its subsidiaries. The institute is headed by Dr. Kaloyeros, a physicist who has become something of an economic development guru in Albany. Dr. Kaloyeros had been given free rein by Mr. Cuomo to conceive of economic development projects that could create jobs across the state. Michael C. Miller, a lawyer for Dr. Kaloyeros, said his client was innocent and “looks forward to being exonerated. †Dr. Kaloyeros also was hit with separate charges on Thursday filed by the New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman. Dr. Kaloyeros and Joseph Nicolla of Columbia Development, an firm, were accused of colluding to make sure Columbia was awarded contracts to build multiple SUNY Polytechnic projects. Mr. Cuomo said Dr. Kaloyeros had been suspended without pay. When news of the investigation into the governor’s former aides broke in April, his office quickly cut ties to both men and ordered its own internal investigation. The results of that inquiry have not been released. Mr. Cuomo said in a statement on Thursday that if the allegations were true, he would be “saddened and profoundly disappointed. †“I hold my administration to the highest level of integrity. I have zero tolerance for abuse of the public trust from anyone,†he said. “If anything, a friend should be held to an even higher standard. †| 1 | [
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FMD4351 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: No Wall Street firm is set to do better under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump than Goldman Sachs Group Inc. But the selection of several current and former Goldman bankers to high-profile positions in his administration could reignite flames of resentment against the bank, and the Wall Street elite it represents, which Trump himself fanned during his campaign. Goldman’s shares have jumped by nearly a third since Trump’s Nov. 8 election victory, outpacing gains by rivals, as investors bet on a resurgence in trading stocks and bonds due to increased volatility, and the prospect of less onerous financial regulation. But Trump’s selection of Steve Bannon as chief White House strategist and Steven Mnuchin as his nominee for Treasury secretary | 1 | [
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FMD4352 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Eric Zuesse Off GuardianEven for the post of U.S. President, the preferences of the American people have only a marginal, if any, impact upon the selection of the person to occupy that post.In Colorado s Republican race to win delegates to the Republican National Convention for selecting the Republican Presidential nominee, there was no primary, and there was no caucus.As the Republican magazine National Review headlined on April 11th, attempting to justify what a Republican wag had just headlined as Cruz Celebrates Voterless Win : Donald Trump Laid a Colorado Goose Egg because He Was Disorganized and Amateurish. Their argument (since they campaign for any Republican but Trump) was: he lost because he was disorganized and amateurish not because he had been cheated by the Party-hierarchy.National Review explained that in the process which had been set up by the Colorado Republican Party (it s set up by each individual state s Republican Party, not by the National Republican Party), delegates to the national convention would be selected at congressional-district conventions and the Republican s [sic] state convention , and this was done in order to give Colorado s delegates more flexibility, not done in order to require delegates to reflect the Republican (or any other) electorate in Colorado (since NR doesn t like even its own Party s electorate).This was the explanation that was provided by that magazine, which backs Cruz, and which has been campaigning ferociously against Trump. Their article was built upon, and extensively quoted, the justifications put forth by one particular Cruz delegate, who said, The grassroots made the decision that Ted Cruz was the best candidate for us, and the grassroots made the decision to come out for Cruz and absolutely swept the table. He called it our caucus system. Whatever it was, it shut out all rank-and-file Republican voters, and left everything to people like himself, who could afford to do this: You have to put in the work, you have to put in the effort, and you have to do it months ahead of time. In other words: only Republican Party activists in Colorado could participate in selecting the delegates who would participate in selecting the Republican nominee. No one else was allowed to. Their conception of the Colorado Republican Party is that it s only the Party s activists; and, if you re not a Republican activist, you have no say.It s as if to say:Only people who work in the government can have a say in how the government is to be run. It s for insiders only and, of course, indirectly it s for whomever pays those insiders and so enables them to put in the work to participate.National Public Radio had a different take on this matter. Steve Inskeep headlined there GOP Delegate: Trump Primary Wins Absolutely Irrelevant At Convention. He interviewed Curly Haughland, a member of the Republican National Committee who lives in North Dakota, and who said: No matter what the popular belief might be, there is no connection between primaries and the actual convention. Well, that s putting it rather bluntly. Haughland also said: Cited the GOP s convention Rules 37 and 38. He interprets these convoluted rules to mean that delegates may vote their conscience. The rules do not explicitly say this. Rule 37 is a detailed explanation of the procedure for roll-call votes. However, Rule 38 does say that no delegate may be bound by the unit rule, meaning that delegates from a state can t all be forced to vote the same way. Another of Haughland s points is indisputable: When the convention convenes, he said, the delegates adopt their own rules, which haven t been adopted yet. There is a standard template for conventions, but delegates could tweak the template, changing the game in any way that they want. In other words: the National Republican Committee says that all of the delegates to the Republican National Convention are allowed to tweak the template, changing the game in any way that they want. So: the delegates at that Convention won t actually be representing anyone but themselves there. They are entirely free to push for anyone whom they personally want to win the Republican U.S. Presidential nomination.They re not bound, not even on the first ballot. They might pretend to be, if they feel a need to put on a show that looks democratic , but any who don t feel the need to make such a pretense, can do whatever they want on the first ballot, just like on any successive ballot. They are free; all of them are free. It s only the electorate who aren t they re not represented, at all.What about on the Democratic side? Wyoming had held its Democratic Party caucuses on April 9, and there really were caucuses. Two days later, CNN headlined Wyoming Democratic Caucuses: Bernie Sanders Picks Up Another Win , and reported: Bernie Sanders won the Wyoming Democratic caucuses Saturday, providing his campaign with one more jolt of momentum before the race against Hillary Clinton heads east. Even so, he made no gains in Clinton s delegate lead, as each earned seven delegates as a result. On April 12th a youtube video was posted, MSNBC Morning Host Admits The Whole Voting System Is Rigged After Bernie Get s Cheated! Here the co-hosts had a conversation about the results: Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by twelve points, 56 to 44, He wins by twelve points. The accompanying image showed the delegate-count, in this contest that Sanders had won by 56% to 44%: 18 total. Hillary Clinton 11, Bernie Sanders 7. It wasn t 7 to 7, after all.Though Sanders had outscored Clinton by 12%, it was worse than even-steven for him; he had actually lost by 11 delegates to 7 delegates. This system is so rigged! said one host. There s absolutely no reason any of those people voted, said the other.A Hillary Clinton supporter was the expert on the panel, and he said, It s not rigged. These are the rules. He wasn t given time to explain that fine point or how the rules were necessarily not rigged. Also on April 12th, Public Radio International s Todd Zwillich headlined (falsely), Six Reasons Bernie Sanders Won Wyoming, But Still Tied in the Delegate Race , and Zwillig failed to explain that word Tied. He opened: How, many of you ask, could Bernie have won Wyoming 56 percent to Hillary s 44 percent, but still split the delegates with her 50-50? Then, he repeated that there had supposedly been The 7-7 split, but he also said Wyoming has a total of 18 delegates (which obviously isn tthe sum of 7+7) and he was also likewise incoherent, all the way through.Maybe the rules in the Wyoming Democratic Party are like that; but, whatever they are, is so convoluted, America s news-media couldn t explain what they were, much less were they able to argue persuasively that this was somehow a democracy.The only thing that s clear is that the electoral system in the United States is so convoluted, so complex and so different from state to state and party to party, that whatever the intent of the writers of America s Constitution might have been, the system as it is today, can be successfully gamed and won only by interests who can afford to spend whatever billions of dollars are necessary in order to win. It s certainly anything but democratic.Right now, according to RealClear Politics, there are only two Presidential candidates who are shown repeatedly, and almost consistently, to be preferred by the majority of the U.S. electorate: the Democrat Bernie Sanders is strongly preferred over the Republicans Trump and Cruz, and he is barely preferred over the Republican Kasich; and the Republican Kasich is strongly preferred over the Democrat Clinton. (Clinton loses strongly to Kasich and barely beats Cruz, while Trump is the weakest general-election candidate of all.)The strongest general-election candidates are, clearly, Sanders in the Democratic Party, and Kasich in the Republican Party. In a democracy, those would be the candidates. Throughout the contest thus far, neither of these two has been favored likely to win his respective Party s nomination, much less the Presidency.Whatever America is, it isn t a democracy a one-person-one-vote majority-rule republic. In fact, the only scientific study that has ever been done of the U.S. political system, finds that it s no democracy at all, but instead an oligarchy, a nation ruled by its aristocracy, its billionaires.It represents them, not the citizenry. That might not be the theory, but empirically it is the fact. An oligarchy is the commonest type of dictatorship, and it certainly is never a benevolent dictatorship, even if that phrase is not an oxymoron in itself.To sum up: the U.S. is ruled by and for the corrupters. It has been like that since at least 1980.***Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.READ MORE US ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Election Files | 0 | [
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FMD4353 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Pity the poor billionaires who are about to take the oath of office. For them, everything is going to change. In winning the presidency, Donald J. Trump proposed a grand hypothesis: that the federal government can be managed like a business. “If we could run our country the way I’ve run my company, we would have a country that you would be so proud of,†he told voters in the final presidential debate. It’s a theory that has been suggested, to various degrees, by almost every president in the last century, from Calvin Coolidge to Barack Obama. What’s different this time is the vigorousness of the experiment. With his inauguration on Friday, and a cabinet that is likely to include three billionaires, five former chief executives and some of the business world’s most accomplished leaders, Mr. Trump is poised to test, perhaps once and for all, if good governance and crafty deal making are really similar skills. But, as anyone who has spent time in a laboratory can attest, experiments are messy. Separating the signals from the noise takes diligence. And in this case, so much will depend on the savviness of those woeful billionaires who had it so good, and now will be guinea pigs thrust into a maze that has overwhelmed so many test subjects before them. “Running an agency is very, very different from running a company,†said Carlos M. Gutierrez, who was commerce secretary under George W. Bush after serving as chief executive of Kellogg’s. “Some of the skills do transfer, but you have to be careful figuring out which ones. In government, you can’t fire anyone. Your board of directors is 535 people in Congress, and half of them want to see you fail. †One of the first challenges will be figuring out what “business leadership†means when so many of capitalism’s tools — firing misbehaving employees giving raises to those who overperform — aren’t allowed by federal rules. “C. E. O.s who come in saying, ‘I’m going to show everyone how it’s done,’ are the ones most likely to fail,†Mr. Gutierrez said. One problem has always been that while the business world rewards leaders for an intense focus on a singular goal — maximizing profits as efficiently as possible — government yearns for the opposite: pleasing the largest number of people with methods that offend the fewest. And while competition is usually a good thing within business, inside government, it’s often more corrosive, as the partisanship of the past decade demonstrates. “You succeed in Washington by collaborating,†said Henry M. Paulson Jr. who was widely lauded as Treasury secretary for Mr. Bush and, before that, as chief executive of Goldman Sachs. Businesspeople tend to see competition as a means to find the best solutions, a sorting device that pushes the smartest ideas ahead. But many of the trickiest government issues, like immigration or tax reform, involve dozens of agencies, as well as lawmakers and lobbyists, who must be persuaded to cooperate. Intelligence in government is almost always a humble, group activity. “You can’t just think about your own agency, or your own goals,†Mr. Paulson said. “You have to please both sides of the aisle, while making sure you’re not outshining other officials, and persuading employees who don’t have to obey your orders. And you have to adjust to having a boss, the president, instead of being the boss. It takes a lot of humility. †Some of Mr. Trump’s picks might have an easier time making the transition than others. Rex W. Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil and the choice for secretary of state, is among the nominees who have spent their careers involved in the operations of complicated firms that span continents. “Tillerson has basically been a politician for the last 20 years he’s just been doing it for the nation of Exxon,†said Paul H. O’Neill, who became Treasury secretary during Mr. Bush’s first term after leading the aluminum company Alcoa. “He’s negotiated with foreign governments, he’s had more than 80, 000 employees. You don’t run a company that size by telling people what to do. You learn how to persuade them to follow your vision, to accommodate all kinds of different agendas and personalities. †Other cabinet secretaries have spent their careers mostly as investors, not as direct managers. Hedge fund and private equity professionals like Steven T. Mnuchin, likely to be the next Treasury secretary Betsy DeVos, who has been tapped as education secretary and Wilbur L. Ross, the expected commerce secretary, have largely devoted their lives to buying and selling companies. And so there are questions about how well they will make the shift to jobs that demand a focus on the smallest details of governance. Mr. Ross, whose confirmation hearing was held on Wednesday, presents a fascinating test subject. As an acquirer of steel mills, coal mines and other heavy industries, he has amassed a personal fortune worth billions. “Over the years, I’ve had businesses that actually operated in some 23 countries,†Mr. Ross said at the hearing. “We have been on the ground in all of the major trading partners of this country. †Usually, when Mr. Ross buys a new company, he follows a pretty successful script: He shows up, says a few words and then hands operations to professional managers who know how to run things — and who know he will fire them if they fail. However, when Mr. Ross takes the oath of office, that script will change. He will be whisked off to the executive wing of the Commerce Department and walked past long rows of barren offices. (The furniture of political appointees is removed during each presidential transition, and — spoiler alert — it often takes weeks for new desks and bookcases to arrive.) If he can find enough chairs, he might call a meeting of the few employees milling around (his deputies and key department heads need senatorial approval, which might take a few months). He will be handed dozens of binders explaining how his department does everything from monitor weather satellites to administer patents, and admonished to study up. (Congress loves humiliating cabinet members who haven’t done their homework, and explaining that you are an excellent delegator, alas, fails to impress on Capitol Hill.) If Mr. Ross hopes to fly to one of the department’s satellite offices, he will have to decide if he wants to complete the reams of paperwork needed to use his own jet, or go coach, as secretaries in previous administrations were encouraged. “Perception matters a lot in Washington,†said Karen G. Mills, who always flew in the cheap seats as administrator of the Small Business Administration after a career in finance left her with more than $40 million. “I did, however, try to avoid the middle seat. †If Mr. Ross is lucky, by the end of his first day, someone will have shown him where the bathrooms are. There’s a risk, however, that the agency’s permanent staff’s “No. 1 goal will be to find ways to sabotage each new cabinet secretary as soon as they walk through the door,†said Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker who was a campaign adviser to Mr. Trump. “All those bureaucrats overwhelmingly voted for Clinton. There won’t be any real cooperation until we change federal law so we can fire them. †Worst of all, though, is that at the end of his tenure, no matter how hard Mr. Ross works or how much he sacrifices, a large part of his success — as well as that of the other secretaries and this experiment as a whole — will be outside his control. Ultimately, the most important variable in testing this hypothesis will be Mr. Trump himself. What kind of management style will he adopt? Will he be an operator or a delegator? Will he change as president, or simply relocate and remain C. E. O. in chief? How a president behaves filters into the cabinet, and senior officials, no matter how talented or powerful they once were, become an appendage of their new boss — a hard demotion for any former master of the universe. If Mr. Trump can’t manage the presidency, then no one working for him is likely to succeed. And vice versa. So as this experiment unfolds before a captivated nation, pity Mr. Ross and all the poor billionaires. They are sacrificing themselves so that all of us might learn. And, in case they are wondering: The bathrooms are down the hall and around the corner. You’re responsible for replacing the toilet paper if you’ve used the last of the roll. | 1 | [
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FMD4354 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Simon Black Sovereign ManBelow is a short email that my friend Sam posted this morning to his Facebook page about his surprisingly positive experience with the US healthcare system.I thought it a fantastic read, and I wanted to pass it along to you:I had to run to the emergency room today for what may be a neurological issue. Dizziness, staggering, loss of balance, that kind of thing.I m in San Diego, one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I have no insurance. I figured I was screwed.But instead, the experience was unreal.I got seen immediately. I didn t even have time to sit down, they just whisked me into an examination room.The doctor and nurse were ON IT, and they took their time with the exam and consultation.The visit ultimately involved staying the whole day for observation, all kinds of tests, sedation and reversal, blood pressure check, a full blood panel work up (results tomorrow, yes TOMORROW keep your fingers crossed) and having both ears cleaned and flushed.The bill was a mere $374.63.Do I have some insane insurance plan? Nope.Am I being super-subsidized by the rest of America? Nope.Am I a privileged politician with a special bosses only healthcare plan? Don t make me laugh.It turns out that the care was for my dog, not for me. And we didn t go to a people hospital I obviously took my dog to an animal hospital.She and I are both biological machines, mammals made mostly of water (though she sheds more than I do).The only other real difference is that the government is regulating the hell out of healthcare for people, while (relatively speaking), leaving healthcare for animals alone.And that, my friends, is the reason Obamacare has flopped, and why your healthcare costs will keep going up.It s not greed. It s not the drug companies. It s not anything other than the application of government intervention in what should be a free market.Simon again.It s not exactly controversial these days to suggest that the US healthcare system is in bad shape.According to data collected by numerous independent agencies like the Institute of Medicine, Commonwealth Fund, and Kaiser Family Foundation, the US still ranks dead last among advanced economies in overall quality of its healthcare system.In fact, the US healthcare system has the worst record in the number of deaths caused by mistakes or inefficient care.And wait times in the US for urgent care and primary care visits rank lower than every other developed nation.Americans pay at least 50% more for healthcare in terms of annual spending than people in other advanced nations, yet they receive less care as measured by the number of doctor visits.Sure, it s great that there are fewer uninsured people than ever before in the US, but this is a measure of QUANTITY, not a measure of QUALITY.Undoubtedly the US is home to some of the finest medical professionals in the world.But they ve been buried under an expensive, over-regulated bureaucracy that continues to erode overall quality in the system.A 2015 report from the National Academy of Sciences summed it up by stating, For Americans, health care costs and expenditures are the highest in the world, yet health outcomes and care quality are below average by many measures. But instead of trying to understand WHY the system is so slow, bureaucratic, and expensive to begin with, politicians try to fix it by creating more regulations Continue this story at Sovereign ManREAD MORE OBAMACARE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Obamacare Files | 0 | [
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FMD4355 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The former Communist Party boss of one of China s most important cities, the southwestern megalopolis of Chongqing, has been expelled from the party and will be prosecuted for corruption, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday. Sun Zhengcai, a senior official once considered a contender for top leadership, had been party chief of the city until an abrupt announcement in July that he had been replaced by a rising political star close to President Xi Jinping. He was put under investigation later in July. | 1 | [
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FMD4356 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Finally! Remember when Senator Lyndsey Graham said he s very disappointed but said, we ll deal with her later. ? Well, they just dealt with Susan Rice Susan Rice and former CIA Director John Brennan have been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee for information related to the unmasking of the Trump campaign team and others Can you believe it? Will we finally have justice?We know that Susan Rice was a key player in this unmasking and John Brennan is as slippery as they come. Remember how he lied to Congress? Yes, these are the people we re dealing with. Let s hope they finally get to the bottom of SOMETHING The Washington Examiner reports:The House Intelligence Committee has issued seven subpoenas as part of its ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, including one seeking information about Obama s former national security adviser Susan Rice, and her activities related to intelligence documents that named members of the Trump campaign.The Journal s report said the intelligence-related subpoenas are to seek information on requests for the unmasking of names by Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan, and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power.Having subpoenas directed at former members of the intelligence committee could show that Republicans have strengthened their resolve to track down leaks from within the intelligence gathering agencies, such as the leak that described the contents of a phone call between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.Susan Rice has been a target on the unmasking for some time so this should be very interesting. Let the games begin!FLASHBACK: SUSAN RICE REFUSES TO TESTIFY: Susan Rice just announced she won t testify before the Senate on the Russian hacking.Senator Lyndsey Graham said he s very disappointed but said, we ll deal with her later. She gave a very flimsy excuse for not testifying via her lawyer:Rice considered the invitation a diversionary play to distract attention from the investigation into Russian election interference, including contacts between Trump allies and Russians during the campaign, the source said.That s ridiculous! Could it REALLY be that she doesn t want to testify under oath? Ya think!According to CNN, Barack Obama s national security adviser turned down a request from Sen. Lindsey Graham to participate in the hearing. Senator Whitehouse has informed us by letter (SEE BELOW) that he did not agree to Chairman Graham s invitation to Ambassador Rice, a significant departure from the bipartisan invitations extended to other witnesses, Rice s lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler wrote in a letter to Graham. Under these circumstances, Ambassador Rice respectfully declines Senator Graham s invitation to testify. Rice was the administration official who made the dozens of requests seeking to unmask the identities of Trump associates, which she said were for national security reasons and not politically motivated Read more: Daily Caller | 0 | [
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FMD4357 | 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 Eisenhower Warn About Political Parties Who Wanted to 'Abolish Social Security?' Claim summaries: President Eisenhower's warning about "a few Texas oil millionaires" became a popular retort during the Tea Party movement.
