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FMD800 | 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 US 'Lead the World' in Reducing CO2 Emissions in 2019? Claim summaries: Right-leaning websites celebrated the findings of a February 2020 report by the International Energy Agency.
contextual information: In February 2020, we received multiple inquiries from readers about the veracity of articles which claimed that the United States had "led the entire world" in reducing carbon dioxide emissions that, along with other greenhouse gases like methane, contribute significantly to global warming. contribute On Feb. 13, the right-leaning website The Daily Wire published an article with the headline "United States Led Entire World in Reducing CO2 Emissions in 2019." That piece reported as follows: article "The United States led the entire world in reducing CO2 emissions last year while also experiencing solid economic growth, according to a newly released report. 'The United States saw the largest decline in energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019 on a country basis a fall of 140 Mt, or 2.9%, to 4.8 Gt,' The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Tuesday. 'US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period.' On the same day, the right-leaning website Breitbart published a similar article with the headline "Report: U.S. the Global Leader for Reducing CO2 Emissions in 2019," writing: article "The United States led the world in tackling CO2 emissions last year while combining that singular success with solid economic growth, a new report reveals. It has also been confirmed while the U.S. was hitting its climate goals, at the same time '80 percent of the increase in CO2 emissions came from Asia and that China and India both contributed significantly' to global increases." On Feb. 11, the right-leaning Washington Examiner wrote that "U.S. emissions fell 2.9%, or by 140 million tons, continuing the trend of the United States leading the world in total emissions decline since 2000." That prompted Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to tweet: wrote tweet "FACT you will NEVER see on the 6 oclock news: U.S. emissions FELL 2.9%, or by 140 million tons, continuing the trend of the United States LEADING THE WORLD IN TOTAL EMISSIONS DECLINE since 2000." Based on the data contained in the International Energy Agency's (IEA) February 2020 report, it would be accurate to say that in 2019 the U.S. had the largest year-on-year reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of any country, in absolute terms. However, claiming as The Daily Wire and Breitbart did that the U.S. had "led the world" or was "the global leader" in reducing emissions that year, risked giving readers the mistaken impression that the U.S. had performed better than any country when it came to reducing CO2 emissions. This was not the case, because the U.S. reduced its CO2 emissions by just 2.9%, while other countries and regions fared better. Germany, for example, achieved a year-on-year reduction of 8% in its CO2 emissions. The source of the aforementioned claims was the IEA Feb. 11 data release entitled "Global CO2 Emissions in 2019." The IEA told Snopes that a more detailed, country-by-country breakdown of emissions data was not yet available, but would be published in March. However, some country- and region-specific details were already clear. According to the report, the overall global trend was as follows: report "Global energy-related CO2 emissions flattened in 2019 at around 33 gigatonnes (Gt), following two years of increases. This resulted mainly from a sharp decline in CO2 emissions from the power sector in advanced economies, thanks to the expanding role of renewable sources (mainly wind and solar PV), fuel switching from coal to natural gas, and higher nuclear power output." Although advanced economies (a category that includes the U.S., the European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada, and others) experienced positive economic growth in 2019, energy-related CO2 emissions also fell, on average, in those countries and regions. The U.S. produced around 4.8 Gt (gigatons/billions of tons) of CO2 in 2019. That was 140 Mt (megatons/millions of tons) fewer than it produced in 2018 the biggest single absolute reduction in energy-related CO2 emissions by any country. The U.S. produced around 2.9% less CO2 in 2019 than it did in 2018. The IEA report added that: "US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period. A 15% reduction in the use of coal for power generation underpinned the decline in overall US emissions in 2019. Coal-fired power plants faced even stronger competition from natural gas-fired generation, with benchmark gas prices an average of 45% lower than 2018 levels. As a result, gas increased its share in electricity generation to a record high of 37%. Overall electricity demand declined because demand for air-conditioning and heating was lower as a result of milder summer and winter weather." The large absolute reduction in CO2 emissions in the United States in 2019 is in part a function of the sheer volume of CO2 produced there (which is in part determined by the large size of the U.S. economy). By contrast, its rate of emissions reduction was not as significant as that achieved in other countries and regions. For example, the IEA report explained that Germany achieved a year-on-year reduction in CO2 emissions of 8%, while Japan's emissions fell by 4.3% significantly greater rates of decline than the 2.9% achieved in the U.S. Despite having an overall CO2 output that is almost 40% smaller than that of the United States (2.9 Gt vs 4.8 Gt), the European Union still managed to achieve a greater absolute reduction in emissions than the U.S. in 2019 (160 Mt vs 140 Mt). That was because emissions fell at a significantly greater rate in the EU than in the U.S. (5% versus 2.9%). It's true that, according to the IEA's February 2020 report, the U.S. achieved a greater absolute reduction in CO2 emissions than any other country, in 2019. However, claims that the U.S. therefore "led the entire world" or was a "global leader" in CO2 emissions were belied by the fact that other countries (including Germany, Japan, and likely others) achieved a superior rate of reduction in CO2 emissions. Although not a country, the European Union achieved both a larger absolute reduction and a greater rate of reduction in CO2 emissions than the US did. As such, we're issuing a rating of "Mixture." The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "The Causes of Climate Change."
Accessed 19 February 2020. Saavedra, Ryan. "United States Led Entire World in Reducing CO2 Emissions in 2019."
The Daily Wire. 13 February 2020. Kent, Simon. "Report: U.S. the Global Leader for Reducing CO2 Emissions in 2019."
Breitbart. 13 February 2020. Siegel, Josh. "Demise of Coal in Rich Countries Brings Global Carbon Emissions to a Stall."
Washington Examiner. 11 February 2020. The International Energy Agency. "Data Release -- Global CO2 Emissions in 2019."
11 February 2020. | 2 | [
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FMD801 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Watch Jill Stein explain why she s working to force a recount in 3 states that used to be Democrat strongholds:https://youtu.be/AjXjJ7R8uyUAs Ms. Stein starts in her answers during the CNN interview in the video above, Why would anyone not want to count the votes, and to be sure that they were counted accurately? What we know is that there were lots of hacks taking place around this election. Much of the equipment used is not only open to hacks, it basically invites hacks and malfeasance, tampering, human error, etc. Here are 10 reasons this is a horrible idea:1) The votes were counted with integrity. The real experts do not believe a recount is needed. As described by the Detroit Free Press, The report says the scientists believe they have identified a questionable trend of Clinton performing worse in Wisconsin counties that relied on electronic voting machines, compared to paper ballots and optical scanners. It wasn t clear from the reports why Michigan and Pennsylvania were reportedly cited by the scientists.Chris Thomas, the longtime director of Michigan s Bureau of Elections, said Michigan doesn t use the electronic voting machines identified in the report as being the sources of potential hacking. We are an entire paper and optical scan state, Thomas told the Free PressWednesday. Nothing is connected to the Internet. 2) There s zero proof of any actual hacking, malware or illegal tampering with any votes in any of these states. The examples given in the report are hypothetical possibilities that were discussed well before the election, with known equipment limitations before this election took place. In Stein s own words: Let me be very clear: We do not have evidence of fraud, Stein says. We do not have smoking guns. What we do have is an election that was surrounded by hacking. 3) Are politics the real motivation? If this recount were truly about the election s integrity and improving public confidence in the process, why not include recounts in New Hampshire and Nevada which were states that Clinton won with very narrow margins? In New Hampshire, Clinton won by 2,700 votes which is the smallest margin of victory in any state. In Nevada, the Hillary Clinton margin of victory was 26,000 votes far less than the Trump margin of victory in Pennsylvania.4) The threshold for a recount will likely not be reached in Pennsylvania. There would need to be evidence of widespread voter fraud for a court-ordered recount in PA. For example, A candidate can t actually file for a vote recount under Pennsylvania law. Instead, they would have to challenge a county board regarding its vote computations, and a state appeals judge would have to rule that a statewide recount is necessary. That means the Clinton campaign (or in this case Ms. Stein s team) would either have to request a recount by petition in every voting district or present a prima facie case showing voter fraud. (Prima facie is a lower threshold than beyond a reasonable doubt. A judge would just have to rule that fraud probably occurred in order to call for a recount.) However, Jill Stein said she does not have evidence of fraud.Further, as the article explains, What should be most troubling for Clinton supporters who want her to ask for a Pennsylvania recount is that in the past, these recounts have yielded a shift of just a couple hundred votes, certainly not enough to overturn anything in Pennsylvania. Clinton s team would have to rely on proving massive voter fraud enough for a Pennsylvania court to rule the entire state invalid an unprecedented and nearly impossible feat.5) People are giving millions of dollars to a cause that is a waste of their money, based upon many flawed assumptions, and some hopes and dreams that are unrealistic. No doubt these people want Hillary Clinton to win, and they see this as a longshot possibility. However, they are being deceived and misled based on generalities about election hacking risks that were known for many months prior to the election.Just because emails were hacked from Hillary Clinton s server or other emails accounts were hacked that related to the election does not in any way prove that voting machines were hacked or counts were tampered with in any state. To give false hope to these people is similar to collecting money to promise a white Christmas to the children in Miami. Some are even calling this a scam, although I would not go that far. This website points out:Then there is the fine print that will allow Stein s campaign to keep all of the money even if no recounts are done:We cannot guarantee a recount will happen in any of these states we are targeting. We can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states. If we raise more than what s needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote voting system reform.6) These recounts set up a dangerous precedent for future elections and potentially for many other areas of life where anyone can question any numbers based upon the view maybe there was a hack somewhere, somehow. Almost any data can be questioned using this type of superficial analysis. The thinking goes along the lines, if we turn over enough rocks, we re bound to find something, right? Yes one fear is that this actually gives all cybersecurity pros a bad name if/when experts make these type of claims with huge caveats which create numerous opportunities to deny responsibility. Is our new threshold a potential for hacking? If we use that litmus test in other areas of life, what can be excluded?Or, in J. Alex Halderman s own words, Were this year s deviations from pre-election polls the results of a cyberattack? Probably not. I believe the most likely explanation is that the polls were systematically wrong, rather than that the election was hacked. My reaction: Really? In that case, why did you go public? If I were to use that logic in any of my many cybersecurity roles regarding security incidents in government, I would be fired or at least sent back to reexamine the specific details before going public. Might this just be a PR stunt for these people to get more attention?7) The states involved have extensive certification processes and procedures which were followed. As I said back on Nov. 5, before we knew the election outcomes and when Hillary Clinton was leading in most of the polls, we should trust the vote for many reasons. I still believe this unless specific facts show otherwise. Anyone who clams fraud or other election problems needs to come forward with real evidence. Polls being wrong is not evidence of election fraud.8) A recount will NOT improve integrity or confidence in this election, as Jill Stein is claiming. Imagine if this process does move forward and a recount is begun in one more or states. Numerous global reporters will rush to the state(s) involved to watch the process unfold on live TV. While (hopefully) the coverage will not be quite as intense and exhausting as the Florida recount of 2000, the focus will dominate the news for weeks. We will hear assorted experts offer theories, opinions and select facts regarding what is going on and what they expect to happen next and if Hillary Clinton could actually become our next president and not Donald Trump. Rabbit trails will be followed.I suspect that this extensive scrutiny may actually lower, not raise, the level of confidence in these elections with no change in the overall outcome of the winner.9) Government resources will be diverted. Time energy, money, will be taken away from other government projects. Assuming the actual cost of the effort is paid by the money raised by Stein, government staff will still be required to be pulled off of other meaningful projects and priorities to complete the recount process. Just the coordination and project management will be immense, and there will an untold number of related impacts.As this article explains, the cost for paper ballot recounts in each precinct in Michigan will be $125 for Stein. Do you really think this total process can be completely done for $125 per precinct, with all government costs included? I think that extra money and time spent will come from somewhere else in government.10) The country will not move on to the important process of uniting, moving forward and focusing on governing with our next president of the United States. This effort is a major distraction and brings on more uncertainty at a time that we don t need it as a nation. Many on the right claim this recount effort is just coming from sore losers who can t admit defeat. I m not so sure, but whether you agree with that analysis or not, there is no doubt that these recounts will extend the election uncertainty for longer and fuel more anger.Final ThoughtsThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration was helping state election teams in at least 46 states, and they have not come out and even implied any hacking of voter machines occurred. Don t you think that they would have raised red flags by now if they expected wrongdoing?Meanwhile, Jill Stein has every legal right to request these recounts, but that does not make it a smart (or the right) thing to do. These recounts will not have the results she is claiming.Worse than that, naming the Russians or pointing to (unknown) hackers as the reason for the recounts will open up governments to a plethora of current and future problems. We are witnessing a sad close to the 2016 presidential election, which is being driven by hypothetical hacking scenarios based on the lie that if pollsters didn t get the results they expected, someone must have been hacked.Finally, there is no doubt that all states need improvements to the voting machines used and the processes followed to count the votes. These improvements should begin immediately for upcoming elections in 2017 and beyond. Audits as described by Wired magazine make sense moving forward.Nevertheless, cybersecurity pros must be extra careful how often they cry hacked, and never throw in a maybe or perhaps to cover their tracks and deny accountability later.For entire story: Government Technology | 0 | [
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FMD802 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is buying commercial time on a TV station in West Palm Beach, Florida, taking on opponents in a paid media battle that the Republican front-runner has largely avoided so far. The March 15 nominating contest in Florida, a winner-take-all vote, is seen as one of the last chances to slow Trump’s momentum after a string of victories on Super Tuesday. One SuperPAC allied with rival presidential candidate Marco Rubio has already shelled out millions in the state. The race has become a fight between Trump and anti-Trump interests, which should drive new demand for ads, said Mark Egan, chief client officer of Maxus Americas, a media agency owned by GroupM. “The big war really starts now,†he said.The billionaire candidate to date has relied heavily on free air time and Twitter, largely ignoring television. On Thursday he began purchasing commercial slots for the first time on West Palm Beach station WPTV, said Lloyd Bucher, vice president and general manager of the station, an NBC affiliate. He declined to discuss the amount. SuperPACs that oppose Trump are gearing up in the state. Conservative Solutions, a SuperPAC allied with Rubio, has aired or distributed $4.8 million worth of ads and direct mail in Florida that explicitly opposes Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data from Friday through Tuesday. That is the most spent by a candidate-allied SuperPAC against Trump in a single state so far. TV stations in states with upcoming primaries are fielding more inquiries from outside groups opposing Trump, said Steve Lanzano, president and CEO of TVB, a trade body for television broadcasters. “You are seeing a lot more SuperPACs coming out of the woodwork,†he said. Election years typically provide windfalls for local TV stations as candidates blanket airwaves. Ad spending in the weeks leading up to the South Carolina primary was four times the level of 2012, Lanzano said. Some media investors and analysts are concerned Trump may continue to rely mostly on free media exposure, which would hurt the revenues expected for local stations. Lanzano believes the Trump campaign will start buying more time to fight back against the attacks coming his way. “I think he is going to spend a lot of money on advertising ultimately,†Lanzano said. “He is going to get bombarded.†(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles, Jessica Toonkel in Hollywood, Florida, and Grant Smith in Washington; Editing by G Crosse, Peter Henderson and Andrew Hay) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 | [
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FMD803 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: According to Republican lawmaker from Idaho, it is completely plausible that former President Barack Obama was responsible for staging the racist mayhem to took over the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia. Because, OF COURSE it s Obama s fault. Everything is always Obama s fault. I m not saying it is true, but I am suggesting that it is completely plausible, Bryan Zollinger, a state representative for Idaho Falls, wrote on social media. We know that many protesters were Soros funded and we also know that Donald Trump is not a racist. The man was in the public spotlight for 20+ years with zero allegations of racism, Zollinger continued, clearly ignoring the reality and hanging onto alternative facts. He then blamed the media for choosing to push this narrative. Zollinger s Facebook post linked to an article published by the American Thinker entitled Charlottesville and Its Aftermath: What if It Was a Setup, which claimed that Obama, George Soros and the mayor of Charlottesville were responsible for staging the violent chaos we saw play out in Charlottesville. The conflagration in Charlottesville is beginning to feel like a set-up, perhaps weeks or months in the planning, the author of the article wrote. We know that Obama and his inner circle have set up a war room in his D.C. home to plan and execute resistance to the Trump administration and his legislative agenda. The Idaho Statesman contacted Zollinger to see just what he had to say for himself and his response was just as pathetic as you d expect. In hindsight, maybe it was a mistake to post it, he said. I didn t mean for it to ruffle any feathers, Zoros said before reiterating that the absurd theory was indeed a plausible theory.We all knew it was just a matter of time before Republicans found a way to try to blame President Obama for the stampede of hatred we saw in Virginia. But we also know that it is the GOP and their bigoted president that has inspired the new wave of white supremacists with Nazi ideologies we are seeing today. Conservatives are the ones who built this. But naturally, it s Obama s fault. Because its always Obama s fault. Always.Image via The Idaho StatesmanFeatured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD804 | 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: Since 2001, higher education in the state has been cut or allowed to erode ... by 35 or 40 percent.
contextual information: As Attorney General Chris Koster eyes the 2016 race for Missouri governor, hes pushing to share the ballot with a political twofer: a ballot proposal that would increase Missouris lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax, which would pay for a boost in the states higher education spending. Speaking Aug. 20 at the Missouri State Fair, Koster, a Democrat, reiterated his support for the increasing the cigarette tax,telling the Columbia Daily Tribune: Since 2001, higher education in the state has been cut or allowed to erode by 35 or 40 percent. Do those numbers add up? It takes a bit of college-boy math. The top line About three-quarters of the states higher education budget comes from the general revenue fund. The rest of the money mostly comes from the 1 cent education sales tax and other state funds. (The federal government also chips in some money this year it was a little under $3.7 million, or 0.2 percent, of the total higher education budget.) The average annual inflation rate between 2001 and 2015, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, was 1.918 percent for Missouri and Illinois. Inflation rates vary across the country, and the Federal Reserve calculates the inflation rate by region rather than by state. In fiscal year 2002, higher education was allotted $1,153,954,522. After adjusting for inflation which compounds year over year thats equivalent to $1,505,546,464 today. In the most recent budget, for fiscal year 2016,$1,266,819,566is set for higher education in Missouri. Thats a 15.9 percent decrease, short of what Koster said. The bottom line If you only look at dollars, though, you miss the effect of Missouris surging college enrollment, Koster spokesman Andrew Whalen told PolitiFact Missouri. In fall of 2001, Missouris public colleges and universities enrolled143,656 full-time equivalent students. By 2014, enrollment had risen to 184,305 students. Thats a 28.3 percent increase in students. (This years totals arent in yet, but enrollment peaked in 2013, when Missouri counted 185,514 full-time equivalent students in its public institutions of higher education.) Its hard to say exactly how much money is spent on each student across the state because each school receives money directly from the General Assembly. That money is counted in the appropriations for the Department of Higher Education but since the department doesnt dictate how that money is used, the department doesnt track how much of it each institution spends, spokeswoman Liz Coleman said. But we can still get a rough per-student funding estimate by dividing the departments budget by the number of full-time-equivalent students. Heres the math: In 2001, Missouri spent $10,480.21 per student, adjusting for inflation. Assuming this years enrollment totals track near 2014s (and theresanecdotal evidencesuggesting its not too far off), that would mean the state now spends closer to $6,873 per student. Thats a 34.4 percent decrease in higher education funding per student. There are a few caveats here: Students arent directly impacted by every dollar spent by the Department of Higher Education. For instance, the department also operates the Missouri State Historical Society, and some money also goes towards operating expenses for the department itself. The department funds scholarships, some of which go to students at private schools. And schools also draw funding from outside the appropriations process, from sources such as tuition, donations and endowments. So, the exact amount of money spent on each college student is a squishy number. But we can still confidently track how much the state contributes which, in the context of raising the tobacco tax, is the essence of Kosters statement. Our ruling Koster said that since 2001, higher education funding has been cut or eroded by 35 percent to 40 percent. The legislature hasnt technically cut higher education funding over this time; nominally, the state has actually spent $100 million more on it. But thats not enough to keep pace with inflation. And when you factor in skyrocketing enrollment numbers, the amount of money the General Assembly has budgeted to spend on a per student basis has indeed eroded by about as much as Koster says it has. Even though Kosters statement is pretty close, it needs additional information and clarification. We rate it Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD805 | 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: Rhode Island has the second highest per enrollee (Medicaid) cost of any state in the country, which is 60 percent higher than the national average.
contextual information: In an effort to bring Rhode Island's budget under control, Gov. Gina Raimondo is hoping to rein in the cost of Medicaid. She has proposed cutting $88 million from the states $2.7-billion Medicaid spending in the next fiscal year and has created a task force to reinvent the program. During theMarch 13, 2015 tapingof WPRI-TV's Newsmakers program, Raimondo argued that the costs of the joint state and federal program that provides health insurance to the very poor are extraordinarily high in the state. You have to remember, she said, Rhode Island has the second highest per enrollee [Medicaid] cost of any state in the country, which is 60 percent higher than the national average. So we have to do a better job. It's just not sustainable. She madea similar statementon Rhode Island Public Radio. Paying, on average, 60 percent more for anything seems pretty scandalous. We decided to see if the typical cost of a Rhode Island Medicaid recipient was really that much higher than average, and whether per-patient costs were actually lower in 48 other states. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is a reliable source of data on health issues. We got a state-by-state tally oftotal state and federal Medicaid spendingfor the 2013 fiscal year and divided it by the number ofpeople in each state on Medicaid in December 2013in hopes of getting a rough estimate. By that back-of-the-envelope method, Rhode Island ranked fifth, not second, with all the New England states except New Hampshire in the top 10. The cost was 39 percent above the national average. But that's using 12 months of expenses and one-month enrollment totals.Laura Snyder, a senior policy analyst with Kaiser, said that's an apples-to-oranges mix. When we asked Raimondo's office for the source of her numbers, her spokeswoman cited Kaiser as well, specifically a page that directly ranksMedicaid spending per enrollee by state, although it doesn't list actual total spending or enrollment. And it's from the 2011 fiscal year. Nonetheless, on that list, Rhode Island, at $9,247 per enrollee, does indeed rank second. Only Alaska, at $9,474, spent more. In addition, per enrollee spending in Rhode Island was 60 percent higher than the $5,790 U.S. average. So, by that ranking, Raimondo is correct on both counts. We asked why newer numbers aren't available. Snyder said annual enrollment statistics by state are slow to come out from the federal government, so the 2011 data are the most recent available. Because we wondered if state rankings fluctuate significantly from year to year -- and might be significantly different in 2012, 2013 and 2014 -- we asked Kaiser to see its rankings from some previous years. They gave us data going back to 2000. It turns out that our standing has bounced around a bit, but not a lot. For example, Rhode Island ranked fifth in 2010 and 2009, but ranked first in 2007. Our ruling Raimondo said, Rhode Island has the second highest per enrollee [Medicaid] cost of any state in the country, which is 60 percent higher than the national average. But in making her statement on one of the central elements in her proposed budget, Raimondo didnt note that the numbers were from the 2011 year. Granted, those are the most recent statistics available, according to Kaiser. But a lot can happen in four years. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rule itMostly True. (If you have a claim youd likePolitiFact Rhode Islandto check, email us at[email protected]. And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.) | 1 | [
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FMD806 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: When Lindsay Abt was pregnant with her first child, she remembers reading a book for expectant mothers that cautioned against making too many big life changes at once. She went ahead and made three anyway. “I broke all of the rules,†she said. Not only did she take on a job with greater responsibility — she is a partner at the accounting firm Ernst Young — she had to move her family to Florida from New York to do it. She moved in July 2014 while her husband stayed behind to sell their house. Her son was born that October. Throughout the transition, she had a dedicated coach, Delaine, provided by her employer, as part of a new program at the firm to help parents prepare for parental leave — and ease the transition when they return. In phone sessions each month, Delaine helped Ms. Abt think through what was important to her — being home by bath time every evening? Working from home once a week? — and how to set limits during a long workweek to make that happen. “You can have a grand plan, but it’s something that needs to be figured out on a basis because no two days are the same,†Ms. Abt, 39, said. At a time when new parents may find themselves overwhelmed — even sobbing late at night as they deal with their new responsibilities while trying to hold down a job — a growing number of companies are making efforts to soften the blow. They are providing employees with coaching sessions, either in person, over the phone or through small group sessions that may be broadcast over the web. The services are often available to new fathers, too. But employers are not doing this entirely out of the goodness of their corporate hearts: They are hoping to retain more women by helping them through a stressful time, while eventually improving gender diversity among their senior employees. Other companies that are introducing more generous parental leave policies realize the benefits need to be managed more thoughtfully. Perhaps not surprisingly, the employers who started offering these benefits are organizations that often demand long hours from employees or are competing for talent: The big accounting firms, Ernst Young, KPMG and Grant Thornton, as well as MetLife, Deutsche Bank and Etsy all offer some level of coaching to workers, whether in person or online, regardless of gender. Proskauer Rose offers coaching to its female lawyers, KKR to its female investment professionals, while Kohl’s is running a pilot for all of its workers at its corporate headquarters. BDO, another accounting firm, is introducing a coaching program conducted over the web next month. “There are more and more companies every month looking into this, but we are still probably one to three years away from getting to any critical mass,†said Kyra Cavanaugh, president of Life Meets Work, a consulting firm that provides coaches and training to employers. Companies have strong financial incentives to make their coaching and transition programs work. Ernst Young, which expanded its policy this month to 16 weeks of paid leave for all new parents, said it typically costs the firm 1. 5 times an employee’s salary to replace them. “When we train supervisors about how to be supportive, we see effects for the company,†said Leslie Hammer, an industrial organizational psychologist and professor at Oregon Health Science University. That might be from reduced turnover costs, less absenteeism and fewer health expenses as well as workplace safety issues, even among employees working in offices, she said. But another reason employers are introducing these programs, consultants say, is to illustrate that it’s all right to take advantage of newly announced or existing leave programs. “What they are finding is they need to change the culture,†said Karen Rubin, managing director of Talking Talent, a consultancy that provides coaching to organizations. “It is not enough to say employees have a year’s maternity leave available, but demonstrate that it is safe to take it. This is where managers and senior leadership make the difference. †For a parent coaching program to be successful, academics, psychologists and consultants say, it cannot be an isolated benefit involving just an employee and the coach, or simply a perk that companies offer for competitive reasons. Instead, it needs to be part of a broader change that involves and trains supervisors. Twitter — which recently extended its leave policy for all parents to up to 20 weeks of full pay — is offering formal coaching services to its managers. “At the end of the day, it’s helping us reshape how we think about our business since we have an active population of parents going out,†said Laura Brady, vice president of compensation and benefits at Twitter. “It’s making us think about workplace planning and development opportunities for those who may want to cover for someone going out. So not only is this a parent and manager issue, but I think ultimately it extends to all employees. †Every employer takes a slightly different approach to parental leave programs. Etsy recently expanded its leave policy to 26 weeks for all parents and formally introduced a coaching program in April. Employees at its Brooklyn headquarters can meet with a coach in person, typically several weeks before they go on leave and after they return. Managers are also provided with training, and workers in other locations can participate remotely. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and O’Melveny Myers, a law firm, all offer support to some employees. Amy Beacom, founder and chief executive of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership, has developed a parental leave support program that uses technology to reach more employees and involve all affected parties: the employee, managers and any team members. “Using assessment tools as a guide, the work culminates in an action plan that is shared with all stakeholders before they go on leave,†she said. For now, parent coaching has not been extended to the types of jobs held by workers, who have less control over when and where they work and for whom these programs may have the biggest impact. And because these programs are still largely in their infancy, it is hard to determine what sort of effects they will have. But for now, some programs appear to provide the perception of support while reshaping the thinking of at least some members of an influential group: fathers. Jerry Whelan, a partner at Ernst Young, said his wife had twin boys in April. He said he spoke to the twins — in utero — each night, pleading with them to make their debut after his busy tax season. They complied, arriving 11 and 12 minutes after the tax day deadline. His wife had an emergency cesarean section and needed time to recuperate, meaning he was the primary caregiver for two weeks. Mr. Whelan started preparing with his coach in January. “By the time the twins arrived, we were ready to go,†he said. “The ability for me to disconnect from work and focus exclusively to take care of the babies was a godsend. †After being a workaholic for so long, Mr. Whelan said, he and his coach discussed questions such as what kind of father he wanted to be, as well as how to deal with delegating more to his colleagues, which he said made him a better manager. He said the sessions also helped him realize that he shouldn’t call his time away vacation, but “parental leave,†to send a message to both his team and his clients. “I thought it was important to do the coaching program, to take formal leave and get involved in the fathers’ network and the women’s network in a new way,†Mr. Whelan said. He now plans to take another month of leave when his wife returns to work. “It really opened me up as well to talk about these things in an emotional way that people have been hesitant to in the past. †| 1 | [
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FMD807 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Mary Tyler Moore, who died on Wednesday at 80, had a career in show business. But she is most remembered for two indelible sitcom roles: Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show†and later, Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show. †[ Read Mary Tyler Moore’s obituary | 5 great episodes to stream ] Ms. Moore first appeared in The New York Times in 1962, during the first season of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,†which ran from 1961 to 1966. A reporter interviewed her during a brief trip to New York to CBS executives and affiliates. (“When they saw Mary, there was quite a bit of applause and a few whistles,†a network spokesman said.) By 1965 the show was a hit and Ms. Moore was a star. The writer Joanne Stang called her the “virtually uncontested popularity queen of weekly television,†marveling that Ms. Moore “has made housewifery a highly palatable pastime. †“I guess they simply like me,†Ms. Moore said in the article. At the time she was preparing to try to leverage her TV success into a film career, having recently signed a contract with Universal. But she was similarly about her prospects. “If I don’t have the chemistry for the big screen, I guess I’ll look for something else to do when the ‘Van Dyke Show’ goes off,†she said. Ms. Moore did appear in films like “Thoroughly Modern Millie,†“What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?†and “Change of Habit,†but it was another television show that became her defining role. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,†which Ms. Moore produced with her Grant Tinker, debuted in 1970, arriving in an era whose social mores were signified by the groaner headline The Times used to introduce it and other new series: “Out of the Kitchen, Ladies. †Early coverage was similarly dismissive: “Mary Tyler Moore is caught in a preposterous item about life as an ‘associate producer’ in a TV newsroom,†Jack Gould wrote in The Times in a preview of the 1970 TV season. In his brief review of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,†Mr. Gould complained that the star was saddled with “one set of bizarre happenings at a TV station’s newsroom and another in her living accommodations. †But within a few years, The Times had reconsidered its stance. “Consistently tight writing and good acting have made this situation comedy the best of its kind in the history of American television,†Dan Menaker wrote in 1973. The following year, The Times was revealing “Why 30 Million Are Mad About Mary. †(The answer: She is “beautiful and sexy, but not threatening. â€) As the show wrapped up its run, during which it had broken ground in prime time with its depiction of a single professional woman, an Associated Press article in The Times noted that the show “laid to rest the myth that audiences would not accept a situation comedy involving a woman, unless she was married and burned dinner at least one night a week. †“I’m just part of it,†Ms. Moore said in the article. “But it really has affected a lot of people, all to the good. †Ms. Moore’s career never again reached the heights of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,†but she stayed busy branching out into musicals and additional, series, and playing against plucky type in TV movies and films like “Ordinary People†and “Flirting With Disaster. †In the twilight of her career, as the lifetime achievement awards started rolling in, she embraced her signature role in lighthearted reunion specials and in the occasional interview. In 2012, Neil Genzlinger, a television critic for The Times, watched the series finale of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show†with the actress, who apologized in advance for a watery eye that had been plaguing her. “As we finished,†Mr. Genzlinger wrote, “Ms. Moore reached for the tissue box. ‘Now I am crying,’ she said. ‘It’s not just a bad eye. ’†| 1 | [
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FMD808 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: It finally dawned on Glenn Beck that his buddy Sarah Palin isn t quite right in the head. Last night on his television show, Beck expressed concern for Sarah Palin s erratic behavior lately and wondered if she suffered a brain aneurysm, according to Right Wing Watch. The half-term Governor of Alaska had thrown her full support behind Donald Trump s bid for the White House, then after his win she attacked him for the Carrier deal, calling it Crony Capitalism. For once in her life, she got something right but she should have known that Trump would pull such a move. Beck called Palin s enthusiastic endorsement of Trump crazy. Sincerely, has she had a brain aneurysm? Beck said Monday night on his program. Because I don t know what has happened to her. Because before Palin attacked the Carrier deal, Trump was considering her for a cabinet position. She s totally unqualified for the position of Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but Trump is also unqualified to be leader of the free world so it kind of makes sense he chose her. But, Beck thought she would have done a fine job in that capacity.Beck said Palin attacking Trump over the Carrier deal is absurd, because you own it, Sarah. You brought it to the table. He said he would do that! Beck and his staff members decided that maybe Palin is lashing out at Trump because she is just butt-hurt over the fact that she may not get the V.A. secretary position after all.Watch:The political arena in this country is so insane that Glenn Beck is making sense. Glenn. Fucking. Beck. Let that sink in for a moment.Sarah Palin does own this. Instead of draining the swamp, Trump is filling it with terrifying creatures. Everything Trump accused Hillary Clinton of, he is doing. Trump hasn t even been sworn in yet and he s plagued with scandals. But, Hillary s emails were made into a scandal so he s going to be the next president.Photo: J.D. Lasica via Flickr. | 0 | [
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FMD809 | 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: Comparison between Hiroshima and Detroit Claim summaries: Circulating images purport to compare the effects of urban decay in Detroit with the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan by an atomic bomb during World War II.