contextual information: One favorite tactic in political debate is to put words in the mouth of a respected elder statesman to make it appear he presciently anticipated some modern issue or political personality (and, naturally, took a stand that supported the viewpoint of whoever put those words in his mouth). Therefore, given the debates that arose in over President George W. Bush's efforts to alter the Social Security system, one would expect the appearance at that time of a fifty-year-old quote from a former President (and fellow Republican) labeling as "stupid" certain "Texas oil millionaires" who wanted "to abolish social security" to be a similar fabrication. See this claim we collected got in the Snopes inbox in 2005: President Dwight Eisenhower, Republican, uttered these words on November 8, 1954: "Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." In addition to being a war hero, a decent fellow, a moderate Republican before they began to go extinct, President Eisenhower apparently was also quite the prophet. Little George W. Bush was about 9 years old at the time ... Save for a few minor details, however, the quote from President Dwight D. Eisenhower cited in this message is in fact an accurate one. It wasn't something he uttered but rather something he wrote, and the version reproduced above omits Ike's reference to a specific Texas oil tycoon (H.L. Hunt), but it otherwise is taken verbatim from a letter President Eisenhower penned to his brother, Edgar Newton Eisenhower, on 8 November 1954: letter Now it is true that I believe this country is following a dangerous trend when it permits too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions. I oppose this in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one. But to attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it. The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution. This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon "moderation" in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid. A meme circulated in 2015 elided the reference to "Texas oil millionaires" and presented the quote as something aimed at the modern Tea Party: Politically, Ike was a classic small-government Republican. He was of the opinion that the federal government had grown too large at the expense of local and state authority since the advent of FDR's New Deal in the 1930's, a situation exacerbated by the national emergency produced due to America's entry into World War II. Since the Depression and the war were over by the time Eisenhower took office in 1953, Ike felt it was time to return to a "middle way" that included pruning federal subsidies to industries such as agriculture and power companies, which he believed no longer needed government assistance. At the same time, he wanted to sustain and even increase funding for programs he thought had good track records, and Social Security was paramount among those programs. Cummings, Jeanne. "Gingrich Out to Save America." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 16 January 1994 (p. G1). | 1 | [
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FMD4358 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Was there a fee for Black Lives Matter on the Kroger receipt? Claim summaries: An altered receipt misled some viewers on social media.
contextual information: In late July 2020, Snopes readers inquired about an image circulating on social media that led some to believe the grocery chain Kroger was collecting money for the Black Lives Matter movement from its customers. Black Lives Matter is a national racial justice movement that originated in the 2010s in response to police killings and violence against Black Americans. After Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation in the spring of 2020, Kroger announced that through its charitable foundation, it would create a $5 million fund "to improve social diversity, equity, and inclusion." The image in question purportedly showed a Kroger receipt itemizing a carton of milk for $2.39 and a "BLM CHARGE" (circled in red in the photo above) of 59 cents. However, Kroger isn't adding a fee to customer transactions in order to raise money for Black Lives Matter. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that the image was altered from an actual receipt showing 59 cents charged for a "change shortage." As we previously reported, that 59-cent charge was added as the result of a confusing company policy regarding returning coin change amid a national coin shortage. A statement from Kroger states, "The Federal Reserve is experiencing a significant coin shortage across the U.S., resulting from fewer coins being exchanged and spent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many retailers and businesses, we are adjusting to the temporary shortage in several ways while still accepting cash." Store policy on how customers receive coin change has been a point of confusion. A customer in Illinois reported that a cashier refused to return change in coin form, charging them $3 for an item that cost $2.41, resulting in the 59-cent charge on the receipt. Kroger spokeswoman Kristal Howard told us by email on July 24, 2020, that the policy as of this writing is that customers can use credit or debit cards, opt to have the difference loaded onto loyalty cards as credit for future purchases, provide coin change in a lane that has coins available, or round their purchase total up and donate the difference to charity. The BLM Kroger receipt hoax appears to be a classic case of "Fauxtography," an altered photograph meant to spread misinformation. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4359 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: In his first 100 days in office, Donald Trump made fewer appearances outside of the presidential bubble than his three immediate predecessors, venturing less beyond the White House or his private Mar-a-Lago estate, according to a Reuters review. The U.S. president cast himself during his election campaign last year as a Washington outsider and a populist champion, and often seemed most comfortable at raucous campaign rallies. Trump still constantly tells Americans what is on his mind through prolific use of Twitter messages, but he has not traveled out into the country often since taking office on Jan. 20. Trump made comments at official appearances 132 times in the first 100 days, compared with 139 by Barack Obama in the same period, 177 by George W. Bush and 162 by Bill Clinton. (tmsnrt.rs/2p8M8EU) Some 22 of his appearances were in settings other than the White House, Air Force One, a government agency or at Mar-a-Lago, a Florida resort that his administration has called the “winter White House.†That compares to 62 such appearances by Obama in his first 100 days, 80 for Bush and 46 for Clinton. Reuters reviewed public remarks delivered by the presidents using White House websites, pool reports and documents archived by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Trump made public comments on five separate occasions at Mar-a-Lago. None of the other three presidents spoke to the public from a personal residence during their first 100 days, although Bush spoke twice at Camp David, the rustic presidential retreat in Maryland. Asked about his travel, Trump’s advisers say he is focused on implementing the promises he made at his campaign rallies.    “There is obviously a premium on his time,†said White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom. “We proceed with any additional travel very thoughtfully.†   Bradley Blakeman, who was deputy assistant for scheduling and appointments under Bush, said Trump may be missing out on opportunities to sell his message to the public. “Deals are made in Washington on Pennsylvania Avenue, but they are sold on Main Street, USA,†Blakeman said. “It’s an important part of the bully pulpit.†   He said Trump should do targeted events focused on specific legislative priorities that will get coverage by local news outlets, where stories on presidential visits tend to be more positive than in the national media.    During his first 100 days, Bush visited more than half a dozen schools in Washington and at least five different states as he promoted his education initiative, No Child Left Behind.     Trump’s first major legislative push has focused on reforming the U.S. healthcare system, but he has not yet delivered remarks at a medical facility. In an interview with Reuters last week, Trump lamented the confining nature of the presidency with its 24-hour Secret Service protection. “You’re really into your own little cocoon, because you have such massive protection that you really can’t go anywhere,†he said. Still, he remains a constant focus of public attention, helped by his use of Twitter, a tool that was seldom used or was entirely unavailable to his most recent three predecessors. “Interaction online does not completely replace the value of in-person appearances, but you can’t ignore the fact that there is no limit on the amount of people the president’s tweets can reach,†Strom said. Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said that while Trump’s use of social media had opened a new chapter in presidential communication, his lack of sustained attention on any one issue undercut his message.    “There’s not a focus there. When a president is all over the map, then he loses his power,†Jacobs said. | 1 | [
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FMD4360 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A disgusting black sludge is coming out of residents faucets in Crystal City, Texas, and the people are left helpless to do anything about it. The reason is because everyone but a single individual that served in elected city government got arrested recently by the FBI for a slew of charges, including accepting bribes for official actions like contract awards, tax giveaways, using inspections to muscle out certain businesses on behalf of others, immigrant smuggling and operating illegal gambling establishments.The filth coming from the town taps caused schools to close early, after a decision made by Superintendent Imelda Allen. There s not really anyone in charge to oversee and do make people aware of the condition of the water. So I wasn t going to wait for anyone to call me from City Hall. I know that leadership is not present at the time, Allen was quoted as saying.This is the actual water coming out of the faucets in Crystal City.Crystal City s water Direct from the faucet: Credit: Crystal City Facebook PageAn unknown Crystal City employee took to the City s Facebook page to comment on the issue and try to make residents aware of the problem, by saying boil water if necessary. If necessary? Way more than boiling is necessary with the water in this picture.There is a lesson to be learned with this. The lesson is that the Republican argument of not needing proper government is utter nonsense. These people have a problem, and there is nobody home to take their calls because their entire elected governmental body is simply not there anymore.City staffers tried flushing the water by opening hydrants to drain the lines. They also announced that they thought the condition was caused by flushing a water tank that had not been cleaned for nearly 30 years. It is still not clear if the problem has been fully resolved and the water is safe, though. Next time a Republicans talks about how government does nothing good for people, ask them who they would call if their municipal water looked like this.Featured image via KSAT | 0 | [
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FMD4361 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Maine has a very bad governor (thanks Tea Party movement!) who just keeps getting worse.Republican Governor Paul LePage decided to take a cue from Donald Trump and spend the weekend mocking Indian people. Apparently drawing upon his own experiences and warped by LePage s truly stunning level of racism, no doubt he lamented the fact that restaurants hire immigrants. The problem, he said, was that he needs an interpreter to understand them. And, he added, people from India are the worst ones. This is right on the heels of Donald Trump s latest stab at xenophobic nationalism when at a rally he put on a stereotypical Indian accent to lament the fact that he had spoken to someone outside of America to inquire about his credit card. (Part of his plan to Make America Great Again, is to bring telemarketing jobs back to the country. A job nobody wants.) The crowd ate it up. So, it seems, did LePage, whom recently accused Ted Cruz of stabbing him in the back and is a big fan of Trump.LePage has made a name for himself as both a terrible governor in the traditional sense (he s been nearly impeached a number of times and is universally loathed by both Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature), and an unrepentant racist. Already this year he made headlines for this astoundingly offensive rant: These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty these types of guys they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road. He later said he didn t mean to say white girl. Then a few days later, he said screw it and admitted that he did mean white girls but only because he knew that would make the story sound scarier.In a twisted way, LePage is probably relieved that his racism is back in the news. His last act of infamy was blocking a bill that would provide life-saving drugs for opioid overdoses to addicts. His reasoning: Why bother saving them? They ll just overdose again.Paul LePage is the worst.Featured image via YouTube screengrab | 0 | [
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FMD4362 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Kenyan police fired teargas on Tuesday at supporters of President Uhuru Kenyatta who were protesting outside the Supreme Court against the invalidation of his Aug. 8 re-election, Reuters witnesses said. The Supreme Court nullified the presidential election on Sept. 1 and ordered the electoral body to hold a repeat vote within 60 days. The court, which issued a majority judgment, said there were irregularities in tallying results of the poll. David Maraga, the chief justice and president of the Supreme Court, said threats against judicial staff had risen since the ruling. Since the Supreme Court delivered judgment ... these threats have become more aggressive, Maraga told a news conference at the Supreme Court, as hundreds of protesters wearing the bright red of Kenyatta s Jubilee party gathered outside. He cited the demonstrations outside the court as an example of the rising threats, and threatening messages sent on social media to individual judges and their staff. Senior political leaders have also threatened the judiciary, promising to cut it down to size and teach us a lesson , Maraga said, adding that judges would not be intimidated by anyone and were ready to pay the ultimate price to protect the constitution and rule of law. Maraga accused the inspector general of police of repeatedly ignoring calls to act, exposing judicial officers, property and litigants to danger . George Kinoti, the national police spokesman, denied the accusations, saying the police had provided bodyguards to judges and protection for their homes and the courts. The truth is borne out of facts and they are plain for any citizen to check and confirm, Kinoti said in a statement. The protesters waved placards and shouted slogans against the judiciary and Maraga himself. I have attended this protest to air my grievances after the Supreme Court annulled my candidate s victory, one of the protesters told Reuters. There was a commotion after the teargas was fired, before the protesters regrouped and continued with their protest outside the court building. They were eventually dispersed by further rounds of teargas. The Supreme Court, which gave a summary of its findings when it invalidated Kenyatta s election victory, said it would read its detailed ruling on Wednesday at 0700 GMT. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost by 1.4 million votes to Kenyatta in the annulled poll, has said he will not take part in a repeat vote scheduled for Oct. 17, unless some staff at the electoral commission are fired, among other demands. The heads of Western diplomatic missions in Kenya, including those of the European Union, the United States and Britain, urged Kenyan leaders to avoid comments that could incite hatred and violence. Now is the time to focus on preparing for the new poll, which, in line with the Court s order and the Constitution, must be run by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and be held by the end of October, they said in a joint statement. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4363 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Under Republican Governor Chris Christie, tolls cost more. Train and bus rides cost more. College tuition goes up. But Christie protected a tax cut for millionaires.
contextual information: Few things anger New Jerseyans more than higher costs and that just may be the point of a recentradio adcritical of Gov. Chris Christies time in office. One New Jersey, a Democratic grass-roots group, released the ad May 3. It uses the sound effects of a deck of cards being shuffled and cut to emphasize a theme that Christies gubernatorial tenure thus far has stacked the deck against taxpayers. Christie is up for re-election in November. His lone challenger is state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex). The ad goes after Christie in a number of areas but were looking at issues that are near and dear to many New Jerseyans: toll costs, public transportation, education and the wealthy paying their fair share in taxes. Under Republican Governor Chris Christie, tolls cost more. Train and bus rides cost more. College tuition goes up. But Christie protected a tax cut for millionaires, a portion of the 60-second ad states. Most of the claims are accurate but some details are lacking. Lets start by reviewing toll hikes. One New Jersey is correct that tolls are higher under Christie, but doesnt mention that the state has hadtwomajor toll increases in recent years the larger of which was courtesy of Democrat Jon Corzine, not Christie. In August 2011, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to raise trans-Hudson tolls by $1.50 starting in September 2011, followed by additional hikes of 75 cents annually through 2015 to fund a $33 billion capital plan for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Those increases affected the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the Outerbridge Crossing and the Goethals, Bayonne and George Washington bridges. The Corzine-approved hike that took effect Jan. 1, 2012 increased tolls 53 percent on the New Jersey Turnpike and 50 percent on the Garden State Parkway. Those hikes were the second part of a two-phase toll increase adopted by the Turnpike Authority in October 2008, when Corzine was governor. And costs also have increased for train and bus rides since Christie became governor in January 2010. Three months after Christie took office, NJ Transit approved its largest fare hike in history to help close a $300 million budget gap for the fiscal year beginning that July 1. The hikes, the first since 2007, amounted to 25 percent for train and some bus riders and 10 percent for local bus riders and light rail commuters. In February 2010 Christie called NJ Transit a political patronage pit that needed to cut costs and said fare hikes would be unavoidable since drivers of the states roads had just experienced another toll hike. Next, lets look at college tuition. Christie cut funding for county colleges by 10 percent in 2010, a year that also saw record enrollment increases at the states two-year schools. Tuition increased an average of 4.4 percent. Also, 24 of New Jerseys four-year colleges and universities raised tuition and fees in 2010 faster than the inflation rate, according to a Star-Ledger survey that year. Still, tuition generally increases annually at most schools. Finally, did Christie protect a tax cut for millionaires? Democrats approved a bill in May 2010 renewing a one-year tax rate increase of 10.75 percent for those with taxable income above $1 million. The rate had expired before Christie became governor. Christie, who campaigned that he wouldnt raise taxes, vetoed the surcharge -- protecting the rich, some claim -- and Democrats couldnt override it. Plain and simple, Christie picks and chooses when and how to use his power and on whose behalf, One New Jersey spokesman Joshua Henne said in an e-mail. He used his power to roll back a tax hike on millionaires, but chose not to use his power to roll back toll, tuition and fare increases that disproportionately hurt New Jerseys middle-class and working families. Christie for Governor spokesman Kevin Roberts declined comment. Our ruling Part of an ad about Christie claims, Under Republican Governor Chris Christie, tolls cost more. Train and bus rides cost more. College tuition goes up. But Christie protected a tax cut for millionaires. The ad is correct that tolls, train and bus fares, and college tuition increased on Christies watch but disregards that some of those increases resulted because the governor slashed funding in an effort to close budget gaps. As for protecting a tax cut for millionaires, weve heard this one before and well point out again that Christie technically didnt cut the millionaires tax since it expired before he took office. Still, opinions vary wildly on that claim. We rate this portion of the ad Mostly True. To comment on this story, go toNJ.com. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4364 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Says New Jersey is 50th in return of our federal tax dollars.
contextual information: New Jersey doesnt just need a lot of federal aid to rebuild a coastline ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, the state also deserves it, according to Gov. Chris Christie.NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams asked Christie recently if its fair for people who have no interests in the Jersey Shore to ask, Why the money? Why the effort, if this is the new normal?Well, listen, it's fair to ask it but I have the answer, Christie said during the Oct. 30 interview. The answer is that for New Jersey, which gives so much to this country -- by the way, 50th in return of our federal tax dollars. So New Jerseyans send more than any other state in America in federal taxes, getting back less. When that's done and you see that our state is a state that needs this to contribute to our economy and also to the soul and the vibrancy of our state, I think we have very good answers and arguments to make. And you count on one thing: you're looking at the guy who is going to make those arguments.With Christie building part of his case for federal assistance around the states return on federal tax dollars, PolitiFact New Jersey wondered whether his premise is true.Add Donor State to the list of New Jerseys monikers.Depending on the year -- and whether adjustments are made to federal data -- New Jersey ranks at or near the bottom nationwide in this category.The Tax Foundation, a business-backed group, tracked how much the federal government collected through taxes and returned through expenditures to states every year from 1981 to 2005.The Washington, D.C.-based foundation calculated the federal tax burden -- a measurement meant to account for taxes that are assessed in one state, but impact taxpayers elsewhere -- to conduct its analysis.In 17 of those 25 years, New Jersey came in last place, receiving 70 cents or less for every dollar it sent to the federal government.In 2005 -- the most recent year analyzed by the Tax Foundation -- the federal government gave New Jersey 61 cents for every dollar it took. That was the smallest return of any state.But that was seven years ago. Though the Tax Foundation hasnt updated its findings, other studies show New Jersey still ranks near the bottom.The Northeast-Midwest Institute, a research organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes 18 states in the region, released a May 2011 report on federal spending and taxation patterns that focused on New Jersey.New Jersey ranked 48th in the nation. Only Minnesota and Delaware received smaller returns on their federal tax dollars in 2009, according to the report, which relied on raw, unadjusted data.PolitiFact New Jerseys analysis of federal data from 2010 also put New Jersey in 48th place. So even the raw data put New Jersey near the bottom in this category.But Colleen Cain, a senior policy analyst with the Northeast-Midwest Institute who prepared the 2011 report, said in an e-mail, that the news behind this is not all bad.In the report, Cain attributes the low ranking to New Jerseys relatively high income levels and greater-than-average business income tax contribution, coupled with a relatively low need for federal aid.It does, however, underscore the importance of states like New Jersey in supporting the fiscal health of the nation generally.Our rulingChristie said that New Jersey is 50th in return of our federal tax dollars.The Tax Foundations analysis of 2005 data, which was adjusted to reflect each states overall federal tax burden, ranked New Jersey 50th in the nation in this category.The state received 61 cents for every dollar it sent to Washington, D.C. that year.Though that research is outdated, more recent analysis of raw data shows New Jersey still ranks near the bottom.On the Truth-O-Meter, Christies statement registers as Mostly True. To comment on this ruling, go toNJ.com. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4365 | 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: Secret Service Coverage of John Kerry Claim summaries: Would the Secret Service have to provide lifetime protection for all of John Kerry's homes?
contextual information: Claim: If John Kerry were elected President, the Secret Service would have to protect him and every property he owns for the rest of his life. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004] You will pay upkeep/Secret Service for 5 Kerry mansions. It is good to be John F. Kerry....... The F stands for Forbes in case you ever wondered. He is one of the richest Senators in Government. When someone is elected president, it means the Secret Service has to protect the President and his family as well as his property. The Kerry's have five US properties not counting the several foreign properties they own too. The cost to run these homes are more than what the average American could afford, even if the rent was free, and all you had to pay the water, gas & electric. Including ground keepers, maintenance, pool, and house keepers. To be President would require the taxpayers to pay for all that now if elected. Including a complete staffed Secret Service security 24 hours a day. In addition to that we will have to pay for each of their homes for security improvements even if they never go to them all there is that just in case. Who do you think will pay for all this? We Pay! This takes all the expense off Kerry and puts it on us. Nevertheless, factor another major cost to Americans that Kerry does not want you to know about. Becoming president would automatically include taking care of all their properties with Secret Service Agents that includes 5 agents per 6 hour shift 4 times a day 365 days of the year for the rest of their lives so long as they own those properties. It comes with being President once you are elected. It requires us the taxpayers, to pay for this as well as his annual salary as well as his retirements including the cost of living adjustments to boot. These salaries and agents protect all their real estate property with Secret Service Agents and pay the bills for the rest of his life. In addition, feed the Secret Service Agents and rotate new ones every 6 hours for the rest of his life. Do the math. Five properties need to be protected. This requires five Secret Service Agents per shift, daily every six hours, per property! That is 20 Secret Service Agents per day per property everyday including Holidays. Wow, what does that cost? Lets say an average of 20 agents per property, each earning a about $60K per agent to survey the perimeters and protect. Now times that by five properties so far. That is if the Kerry's do not buy any more properties afterwards. This also includes the Agents vehicles and repairs, gas, meals, days off, paid vacation, and medical plan visits etc per agent. Who pays? YOU pay, the whole time they are alive after becoming President! Is this the best use of our tax money electing Kerry to take care of all their properties both foreign and domestic? On the other hand, shouldn't he pay for his own? Yet, the Presidential salary could not afford it. The more I think about paying for Kerry's properties everyday, just makes me happy keeping President Bush all the more merrier. Without raising taxes to boot. How on earth would Kerry pay for everyone to have Healthcare, increase our military, and have us pay to protect his investments, all without raising our taxes? Tax and spend Kerry is his party motto. Which really has to make you wonder why anyone with his wealth, would take a salary of that of a U.S. Senator, never mind wanna be President? Do you believe him now why he needs to be the Prez? To serve the people? On the other hand, the people serve Him and his wife! IF YOU AREN'T COMPLETELY APPALLED, THEN YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION Origins: The fact that Senator John Kerry's middle name is "Forbes" is about the only piece of information this latest political diatribe gets right. John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, together own several homes, but since they signed a prenuptial agreement and have kept their premarital assets separate, a Boston townhouse (which John Kerry mortgaged in 2003 to finance his presidential bid) is the only one of these homes that they technically own as a couple. The government is obligated to provide Secret Service protection to the President and his immediate family, so if John Kerry were elected to that office, of course he and his family would be entitled to the same level of security detail that the Secret Service provides to every President. That protection might indeed include the use of public funds to pay the costs of installation and maintenance for security systems at some of the Kerrys' homes, because the protection of First Families is viewed as a right and proper charge upon the nation. Security measures of this level would not be specific to the Kerrys; the homes of all Presidents are treated this way, as (to a lesser extent) are the homes of all former Presidents. homes It is not true, however, that every single residence owned by the either of the Kerrys (whether it be in America or abroad) would be staffed by five Secret Service agents around the clock, and that those agents would be guarding the Kerrys and all their properties for the rest of John Kerry's life. Secret Service staffing levels vary as the situation requires, and lifetime protection for former Presidents and their spouses was eliminated by Congressional legislation in 1997. President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, are the last First Couple who will receive such a benefit; President George W. Bush and all who succeed him in the White House will be limited to receiving Secret Service protection for a period of not more than 10 years from the time they leave office. protection In any case, the idea that U.S. voters would have to pay higher taxes if John Kerry were elected President in order to "protect his investments" is just silly. The projected U.S. federal budget for 2005 is $2.4 trillion the amount of money spent to protect the President and his family (whoever that President might be) is but a teeny-tiny fraction of a drop in that vast bucket. The only thing sillier than that notion that taxes would have to be raised to protect a putative President Kerry is the suggestion that the cost of Secret Service protection should be a factor in voters' choosing who should serve as President of the United States. budget For more information about the protection afforded former Presidents, see our article about a similar rumor that was attached to the previous First Couple when President Bill Clinton left office in 2001. article Last updated: 2 October 2004 Sources: Burger, Timothy and Kenneth Bazinet. "Hil and Bill Buy 3M Home, Sweet Home in Capital." [New York] Daily News. 30 December 2000 (p. 6). DeFrank, Thomas. "1st Family's N.Y. Bunker." Fuchs, Marek. "First Family's Arrival Changes the Focus of Secret Service Office." The New York Times. 29 October 2000 (Weekend Calendar; p. 5). Grove, Lloyd. "The Reliable Source." The Washington Post. 12 January 2001 (p. C3). | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4366 | 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: Psychological manipulation at the White House Claim summaries:
contextual information: FACT CHECK: Did President Obama order that "behavioral experiments" be carried out on the American people? Claim: President Obama ordered "behavioral experiments" to be carried out on the American people. MOSTLY FALSE: President Obama issued an Executive Order on 15 September 2015 encouraging federal agencies to more frequently use behavioral research insights in the creation and adoption of policy. WHAT'S FALSE: President Obama ordered that "behavioral experiments" be carried out on American citizens; he specifically directed agencies to implement any form of behavioral insight usage; the word "experiment" appeared anywhere in the Executive Order. Example: [Collected via Twitter, September 2015] President Barry ORDERS BEHAVIORAL EXPERIMENTS ON AMERICAN PUBLIC!! https://t.co/MNHOSCvpAB #COSProject pic.twitter.com/0aQN33AqQ3 TheFightingIrishDame (@TheIrishDame) September 16, 2015 September 16, 2015 Shock Executive Order: Obama Authorizes Behavioral Experiments On U.S. Citizens: To A ... - https://t.co/pl2RzxZr4q pic.twitter.com/ll7cWaFtqe State of Globe (@StateofGlobe) September 17, 2015 September 17, 2015 Obama Executive Order Instructs Federal Agencies to Conduct Mass Behavioral Experiments on U.S. Citizens: https://t.co/mCynSnLP0e Bill Periman (@BillPeriman) September 17, 2015 September 17, 2015 Origins: On 15 September 2015, the website Daily Caller published an article titled "President Obama Orders Behavioral Experiments on American Public," which claimed that the chief executive had "authorized federal agencies to conduct behavioral experiments on U.S. citizens." President Obama announced a new executive order that authorized federal agencies to conduct behavioral experiments on U.S. citizens in order to advance government initiatives. The article was aggregated by other news outlets such as DC Clothesline, which similarly claimed the President's executive order had instructed "Federal Agencies to Conduct Mass Behavioral Experiments on U.S. Citizens." Does anyone actually believe "behavioral experiments" on the US citizenry are about "designing government policies to better serve the American people?" Think Pavlov's dog. And can someone point to the Constitution and show where the government has the authority to "experiment" on the citizenry in any shape, form, or fashion? It's not there. The government possesses no authority whatsoever to conduct any type of experimentation, behavioral or otherwise, on the citizens of this nation. Both Daily Caller and DC Clothesline used the phrase "behavioral experiments" (conjuring up frightening scenarios of federal gaslighting), and the second article placed the phrase in quotes, suggesting specifically that the Obama administration had "ordered" sinister-sounding "behavioral experiments" to be inflicted upon Americans. The 15 September 2015 Executive Order referenced by the articles is available on the White House's website for open review. Tellingly, the word "experiments" does not appear anywhere within it; only words such as "encourage[d]," "identify," "review," and "improve." The executive order about "Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People" actually stated: To more fully realize the benefits of behavioral insights and deliver better results at a lower cost for the American people, the Federal Government should design its policies and programs to reflect our best understanding of how people engage with, participate in, use, and respond to those policies and programs. By improving the effectiveness and efficiency of government, behavioral science insights can support a range of national priorities, including helping workers to find better jobs; enabling Americans to lead longer, healthier lives; improving access to educational opportunities and support for success in school; and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. Alongside the Executive Order, the White House issued a document titled "Fact Sheet: President Obama Signs Executive Order; White House Announces New Steps to Improve Federal Programs by Leveraging Research Insights." Aiming to provide details not included in the Executive Order about how "behavioral insights" could apply to the creation and implementation of policy, that document explained: Behavioral science insights—research insights about how people make decisions—not only identify aspects of programs that can act as barriers to engagement but also provide policymakers with insight into how those barriers can be removed through commonsense steps, such as simplifying communications and making choices clearer. That same study on financial aid found that streamlining the process of applying—by providing families with assistance and enabling families to automatically fill parts of the application using information from their tax return—increased the rates of both aid applications and college enrollment. When these insights are used to improve government, the returns can be significant. For instance, the Federal Government applied behavioral science insights to simplify the process of applying for Federal student aid and has made college more accessible to millions of American families. Similarly, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which codified the practice of automatically enrolling workers into retirement savings plans, is based on behavioral economics research showing that switching from an opt-in to an opt-out enrollment system dramatically increases participation rates. Since the implementation of this policy, automatic enrollment and automatic escalation have led to billions of dollars in additional savings by Americans. Another relevant detail came in the form of information pertaining to a new committee formed to facilitate the order's initiatives: The Executive Order also formally establishes the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), a group of experts in applied behavioral science that translates findings and methods from the social and behavioral sciences into improvements in Federal policies and programs for the benefit of the American people. The passage excerpted above indicated that behavioral insights data targeted by the initiative stemmed not from government-led "behavioral experiments," but rather "findings and methods from the social and behavioral sciences." Another passage supported inferences that non-governmental research groups would be tasked with submitting the bulk of relevant findings to the SBST for consideration in the drafting of future policy: The Behavioral Science & Policy Association (BSPA) is launching a Behavioral Science and Policy Series to identify promising avenues for applying behavioral science to public policy at the Federal level in order to improve Americans' lives. Through this series, by September 2016, working groups will deliver white papers that propose particular applications of behavioral science that can be applied, tested, and implemented at the Federal level in the near term. A less harrowing interpretation of the executive order than that fostered by conservative news sites was offered by the Houston Chronicle in a 17 September 2015 article: Dr. Andrew Harper, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Texas Health Medical School, said behavioral science is an old discipline, used to maximize communication effectiveness, that is only now being applied to government-authored materials. "For example, in healthcare, there are simple things we want people to do—eat a balanced diet, sleep well," he said. "When just saying 'do it' doesn't work, we look to behavioral science to inform us on strategies that might work better." According to the executive order, research will be used to inform even the basic layout of federal agencies' websites and other outreach information. The newly-founded team will consider "how the content, format, timing, and medium by which information is conveyed affects comprehension and action by individuals." In other words, researchers will conduct clinical studies to determine how agencies could more effectively present information in a way that will move people to action. The Executive Order didn't come to pass without some objections, however. The University of Oxford's Practical Ethics in the News Blog featured an editorial that questioned how scientifically rigorous the selection and application of such data might be, implying the initiative's mission was too ambiguous. Author Joshua Shepherd conceded that the proposal was overall "a good thing," but said "the order raises a number of ethical and practical issues": Given recent evidence that many results from experimental and social psychology fail to replicate, there might be reason to worry here. The executive order does not define what counts as an 'insight' from behavioral science. Is it the result of one study? A couple? Deployment of an insight that is nothing more than an experimental artifact could be damaging or wasteful. Suppose a genuine insight exists. Even so, implementing it is not straightforward. Other experts didn't think that the potential flaws outweighed the benefits. University of Michigan professor Andrew Hoffman outlined the potential practical effects of such initiatives on policy in a Scientific American article, positing that their application to the drafting of policy was "long overdue": [Hoffman] says that people might react rebelliously to a gas tax imposed by the government. A rise in its cost spurred by market forces, on the other hand, might prompt them to drive less. In that way, federal policies should consider the complicated ways that people filter, interpret, and process messages. You can't expect to put a price on something—whether that's gas, plastic bags, or emissions—and get an expected result, he said. These are things that sociology, psychology, and political science have been focusing on for decades, Hoffman said. So to bring in the notion that humans are not perfectly rational, utility-maximizing beings in the formation of policy is long overdue. It is true that President Obama issued an Executive Order on 15 September 2015 encouraging and facilitating the application of behavioral research insights, with a stated goal of creating more efficient policy and stronger compliance. Moreover, some credible questions were raised about how rigorous standards for inclusion of such data might be. But the order neither referenced nor described "behavioral experimentation" upon the American people, nor did it in any way suggest that the order's details involved using anything other than existing, ongoing research carried out by social and behavioral science experts. Last updated: 17 September 2015 Originally published: 17 September 2015 | 0 | [
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FMD4367 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Either Ammon Bundy himself or a clever imposter has taken Twitter and the media by storm. The head of the Oregon Moron Militia, Bundy is the textbook case of the modern Murican patriot. He is either just being himself and having a Twitter-fest of spewing out right-wing talking points or someone has decided to channel him, guessing the Bundy-esque things he might say.The rant was late-night, when the cold of the Oregon forest may have demanded a little something to make a person forget what aches. More than a dozen tweets went out from the account, including a retweet of an interview Bundy did with a local blog. Here are a few examples:As Thomas Paine said, It is the duty of the patriot to protect its country from its government. #CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 5, 2016We are not about fear, we are not about force, we are not about intimidation. #CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016We came here in protest because of the force and the intimidation that we have seen in this county. #CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016With that being said, we will not be intimidated by the federal government for taking stand for something we strongly believe in. Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016It even went so far as to compare the Moron Militia to Rosa Parks:We are doing the same thing as Rosa Parks did. We are standing up against bad laws which dehumanize us and destroy our freedom. Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016However, reporters now say the account is believed to be a fake. Tony Dokoupil of MSNBC tweeted this:People, Ammon Bundy is not operating a twitter account. I stood with him last night as tweets supposedly from him went out. tonydokoupil (@tonydokoupil) January 6, 2016That seems to be compelling enough. A reporter who was there at the time says Bundy isn t on Twitter at all. That seemed like the case for sure when the account was suspended by Twitter, which has a process of verifying identities of celebrities and others in the news. Then USA Today reported that the account was suspended and that it was re-instated.Another theory may be that much like many people on Twitter who have become public figures, Ammon Bundy has someone smarter than he is running his account. With all the freedoming and interviews he s doing, Bundy probably doesn t have time for the social media onslaught for the movement, which has obviously been even less successful than the movement itself.Alas, the account is still alive and well and as of Wednesday at just after 11 AM EST tweeted this:The last thing we want is an armed confrontation. We want this to end peacefully without anyone being harmed. Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016That s the first real evidence that the account may not be real unless Ammon Bundy s goal of remaining for years to give a bird preserve to loggers, miners and ranchers has changed. Or maybe he s just cold.Featured image via Twitter | 0 | [
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FMD4368 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Is this Weightlifter with a Prolapsed Rectum Real? Claim summaries: This fact check is not safe for anywhere.