contextual information: The photo montage displayed above is one of dozens circulating online since 2009, purporting to demonstrate that 50-plus years of rule by the Democratic Party wrought a level of destruction on Detroit comparable to that caused by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Some versions have sought to make the case verbally, as well. For example:What has caused more long term destruction - the A-bomb, or Government welfare programs created to buy the votes of those who want someone to take care of them? Japan does not have a welfare system. Work for it or do without. These are possibly the 5 best sentences youll ever read and all applicable to this experiment: 1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. The comparison of 2010 Detroit to 1945 Hiroshima is grotesquely forced, however, as is the implication that Democratic policies are wholly to blame for the Detroit's decline since World War II. We'll start our analysis with the images, some of which are inaccurately labeled. Beginning with the upper left-hand photo, it is, in fact, an aerial view of the hypocenter (ground zero) of the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, taken a few months after the fact. Here's a larger view of the image: hypocenter Working clockwise, the next image in the set supposedly depicts modern-day Hiroshima except that it doesn't. It's actually a snapshot taken from the Landmark Tower Sky Garden in Yokohama, Japan much like this one from Flickr: Flickr That having been pointed out, it's true that Hiroshima was rebuilt from its ashes and is now a beautiful and modern city. Nor is it too terribly hard to find an actual photo of it. rebuilt photo The photo at bottom-right though taken in 2013, not 2010 does show a dilapidated building (of which there are plenty) on the east side of Detroit. It's the former Packard Automotive Plant, which closed in the late 1950s: plenty closed However, the thing to note about the use of this image to portray Detroit as a locus of Hiroshima-like devastation is that all we actually see is one long-abandoned, crumbling building. It doesn't make the case. Lastly, we're shown a photo supposedly depicting Detroit in its mid-1940s heyday except that it was taken in the mid-1930s. It's an aerial view of Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium): Navin Field Granted, for the purposes of argument it doesn't really matter whether the above photo was taken in the '30s or '40s the point remains that Detroit once had a teeming population, abundant jobs, and a booming economy. In 1950 it was the fourth-largest city in the United States, but no longer. The question is, who was responsible? There's no simple explanation (and therefore no single scapegoat at whom to point fingers) for Detroit's long, slow descent to bankruptcy. Scott Martelle, author of Detroit: A Biography, offered this capsule summary in an op-ed column published in 2011: column The collapse of Detroit has roots in intentional de-industrialization by the Big Three automakers, which in the 1950s began aggressively spider-webbing operations across the nation to produce cars closer to regional markets, and to reduce labor costs by investing in less labor-friendly places than union-heavy Detroit. Their flight was augmented by government policies that, in the 1970s and 1980s particularly, forced municipalities and states to compete with each other for jobs by offering corporate tax breaks and other inducements to keep or draw business investments, a bit of whipsawing that helped companies profit at the expense of communities. Another summary of Detroit's decline cited issues such as the city's dependence on a single industry (i.e., automobiles), decades of racial tensions, shortcomings of leadership (stretching back to the 1930s), and the lack of an efficient transit system. decline Did Democrats and Democratic policies play some role in the fall of Detroit? Surely they did. Every Detroit mayor since 1962 has been a Democrat, after all. But Republicans held the seat for the 12 years prior to that, from 1950 through 1961. The Packard plant whose hollowed-out remains were displayed above closed its doors during that time. Whatever blame is to be allotted to politicians must be shared by both Democrats and Republicans on the national level, as well. Detroit's decline since World War II took place during periods when both parties held the presidency and/or controlled Congress. Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same. maintained Drury, Flora."A City Rebuilt from the Ashes."
Daily Mail Online.5 August 2015. Martelle, Scott."The Collapse of Detroit."
Los Angeles Times.27 March 2011. "Anatomy of Detroit's Decline."
New York Times.8 December 2013. "Zombieland: The Abandoned Buildings of Detroit."
Beaumont Enterprise.18 July 2013. | 0 | [
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FMD810 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: All Brexit arguments settled by 0.5 per cent third-quarter growth 28-10-16
ALL debates about the negative impact of Brexit have been settled for good by Britain’s 0.5 per cent third-quarter growth.
Leading Remain campaigners, including former chancellor George Osborne, are preparing public apologies and the nation’s 16 million Remain voters are expected to follow suit.
Joanna Kramer of Bristol said: “It’s not easy to admit you’re wrong but I don’t see I have any choice.
“Britain is thriving with only a 0.2 per cent decline on expected growth, national pride has exploded into a proud display of healthy scepticism towards supposed child refugees, and I was a fool.
“How could I have been so blind not to see that glory would be upon us this soon, if only we had the courage to take back control?
“I’m sorry, everyone. I’m sorry I was a traitor.”
Brexit voter Stephen Malley said: “What am I going to do for conversation now?”
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FMD811 | 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: A remarkable carburetor Claim summaries: A miraculous car that gets 200 miles to the gallon is sold by mistake then reclaimed by the factory and is never seen again.
contextual information: Claim: A miraculous car that gets 200 miles to the gallon is sold by mistake then reclaimed by the factory and is never seen again. Examples: [Collected via e-mail, 1999] A retiring General Motors employee, after many years of service, receives a car as a retirement gift. (as well as a nice pension, etc.). So he is given permission to select a car from the lot there at the factory. He selects a Chevrolet Caprice, a big, luxury car. After receiving it, he is satisfied with his choice. After all, who wouldn't enjoy driving around in a roomy, comfortable car. After driving it for a while, he noticed something quite odd ... a car like this usually consumes a substantial amount of fuel, but the gas gauge hardly moves at all. After a few weeks, he gets suspicious. Things like this don't happen. Being the company man he is, he returns it to the factory. Explaining this to the service tech must've caused some strange looks, but they took it in anyway. After he got his car back, he noticed it got the typical gas mileage of a comparable car. Could've this car had some secret "modifications" that allowed him to drive for weeks, on the same tank of gas? Detroit's automakers have purportedly seized, er.. bought out patents of items that improve gasoline mileage like the 100 mpg carburetor, etc. Maybe the R&D department at GM put this theory to practice, and this was an example. [Collected via e-mail, 1997] A couple journeys from Western Canada to Detroit to buy a new car and presumably save shipping costs while having a vacation in the States at the same time. Driving back to the prairies, they find to their astonishment that the gas gauge is not moving down to "empty" even though they've been driving for hours. Arriving home some thousands of miles away from Detroit, they have only refilled the tank once or twice. A few days after returning, the husband looks out at his driveway in the morning to find two mysterious men tinkering with his car (the hood is up). Running out, they race off; he checks under the hood, finds nothing amiss, and concludes it's just vandals or would-be thieves whom he was fortunate to apprehend before any damage was done. BUT, when they drive the car, they find their gas mileage is now normal. Variations: The miraculous car legend ends one of four ways: Mysterious men appear and tinker with the engine, rendering the car no different than any other. The car is reclaimed by the factory. If the owner afterwards gets the same car back (sometimes it's replaced outright with another vehicle), it now gets ordinary gas mileage. No-nonsense business types show up to make a fabulous offer for the car, which is accepted. The owner wakes up one morning to find the car vanished without a trace. Origins: The legend of the miracle high-mileage automobile has been around longer than most of our readers, with a version set it Philadelphia having appeared in a 1948 newspaper. (Even at that time, the story proved unverifiable, with the article's writer identifying it as such and passing it along only as an example of a current rumor sweeping through the community.) Since that early sighting of more than half a century ago, the legend has gone on to enthrall audience after audience as each couple of years sees it pop up anew. Its origins are as strange as the story itself. Between 1928 and 1935, Charles Nelson Pogue, an inventor from Canada, applied for numerous patents for what he claimed was a new type of carburetor that supposedly completely vaporized gasoline before introducing it to the cylinders, thereby extracting a great deal more energy from the fuel. According to the Pogue patent description, fuel was introduced into the engine in this vaporous "dry" state rather than in the normal droplet-laden "wet" state, thus combining more readily with air, making it burn with far greater efficiency. Better combustion combined with the raising of the engine's operating temperature from 160F to 180F were said to be responsible for vastly improved fuel economy. So much for the techno-talk. The Pogue carburetor was touted as getting 200+ miles to the gallon. Glowing reports about this miracle of ingenuity's making a 1,879 mile trip on 14.5 gallons appeared in the May 1936 issue of Canadian AutomotiveTrade magazine, reports which Pogue later denied. A manager of a Winnipeg auto dealership claimed he had driven a Pogue-equipped car 217 miles on a gallon of gasoline. A different dealer principal claimed to have driven 26 miles on a pint of fuel. The story snowballed onward from those breathless testimonials as one rumor quickly followed on the heels of another. Thieves were reputed to have broken into Pogue's shop and made off with three of his carburetors. There was talk of armed guards and wolfhounds guarding the shop and the now-famous inventor. Wealthy backers (from Winnipeg or Toronto, depending on whom you heard the story from) were rumored to be bankrolling Pogue, but the arrangements mysteriously fell through. Ford of Canada was said to have bought the invention outright. All in all it was a very exciting time. Alas, one can get by on mere smoke and mirrors for only so long. Those with sense enough to not be deafened by the hyperbole were not long kept at bay with tales of wolfhounds, thieves, and mysterious briefcase-toting moneymen. They wanted to see the carburetor. That, of course, was never permitted. No one reputable was allowed to see the mechanical miracle in action, let alone have a chance to measure its results. After the initial excitement over Pogue's 1936 announcement had faded, more serious types began to openly doubt that the carburetor would work as described. In the December 1936 issue of Automotive Industries magazine, its engineering editor, P.M. Heldt, said of a sketch of the Pogue carburetor: "The sketch fails to show any features hitherto unknown in carburetor practice, and absolutely gives no warrant for crediting the remarkable results claimed." Other journalists were beginning to voice similar opinions. In response to calls to put up or shut up, Pogue's miracle carburetor was heard of no more. Faced with the choice of believing someone had made claims his invention couldn't later live up to or that a monied bad guy had bought up a technology to forever keep it off the market, at least some chose to believe the suppression theory. That the carburetor never made it to the public, they said, was proof enough of its existence. Those 1930s news stories breathlessly trumpeting Pogue's miracle of technology form the basis of the economical carburetor legend now before us. As gas prices fluctuate, our dependence on fossil fuels is driven home time and again. Who wouldn't long for a miracle of engineering that would free us from the tyranny of the gas pump? And thus the groundwork for belief is laid. As sometimes happens in the world of urban legends, desire for something to be true transforms a rumor into certainty that this very thing is fact. Over the years, our legend about a 200 mpg car has bobbed to the surface in community after community, been debunked in numerous respected publications, and bobbed right back up in the wake of those debunkings. The need to believe in this wondrous technology and the evil car manufacturers who are deliberately withholding it from the market appears too strong to combat. A bit of rational thought should be all that's needed to lay this legend to rest. Why would the car manufacturers at all care about keeping such a technological advance away from consumers? Unlike the petroleum companies, they've no vested interest in how much fuel a car uses. An automaker's self interest is best served by getting the newest irresistible technology to the consumer before his competitors do. If any one of them possessed the secret of the 200 mpg car, he'd have rushed it into production, hoping to beat his competitors to the punch. Those who are tempted to believe the Evil Government is responsible for keeping this miracle out of our hands should reflect for a moment on the current state of world politics. The government of the United States would like nothing better than to throw off the yoke of dependence upon foreign oil. A miraculous carburetor would grant that freedom, allowing Americans to continue to enjoy current levels of use without the need to go hat in hand to OPEC or even those dastardly Canadians. The domestic supply would be more than enough. Though rarely is this tale told about anything other than a gas-miserly carburetor, this version describes a miraculous lightbulb: It was around 1920, shortly after he had married, when the old man originally purchased the light bulb from a small store in town. It appeared to be a normal light bulb. However, when after sixty years it was still going strong, he decided to write to the manufacturers and tell them of this remarkable phenomenon. By return a reply came from the company indicating that they were very interested in the bulb and would like to send someone to see it. Eventually, one of the directors of the firm called and, instead of just showing interest, offered to buy it for 1,000. The old man, of course, refused, as the light bulb had given him good service. However, his curiousity was certainly aroused why so much money for his light bulb? The director could provide no plausible explanation as to why they were willing to offer so much for the bulb, so the old man decided to explore this mystery further. With the help of a solicitor friend he did a little investigating and discovered that in the 1920s this particular light-bulb manufacturer had bought and tested the patent for an everlasting bulb. Only a few of these bulbs were made and the company, finding the invention worked, destroyed the bulbs and suppressed the idea after all, it would have put them out of business. Unknown to the company one of the lights had accidentally become mixed up with a batch of ordinary bulbs and this was the light bulb which had lit the old man's kitchen for the past sixty years. (Sometimes lore collides with reality: A long-lived light bulb has been burning since 1901 and currently lights a fire station in Livermore, California.) light bulb Barbara "gasoline allied" Mikkelson Origins: The legend about the need to suppress the steam-driven carburetor that can produce 200 mpg to protect the oil industry surfaces in an episode of the TV series Spoils of Babylon ("The Foundling: The War Within; original air date 9 January 2014). Last updated: 26 June 2014 The Mexican Pet Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981. ISBN 0-393-95169-3 (pp. 175-178). The Vanishing Hitchhiker Dale, Rodney. The Tumour in the Whale. London: Duckworth, 1978. ISBN 0-7156-1314-6 (pp. 114-115). The Tumour in the Whale Dorson, Richard. American Folklore. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1959 (p. 253). American Folklore Ellis, William and Alan E. Mays. "Art Linkletter and the Contemporary Legend." FOAFTale News. June 1994 (pp. 1-10). Morgan, Hal and Kerry Tucker. Rumor! New York: Penguin Books, 1984. ISBN 0-14-007036-2 (pp. 123-125). Rumor! Smith, Paul. The Book of Nasty Legends. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983. ISBN 0-00-636856-5 (pp. 9, 67). The Book of Nasty Legends Vance, Bill. "Was Winnipeg Inventor Victim of Oil Barons?" The Toronto Star. 17 April 1993 (p. H2). The Complete and Totally True Book of Urban Legends Holt, David and Bill Mooney. Spiders in the Hairdo. Little Rock: August House, 1999. ISBN 0-87483-525-9 (pp. 85, 106). Spiders in the Hairdo The Big Book of Urban Legends. New York: Paradox Press, 1994. ISBN 1-56389-165-4 (p. 22). The Big Book of Urban Legends | 1 | [
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FMD812 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: As Harris lay struggling and dying, he told the surrounding officers, “I’m losing my breath.†One officer yelled back at him, “Fuck your breath!†Then he insisted that the dying man be handcuffed.
“Fuck your breath!†encapsulates in only three words the systemic disregard that police regularly show to Black people in America. Just last week, we watched Michael Slager execute Walter Scott in South Carolina for daring to run away. Now this week, we are also tuning into the trial of former Chicago Police Officer Dante Servin, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the killing of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd in March 2012. In the cases of Eric Garner in Staten Island, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Walter Scott in South Carolina, and Eric Harris in Tulsa, we have seen video of law enforcement officers not only critically injuring citizens but also refusing to administer medical care, with fatal consequences.
Given the origins of policing in this country and their connections to slave patrols and other forms of racialized social control, I am under no illusions that the police have ever held Black life in high regard. Police complicity and participation in lynchings and in the KKK make that clear. But the explicit, tacit refusal of Black people’s right to breathe is still significant. The fact that the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office is a pay-to-play force is significant. The fact that white men can sign up with government approval for the right to play cops and robbers on the weekends is appalling. That Black lives provide fodder for state-sanctioned sport should have us in the streets.
There is something about the logics of self-governance under the terms of neoliberalism that make this moment feel more pessimistic than our trite narrative of linear progress on racial issues would have us conclude. In 2012, the United Arab Emirates gave $1 million to the New York City Police Foundation. According to an NYPD spokesperson, the money was used to upgrade equipment and aid in criminal investigations. In both New York City and Tulsa, private funding of law enforcement significantly impacts the way local policing is done. In Tulsa, it results in the pay-to-play scheme. In New York City, it allows for large infusions of cash donations whose specific uses do not come under public scrutiny because they are private funds.
These forms of neoliberal policing — in which private citizens and private monies impact the culture of policing but escape governmental checks and balances — endanger us all.
In New York, such actions enable the purchase of unspecified forms of “equipment†that might, for instance, be used to exacerbate the culture of militarized policing in the NYPD. Part of this money allows the NYPD to travel to the UAE to learn counterterrorism measures. In the wake of 9/11, some external training might be helpful, but essentially, this sounds like a case of the NYPD being allowed money to play global cops and robbers, and to then test out these tactics on the Black and Brown people who are policed heavily within the city.
In the case of Tulsa, this privately underwritten form of law enforcement placed an underprepared “pretend†deputy into a serious confrontation. As a result, Eric Harris lost his life.
But he did not just lose his breath. As he lay dying, he was refused the right to breathe. That refusal came in a chorus of other taunts about how he was getting what he deserved because he chose to run. His breath seeped out of his Black body as public service officers taunted him in a barrage of profanity.
Why is the refusal of breath to Black people endemic to the American condition? What about the Black body makes the life-breath that we all hold so dear — so sacred — such a profane and devalued thing in the hands of white people?
In 1977, the famous writer and American prophet James Baldwin returned to America after living in France for more than three decades. In an interview at the New York Times, he said: “I left America because I had to. It was a personal decision. I wanted to write, and it was the 1940’s, and it was no big picnic for blacks. I grew up on the streets of Harlem, and I remember President Roosevelt, the liberal, having a lot of trouble with an anti- lynching bill he wanted to get through the Congress–never mind the vote, never mind restaurants, never mind schools, never mind a fair employment policy. I had to leave; I needed to be in a place where I could breathe and not feel someone’s hand on my throat.†Baldwin names a moment that sounds similar to our own. The vote is insecure from racial tampering. Indiana has just passed legislation that allows businesses (including eateries) to discriminate against customers based on “religious†assessments of their fitness to be served. Our public schools are in abysmal condition and throughout the country fast food workers are waging the Fight-for-Fifteen, a campaign for a $15 minimum wage. Baldwin illuminates for us the way that America exists as a place predicated on the refusal of Black breath and the denial of Black people’s right to move freely in the world without losing our lives for having a broken taillight or playing with a toy gun, or for standing on the street chatting with friends. This refusal of breath is not only anti-Black, but multigenerational, and harder to combat because of the way neoliberalism and acts of privatization have invaded police forces. As Eric Harris’ breath left him, other officers reminded him that “you ran!†Similar charges were levied against Walter Scott by pundits and commentators last week. “Why did he run?†Neoliberal structures of self-governance demand that we all control ourselves and “do the right thing,†in order to avoid negative consequences. Meanwhile, the conditions that enable us to actually do the right thing continue to slip away. Walter Scott ran because as a poor Black man who was in arrears on his child support, he did not want to be subject to a long prison sentence and fines he could not pay. The sense of precariousness about not being able to enjoy simple pleasures, like going for a ride on the weekend because you might find yourself in prison interminably for bills you can’t pay, is surely not just. These are not justifications for Walter Scott’s wrongdoing. They are reminders that many of us manage to do the right thing because we live in conditions that allow us to pay bills, adequately support our children, and find sufficient employment. Many, many Americans, a disproportionate number of them Americans of color, do not live in such conditions. Yelling at them or executing them for making bad choices in a system that offers limited options shows us how often we miss the point. Under this kind of logic, the supposed lack of control of working-class Black and Brown people justifies the stultifying overpolicing of our communities, the stranglehold of our prison system saddling Black people with jail time, fines, probation, parole and a constant sense of threat, and finally, the ultimate refusal of one’s breath by a trigger-happy police officer if you fail to submit in any way to this unjust state of affairs. Something must change. For we are all losing our collective breath. We all watch as the police and the state communicate their clear disregard for the value of Black life. The weight of historical injustice and present injustice constricts, makes us writhe in agony, makes us go out to protest. That the officers in each of these three killings are being tried is nothing to celebrate. We do not celebrate our country for doing the right thing. Charging those who unjustly kill others with murder or manslaughter is basic. Figuring out how to let Black people live is apparently far more complicated. | 1 | [
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FMD813 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 2061 Views November 08, 2016 32 Comments commenter-corner Saker-Admin The following comment was selected by mod-kl from this post . Mod-kl found this dissertation on the various troll techniques to be quite well written and very education. We think other members of the saker community would also enjoy it. by Anonymous How To Identify Trolls And Forum Spies (Cryptome) Cointelpro Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum. There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of a internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of an ‘uncontrolled forum.’ Technique #1 – ‘Forum Sliding’ If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum – it can be quickly removed from public view by ‘forum sliding.’ In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to ‘age.’ Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a ‘forum slide.’ The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a ‘forum slide’ and ‘flush’ the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account both real and fake and then ‘replying’ to prepositined postings with a simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list, and the critical posting ‘slides’ down the front page, and quickly out of public view. Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and unuseful postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items. Technique #2 – ‘Consensus Cracking’ A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at http://www.abovetopsecret.com) is ‘consensus cracking.’ To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made – but the critical point is that it has a very weak premise without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favour is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is Imperative that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger ‘evidence’ or disinformation in your favour is slowly ‘seeded in.’ Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then ‘abort’ the consensus cracking by initiating a ‘forum slide.’ Technique #3 – ‘Topic Dilution’ Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a ‘Resource Burn.’ By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a ‘gossip mode.’ In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to ‘drive in the wedge.’ By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator. Technique #4 – ‘Information Collection’ Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them. In this technique in a light and positive environment a ‘show you mine so me yours’ posting is initiated. From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered. An example is to post your ‘favourite weapon’ and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon. This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favourite ‘technique of operation.’ From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities. Technique #5 – ‘Anger Trolling’ Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present a image to the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction. From this the most violent in the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking. To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing there powers and the taping of the activity can be then used for intelligence gathering purposes – without the requirement to ‘stage’ a fake abuse video. This method is extremely effective, and the more so the more abusive the video can be made to look. Sometimes it is useful to ‘lead’ the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you ‘do not care what the authorities think!!’ inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution. Technique #6 – ‘Gaining Full Con-trol’ It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavourable postings – and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public. This is the ‘ultimate victory’ as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms. Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed. However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a ‘honey pot’ gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes. Conclusion Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants do not know about them. Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal precidence to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline. This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them. Many other techniques can be utilized and developed by the individual and as you develop further techniques of infiltration and control it is imperative to share then with HQ. The Essential Saker: from the trenches of the emerging multipolar world $27.95 | 0 | [
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FMD814 | 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: Medical Device Excise Tax Claim summaries: Health care legislation imposes a 2.3% excise tax on the sale of medical devices as of 1 January 2013?
contextual information: Health care legislation imposed a 2.3% excise tax on the sale of medical devices as of January 1, 2013. The Cabela's chain (and some other stores) mistakenly applied medical excise taxes to certain non-medical purchases made on that date. The medical excise tax applies to non-medical items such as archery and sport fishing equipment, tires, coal, and "gas guzzling" automobiles. For example, a post collected on Facebook in January 2013 stated, "OK.... Here comes some of those Obama care taxes on Jan 1, 2013. Soon every purchase you make will have more taxes. On $103.98, I was charged $8.58 for Texas state taxes, and then an Obama care medical tax of another $2.39. So the more you spend, the more goes to the 'so-called free Obama care.' Let the ObamaCare fun begin!" Clothing now counts as being taxed under ObamaCare because it "alters the function of the body." I wish more companies would have the courage to do it the way Cabela's is, but most will bury it in the cost of the product. The new law provides that any device defined in 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) that is intended for humans will be taxable. The FFDCA is written very broadly to include instruments, machines, implants, and in vitro reagents, among others. Section 201(h) also includes associated parts and accessories, which are (1) recognized in the official National Formulary or the United States Pharmacopeia, or any supplement to them; (2) intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease or other conditions; or (3) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body, excluding products relying on a chemical reaction within or on the body or being metabolized to achieve their primary intended purposes. Included is a copy of a Cabela's receipt that charges a Medical Excise Tax of $11.97. This is what the customer said he bought: 3 pairs of hiker socks, 2 safe door pocket organizers, 1 pair of female boots, 1 female jacket, 1 female workout pant, and 1 Lyman sonic brass cleaner. The receipt total was $520.82. 2.3% of that is $11.97.