contextual information: This email from the dawn of the millennium made its way to our inbox in 2003: This rather shocking photo was snapped in November 16th by a spectator at the collegiate power lifting championships at Pennsylvania State. The unfortunate competitor, who expressed a plea to remain anonymous, remembered to surgeons that he was "stuck" at the bottom of a personal best attempt in the squat lift when he "sort of pulled his stomach in and pushed extra hard, at the same time as trying to complete the lift." He remembers a loud popping, splattering noise then a fierce stabbing pain and then not being able to move from the squat position. He remained in this position for about half an hour, since trying to stand caused him overwhelming agonizing pain. Paramedics arrived and applied anaesthesia on the spot and carried him to an ambulance. He was rushed to surgery, where surgeons described the trauma as an "explosive and aggravated prolapse of the bowel". Meanwhile it was revealed that the weight was removed from his shoulders at the time of the incident by two "spotters" on either side of the lifter. The third spotter who was standing behind the lifter was unfortunately sprayed with fecal matter at the time of the incident. This spotter promptly fainted when he realized the extent of the injury to the lifter, who was a personal friend. This compounded the task of first aid officers who were at a loss as to how to treat the injury to the lifter in any case, who remained in the squatting position moaning in pain much to the consternation of the helpless audience. The hapless lifter had successful surgery to relieve the prolapse, but remained immobilized with his feet elevated in stirrups for 2 weeks to ensure "internal compliance with the surgery and that the organs retracted successfully". To add insult to injury, the ex-lifter required rectal stitching to partially occlude the anal orifice and stitch the rectal passage (which had significantly expanded and torn during the prolapse) and also was put on a low fibre low residue diet to combat flatulence to avoid any possibility of a recurrence. CBS news spoke to his wife and asked if she thought he would resume his power lifting career. "Not if I have anything to say about it, would you like to risk something like that again?" We agreed!! CBS news This item is "false" in the sense that the accompanying text does not correspond to the image: The message reproduced above was not written or published by CBS news or any other news agency. (The poor writing, non-news format, and focus on "gross out" details mark it as a fabrication.) The annual USAPL Pennsylvania State Powerlifting Championship contests are held early in the year (February or March), not in November. contests No such injury as the one described occurred to any weightlifter at the Pennsylvania State Powerlifting Championships in the last several years. The "weightlifter" in the photograph is posed squatting immediately in front of a doorway or wall, which would not be the case if had suffered an injury in the midst of a powerlifting match and then found himself "not able to move from the squat position." (He'd be in the middle of an arena or gymnasium floor with plenty of room on all sides.) Although a prolapsed rectum or bowel is a real medical condition, the text cited here is an obvious attempt at a "gross out" piece involving all the familiar aspects of potty humor (e.g., rectums, sprayed fecal matter, farts). How and why the image accompanying the text was produced (and by whom) is still unknown to us. prolapsed rectum Canadian Press. "Is It a Cactus or a Rude Gesture?" | 0 | [
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FMD4369 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Up to 250, 000 public sector workers in the UK could be replaced by robots over the next 15 years as the development of artificial intelligence surges, according to a recent study. [The study, undertaken by the think tank Reform, found that in Britain up to 250, 000 government employees, including those with jobs in government, healthcare, and transportation, could be replaced by 2030, saving taxpayers a sizeable £4 billion a year. It found that robots artificial intelligence will eventually outperform humans in a range of public sector jobs, becoming more efficient with data collection and administrative tasks, but also healthcare roles such as providing simple diagnoses to patients and surgical procedures. The report is part of an effort to encourage the government to embrace a more flexible economic model, where workers take on more variable roles to match supply as and when it is needed. In a press release, Reform said that the study shows that “public services can become the next Uber, using the gig economy to employ locum doctors and supply teachers. †It argues that around 20 percent of public workers will retain their roles due to their “cognitive†nature, where they will use “data to identify patterns — improving and allocating workers most efficiently. †“The NHS, for example, can focus on the highest risk patients, reducing unnecessary hospital admissions. UK police and other emergency services are already using data to predict areas of greatest risk from burglary and fire,†it continues. The findings are likely to infuriate labor unions, who have long campaigned against the increase in automated technologies in fear that they will replace workers and leave millions unemployed. In December, winning economist Angus Deaton said that the rise in robotic technologies presented a far greater threat to jobs than globalization. The report’s Alexander Hitchcock, argued that “such a rapid advance in the use of technology may seem controversial, and any job losses must be handled sensitively. But the result would be public services that are better, safer, smarter and more affordable. †| 1 | [
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FMD4370 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: IMAM KHOMEINI AIRPORT, Iran — When the United States wrestling team arrived at 3 a. m. on Saturday at an airport hotel outside Iran’s capital, Tehran, staff members ordered out for pizza. “We were all over the lobby, eating out of the boxes,†said Rich Bender, the executive director of Team USA. The wrestlers had just flown in from the western Iranian city of Kermanshah, where the team lost the Freestyle Wrestling World Cup to Iran, in a series of thrilling matches. At a time of increasing tension between the countries, how were the athletes received and what did they think about Iran? Kyle Snyder, an Olympic gold medalist, said his mother had been a bit worried when he told her he would travel to Iran. But he said the team was welcomed with nothing but friendliness. “They gave us roses at the airport, brought our bags, everyone wanted to take selfies with us,†Mr. Snyder said. “This was the best tournament I have ever participated in, even better than the Olympics in Rio. †Later on Saturday, during a sightseeing trip, the wrestling team took to the landmark Milad Tower in Tehran, and excited Iranians took pictures of the team. Jordan Burroughs, an Olympic champion, said he has more fans in Iran’s capital “than from any other city. †For a time, it had seemed the American wrestlers would be forced to stay home. After President Trump announced that Iran would be included in a travel ban, the country decided it would reciprocate by barring the team. But the Iranian authorities changed their minds after seeing numerous protests in the United States against the ban. Mr. Burroughs said that he was disappointed when he heard of the issues with the travel ban. “I don’t necessarily agree with all decisions by my government, and clearly not with this one,†he said of the order barring travel by Iranians and citizens of six other predominantly Muslim countries to the United States. “I have never been affected by terror, but here in Iran, I have never felt any ill will toward me — the opposite actually. †Iranian fans cheered the American wrestlers during matches against competitors from Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia. “They were just screaming Jordan, Jordan, all the time,†said Bill Zadick, the team’s head coach, about Mr. Burroughs. “Jordan has defeated some of their heroes in key matches in the past, so they look up to him. †Mr. Bender has accompanied the team on four trips to Iran. “We never had issues, as I recall,†he said. American wrestlers did not make their first trip back to Iran after the 1979 revolution until 1998. But since then, they have visited the country more than a dozen times. Wrestling can be a highly emotional sport, Mr. Bender said, but the athletes realize they are viewed as ambassadors of their country. “This is a highly competitive, mano a mano sport,†Mr. Bender said. “Sometimes people get poked in the eye. People can get angry. So we stress that here it is extra important to keep your posture, shake hands. Luckily, all the guys understand they represent the U. S. on and off the mat. †Iran’s wrestling federation sent a former wrestler to the hotel to protect the team members in case someone might not be a fan. But there, as during the event in Kermanshah, all of the Iranians they met were all smiles. It was hard to believe, someone said, that Iran is . “Is it true there is a mural in the city center that says ‘death to America’?†Mr. Bender wanted to know. “Because I haven’t noticed any of that. †| 1 | [
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FMD4371 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: TEHRAN — President Hassan Rouhani of Iran is racing to sign as many oil deals with Western companies as he can before at home and Donald J. Trump have a chance to return the Mideast country to cultural and economic isolation. At the same time, Iran is in a battle with Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers to reclaim its position as one of the world’s leading oil exporters, a spot it lost during the years of international sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran’s oil industry, the lifeblood of its economy, was devastated by the cumulative impact of the nuclear sanctions, which halved petroleum exports and left the country ostracized economically. The international nuclear agreement that lifted those sanctions nearly a year ago, one of the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy initiatives, has enabled Iran to partly recover. But Mr. Trump has warned that he may dismantle the deal, a threat that has injected new urgency into Iran’s push to build up its oil industry before Mr. Trump takes power next month. A provisional agreement this week with Royal Dutch Shell to develop two of the country’s largest oil fields is the latest sign of interest in Iran from international energy companies. Over the last four weeks, Tehran has negotiated similar agreements with the oil field services giant Schlumberger and companies from China, Norway, Thailand and Poland. The deals, if completed, would bring expertise and foreign investment. Just as important, though, the agreements could provide a lifeline to the rest of the world, experts say, cementing relations with a number of European and Asian countries. That, they say, could provide an insurance policy of sorts against any punitive actions taken next year by the Trump administration and the Congress. Few Iranian officials like to acknowledge their country’s vulnerability, insisting it is immune to outside pressures. But the election of Mr. Trump and his selection of a national security team that views Iran as a major threat in the Middle East seems at the least certain to usher in a new period of tensions, and could ultimately threaten Iran’s efforts to rejoin the global economy. “Our officials are in a rush to sign contracts with big oil companies in order to have leverage when Trump enters the White House,†said Saeed Laylaz, an economist with close ties to the government of Mr. Rouhani. The Iranian president came to power promising to end Iran’s isolation and revive its economy, so the advent of a Trump presidency poses a dire threat to his political future. Mr. Laylaz pointed out that most European energy giants had been present in Iran for decades and had left only after sanctions, now lifted, were imposed during the Obama administration. “Just as in the past, we need them back here, also to make sure we are not isolated,†he said of the Europeans. Analysts noted that the deals were only memorandums of understanding, not hard contracts. But they stressed that the agreements also indicated a strong desire by Western and Asian energy companies to send a message to Washington as they return to Iran, once the world’s exporter of oil. “It seems the big oil and gas companies in Europe are determined to show Mr. Trump that they are going to make deals with Iran anyway,†said Reza Zandi, an Iranian journalist and analyst who specializes in the oil and gas industries. “These are important signals to America,†he added. Mr. Zandi said it was not hard to see why the oil companies were so eager to return to Iran. “We need $40 billion in investment in the oil and gas sector each year,†he said, “and we don’t have such resources inside the country. †Mr. Rouhani and his government of technocrats are fighting their oil battle on two fronts. Domestically, they face pressure from who have been closely scrutinizing the oil contracts, seeking anything that could undermine Iran’s independence and trying to steer them to companies under their control. But Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, told the semiofficial news agency Fars in November that only foreign companies had the ability and capital to modernize Iran’s crumbling oil and gas sector. “We need technology, including the management technology that allows a project to come into operation in four years rather than in 12 years,†he said. “And above all, we need the money. †Iran also faces a struggle to rebuild its oil exports. Growing production has allowed Iran in recent months to recover many of the Asian and European markets that it lost to Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers during the years when sanctions were in effect. And as Iran effectively flexes its muscles in OPEC for the first time since the sanctions were lifted in January, its goal is not only to protect its newfound gains but also to expand its markets, pitting it directly against its bitter sectarian rival, Saudi Arabia. Further production and export expansion, however, will require more foreign investment. The new wave of agreements with Iran, most of which remain provisional, began on Nov. 8, the day of Mr. Trump’s victory, when Total, a French company, became the first Western energy company to negotiate a deal to develop and produce natural gas from a section of a giant Persian Gulf gas field. Total leads a consortium that includes the China National Petroleum Corporation and Petropars, a subsidiary of the Iranian oil company, in the $4. 8 billion project. The provisional agreement is expected to be completed early next year. “They are signing before Trump does something,†said Dragan Vuckovic, president of Mediterranean International, a oil services company that works in North Africa and the Middle East. “The Iranians will give the Europeans favorable terms because of Trump. They want to send a message to Trump that if you try to cancel this agreement, we will just go to the Europeans. †Iran needs foreign capital and technical expertise to reach its immediate goal of returning to its 2011 oil production level of 4. 3 million barrels a day, reversing a drop that began even before sanctions were imposed. Many Iranian fields are old and in decline, requiring sophisticated and expensive redrilling of wells and injections of water and carbon dioxide to coax more oil from the ground. Since oil export sanctions were lifted, Iran’s production has risen almost a third, to about 3. 7 million barrels a day, with minimal foreign help. By reaching agreements with Total and Shell, Tehran now has the ambitious goal of reaching production levels of 4. 8 million barrels a day by 2021, which would give it added clout in OPEC and the ability to go with Saudi Arabia in competing for growing Asian markets, particularly in India. In past decades, Iran has been aggressive in urging other OPEC members to use their position to manipulate the market for higher prices, while Saudi Arabia has often argued for caution. Saudi Arabia has held the upper hand in recent years, but Iran was a major player at the latest OPEC meeting, as the cartel decided to cut production for the first time in eight years. Iran wants to ramp up production at the very moment that Saudi Arabia wants to cut output to lift prices. Using its recovered production leverage, Iran agreed to go along with the decision to collectively cut 1. 2 million barrels a day of production only when the other members conceded to its demands that it be allowed to increase production by about 90, 000 barrels a day next year. It remains to be seen whether the agreement to scale back production, not slated to take effect until January, will hold up. Similar agreements among OPEC members in the past have crumbled in the face of widespread cheating and a lack of an enforcement mechanism. The agreement is also contingent on cooperation from a handful of producers, particularly Russia, which is notoriously unreliable in such matters, said Philip K. Verleger Jr. an energy economist who served in the Ford and Carter administrations. “There is no one who will concede market share, and so there is no way to come to an enforceable agreement,†Mr. Verleger said. But just the fact that Iran was able to play a leading role at the OPEC meeting is a sign that its leaders are determined to return to world markets — as long as they are not stymied once again by geopolitical developments. | 1 | [
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FMD4372 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, had a procedure on Tuesday in Chicago to correct an irregular heartbeat, his office said. Durbin, 72, was treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for an “atrial flutter,†which occurs when the heart beats too quickly. The condition was discovered during a recent annual physical, the Illinois lawmaker’s office said. “I anticipate that this heart tune-up will give my classic roadster many more miles of reliable service,†Durbin said in a statement. Durbin had no symptoms and was able to maintain his regular schedule before and after the condition was discovered. He is scheduled to remain in Illinois for the rest of the week. Durbin used the statement about his outpatient procedure to criticize Republican efforts in the U.S. Congress to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. “My Congressional colleagues who want to cut funding for medical research and take away health insurance for millions of Americans should remember that all of us are only one diagnosis away from needing the best care for ourselves and the people we love,†he said. | 1 | [
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FMD4373 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 6 Views November 01, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
Ahead of tomorrow’s Fed meeting, there are some very strange things happening.
By Bill Fleckenstein President Of Fleckenstein Capital October 1 ( King World News ) – Overnight bond markets continued their recent losing ways again last night, with 10-year German bunds now yielding a massive 18 basis points. That doesn’t sound like much, but it is a long way from the -15 bps it yielded a couple of months ago. Meanwhile, world equity markets more or less looked the other way, although they were slightly lower. The early going here saw the market modestly weaker as well, and acting funky enough that I put on a few shorts… IMPORTANT: To find out which company Doug Casey, Rick Rule and Sprott Asset Management are pounding the table on that already has a staggering 18.1 million ounces of gold that just added another massive deposit and is quickly being recognized as one of the greatest gold opportunities in the world – CLICK HERE OR BELOW: Sponsored
Around midday the leakage accelerated somewhat and the market was 0.5% lower by early afternoon. With a couple of hours to go, when I had to leave, the decline was about 0.75% (but it felt like it might accelerate, so check the box scores). Away from stocks, green paper was a bit weaker, led by a bounce in the euro, oil lost 1%, fixed income was a bit lower, and the metals came to life, led by silver, which popped 3% to gold’s 1%. The miners similarly had a pretty strong day, just as they did yesterday. I didn’t note Monday’s action because I was suspicious it might have something to do with end-of-the-month tape painting, but obviously that was not the case.
Gold Dog, New Tricks Given the fact that the Bank of Japan did nothing new and the Fed is expected to make hawkish comments tomorrow regarding a December rate hike, it was an interesting time for the metals to pop. I’m sure today’s action has a number of people scratching their head as to how this could be. And I have to admit, I thought there was little chance for gold to start moving until we got past tomorrow’s promise from Fed heads to hike rates, assuming the data continues to be, in their words, “strong enough” (a phrase that is naturally open to subjective interpretation on their part). Having said that, I don’t feel there is going to be a hike because I don’t think the stock market or the economy are going to cooperate.
Make It Stop There is also the wild card of the election next week and despite the mainstream media and the polls suggesting that Trump is a long shot, I think the tally will be much closer and his chance of winning is nontrivial, although certainly not expected. I mention that because, were Trump to win, I think a lot of markets would be put in motion.
The stock market has been an accident waiting to happen, and considering how much Wall Street seems to be enamored of a Clinton victory, an upset would probably be enough of a catalyst to send the indices tumbling, which by extension would be a positive for gold — and take a rate hike off the table. On the other hand, in the event Hillary wins, I don’t think the stock market could really go up much.
In any event, I don’t want to get into too much of a discussion about what is liable to happen, as we will have the data in a few days and can decide exactly what to do in the wake of it from a stock market perspective. Besides, a precious metals position can do well under any number of potential scenarios we may see, and they may have already discounted a rate hike, which we probably won’t get. Included below are three questions and answers from the Q&A’s with Bill Fleckenstein. Bonus Q&A Question: If the bond market has “topped”, isn’t it irrelevant who wins the Presidency. In other words the bond market will be in full control and politicians will be late and simply be responding with desperate measures? Answer from Fleck: “ Yes, the President is irrelevant to a large degree versus the bond market.” Question: Dear Bill, Happy Halloween! If you were going to dress as something scary for Halloween would it be– a) deflation, b) a creepy clown, or c) one of the presidential candidates. Of course b) and c) aren’t mutually exclusive, since clowns can be either gender… Answer from Fleck: “ If I was going out to a party, I would dress as Mr. Politically Incorrect, and I’d try to wear a small bit of any/every costume that is deemed to be “offensive,” (i.e. part Chinese, Japanese, black, Arab, gay, trans, Indian, Mexican, angry clown, Hitler, etc.) I am so sick of microagression and related censorship. We have a right to free speech in this country, but there is no right to “not be offended.” People need to get over themselves. We have far bigger problems in this country than being offended.” Question: Yesterday you wrote “as the belief that the central planners have accomplished what they set out to, nothing can go wrong, and the election will go whichever way it needs to for us to live happily ever after.” I think the S&P 500 being flat for 22 months with fits and starts says something doesn’t it? Frustrating for bulls and bears alike. Answer from Fleck: “ Yeah, it does say something, which is, “without QE, the stock market can’t go up.” *** To subscribe to Bill Fleckenstein’s fascinating Daily Thoughts CLICK HERE.
***KWN has now released the remarkable audio interview with Nomi Prins CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***ALSO RELEASED: Today’s Upside Move In Gold Is Nothing Compared To What Is Coming CLICK HERE.
***KWN has also released Rick Rule’s timely audio interview CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
© 2015 by King World News®. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. However, linking directly to the articles is permitted and encouraged. About author | 0 | [
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FMD4374 | 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: We have more women living in poverty in this state than almost anywhere else.
contextual information: El Paso lawyer Maxey Scherr, who seeks the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, described the Obamacare law as vital to the health of millions of Texans in an interview with progressive Houston blogger Charles Kuffner. We have more women living in poverty in this state than almost anywhere else, Scherr said in the interview, which Kuffnerrecorded and placed onlineFeb. 4, 2014. We do? By email, Scherr campaign spokesman Victor Reyes told us Scherr based her conclusion on state rankings inTexas on the Brink,a March 2013 report by the Legislative Study Group, a Texas House caucus chaired by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. According to the report, Texas ranks fourth nationally in the percentage of women living in poverty, a conclusion attributed in a footnote toinformation sorted bythe Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. We clicked online to the Kaiser information and came up with a chart indicating that in 2011-12, 23 percent of Texas women were living in poverty, tying the state with California and Arizona for the fourth-highest rate nationally. According to the chart (see below), 24 percent of women in Hawaii were living in poverty; 26 percent of women in Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico; and 27 percent in Mississippi. Source: Web page,Adult Poverty Rate by Gender,State Health Facts, the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation (accessed Feb. 13, 2014) A Kaiserexplanatory notesays the women-in-poverty percentages reflect the share of female adults aged 19-64 with incomes less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four in every state but Alaska and Hawaii, that poverty level was $22,350 in 2011 and $23,050 in 2012, according to the note. This information also can be sorted by the number of women in poverty in each state. By this metric, Texas--with nearly 1.8 million women in poverty--trailed only California, with 2.7 million women in poverty (see below). Source: Web page,Adult Poverty Rate by Gender,State Health Facts, the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation (accessed Feb. 13, 2014) Next, we wondered if the presented rates and rankings were up to date. Nope: By email, Jennifer Lee, a researcher for the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for programs serving the poor, sent us achartshe built using the latest estimates from the American Community Survey for 2012 as overseen by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the 2012 estimates, 17.8 percent of Texas women aged 18-64 lived in poverty that year. Fourteen states had more women in poverty: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oregon and Michigan, according to the chart. But rounding these percentages leaves Texas tied for fifth--with Ohio, Montana, Florida and Oklahoma--with 18 percent of women in poverty, the chart indicates. Mississippi, ranked No. 1, was alone with 25 percent of women in poverty. In raw numbers, California led the nation with 2 million women in poverty, according to the chart, followed by Texas (1.4 million) and Florida and New York (1 million each). Lee said: Poverty is consistently higher for females than for men across the country. There are a lot of causes of this, but one is that many women work in historically underpaid jobs. Women who must raise children alone are especially vulnerable. Our ruling Scherr said more women live in poverty in Texas than almost anywhere else. In raw numbers, California in 2012 had the most women in poverty followed by Texas. But poverty rate is a more reasonable yardstick to compare states. The rounded Texas rate--indicating about 18 percent of its women aged 18-64 lived in poverty in 2012--tied the state for fifth with some other states. Breaking out each state's rate to tenths of percentage points, though, shows 14 states with a greater share of women in poverty than Texas. We rate this claim, which could have been more precise, as Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. | 1 | [
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FMD4375 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is likely to impose a new sugar trade deal with Mexico even if final revisions to it fail to win support from the U.S. industry, trade lawyers and experts say. After announcing a deal this week that would dramatically cut the amount of refined sugar that Mexico ships to the United States, officials from the two countries are working with their industries on final language that would govern its operation. At issue is a new right of first refusal granted to Mexico to supply all U.S. sugar needs not met by domestic suppliers or other foreign quota holders. A coalition of American sugar cane and beet farmers and a major refiner want a more explicit guarantee that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not Mexican producers, will dictate what type of sugar fills that gap. They are worried that a flood of refined sugar will pour in, rather than the raw sugar needed to keep U.S. mills running. The final sticking point stands in the way of resolving a years-long dispute over Mexican access to the highly regulated U.S. sugar market, which is protected by a complex web of subsidies and rationed quotas for foreign producers. The sugar industry is known for its sway in Washington. But its point of view on Mexican imports is not shared by sugar users such as confectioners and soda makers. The Trump administration wants to clear away the sugar dispute and a lumber trade row with Canada before starting full-scale negotiations to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. An industry rarely objects to a government-negotiated settlement of its anti-dumping case, and U.S. sugar producers could do little to stop the Commerce Department from implementing a final deal after a two-week comment period, said Seattle-based trade lawyer William Perry, who previously worked at Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. While the industry could ask the International Trade Commission to overturn the settlement that suspends anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty orders issued in 2014, chances for success look slim. The panel in 2015 rejected a challenge by two sugar refiners to the previous U.S.-Mexico pact. “Petitioners are never entirely happy with suspension agreements like this,†Perry said. “They would rather have anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders with rates high enough to shut out imports.†A Commerce spokesman said that Ross hoped the U.S. sugar industry would ultimately endorse the final agreement. Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the administration was probably willing to compromise on some industry-specific concerns to help reach its larger NAFTA goals of reducing U.S. trade deficits. The U.S. sugar industry must probably present evidence of new Mexican dumping before going back to Commerce for more changes to the deal, said Daniel Pearson, a senior fellow of the libertarian Cato Institute and former International Trade Commission chairman. “They would do well to take this agreement and run with it and see how it works,†Pearson said, noting that it raises prices and keeps U.S. refiners well-supplied with raw sugar. Mexico made major concessions to maintain its access to the lucrative U.S. market, agreeing to ship no less than 70 percent of its quota volume as raw sugar to U.S. refineries. It gave ground on nearly all of the U.S. producers’ demands. American Sugar Alliance spokesman Phillip Hayes said the final hurdle should be easy to address by making clear that the USDA, not Mexico, can dictate the type and purity level of any additional imports. But Juan Cortina, head of Mexico’s main sugar trade group, said there was no problem with the language because any additional needs would filled with raw sugar, as Mexican producers would have to keep higher inventories of that grade. | 1 | [
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FMD4376 | 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 Pat Robertson Say 'Staring' at Melania Trump 'Can Heal Gays'? Claim summaries: A 'hybrid' fake news site built on real comments made by Pat Robertson to assert the televangelist said looking at Melania Trump could 'cure gays.'
contextual information: On 17February2017, the Newslo web sitepublished an articlereporting that televangelist Pat Robertson had said "staring" at First Lady Melania Trump was an activity sufficient to "cure gays": Newslo article When Christian Conservative leader Pat Robertson discussed the RNC convention in his TV show The 700 Club last July, he managed once again to turn the topic to controversy surrounding Melania Trumps speech. Robertson had agreed with many people when he said, Trumps speechwriter should be fired for doing or borrowing a few lines from Mrs. Obama. But then the televangelist got creepy when he started discussing Mrs. Trumps appearance, when he said, We mentioned the language in that speech, although she was absolutely gorgeous and I think thats why they wanted to put her on. She had a beautiful dress and shes a lovely lady. Trump knows when hes got a winner. Lately, hes been at it again. On the most recent episode of his show, the televangelist argued that the sole reason the mainstream media is targeting President Donald Trump is, once again, his wife. Robertson opined that the beauty of First Lady Melania Trump is so incredible that just by staring at her for a period of time, one can rid themselves of the plague of homosexualism. You know how there used to be this urban myth that men can prolong their natural lives just by staring at naked female breasts for 10 minutes a day? Well, this is sort of something similar to that, with one crucial difference: its not an urban myth, Robertson said. Shes an actual gay whisperer, that one. female breasts Newslo(along with sister sitesReligionlo, Politicops, and Politicalo)typically combine a tiny grain of truth with a balance of lies, as was the case in the above-quoted material. Newslo's trio offake news sites include a buttonallowingreaders toshow facts or hide facts," but since by default all their content displays in hide facts mode, most visitors are not aware ofthe fictional embellishments they add: Newslo Religionlo Politicops Politicalo fake news In this case, Pat Robertson's remarks about Mrs. Trump's being a "lovely lady" were genuinely something he said on CBNon 16 July 2016, but the balance of the Newslo article was fabricated, and Robertson never referred to Mrs. Trump as an "actual gay whisperer." Robertson is a frequent target ofNewslo and its brethren, where segments from the700 Club are regularly embellished to create share-worthy fabrications. remarks target | 0 | [
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FMD4377 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: The Little Rascals and Bill Cosby Claim summaries: Did Bill Cosby buy up the rights to the 'Little Rascals' comedies to keep them off of TV?
contextual information: Claim: Bill Cosby bought the rights to The Little Rascals (or Our Gang) comedies in order to keep them off television because they depict racial stereotypes. Origins: Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and Darla are just a few of the easily recognizable names that were a cherished part of the childhoods of generations of kids—beloved characters from the 221 Our Gang comedy shorts that Hal Roach produced between 1922 and 1944. Roach's approach was to create films featuring kids being kids, full of fun and spontaneity, rather than films with precocious children acting like adults. With the advent of television, the Our Gang shorts, shown under the name The Little Rascals, became standard after-school viewing for generation after generation of youngsters. The depiction of black characters in these films was generally typical for its time. Buckwheat, in particular, spoke and acted in a manner considered stereotypical of blacks, and over time, the Our Gang comedies joined a long list of film works deemed "racist" by some for containing such portrayals. When CBS brought the long-running and immensely popular radio program Amos 'N' Andy to television in 1951, the series lasted only two seasons, partly due to pressure from groups, primarily the NAACP, who objected to its portrayals of blacks. Nonetheless, old episodes of Amos 'N' Andy continued to run successfully in syndication for many years until another round of protests during the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s finally prompted CBS to permanently withdraw it from syndication (and attempt to destroy the negatives) in 1966. Around 1989, rumors began circulating that entertainer Bill Cosby had bought the rights to The Little Rascals episodes for the express purpose of keeping them off television because of their demeaning portrayal of blacks. This rumor has no basis in fact: King World Productions has owned and licensed the rights to The Little Rascals for over thirty years. The series has been syndicated to television many times, and the video rights to some episodes were licensed to Cabin Fever Entertainment in 1997, but Bill Cosby has never owned any part of the rights to The Little Rascals. This rumor is similar to another claim that circulated in the mid-1990s: that Ted Turner had bought the rights to the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard to keep it off television because of its demeaning portrayal of Southerners. (The series is currently syndicated on TNN.) Neither rumor seems to have been based on anything more than a story concocted to explain the long absence of a favorite series from the TV screen, and perhaps a desire to poke a little fun at the "political correctness" movement. The connections are obvious: Bill Cosby is black, and Ted Turner is from Atlanta; hence their alleged interest in protecting the reputations of the groups these programs supposedly besmirch. In Bill Cosby's case, the connection is a little stronger: Cosby was one of the prominent names who campaigned to pressure CBS into withdrawing Amos 'N' Andy from syndication back in the 1960s. Last updated: 8 August 2007. Sources: Anderson, John. "Little Rascals in '90s World" Newsday. 5 August 1994 (p. B2). Brooks, Tim and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999. ISBN 0-345-42923-0 (pp. 43-44). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. Feran, Tom. "'Rascals' Were Beloved in Their Time." The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer. 13 December 1992 (p. H9). Parham, Betty and Gerrie Ferris. "Q & A on the News" The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. 18 August 1994 (p. B2). St. Petersburg Times. "Ask Monika." 12 March 1989 (TV; p. 45). | 0 | [
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FMD4378 | 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: Austin leads in Texas in startups, venture capital, and patents.
contextual information: Austins typically soft-spoken mayor recently popped a big-as-Texas boast. Theres a reason Austin is number one in Texas in startups and venture capital and patents, Steve Adler said. Adler, speaking outside City Hall, went on: Theres a reason that tech and transportation companies come to Austin to roll out their new initiatives. And thats because Austin is where good ideas become real. Claiming that Austin is anti-innovation has no basis in fact. Hear hear! Still, we wondered about the rankings Adler declared whilerevealing his plansto vote against a ballot proposition, later rejected by voters, affecting background checks of drivers for ride-hailing services. Startups Adler's office didn't immediately offer his backup. Meantime, our online search for information on startups led us to a June 2015 report from the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation stating that in the last year, the Austin metropolitan area ranked No. 1 nationally for the areas pace launching startups, which the foundation defined as firms less than one-year old employing at least one person besides the owner. Asked what last year means in the report, foundation researcher E.J. Reedy advised by phone the conclusion tied to data from 2012 and 2014. According to the foundation,which saysit focuses on improving lives through education and entrepreneurship, the nations top 10 metropolitan areas for startup activity among the 40 most-populous metropolitan areas were:Austin;Miami, Fla.;San Jose, Calif.;Los Angeles;Denver;San Francisco;New York;Houston;San Diego; andSan Antonio. Per Adlers Texas point, the Austin area had 180.8 startups per 100,000 residents, the foundation says, outpacing theDallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area(142.5 startups per 100,000 residents),Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown(136.9 startups per 100,000 residents) and the San Antonio-New Braunfels area (111.9 startups per 100,000 residents). By email, foundation spokeswoman Lacey Graverson told us the presented concentrations drew on the U.S. Census BureausBusiness Dynamics Statisticsto tally startups matched with population data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Reedy agreed by phone that among the big Texas cities, the Austin area had the greatest concentration of startups. But generally, Reedy indicated, counts of startups can vary, partly because theres no single accepted definition of startups, which inherently come and go at a rapid pace. The government has official measures, Reedy added, but each one captures an aspect -- for instance new employer businesses or newly self-employed individuals. Also, Reedy said, observers differ over what merits counting. Some stress large firms that employ many, he said, others urge a fix on technology firms and others say that any count should recognize small businesses (including one-person endeavors) that grow by an employee or two a year. A foundation chart presenting Austins startup density since the late 1970s indicates the area has had peppier times--including in 2008 (201.7 startups per 100,000 residents), 2006 (214.9), 1999 (217.9) and, the charts high point, 1981 (499.5), which was up a huge measure from 1980 (31.4): SOURCE:Web page,Startup Activity, Austin Area, 2015,Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, June 4, 2015 (viewed May 5, 2016) Venture capital Next, we turned to exploring Austins ranking for venture capital, which describes money invested in a business or project at considerable risk. A January 2016Austin American-Statesmannews story, citing a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, said Austin entities in 2015 were by far the states largest recipients of venture capital, with $740 million; Dallas firms placed second, fielding $214.4 million, ahead of Houston outfits, at $160 million. The Austin-connected investments added up to the largest annual dollar figure for Austin since 2001, the newspaper said, when 127 companies received $1.14 billion. By email, mayoral spokesman Jason Stanford pointed out another account of the survey results; a Silicon Hills Newsstorysaid the 99 Austin deals in 2015, mostly to develop software, were down from 114 in 2014. Also, the story said, Austins number one deal for the latest year was Civitas Learning, attracting $60 million in venture capital, followed by Aeglea Biotherapeautics with $44 million, Mirna Therapeutics with $41.8 million and SpareFoot with $30 million, the story said. Nationally in 2015, theStatesmanstory said, venture capital investments rose to $58.8 billion, up 22 percent from the year before. Silicon Valley, as usual, took in the most money, with the San Jose area receiving $27.3 billion in 1,333 deals, the story said. Patents Stanford said Adler made his claim about Austin leading Texas in patents based on a May 2010Forbes.com articleby Andy Greenberg stating that Austin and neighboring Round Rock had produced an impressive average 1.7 patents for every thousand residents over the last 12 months, the second-most per-capita of any metro area in the country, he wrote. Greenberg elaborated: Austins culture of innovation may be boosted by well-known tech credentials like the South by Southwest (SXSW) Web startup and music festival held annually in March, as well as the nearby headquarters of hardware industry giants Dell and Freescale Semiconductor. But they also have two secret weapons in the innovation race: the University of Texass Cockrell School of Engineering, and IBMs Austin research lab. IBM produces more patents than any other company in the world, and for the last seven years Austin has produced more of those patents than any other IBM office. In total the lab produced 880 patents in 2009. Thats just 30 less than all of Cisco, and 300 more than Sun Microsystems, Boeing, AT&T or Toyota. We were unable to confirm or duplicate Greenbergs Austin conclusion. To get our own sense of how Texas cities stand in patents originated, we reached out to the Dallas-basedregional officeof the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. By email, spokesman Ryan Elliott pointed outpatent counts posted by the officeindicating that in 2012-13 and from 2000 through 2013, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area generated more patents than the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area. However, the regions raw counts were close, according to the agency, while the Austin area was responsible for more patents than any other Texas area from 2009, 2010 and 2011 through 2013, by our reckoning. Snapshot: The Austin area was responsible for 12,387 patents from 2009 through 2013, according to the office, with the Dallas area accounting for 11,546 patents -- which we took to mean that the less populous Austin area ran well ahead of the Dallas area in patents per 1,000 residents. Our search for relevant analyses led to a2013 reportby the Brookings Institution finding that from 1980 to 2012, most U.S. patents--63 percent--had been developed by people living in just 20 metro areas home to 34 percent of the U.S. population. Reflecting the advantages of large metropolitan economies, the report said, 92 percent of U.S. patents are concentrated in just 100 metro areas, with 59 percent of the population. For patents applied for from 2007 to 2011, the metro areas with the highest number per capita are San Jose; Burlington, VT; Rochester, MN; Corvallis, OR; and Boulder, CO. The authors wrote: From 1980 to 2011, a few large metros notably changed their share of U.S patents. At the top, San Jose moved up from ninth to first, and San Francisco moved from seventh to fourth, moving ahead of Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Boston. Seattle and San Diego moved up 15 and nine places, respectively, to become seventh and eighth. Meanwhile, Austin and Raleigh moved up 41 and 55 places, respectively, to become 11th and 20th. Cleveland fell 10 slots from 13th to 23rd, while Philadelphia fell from fourth to 13th. Not only did Austin surge in total patents, it lately achieved a high ranking in per-capita patents. From 2007 through 2011, a chart in the report indicates, the Austin metro area had 1,503 patents per million residents, tops in Texas and placing the area fourth nationally among high-patent areas behind San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California (5,066 patents per million residents); Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, New York (1,829); and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (1,638). In Texas, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metro area had 379 patents per million residents and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area had 310 per million, according to Brookings. Next, we heard back from Mark Muro of Brookings who shared a chart that he said was based on a different data source -- global PCT patents,meaningthe international patent system rather than the U.S. PTO. By that metric, the chart suggests that from 2008 through 2012, the Houston metropolitan area generated more cutting-edge technology patents per 1,000 residents (1,598) than the Austin area (1,294). An excerpt: SOURCE:Chart ranking 100 U.S. Core Based Statistical Areas in tech patents invented per 1,000 population, 2008-2012 (received by email from Mark Muro, senior fellow and policy director, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings, May 5, 2016) Regardless of those results, Muro and a Brookings colleague, Nick Marchio, suggested we hew to the U.S. patent office counts as the best general way of assessing the mayors claim. Marchio even volunteered toadjust the patent offices raw counts for the population of each metropolitan area. Result: In 2013, the latest year of tabulated patents, the Austin area ranked No. 11 nationally with 1.55 patents per 1,000 residents, far outpacing the No. 2 Texas metro, Dallas, at 51st with 0.44 patents per 1,000 residents. Also, from 2009 through 2013, the Austin area ranked 10th nationally with 6.95 patents per 1,000 residents, far ahead of the No. 2 Texas metro, in this case the Houston area, which landed 52nd nationally with 1.81 patents per 1,000 residents. Our ruling Adler said: Austin is number one in Texas in startups, venture capital and patents. Houston has been running ahead in international technology patents, it looks to us, but Austin lately leads the state in overall patents, startups and venture capital. We rate the claim True. TRUE The statement is accurate and theres nothing significant missing. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. | 1 | [
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FMD4379 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Hillary Clinton’s bout of pneumonia has shed light on a problem seldom seen by American voters: The long days, little sleep, cross-country travel, bad food and kissing babies add up to a recipe for illness for presidential candidates and aides. Avoiding viruses and other ailments can be next to impossible for people who spend months in the close confines of campaign planes and buses. Brooke Buchanan, former press secretary to 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, remembers leaving the campaign trail in Beaufort, South Carolina to visit an emergency room. She had a respiratory ailment and two ear infections. “You have to soldier on during certain things, but there’s a point when you become a liability,†Buchanan said. “I was back on the road the next day, full of antibiotics.†Supporters of Clinton, who will face Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election, worried on Monday that the Democratic presidential nominee’s medical scare would fuel conspiracy theories about her health. But Republican and Democratic political veterans alike say illnesses are an unwelcome but standard part of life on the campaign trail. Alice Stewart, who was a senior adviser to former presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz during the Republican primary earlier this year, remembers coughing her way through some of his news conferences while she was recording them for the campaign. She called the Cruz plane a “flying petri dish.†“You just kind of power through it. When you’re on the road, you can’t drive home,†Stewart said. In recent weeks, several staff at Clinton’s campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters have fallen ill and required medical treatment, a campaign aide said. Steven Simpson, a pulmonary specialist at the University of Kansas, said candidates were particularly vulnerable to illness. “The average patient, if you have the luxury of it, takes the week off before you go back to your full duties,†Simpson said. “But how do you say that to a presidential candidate?†President Barack Obama caught a cold in August 2008, shortly before the Democratic Party’s convention. A video posted on YouTube shows him sneezing at a rally. “That’s why I’ve got my handkerchief,†he said. “Every candidate and campaign aide gets sick, but they just never get to take days off,†said former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer. “You take vitamin C and try to get sleep, but it’s a losing battle.†Obama’s 2008 opponent, John McCain, traveled at times with a friend who was a doctor, said Steve Schmidt, the Republican candidate’s campaign manager. “I think one of the secrets of working in a White House or on a presidential campaign is it’s the closest you can ever get to traveling with Elvis (Presley) when it comes to the number of pills that are floating around,†Schmidt said. “There was always a big bag of every conceivable type of antibiotic and cold medicine, and you name it | 1 | [
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FMD4380 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: How the Oligarchy Has Prepared the Groundwork for Stealing the Election
In addition to the cyber manipulation of electronic voting (see http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/11/01/very-easy-to-invisibly-steal-us-elections/ ), Finian Cunningham explains a second method the Oligarchy has prepared that would allow the election to be stolen for Hillary. The groundwork that has been officially established indicates that a false flag cyber attack is the preferred method.
A Digital 9/11 If Trump Wins by Finian Cunningham
There are disturbing signs that a digital 9/11 false flag terror attack is being readied for election day in the US to ensure that Donald Trump does not win.
Such an attack – involving widespread internet and power outage – would have nothing to do with Russia or any other foreign state. It would be furnished by agencies of the US Deep State in a classic “false flag” covert manner. But the resulting chaos and “assault on American democracy” will be conveniently blamed on Russia.
That presents a double benefit. Russia would be further demonized as a foreign aggressor “justifying” even harsher counter measures by America and its European allies against Moscow.
Secondly, a digital attack on America’s presidential election day this week, would allow the Washington establishment to pronounce a Trump win invalid due to “Russian cyber subversion”. Invalidation is a prepared option if the ballot results show Republican candidate Donald Trump as the imminent victor.