One of the provisions in the reconciliation bill (HR 4872) passed in conjunction with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as "Obamacare," instituted a 2.3% tax on the first sale of medical devices as of January 1, 2013. (Technically, the medical device tax is an excise tax that applies only to manufacturers, producers, or importers and is not to be paid directly by consumers, but the costs of such taxes are typically passed along to consumers through higher prices.) The text of the legislation states that the roster of taxable medical devices does not include "eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, and any other medical device determined to be of a type that is generally purchased by the general public at retail for individual use." Anticipating what constitutes a "taxable medical device" under this legislation can be rather confusing, as explained in a July 2012 tax adviser article. Under Sec. 4191(b)(1), a taxable medical device is a device, as defined in Section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) (21 U.S.C. 321(h)), that is intended for humans. The latter provision defines a device as an instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent, or other similar or related article, including any component, part, or accessory that meets certain requirements. The device must be: (1) recognized in the official National Formulary or the United States Pharmacopeia, or any supplement to them; (2) intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals; or (3) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals. The device must also not achieve its primary intended purposes through chemical action within or on the body of humans or other animals and must not depend upon being metabolized for the achievement of its primary intended purposes. Sec. 4191(b)(1) limits the definition for purposes of the tax to devices intended for humans. Under what is commonly called the retail exemption, the tax provision does not apply to eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, and any other medical device determined by Treasury to be of a type that is commonly purchased by the general public at retail for individual use. According to proposed regulations issued by the Internal Revenue Service in February 2012, the medical items that would be exempt from the tax because they are "commonly purchased by the general public at retail for individual use" should be determined as follows: A device will be considered to be of a type generally purchased by the general public at retail for individual use if it is regularly available for purchase and use by individual consumers who are not medical professionals, and if the design of the device demonstrates that it is not primarily intended for use in a medical institution or office or by a medical professional. The following factors suggest that a device is of a type that is regularly available for purchase and use by individual consumers who are not medical professionals: (A) Consumers who are not medical professionals can purchase the device through retail businesses that also sell items other than medical devices, such as drug stores, supermarkets, and similar vendors. (B) Consumers who are not medical professionals can use the device safely and effectively for its intended medical purpose with minimal or no training from a medical professional. (C) The device is classified by the FDA under Subpart D of 21 CFR Part 890 (Physical Medicine Devices).
Why the medical device excise tax should have been applied to all the items listed in the receipts pictured above was something of a mystery to viewers when these images were originally circulated back in January 2013. Although some states allow sellers to pass along the expense of the new medical device excise tax to customers by "separately stating a line item charge on the invoice or receipt given to their customers for 'Federal Excise Tax' or something similar," the vendor in this case, Cabela's, is a retailer of hunting, fishing, camping, and related outdoor recreation merchandise not known for selling medical devices, and the items listed in the receipts (such as a Ruger Attache Pistol Case) would not seem, by any stretch of the imagination, to fit FDA definitions of medical devices. The answer was that vendors typically use upgraded sales software at the beginning of each year, which is programmed to handle changes in tax laws that have just gone into effect, and on January 1, 2013, Cabela's found that their upgraded software was improperly applying the medical device excise tax to all purchases rather than just those of qualifying items. A companywide glitch in Cabela's cash register system that added a 2.3 percent Medical Excise Tax to customers' purchases—everything from boots to bullets—was an error and will be refunded, a company spokesman said. The error was discovered after consumers in several states notified the company that the surcharge appeared on their sales receipts and had been applied to all of their purchases. "It was a glitch in the system," said Cabela's spokesman Joe Arterburn. The error was limited to transactions that occurred on January 1 and was caught that same day by the Sidney, Neb.-based hunting and outdoor outfitter. Images of Cabela's sales receipts showing the surcharge have appeared on various websites, prompting several rumors. One rumor alleged that retailers had begun passing their employees' insurance coverage costs onto consumers in the form of a medical excise tax. Other sites claimed that because the tax had been applied to shoes and shirts, clothing and footwear are now considered medical devices under the new law. Both speculations are false. Some readers have incorrectly interpreted the listing of federal excise taxes on forms of sport fishing equipment, archery equipment, tires, coal, and gas guzzlers in Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 510 as evidence that those items are now being taxed as medical devices. This interpretation is incorrect: those items are all subject to excise taxes that were enacted well prior to, and have nothing to do with, the excise tax on medical devices created by the PPACA. The excise taxes on sport fishing equipment, for example, were enacted in the 1950s through the Sport Fish Restoration Act, and the excise tax on archery equipment was enacted in 1975 to help support the Wildlife Restoration Program. | 1 | [
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FMD815 | 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: Have 260 Out of 535 Members of Congress Settled Sexual Assault Charges? Claim summaries: A popular Facebook message claiming that 260 members of congress had settled sexual assault charges seriously misread the data.
contextual information: A number of members of the U.S. Congress have been accused of sexual misconduct over the years, but as a viral Facebook message suggests, have at least 260 of those members really settled sexual assault charges? accused settled Certainly one reason that this bit of congressional trivia is "little known" is because it is factually inaccurate. This meme refers to a report released by Office of Compliance Director Susan Tsui Grundmann in November 2017, which compiled the amount of money that was paid out between 1997 and 2017 to cover 264 settlements in connection with conduct prohibited under the Congress Accountability Act: report Congress Accountability Act That report did not state that all 264 settlements involved sexual assault charges, that all 264 settlements involved members of Congress, or that the settlements involved 264 different individuals. The Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) established a Treasury Department fund "to settle workplace harassment and discrimination claims." Although this fund has been used to pay out settlements related to sexual harassment, the CAA also applies to "thirteen civil rights, labor, and workplace safety and health laws." established According to Grundmann, a "large portion" of the aforementioned settlements stemmed from offices outside of the House of Representatives and the Senate and involved everything from overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards act to violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act: A large portion of cases originate from employing offices in the legislative branch other than the House of Representatives or the Senate, and involve various statutory provisions incorporated by the CAA, such as the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The statistics on payments are not further broken down into specific claims because settlements may involve cases that allege violations of more than one of the 13 statutes incorporated by the CAA. Although the details of these payments are typically confidential, outrage over the revelation that congress was using taxpayer funds to pay sexual assault settlements persuaded the House Administration Committee to release more details about the settlements. In December 2017, the committee released additional statistics which broke these settlements down into distinct categories. released statistics settlements Those categorized statistics showed that 13 settlements involving claims of sexual harassment or sex discrimination, totaling nearly $300,000, were paid out from the fund between 2003 and 2017: In total, between 2003 and 2017, taxpayers spent $292,652 on 13 settlements involving claims of sexual harassment or sex discrimination, the committee's data shows. This figure does not include settlements agreed to privately between members and their employees, which are sometimes paid in the form of severance out of congressional office budgets. The viral Facebook message incorrectly proclaimed that 260 members of congress had settled sexual assault charges, while in reality some 264 different settlements related to a wide range of workplace violations were paid out between 1997 and 2017. Only a small proportion of those settlements totaling were related to sexual misconduct or discrimination. MacFarlane, Scott. "264 Congressional Accountability Act Settlements in 20 Years."
NBC News. 16 November 2017. USA Today. "Sexual Harassment Fund Exposes Congress."
27 November 2017. Paige, Leslie. "When Will the Senate Start Holding Congressional Sexual Harassers Accountable?"
USA Today. 26 April 2018. PBS. "$300k in Taxpayer Funds Has Been Spent Settling Sexual Harassment Claims Against Congress, Report Says."
12 January 2018.
Przybyla, Heidi. "House Admin. Committee Reports $342K in Discrimination and Harassment Payouts from 2008 to 2012."
USA Today. 19 December 2017. | 0 | [
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FMD816 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A Spanish diplomat has been proposed to head the world s chemical weapons watchdog at a critical time for the organization s disarmament work in Syria, diplomats said on Wednesday. A vote on the appointment of Fernando Arias, 65, is expected to be taken by the 41-member executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on Thursday. The change of leadership comes as the OPCW and U.N. weapons inspectors investigate ongoing use of banned nerve agents, including sarin and mustard gas, in the Syrian civil war. Syrian officials remain unable to explain how banned chemicals have been found in the country, meaning the new leader could face a showdown among members over whether Syria should be reported to the United Nations for non-compliance. We believe that we have a strong successor in Ambassador Fernando Arias of Spain, and hope that the executive council will agree his nomination by consensus, said Ambassador Peter Wilson, head of the British delegation at the OPCW. Arias will have to overcome fundamental differences between major powers Russia and the United States, which jointly drafted a deal to rid Syria of its chemical weapons in 2013 after a sarin attack killed hundreds of civilians near Damascus, but have since ended cooperation at the OPCW. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the more than six-year civil war. But despite a massive international mission to destroy its toxic arsenal, OPCW inspectors have found use of chemical weapons is systematic and ongoing. Diplomats say Arias, Spain s ambassador to the OPCW and the Netherlands, where the organization is based, is known as a strong negotiator and mediator, making him a good match for the job. Under Arias direction, the OPCW adopted a contentious decision in 2016 condemning the use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces and Islamic State militants. A rare vote at the consensus-based OPCW signaled the break in cooperation between the United States and Russia, which back different sides in the war. The United States had sought to impose sanctions on those responsible through the OPCW s executive council, but dropped the proposal in the face of fierce Russian opposition. An alternative text drafted by Spain was supported by a majority, including Germany, France, the United States and Britain, but opposed by Russia, China, Iran and Sudan. Arias nomination must be formally be approved by all the OPCW s member countries, represented through the Conference of States Parties, which is expected by December. He will succeed Ahmet Uzumcu of Turkey, who has headed the since July 2010. Arias, who previously served as Spain s ambassador to the United Nations, will be appointed for a four-year term through July 2022 and can seek reappointment. He was picked over candidates from Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania, South Korea, Burkina Faso and Iraq, diplomatic sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the process was confidential. Born in Madrid, Arias also held positions in Mauritania, Bulgaria, Montenegro and was as deputy ambassador in China. | 1 | [
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FMD817 | 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: Death Row Inmate Asks for a Child As His Last Meal, Texas DOC Plan to Grant Request? Claim summaries: Has the Texas DOC decided to allow a death row inmate to request a child as his last meal?
contextual information: Claim: The Texas Department of Corrections granted a cannibal inmate's request of a child for his last meal. Example: [Collected via email, October 2014] I just saw on face book about A Death Row Inmate Asks For A Child As His Last Meal, Texas DOC Plan To (Grant Request) The article I am hoping is false. Here is the beginning of the article on FACEBOOK. Origins: On or around 16 October 2014, the website Hip-Hop Hangover published an article claiming Texas death row inmate Steven K. Walker was granted an unusual last meal request: a little boy. article According to the article, Texas DOC officials decided to grant Walker's macabre wish after learning a small child could be purchased for a sum within the department's budget for final meal requests. Additionally, the site claims, Walker was originally tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for an act of cannibalism: Stephen K. Walker, French M. Robertson Unit inmate in Abilene, Texas, is on death row for murder and cannibalism of the 2006 case that sentenced him to death. When asked what he would want his final meal to be, he said with no hesitation, "A little boy." The Department of Corrections are supposed to accept all the demands of any kind. So it was initially thought that they were buying a corpse in a morgue to satisfy the desires of Stephen Walker. But tables turned when it was said that they were trying to find a toddler from a third world country and buy him/her alive within a budget of $25,000. The site quotes a purported Texas DOC official on how a child might be deemed fit for Walker's final meal: "We live in a country where we have laws in place and morals, and we will look to grant Mr. Walker his request under certain circumstances that we have yet to agree to." He stated. As far as the 'circumstances,' it is rumored that the child would have to suffer from some type of degenerative disease, with a few years to live. And by honoring Walkers request it saves the child from years of suffering. The article relies on a common misconception: that last meal requests, no matter how difficult or implausible they may be, must be honored. As we note in a similar article, this is simply not the case. Not only is there no law mandating last meal requests be honored by prison officials, the practice is a rapidly-dying courtesy that is not always extended to condemned prisoners (and has already been eliminated in the state of Texas). last meal It's also worth noting the mugshot circulating with later iterations of the rumor is neither of a man named Steven K. Walker, nor of a prisoner on Texas' death row. The man pictured is Kyle Walker of Florida, who was arrested on a moving violation charge in the Sunshine State in July 2014. Walker was accused not of cannibalism, but of "tailgating, flashing his lights, and honking his horn excessively." arrested Plausibility aside, Hip-Hop Hangover is one of a growing number of satire or "fake news" sites. Among the page's other stories are "Chicago Ebola Outbreak Kills Three," "Cellphone Meme Guy, Martin Baker, Killed in Car Accident Talking on His Phone?" and "Beyonce Announces She Never Carried Blue Ivy, Reveals Surrogate." Chicago Ebola Outbreak Kills Three Last updated: 30 October 2014 | 2 | [
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FMD818 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Already facing the grim task of sifting through debris to find human remains at Grenfell Tower, the London social housing block where a fire killed about 80 people, police are now also having to investigate suspected thefts from survivors apartments. Home to a poor, multi-ethnic community within one of London s richest boroughs, Grenfell Tower was gutted by the blaze which rapidly engulfed the whole building in the middle of the night on June 14. The tragedy has prompted a national debate about social inequalities, neglect of deprived communities and whether fire safety regulations were inadequate or were being ignored. Police are conducting a criminal investigation into the fire that could lead to manslaughter charges, although any prosecutions could be months away due to the scale and complexity of the probe, police chiefs said on Tuesday. The scale of it is something that I personally have never encountered in policing, said Commander Stuart Cundy, who has overall control of the Grenfell operations. Efforts to recover all human remains from the tower are still going on, with officers conducting fingertip searches in devastated apartments and sifting through tonnes of debris with sieves to find fragments of teeth, bones or tissue. It is a really harrowing scene, said Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack, who is leading search and recovery operations. Sixty victims have been formally identified, and Cundy said the final death toll would likely be a little below 80. The building is unstable and each room has to be individually secured with steel bars to make it safe for investigators. As there are no functioning lifts, workers have to carry equipment and materials all the way up the tower. The disaster has prompted an outpouring of emotion, with donations of money and clothes pouring in from around Britain, but there have also been a small number of incidents of people trying to profit from the tragedy. McCormack said police were investigating one confirmed theft of a considerable amount of money from one of the less damaged apartments at the bottom of the tower, and three other suspected thefts of residents possessions were also being probed. These came to light when former residents were let into their flats to pick up treasured items and to say goodbye to their homes. Stuart said officers had been shocked. All of us here, working down on Grenfell Tower or working on it anywhere, are just so disappointed that something like that can happen on the back of such a huge tragedy, he said. Extra alarms, cameras and lights have now been installed and procedures to access the site have been strengthened. Police are also investigating eight cases of suspected fraud by people who pretended to have been affected by the fire in various ways in order to claim money that the government made available for survivors and bereaved relatives. Two people have been charged with fraud, one is on police bail and five others are under investigation. The criminal probe into the fire itself involves hundreds of officers and is focusing on four strands: the construction of Grenfell Tower, its refurbishment, its management and the emergency response to the fire. I will seek to identify and deal with whatever offences come to light during that investigation, said Detective Chief Inspector Matt Bonner, who is in charge of the criminal investigation. He said offences that the police may uncover could include fraud, misconduct, breaches of health and safety or fire regulations, and manslaughter. Charges could be brought against individuals or organizations. However, Bonner said this should not be taken as an indication that police had already found evidence to support any such charges. Grenfell Tower, which was completed in 1974, was owned by the borough of Kensington and Chelsea and managed by an organization that ran social housing on the borough s behalf. Bonner said police had so far identified 336 companies or organizations that were involved in the construction, refurbishment and management of the tower and officers had obtained 31 million documents from them. | 1 | [
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FMD819 | 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: Procter and Gamble and Satanism Rumor Claim summaries: Procter & Gamble and rumors of Satanism
contextual information: Claim: The president of Procter & Gamble announced on a popular talk show that he donates a portion of the company's profits to the Church of Satan. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1998] PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCE The President of Procter & gamble appeared on the Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter & Gamble Products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on t.v. would hurt his business, he replied, "THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE." Origins: Procter & Gamble's president is neither a Satanist nor does his company support the Church of Satan. What we have here is a rumor run amok, one that's been eluding the butterfly net since 1980. Not only does this rumor antedate the supposed 1994 Donahue air date given above by 14 years, but P&G's president has never been on Donahue (the show confirms this), nor did he say such a thing in any other forum. (Save for the handful of corporate heads who have been very visible as the public face of their companies, such as Apple's Steve Jobs, or who have represented their companies in television commercials, such as Wendy's Dave Thomas, company presidents and CEOs just aren't entertaining or well known enough to be appealing guests for national talk shows and therefore are rarely invited to make appearances in such venues. This is something that should be kept in mind when examining the plausibility of wild tales about damning admissions supposedly made by corporate types on popular talk shows.) How Procter & Gamble directs its profits is a matter of public record, as it is for all publicly-traded companies. (Procter & Gamble is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PG.) Were P&G handing PG a "large portion" of its profits to Satan, that would be readily apparent in the company's financial statements. Those who accepted the rumor as revealed truth pointed to P&G's "man in the moon" logo as proof of the company's ties to evil. They saw in the curlicues of the moon man's hair and beard a pair of devil' horns and an array of 6s, and they believed that by playing "connect the dots" with the thirteen stars in the logo, three 6s could be made to appear. (According to Revelation 13:18, 666 is the "mark of the Beast", with the "beast" understood to be thedevil.) There is nothing sinister in the logo's design, let alone a hidden code that reveals the true intent of the company. P&G's "man in the moon" trademark was adopted in 1851, at a time when goods were more commonly marked with visual trademarks than with companies' names. The ability to read was not as widespread then as it is now, so companies offering an array of consumer goods rather than just one product hadstrong reason to devise memorable pictorial logos for their wares. The thirteen stars were an homage to the original thirteen colonies of the United States of America, and the man in the moon was simply a popular decorative device of the times. (Specific visual motifs often enjoy periods of enthusiastic commercial use and then sink into cultural obscurity. America in the early part of the 20th century was Egypt crazy, but few commercial designs other than the Camels cigarette pack remain to remind us of that fact.) Camels Nonetheless, in the face of persistent "Satanism" rumors, Procter & Gamble modified their logo in 1991 to eliminate the supposed horns and 6's, and in 1995 they dropped the "man in the moon" logo entirely in favor of a simple stylized "P&G" rendered in blue letters. modified P&G In July 1999 the dog and pony were trotted into the ring once again, with the claim about a CEO's admission that his company was donating a portion of their profits to the Church of Satan being amended to reference an incident that supposedly place on 1 March 1998 on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show. What makes this particular claim refutable is the date: 1 March 1998 was a Sunday, and the Sally Jesse Raphael Show show neither tapes nor airs on that day of the week. After this error was pointed out, whoever "fixes" these things altered the Sally Jesse version to change the day of the interview to 19 July 1999, a Monday. Same slander, just a different date. And still as specious as ever. In response to all the inquiries about this claim, Sally Jesse Raphael added the following disclaimer to her FAQ: FAQ Sally listens:Rumor has it that the president of Procter and Gamble appeared on your show and said that he was associated with the Church of Satan. I would appreciate more information if you have any, perhaps a tape of the show if available. If this is a hoax, please let me know. Sally Sez:The rumor going around that the president of Procter and Gamble appeared on The Sally Show and announced he was a member of the church of Satan is not true. This a hoax that's been going around in one form or another for the past 20 years... only originally, it concerned the Phil Donahue Show...then evolved to the Jenny Jones Show ... and now it's evolved to The Sally Show. The president of Procter and Gamble has NEVER appeared on The Sally Show...NEVER. Nor has any other person in authority at P&G. Any president of a multi-national corporation (including the head of P&G or Liz Claiborne) would be immediately fired by the board of directors if he or she did such a thing. Also, profits from any such corporation go to the stockholders ... not a church designated by the president. Do not send money in to get a transcript. We do not provide transcripts or video tapes of our shows to the public. Frankly, this thing has gotten out of hand. If we had this man on our show, and he had said what it's alleged he said, we would have scored a broadcasting scoop and would have trumpeted it to all the newspapers. It would have been to the show's advantage. But there was no scoop, and there were no headlines. The e-mail's comment about "not enough Christians to make a difference" is meant to inflame readers to the point of boycotting P&G products. Of course that statement angrys up the blood; that is its purpose. The statement is also woefully in error: three out of four adult Americans identify themselves as Christian, and adult Americans are the target consumer group for P&G. The rumor is framed in such a way as to offend three-quarters of P&G's buying public and influence them into shunning P&G products in protest. Those whose first instinct is to react angrily to the "not enough Christians" comment should instead pause to reflect that their chains are deliberately being yanked by those who would prefer (for their own reasons) that people not buy from Procter and Gamble. Although the origin of the P&G satanism rumor is unknown, Procter & Gamble has over the years initiated a number of lawsuits against Amway Corp. (now known as Alticor), a vendor of household products (many of which compete with Procter & Gamble's brands), charging it with fomenting the slander. P&G claimed distributors for Amway revived the rumors in 1995 when one of them recounted a version of the TV show rumor on the Amway distributors' national voice mail system, and in March 2007 a jury awarded P&G $19.25 million after finding that four Amway distributors had spread false rumors about P&G to advance their own business. The self-same "head of large company proclaims that company tithes Satanic causes" hoax has been kited about others. In 1990, designer Liz Claiborne was dogged by the widely-believed rumor that during a recent appearance on Oprah she admitted to donating 40% of the profits from her clothing company to support the Church of Satan. The rumor was wholly false (Liz Claiborne never even appeared on that Oprah's show), but that didn't stop the tale from spreading. Similarly, in 1977 the rumor mill had it that Ray Kroc of McDonald's also made the startling admission on a TV talk show that his company tithed the Church of Satan. Again, even though there was nothing to this bit of gossip, it was believed and acted upon not only did customers boycott the golden arches, but kids quit their McDonald's-sponsored Little League teams over the slander. Liz Claiborne Barbara "devil's food" Mikkelson Additional information: Talk Show Denials (Phil Dononue, Jenny Jones, Sally Jessy Raphael) Last updated: 21 June 2013 The Choking Doberman de Vos, Gail. Tales, Rumors and Gossip. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 1996. ISBN 1-56308-190-3 (pp. 26, 279-282). Tales, Rumors and Gossip Morgan, Hal and Kerry Tucker. Rumor! New York: Penguin Books, 1984. ISBN 0-14-007036-2 (pp. 144-145). Rumor! Schiller, Zachary. "P&G Is Still Having a Devil of a Time." Business Week. 11 September 1995 (p. 46). Scott, Bill. Pelicans & Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends. St. Lucia, Queensland: Univ. of Queensland, 1996. ISBN 0-7022-2774-9 (p. 59). Pelicans & Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends Smith, Paul. The Book of Nastier Legends. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. ISBN 0-7102-0573-2 (p. 68). The Book of Nastier Legends Stampler, Laura. "In Spite Of Old, Satanist Accusations, P&G Put a Moon Back Into Its New Logo." Business Insider. 21 May 2013. The Houston Chronicle. "High Court Favors P&G Over Amway." 2 October 2001 (Business, p. 5). Newsweek. "Tall Tales: McDevil Burgers?" 23 October 1978 (p. 85). Orlando Sentinel Tribune. "Claiborne Company Dogged by Rumor About Satanic Cult." 30 November 1990 (p. E3). Reuters. "P&G Awarded $19.25 Mln Against Amway Distributors." 19 March 2007. The Big Book of Urban Legends | 0 | [
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FMD820 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 54-year-old Dr. Dean Lorich, Associate Director of Orthopaedic Trauma Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery, as well as the Chief of the Orthopedic Trauma Service at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, was found dead in his apartment earlier this week.According to New York City police, he committed suicide by stabbing himself to death.That s a pretty normal way to commit suicide right?It s like the time when former President of the United Nations General Assembly John Ashe, was found dead in his apartment only days before he was set to testify against the Clintons in a corruption case. The official reports indicated that Ashe died of a heart attack.The problem, however, is that police on the scene reported Ashe died when his throat was crushed during a work-out accident.Adding to the mysterious nature of Ashe s death was the fact that he had been slated to be in court Monday with his Chinese businessman co-defendant Ng Lap Seng, from whom he reportedly received over $1 billion in donations during his term as president of the U.N. General Assembly. And then there was this: During the presidency of Bill Clinton, Seng illegally funneled several hundred thousand dollars to the Democrat National Committee.Now ABC News is reporting:An acclaimed trauma surgeon was found dead with a knife in his torso Sunday in his Park Avenue apartment in a suspected suicide, New York City police said.Dr. Dean Lorich, 54, was the associate director of the orthopedic trauma service at the Hospital for Special Surgery who treated Bono in 2014 after the U2 frontman was badly injured in a cycling accident in Central Park.Lorich was also a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College.His death is being investigated as an apparent suicide, a New York Police Department official told ABC News.Initial investigations did not find any signs of forced entry at his apartment, the official said. Authorities have not found a suicide note.Police responding to a 911 call of an assault in a Park Avenue apartment at 1:05 p.m. Sunday found Lorich unconscious and unresponsive with a knife in his torso, according to the NYPD. Emergency medical service responders pronounced him dead.The email Wikileaks published, was highly critical of the failed relief efforts in Haiti and was shared by Cheryl Mills with Hillary Clinton.In 2010, Lorich was part of a relief effort that flew to Haiti as a volunteer to offer his skills for civilians who had been injured during the earthquakes that devastated the region.Within 24 hours of the earthquake, a 13-member team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, and operating room nurses was assembled, with a massive amount of orthopedic operating room equipment, and flew to Port-au-Prince with Dr. Lorich.Bill and Hillary Clinton s charitable Clinton foundation led the relief effort in Haiti raising millions of dollars from around the world to help the people recover from the natural disaster. Sadly, most of the funds never reached the people of Haiti, but instead, lined the pockets of the Clintons associates who were meant to redevelop the nation, but never delivered.Dr. Lorich and his team were there to help save the limbs of those injured, which without the proper medical treatment, would have meant amputation for a lot of people.Lorich described amputation in those conditions as a death sentence and hoped to treat as many sufferers as possible, saying: We expected many amputations. But we thought we could save limbs that were salvageable, particularly those of children. We recognized that in an underdeveloped country, a limb amputation may be a death sentence. It does not have to be so. With the amount of money that was being donated to Haiti for the victims, Lorich and his team expected to have full support when their plane touched down.Instead, he described the situation as shameful and witnessed, first hand, a huge misappropriation of funds, with the people affected by the disaster receiving no help whatsoever.Dr. Lorich was disgusted by what he saw and sent an email to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton s Chief of Staff Cheryl D. Mills to report what he had seen.In July 2017, a 50-year-old Haitian tied to the Clinton Foundation was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head.It s no secret that the Clinton Foundation has been facing credible reports of robbing impoverished Haitians who were devastated by Hurricane Hanna in 2008, through their foundation. Haitians have been protesting for years outside of the Clinton Foundation offices over the theft of money that was donated by individuals and businesses to the Clinton Foundation that never made it to the poorest of the poor.One man was set to testify against the Clinton Foundation next week. That man was 50-year-old former Haitian government official Klaus Eberwein. He was found dead in his Miami home with a gunshot to the head that s been ruled a suicide by the Miami-Dade s medical examiner records supervisor. (Think Vince Foster)Klaus Eberwein, a former Haitian government official who was expected to expose the extent of Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice next week, has been found dead in Miami. He was 50.Eberwein was due to appear next Tuesday before the Haitian Senate Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission where he was widely expected to testify that the Clinton Foundation misappropriated Haiti earthquake donations from international donors.Eberwein, who had acknowledged his life was in danger, was a fierce critic of the Clinton Foundation s activities in the Caribbean island, where he served as director general of the government s economic development agency, Fonds d assistance conomique et social, for three years.According to Eberwein, a paltry 0.6% of donations granted by international donors to the Clinton Foundation with the express purpose of directly assisting Haitians actually ended up in the hands of Haitian organizations. A further 9.6% ended up with the Haitian government. The remaining 89.8% or $5.4 billion was funneled to non-Haitian organizations. The Clinton Foundation, they are criminals, they are thieves, they are liars, they are a disgrace, Eberwein said at a protest outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in Manhattan last year.The former director general of Haiti, who also served as an advisor to Haitian President Michel Martelly, was also a partner in a popular pizza restaurant in Haiti, Muncheez, and even has a pizza the Klaus Special named after him.According to the Haiti Libre newspaper, Eberwein was said to be in good spirits , with plans for the future. His close friends and business partners are shocked by the idea he may have committed suicide. It s really shocking, said Muncheez s owner Gilbert Bailly. We grew up together; he was like family. Your News WireAmericans were warned about the crooked dealings of the Clinton Crime family when in September of 2016, former Senate President of Haiti, Bernard Sansaricq, shocked a large crowd at a Trump campaign event in Little Haiti, FL. Sansaricq stood up during the public event and relayed his account of the Clinton s dirty dealings in Haiti while he was still in office. To his credit, candidate Donald Trump allowed Sansaricq to speak his mind, and to expose the crimes of the Clinton s, who were attempting to scratch and claw their way back into our White House.Sansaricq claimed he begged the Clinton Administration not to invade Haiti. His request was followed up with a visit by an anonymous messenger from the White House who encouraged him to side with the Clinton Administration and he would be the richest man in Haiti. He also demanded that Hillary Clinton disclose the audit of all money related to the Haiti earthquake crisis, as he claimed they scammed the poorest citizens of Haiti out of BILLIONS of dollars through the Clinton Foundation. Not even 2% of that money went back to Haiti. So, Mr. Trump, we are asking you, begging you, the Haitian community will side with you if one day, you ask Hillary Clinton publicly to disclose the audit of all of the money they have stolen from Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. Haiti is a very poor country. Haiti needs defenders. You said you would champion our cause. We welcome you sir and we will work with you. Ask Hillary Clinton publicly, during your next debate for an audit of all of the money they have stolen from Haiti. Only a couple of days before Eberwein s death, a Republican donor, and operative from Chicago s North Shore who said he had tried to obtain Hillary Clinton s missing emails from Russian hackers killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room days after talking to The Wall Street Journal about his efforts, public records show.In a room at a Rochester hotel used almost exclusively by Mayo Clinic patients and relatives, Peter W. Smith, 81, left a carefully prepared file of documents, which includes a statement police called a suicide note in which he said he was in ill health and a life insurance policy was expiring. | 0 | [
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FMD821 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: China is shedding few tears over the ousting of its old friend Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe, fed up with the ruinous state of its economy and confident a new government will not antagonize China or change course on policies towards it. China pointedly failed to offer any open support for Mugabe after the army took power last week, instead calling vaguely for a peaceful resolution under a legal framework and for talks to bridge differences. On Wednesday, the foreign ministry said it respected Mugabe s decision to resign as president, and that he remained a good friend of China s who made historic contributions to Zimbabwe s independence and liberation . China s friendship with Mugabe dates back to Zimbabwe s independence struggle, which China supported. Mugabe has visited China numerous times, most recently in January when President Xi Jinping told him: China will never forget its old friends. But trade has sagged amid Zimbabwe s economic turmoil of recent years, and China does not rely on it for any crucial raw materials, unlike Zambia for its copper or Angola and oil. China s total trade with Zimbabwe in 2016 was worth $1.11 billion, down 15 percent on-year, a fraction of the $35.3 billion in trade China and South Africa did. Last year, China did more trade with Tunisia and Senegal than Zimbabwe. It has been clear to China what has caused the problems, and China showed no desire to prop up Mugabe in his hour of need. China will not interfere and is happy to let Zimbabwe s people make their own choices, said Shen Xiaolei, an Africa expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences government think-tank. The ruling party is fighting amongst itself, and his economic policies and national governance have had many problems, Shen said. Zimbabwe s regime was certainly going to get into trouble; I just didn t expect it would happen so fast. In contrast to his elevated status on the continent, Mugabe is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa s most promising states. In 2015, Mugabe won the Confucius Peace Prize, supposed to be China s answer to the Nobel Peace Prize, but he turned it down according to Zimbabwe media after he learned it had no connection with the Chinese government. China had been an important ally on the world stage too for Mugabe. In 2008, China vetoed a proposed Western-backed U.N. resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and 13 other officials, saying it would complicate conflict. China has denied that it knew anything about the army take over, despite a visit to Beijing by Zimbabwe s military chief, General Constantino Chiwenga, shortly before he moved against Mugabe. On Monday, the Chinese embassy in South Africa said it was complete nonsense to suggest Chiwenga had tipped off China about his plan, saying this was an attempt to smear China and that Mugabe had in any case approved Chiwenga s visit. However, the embassy also did not offer any support to Mugabe, reiterating that China believed Zimbabwe s crisis was an internal affair and that African people should resolve African problems. China s frustrations with Mugabe had begun to play out in its state media. Over the past week, Chinese media has run unfavorable articles about his wife, Grace, with online news portal Sina calling her a wanton squanderer . On Sunday, the WeChat account of the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party s official People s Daily carried a largely negative account of a 1985 visit by Mugabe to Beijing when he met former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China s reforms. Showing pictures of Zimbabweans carrying bundles of cash during its hyperinflation crisis, the paper said Zimbabwe s chaos could in large part be traced to Mugabe s extreme leftist, populist policies. Zhang Weiwei, a professor at Shanghai s Fudan University, described a conversation he interpreted between Deng and Mugabe in which Deng warned him of China s mistakes and urged him to embark on the same reforms as China. Mugabe did not seem to get the message, Zhang wrote. This person didn t take anything in, and that will be his loss, Zhang cited an exasperated Deng as saying after the meeting. There is confidence too for China that Mugabe s former vice president and likely successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking prompted the military to take power, will not upset China. State media has pointed out he is a known quantity, with frequent visits of his own to China. Whereas Beijing has worried about anti-Chinese feeling in Zambia, where some workers have accused Chinese firms of abuses and underpaying, there have been no such problems in Zimbabwe. China and Africa are all-weather friends, and China and Zimbabwe are no exception, said Wang Wei, an associate research fellow at the foreign ministry s China Institute of International Studies. It does not matter what changes there are in government officials, the broader trend is still to develop friendly relations between China and Zimbabwe and China and Africa to promote joint prosperity and development. | 1 | [
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FMD822 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: According to Reuters , Hillary Clinton has a 90% chance of winning the election unless Donald Trump can win two of the key swing states of Michigan, Florida or Pennsylvania. This, of course, explains why Clinton held a star studded concert in Philadelphia last night in an attempt to attract audience members who would have otherwise stayed home had Bruce Springsteen not been the real headliner.
Trump, on the other hand, continued to fill venues to capacity across the country with miles-long lines and standing room only.
And though many national and electoral polls have Hillary ahead, the odd mainstream polling data showing a Clinton win despite a massive response from Trump supporters appears to be easily explained by what senior strategist Robert Cahaly of the Trafalgar Group calls the “neighbor ballot test.”
It’s a sign Trump’s share of the vote is being underestimated, Robert Cahaly, senior strategist for the Trafalgar Group of Atlanta that conducted the unorthodox survey, told LifeZette.
…
Cahaly says the “neighbors” numbers back up the “shy Tory” theory — that respondents are shy about saying they will vote for a candidate or cause that has been tagged as racist or distasteful by the media and popular culture. The most recent case was the British exit from the European Union, or “Brexit,” as it is called.
Source: LifeZette
According to that ‘neighbor’ ballot test, Trump is destroying Clinton.
Provided that the vote counting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida is legitimate and not plagued with illegal or dead voters , it appears that Trump is set to take not just two of these states, but all three of them:
Pennsylvania
Clinton: 46.51%
Trump: 48.43%
Johnson: 2.30%
Stein: 1.08%
Other/Undecided: 1.69%
(1300+ Respondents, MOE +/- 2.68)
Florida
Clinton: 46.13%
Trump: 49.72%
Johnson: 2.43%
Stein: 0.62%
Other/Undecided: 1.09%
(1100+ Respondents, MOE +/- 2.89)
Michigan
Clinton: 46.82%
Trump: 48.52%
Johnson: 2.89%
Stein: 0.90%
Other/Undecided: 0.87%
(1200+ Respondents, MOE +/- 2.77)
Commenting on the survey, TFG Senior Strategist Robert Cahaly said, “Though the results vary from state to state, these four surveys have one thing in common: question 2 points to where we think ‘hidden Trump voters’ are.”
Cahaly continued, “We have believed for weeks that the actual Clinton/Trump final numbers will fall between the ballot test and the neighbors ballot test.”
Cahaly concluded, “We expect Trump to have an overwhelming victory in Georgia, an outside the margin of error win in Florida, as well as close wins in Pennsylvania and Michigan.”
Source: Trafalgar Group Press Release, Nov 7
In short, one of the reasons that this years polls have been widely skewed from one candidate to the other is that there are a lot of voters out there who have not honestly answered the question of who they will vote for if they are a Trump supporter. This is due in part to the fact that a large swath of Hillary Supporters, and even Clinton herself, have referred to Trump leaning voters as racists, bigots and misogynists.
Those “shy” voters will have no such problems inside a private voting booth, which suggests, based on Trafalgar’s survey results, that they will overwhelmingly lean towards Trump in key swing states.
If the vote counting is on the up-and-up, these surveys show a hands-down Trump win.
Watch: The 5 States Hillary Must Steal To Win The Election
Related: “Trump Will Be ALLOWED To Win,” Only to Be Blamed For The Coming Financial Crash | 0 | [
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FMD823 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: While we re really not surprised by the conflicting statements by Andrew McCabe, we just can t believe another type of conflict wasn t an issue long ago. He took hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the Clintons for his wife s campaign. It doesn t take a rocket scientist to understand that this is a conflict of interest and wrong on every level. Please see our previous report below on McCabe s involvement in his wife s run for Virginia state senate in 2015.FOX News reports:Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday s seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses, prompting the Republican majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee to decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week on Justice Department and FBI personnel.Investigators say McCabe recounted to the panel how hard the FBI had worked to verify the contents of the anti-Trump dossier and stood by its credibility. But when pressed to identify what in the salacious document the bureau had actually corroborated, the sources said, McCabe cited only the fact that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had traveled to Moscow. Beyond that, investigators said, McCabe could not even say that the bureau had verified the dossier s allegations about the specific meetings Page supposedly held in Moscow.The sources said that when asked when he learned that the dossier had been funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, McCabe claimed he could not recall despite the reported existence of documents with McCabe s own signature on them establishing his knowledge of the dossier s financing and provenance.FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testifies behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. pic.twitter.com/GHjihJkmz4 FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) December 19, 2017OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON MCCABE:Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is being investigated by the Office of U.S. Counsel violating the Hatch Act according to a new report by Circa News.The Hatch Act prohibits FBI agents from campaigning in partisan races. Photos of McCabe campaigning for his wife raised questions about McCabe s compliance with the law.Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is being investigated by the Office of U.S. Special Counsel for violating The Hatch Act that prohibits FBI agents from campaigning in partisan races.The Office of U.S. Special Counsel, the government s main whistleblower agency, is investigating whether FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe s activities supporting his wife Jill s Democratic campaign for Virginia state senate in 2015 violated the Hatch Act s prohibition against FBI agents campaigning in partisan races.The agency s probe was prompted by a complaint in April from a former FBI agent who forwarded social media photos showing McCabe wearing a T-shirt supporting his wife s campaign during a public event and then posting a photo on social media urging voters to join him in voting for his wife. I am voting for Jill because she is the best wife ever, McCabe put on a sign that he photographed himself holding. The photo was posted on her social media page a few days before the election, in response to Dr. Jill McCabe s plea to help me win by posting photos expressing reasons why voters should vote for her, according to the complaint.Other social media photos in the complaint showed McCabe s minor daughter campaigning with her mother, wearing an FBI shirt, and McCabe voting with his wife at a polling station.Here is another social media photo of our acting #FBI director, #AndrewMcCabe breaking the rules by campaigning on social media. #Corrupt pic.twitter.com/hBCH29yErY Senator Dick Black (@SenRichardBlack) May 9, 2017The Hatch Act prohibits FBI employees from engaging in political activity in concert with a political party, a candidate for partisan political office, or a partisan political group. It defines prohibited political activity as any activity directed at the success or failure of a partisan group or candidate in a partisan election. An ethics expert told Circa the photos raised legitimate questions about McCabe s compliance with the law.Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe s office released to Circa under the Freedom of Information Act documents showing McCabe attended a meeting with his wife and the governor on a Saturday in March 2015 specifically to discuss having Jill McCabe run for state Senate in Virginia as a Democrat. This is a candidate recruitment meeting. McCabe is seriously considering running against State Senator Dick Black. You have been asked to close the deal, the briefing memo for McAuliffe read.Watch Sean Hannity discuss McCabe s involvement in his wife s campaign as well as his ties to Hillary s campaign:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1R0Wb6f7MwIncluded in the governor s briefing package was a copy of McCabe s FBI biography. The biography made clear that Andrew McCabe was a senior executive who at the time oversaw the FBI s Washington field office that among many tasks supervised investigations in northern Virginia.At the time of the meeting, published reports indicate agents in the Washington field office were involved in both a probe of McAuliffe and of the governor s close friend, Hillary Clinton s and her private email account.h/t Gateway Pundit | 0 | [
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FMD824 | 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: Were These Electric Cars Abandoned Because Their Batteries Failed? Claim summaries: An anti-electric car post shows the results of a failed business model rather than a failed technology.
contextual information: In 2021, social media users began circulating photographs purporting to show "electric powered cars in boneyard" near Paris, France, that supposedly housed hundreds of derelict electric vehicles, the automobiles supposedly having been abandoned and left to decay because their battery storage cells had "given out" and were too expensive to replace: Although the photographs are real; the accompanying description is misleading in multiple ways. This item is, in effect, an example of a failed business model rather than a failed technology. Back in 2011, the Autolib program offered the service of providing thousands of electric vehicles in the Paris area under a car-sharing program. Subscribes to the service were able to use the any of the fleet of 4,000 BlueCar cars as they wished, paying a fee each time depending upon how long they used the vehicle. At its peak in 2016, the program boasted 110,000 subscribers. However, Autolib slid from that peak into decline, due to a number of factors: Four thousand cars for over 100,000 subscribers meant many users were unable to find vehicles when they wanted them; users frequently left the cars dirty inside and damaged; and competition from ride-hailing apps such Uber eroded the customer base. By 2018, Autolib was running debts of tens of millions of euros and the program was discontinued in June of that year. running debts of tens of millions of euros program was discontinued in June In the end, most of the BlueCars in better condition were purchased and re-sold to new users or scrapped for parts. But a private company eventually stored some of the cars in not-so-good condition in a lot in an industrial area near Romorantin in Loir-et-Cher, as seen above -- not because the vehicles' storage cells had failed, but because the Autolib car-sharing program proved not to be a viable long-term business model. purchased and re-sold to new users or scrapped for parts It is also not the case that the abandoned Autolib BlueCars' batteries are "draining toxins into the ground." As noted in reports on the subject, the batteries have been removed from the pictured vehicles: reports Despite protests from the Bollor group, the multinational had to evacuate the 4,000 unwanted autolibs from the Paris region and urgently store them. They were then sold in several batches and two companies now hold most of the remaining fleet: the Breton company Autopuzz, former subcontractor of Bollor, which resells these vehicles throughout France, and the company Atis Production, whose manager Paul Aouizerate does not want to reveal his plans for the Autolib parked in Loir-et-Cher. The businessman also regrets the publication of photos of his vehicles in early March, shared by a blogger passionate about electric cars, who was amazed at such a landscape. The images became widespread on Facebook and Twitter, with internet users questioning how these cars can be reused and wondering about the potential risk of soil pollution they pose. Our vehicles are properly stored. The firefighters are aware that the construction site is well organized. All batteries have been removed, [and] the connections are isolated [said Paul Aouizerate, Atis Production Manager]. | 0 | [
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FMD825 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Share on Twitter
For Robin Roberts, losing her mother while she was in the midst of her own fight for her life was an especially hard blow. Roberts's mother had always been there for her through every illness and injury.
When she needed her mom the most, however, Roberts swears that she could hear her voice, encouraging her not to give up on life. Image Credit: Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
As PopSugar reports, on a recent episode of “ Harry ,” the “Good Morning America” co-host tearfully recounted the days she spent in the hospital after a bone marrow transplant. Famously open about her battles with breast cancer and a rare bone marrow disease, Roberts tells host Harry Connick Jr. that she had reached the point where the fight was too much for her:
“There was a time when I sent everybody away, and I was in my room, and I just felt like I'm slipping away. I just couldn't.”
One of the things that had made Roberts feel like giving up was the fact that her mother was no longer there by her side. However, she was soon to find that her mom was closer than she realized. She tells Harry:
“I kept hearing this voice, 'Robin! Robin! Robin!' And suddenly, I open my eyes, and it's ... my nurse Jenny. She's looking at me. That was my mother's voice. I am convinced, when I was hearing that, even though it was Jenny, it was my mother's voice I was hearing.”
Roberts believes that at her point of “ greatest isolation ,” her mother used Jenny to call her back, to remind her to keep fighting.
Jenny, Roberts says, was “invaluable” during this time. Acknowledging the bond between Roberts and her nurse, Harry surprised Roberts by reuniting her with nurse Jenny and another nurse who had cared for her. An emotional Roberts was able to thank them for not only everything they had done for her, but for what they have done for countless others:
“Thank you for being our lifeline. Thank you for being there— not only for us, but for our caregivers ... for our loved ones.” | 0 | [
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FMD826 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The bipartisan congressional language creates a headache for Trump and his deputies because it flips the politically difficult problem from Congress to the Department of Homeland Security of deciding whether to provide extra wage-cutting H-2B contract workers to companies or else to improve job opportunities for Trump s blue-collar voters.The new rule helps business groups offset rising pressure for wage increases, just 18 months before the mid-term elections when voters will vet the success or not of Trump s Buy American, Hire American policies.The H-2B language was hidden deep in the draft 2017 supplemental budget which is to face House and Senate votes this week and it surprised opponents of the legislation. In December 2016, Ryan had agreed to trim the program when the partial 2017 budget deal was announced just one month after blue-collar voters backed Donald Trump s campaign promise of a low-immigration, high-wage national economic policy.Apparently nothing is going to change, as long as Speaker Ryan remains at the helm. Watch: Immigration expert Mark Krikorian tweeted aboutHere's the text of the #H2B "returning workers" loophole that makes a mockery of the law's numerical "limits". https://t.co/G7dc1Qpmaz pic.twitter.com/Hf4UPjwJB4 Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) May 1, 2017The language in the 2017 budget says the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to exceed the supposed 66,000 annual cap on H-2B outsourcing visas by a number equal to the maximum number of workers who benefited from an earlier exemption, dubbed the returning worker exemption. Via: Breitbart | 0 | [
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FMD827 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: India s main opposition Congress party on Monday elevated Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the country s most fabled political dynasty, as its president, preparing to challenge the dominance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of national polls in 2019. In a long-awaited move, Gandhi, the great-grandson of India s founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected unopposed to head the party. He will take the reins from his mother Sonia, the party s longest-serving president, since 1998. Calling it a historic occasion , the Congress party said Gandhi would take charge as president on Dec. 16. Television broadcast images of party supporters celebrating and distributing sweets outside Congress offices in the capital, New Delhi, and the financial hub of Mumbai. Gandhi s ascent coincides with state polls in Modi s western home state of Gujarat that are shaping as a test for the prime minister, who has been facing criticism for softening economic growth and poor implementation of a nationwide sales tax. The Congress hopes a round of state elections offers the party, and Gandhi, a shot at revival ahead of the next national elections, due in 2019. Modi s depiction of Gandhi as an undeserving prince has helped sideline Gandhi since the last national election, during which time Congress has suffered some of its worst results in local elections. The Nehru-Gandhi family has ruled the country for most of its 70 years since independence from Britain. Gandhi s father and grandmother were both prime ministers, and both assassinated. Following Congress defeat in the 2014 polls, Gandhi struggled to convince voters, as well as many within his party, of his leadership skills. But senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Gandhi was now ready for the next challenge. The entire country has lots of expectations from Rahul Gandhi, Azad said. Much before he was elected he has shown his mettle. He knows his responsibility. Modi s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swiftly dismissed Gandhi s election, saying he had become president only on the basis of dynastic principle . The new India is loath to (accept) dynastic principle and the family character of the Congress further diminishes its appeal, BJP spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told Reuters. Gandhi, until now a vice-president of Congress, is widely seen as a prime ministerial candidate if the party returns to power one day. The 47-year-old has increasingly gone public in slamming Modi s governance since the last national polls, as he looks to shed the reticent image that has for years been synonymous with his political dynasty. But he has also faced political backlash. In 2015, for example, he took nearly two months of leave, prompting Modi s party to accuse him of holidaying while parliament was in session. Modi still trumps Gandhi in popularity rankings, however. Nearly nine of 10 Indians have a favourable opinion of him and more than two-thirds are satisfied with the direction in which he is taking the country, a Pew survey found in November. Modi s favourable rating was 30 points more than Gandhi s, it showed. | 1 | [
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FMD828 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: KHAYELITSHA, South Africa — He works in AIDS prevention and his wife gets the occasional gig at a local supermarket. But neither job is regular enough for a “proper home,†Zwai Lugogo says, so his family lives in a shack here in Cape Town’s largest black township, making do with thin walls of painted metal. Many of his neighbors — housekeepers, factory workers, nurse’s aides — are in the same predicament, working hard at jobs available to black South Africans, but barely scraping by. “That money that we’re getting from work is just not enough to be able to take care of our families,†said Mr. Lugogo, 34, as neighborhood children, including his son, ran around their narrow street recently. “We need an intervention. †South Africa is now considering one. Faced with rising discontent over the economy among black voters, the government is weighing something more common in developed economies: a national minimum wage. Late last year, a government panel recommended about $260 a month, or about $1. 50 an hour — a small amount even in South Africa, but close to the median income in a country where the official unemployment rate is 27 percent and nearly half the population lives in poverty. Last week, the nation’s deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, endorsed the panel’s recommendation, vowing that the minimum wage would be in effect by May 2018. But in such a sluggish economy, opponents contend that the effort would destroy jobs, especially for the least skilled. Supporters counter that a minimum wage is the only way to reduce poverty in one of the world’s most unequal societies, helping to dismantle an system designed to provide cheap black labor for an economy dominated by the white minority. In few places do divisions run as deep as in South Africa. Wealthy communities with living standards equal to those in the West and inhabited disproportionately by whites rub shoulders uneasily with desperately poor townships. A government survey released in January found that black South Africans, who make up 80 percent of the population, earned only of what whites did in 2015. Some smaller African economies, like those of Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast, already have a national minimum wage. But only a small percentage of their workers are in the formal economy and therefore eligible for the minimum, experts say. And even for them, the rules tend not to be enforced. A national minimum wage would be more meaningful in a big economy like South Africa’s, experts say, because the formal work force is much larger, around 80 percent of all workers. Millions of people would be eligible. Still, South Africa, Africa’s most advanced economy, is enduring the same forces as the rest of the continent. It is not growing fast enough to absorb its rapidly growing population, which is leaving rural areas to look for work in places like Khayelitsha, one of the country’s biggest townships with about 400, 000 people. There is added urgency for the government to act: The African National Congress, which helped liberate black South Africans from rule and has governed the country since 1994, is still stinging from losing most of the nation’s biggest cities in elections last July. The party could once bank on loyal support from the nation’s black majority. But corruption and economic stagnation for millions of people have steadily eroded that support over the years, resulting in the party’s worst showing in elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. The frustrations are evident in Khayelitsha. It is roughly situated between two of South Africa’s richest areas: the city of Cape Town and the famed wine country of Stellenbosch. Established in 1983 by the apartheid government, Khayelitsha, which means new home in Xhosa, still provides many of the workers for both communities. On weekday mornings, soon after daybreak, the men and women of Khayelitsha leave their neighborhoods and walk to the nearest train or bus station. For many, the commute — a legacy of urban planning to separate white and black areas — takes up to a couple of hours each way. Many on Mr. Lugogo’s street, known as Twecu Crescent, said their commute cost them a quarter or a third of their monthly wages. For black South Africans nationwide, the cost of taxis, buses and other passenger road transportation accounts for 5. 4 percent of their expenses, compared with 0. 2 percent for whites, who tend to own cars. A bus called the Golden Arrow stopped not far from Twecu Crescent with a few passengers already on board. It made several stops in Khayelitsha and, after passing a densely packed stretch of shanties, some precariously stacked two high, it pulled out of the township on its way toward Cape Town. Headed to residential areas, the bus transported mostly women who worked in malls or in homes as housekeepers. Along the way, in a scene repeated in many buses that morning, a woman, in this instance Julia Xakata, began preaching and leading the others in song. Some sang softly while checking their cellphones. Sitting near the front of the bus next to a window, Makatiso Sekhamane moved her lips while knitting a black cap. “I knit whenever I have some free time,†Ms. Sekhamane, 47, said, explaining that she usually completed a cap in two days and sold it for about $4. “It’s something. †The caps supplemented the $400 a month she made working six days a week cleaning white people’s homes. Her husband earned maybe $150 repairing refrigerators. Their combined income supports five children and two grandchildren at home. Much of the discussion surrounding a national minimum wage — led by government, business, labor and academics — is expected to focus on the amount. According to the panel’s report, a monthly minimum wage of about $260 “would maximize benefits to the poor and minimize any possible†disincentives to work. The amount proposed by the panel is below the working poverty line of $325 a month, but because the median income of South African workers is only $280 a month, the minimum would help reduce inequality, the panel said. On Twecu Crescent, many of the employed already earn the proposed minimum, or more. But their wages are far below the salaries earned by the few residents in the nicest homes — $600 a month for a government worker, $900 a month for a young police officer. The proposed minimum “is not enough,†said Nombeko Mndangaso, who earns about $165 a month working five hours a day as a cleaner in a nursing home. “It won’t make a difference. †With her husband, who makes $245 a month as a security guard, they earn more than $400 a month. But with rent, transportation, electricity and two daughters, there is little left at the end of the month. A minimum wage of “at least†$340 a month per person, she said, would improve her family’s situation. Sparsely populated a generation ago, Twecu Crescent now has little or no space between homes. Many homeowners earn extra income by renting out shacks on their property to the endless stream of new arrivals to Khayelitsha. On Twecu Crescent, a short street divided into two blocks, the handful of sturdily built homes belonging to the upwardly mobile stand out. There is, in a house, the woman who works at a bank down the street, the man employed by the government power utility and, on the corner, the police officer whose still unfinished house has a new red Peugeot in the driveway and a low wall with spikes to discourage people from sitting on it. The street is otherwise lined with more modest homes under corrugated roof sheets, inhabited by those making a third or half of what those in the nicer homes do, and shacks of varying quality occupied by those worse off. Discolored concrete blocks are neatly piled in many front yards, a sign of the slow and unsteady pace of progress for most on Twecu Crescent. Sinovuyo Gada’s family moved here in 1998. “There was no road here, just gravel,†she said. “There were no houses, just shacks. †Her father, a welder, and her mother, who sells homemade food from a shack in their front yard, built the house in which she and her brother grew up. After finishing high school in 2012, she sent out her résumé to countless companies for three years before finally securing a job through a friend. She now works four days a week at a supermarket at a mall in Cape Town, earning $60 a week. About 30 percent of that, or $18, goes to transportation. Ms. Gada, 22, is part of the “ †generation of black South Africans who came of age after apartheid’s fall. But like many in her cohort, she was deeply dissatisfied with the pace of change in her family’s circumstances. “The apartheid, it’s still there,†she said. The wages she earned from the job that took so long in finding would do little to improve her situation, she said. She did not believe that a monthly minimum of $260 would help. Employers control the balance of power over people like her, she said. “They think sometimes we are desperate,†she said. “Yes, we are desperate, because we have families and children to take care of. †It was early evening, and, all over Khayelitsha, men and women started coming home, most of them walking from bus stops to their streets, their gait slower than in the morning. On Twecu Crescent, girls sat on a corner playing a game of rocks. A boy pushing an old tire with a stick cast a long shadow up the street. The woman who was knitting on the bus, Ms. Sekhamane — better known on Twecu Crescent as Mama Kakiso, or the mother of Kakiso, her son — arrived home. She had had a busy day and, arriving late at the bus stop, had found no available seats on the Golden Arrow. She took a taxi instead, paying an amount equivalent to half the price of one of her black caps. “I’m going to wash my body and sleep now,†Mama Kakiso said as she slipped into her home. “I can’t do anything. †| 1 | [
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FMD829 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: To its critics, President Obama’s strategy to combat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is weak and incoherent. Even some of the staunchest U.S. allies and partners in the fight worry that the time for what they see as the administration’s incremental approach has long since passed.