Democrat rival Hillary Clinton is the clear choice for the White House among the Washington establishment. She has the backing of Wall Street finance capital, the corporate media, the military-industrial complex and the Deep State agencies of the Pentagon and CIA. The fix has been in for months to get her elected by the powers-that-be owing to her well-groomed obedience to American imperialist interests.
The billionaire property magnate Trump is too much of a maverick to be entrusted with the White House, as far as the American ruling elite are concerned.
The trouble is that, despite the massive campaign to discredit Trump, polls show his support remains stubbornly close to Clinton’s. The latter has been tainted with too many scandals involving allegations of sleazy dealings with Wall Street, so-called pay-for-play favors while she was former Secretary of State, and her penchant for inciting overseas wars for regime change using jihadist terrorist foot-soldiers.
As one headline from McClatchy News only days ago put it: “Majority of voters think Clinton acted illegally, new poll finds”. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article112635048.html#emlnl=Evening_Newsletter
Trump is right. The US presidential election is rigged. The system is heavily stacked against any candidate who does not conform with the interests of the establishment. The massive media-orchestrated campaign against Trump is testimony to that.
But such is popular disgust with Clinton, her sleaze-ball husband Bill and the Washington establishment that her victory is far from certain. Indeed in the last week before voting this Tuesday various polls are showing a neck-and-neck race with even some indicators putting the Republican narrowly ahead.
Over the weekend, the Washington Post, which has been one of the main media outlets panning Trump on a daily basis, reported this: “The electoral map is definitely moving in Trump’s direction”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/04/dont-look-now-the-electoral-map-is-definitely-moving-in-donald-trumps-direction/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
In recent days, American media are reporting a virtual state of emergency by the US government and its security agencies to thwart what they claim are Russian efforts to incite “election day cyber mayhem.”
In one “exclusive” report by the NBC network on November 3, it was claimed that: “The US government believes hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to undermine next week’s presidential election and is mounting an unprecedented effort to counter their cyber meddling.” http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-readies-fight-election-day-cyber-mayhem-n677636?cid=sm_tw
On November 4, the Washington Post reported: “Intelligence officials warn of Russian mischief in election and beyond.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russia-seen-as-unable-to-alter-election-but-may-still-seek-to-undermine-it/2016/11/03/b7387160-a1cd-11e6-8832-23a007c77bb4_story.html
Apparently, the emergency security response is being coordinated by the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the National Security Agency and other elements of the Defense Department, according to NBC.
These claims of Russian state hackers interfering in the US political system are not new. Last month, the Obama administration officially accused Moscow of this alleged malfeasance. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/07/us-russia-dnc-hack-interfering-presidential-election
Russian President Vladimir Putin has lambasted American claims that his country is seeking to disrupt the presidential elections as “hysterical nonsense”, aimed at distracting the electorate from far more deep-rooted internal problems. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/putin-rejects-claims-russian-interference-us-election-43103312
The Obama administration and its state security agencies have not provided one iota of evidence to support their allegations against Russia. Nevertheless the repeated charges have a tendency to stick.
The Clinton campaign has for months been accusing Trump of being a “pro-Russian stooge”. Clinton’s campaign has also claimed that Russian hackers have colluded with the whistleblower organization Wikileaks to release thousands of private emails damaging Clinton with the intention of swaying the election in favor of Trump.
Wikileaks’ director Julian Assange and the Russian government have both rejected any suggestion that they are somehow collaborating, or that they are working to get Trump elected.
But on the eve of the election, the US authorities are recklessly pushing hysteria that Russia is trying to subvert American democracy.
Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014 is quoted as saying: “The Russians are in an offensive mode and the US is working on strategies to respond to that, and at the highest levels.”
NBC cites a senior Obama administration official as saying that the Russians “want to sow as much confusion as possible and undermine our process”.
Ominously, the news outlet adds that “steps are being taken to prepare for worst-case scenarios, including a cyber-attack that shuts down part of the power grid or the internet.”
Nearly two weeks ago, on October 21-22, the US was hit with a widespread internet outage. The actors behind the “distributed denial of service” were not identified, but the disruption was nationwide and it temporarily disabled many popular consumer services. One former official at the US Department of Homeland Security described the event as having “all the signs of what would be considered a drill”. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-readies-fight-election-day-cyber-mayhem-n677636?cid=sm_tw
Could that cyber-attack have been the work of US Deep State agencies as a dress rehearsal for an even bigger outage planned for November 8 – election day?
The Washington establishment wants Clinton over Trump. She’s the marionette of choice for their strategic interests, including a more hostile foreign policy towards Russia in Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere. But Trump might prove to be the voters’ choice. In which case, the shadowy forces that really rule America can trigger a “digital 9/11”.
It’s not difficult to imagine the chaos and mayhem from internet blackout, power, transport, banking and communications paralysis – even for just a temporary period of a few hours. Months of fingering Russia as a destabilizing foreign enemy intent on interfering in US democracy to get “Comrade Trump” into the White House would then serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. In that event, the US authorities could plausibly move to declare the election of Donald J Trump null and void.
In fact the scenario could be contrived to a far more serious level than merely invalidating the election result. The US authorities could easily feign that a state of emergency is necessary in order to “defend national security”. That contingency catapults beyond “rigged politics”. It is a green light for a coup d’état by the Deep State forces who found that they could not win through the “normal” rigging methods.
Originally published: https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201611061047117877-digital-9-11-if-trump-wins/
The post How the Oligarchy Has Prepared the Groundwork for Stealing the Election appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 0 | [
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FMD4381 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Michigan Congressman John Conyers has been in the spotlight recently for being a repeat sexual harasser to women he works with. He even showed up for a meeting in his underwear! Yikes!Nancy Pelosi defended Conyers on Meet the Press this morning when she called him an icon She went on to say that he deserves due process . That s pretty ironic when you think of how the left wants to lock up any Republican right away if they re accused of wrongdoing. Conyers gets a pass because he s an icon ? This is just more insanity from Pelosi who needs to retire with Conyers..@NancyPelosi: Accused Congressman Conyers is an "icon" in our country. #MTP pic.twitter.com/4QlKKJTIJP Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 26, 2017 SHOWED UP TO A MEETING IN HIS UNDERWEAR The Detroit Free Press reported:A lawyer who formerly worked for U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, and later ran an ethics watchdog group in the nation s capital confirmed for the Free Press on Thursday that Conyers verbally abused her, criticized her appearance and once showed up to a meeting in his underwear.Melanie Sloan, a well-known Washington lawyer who for three years in the 1990s worked as Democratic counsel on the House Judiciary Committee, where Conyers remains the ranking Democrat, told the Detroit Free Press that Conyers constantly berated her, screaming at her and firing her and then rehiring her several times.She said he criticized her for not wearing stockings on at least one occasion. On another, she said he ordered her backstage from a committee field hearing on crime she had organized in New York City to babysit one of his children. Sloan made clear that she did not feel she had ever been sexually harassed, but that she felt mistreated by this guy. | 0 | [
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FMD4382 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: There are no two crazy people ever mentioned more in the news than the leaders of West and East, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un. For the citizens of America and North Korea, unfortunately, no two crazy leaders are more alike. From out-of-control hair to ludicrous proclamations, Trump and Kim are like brothers from another (deeply disturbed) mother.We thought we d take a look at some of the ways the two are alike, starting with what we ve already mentioned Kim Jong-Un was the undisputed world champion of insanity until right around the middle of Trump s run at the presidency here in the United States. How could anyone compete with Kim s reclamation of one half hour from the Japanese on August 15, 2015, 96 years after the Korean dignitary says Japan stole time from North Korea? It s hard to keep up with a man who learned to drive at only age three.Trump does his best, though. On day one of his presidency, he insisted that it stopped raining just as he began to give his inaugural address which was news to those in attendance getting wet as it began raining at precisely that moment. That same day, Donald looked out at a crowd roughly half the size of the previous inauguration to take place and declared it the biggest crowd at any inauguration, ever. Kim is famous for using doctored video to fake missile launches, a show of his military prowess and resolve. Trump prefers to lie the old-fashioned way: by just making shit up and hoping nobody calls him on it. We don t actually have room here for a more complete documentation of all of the outright lies from either Toddler Tyrant, but rest assured that the lists are extensive. although their rallies look slightly different:Uniforms, flowers, and colorful dresses line the streets of North Ko-razy (Pool/Getty)Fans display a makeshift sign made of used beer cases (Justin Merriman/Getty)In July, upon release of the Hwasong 14 missile, Kim (who is literally never seen out of uniform) reportedly expressed satisfaction, saying it looked as handsome as a good-looking boy and was well made. Just one month earlier, Trump was waxing romantic about his own terrible toys, pitching the sale of beautiful military equipment because nobody makes it like the United States while he was in the Middle East. There was no uniform for Trump that day, but only because he wasn t on an aircraft carrier.Remember that time Kim Jong-Un said, It would be perfect for Obama to live with a group of monkeys in the world s largest African natural zoo and lick the breadcrumbs thrown by spectators through the Korean Central News Agency?I d pretty much put an equals sign between that and the time Trump told the former president of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino that laziness is a trait in blacks. Frankly, that s gross, so I m not going to spend a whole lot of time on this entry, other than to say that Trump s you can do anything looks exactly the same to me as Kim s Pleasure Squad. So this one s kind of misleading: Kim Jong-Un inherited a State Media from his dad. They pretty much just say whatever he tells them to say, and he has the final word on whether anything anyone in his country ever says makes it into print. There is no internet for regular citizens in North Korea.Trump, on the other hand, is trying to get there by delegitimizing our constitutionally-protected press and supporting television programming that serves as propaganda.Maybe you ve heard of some of North Korea s brutal executions for crimes as petty as falling asleep during an event. But do you remember that time Donald Trump took out full-page ads in every paper in New York calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, a group of teenage boys who were coerced into confessing to a rape they didn t commit? They were completely exonerated by DNA evidence, and reimbursed $41 million by the state for their ordeal. Trump reiterated his belief that the boys (then men) were guilty as recently as 2016. What were they doing in the Park, playing checkers? he tweeted a few years back. To recap the last four horrid sentences: Trump wanted the death penalty for a non-capital crime that the people didn t commit.How could I forget this one? Although we don t know the extent of Kim Jong-Un s corruption, we can make a pretty educated guess, based on the fact that like his father before him, he lives like a king while the citizens of North Korea literally eat sawdust to keep from starving.Trump s corruption, however, can be more accurately tracked because there are websites dedicated to chronicling it all. I would hate to see the internet run out of available pages, though, so hopefully we get rid of this guy soon. In fact, he never should have been president in the first place, because like all fascists The Kim family, of course, has always been in power in the secretive kingdom. But that doesn t stop them from electing their leaders who run unopposed, of course.Trump s dark ties to Russia, however, may prove to be the end of his presidency. For all the indignity we ve suffered in even allowing Donald Trump to assume the presidency of the United States, we at least still have a constitution and some semblance of democracy. And we have something North Koreans don t: Bob Muller and a grand jury.I m sure you could comment on this with more examples of similarities between the two Supreme Leaders. In fact, feel free! But bookmark the page for when you get into arguments on the internet there are a lot of useful links in this article. In fact, forward this thing to your right-wing uncle, and tell him to click everything he sees.It can t possibly hurt him to know his favorite politician is basically a crazy Asian dictator.Read more:Featured image via Wikimedia Commons | 0 | [
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FMD4383 | 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: Can sending a text with the word 'FOOD' assist in offering complimentary summer meals to children? Claim summaries: A viral message on social media contained accurate information about how to access food for kids this summer.
contextual information: In late May 2017, Facebook users began sharing a message claiming that if you send a text message to a particular phone number, you would receive the address of a nearby location where school-aged children could get free meals during the summer. The message was typically worded like this: "If you have a school-aged student in need of breakfast and lunch this summer, simply text FOOD to 877877 and receive a message back with the location closest to where they can get free summer meals. Even if you aren't in need, someone else's kids are. No child deserves to go hungry, ever. This is a real phone number, a real program, and an accurate message. The text information service is run by No Kid Hungry, an initiative of the non-profit organization Share Our Strength. No Kid Hungry has access to information about tens of thousands of groups serving free meals nationwide as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Summer Food Service Program. Once the free meal providers register with the USDA, No Kid Hungry makes their location and hours available to the public via the 877-877 number. To use the service, text "FOOD" to 877-877 and enter your zip code when prompted. Spanish speakers can also text "COMIDA" to 877-877. You can also locate registered, licensed free meal providers using this interactive map on the USDA website. Unfortunately, your nearest free meal provider may not be in your town. This is because, by law, sites are only allowed in areas where 50% of schoolchildren or more are eligible for free or low-cost school meals, according to the USDA. You can check whether your local area is eligible to host a Summer Food Service Program site using this map. However, even if your neighborhood isn't eligible for a free meals provider, there is no restriction on you and your children traveling to the nearest site to get free meals there. The summer program is federally funded and administered by the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, which also runs the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program during the academic year, as well as the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. According to a spokesperson for the No Kid Hungry campaign, the Summer Food Service Program served 177 million free meals at 47,816 sites across the U.S. in 2016. | 1 | [
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FMD4384 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: As part of an editorial calling for Republicans to stop Donald Trump from becoming their presidential nominee, the Boston Globe on Sunday imagined what covering a President Trump would be like on its front page.
The Globe took some editorial liberties with how Trump's plans would impact the US, including the potential for riots, markets crashing, and the military refusing to obey Trump's orders.
It is an exercise in taking a man at his word. And his vision of America promises to be as appalling in real life as it is in black and white on the page. It is a vision that demands an active and engaged opposition. It requires an opposition as focused on denying Trump the White House as the candidate is flippant and reckless about securing it.
The Globe's predicted results to Trump's policies don't seem too far off from reality: Deporting 11 million unauthorized immigrants would likely cause a lot of social unrest in the US, and Trump has explicitly called for violence at his rallies. Imposing taxes on foreign goods if Trump can't get the trade deals he wants would very likely hurt the economy. And former CIA Director Michael Hayden warned that the military really would ignore Trump's orders to go directly after the relatives of ISIS members and other terrorists.
The Globe looks at all of these possibilities with horror — enough to publish a satirical front page and call for Republicans to stop Trump at a brokered convention, regardless of the risks to the party. | 1 | [
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FMD4385 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday outlined for his staff how an “America First†agenda translates into foreign policy, but did not address the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts, which worry many diplomats. It was the first time Tillerson had addressed all employees since his first day on the job on Feb. 2, when he spoke to hundreds of State Department officials in the building’s lobby, and the most thorough explanation yet of the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy. Some allies and even some U.S. officials have interpreted Republican President Donald Trump’s “America First†agenda, which puts Americans’ interests at home ahead of those of its partners overseas, as a threat to retreat from the world. Tillerson said U.S. foreign policy priorities had gotten “a little bit out of balance†in the previous decades, with the United States too focused on promoting economic activity and trade with emerging economies. “These are really important relationships to us, and they’re really important alliances, but we’ve got to bring them back into balance,†he said, speaking without notes and walking around the stage in a packed State Department auditorium. He also signaled that the United States would de-emphasize human rights concerns in some of its interactions with other countries, saying that while U.S. values remain constant, its policies can adapt. “If we condition too heavily that others must adopt this value that we’ve come to over a long history of our own, it really creates obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests,†Tillerson said. Tillerson gave a tour of U.S. priorities around the world, including in East Asia, Russia, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere, omitting Europe. With regard to North Korea’s nuclear program, Tillerson said the administration is willing to use so-called secondary sanctions to target foreign companies that continue to do business with Pyongyang in contravention of United Nations sanctions. The pressure campaign on North Korea is “at about dial setting 5 or 6 right now,†Tillerson said. On China, Tillerson said the United States has a “tremendous opportunity†to define its relationship with the superpower for the next several decades, and that he sensed great interest by the Chinese leadership to do that as well. He and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will chair a dialogue with their Chinese counterparts in June, in addition to a dialogue focused on economics and trade and led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Tillerson said he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow last month that U.S.-Russia relations were at their lowest point since the Cold War. “He did not disagree,†Tillerson said. “He shrugged his shoulders and nodded in agreement.†But in remarks lasting nearly 40 minutes, Tillerson did not address the administration’s proposed 28 percent budget cut for U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid, which would reduce funding for the United Nations, climate change and cultural exchange programs. That proposal has made many American diplomats and aid workers anxious. The Trump administration also has not named candidates for the vast majority of State Department positions requiring Senate confirmation, and many are being filled by career diplomats in “acting†positions. Tillerson began his remarks by thanking those officials, to applause from the crowd. One veteran official who watched the speech criticized Tillerson’s use of the “America First†slogan. The phrase was used in the 1930s by isolationists who sought to keep the United States out of World War Two. “The fact that they still use ‘America First’ shows they know nothing about history, and what’s worse is they don’t care. “It’s offensive,†said the official, who requested anonymity. Tillerson’s remarks followed an invitation to State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development employees this week to participate in an online survey to help identify “efficiency improvements,†in line with a March directive from Trump to “reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies.†In his speech, the secretary urged employees to fill out the survey and give input on how to reform the agency. Tillerson said the State Department, like many institutions, was built for the Cold War era. He said he recognized that deep change to the State Department “is really stressful for a lot of people†and said the administration has “no preconceived notions on the outcome†of a review. One State Department official faulted Tillerson for not talking in detail about the budget cuts, as well as for not taking questions from employees. Previous secretaries of state, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, held question-and-answer sessions with State Department employees within weeks of taking office. “They wanted to make this look like he was talking to us, but it was more about the appearance than any substance,†said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Two other State Department officials, however, spoke highly of Tillerson’s remarks, saying it was early to expect him to take questions from the rank and file and saying he provided guidance both on foreign policy and on the challenge of reorganizing the department. “I can understand folks wanting more details. I just don’t think we are in a place where he can provide more details,†said one of these officials about the expected State Department budget cuts. “My big takeaway was put on your big-girl britches, and when you look back you will feel like you were part of making this reform happen.†| 1 | [
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FMD4386 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: By wmw_admin on October 28, 2016 by Henry Makow Ph.D. — henrymakow.com Oct 27, 2016 Where have I seen this before? Hitler was false opposition and I am afraid Trump is too. But false opposition is better than none at all. I believe Donald Trump will win the Presidential election November 8 . However, as I will explain later, I am hesitant to think that his victory will be a setback for the New World Order. I agree with Michael Moore who eloquently predicts the majority of American voters will deliver a big Fuck You to the political establishment: “Donald Trump came to the Detroit Economic Club and stood there in front of the Ford Motor executives and said, ‘If you close these factories as you’re planning to do in Detroit and build them in Mexico, I’m going to put a 35 percent tariff on those cars when you send them back. And nobody’s gonna buy them.’ It was an amazing thing to see. No politician, Republican or Democrat, had ever said anything like that to these executives. And it was music to the ears of people in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the Brexit states… And on November 8th, Election Day – although they’ve lost their jobs, although they’ve been foreclosed on by the bank, next came the divorce and now the wife and kids are gone, the car has been repo’d, they haven’t had a real vacation in years, they’re stuck with the shitty Obamacare Bronze plan where you can’t even get a fucking Percocet – they’ve essentially lost everything they had. … So on November 8th, the dispossessed will walk into the voting booth, be handed a ballot, close the curtain and take that lever, or felt pen, or touch screen and put a big fucking X in the box by the name of the man who has threatened to upend and overturn the very system that has ruined their lives. Donald J. Trump. They see that the elites, who ruined their lives, hate Trump. Corporate America hates Trump. Wall Street hates Trump. The career politicians hate Trump. The media hate Trump – after they loved him and created him and now hate him. Thank you, media. The enemy of my enemy is who I’m voting for on November 8th. Yes, on November 8th, you, Joe Blow, Steve Blow, Bob Blow, Bill Blow, Billy Bob Blow, all the Blows – get to go and blow up the whole God damn system because it’s your right. Trump’s election is going to be the biggest fuck you ever recorded in human history. And it will feel good.” Despite his (pre-divorce) net worth of $50 million , Moore clearly has not lost the common touch. IS TRUMP FALSE OPPOSITION? | 0 | [
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FMD4387 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: For weeks, if not months, if not decades, those trying to highlight Hillary s connection to Wall Street have been focused on her relationship with Goldman Sachs and how much she was paid to speak for them. Transcripts of those speeches have also been requested. Well, here is one of those speeches.Clinton can be seen here on October 22, 2014 speaking in front of a large Goldman Sachs audience. However, she s not talking about giving them breaks or handouts or favors, she s proving the case for women entrepreneurs. As much as Wall Street NEEDS to be reined in and made to pay their fair share in taxes as well as be properly regulated, we need to also remember that there can be some good that comes out of companies with a lot of money. Clinton, recognizing this, has been trying to help raise capital to support women in business. Which, in 2014, was looking to raise up to $600 million in support of female entrepreneurs.This video, featuring Hillary making the case for women in business, which was before she decided to run for president, has the caption: The event featured a keynote address from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the business case for empowering women to ensure future economic growth. Pretty evil, right? Probably just another backhanded scheme to eh, enough of the conspiracy theories.Clinton, during her speech stated: The work that we are doing is work that is absolutely essential for global economic growth. Followed by: There is no path forward that does not include the empowerment of women. As far as speaking fees, her fees were pretty standard for most any highly distinguished speaker, so when she responds with, that s what they offered and being a former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, it makes sense to pay her as much as they did, as obscene as that amount may seem.Clinton was speaking on behalf of women worldwide and trying to open doors to accessible capital to start businesses and advance gender equity as well as economic equality.Here s her speech in full: Video/Featured image from YouTube | 0 | [
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FMD4388 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Name one time this reckless Commander in Chief has put our men and women in uniform before the war on terror Just one.On Monday, the Obama administration announced that President Obama would veto a defense authorization bill if it did not close down Guantanamo Bay. White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained that the House funding bill would be vetoed principally because of the irresponsible way that it funds our national defense priorities, but also because of the efforts to prevent the closure [of] the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He added that Democrats would sustain Obama s veto, and defense authorization would die.Obama s strong stand on Gitmo underscores two vital points. First, President Obama does not fear defunding America s national security. Second, Obama does not fear Republicans in Congress.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has been authorized for five decades running. The current NDAA fully funds the military through a workaround measure, thanks to President Obama s demands that a huge chunk of sequestration cuts come from defense funding. Now Democrats complain that the workaround measure isn t good enough: Republicans should bust open the bank again.But that s not Obama s main criticism of the NDAA. He has long had a bug in his ear with regard to Gitmo, which he feels has strengthened terrorists feelings about the evils of the United States. Given his recent moves to parlay with the Cuban dictatorship as well, Obama may want to hand Gitmo in totality back to the Cuban government. The fact that Obama would be willing to dramatically cut America s military funding, even as Russia takes over Ukraine and Syria, as Iran gears up for a big regional military push, as China continues its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, demonstrates Obama s top priority is doing leftist work, not protecting the United States.In fact, Obama s choice to prioritize Gitmo above national security isn t a choice at all: Obama wants America s military slashed, and he wants Gitmo closed. Senator Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) agrees with Obama that Gitmo should be closed, but even he says that Obama has manipulated the process to create an impasse. According to Roll Call, McCain has said the White House promised him a plan to close the prison, but has yet to present one. Without that, he has said he wouldn t be able to find the votes to do what the White House wants. Now, normally, Obama s nasty priorities would pose little threat to military funding: after all, Obama would be stymied by Republicans in Congress. And Obama has threatened to veto the NDAA before over Guantanamo; each time, Congress has called Obama s bluff, and he has signed the bill into law.But this time, the feeling is that Obama could be more serious. After all, with the legacy of Republicans folding on executive amnesty, the Iran deal, and funding for Planned Parenthood, among others, Obama probably feels he can leverage Gitmo out of existence. He believes that Republicans fear defense defunding more than he must their constituents will hold them accountable, while he s in pure f*** it list mode. He also thinks that Republicans are unwilling to undergo a head-to-head matchup with him under almost any circumstances.And Obama is right. In his entire tenure as Commander-in-Chief, Obama has had to issue a grand total of four vetoes. Four. That s less than every president since Chester A. Arthur, who filled out James Garfield s term, serving less than four years. Obama has had a fully Republican Congress this year, and a Republican House since 2010. He has issued just two vetoes this year, one with regard to Keystone XL Pipeline, and the other with regard to a bill related to the National Labor Relations Board. All of his other major policy priorities have been guarded zealously by a Democratic minority or an unwilling Republican majority.So why wouldn t Obama try to hold Republicans feet to the fire on defense authorization?Obama s mastery of Congress is unprecedented in American history; the only other candidates for that title either held Congressional dominance within their own party (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) or ruled a Congressional rump (Abraham Lincoln). Shutting down America s defense funding would be a crowning achievement for a president who cares more about weakening America s role in the world than defending her citizens.Via: Breitbart News | 0 | [
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FMD4389 | 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: Charlie Daniels -- The Press and Paula Deen Claim summaries: Country singer Charlie Daniels authored an opinion piece about press coverage of the Paula Deen racial controversy?
contextual information: Claim: Country singer Charlie Daniels authored an opinion piece about press coverage of the Paula Deen racial controversy. CORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2013] The was attributed to Charlie Daniels about Paula Deen. Did he write it? I think that if anything exemplifies the overt prejudice and determination of the American media to report only the news that suits their social and political interests and concept of what does and does not fit their agenda, it's the totally overblown coverage of something Paula Deen said 20 years ago, and some party she planned that she wanted to resemble a plantation scene featuring black male waiters in period dress. If Hollywood plans a movie featuring black waiters in a plantation scene or portray women as prostitutes or cast minorities in caricature roles does the media get upset and start calling the movie moguls racists? Is there any grown person who could truthfully declare under oath that they have never uttered something that someone might find personally offensive? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Do the twenty-year-old words of a lady with a television cooking show trump the lie an Attorney General told Congress, or officials at the IRS usurping the rights of the American public and pleading the fifth amendment when confronted about it or the hiding of the facts surrounding the murder of four Americans at a Consulate in Libya or the incredibly shabby image of a president taking a one hundred million dollar vacation in this economy while closing down tours of the White House or the NSA invasion on the privacy of millions of unsuspecting citizens? [Rest of article here.] here Origins: Grammy award-winning singer/musician Charlie Daniels regularly writes and posts opinion pieces about current political topics to the "Soapbox" section of the Charlie Daniels Band web site. As he notes in his periodic explanations of his efforts: Soapbox explanations From time to time in this column I feel somewhat obligated to explain myself, what I am, what I believe and what I am attempting to do by writing the things I write. It seems that as we acquire new readers there is some misunderstanding of what the soapbox is all about, so here we go again. First of all, this column is a series of essays made up of my personal opinion, my experiences and my beliefs. I don't claim that the essays in this column represent anybody but myself. As far as the intellectual content is concerned it is being written by a man with limited formal education and the grammar, punctuation and spelling may from time to time leave something to be desired, but I will however, get my point across. I happen to believe very strongly in the things I write about, from the point of a private citizen who happens to love his country and its people and wants what he considers best in the national interest. My articles will range from the profound to the ridiculous, the sad to the humorous, the informative to the inane. It is not meant to be a news column and I'm not good at remembering dates and names. This above-quoted "The Press and Paula Dean" article was published by Charlie on 1 July 2013 in response to a racial discrimination controversy involving celebrity chef Paula Deen that broke in June 2013, stemming from a lawsuit filed by a former employee of restaurants owned by Deen and her brother, Earl "Bubba" Hiers. The Press and Paula Dean Last updated: 8 July 2013 | 1 | [
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FMD4390 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: An Indian court on Monday remanded in custody a French journalist for five days after he was arrested in the disputed Kashmir region for filming a documentary without permission and violating visa regulations, police said. The freelance journalist, Paul Comiti, was arrested on Sunday in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir where Muslim separatists have been waging a violent campaign against Indian rule since the late 1980s. Comiti held an Indian business visa which did not permit him to make a documentary on political or security-related issues, Senior Superintendent of Police Imtiyaz Ismael Parray told Reuters. Comiti had met a separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and filmed protesters throwing stones at members of the security forces, said another senior police official, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media. He had also met victims of anti-riot pellet guns that the security forces use against protesters. More than 3,800 people have been wounded and one killed by the weapons since a new round of protests against Indian rule erupted last year, with more than 100 partially or fully blinded, official figures show. We called him to ask him about his activities, but he refused to present himself before the police, the second police official said. He was not authorized to film here because he was on a business visa. He was finally arrested. Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by mostly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan and has been at the heart of nearly seven decades of hostility between the neighbors. Comiti had asked the defense ministry for permission to film in Kashmir, but it had been denied because he was on a business visa, said the second police official. A French Embassy s consular official based in New Delhi met Comiti at the police station in Srinagar, police said. An embassy spokesman was not available for comment. An insurgency by separatist militants raged in Kashmir through the 1990s and into the 2000s but it had died down more recently. But the killing by the security forces of a young, popular separatist leader in July 2016 sparked a new wave of protests by a new generation in India s only Muslim-majority state. India s interior minister said last year the government planned to reconsider the use of the pellet guns to control crowds, after the multiple casualties stirred public anger and condemnation by rights groups. | 1 | [
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FMD4391 | 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: 101 utilities cut rates, credit GOP tax cuts.
contextual information: For months, President Donald Trump has been touting the benefits of the tax law he signed in December. But in early June, he began expanding his argument beyond lower tax bills to include lower energy bills. On June 7, Trump tweeted, "$3 billion payoff: 101 utilities cut rates, credit GOP tax cuts." The tweet linked to a Washington Examiner article that, in turn, cited research by Americans for Tax Reform, a group supportive of the tax cut. "$3 billion payoff: 101 utilities cut rates, credit GOP tax cuts" https://t.co/x1a1OJuRgd. This isn't the first time the White House has relied on Americans for Tax Reform for evidence of real-world impacts from the passage of the tax bill. Previously, we looked at Trump's statement that since we passed tax cuts, over 3 million workers have received tax cut bonuses, many of them thousands and thousands of dollars. That talking point, gleaned from the group's research, rated Mostly True. The energy rate-cut list, which is a sub-list of the broader one we checked previously, attracted the White House's attention not long after it hit its 100th item. For the utilities on the group's list that provided an estimate of savings per customer, most said ratepayers would save about $1 to $4 on their bill per month. Americans for Tax Reform cited a large number of company news releases and news articles, so we don't dispute the number (which had already grown to 102 a day later). That said, we will provide some additional information that helps put the list in fuller context. It shouldn't be surprising to see a lot of investor-owned utilities lowering rates after the corporate tax reduction. It also shouldn't be surprising that the companies specifically cited the tax changes as the reason for the rate cut. In most cases, experts said, utilities would have been required to do so by their regulators. The tax law impacts privately owned utilities—often called investor-owned utilities, or IOUs for short—but not public utilities. Investor-owned utilities pay corporate taxes, so the tax law's reduction of the top corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent should save this type of utility a substantial amount of money. By contrast, publicly held utilities do not pay corporate taxes, so they are unaffected by this provision of the tax bill. Public utilities include rural electric cooperatives, municipally owned utilities, and federal or state power authorities. Among electricity utilities, about two-thirds of Americans are served by investor-owned utilities, while about a third receive their power from public utilities. For water utilities, a few of which appear on the group's list, public utilities are dominant. So while 101 utilities cutting their rates may seem like a large number, your ability to benefit from a rate cut depends on which utilities happen to serve your area. It's also worth pointing out that many of these rate cuts were preordained by existing energy regulations. Utilities are natural monopolies, and because of that, they've been regulated for well over 100 years, said Manny Teodoro, a political scientist at Texas A&M University who has studied energy issues. It's a recognition that a pure monopoly will result in a lack of competition and abusive pricing. For that reason, under longstanding regulations, utilities need to go back to energy regulatory bodies whenever they seek to modify their rates in order to provide reasons for the change. If a utility happens to benefit from a tax change, there's a good chance it will be required under existing regulations to lower its rates to account for that. Rates are set by public utility commissions through rate-making processes that clearly identify the reasons for the rate change, whether up or down, said Billy Pizer, a Duke University public policy professor who studies energy. This doesn't undercut the larger point of the tally, but it does suggest that the rate cuts required two elements to materialize: the tax cut, which Trump touted, and the longstanding regulations that require companies to share the tax gains with ratepayers rather than just with shareholders. And the latter is an aspect Trump didn't address. Trump tweeted, "101 utilities cut rates, credit GOP tax cuts." The list comes from an organization that strongly supported the tax bill. The tally of rate cuts is well-documented, and the group acknowledges that it is not comprehensive. That said, it's worth noting that public utility customers will not see the same types of rate cuts cited in the list, which represents about one-third of Americans. Trump's tweet seeks full credit for the tax law while glossing over the role of energy regulations that mandate utility savings be passed along to customers. We rate the statement Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4392 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Says Obama broke his promise to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
contextual information: As the economic collapse began to threaten homeowners, presidential candidate Barack Obama vowed to come to their aid.We must help the millions of homeowners facing foreclosure, he said on the campaign trail in June 2008. His plan called for changes in bankruptcy laws, a crackdown on predatory and fraudulent lenders and a $10 billion fund to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.With Obama seeking re-election in 2012, his record on the foreclosure crisis is under attack. The Republican group Crossroads GPS said in a recent television ad that Obama broke his promise to help struggling homeowners.The adshows Obama saying he would help them and then stamps BROKEN on the screen.PolitiFact examined the Crossroads claim and found that, indeed, Obama has had limited success with his plans to ease the mortgage crisis.I don't think there's much doubt, even within the administration, that the (foreclosure assistance) programs overpromised and underperformed -- embarrassingly so, said Ken Harney, who writes a weekly syndicated real estate column. 'They wimped out'During the 2008 campaign and his first few months in office, Obama promised a lot: $10 billion foreclosure prevention fund to help struggling homeowners Change in bankruptcy law to allow judges to modify mortgage loan terms Tax credits for struggling homeowners A crackdown on predatory and fraudulent lenders Better disclosure about mortgages to home-buyers A moratorium on foreclosuresThe results, experts say, have been mixed at best. Obama himself says the housing crisis is the most stubborn issue he has faced.If we were not a capitalist economy, it would be very easy, said Ken Thomas, an independent bank analyst and economist in Miami. Were a market-regulated economy, were not a government-regulated economy. That makes it very hard for the government to do anything.The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, which Obama signed in 2009, makes it a federal crime to make a materially false statement on a mortgage application or to willfully overvalue a property to influence any action by a mortgage lending business. PolitiFact's Obameter gave that aPromise Kept. And new standards for helping people understand their mortgage were included in the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul passed in 2010,another Promise Kept.But he's had limited success with the promises that would have provided the biggest help to homeowners, according to five experts we interviewed. A temporary foreclosure moratorium happened in early 2009 as banks halted their filings while they waited for the new administration to get its plan in place to address the crisis. Its not clear, though, that it ultimately kept many people out of foreclosure.Analysts say the change in bankruptcy law to allow judges to modify individual loans could have made a significant difference, butit died in Congress.That sort of took the wind out of the program, in a way. If it had passed, it would have put much more fire under the feet of the mortgage servicers, said Alex Schwartz, a professor of urban policy at the New School and author of the bookHousing Policy in the United States. Instead, he said, you were left with voluntary participation of servicers.The foreclosure prevention fund was the heart of his promise. He originally pledged $10 billion but ended up setting aside $75 billion, using TARP funds. He predicted the money would assist 9 million homeowners.But after three years, only about 2 million people have won permanent mortgage help, according to theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development.The two main programs were dubbed HAMP and HARP. Under the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, lenders were encouraged to restructure loans for borrowers who were struggling to pay. The banks received small payments from the government as incentive. The Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, aimed to help people refinance their loans at lower interest rates.Everything has fallen short of original expectations, said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moodys.Other experts agree.Obamas program was overly complicated, it was voluntary, it was at a retail level, requiring people to call in and work with individual servicers. It was a mess, Schwartz said. (On our Obameter, we've rated the foreclosure fund aPromise Brokenbecause it fell far short of Obama's goal of helping 9 million homeowners. )Another shortcoming of the programs: The Obama administration did not require banks to include principal reduction in modifications. The programs allowed loan servicers to reduce loan balances, but it shocked no one when most banks opted not to.Making that a requirement would have gone a long way toward keeping people in their homes.Theres a real risk that when people are so severely underwater, they could walk away from their mortgages, Schwartz said. So you can make a strong case for principal reduction.Harney, the real estate columnist, also blamed the president for not flexing more political muscle with the banks.At a time when the administration could have pushed the big TARP-recipient banks much harder on modifications, short sales and principal reductions, they wimped out, Harney said. Whether the close connections between Wall Street and the new White House/Treasury staff got in the way of stronger designs, I don't know. The numbers speak for themselves.The landscape nowNumbers about the foreclosure crisis show things have improved only slightly.According toRealtyTrac, a website that collects and tracks foreclosure data, about 150,000 new foreclosure suits were filed nationwide in January 2009, the month Obama took office. They peaked at 203,948 in April 2009 and didnt dip below 100,000 in a single month until April 2011. And last month, another 97,000 new foreclosures were filed.Crossroads cites the high rate of underwater mortgages as evidence that Obamas programs failed. In early 2008, the number of underwater homes was estimated at 9 million. RealtyTrac says the current total is 12 million, or 28 percent of all mortgages.But that statistic, sobering as it is, offers a poor gauge of Obamas policies. Borrowers ended up in this situation because they took out high-priced mortgages and then their property values plummeted -- a market occurrence largely outside any presidents control.It mostly reflects bad policy leading up to the crash, said Schwartz. Policies that encouraged reckless mortgage underwriting, which inflated prices.Still, there are some signs of progress.Early this year, changes to HARP relaxed eligibility standards and extended the length of the program to the end of 2013. HAMP also was extended through next year. Schwartz said the programs were originally geared to subprime, high-risk mortgages. So as the recession worsened and people with more conventional mortgages lost jobs and income, the programs didnt accommodate them. The new standards attempt to reach a bigger pool of homeowners, including people deeper underwater and those still in good standing on their loans.The Treasury Department recently announced that the number of active permanent mortgage loan modifications agreed to by banks rose 12,139 to 794,748 during March, the most recent timeframe available. The Obama campaign cited HUD data showing that HAMP has trimmed a median of $535 off monthly payments of mortgages that have been modified as evidence of progress.I still think its meaningful and its helpful, Zandi said. Its just not as helpful as they had hoped for.Its also worth noting that there were forces working against Obama amid these efforts. The Republican-controlled House, for one.The Obama administration has been completely hamstrung by Congress, refusing to spend any money on stimulus, Schwartz said.The economy, for another.They (the foreclosure programs) havent been as effective as hoped and the reason is because a lot of the foreclosures were triggered by the 8 million-plus loss in jobs, said Norm Miller, an economist, financial analyst and professor at the University of San Diego.Our rulingThe Crossroads GPS ad said Obama has broken his promise to help millions of people facing foreclosure. Help is a vague notion, and theres certainly no doubt that the president has tried several avenues to stem the tide of home loan defaults. But theres also no doubt that his efforts have fallen far short of expectations -- and even the benchmarks he set for himself.Two primary programs aimed at helping people keep their homes -- HAMP and HARP -- have reached more households in recent months, but they are unlikely to ever help the 9 million homeowners Obama said he would assist. And its reasonable that he could have leaned harder on lenders to produce better results in the aftermath of multi-billion-dollar bank bailouts.Although Obamas efforts havent been the utter failure Crossroads suggests, there are still millions of struggling homeowners who need help in the ongoing foreclosure crisis. We rate the ads claim Mostly True. Update:This item has been updated to correct that Republicans control the House of Representatives rather than the entire Congress. | 1 | [
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FMD4393 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Nigeria s court of appeal on Tuesday dismissed 15 charges against the Senate president related to alleged false declarations of assets, but it upheld three other charges against him. Bukola Saraki s three-year tenure as president of the upper house has been marred by numerous accusations of misconduct and investigations, though none have led to convictions. The original charges are related to allegations that Saraki falsely declared his assets when he was a state governor from 2003 to 2011, to which he pleaded not guilty. A Code of Conduct Tribunal cleared the Senate president of the charges in June, saying the case against him lacked substance. The government mounted a legal challenge which led to Tuesday s ruling by the court of appeal that Saraki should be retried by the tribunal on three of the 18 charges against him. The three counts relate to Saraki s acquisition of two houses in Ikoyi, an upmarket district in the southern commercial metropolis of Lagos. The appeal is dismissed in part in respects of the other 15 counts , said the judge, Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, at the appeal court in the capital Abuja. The Senate president s camp has previously denied any wrongdoing and on Tuesday issued a statement in which it said Saraki had been victorious due to the 15 charges being dropped. The full details of the judgement on the final three charges against Saraki have not been released and will be addressed by his lawyers once they have been, the Senate president said in a statement. Saraki ran unopposed for the post of Senate president, mainly with the backing of the opposition. He was not the ruling party s preferred candidate, which led to strains in his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate president has been dogged by legal cases since taking office. In October 2016 Saraki was cleared of altering Senate rules to get himself elected, and in March this year lawmakers cleared him of any wrongdoing over allegations that he attempted to evade payment of customs duties on a car. | 1 | [
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FMD4394 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Illinois Senator Draws Fire for Racially Charged Attack on Opponent’s Family Alexandra Jaffe and Traci G. Lee, NBC News, October 28, 2016
Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk is again under fire for making racially-charged comments, this time for questioning the military service of his Democratic opponent’s family.