The White House maintains that its strategy is comprehensive and that it’s working. Sharp increases in airstrikes and Obama’s recent decision to deploy Special Operations troops, officials say, are part of a fundamental change in the military’s mission developed this fall, along with a new diplomatic push to end the distraction of Syria’s civil war.
In his Sunday-night address to the nation following last week’s San Bernardino, Calif., shooting, Obama outlined the elements of the strategy, assuring Americans that there is a viable plan underway to decimate the Islamic State where it lives. “We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us,†he said, using an alternative name for the militants.
But the White House is clearly frustrated by its failure to communicate the elements of that plan and what it believes has been accomplished.
“Yes, there is a strategy,†Secretary of State John F. Kerry snapped in a speech Saturday. “I know the criticism. We all hear them. . . . But that doesn’t mean it’s wisdom.â€
The administration’s insistence that its prudence and patience will pay off — vs. charges of too little, too late — have been the two opposing narratives of the 18-month battle against the Islamic State and the four-year Syrian war it has now overshadowed.
An examination of the recent course of events on the military and diplomatic fronts and interviews with a broad range of stakeholders and experts provide fuel for both arguments.
For more than a year after the Islamic State blitzkrieg swept across Syria and through Iraq to the Baghdad suburbs in the early summer of 2014, U.S. military operations, including airstrikes and training of local ground troops, were in what a coalition spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, called “crisis mode, just trying to keep the barbarians off the gate.â€
The Iraqi army had fallen apart. In Syria, as civil war raged in the west, the militants consolidated their control over the north-central and eastern areas of the country, with virtually free access to Syria’s border with Turkey to infiltrate tens of thousands of foreign fighters and equipment.
Airstrikes begun by the United States and its coalition partners — Europeans in Iraq and Arab states in Syria — were tactical, focused on targets of opportunity and the need to prevent collapse. While domestic critics and allies in the region called for more strikes, more support for Syrian rebels, more U.S. boots on the ground and no-fly zones, the administration demurred.
In a broad assessment in August, the Pentagon determined it had succeeded in its initial goals of stopping further Islamic State expansion and reestablishing the foundations of a viable Iraqi military. Amid repeated failures in Syria to organize and arm a rebel force to fight against the militants in Syria, it found hope in the establishment of a Syrian Kurdish and Arab force that has driven the militants from much of the Turkish border.
Adoption of what the military says is its first real operational strategy, following the chaos of the initial year, was marked by September’s change of command of the Baghdad-based headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State. “You have done what was necessary,†U.S. Central Command Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III told departing Lt. Gen. James L. Terry.
The new commander, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, was charged with “operationalizing†the mission, Warren said.
“We always wanted to get into a position where we could apply multiple points of pressure at once, across the whole battle space,†said a senior administration official. “We’re now in position to actually do it. It’s not going to be perfect, it’s not going to be linear, it’s going to be extremely hard.â€
Military and administration officials, most speaking on the condition of anonymity about internal decision-making, listed the elements of the comprehensive offensive against “core ISIL†on the ground in both Syria and Iraq.
In Iraq, the focus has been on cutting Islamic State supply lines into Mosul, the militant bastion in the northwest, in preparation for an eventual ground assault, and applying simultaneous pressure along militant front lines stretching south to the city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. “These are not blitzkrieg gains,†Warren said, “but painstaking, incremental work against a dug-in enemy†now made more effective with the ability to integrate airstrikes with a more organized and robust ground force.
Obama has authorized a new, Iraq-based Special Operations task force to conduct ground raids against Islamic State leadership targets in both Iraq and Syria. Administration officials have described a snowballing cycle in which more raids will take more leaders off the battlefield and provide more intelligence to plan still more raids. But it is unclear when the force, initially to number about 100, will be deployed.
Syria, with its separate wars against the Islamic State and between forces of President Bashar al-Assad and rebels seeking to unseat him, is far more complicated.
Regional allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, who once flew strike missions along with U.S. warplanes, have largely dropped out, an absence the United States hopes to make up with new agreements with France and Britain.
The “whole battle space†concept includes simultaneous airstrikes along the eastern border with Iraq to further cut militant supply lines, on Islamic State-controlled oil fields, and in the north-central area, where Syrian Kurdish and Arab forces who have captured a wide swath of territory along the border from the militants are organizing to attack the de facto militant capital of Raqqa.
Obama has authorized the deployment of 50 Special Operations troops, the first official U.S. boots on the ground in Syria, to join those forces to assess their readiness and help develop tactical plans, although the Americans are not expected to arrive for several months, defense officials said.
In southern Syria, anti-Assad rebels have met with significant success against government forces, but the Islamic State, sensing an opening, has begun moving into the area. The United States is sending more money and equipment, including heavy, long-range artillery, to Jordan, both to protect its own border and to engage militant targets inside Syria.
But given the new threat to the homeland, the administration’s claims of incremental success have left scornful critics asking why it does not do more. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press†on Sunday what he hoped to hear in Obama’s speech, presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) replied: “That he’s going to change his strategy and come up with a regional army to go in destroy the caliphate in Raqqa. . . . The president doesn’t have a strategy.â€
Mutual frustration has also been ongoing between the United States, as coalition leader, and regional allies, with some calling for a more aggressive U.S. policy. The United Arab Emirates said last week that it was willing to send ground forces into Syria — something Obama has consistently refused — if others would do the same as part of an international force.
But the region’s governments, including Turkey, are also deeply divided among themselves, leaving the administration as both whipping boy for their complaints and mediator for their disagreements as it tries to implement a broad strategy. In recent weeks, as Kerry has launched a diplomatic effort to bring the civil war to an end in order to shift attention to the counterterrorism fight, Obama himself has intervened in a series of conversations with regional leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman.
Nowhere is the dissention more acute than in northwest Syria, where rebel groups separately backed by the United States and Europe, the Persian Gulf Arab states and Turkey are locked in a melange of battles, often beside forces of al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, against Assad’s military.
The entry of Russian warplanes and Iranian troops on Assad’s side in western Syria has further complicated the situation, increasing the conundrum of how to take back the nearby, remaining 60-mile strip of the Syria-Turkey border in Islamic State hands.
The coalition has said it is ready to launch an all-out air offensive to drive the militants out of the area, located north of Aleppo, Syria’s most-populous city, but not until there are opposition forces on the ground ready to occupy the terrain. And the more the rebels are engaged in the Russian-aided fight against Assad, the less willing they are to switch their attention to the border.
U.S. officials say that a small force of opposition fighters in the area, including about 130 Syrians trained by the Americans in Jordan who are in direct communication with U.S. forces, have had some success. But their operations are still rudimentary. To delineate their lines from those of the Islamic State and avoid their own casualties from coalition airstrikes, they light tires on fire and warn pilots to avoid the smoke. | 1 | [
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FMD830 | 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: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' Director Victor Salva Was Convicted of Child Molestation? Claim summaries: "Jeepers Creepers 3" director Victor Salva was convicted in 1988 of molesting a 12-year-old.
contextual information: As the premiere of the horror flick Jeepers Creepers 3 approached in September 2017, many posted messages on social media to remind potential moviegoers about director Victor Salva's criminal history. Salva was convicted in 1988 on charges related to the sexual molestation of 12-year-old actor Nathan Forrest Winters during the filming of his movie Clownhouse. Salva served 15 months in prison and completed his parole in 1992. The Associated Press reported at the time that Salva confessed to having oral sex with Winters in 1987 while directing him in "Clownhouse," a low-budget horror film about three boys terrorized by circus clowns. Salva, sentenced to three years in state prison, served 15 months and completed parole in 1992. Salva is a registered sex offender. Victor Salva, a former child-care worker who impressed Hollywood filmmakers with his early cinematic work, was sentenced to three years in state prison in 1988 for molesting a 12-year-old boy who had acted in two of his films. Salva videotaped one of the encounters. The revelations came as the now 20-year-old victim, Nathan Winters of Concord, Calif., picketed a screening of "Powder" on Monday night in Westwood. Winters passed out leaflets urging the public to boycott the movie and said his family and friends would continue protesting after the film debuted Friday on more than 1,500 screens nationwide. Winters said he was "in awe" that Disney would even make a movie with Salva. "I can't believe [Salva] is allowed to work with children again," Winters said. "He should not be allowed around children ever again." At the time, Salva released a statement saying, "How deeply I regret my actions." It continued, "I paid for my mistakes dearly. Now, nearly 10 years later, I am excited about my work as a filmmaker and look forward to continuing to make a positive contribution to our society." Caravan Pictures, the company that made Powder for Disney, also released a statement: "He paid for his crime; he paid his debt to society," said Roger Birnbaum, whose Caravan Pictures made "Powder" for Disney and reportedly didn't know of Salva's record until the film was midway through production. "What happened eight years ago has nothing to do with this movie." More recently, Salva's past hindered the casting of Jeepers Creepers 3 when the website Breakdown Services removed the casting call for a 13-year-old character (to be played by an 18-year-old) upon learning of Salva's crime. Winters never starred in another movie. | 1 | [
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FMD831 | 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: Bernie Sanders opposesthe Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Hillary Clinton supportsit.
contextual information: A widespread Internet post claims Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have opposing views on a number of issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade deal involving the United States and 11 other nations. The image says Sanders opposes the deal, but Clinton supports it. As part of acouple of fact-checkson the post, we looked into whether the two candidates differ on support for the deal, which has divided Democratic leaders on the Hill. President Barack Obama, the deals primary advocate,has sparred with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a longtime ally, andreceived praisefrom Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a frequent opponent, over the deal. So where do the leading Democratic presidential candidates stand on the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Sanders sides with other members of the Senates progressive caucus invehemently opposingthe deal. In January 2014, he said hes against it primarily because it will allow corporations to move jobs overseas. Clintons position on the proposal is complicated by her time as secretary of state, and shes been careful as a presidential candidate not to express a firm position. Theres evidence to suggest Clinton was deeply involved in the deals formation and promotion as the countrys lead diplomat. In 2011, shetold a congressional committeethat even though the State Department was not in charge of the negotiations, we work closely with the U.S. (Trade Representative).Leaked diplomatic cablesshow Clintons deputies specifically discussed the TPP with foreign heads of state. Clinton openly pushed for the dealat least 45 timesduring her tenure as secretary of state, according to CNNs tally. In 2012, she touted the trade deal, also called TPP, to a group of American and Australian officials as a way to lower trade barriers, raise labor and environmental standards, and drive growth across the region. But since entering the race for president, Clinton has distanced herself from those remarks. I did not work on TPP, shetold reporters in July, saying the deal was the responsibility of the United States Trade Representative. At times, Clinton has echoed Sanders concerns about outsourcing. Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security, she told a reporter from MSNBC in April. We have to do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and the skills to be competitive. It's got to be really a partnership between our business, our government, our workforce, the intellectual property that comes out of our universities, and we have to get back to a much more focused effort in my opinion to try to produce those capacities here at home so that we can be competitive in a global economy. Hopeful comments about job creation and increased wages do not signal a clear position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Clintons campaign website lists no official position on the deal. Our ruling The graphic claims Bernie Sanders opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Hillary Clinton supports it. Sanders has said on multiple occasions that he would oppose the trade deal. Clinton supported it as secretary of state, and theres even evidence to suggest she was an advocate for the deal within the Obama administration. But she has taken a neutral stance on the deal during her campaign for the presidency, voicing some of Sanders same concerns yet refusing to explicitly criticize the proposal. Clinton spoke often in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership until that backing irritated parts of her Democratic base. We rate the posts claim Mostly True. | 1 | [
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"2"
] | 1 |
FMD832 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A grenade thrown at French soldiers wounded three civilians in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou shortly before the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, Radio France International reported on Tuesday. The grenade was thrown late on Monday, just hours before Macron was due to speak before a university audience at Ouagadougou, the radio station, citing security sources, said. Two hooded individuals threw the grenade from a motorbike before fleeing the scene, the radio said. There was no immediate comment of the incident at Macron s office. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are due to address an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan this week, focusing on education, investment in youth and economic development to prevent refugees and economic migrants from attempting the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean. | 1 | [
"0",
"1",
"2"
] | 1 |
FMD833 | 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 Anthony Hopkins considered one of the 'most vertically challenged men in Hollywood'? Claim summaries: We clicked the "next page" button a whopping 95 times in a slideshow article so you don't have to.
contextual information: Since at least January 2021, actor Anthony Hopkins was featured in an online advertisement about the height of Hollywood celebrity men. The ad read: "Some of the Shortest Men in Hollywood Today." Readers who clicked the online ad were led to a 95-page story on Cleverst.com. Its headline read: "These Short Male Celebrities Remind Us That Height Doesn't Matter In Hollywood." The lengthy article began with a picture of actor Dave Franco, who is purported to be 5 feet 7. We clicked "next page" 95 times until we realized we had clicked "next article" at the end. Hopkins didn't even show up in the story. Anthony Hopkins' height is listed at 5 feet 9 on various sources, including on his IMDb page. The actor is anything but "short." his IMDb page Hopkins is perhaps best known for his work in the 1991 classic, "The Silence of the Lambs." He won the best actor Oscar for playing the role of the terrifying cannibal, Hannibal Lecter. The long story of "short male celebrities" also featured a 6-feet-tall Vin Diesel, a 5 feet 10 Jason Statham, and 5 feet 9 actors Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Hardy. This was hardly a list of "some of the shortest men in Hollywood today." The Cleverst.com story appeared to be a strategy known as advertising "arbitrage." The goal was to make more money on ads that were displayed on all 95 pages than it cost to display the original Hopkins clickbait picture. The Hopkins photograph lured the readers. Readers then clicked "next page" in a search for Hopkins, who never appeared. The business and technology blog Margins defined "arbitrage" as "leveraging an inefficient set of systems to make a riskless profit, usually by buying and selling the same asset." They also called it "the mythical free lunch that economics tells us does not exist." Margins The same strategy employed for Hopkins' height was used by other advertisers in the past who placed an ad about Pierce Brosnan's net worth. The ad claimed that "Pierce Brosnan's final net worth left his family in tears." Not only was Pierce Brosnan still alive, but he also did not appear in the lengthy slideshow story that resulted. Pierce Brosnan's net worth Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising "arbitrage." The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads. submit ads to us | 0 | [
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FMD834 | 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 Nancy Pelosi Invest Up to $1M in Tesla? Claim summaries: The U.S. House Speaker came under scrutiny for the contents of a financial disclosure in January 2021.
contextual information: In January and February 2021, Snopes readers asked us to examine reports that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had invested as much as $1 million in the electric vehicle company Tesla, prompting concerns over a potential conflict of interest on her part. On Jan. 25, Business Insider published an article with the headline "Nancy Pelosi Has Plowed Up to $1 Million Into Bullish Bets on Tesla Stock." The article reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had placed up to $1 million worth of bullish bets on Tesla stock, as revealed in a financial disclosure form the previous week. Pelosi bought 25 call options on Tesla stock with a strike price of $500 and an expiration date of March 18, 2022. Similar articles were published by the San Francisco Chronicle, Jalopnik, Benzinga, and Refinery29. On Facebook, users promoted a meme that claimed Pelosi had invested in Tesla on Jan. 24, 2021, just one day before President Joe Biden announced his intention to replace the federal government's fleet with electric vehicles, suggesting she had advance knowledge of Biden's plan and acted with that in mind. However, Pelosi did not personally invest in Tesla, so reports and social media posts to that effect were inaccurate in that respect. Her husband, Paul, did invest, leaving open ethical considerations similar to those that would have arisen if the stock options had been purchased in her name. As a result, we are issuing a rating of "Mixture" regarding the claim that the House Speaker invested up to $1 million in Tesla. The Facebook meme highlighted above was doubly inaccurate, as it falsely stated not only that Pelosi herself had conducted the Tesla transaction, but also that it took place just one day before Biden made his electric vehicle announcement, and that the amount in question was $1.25 million. In fact, Paul Pelosi bought the Tesla options on Dec. 22, 2020, more than a month before Biden's announcement, and the amount in question was between $500,000 and $1 million. The details of Paul Pelosi's investments were contained in Speaker Pelosi's periodic transaction report, filed on Jan. 21, 2021. Under federal law and the Code of Federal Regulations, public officials (including members of Congress) are required to submit a report every time they, their spouse, or their dependent children conduct any "purchase, sale, or exchange of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, and other forms of securities," where the amount of the transaction is greater than $1,000. The official is required to file the report within 30 days of becoming aware of it. Officials are not required to report the exact amount of the investment or purchase, but rather they must specify a "valuation category," divided into various bands including $15,000 to $50,000; $250,000 to $500,000; $500,000 to $1 million; and $5 million to $25 million, among others. Paul Pelosi's investment in Tesla amounted to somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million and was described as "25 call options with a strike price of $500 and an expiration date of 3/18/22." The "SP" under the "Owner" column makes it clear that the transaction was conducted not by the congresswoman herself, but by her spouse. The federal Office of Government Ethics describes a "call option" as a contract that provides the buyer the right to purchase a security. The buyer has the right, but not the obligation, to exercise the option at a specified price (i.e., the strike price) until the contract's expiration date. Some put and call options may be purchased on the open market. As an alternative to exercising put and call options, investors can resell these options on the open market before their expiration. The Jan. 21 transaction report states that Paul Pelosi also bought call options in Disney and Apple and purchased shares in AllianceBernstein, an investment management firm. Concerns around Paul Pelosi's investment in Tesla are based on the fact that Speaker Pelosi is likely to play a prominent role in congressional negotiations over clean energy policy during the Biden administration, and that her family could stand to gain financially if Biden's plan to move the entire federal fleet to electric vehicles leads to a significant appreciation in the value of Tesla stock. Snopes asked a spokesperson for Speaker Pelosi for her response to such concerns over the potential appearance of a conflict of interest on her part. We also asked whether she or her husband were aware of Biden's intention to transition the federal fleet to electric vehicles at the time the investment was made, and whether Paul Pelosi now intended to sell his Tesla options in light of the president's electric vehicle announcement, in order to minimize any appearance of a conflict of interest. We did not receive a response to those questions in time for publication, but we will update this story if we hear back. | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD835 | 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: Spokeo Claim summaries: Personal information is viewable through the Spokeo aggregator site?
contextual information: Claim: Your personal information may be viewable through the Spokeo web site. Example: [Collected via e-mail, March 2010] This is so scary to me. My address along with a picture of my home is showing on this site.. GO to this website: https://www.spokeo.com/ and type in your name. If you find ANYTHING with your info on it, go to "Privacy" at the bottom of the page and follow the instructions to remove your information. Some of the information they have listed may not be correct, but if your address, phone number and a picture of your home comes up, that's cause for concern! Holy Cow Family and Friends! I just received a link for a crazy website. A friend emailed it to me saying that the website has all the personal info on her family and that maybe I should check it out to make sure I am not on the site. Well, I checked it out and although it didn't show mine, it listed many names addresses, birthdays, even showing a picture of the houses my friends lived in. It also mentions if you were married, with kids and much more. Then they have a service were people can sign up and pay 3.00 and have access to even more of my info like credit score, income, etc. I have typed in several other of my family members names and ALL were in the database. Who wants all this personal info out there on the web??????? you can scroll down to the bottom and find the privacy link and remove yourself from the website! good luck! and pass this email along to help your family and friends will possible identity theft. here is the website..... www.spokeo.com Origins: Spokeo is one of many sites now operating on the Internet that aggregate and display personal information collected from a variety of public sources (such as social networking accounts, blog posts, phone book listings, customer-submitted reviews, real estate listings, etc., as well as from the databases of other information aggregators) and sell detailed reports on individuals to anyone who pays for them. Spokeo advertises itself as a "search engine specialized in organizing people-related information": advertises Spokeo is a search engine specialized in organizing people-related information from phone books, social networks, marketing lists, business sites, and other public sources. Most of this data is publicly available on the Web. For example, you can find peoples name, phone, and address on Whitepages.com, and you can get home values from Zillow.com. That said, only Spokeo's algorithm can piece together the scattered data into coherent people profiles, giving you the most comprehensive intelligence about anyone you want to find. Spokeo displays listings that sometimes contain more personal information than many people are comfortable having made publicly accessible through a single, easy-to-use search site, and in March 2010 warning messages alerting recipients that their personal information was viewable through Spokeo began circulating, just as warnings about a similar (pay-for-use) site, ZabaSearch, had been circulated several years earlier. ZabaSearch Our advice here is similar to what we wrote in response to concerns about ZabaSearch several years ago: Spokeo does have a privacy policy that allows you to request that Spokeo remove your listing from public searches, but it's important to understand that even if you block your Spokeo listing, your personal information will still be available through the underlying sources used by Spokeo. Those third-party records will still exist and will still be publicly accessible, so the same information provided by Spokeo will still be available to others, either working on their own or using information aggregators similar to Spokeo: privacy You can remove your Spokeo listing from public searches for free. Please note that removing your Spokeo listing from public searches does not remove your information from the third-party data sources. Your information will still be shown on other people search sites, and you will need to contact those third-party sites one-by-one, In short, removing your personal information from display by Internet aggregators isn't a one-time deal, but rather more like a never-ending game of Whack-a-Mole: You might swat down an aggregator site or two, but more of them will inevitably pop up. Last updated: 12 January 2011 Smith, Alicia. "Search Site Raises Privacy Concerns." WXYZ-TV [Detroit]. 8 April 2010. | 1 | [
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"1",
"2"
] | 1 |
FMD836 | 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: Dick Hawley Speech Claim summaries: Did former USAF General Dick Hawley deliver a speech about thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed'?
contextual information: Former USAF General Dick Hawley delivered a caustic speech about "thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed." Since the attack, I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too. Here they are: 1) "We're not good, they're not evil, everything is relative." Listen carefully: We're good, they're evil, nothing is relative. Say it with me now and free yourselves. You see, folks, saying "We're good" doesn't mean, "We're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is the bearded guy on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The plain fact is that our country has, with all our mistakes and blunders, always been and always will be the greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity, and affection in history. If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what happens. In about half a day, the entire world would be a ghost town, and the United States would look like one giant line to see "The Producers." 2) "Violence only leads to more violence." This one is so stupid you usually have to be the president of an Ivy League university to say it. Here's the truth, which you know in your heads and hearts already: Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence. Limp, panicky, half-measures lead to more violence. However, complete, fully thought-through, professional, well-executed violence never leads to more violence because, you see, afterwards, the other guys are all dead. That's right, dead. Not "on trial," not "reeducated," not "nurtured back into the bosom of love." Dead. D-E-Well, you get the idea. 3) "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community have failed us." For 25 years, we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not protecting us. Starting in the late seventies, under Carter appointee Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided that the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites. "After all," they reasoned, "you can see a license plate from 200 miles away." This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate. Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans. Finding humans is not possible with satellites. You have to use other humans. When we bought all our satellites, we fired all our humans, and here's the really stupid part. It takes years, decades to infiltrate new humans into the worst places in the world. You can't just have a guy who looks like Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee shop in Kabul and say, "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin Laden fella." Well, you can, but all you'd be doing is giving the bad guys a story they'll be telling for years. 4) "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at us." Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a desperate cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than Elton John and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor helpless people, you see, are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in power. Mohamed Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes into the killing grounds (I'm sorry, one of the "alleged hijackers," according to CNN—they stopped using the word "terrorist," you know), is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew this, too. In the sixties and seventies, all the pinheads marching against the war were upper-middle-class college kids who grabbed any cause they could think of to get out of their final papers and spend more time drinking. At least, that was my excuse. It's the same today. Take the Anti-Global-Warming (or is it World Trade? Oh—who knows what the hell they want demonstrators). They all charged their black outfits and plane tickets on dad's credit card(!) before driving to the airport in their SUVs. 5) "Any profiling is racial profiling." Who's killing us here, the Norwegians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an article saying dozens of extended members of the gazillionaire bin Laden family living in America were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff, never to return to studying at Harvard and using too much Drakkar. I'm crushed. I think we're all crushed. Please come back. With a cherry on top? Why don't they just change their names, anyway? It's happened in the past. Think about it. How many Adolfs do you run into these days? Shortly after that, I remember watching TV with my jaw on the floor as a government official actually said, "That little old grandmother from Sioux City could be carrying something." Okay, how about this: No, she couldn't. It would never be the grandmother from Sioux City. Is it even possible? What are the odds? Winning a hundred Powerball lotteries in a row? A thousand? A million? And now a Secret Service guy has been tossed off a plane, and we're all supposed to cry about it because he's an Arab? Didn't it have the tiniest bit to do with the fact that he filled out his forms incorrectly three times? And then left an Arab history book on his seat as he strolled off the plane? And came back? Armed? Let's please all stop singing "We Are the World" for a minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor in the back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mt. Rushmore and turn, grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't offend them." SO HERE'S what I resolve for the New Year: Never to forget our murdered brothers and sisters. Never to let the relativists get away with their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"? I wish I had one that says, "You First. No More Pearl Harbors." Dick Hawley Origins: Yes, Gen. Richard E. Hawley is a real person, a United States Air Force general who served as commander of the USAF's Air Combat Command until his retirement in 1999, but no, he didn't write or deliver the speech quoted above. This "speech" is actually a column by humorist Larry Miller which appeared in The Daily Standard. People have been making New Year's resolutions for a long time. Usually, they're personal and last no longer than a smoke ring or one of Tom Daschle's smiles. You know the drill: "I'm going to cut down on my drinking, lose a few pounds, and read more books." Of course, by January 3rd, you get drunk, order a pizza, and buy a satellite dish. This year, though, my resolutions won't be personal, and they won't look forward. They'll look back. Four months back. As you know, since September 11, our leaders and soldiers have done a fine job, frequently a brilliant job. (I mean, please, how about that Rumsfeld? If he were a woman, I'd—Wait. Come to think of it, I'd still do nothing.) I don't even care that so many of our fellow Americans have been contrary and mealy-mouthed. What makes me want to scream like an actress and throw things is this: Since the attack, I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too. Here they are: [ .] So here's what I resolve for the new year: To never forget our murdered brothers and sisters. To never let the relativists get away with their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"? I wish I had one that says, "You First. No More Pearl Harbors." I resolve to be more vigilant and watchful. A good warning sign that these mutts were nuts was when they started dressing their women in heavy-duty, baby-blue bubble wrap. Any man who doesn't want to glance at a woman is, by definition, already very easy to talk into killing himself. Then again, to be fair, we haven't seen their women. To scream, "Keep going!" when everyone else says, "Stop." I'll just cut down on my drinking next year. Hell, I really wasn't planning to, anyway. General Hawley said of the words now mistakenly attributed to him: There is a piece zooming around the internet that attributes some pretty forceful statements to me, Dick Hawley—one-time fighter pilot, General, thoughtful consultant, neophyte strategist, master of the artful compromise. The words did not flow from my pen, but if the e-mails mean anything, those words are now indelibly linked to my name. So do me a favor—if you receive this, please send it on to the same people to whom you forwarded the one that I did not write. It's not that I don't share many, if not most, of the sentiments attributed to me, but the piece is just not my style. Here's what I would have said if I'd been asked to comment on those five important issues. 1) Goodness, Evil, and Relativity: There are some really good people in this world. They volunteer to help those who need it and ask nothing in return. There are also some really bad people in this world. They exploit those who need help or who have less wit or "charisma" and motivate them to join in committing unspeakable acts of cruelty against people they don't even know. Then there are the rest of us. Average people who try each day to do no harm, to provide for their families, to do an occasional act of kindness. The evil that was perpetrated against our land on 9/11 was the product of Mullahs who see our prosperity and power as a threat to their control over the uneducated Muslim masses on whose shoulders they ride through life. And so they preach hate. They are evil. 2) Violence begets violence: It's true. Violence does beget violence. But sometimes there is no alternative but to confront those who would perpetrate evil acts against us. This is one of those times. We are blessed to have courageous men and women willing to put their lives on the line to track down and annihilate those who have been so imbued with evil as to be beyond redemption. But violence is not a strategy. It is a necessary and fully justified reaction to an unimaginable threat. But it is not a strategy. If we are to win this war, we must defeat the Mullahs. And to defeat the Mullahs, we must find ways to separate them from their uneducated flocks. We cannot kill all those who have been taught to hate us, nor should we wish to. Far better to change their minds than to change their state of being. 3) The intelligence community let us down: Well, maybe just a little. Lots of senior and not-so-senior intelligence people became just as enamored of high-tech gadgets as their political masters. The protests over our evisceration of the human intelligence component of the agency were not very loud or forceful. Keeping spies on the ground is a high-risk and often dirty business, and it wasn't just liberal politicians who didn't have much stomach for it. 4) Poverty is the breeding ground for terrorists: No, it isn't; but religious extremism is. The Mullahs fear our wealth and power because it shows that a secular society with democratic institutions and a free market economy can do a better job of taking care of its peoples' needs, both spiritual and physical, than the oppressive Islamic regimes that they aspire to lead. The Mullahs are the problem, not poverty, but poverty does make it easier for the Mullahs to spread their evil—as do governments that tolerate and even reinforce their hateful message. 5) Profiling: We are at war here! We are not talking about traffic stops. If we were at war with Iceland, I would expect those charged with our defense to pay very close attention to any Icelander who ventured near our shores. In this war, I expect them to pay very close attention to Muslims with ties to the places that spew hatred against us. Random checks when there are no such obvious targets available are a good way to keep the evil ones guessing, but let's not make small children and grandmothers take their shoes off while we watch far more likely candidates walk aboard unchecked. 6) Resolutions: a. Never forget that what happened on September 11, 2001, was an act of war. b. Never sit silently by while someone tries to justify what happened on that day as an understandable reaction to U.S. policies in the Middle East or elsewhere. c. Fly our nation's flag proudly—it represents this world's greatest hope to move beyond the pain and suffering that inflict so many across the globe. Richard E. Hawley General, USAF, Retired Former Commander, Air Combat Command Last updated: March 8, 2008 Sources: Miller, Larry. "You Say You Want a Resolution." The Daily Standard. January 14, 2002. | 0 | [
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FMD837 | 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: Viral Grocery Store Meme Uses 2018 Photo To Illustrate 'Biden's America' Claim summaries: Not only were the pictures misleading, but the meme used a broad brush to place blame for supply chain issues.
contextual information: On Oct. 12, 2021, a Facebook user posted a meme that purported to compare grocery store shelves as they appeared in "Trump's America" versus "Biden's America." The meme was somewhat similar to another one we previously reported on regarding gas prices, and both were highly misleading. The meme was shared 50,000 times in the first 48 hours. In reality, the photograph of fully stocked grocery store shelves labeled "Trump's America" was captured in 2012, when former U.S. President Barack Obama was in the White House. Additionally, it wasn't even taken in the U.S.; according to the Wikimedia Commons caption, it was shot at a Coles Supermarket at Westfield Southland Shopping Centre in Melbourne, Australia. Meanwhile, the second picture showing nearly empty shelves labeled "Biden's America" was captured while former President Donald Trump was in office. According to MyHorryNews.com, which publishes local news for South Carolina, it was taken after a hurricane in September 2018. The caption read: "Randy Spivey, Hills manager, concerned about when he can get his shelves restocked after Hurricane Florence and the flood that hit the area recently." Presidents of both parties have faced natural disasters like Hurricane Florence that temporarily emptied store shelves in affected areas. Furthermore, readers may recall that shelves were emptied of popular foods and other goods at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The New York Times attributed the empty shelves to "panic shopping." The misleading Facebook meme was apparently posted in reaction to a shipping container logjam that was also occurring in October 2021. According to The Associated Press, it led to "mass shortages" of goods and delays that caused a longer-than-expected bout of inflation. Businesses were worrying about monthslong delays for shipping containers in June, yet the administration only formed its supply chain task force that month and named a port envoy on Aug. 27 to address the challenge. Ports are just one piece of the puzzle, Biden said. The country needs more truck drivers, private retailers to step up, better infrastructure, and a supply chain that can be less easily disrupted by pandemics and extreme weather. The president is trying to use the predicament as a selling point for his policy plans that are undergoing congressional scrutiny. "We need to take a longer view and invest in building greater resiliency to withstand the kinds of shocks we've seen over and over, year in and year out—the risk of pandemic, extreme weather, climate change, cyberattacks, weather disruptions," he said. The sense of uncertainty is beginning to consume the attention of many Americans. As for what caused the supply chain issues in the first place, the Los Angeles Times described the root of the problem in the simplest way: the COVID-19 pandemic. The Times published that "the pandemic whirled up a toxic brew of forces that triggered and then exacerbated the shipping logjam." The first blow came when many of the Chinese plants that build parts or assemble goods for global manufacturers were shut down by coronavirus outbreaks. Similar disruptions soon spread across the globe, affecting both manufacturers and the logistics companies that ship, store, and deliver their goods. After a brief COVID-related recession, however, demand for goods grew quickly, as people shifted to online buying and adopted new habits (a surge in home-improvement projects, for example, boosted demand for appliances and construction materials). The pandemic is not entirely to blame. Robert Handfield, the Bank of America professor of supply chain management at North Carolina State University, said that "warehouse, distribution, and truck driver shortages were bad before COVID." But the pandemic made the shortfall dramatically worse. The Washington Post also published an interview with Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, who said that "the United States is 'decades behind' foreign ports in getting carriers, terminals, and shippers to provide each other access to commercial data for planning purposes." In sum, the viral Facebook meme that purported to display "Trump's America" versus "Biden's America" showed pictures from the wrong presidential terms, and one of them wasn't even captured in the U.S. Further, it appeared to be attempting to score political points on a much larger problem. | 0 | [
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FMD838 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Hackers probably linked to Iran s government have hit Saudi and Western aerospace and petrochemical firms, marking a rise in Iranian cyber-spying prowess, security firm FireEye (FEYE.O) said on Wednesday, an assessment shared by other U.S. experts. A FireEye report on Wednesday dubbed the hacker group APT33 and offered evidence of its activities since 2013 in seeking to steal aviation and military secrets, while also gearing up for attacks that might cripple entire computer networks. In a separate but related move last week, the U.S. Treasury Department added two Iran-based hacking networks and eight individuals to a U.S. sanctions list, accusing them of taking part in cyber-enabled attacks on the U.S. financial system. Iran s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, elements of which were also added to the U.S. sanctions list, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by phone by Reuters on Wednesday, the end of the country s working week. FireEye identified APT33 after it was called in to investigate cyber attacks on a U.S. aviation organisation, a Saudi business conglomerate with aviation holdings and a South Korean group with interests in oil refining and petrochemicals. FireEye declined to name the companies. Iranian fingerprints are all over this campaign, and government fingerprints in particular, John Hultquist, FireEye s director of cyber espionage analysis, told Reuters. Right now we are seeing a lot of activity that seems to be classic cyber espionage. APT33 was the first state-backed group from Iran to join a list FireEye has compiled over more than a decade that identifies campaigns by Chinese, Russian and North Korean cyber spies. APT stands for Advanced Persistent Threat . Hultquist said APT33 shared some tools with, but appeared to be distinct from, around 15 different hacking groups with Iranian ties that security researchers have identified in recent years, carrying names like Shamoon , RocketKitten and Charming Kitten . The Kitten nomenclature reflected the low level of respect for Iran s hacking capabilities in the past, experts have noted. Several cyber experts described rising maturity and professionalism in Iran s cyber-espionage capabilities. In recent years, Iran has invested heavily in building out their computer network attack and exploit capabilities, said Frank Cilluffo, director of George Washington University s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. Cilluffo, a former homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush, estimated last year in testimony before the U.S. Congress that Iran s cyber budget had jumped twelve-fold under President Rouhani, making it a top five world cyber-power . They are also integrating cyber operations into their military strategy and doctrine, he told Reuters on Wednesday. FireEye said attacks against the Saudi and South Korean groups hit as recently as May and used phishing techniques that involved posting fake job vacancies for Saudi oil jobs to lure corporate victims (goo.gl/mc1BLY). Speaking to reporters in Singapore, FireEye Chief Executive Kevin Mandia said Iranian cyber espionage had grown in sophistication since he first spotted Iranians conducting rudimentary attacks on the U.S. State Department in 2008. They re good. (They ve) got a real capability there, Mandia said of Iran. In the investigations of attacks on Western companies and governments that FireEye is hired to do, Iran now ranks with China and Russia in terms of frequency, he said. Iran has been scaling up its cyber capacities since the United States and Israel carried out a cyber assault on Iran in 2010, now known as the Stuxnet worm, aimed at disabling centrifuges in its nuclear programme, he said. FireEye s evidence linking Iran to the aviation attacks included the use of the Farsi language in malware that mounted attacks and the fact that hackers observed the Islamic Republic s work week | 1 | [
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FMD839 | 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 bill passed by Pelosi that enabled her husband to earn millions by selling USPS property? Claim summaries: A meme circulating on Facebook appears to be a rehash of another version from 2013.
contextual information: In late August 2020, readers inquired about a meme circulating on Facebook that claimed falsely that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had rigged legislation to help her husband benefit financially from selling off property belonging to the U.S. Postal Service. The meme's text reads: This is Paul Pelosi (aka, Nancys Husband). He owns Financial Leasing Services LLC, a San Francisco based Real Estate and Venture Capitalist Firm. His net worth is 120 million. Why is this important? His wife sits on the House Appropriations committee. This committee appropriates funds to the United States Postal Service ( and others). Why is this important? Easy. She passed a bill to sell off 9 billion dollars ( yes 9 BILLION WITH a [smile emoji] worth of FEDERALLY OWNED POST OFFICE PROPERTY AND AWARDED THE THE CONTRACT TO, none other, Financial Leasing Services LLC. Her husbands firm. Why is this important? The commissions rate was set at 9%. That is almost a 1 BILLION dollar contract. If thats not enough, lets look at the new stimulus package. Nancy wants 25 billion in the stimulus package for the postal service where only 1.25 billion goes to making sure voting ballots are legit. The other 23.5 billion is going to upgrading the facilities so they are more attractive to potential buyers for her husbands firm. Corrupt to the core. It's true that Speaker Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi owns and operates Financial Leasing Services, a San Francisco-based investment company. Financial disclosures in 2018, the most recent available, show Speaker Pelosi's estimated net worth to be $114 million. owns estimated But Speaker Pelosi doesn't sit on the House Appropriations Committee. Her spokesman Drew Hammill told us by email she hasn't been on the committee since 2002. Furthermore, we found no evidence that a bill to sell off $9 billion-worth of federally-owned U.S. Postal Service property exists. doesn't sit It's true that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would, if signed into law, provide $25 billion to shore up the Postal Service and rectify delays in mail delivery service, but it doesn't allocate $1.25 billion toward "making sure voting ballots are legit." The funding was originally on the table during negotiations over a coronavirus stimulus package, but those negotiations broke down. Whether the stand-alone Postal Service funding bill will be signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely. bill originally unlikely The meme seems to be a rehash of a similar one that dates back to 2013 except in that case the subject of the claim was Richard Blum, the husband of U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., who like Pelosi hails from San Francisco. similar one Mikkelson, David. "Did Dianne Feinstein Get Her Husbands Company a USPS Contract?" Snopes. 23 April 2013. Rayome, Alison DeNisco. "What the New USPS Bill Means for the Next Stimulus Package." CNET. 24 August 2020. Pramuk, Jacob. "House Passes Bill to Put $25 Billion Into USPS and Reverse Changes Amid Uproar." CNBC. 22 August 2020. Henney, Megan. "How Much Money is Nancy Pelosi Worth?" Yahoo! News. 17 July 2020. Wildermuth, John. "Pelosi's Husband Prefers a Low Profile." San Francisco Chronicle. 1 January 2007. | 0 | [
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FMD840 | 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 Fauci Warn Trump in 2017 That a 'Surprise Outbreak' Was Coming? Claim summaries: Dr. Anthony Fauci has led the NIAID for more than three decades, advising five U.S. presidents on global health threats.
contextual information: Snopes is still fighting an infodemic of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and advice you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. fighting Find out Read Submit Become a Founding Member CDC WHO In the spring of 2020, as debate raged over the timeliness and effectiveness of U.S. President Donald Trump's response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, some critics pointed to an article dating from shortly before Trump's January 2017 inauguration, in which Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), seemingly warned that the incoming president would "no doubt" be faced with a "surprise infectious disease outbreak": This image did reflect a genuine article, published on Jan. 11, 2017 (nine days before Trump's inauguration), headlined "Fauci: No doubt Trump will face surprise infectious disease outbreak." That article read (in part): published Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is no doubt Donald J. Trump will be confronted with a surprise infectious disease outbreak during his presidency. Fauci has led the NIAID for more than 3 decades, advising the past five United States presidents on global health threats from the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s through to the current Zika virus outbreak. During a forum on pandemic preparedness at Georgetown University, Fauci said the Trump administration will not only be challenged by ongoing global health threats such as influenza and HIV, but also a surprise disease outbreak. The history of the last 32 years that I have been the director of the NIAID will tell the next administration that there is no doubt they will be faced with the challenges their predecessors were faced with, he said. As noted above, Dr. Fauci's comments were made during a Georgetown University forum on pandemic preparedness, at which Fauci delivered the keynote address on the subject of "Pandemic Preparedness in the Next Administration," which he opened with the following statement: "I thought I would bring that perspective [of my experience in five administrations] to the topic today, [which] is the issue of pandemic preparedness. And if there's one message that I want to leave with you today based on my experience ... [it] is that there is no question that there will be a challenge to the coming [Trump] administration in the arena of infectious diseases ... both chronic infectious diseases in the sense of already ongoing disease ... but also there will be a surprise outbreak, and I hope by the end my relatively short presentation you will understand why history, the history of the last 32 years that I've been the director of the NAIAD, will tell the next administration that there's no doubt in anyone's mind that they will be faced with the challenges that their predecessors were faced with." https://youtu.be/DNXGAxGJgQI Dr. Fauci did not literally warn in January 2017 that the Trump administration would certainly face a deadly pandemic affecting the U.S., but he said more generally (while speaking on the subject of pandemic preparedness) there was "no question" that a "surprise outbreak" of infectious disease would occur. The outgoing (Obama) administration had already faced multiple such events, including the 2009 swine flu (H1N1) pandemic, the 20152016 Zika virus epidemic, and the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa: swine flu Zika virus Ebola outbreak Fauci and others noted some of the disease outbreaks that recent administrations have faced, including current President Barack Obama, whose administration was tested early on with an H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009. More recently, the administration was forced to repurpose almost $600 million in federal funds set aside for the Ebola outbreak when Republicans rejected Obamas request for $1.9 billion to fund the nations Zika response. Healio "Fauci: No Doubt Trump Will Face Surprise Infectious Disease Outbreak."
11 January 2017. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Zika Virus Spreads to New Areas Region of the Americas, May 2015 January 2016."
29 January 2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa."
Accessed 14 May 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "2009 H1N1 Pandemic (H1N1pdm09 Virus)."
Accessed 14 May 2020. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD841 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 21st Century Wire says…
You can imagine how nations like China and Russia are now laughing at US students as mass psychological trauma has apparently set-in across liberal America. Schools, universities and political institutions across the country are now offering various services following Republican Donald Trump’s insurgent victory in the US presidential election.
According to NBC News , Democratic staffers were so distraught over this week’s election that “therapy dogs” had to be brought in to help workers on Capitol Hill cope with their vulnerabilities and hurt feelings.
— Steve Feldman (@SteveFeldman) November 9, 2016
Therapy Dogs included two golden doodles, two American Eskimo dogs, and a beagle mix – walked around the offices of the House of Representatives. Students at Cornell University even staged a “cry-in” on campus the day after the election.
Other US campuses were organizing various theraputic activities like poetry readings, where “healthy snacks will be served.”
The dogs were organized by NGOs the Human Animal Bond Research Initiative, Pet Partners, the Pet Leadership Council and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.
Their press release says that Democratic Party staffers needed, “the help of a non-judgmental, furry, four-legged best friend that enjoys bipartisan support.”
“Organizers say it was a great way for workers to blow off steam especially for those whose bosses may have lost re-election bids,” NBC added.
Also,“cry-ins” were staged on the campus of Cornell University, and Yale University even staged a “group scream” in order to help student vent their “internalized stress” the day after the election.
Watch RT America’s Ed Schultz and Lionel, of Lionel Media, discuss the ridiculous liberal reaction and student meltdown to Trump’s surprise victory:
. | 0 | [
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FMD842 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: David Stemerman is winding down his hedge fund firm to explore a run for governor of Connecticut, according to a letter sent to clients of Conatus Capital Management LP on Tuesday. “Connecticut – home to my family and business – is in crisis,†Stemerman wrote in the note, which was viewed by Reuters. “I am deeply concerned that a small number of people in our state are thriving while many are struggling to make ends meet,†the Greenwich-based Republican added. “I do not claim to have all of the answers, but as an outsider with a fresh perspective, I believe that I can bring a different approach.†The next election for governor in Connecticut is in November 2018. The news was previously reported by Bloomberg News. Conatus started in 2008 with about $2.3 billion in assets under management and followed a classic fundamental stock selection strategy. The firm grew to manage about $3 billion by the start of 2014 but assets dropped to about $1.6 billion today, according to a person familiar with the situation. Conatus’ main hedge fund gained more than 18 percent this year through August, the person said. Its average annual gain since inception was about 5.4 percent, according to Bloomberg. Stemerman also said in the letter that he planned to give startup money to a new fund planned by Conatus consumer industry head Amir Mokari. | 1 | [
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FMD843 | 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 Target's Stock adversely affected by their transgender bathroom policy? Claim summaries: The big box retailer gave investors lower-than-expected forecasts due to increasing online sales, news that affected the company's stock price.
contextual information: On 28 February 2017, Breitbart.com reported that big box retailer Target's stock had "crashed," losing a combined total of $15 billion in investor wealth due to the chain's announcement in 2016 that it would allow transgender customers and employees to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. Reported Target's stock value is now down by 30 percent since it sparked a consumer boycott by embracing the transgender political agenda. That 30 percent drop has slashed investors' wealth by roughly $15 billion. On Tuesday, the stock fell to $58.78, down from its April 19 high of $83.98. In contrast, Walmart is up 3 percent since April, and Kohl's is down less than one percent. Company officials indirectly acknowledged the consumer boycott. "Our fourth-quarter results reflect the impact of rapidly changing consumer behavior, which drove very strong digital growth but unexpected softness in our stores," Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a company statement. The company also admitted that it would likely continue to experience losses throughout the year. On 19 April 2016, Target announced that transgender customers and employees were free to use the restroom that corresponded to their gender identity amid a national debate on the subject during the 2016 election cycle. The announcement came after North Carolina enacted the controversial HB 2 in March 2016, a law that became colloquially known as the "bathroom bill," which required public single-sex restrooms to be used only by people of the corresponding biological sex. The controversy and Target's definitive stance prompted conservative groups like the American Family Association (AFA) to launch a boycott. Nearly 1.5 million people had signed the AFA's petition as of 1 March 2017. Target shares did plunge on 28 February 2017, but it wasn't due to its nearly year-old bathroom policy. The drop was attributed to 2017 guidance announced during an investor day event. Projections were far lower than expected by Wall Street analysts (the term "guidance" refers to projected earnings). The drop in Target's stock corresponds to the announcement made at their investor event. According to Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbough, Wall Street was expecting Target to project earnings of $5.30 per share, but the company instead provided guidance of $3.80 to $4.20 per share, which was "well below" expectations, prompting the drop in share value. According to Reuters, Target's decline dragged others down with it: Target's plunge prompted declines across the retail sector. Walmart Stores Inc. was down 2.0 percent, with Kroger Co. down 1.2 percent and Macy's Inc. off 1.7 percent. Dollar General Corp. fell 4.2 percent. What is affecting Target and other retailers has been competition with all-online retailers like Amazon, which do not have the overhead costs of brick-and-mortar locations. Target, for example, has 1,803 stores. "Online players don't have a huge network of stores, and since they don't have that cost, they can offer lower prices," Yarbough said. Customers also have the immediate ability to do price comparisons with smartphones. These changing patterns are reflected in a statement given by Target CEO Brian Cornell: "Our fourth-quarter results reflect the impact of rapidly changing consumer behavior, which drove very strong digital growth but unexpected softness in our stores. At our meeting with the financial community this morning, we will provide details on the meaningful investments we're making in our business and financial model, which will position Target for long-term, sustainable growth in this new era of retail. We will accelerate our investments in a smart network of physical and digital assets as well as our exclusive and differentiated assortment, including the launch of more than 12 new brands, representing more than $10 billion of our sales, over the next two years. In addition, we will invest in lower gross margins to ensure we are clearly and competitively priced every day. While the transition to this new model will present headwinds to our sales and profit performance in the short term, we are confident that these changes will best position Target for continued success over the long term." Although Target offers online shopping, profits there tend to be lower due to associated costs like shipping and price competition from the likes of Amazon. Retailers are struggling to survive, with more profitable in-store sales lagging and lower profit margins due to a growing number of online shoppers. Although its e-commerce operation is growing quickly, Target reported its third straight quarter of lower sales from existing stores, citing "unexpected softness" and raising new questions about the health of large national retailers in the United States. Target also forecast first-quarter profit well below Wall Street estimates. Shares sank 13 percent, on track for their biggest one-day percentage drop in more than 18 years. Target's stock has lost a quarter of its value since the 2016 holiday season started in November and is now trading at its lowest level since August 2014. Target maintains that the bathroom policy has had no effects on its business, with company spokeswoman Erika Winkels telling us in an email, "We have made it clear over time that we've seen no material impact on the business based on the bathroom policy. We don't have anything new or different to share." A poor performance in the 2016 holiday season was also attributed to online sales outpacing foot traffic, but Target is, again, not the only chain feeling the effects: Department stores across the country are paying the price for underestimating Amazon this holiday season. Macy's and Kohl's both reported lower-than-expected sales during the all-important end-of-year retail period and announced a spate of store closures that will lead to thousands of lost jobs. Sears has even been reduced to selling off one of its iconic brands after a double-digit sales slide. Industry observers blame online competition, as well as department store brands' own shortfalls in adapting to a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. Nevertheless, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, told us that Target could be worse off than it is: "It's in a much better position than some retailers because its balance sheet is still robust, whereas Sears and Macy's are in a very difficult position. With Target, it's much more about tweaking and reinvention at the edges. [The guidance] wasn't great, but not as bad as other people." Saunders told Reuters that while Walmart has been buoyed by successfully offering groceries, Target has not been able to keep up on that front, calling its grocery offerings "confusing." "Target is neither a full-line grocer nor a player with lots of niche specialty products; it is neither a high-end player nor a price-focused discounter," he said. It is difficult to say with certainty whether Target's commerce overall has been negatively affected by its policy on transgender people. Although company representatives have maintained it has not, shortly after Cornell made the announcement, USA Today reported a study that showed the percentage of people who would consider shopping there the next time they needed something dropped from 42 to 38 percent. But the retail industry as a whole is facing a dramatic shift in consumer behavior, and retailers have struggled to keep pace with it. Target's late February 2017 stock drop, however, was the result of announcements made during an investor day event and cannot be attributed to their policy on bathroom use. | 0 | [
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FMD844 | 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: Cook County Correctional Center Claim summaries: Rumor: Photographs show a new prison facility in Chicago, Illinois.
contextual information: The photographs displayed below began circulating in May 2008 accompanied by a number of different textual descriptions, all of them identifying the structure shown as a new correctional center somewhere within the United States or United Kingdom (with the variant placing it in Chicago being the most common) and decrying the large expenditure of tax dollars being wasted on pampering criminals by providing them with such luxurious and comfortable surroundings. An April 2012 variant identifies the pictured prison as being in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Wow! Your Tax Dollars At Work CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS IS? New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois (I guess if I ever break the law, I'd better do it in Illinois!Homeless people should have it so good!)Once again the taxpayer gets stung. It also shows that in most cases the quality of life for prisoners has improved considerably from what you might expect.And I always thought prison was for punishment.!!!!! Let me see now ... who was the Chicago US Senator who helped arrange the funds to build this beautiful 'punishment center'. Oh yes, it was B. Obama!!! No wonder he sees nothing wrong with the wasted spending in his 'Stimulus Plan'. Although the structure pictured in these photographs is a prison, it not located in either the U.S. or the U.K. (and thus has nothing whatsoever to do with Barack Obama's tenure as an Illinois senator, as claimed in later versions). More specifically, it's the Justice and Detention Centre (i.e., court building and penitentiary) in Leoben, Austria. Designed by architect Josef Hohensinn, Austria's "show-piece prison" was built to house inmates in the following circumstances: Leoben, Austria Prisoners in groups up to thirteen are accommodated in a wing of their own and can move freely among the cells and communal spaces. The architect suggested the additional possibility of stepping out for fresh air, so it was agreed that each communal section would have a kind of loggia surrounded by bars, of course, but the inmates are outdoors. The prisoners also have three courtyards at their disposal, with concrete seating walls meandering through the space, so it would no longer be possible to circle around in a single file. The New York Times described the Leoben detention center thusly: Here's a striking building, perched on a slope outside the small Austrian town of Leoben a sleek structure made of glass, wood and concrete, stately but agile, sure in its rhythms and proportions: each part bears an obvious relationship to the whole. In the daytime, the corridors and rooms are flooded with sunshine. At night, the whole structure glows from within. A markedly well-made building, and what is it? A prison. Everybody says this, or something like it: I guess crime does pay, after all. Or, That's bigger than my apartment. Or, Maybe I should move to Austria and rob a couple of banks. It's a reflex, and perfectly understandable, though it's also foolish and untrue about as sensible as looking at a new hospital wing and saying, Gee, I wish I had cancer. To be more accurate, free people say these things. Prisoners don't. Nor, for the most part, do the guards, the wardens or the administrators; nor do legal scholars or experts on corrections; nor does Josef Hohensinn, who designed the Leoben prison. They all say something else: No one, however down-and-out or cynical, wants to go to prison, however comfortable it may be. The place must be a country club for white-collar criminals. (No, it holds everyone from prisoners awaiting trial to the standard run of felons.) Then it must cost a fortune. (A little more than other prisons, maybe, but not by much as a rule, the more a corrections center bristles with overt security, with cameras, and squads of guards, and isolation cells, the more expensive it's going to be.) And that's glass? (Yes, though it's shatterproof. And yes, those are the cells and that is a little balcony, albeit caged in with heavy bars, and below it is a courtyard.) The whole thing seems impossible, oxymoronic, like a luxury D.M.V., and yet there it is. Leoben has received quite a lot of attention. In America, its public profile has been limited to a series of get-a-load-of-this e-mail messages and mocking blog posts (where the prison is often misidentified as a corrections center outside Chicago), but in Europe, Hohensinns design has become more of a model not universally accepted, but not easily ignored either. It is the opening statement in a debate about what it means to construct a better prison. Already there are plans to build something like it outside of Berlin. Last updated: 12 March 2015 Lewis, Jim. "Behind Bars ... Sort Of." The New York Times. 10 June 2009. Updated 12 March 2015 to add Toronto variant
| 0 | [
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FMD845 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: It is hard to hold a dialogue with the current U.S. administration because it prefers diktat to dialogue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Saying that Russia was worried about the worsening of its relations with the United States, Putin said Washington had financed Ukraine’s radical opposition and assisted a coup d’etat there. Russia was then forced to protect ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, he told an economic forum. “There is a need to behave like partners and take each other’s interests into account,†Putin said, referring to U.S.-Russian ties. “We are ready for that.†| 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD846 | 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: Justin Trudeau has announced plans to grant pardons to all individuals who have been convicted of a marijuana-related offense. Claim summaries: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not freed from prison and expunged the record of every convicted marijuana user in Canada.
contextual information: In July 2016, a image picturing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was circulated with text stating that he had freed everyone imprisoned for marijuana offences and expunged their records, and that he was able to enact such a sweeping reform because Canada (unlike the U.S.) has no "prison for profit" facilities: However, the claim originated not with a news report of any such reform act, but with an article published by the Global Sun on 3 July 2016: A press conference was held last night by The Liberal Party of Canada, on behalf of newly-elected Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau about future marijuana laws and regulations. 30 minutes into the conference, Trudeau announced the big news that all members of the parliament have agreed to and that is pardoning all Canadian prisoners who have been convicted of a minor or major offence of marijuana. The Global Sun is a satirical publication that does not publish factual stories: The Global Sun is a satire website, articles/post on the website are all made-up stories and should not be taken seriously. Although Prime Minister Trudeau has not freed all those convicted of marijuana-related offences from prison, real news suggests Canada may be moving toward legalizing the drug in 2017: legalizing Canada's Liberal Party government will introduce a law next spring to legalize recreational marijuana, Health Minister Jane Philpott disclosed last week at the United Nations. She did not detail who would be allowed to grow or distribute cannabis products. Canada has a lot of options here, said RAND Drug Policy Research Center co-director Beau Kilmer. You have to pay attention to what's going to happen with the regulation and the taxes. That could really shape what happens in terms of people coming in from other countries. You have to decide whether you want to allow that. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD847 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Under the guise of a concrete pressing issue (a factual problem, often a social one, concerning violations of rights of certain individuals or segments of a community), chosen by Western propaganda masters waging the information war, a targeted message containing half-truths is sent via messengers with the expectation that it will cause a strong reaction from individuals, which can then be transformed into mass demonstrations and “social unrest” (as is the case, for example, in Hong Kong on orders from Western elites). | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD848 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: In light of the tidal wave of sexual assault allegations leveled at Republican nominee Donald Trump and the firestorm of controversy it has provoked, we shouldn’t be surprised that more women are coming forth to tell their stories of abuse at the hands of powerful men. The latest to step forward is an Alaska lawyer who is accusing conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of groping her at a dinner party in 1999.