During Thursday night’s debate between Kirk and challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Duckworth spoke about her desire to be in the Senate as a voice of reason and referenced her family’s history of service, saying, “My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I’m a daughter of the American Revolution. I’ve bled for this nation. But I still want to be there in the Senate when the drums of war sound. Because people are quick to sound the drums of war, and I want to be there to say this is what it costs, this is what you’re asking us to do. . . . Families like mine are the ones that bleed first.”
Kirk responded: “I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.” Tammy Duckworth is a vet who lost both legs in Iraq. Her family has served since the Revolutionary War. And yet… pic.twitter.com/DHd3kWrUsN
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) October 28, 2016
Though Duckworth, who was born in Thailand to a Thai mother of Chinese descent and an American father, did not respond on the stage, she tweeted a photo after the debate of herself with her parents–her father displaying medals of service on his coat. “My mom is an immigrant and my dad and his family have served this nation in uniform since the Revolution,” Duckworth wrote.
Duckworth’s late father, Franklin, served in World War II and has “traced his lineage back to an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution,” according to a 2012 Mother Jones profile on Duckworth’s run for Congress.
{snip}
On Friday, Kirk tried to tamp down the backlash and tweeted “sincere apologies to an American hero.”
It’s not the first time the Illinois senator has courted controversy with racially-charged comments–he previously said President Obama was “acting like the drug dealer in chief” for the administration’s cash payment to Iran in exchange for the release of American prisoners, and talked about fostering opportunities for African-American entrepreneurs so “that the black community is not the one we drive faster through.”
{snip} | 0 | [
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FMD4395 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: The Senate bill hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else.
contextual information: Former President Barack Obama has maintained a low profile since leaving the White House, but recently he took to Facebook to blast a Senate health care bill that threatens to dismantle much of the Affordable Care Act, his signature legislative achievement. The Senate bill hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else, Obama wrote in a Facebookpost. We decided to look into the former presidents claim about the budgetary effects of the Senate Republican plan that repeals or reworks much of the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Obama is right that the Senate bill contains a tax cut for wealthy Americans and medical-related businesses. The Congressional Budget Office has yet to put a number on the Senate bills tax cut. But the amount will likely be in the same ballpark as its scoring of the House bill, which cut taxes by about $1 trillion over 10 years, with high-income households and the health care industry gaining most of those benefits, according to the Tax Policy Center. The Senate bill repeals Affordable Care Act taxes that levy a 3.8 percent fee on investment income, as well as a tax on individuals making $200,000 or more ($250,000 for couples). The bill also eliminates ACA taxes that target health insurers, and makers of prescription drugs and medical devices. We should also note that middle- and lower-income consumers would likely see benefits from tax cuts in the form of lower prices and reduced fees on health savings accounts, as we pointed out inan earlier check of a House version of the bill. Obama is correct that tax cuts would be offset by cutting spending on health care. But its a stretch to sayeverybodyshealth care would suffer, when whats on the chopping block is federal funding for lower-income Americans. In the individual market, the Senate bill changes the formula for calculating how much help the federal government gives lower-income Americans to buy insurance. Compared with the Obamacare formula, the Senate GOP version would amount to a15 percent across-the-board cutin premium subsidies, andresult inlow-income people paying higher premiums for bigger deductibles, according to Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care think tank. Starting in 2020, the Senate bill also repeals Obamacares cost-sharing subsidies that help lower-income Americans defray the cost of deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. But the biggest cut in federal spending comes out of Medicaid, by changing the share carried by the federal government, relative to states. The Senate bill converts federal Medicaid funding to a per capita cap starting in 2020, placing a ceiling on the amount of funding a state gets per enrollee. Alternatively, states could opt for a block grant, a fixed amount of federal funds. Under either approach, the federal government would provide less to states than under Obamacare. Separately, starting in 2021, the Senate bill begins a three-year phase out of enhanced funding given to the 31 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. As we noted in aprevious check of the House bill, reducing this funding would likely cause states to end expansion. This graphic from the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a side-by-side illustration of Obamas claim that Republicans are rewarding wealthy Americans through a health care cut. The yellow bar shows $33 billion going to the top 400 highest-income households as a result of repealing the Obamacare tax cuts. The red bar shows how removing $33 billion in revenue translates to cutting off funding for Medicaid expansion population of four statesAlaska, Arkansas, West Virginia and Nevada. (Note: This graphic is based on the CBOs earlier score of the House version, which will likely differ from its score of the Senate). Obama said that the Senate bill hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else. The Senate bill does give a tax cut to wealthy Americans and medical-related industry. Assuming a budget analysis of the Senate bill is similar to that of the House version, the tax cut will be to the tune of $1 trillion. Its a bit hyperbolic to say everybodys health care would be cut to finance the tax cut; its mostly lower-income people who lose out as a direct result of the bill. Hes right that the Senate bill would deliver a tax cut as it reduces the amount of federal funding lower-income Americans would get to help buy insurance. The bill would also repeal funding to defray deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for those eligible. It also lessens the share of Medicaid funding carried by the federal government, relative to states. We rate Obamas statement Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4396 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hailed Emmanuel Macron s major speech on EU reform on Tuesday as very European and thanked the French head of state for his support for the EU s efforts in Brussels. A very European speech from my friend Emmanuel Macron, the EU chief executive wrote in French on Twitter. Europe needs courage. Thank you for your support for the work of the EU institutions. What we need now is a roadmap to advance the Union at 27. We have to openly discuss all ideas and decide before May 2019, Juncker added, referring to his call in a keynote address of his own two weeks ago for a summit after Britain leaves the Union in March 2019 to decide the future for the remaining 27 members. Juncker s chief-of-staff Martin Selmayr, who kept up a stream of tweets throughout Macron s address at the Sorbonne highlighting similarities between his proposals and those of Juncker, tweeted: Rarely Europe saw such convergence of views between a French president a Commission president. Some nuances, yes. But also strong commonalities. Among key proposals made by Juncker and Macron was for the euro zone to have its own budget and finance minister. However, Juncker has warned against Macron s suggestion that euro zone states create their own separate institutions. Juncker says that may renew divisions between the richer west and poorer east of the continent and wants countries like Poland to be encouraged to join the euro zone and for a euro zone budget to managed by existing institutions of the whole EU. | 1 | [
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FMD4397 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Insists ISIS Capital Will Be Attacked With 'Forces Available' by Jason Ditz, November 02, 2016 Share This
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today confirmed that negotiations with Turkey are ongoing related to the upcoming invasion of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital city of ISIS. Carter suggested Turkey’s involvement would only happen “ further down the road .”
The US announced that it intends to launch an invasion of Raqqa very soon, will conduct the operation concurrent with the ongoing invasion of Mosul in Iraq, and that Kurdish YPG forces will be providing the vast majority of the forces for this offensive.
That’s irked Turkey, particularly the last part, as Turkish officials repeatedly warned the US against allowing Kurds anywhere near Raqqa and have suggested their own involvement was contingent on there being no Kurds involved.
Carter’s comments suggest the US plan to invade without Turkey is unchanged, and that they intend to try to placate Turkey about the involvement of the YPG by giving them some involvement in the post-ISIS situation in Raqqa. Turkey is particularly keen to ensure that their own allies end up in control of Raqqa, and that’s likely the main incentive of this deal. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz | 0 | [
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FMD4398 | 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: Where Did Obama's Money Come From? Claim summaries: Were Barack Obama's education and house paid for with money obtained from questionable sources?
contextual information: Claim: Barack Obama's education and house were paid for with money obtained from questionable sources. Example: [Collected via e-mail, October 2008] Written by a female Obama supporter who voted for him for president. Legitimate Questions To All My Friends, this is every important, please take the time to read it. This election has me very worried. So many things to consider. About a year ago I would have voted for Obama. I have changed my mind three times since than. I watch all the news channels, jumping from one to another. I must say this drives my husband crazy. But, I feel if you view MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, you might get some middle ground to work with. About six months ago, I started thinking 'where did the money come from for Obama'. I have four daughters who went to College, and we were middle class, and money was tight. We (including my girls) worked hard and there were lots of student loans. I started looking into Obama's life. Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California. He is very open about his two years at Occidental, he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies. 'Barry' (that was the name he used all his life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan. During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a 'round the world' trip. Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi, Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate's family, then off to Africa to visit his father's family. My question - Where did he get the money for this trip? Nether I, nor any one of my children would have had money for a trip like this when they where in college. When he came back he started school at Columbia University in New York. It is at this time he wants everyone to call him Barack not Barry. Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia? It's not cheap! to say the least. Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe. After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000 a year. Why Chicago? Why not New York? He was already living in New York. By 'chance' he met Antoin 'Tony' Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria, and a real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been convicted of fraud and bribery this year. Rezko, was named 'Entrepreneur of the Decade' by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association'. About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School. Do you have any idea what tuition is for Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money for Law School? More student loans? After Law school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko offered him a job, which he turned down. But, he did take a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what? They represented 'Rezar' which Rezko's firm. Rezko was one of Obama's first major financial contributors when he ran for office in Chicago. In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with 'seed money' for his U.S. Senate race. In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student Loans - Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day Rezko's wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama's new home was purchased. Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko. All of the above information I got on line. If you would like to check it - Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett: Daily Times - Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times - September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008. Now the BIG question - If I found out all this information on my own, Why haven't all of our 'intelligent' members of the press been reporting this? A phrase that keeps ringing in my ear - 'Beware of the enemy from within'!!! Variations: Versions of this item circulated in 2012 were prefaced with an added line stating that it was "written by a female Obama supporter who voted for him for president." That statement is inaccurate, as this item originally appeared prior to the 2008 presidential election. Origins: The above-quoted piece combines a good deal of supposition and some elaborate conspiracy theory to question exactly where Senator Barack Obama obtained the money for his education and the purchase of a house in Chicago in 2005. The answers are fairly straightforward. As both Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have noted many times, they paid for their educations via scholarships and student loans, in the process (like many people) incurring debts which were not fully paid off until many years later. (In the Obamas' case, it was largely the revenue derived from Barack's pair of best-selling books that finally allowed them to retire their student loan debts.) student loans Likewise, the Obamas' financing of their house in Chicago was no mystery. The couple experienced a significant jump in income from 2000 onwards (largely from royalties on book sales), and they purchased their Chicago home in 2005, a year in which their combined income was $1.6 million: income The Obamas' best financial year came in 2005, when their total combined income was $1.6 million. That included $1.2 million in author fees for Obama's best-selling books. Michelle Obama's salary that year [as vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals] was $316,962 plus another $45,000 from TreeHouse Foods [for whom she served a member of the board of directors]. vice president The copies of the Obamas' federal tax returns tax returns During the summer of 1981, Barack Obama traveled to Indonesia to see his mother and half-sister and went on to visit Pakistan with a college friend. (There is no evidence that, as claimed above, he also went "off to Africa to visit his father's family" on that same trip.) Since Obama had relatives and friends to stay with during that time, his only major expense would have been airplane fare, and it's not much of a stretch to believe that cost could have been covered by contributions from relatives and earnings from various summer jobs he held before and during his time at Occidental College. As for why Barack Obama went to work as a community organizer in Chicago rather than New York (where he was currently living), he stated quite plainly in Dreams from My Father that he had made multiple efforts to find employment in that field without success and "had all but given up on organizing" when he received a job offer from Chicago-based social activist Jerry Kellman after responding to a help wanted ad in the New York Times. It is true that Tony Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, bought an undeveloped lot adjacent to the Obamas' home (at a time when Tony Rezko was under investigation by U.S. attorneys) and subsequently sold the Obamas a small portion of that lot, but (as noted above) the house was well within the Obamas' price range given their current income level and they would have required no help from the Rezkos (or anyone else) to afford it: In June 2005, Obama and Rezko purchased adjoining parcels in Kenwood. The state's junior senator paid $1.65 million for a Georgian revival mansion, while Rezko paid $625,000 for the adjacent, undeveloped lot. Both closed on their properties on the same day. In January [2006], aiming to increase the size of his sideyard, Obama paid Rezko $104,500 for a strip of his land. As Senator Obama explained to the Chicago Sun-Times, the timing of the real estate purchases was dictated by the seller, and the prices were based on current market conditions and competing offers for the properties: Q: Have you or your wife ever done any legal work ever for Rezko or his companies? A: No. Q: How do you explain the fact your family purchased your home the same day as Rita Rezko bought the property adjacent to yours? Was this a coordinated purchase? A: The sellers required the closing of both properties at the same time. As they were moving out of town, they wished to conclude the sale of both properties simultaneously. The lot was purchased first; with the purchase of the house on the adjacent lot, the closings could proceed and did, on the same day, pursuant to the condition set by the sellers. Q: Why is it that you were able to buy your parcel for $300,000 less than the asking price, and Rita Rezko paid full price? Who negotiated this end of the deal? Did whoever negotiated it have any contact with Rita and Tony Rezko or their Realtor or lawyer? A: Our agent negotiated only with the seller's agent. As we understood it, the house had been listed for some time, for months, and our offer was one of two and, as we understood it, it was the best offer. The original listed price was too high for the market at the time, and we understood that the sellers, who were anxious to move, were prepared to sell the house for what they paid for it, which is what they did. We were not involved in the Rezko negotiation of the price for the adjacent lot. It was our understanding that the owners had received, from another buyer, an offer for $625,000 and that therefore the Rezkos could not have offered or purchased that lot for less. Last updated: 1 May 2012 McKinney, Dave and Chris Fusco. "Obama on Rezko Deal: It Was a Mistake." Chicago Sun-Times. 5 November 2006. Popkin, Jim. "Obama's Tax Returns Show Leap in Income." MSNBC.com. 25 March 2008. Sweet, Lynn. "Michelle Obama's Ties to Wal-Mart Cut." Chicago Sun-Times. 23 May 2007. Thanawala, Sudhin. "Obama Worked to Fit in at Elite School." The Boston Globe. 26 March 2008. Walsh, Kenneth T. "On the Streets of Chicago, a Candidate Comes of Age." U.S. News & World Report. 26 August 2007. Wills, Christopher. "Fact Check: Camps Highlight Foes' Old Associates." Associated Press. 12 October 2008. Associated Press. "Michelle Obama: Barack's Book Sales Paid Off Our Student Loans." FoxNews.com. 14 August 2008. | 0 | [
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FMD4399 | 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 Russian Asbestos Company Put Trump's Face on Their Product? Claim summaries: A Russian asbestos producer shared a photograph of their product to social media with a seal of Donald Trumps face and the text "Approved by Donald Trump.
contextual information: On 25 June 2018, a Russian mining company named Uralasbest, which is one of the worlds largest producers of asbestos, posted a message of support for President Trump on their official Facebook and VK (a Russian version of Facebook) pages. The post included photographs of packed asbestos material adorned with the face of Trump and the text "Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States." largest Facebook VK Asbestos is a mineral that was once widely used in construction projects for its fire resistant properties, but research has since linked it to a variety of cancers, most notably lung cancer and mesothelioma. cancers The non-profit health and environmental protection Environmental Working Group, who first called attention to the Uralasbest post, provided an English translation of the text that was shared alongside the image: "Donald is on our side! ... He supported the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, who stated that his agency would no longer deal with negative effects potentially derived from products containing asbestos. Donald Trump supported a specialist and called asbestos '100% safe after application.'" provided These images, as they were posted to the official social media accounts of Uralasbest, are genuine. Also genuine is President Trumps support of the asbestos industry. Trump once opined, in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, that efforts to reduce and regulate asbestos (a material he claimed was 100% safe once applied) in building construction were part of a mob-led conspiracy: "I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented." Uralasbest opined In June, when Uralasbest posted their message of support, then-Administrator of the EPA Scott Pruitt had recently announced new interpretations of the Toxic Substances Control Act that could allow for new uses of asbestos to be approved in the United States. While this move would not allow for previously banned uses to be considered, it was a reversal of Obama-era rules that barred the EPA from considering any new uses for asbestos. new interpretations rules Milman, Oliver. "Russian Mining Firm Puts Trump's Face on Its Asbestos Products.
The Guardian. 11 July 2018. American Cancer Society. "Asbestos and Cancer Risk.
Accessed 20 July 2018. Environmental Working Group. "Russian Asbestos Giant Praises Trump Administration Actions to Keep Deadly Carcinogen Legal.
11 July 2018. Goodkind, Nicole. "Donald Trump Called Asbestos Poisoning a Mob-Led Conspiracy, Now His EPA Wont Evaluate Asbestos Already in Homes.
Huffington Post. 8 June 2018. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Asbestos Ban and Phase-Out Federal Register Notices
Archived from 19 January 2017. | 1 | [
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