“He groped me while I was setting the table, suggesting I should sit ‘right next to him. He was 5 or 6 inches down and he got a good handful and he kept squeezing me and pulling me close to him” says Moira Smith, describing how Justice Thomas groped her buttocks at a public event.
Smith was 23 at the time and is now a vice president at counsel at Enstar Natural Gas Co. Justice Thomas was previously accused of sexually harassing his employee, Anita Hill, in a widely controversial case that ended with the confirmation of Thomas as a Supreme Court Justice and a vicious character assassination campaign against Hill. Hill’s shocking testimony described how :
In lurid detail, she described Thomas as a boss who pestered her for dates and spoke graphically about pornography, bestiality, rape and his skills as a lover. “He talked about pornographic materials depicting individuals with large penises or large breasts involved in various sex acts,” she testified. The “oddest episode,” Hill said, occurred when he was drinking a Coke in his EEOC office. “He got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can and asked, ‘Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?”‘
The National Law Journal spoke to three of Smith’s housemates , who all confirm that Smith told them about Thomas’ behavior at the time of the event. Thomas has denied the allegations.
Sexual assault and the improper behavior of powerful men towards vulnerable employees has dominated this election cycle, beginning first with the wave of allegations against FOX News CEO Roger Ailes by multiple employees and then the accounts of some dozen women recounting the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Donald Trump.
The prominence of the issue has created a space for women to come forward and tell their tales w ith some degree of confiden ce that they will be heard and taken seriously, bravely risking the backlash of misogynistic victim-blaming that has long defined the American response to a woman’s accusation.
From the military to scientific acedemia to nursing homes , men abuse women and other men at a horrifying rate. It’s far past time we began giving women the benefit of the doubt and send a message to the predators of America that this appalling behavior will no longer be tolerated. For his part, Justice Clarence Thomas has been nothing but an obstacle to progress, mired in backwards conservatism and following the cues of now-deceased religious extremist Antonin Scalia to a tee. Perhaps Scalia shouldn’t be the only seat we replace once Hillary Clinton takes office. | 0 | [
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FMD849 | 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 Hillary Clintons top 10 donors are mainly banks, corporations and media, while Bernie Sanders top 10 donors are labor unions.
contextual information: As Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gains ground on Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, the two candidates supporters have been sparring, including over campaign donations. Recently, a reader sent us a social media meme that paints Clintons list of donors as dominated by corporate interests, whereas Sanders top 10 donors come largely from labor unions -- a dichotomy that, to Democratic primary voters, puts Sanders in a more favorable light. Hillary: Top ten donor list. Representing banks, corporations and media, the meme reads, providing a top-10 list with dollar amounts. Bernie: Top ten donor list. Representing people. The meme is topped by each candidates presidential campaign logo. (See the meme below.) We cant tell who produced this meme, but we thought it was worth a closer look. Well start by noting that reasonable people can disagree about whether labor unions represent people, as the meme says, as opposed to just unionized workers, who are a relatively small subset of the entire population. Well also note that while this meme may appeal to union supporters and critics of Wall Street and big corporations, it also could be used as evidence that Sanders is just as reliant on one type of donor -- labor unions -- as Clinton is on big corporations. We found that the data cited in the meme refers to cumulative donations over the course of each candidates political career as calculated by the Center for Responsive Politics, not just fundraising from the current presidential cycle. (ClintonandSandershave announced their fundraising hauls for the second quarter of 2015, but have not yet released the full data that is due at the Federal Election Commission by July 15; a more complete analysis of the data will be compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics after that.) ForClinton, we found a high degree of similarity with the meme when we checked the database on July 6. Clintons top 10 cumulative donors between between 1999 and 2016 were, in descending order, Citigroup ($782,327), Goldman Sachs ($711,490), DLA Piper ($628,030), JPMorgan Chase ($620,919), EMILYs List ($605,174) Morgan Stanley ($543,065), Time Warner ($411,296), Skadden Arps ($406,640), Lehman Brothers ($362,853) and Cablevision Systems ($336,288). That list is quite close to what the meme says. It includes five financial-services companies, two law firms that do a lot of corporate work, two media conglomerates and one group, EMILYs list, that supports abortion-rights Democratic candidates. Its worth noting that Clinton was a senator from New York, meaning that some of the donors on her list were not simply Wall Street and corporate behemoths, but also constituents, based in New York. The database results forSandersare also quite close to whats in the meme. The data for Sanders goes back to 1989. His top 10 are, in descending order, Machinists/Aerospace Workers union ($105,000), Teamsters union ($93,700), National Education Association ($84,350), United Auto Workers ($79,650), United Food & Commercial Workers union ($72,500), Communications Workers of America ($68,000), Laborers Union ($64,000), Carpenters & Joiners Union ($62,000), National Association of Letter Carriers ($61,000), and the American Association for Justice ($60,500). In the meme, the letter carriers union makes the list, but the Center for Responsive Politics has the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees cracking the top 10 instead. Either way, nine of the 10 are unions, and the tenth is the national association representing plaintiffs attorneys. During his career, Sanders has received strong support from progressive Democrats, so this pattern of financial backing is not surprising. So the meme is pretty accurate for both candidates. However, we see a few things worth pointing out. As we noted, this data refers to their entire political careers back to the 1990s. Once the full presidential data is released, those figures may show different patterns. That is not made clear in the meme, said Anthony J. Corrado, a campaign-finance expert at Colby College. Most people would assume that this is money raised so far in the 2016 presidential campaign. Also, the donors listed are not the ones who gave the money, since that would be against the law. Rather, it was their PACs, employees and those employees families. In fact, due to how the forms are filled out, the data is less likely to capture individual donations from union members than from employers of companies. Most individual donations are listed by employer, and if, say, a union carpenter lists his affiliation as his company, the fact that hes a union member wouldnt be recorded. Finally, lists such as this ignore that both candidates are collecting many small donations, too. According to the Clinton campaign, she raised roughly $50 million in contributions under $200 during her '08 campaign. Data for the 2016 cycle is not available yet. All told, its possible to look at the top donors on the two lists and say both candidates are captive to a particular set of interest groups, said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. However, he added, labor is a Democratic constituency whose beliefs generally line up with Democratic policies, and were talking about a Democratic primary here. So all things being equal, Sanders donor list probably looks better, politically, than Clintons. Kondik added that, as the meme indicates, Clinton has a much larger reservoir of money than Sanders has. The value of having a large financial advantage over your competitors in a primary setting seems to be worth occasional questions about how the financial advantage was built, he said. Our ruling Social media memes say that Clintons top 10 donors are mainly banks, corporations and media, while Bernie Sanders top 10 donors are labor unions. This contention fits quite closely with campaign data from the Center for Responsive Politics. However, its worth noting that this data refers to cumulative donations as far back as the 1980s, rather than just donations to their current presidential bids. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD850 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Among the findings:A Complex Fiscal Picture Welfare use. Our findings show that many of the preconceived notions about the fiscal impact of illegal households turn out to be inaccurate. In terms of welfare use, receipt of cash assistance programs tends to be very low, while Medicaid use, though significant, is still less than for other households. Only use of food assistance programs is significantly higher than that of the rest of the population. Also, contrary to the perceptions that illegal aliens don t pay payroll taxes, we estimate that more than half of illegals work on the books. On average, illegal households pay more than $4,200 a year in all forms of federal taxes. Unfortunately, they impose costs of $6,950 per household.The Impact of Amnesty. Finally, our estimates show that amnesty would significantly increase tax revenue. Because both their income and tax compliance would rise, we estimate that under the most likely scenario the average illegal alien household would pay 77 percent ($3,200) more a year in federal taxes once legalized. While not enough to offset the 118 percent ($8,200) per household increase in costs that would come with legalization, amnesty would significantly increase both the average income and tax payments of illegal aliens.What s Different About Today s Immigration. Many native-born Americans observe that their ancestors came to America and did not place great demands on government services. Perhaps this is true, but the size and scope of government were dramatically smaller during the last great wave of immigration. Not just means-tested programs, but expenditures on everything from public schools to roads were only a fraction of what they are today. Thus, the arrival of unskilled immigrants in the past did not have the negative fiscal implications that it does today. Moreover, the American economy has changed profoundly since the last great wave of immigration, with education now the key determinant of economic success. The costs that unskilled immigrants impose simply reflect the nature of the modern American economy and welfare state. It is doubtful that the fiscal costs can be avoided if our immigration policies remain unchanged. Center For Immigration Study | 0 | [
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FMD851 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A punk rocker-turned-congressman from Texas announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Ted Cruz on Friday, making him the first prominent Democrat to challenge the former presidential candidate. Robert Francis “Beto†O’Rourke, a Spanish-speaking, Irish-American representing a predominantly Latino district that includes the border city of El Paso, is considered a long shot in the Republican-dominated state, analysts said. MORE FROM REUTERS Connecticut may become first state to allow deadly police drones Wayward tabby returning to Denver home after 800-mile adventure British robot helps autistic children with social skills But O’Rourke’s outsider credentials are expected to add flair to the 2018 Senate race in Texas, where a Democrat has not won a state-wide election in more than 20 years. Beto is short for his name in Spanish, Roberto. “This is Cruz’s to win. He has got a national fundraising network so he will have all the money in the world,†said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In a campaign launch from El Paso shown on Facebook Live, the Ivy-League educated O’Rourke, 44, pledged to fight for veterans, shun corporate money and serve only two terms in the Senate if elected, saying it was in the people’s best interest to have fresh blood in Congress. O’Rourke, who played guitar and provided vocals for the punk band Foss in the 1990s, also took a shot at Republican President Donald Trump for his hard-line stance on immigration, vowing to “fight when necessary against a president who is focused on building walls, or conducting military immigrant round-ups.†O’Rourke and Republican Congressman Will Hurd of Texas gained attention on social media earlier this month by live-streaming the journey they made together from Texas to Washington and billing it as 1,600-mile bipartisan road trip. They rented a car and took the trip due to a winter storm that shut East Coast airports. Polls rate Cruz as the most popular politician in the state among Texans. O’Rourke does not have much political support outside his base of El Paso, a western Texas city closer to San Diego, California than to Houston. Another possible challenger to Cruz is Democratic U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, analysts said. Just ahead of O’Rourke’s announcement, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced he was endorsing Cruz. Cruz backers later sent out a fundraising email, saying O’Rourke was out of touch with Texas values. “Beto O’Rourke will have the full support of the mainstream media and a Washington establishment willing to do everything in their power to see Ted Cruz defeated,†the email said. (This story has been refiled to add dropped word “the†in second paragraph) | 1 | [
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FMD852 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Alaska Airlines Makes History with First Bio-Fueled Commercial Flight Nov 22, 2016 0 0
Using renewable bio-fuel made from sustainable forest wastes of branches and bark from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska airlines made history this week. A flight from Tacoma, WA to Washington, D.C. used only biofuel to carry its passengers.
Alaska airlines will have removed much of its traditional fuel from its fleet by the year 2020 under its sustainability plans and claims it is the first airline to use a wood-based alternative fuel on a commercial passenger flight.
Alaska Air says it used 1,080 gallons of the biofuel on the flight. Though bio-fuels are much more expensive to burn that traditional petroleum-based fuels for now, they burn cleaner and don’t require fracking, cause oil spills, or cause other environmental disasters in order to support the commercial aviation industry.
Traditional jet fuel is a hydrocarbon, almost exclusively obtained from the kerosene fraction of crude oil. Two types of fuels are used in commercial aviation: Jet-A and Jet A-1. Fuel specifications for aviation fuels are very stringent. As greener fuels are developed, the aviation industry will have to change also, adapting their rules to allow biofuels like the ones that airlines are starting to test.
Solar airplanes are also in development, but there are no commercial flights using solely solar, just yet.
Though there are numerous plants that would lend themselves to the sustainable creation of bio-fuels, hemp could be one of the most successful. It grows easily (like a weed), and requires no pesticides to cultivate. Researchers at University of Connecticut have found that the fiber crop Cannabis sativa, known as industrial hemp , has properties that make it very attractive as a raw material, or feedstock, for producing biodiesel – a sustainable diesel fuel made from renewable plant sources.
Many experts argue that a single farm growing Cannabis could produce enough fuel to power their whole farm with the oil from the seeds they produce.
Richard Parnas, a professor of chemical, materials, and biomolecular engineering who led the study says ,
“For sustainable fuels, often it comes down to a question of food versus fuel,” says Parnas, noting that major current biodiesel plants include food crops such as soybeans, olives, peanuts, and rapeseed. “It’s equally important to make fuel from plants that are not food, but also won’t need high-quality land.”
Though Alaska’s first commercial flight using a managed-forests’ ‘waste’ is a step in the right direction, far too many forests are clear-cut to be relying solely on forest debris to replace petrochemically made fuel for the entire globe. Cannabis could be a great alternative. | 0 | [
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FMD853 | 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: State Dept. Employee Candace Claiborne Arrested on Treason Charges? Claim summaries: Department of State employee Candace Claiborne was arrested and charged in connection with her improperly receiving gifts from Chinese agents.
contextual information: In mid-April 2017, multiple online sources reported that former U.S. State Department employee Candace Claiborne was arrested on charges related to treason. The indictment in question was real, although many online reports covering it were inaccurate. Claiborne was arrested on specific charges related to improperly receiving gifts in exchange for providing information to Chinese agents, obstructing an official proceeding, and making false statements to the FBI, not "treason," as noted in a Justice Department press release about the case. A federal complaint was unsealed charging Candace Marie Claiborne, 60, of Washington, D.C., and an employee of the U.S. Department of State, with obstructing an official proceeding and making false statements to the FBI, both felony offenses, for allegedly concealing numerous contacts that she had over a period of years with foreign intelligence agents. The charges were announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord for National Security, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI's Washington Field Office. Candace Marie Claiborne is a U.S. State Department employee who possesses a Top Secret security clearance and allegedly failed to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits, said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. Claiborne used her position and her access to sensitive diplomatic data for personal profit. Pursuing those who imperil our national security for personal gain will remain a key priority of the National Security Division. Candace Claiborne is charged with obstructing an official proceeding and making false statements in connection with her alleged concealment and failure to report her improper connections to foreign contacts, along with the tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits they provided, said U.S. Attorney Phillips. As a State Department employee with a Top Secret clearance, she received training and briefings about the need for caution and transparency. This case demonstrates that U.S. government employees will be held accountable for failing to honor the trust placed in them when they take on such sensitive assignments. Claiborne is accused of violating her oath of office as a State Department employee, who was entrusted with Top Secret information when she purposefully misled federal investigators about her significant and repeated interactions with foreign contacts, said Assistant Director in Charge Vale. The FBI will continue to investigate individuals who, though required by law, fail to report foreign contacts, which is a key indicator of potential insider threats posed by those in positions of public trust. Claiborne is required to report any contacts with persons suspected of affiliation with a foreign intelligence agency. Despite such a requirement, the affidavit alleges, Claiborne failed to report repeated contacts with two intelligence agents of the People's Republic of China (PRC), even though these agents provided tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits to Claiborne and her family over five years. According to the affidavit, the gifts and benefits included cash wired to Claiborne's USAA account, an Apple iPhone and laptop computer, Chinese New Year's gifts, meals, international travel and vacations, tuition at a Chinese fashion school, a fully furnished apartment, and a monthly stipend. Some of these gifts and benefits were provided directly to Claiborne, the affidavit alleges, while others were provided through a co-conspirator. Claiborne wasn't an "employee" of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, other than in the sense that she held a mid-level job at the State Department, which was headed by Clinton from 2009-2013 and is part of the executive branch, which was headed by Barack Obama from 2009-2017. By that standard, Claiborne would also have been an "employee" of Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson, as the affidavit that accompanied the criminal complaint against her noted she was still working for the State Department at the time of her arrest. Candace Claiborne is a 60-year-old Office Management Specialist with the Department of State. She is a United States citizen who resides and works in Washington, D.C. Claiborne has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and law enforcement from the University of the District of Columbia. She joined the State Department in 1999 and has served in a variety of places, including Washington, D.C., Baghdad, Iraq, Beijing and Shanghai, China, and Khartoum, Sudan. According to State Department records, Claiborne has language proficiency in Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish. She currently works at the Department of State headquarters in Washington, D.C., in the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts. Claiborne has held a TOP SECRET security clearance since 1999. Candace Claiborne pled "not guilty" at her 29 March 2017 court appearance, and a preliminary hearing for her case was scheduled for 18 April 2017. | 2 | [
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FMD854 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Saudi Arabia to ease its blockade of Yemen, two sources said, just days before the Saudi-led military coalition announced on Wednesday it would let aid flow through the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and allow U.N. flights to the capital. It was not clear if pressure from Washington was the direct cause of the Saudi change of heart but the request from Tillerson to Saudi Arabia s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was one of several U.S. attempts this month to have Riyadh soften its hawkish foreign policy. Tillerson asked for a loosening of the blockade on Yemen during a roughly 45-minute phone call at the beginning of this week, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. R.C. Hammond, a top adviser to Tillerson, confirmed the exchange with Prince Mohammed. The secretary of state has brought the request to (the) Saudis attention several times over the past months, he added. The Trump administration, according to U.S. officials and a European diplomat, also pressed the Saudis to allow Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to return to Beirut after he flew to Riyadh on Nov.4 and abruptly announced his resignation. The efforts to take the edge off Saudi Arabia s foreign policy reflect growing U.S. concern about Riyadh s direction despite high-profile attempts by President Donald Trump to improve relations with the longtime U.S. ally. Publicly, Trump, his top aides and senior Saudi officials have hailed what they say is a major improvement in U.S.-Saudi ties compared with relations under former President Barack Obama, who upset the Saudis by sealing a nuclear deal with their arch-foe Iran. Privately, however, U.S. diplomats and intelligence analysts express growing dismay over Riyadh s foreign policy, especially toward Yemen and Lebanon, as Saudi Arabia aims to contain Iranian influence. It is my understanding that the administration is frustrated. There has been of course varying degrees of frustration from different members of the administration, U.S. Senator Todd Young said of the situation in Yemen. Young, a Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke before the Saudi-led military coalition s decision was announced on Wednesday. The coalition, which is fighting Houthi rebels, said it would allow humanitarian aid access through Hodeidah and U. N. flights to the capital Sanaa, more than two weeks after blockading the country to stop the flow of arms from Iran. Yemen, in civil war and under bombardment by a Saudi-led coalition, faces a deep humanitarian crisis and aid workers warn of famine if the blockade were not lifted. A senior Saudi official told Reuters that even before Tillerson and Prince Mohammed spoke recently, senior White House officials had communicated to the Saudi ambassador in Washington the importance of taking those two steps. They stressed the importance of addressing the humanitarian situation in Yemen and we said that we understood and that the closures were temporary while we work on a comprehensive aid and access plan, the official said. An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that White House and National Security Council officials worked on easing the blockade with senior Saudi officials, including Prince Mohammed and his younger brother Khalid, the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Much of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, multiple U.S. officials say, is conducted in a tight circle and led by Trump s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who has established a direct channel with Prince Mohammed. Kushner did not oppose the pressure on the Saudis and United Arab Emirates to ease humanitarian suffering in Yemen, said one U.S. official. But the official added: In no way does this change the position that Jared and the Crown Prince evidently share that the main objective is reversing Iranian influence in Yemen and elsewhere. On Lebanon, the U.S. message to Saudi Arabia about Hariri was conveyed in statements by Tillerson and in private conversations between U.S. and Saudi officials. Those officials included the Saudi state minister for Gulf affairs, Thamer al-Sabhan, who was in Washington recently, a senior administration official said. We ve encouraged...the Saudis that it will be good for Lebanon s political stability for Hariri to return back to Beirut as soon as is practical, the official said last week. Hariri has since returned to Lebanon and shelved his decision to resign as prime minister, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East. Top Lebanese officials have said Saudi Arabia forced Hariri to quit and held him in the kingdom. Riyadh and Hariri deny this. | 1 | [
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FMD855 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: For months, a debate has raged: Is 2016 hopeful Marco Rubio a robot, or isn t he? Thursday s GOP debate might prove once and for all that we were wrong about Rubio. It s unclear what happened maybe someone upgraded his operating system or maybe, just maybe, he is a flesh-and-blood person. But whatever he is, the Florida Senator wiped the floor with The Donald in a must-see catfight.It s unclear what got into Rubio. Maybe someone installed Windows 10. Maybe he got a good night s rest for once. Perhaps one of his supporters shared their crack pipe. We ll never know. In any case, Rubio was on fire during a surprisingly animated catfight with the billionaire bankruptcy expert (To be clear, he didn t blow a fuse; this was meant figuratively).During a discussion regarding Trump s promised Wall (with a capital W ) that will now be 10 feet taller thanks to a brilliant f*ck you from former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, Rubio unleashed his inner something: If he builds his wall like he built Trump Tower, he will be using illegal immigrant labor to do it. After the two rambled simultaneously for a while, Rubio s CPU (or adrenaline) kicked into overdrive, he dropped the hammer: Here s a guy who inherited 200 million dollars. If he hadn t inherited $200 million, you know where he d be right now? Selling watches in Midtown. We won t spoil the rest of it for you. This is one of those things that you have to see for yourself, which you can do below:(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Trump Gets WRECKED For American Jobs HypocrisyDonald Trump got destroyed at the #GOPDebate by RoboRubio over this looks like somebody on Rubio's campaign finally updated him to Windows 10.Posted by Americans Against The Republican Party on Thursday, February 25, 2016Featured image via screen capture | 0 | [
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FMD856 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The idea of a Donald Trump presidency has been terrifying from the second he rode down that escalator and announced that he was running for president. However, his behavior in recent weeks has been so completely unhinged that people on both sides of the political aisle have been questioning his mental stability. Even the sitting president did something completely unprecedented and came out and said that Trump is quote, unfit to serve as president. Now, a Democratic congresswoman from California, Karen Bass, has done what no one has had the courage to do, and started a Change.org petition calling for Donald Trump to undergo a mental health evaluation. Bass, who had a career in healthcare prior to running for office, says of her decision to move forward with what is surely to be a controversial move regarding the other party s standard-bearer in her petition: Donald Trump is dangerous for our country. His impulsiveness and lack of control over his own emotions are of concern. It is our patriotic duty to raise the question of his mental stability to be the commander in chief and leader of the free world.Mr. Trump appears to exhibit all the symptoms of the mental disorder Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Mental health professionals need to come forward and urge the Republican party to insist that their nominee has an evaluation to determine his mental fitness for the job. Also, in case people had any doubt about what Narcissistic Personality Disorder is and how Trump fits the profile, Rep. Bass laid all of that out as well. From The Hill:In her petition, Bass laid out the nine symptoms of NPD, which are a grandiose sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, a belief that he or she is special and can only be understood by others with a similar status, a requirement of excessive admiration, a sense of entitlement, interpersonal exploitation, lack of empathy, envy of others and arrogant or haughty behavior.Well, that definitely describes Trump s public behavior to the letter, and therefore Rep. Bass s request is completely justified. Hopefully, the GOP leadership heeds this warning and even if it is done privately has Trump evaluated, if for no other reason than the fact that they actually care about the American people they represent.You can sign this very important petition here at Change.org.Featured image via Joshua Lott/Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD857 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo said on Saturday he sent a letter to Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani and Iranian leaders expressing concern regarding Iran s increasingly threatening behavior in Iraq. Speaking during a panel at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Southern California, Pompeo said he sent the letter after the senior Iranian military commander had indicated that forces under his control might attack U.S. forces in Iraq. He did not specify the date. What we were communicating to him in that letter was that we will hold he and Iran accountable for any attacks on American interests in Iraq by forces that are under their control, Pompeo told the panel. We wanted to make sure he and the leadership in Iran understood that in a way that was crystal clear. Soleimani, who is the commander of foreign operations for Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards, refused to open the letter, according to Pompeo, who took over the CIA in January. Iranian media earlier quoted Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, a senior aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying an unnamed CIA contact had tried to give a letter to Soleimani when he was in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal in November during the fighting against Islamic State. I will not take your letter nor read it and I have nothing to say to these people, Golpayegani quoted Soleimani as saying, according to the semi-official news agency Fars. Reuters reported in October that Soleimani had repeatedly warned Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq to withdraw from the oil city of Kirkuk or face an onslaught by Iraqi forces and allied Iranian-backed fighters, and had traveled to Iraq s Kurdistan region to meet Kurdish leaders. The presence of Soleimani on the frontlines highlights Tehran s heavy sway over policy in Iraq, and comes as Shi ite Iran seeks to win a proxy war in the Middle East with its regional rival and U.S. ally, Sunni Saudi Arabia. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and is often in proximity to Iran-allied militia fighting Isis there. You need to only look to the past few weeks and the efforts of the Iranians to exert influence now in Northern Iraq in addition to other places in Iraq to see that Iranian efforts to be the hegemonic power throughout the Middle East continues to increase, Pompeo said. The CIA chief said Saudi Arabia had grown more willing to share intelligence with other Middle Eastern nations regarding Iran and Islamist extremism. The Israeli government said last month that Israel had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran, a first disclosure by a senior official from either country of long-rumored secret dealings. We ve seen them work with the Israelis to push back against terrorism throughout the Middle East, to the extent we can continue to develop those relationships and work alongside them | 1 | [
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FMD858 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did the 'Black and Red Ants in a Jar' Quote Come from David Attenborough? Claim summaries: This ant quote gets shared one by one, hoorah? Hoorah?
contextual information: In June 2021, a quote ostensibly uttered by famed naturalist David Attenborough about black and red antswas shared around social media. Attenborough supposedly said: If you collect 100 black ants and 100 fire ants and put them in a glass jar nothing will happen. But if you take the jar, shake it violently and leave it on the table, the ants will start killing each other. Reds believe that black is the enemy, while black believes that red is the enemy, when the real enemy is the person who shook the jar. The same is true in society. Men vs WomenBlack vs WhiteFaith vs ScienceYoungs vs Oldetc... Before we fight each other, we must ask ourselves: Who rocked the jar? While this quote may ring true to some readers, two things need to be considered. First, this quote did not come from Attenborough. And two, we are unaware of any scientific experiment that showed how red and black ants would co-exist in a glass jar until the jar was shaken. Attenborough This viral quote appears to have been inspired by a passage from author Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel "Cat's Cradle." Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel "Cat's Cradle." "I can't remember what all Frank had fighting in the jar that day, but I can remember other bug fights we staged later on: one stag beetle against a hundred red ants, one centipede against three spiders, red ants against black ants. They won't fight unless you keep shaking the jar. And that's what Frank was doing, shaking, shaking the jar." The earliest iteration that we could find of this viral message comes from an Oct. 3, 2020 Facebook post. That version did not credit Attenborough or provide any links directing to any sort of studies about red and black ants in a jar. Other posts from this time also credited an "unknown" or "anonymous" source. Attenborough's name wasn't attributed to this post until several months later. We have not been able to find any credible sources attributing this quote to Attenborough. And while we have found plenty of videos of Attenborough talking about ants, we have not found anything specifically about red ants and black ants co-existing in a jar until someone shakes it.It is relatively common on social media to see a famous person's name erroneously attached to a quote from a lesser-known or anonymous author. This appears to lend credibility to the writing, which in turn leads to an increase in shares. | 0 | [
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FMD859 | 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: Texas Maternal Mortality Rate Doubles After Reproductive Health Restrictions? Claim summaries: A September 2016 study demonstrated a higher than expected maternal mortality rate in Texas, but researchers couldn't determine whether reproductive health funding cuts were responsible for that uptick.
contextual information: On 20 August 2016, the UK newspaper The Guardian (among others) published an article about a September 2016 study suggesting that the maternal mortality rate in Texas had doubled in recent years (outstripping that of countries with overall poorer health outcomes): article The rate of Texas women who died from complications related to pregnancy doubled from 2010 to 2014, a new study has found, for an estimated maternal mortality rate that is unmatched in any other state and the rest of the developed world. The finding comes from a report, appearing in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, that the maternal mortality rate in the United States increased between 2000 and 2014, even while the rest of the world succeeded in reducing its rate. Excluding California, where maternal mortality declined, and Texas, where it surged, the estimated number of maternal deaths per 100,000 births rose to 23.8 in 2014 from 18.8 in 2000 or about 27%. But the report singled out Texas for special concern, saying the doubling of mortality rates in a two-year period was hard to explain in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval. From 2000 to the end of 2010, Texass estimated maternal mortality rate hovered between 17.7 and 18.6 per 100,000 births. But after 2010, that rate had leaped to 33 deaths per 100,000, and in 2014 it was 35.8. Between 2010 and 2014, more than 600 women died for reasons related to their pregnancies. No other state saw a comparable increase. The article noted that reproductive health advocates placed the blame squarely on Texas' unique targeting of reproductive health centers and practices, citing budget cuts, atypically strict reproductive health laws and efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, along with the vast size of the state (which made it difficult for many women to cross state lines to obtain gynecological care unavailable in Texas): strict defund In the wake of the report, reproductive health advocates are blaming the increase on Republican-led budget cuts that decimated the ranks of Texass reproductive healthcare clinics. In 2011, just as the spike began, the Texas state legislature cut $73.6m from the states family planning budget of $111.5m. The two-thirds cut forced more than 80 family planning clinics to shut down across the state. The remaining clinics managed to provide services such as low-cost or free birth control, cancer screenings and well-woman exams to only half as many women as before. Not everyone was convinced the ostensible cause and effect was so clear cut, as noted in a Townhall piece holding that conclusions about Texas' legislative efforts were politically motivated and contradicted by data: piece Apparently, the researchers did some adjusting of their own. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), maternal mortality rates have been alarmingly increasing for years. That modest increase, lead researcher Marian MacDorman imagines, was a huge increase. In 2000, the MMR was 10.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (equating to 30 tragic deaths). By 2009, this rate had nearly tripled to 28.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (resulting in 116 deaths). Thats a modest increase? In 2010, the MMR actually decreased to 24.6. Then, MacDorman et al claimed: Texas had a sudden increase in 2011-2012. If by sudden they mean over ten years of significant increases ... sure. They completely ignored the fact that from 2010 to 2011, the MMR rose from 24.6 to 30.7 (an increase of about 25 percent). From 2011 to 2012, the increase was only 3%, rising to a rate of 31.6 ... not doubling! That didn't stop Slate.com and a host of media outlets from declaring: After Texas Slashed Its Family Planning Budget, Maternal Deaths Almost Doubled. In 2013 it rose another 25 percent to 39.5 (claiming the lives of 153 women). Heres the clincher, though. Texas MMR dropped in 2014 in rate and total maternal deaths. Neither the peer-reviewed study nor any of the leftists in the news media mention this. Both items cited the study, titled "Recent Increases in the U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate" published [PDF] in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. Both the study's title and its objective described a nationwide focus on maternal mortality: PDF To develop methods for trend analysis of vital statistics maternal mortality data, taking into account changes in pregnancy question formats over time and between states, and to provide an overview of U.S. maternal mortality trends from 2000 to 2014. Similarly, its conclusion singled out no state by name and made no specific reference to Texas: Despite the United Nations Millennium Development Goal for a 75% reduction in maternal mortality by 2015, the estimated maternal mortality rate for 48 states and Washington, DC, increased from 2000 to 2014; the international trend was in the opposite direction. There is a need to redouble efforts to prevent maternal deaths and improve maternity care for the 4 million U.S. women giving birth each year. Texas' second namecheck in the study was benign, noting that the overall rate of maternal mortality was so low that only California and Texas served as sources of by-state data due not to their specific outcomes, but to the size of their populations: It would be preferable to analyze data individually for each state; however, maternal death is a rare event, and the number of cases (396 U.S. deaths in 2000 and 856 in 2014) was not sufficient to support individual state analysis for all but the most populous states (California and Texas). But the "Results" portion of the introductory page noted that California's and Texas' statistics trended differently and provided a primary finding that colored media coverage of the findings: The estimated maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) for 48 states and Washington, DC (excluding California and Texas, analyzed separately) increased by 26.6%, from 18.8 in 2000 to 23.8 in 2014. California showed a declining trend, whereas Texas had a sudden increase in 20112012. Analysis of the measurement change suggests that U.S. rates in the early 2000s were higher than previously reported. Much of the research hinged on pinpointing and adjusting for what was described as "the pregnancy question" (which was "added to the 2003 revision of the U.S. standard death certificate"), defined by the World Health Organization as death certificate language recording "The death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes." The WHO also provided for late maternal deaths via a separate but similar checkbox: "The death of a woman from direct or indirect obstetric causes more than 42 days but less than 1 year after termination of pregnancy." Although the phrasing "termination of pregnancy" typically is understood to mean "an abortion" in layman's speech, the researchers and WHO used it to mean the end of a pregnancy via live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, or abortion. Researchers noted that state-by-state adoption of the pregnancy question vis a vis death records led to findings that required some adjustment to reach conclusions. While some states immediately adopted the guideline in 2003, others waited years. By January 2014, 44 states and the District of Columbia included the question on their death certificates; that incongruous state-by-state data pool led to efforts on the researchers' parts to calibrate the data and parse it. The study noted that Texas (which adopted the question in 2006) demonstrated results that led to "uncertainty" in the final report: California is the only state that revised their death certificate with a pregnancy question inconsistent with the U.S. standard. The California question only asks about pregnancies within the past year. In addition, there were changes over time in specific data provided by California to the National Center for Health Statistics for deaths at less than 42 days, making use of this measure impracticable. Thus, maternal and late maternal deaths were combined for the California trend analysis. Finally, we estimated maternal mortality rates for 48 states and the District of Columbia from 2000 to 2014. California and Texas were excluded from this estimation: California because it does not provide comparable data and Texas as a result of uncertainty regarding recent trends (see Results). In that section, researchers described Texas' atypical spike in maternal mortality and noted that the laws in question were not likely sufficient to account for the spike (referencing a "future study" to obtain more information on Texas): Texas had an unrevised question about pregnancies in the past 12 months and revised to the U.S. standard question in 2006. Adjusted maternal mortality rates for Texas show only a modest increase from 2000 to 2010, from a rate of 17.7 in 2000 to 18.6 in 2010. The slope of this regression line was 0.12 (95% CI 20.22 to 0.46) (564 maternal deaths and 4,246,835 live F4 births) (Fig. 4). However, after 2010, the reported maternal mortality rate for Texas doubled within a 2-year period to levels not seen in other U.S. states. Joinpoint trend analysis was done separately for the 20002010 and the 20112014 periods because the trends for these two periods differed widely. The Texas data are puzzling in that they show a modest increase in maternal mortality from 2000 to 2010 (slope 0.12) followed by a doubling within a 2- year period in the reported maternal mortality rate. In 2006, Texas revised its death certificate, including the addition of the U.S. standard pregnancy question, and also implemented an electronic death certificate. However, the 2006 changes did not appreciably affect the maternal mortality trend after adjustment, and the doubling in the rate occurred in 20112012. Texas cause-of-death data, like with data for most states, are coded at the National Center for Health Statistics, and this doubling in the rate was not found for other states. Communications with vital statistics personnel in Texas and at the National Center for Health Statistics did not identify any data processing or coding changes that would account for this rapid increase. There were some changes in the provision of womens health services in Texas from 2011 to 2015, including the closing of several womens health clinics. Still, in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval, the doubling of a mortality rate within a 2-year period in a state with almost 400,000 annual births seems unlikely. A future study will examine Texas data by raceethnicity and detailed causes of death to better understand this unusual finding. The study's introduction cited "[e]arlier studies [which] identified significant underreporting of maternal deaths in the National Vital Statistics System," reiterating in its "Discussion" section that variations by state impeded the research: For example, had the National Center for Health Statistics and the Texas vital statistics office both been publishing annual maternal mortality rates, the unusual findings from Texas for 20112014 would certainly have been investigated much sooner and in greater detail. The study noted that Texas demonstrated what appeared to be a spike in maternal mortality between 2011 and 2014, but researchers weren't yet confident that slashed funding for women's healthcare was primarily responsible for the change. Moreover, researchers mentioned widespread underreporting of maternal mortality across all states, positing it was "an international embarrassment that the United States, since 2007, has not been able to provide a national maternal mortality rate to international data repositories such as those run by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development." Study author Christine Morton told a reporter that the Texas-specific findings remained an unsolved puzzle: told I think everybody is at a loss to understand why Texas saw such an increase in maternal mortality rate. We posited that the documented changes in provisions in women's health services happened in this same time period, but it's hard to knowin the absence of in-depth case review of maternal mortality data in Texashow that lined up with those changes. As the Townhall columnist pointed out, Texas did demonstrate upticks in maternal mortality antedating 2011 clinic funding provisions. State data from 1970 to 2014 evidenced the 2011 to 2014 spike in maternal mortality but exhibited a maternal death rate (a number unaffected by the raw number of deaths or births in any given year) that didn't appear to correlate directly with changes in state laws. In 1970, the maternal death rate hovered at 0.3 per 1,000 live births, dropping to 0.1 in 1977 and remaining virtually static until it rose to 0.2 in 2003. That figure remained fairly constant until 2009, when it reached 0.3 at 116 deaths; 2011 saw identical numbers. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 respectively that rate was 0.3 (121 deaths), 0.4 (153 deaths), and 0.3 (139 deaths): data So the September 2016 study on the United States' maternal mortality rate published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology identified a steady increase in maternal deaths in Texas and cited state laws and funding as a potential (not proven) factor in that post-2011 uptick. But study authors bemoaned a lack of comprehensive record-keeping nationwide that impeded research, and the first year maternal deaths began increasing in Texas was 2003 (before clinics were affected by legislative efforts to reduce abortion). Bomberger, Ryan. "The Truth About Texas Maternal Mortality Rates and the Epic Defunding of Planned Parenthood."
Townhall. 26 August 2016. Goodwyn, Wade. "Texans Try to Repair Damage Wreaked Upon Family Planning Clinics."
NPR. 28 January 2016. MacDorman, Marian F. et.al. "Recent Increases in the U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate."
Obstetrics and Gynecology. September 2016. Peters, Adele. "Texas Has the Worst Maternal Mortality Rate in the Developed World."
Fast Company. 26 August 2016. Redden, Molly. "Texas Has Highest Maternal Mortality Rate in Developed World, Study Finds."
The Guardian. 20 August 2016. | 2 | [
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FMD860 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: She s travelling the world to promote her new Australian film, which tells the tale of an Indian boy adopted by Tasmanian parents.But Nicole Kidman found herself facing questions about the President-elect of the United States this week.During an interview with the BBC, the Oscar winner told journalist Victoria Derbyshire that Americans needed to support Donald Trump once he s in office.In the closing stages of an interview in which she had spoken at length about her new film Lion, the Oscar-winner was asked what she thought of Trump.Nicole, who has dual US and Australian citizenship, called on Americans to set aside the controversy surrounding the election and support the President-elect.- Daily Mail | 0 | [
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FMD861 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Trump create 11.6 million jobs in the U.S. economy amid the pandemic? Claim summaries: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence made the claim during a debate with Democratic rival U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.
contextual information: Voting in the 2020 U.S. Election may be over, but misinformation continues to circulate. Never stop fact-checking. Follow our post-election coverage here. Facing Democratic rival U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris in a debate in October 2020, Vice President Mike Pence attempted to credit his boss, President Donald Trump, for developing policies that helped rebound the economy after unprecedented losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, Pence stated that the U.S. workforce added millions of jobs since the early days of the outbreak because of Trump's fiscal and regulatory policies. He said, "We're going through a pandemic that lost 22 million jobs at the height; we've already added back 11.6 million jobs because we had a president who cut taxes, rolled back regulation, unleashed American energy, and fought for free and fair trade. [...] We literally have spared no expense to help the American people and the American worker through this." In other words, he claimed the Trump administration spearheaded a variety of initiatives that added 11.6 million jobs in the summer and fall of 2020, regaining nearly half of the roughly 22 million jobs lost at the start of the pandemic. The comment echoed multiple statements by Trump, in which he, too, attempted to praise the administration's successful balance of public health and economic interests. "Our strategy to kill the China virus has focused on protecting those at greatest risk while allowing younger and healthy Americans to safely return to work and school," he said in August. "We added 1.8 million new jobs in July, exceeding predictions for the third month in a row, and adding a total of over 9.3 million jobs since May." To determine the legitimacy of such assertions, we referred to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) "seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll," which is the standard measurement for determining how U.S. wage and salary jobs change over time. The payroll data are compiled monthly via a survey of about 145,000 businesses and government agencies across the country, excluding people who are self-employed or work for farms or private households. When a news story stated that, for instance, the economy added "661,000 new workers," that number typically referred to the month-to-month change in nonfarm payrolls—661,000 more jobs were added in September compared to August 2020. We obtained monthly nonfarm payroll data, which showed: According to our analysis of the month-by-month statistics, the economy tallied almost 1.4 million fewer jobs in March compared to February. Then, the recession deepened, and April recorded 20.8 million fewer jobs than the month prior—the steepest decline since the Great Depression. While Pence did not provide an explanation for his labor statistics at the debate, we assumed he was referencing the sum of job losses in March and April, showing employers cut about 22 million jobs during those two months, per the BLS data. After that, the country started a slow, steady recovery. The data show the following increases in job totals, all approximations, on a month-by-month basis: (We should note here that the monthly employment figures for August and September 2020 were both preliminary and subject to revision as of this writing.) Looking at the data, yes, about 11.4 million jobs were added to the U.S. economy between May and September, and the Trump administration's comments about the economy showing significant job growth since the early weeks of the pandemic were true at face value. However, that upward trend had little to do with the White House and everything to do with how businesses on a grand scale adapted to new rules on social distancing to curb the spread of the deadly virus. In March, for instance, California issued the first statewide "stay-at-home order," and New York City closed all non-essential businesses—both decisions that contributed to April's historic job loss. Then, over the weeks, employers developed plans for operating under public health officials' recommendations to curb the spread of COVID-19 and, as a result, were able to bring back workers who had been furloughed or reopen after a temporary shutdown. Those trends significantly impacted job growth in the U.S., not Trump. Additionally, a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan—which was developed by Congress, not the White House, via the March Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act—helped some small businesses bring back lost positions or keep workers who would otherwise have been laid off. That stimulus package's direct payments to Americans who earned $75,000 annually or less (or families that made up to $150,000 annually) may have also driven spending in the summer months and, consequently, kept some employers afloat after the initial shock to their profits earlier in the year. All of that said, no evidence showed that the Trump administration enacted policies—whether related to taxes or trade—that "added back" the jobs; rather, economic trends shifted from the early days of the outbreak during mass furloughs and business closures. Here's the bottom line: Presidential administrations often exaggerate their influence on the economy—especially when employment is showing somewhat positive signs—regardless of whether they're leading the country during a crisis like the COVID-19 outbreak or in comparatively normal times. As Neil Irwin wrote for The New York Times in January 2017, just days before Trump's inauguration: "The reality is that presidents have far less control over the economy than you might imagine. Presidential economic records are highly dependent on the dumb luck of where the nation is in the economic cycle. And the White House has no control over the demographic and technological forces that influence the economy." Additionally, the White House had little influence on how businesses quickly adapted to recommendations by public health officials to safely operate during the pandemic. For those reasons, we rate this claim a "Mixture" of truth and falsehoods. It was true that the country added back about half of the jobs lost during the early months of the pandemic, though it was a false misinterpretation of economic conditions to tie that job growth to Trump policies or to claim that he "cut taxes, rolled back regulation, unleashed American energy, and fought for free and fair trade," as Pence alleged, and that those moves directly added jobs. Here's video footage of Pence making the claim on the vice presidential debate stage, courtesy of C-SPAN: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4913299/user-clip-vp-pence-jobs-claim. Factba.se. "Press Conference: Donald Trump Holds A Coronavirus Pandemic Briefing In Bedminster - August 7, 2020." Accessed 9 October 2020. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "BLS Data Viewer." 9 October 2020. Reuters staff. "Timeline: How the Global Coronavirus Pandemic Unfolded." Accessed 12 October 2020. | 2 | [
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FMD862 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Philippines coast guard said on Friday it had rescued 252 passengers and crew, including an Australian and his Filipino wife, and recovered five dead people from a ferry that capsized east of the capital Manila. A Philippine vessel capsized on Thursday because of bad weather, highlighting frequent boat accidents in the Southeast Asian nation that is composed of more than 7,000 islands. The Philippine Coast Guard has confirmed five deaths while 252 passengers including an Australian and his Filipino wife, were rescued, said spokesman Captain Arm and Balilo. All the passengers and crew are accounted for but as I have said we will re-evaluate based on the claims of the families of the missing passengers, Balilo told Reuters. The vessel was carrying 257 passengers and crew. The boat left the port around 9 a.m. and capsized an hour later due to strong winds and giant waves. A survivor said the passengers panicked when the boat started to take in water and went to one side, causing the ferry to tilt and capsize. The others waited on top of the ship while it was sinking, but I didn t do that because I know the ship will break down and I want to avoid getting hurt by that, Rene Ebuenga, a rescued passenger told Reuters. That s dangerous and the big waves can slam debris to your body. The ferry capsized and sank about 5 miles off Quezon province, east of the capital on the main northern island of Luzon. The Philippine Coast Guard said it will conduct an inquiry to determine the cause of the incident and to verify possible oil spills. In 1987, nearly 5,000 people died in the world s worst peacetime shipping disaster when an overloaded passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro island in the central Philippines. Tropical storm Tembin, packing center winds of 80 kmh (49 mph), made landfall on the southern island of Mindanao early Friday. It weakened after hitting the land mass, the weather bureau said on Friday. But, the weather agency warned of extensive flooding and landslides until the storm exits the Philippines on Sunday. | 1 | [
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FMD863 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A secret cache of documents revealing the tax avoidance techniques used by some of the world s most elite politicians, leaders, and celebrities has been leaked to the press. Dubbed the Panama Papers the 11.5 million documents come from the servers of Mossack Fonseca, the fourth biggest offshore law firm in the world.The Panama Papers were leaked by an anonymous source to S ddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper. They were then shared with the UK Guardian and the BBC.Some revelations from the documents, according to The Guardian who describes them as an unprecedented leak :While legal, storing money offshore to avoid taxes has been a loophole exploited by the rich and well-connected in a way that drives average citizens and taxpayers insane. In the 2012 election, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was pilloried for moving money offshore to the Cayman Islands, in what was condemned as a way to avoid paying taxes.Corporations, of course, hide their funds offshore at an even larger scale than individual millionaires and billionaires. Apple, for instance, has been exposed for this practice. Apple keeps enough money offshore to avoid paying $59.2 billion in U.S. taxes it would otherwise be liable for if it kept that money in American accounts. Google kept $47 billion offshore, while Microsoft found a way to skip out on paying $34.5 billion in American taxes by keeping its money on foreign soil.This leak won t end offshore tax avoidance, but it may put more pressure on governments to close some of the loopholes the 1 percent is exploiting as the rest of us pay our bills.Featured image via Flickr | 0 | [
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FMD864 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The AP, CNN, People Magazine and other mainstream media, fake news outlets used pictures of the crowds at Obama s inauguration to compare to the crowd s at Trump s inauguration. The only problem is, the picture they used for Trump s inauguration crowd was taken before Trump s actual speech, where the crowds were much larger.Of course, there was never a comparison between Obama and George W. Bush s inauguration crowds, because instead of the full-blown media assassination attempt we see against President Trump, the post-inauguration media coverage was more like an all out effort to canonize Barack Obama by our sycophant media.The media completely ignored the fact that threats of violence were being made by Soros funded groups against Trump supporters since the day after the election. They ignored the open threats made against anyone who dared to attend Trump s inauguration.Anti-Trump rioters made good on their threats. They used human chains to lock visitors out of certain areas including check points where Trump supporters had to pass through in order to get to the inauguration and to the parade.Watch this husband and wife, as they are split up by human barricades. The husband manages to break through the barricade but the wife is trapped and unable to join him. (Does anyone remember seeing this on the news?):#Trump supporter gets past #DisruptJ20 barricade but couldn't get back to his wife #Inauguration pic.twitter.com/JFHOcgcT9c Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) January 20, 2017Fires were started everywhere on the streets. Rioters wearing black ski masks and carrying sledge hammers they used to bust out windows of banks and vehicles were roaming the streets as well.None of these threats existed prior to or during Obama s inauguration. It s pretty safe to say that angry Democrats and anarchists roaming the streets looking for trouble didn t make for the most family friendly environment. Many Trump supporters admitted they wouldn t attend the inauguration because they feared violence against them and their children. But the media just glossed over the fear factor created by the Left, and chalked it up to Trump s sudden (according to fake polls) unpopularity. Here are the propaganda photos used by the media to discredit Trump.Comparing the crowds at Donald Trump s and Barack Obama s inaugurations https://t.co/YysDewDB9N pic.twitter.com/myrXutzMpH NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) January 21, 2017For the record, here is an actual picture that was taken during Trump s inaugural speech. The mall appears to be jam packed with Trump supporters:Chris Wallace jumped on the mainstream media train this morning and attempted to discredit Trump and his Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Chris Wallace asked to have the picture comparing Trump and Obama s crowds up on the screen for the viewers to see before confronting Reince Priebus. Priebus responded, You re also not saying that that picture was taken before he even began speaking. Chris Wallace freaks, and asks to have the picture put back up again (which of course doesn t change what Priebus just said).Watch:Fox News Senior Political Analyst, who also attended the inauguration, tells a much different story than the one Wallace was trying to paint. Perhaps Wallace should have consulted with Hume, since they both work for the same network. Perhaps he should have asked about how the violent protesters affected the number of people who were actually able to make it to the inauguration. To be sure, Brit Hume was no cheerleader for Donald Trump leading up to the election, but at least he had the integrity to tell the truth about the deceitful media s attempt to prove Trump supporters have somehow magically deserted him.I was in the building at the bottom of picture on right yesterday. Shot was taken early, area was considerably fuller by time of speech. https://t.co/bzhWjm4alC Brit Hume (@brithume) January 22, 2017Brit Hume is also one of the only journalists to point out the seriousness of these violent rioters and says they need to be held responsible for the damage they did to other people s property:"Property damage is not violence" > Protesters who destroyed property on Inaug. Day part of well- organized group https://t.co/jdx0ta59Zt Brit Hume (@brithume) January 22, 2017 | 0 | [
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FMD865 | 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 propagation of malware is associated with the 'Be Like Bill' phenomena. Claim summaries: The "Be Like Bill" Facebook trend has annoyed some social media users, but there are no credible reports of its behaving maliciously.
contextual information: In January 2016, a Facebook trend most commonly referenced as "Be Like Bill" swept the social network. During that time, users initially posted comics in which a character named "Bill" served as a reinforcer of social media etiquette, before "Be Like Bill" generators enabled users to create personalized versions of the meme. As is often the case with items like "Be Like Bill" that appear seemingly from nowhere and go Facebook-wide, it wasn't long before people became suspicious of this Bill character and his purpose on their News Feeds. Soon after Bill became the meme of the day, a backlash against it began: one that first simply decried the "scolding" nature of the trend, then followed up with rumors that the ubiquitous comic was a vector for malware, information theft, or other undesirable outcomes. Scolding Bill proved so popular and omnipresent that multiple local news outlets carried reports about the potential dangers of creating a "Be Like Bill" meme. Missouri TV station KFVS, Kansas City station KCTV, and Washington, D.C., station WTTG generated concern with coverage about the specific comic, typically lumping it into the general category of "clickbait" and associating it with the risks of all unvetted apps. KFVS, KCTV, and WTTG noted that it's known as "clickbait," and if users haven't read the terms and conditions on the creator's website, the details may shock them. The company originally stated in its privacy terms, "You will allow us to use and edit your content with our service permanently, with no limit and no recovery." KFVS-TV also mentioned that, in some cases, content can contain viruses that can damage computers, misuse Facebook profiles in ways users might not know, or even attempt to steal credit card or bank account numbers. As the above-quoted material stated, Facebook has indeed presented a handy way for bad actors to engage in all sorts of unpleasant activities using compelling content. However, the "in some cases" outcomes described apply to malicious apps in general and not specifically to any known vulnerabilities linked to the "Be Like Bill" meme. Many articles cited existing Better Business Bureau warnings about rogue apps that predated "Be Like Bill" and referenced "clickbait," but the term was applied exceptionally broadly and not specifically to malware. In short, whether an item is clickbait itself has no bearing on its potential to cause harm to computers or accounts, and plenty of clickbait exists solely to drive traffic to various websites. Of additional interest was a widely reproduced excerpt from the Terms of Service of publisher Blobla (which offered a mechanism for customizing "Be Like Bob" memes) that purportedly stated end users agreed to "allow [Blobla] to use and edit your content with our service permanently, with no limit and no recovery." We were unable to verify that such language ever appeared in the agreement in question, and no such wording was in their agreement as of January 27, 2016. On that date, Chicago station WMAQ published an article reporting that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) didn't suggest "Be Like Bill" posed any specific threat to social media users and added that the President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois, Steve Bernas, had confirmed only that the BBB was looking into the meme (and keeping an eye out for impostors). According to the outlet, Blobla clarified that the generator didn't require Facebook authorizations of the sort generally associated with malware or rogue apps. However, the Better Business Bureau has not yet definitively ruled whether the generated memes pose a risk to users or their computers. The sensation's creator, Bloba, on the other hand, says they don't collect any data from users and their terms are the same as any others seen on Facebook. "First, our game Be Like Bill doesn't require users to authorize a Facebook app," a spokesperson for Bloba wrote in response. "Of course, if users want to share the results on Facebook, they must be logged in. However, we use the Facebook share dialog for users to share their results. It's very common... This doesn't allow us to collect any data from users' Facebook accounts." Blobla's creators also explained that the now-elided, widely cited verbiage ("permanently, no limit and no recovery") was poorly composed and pertained to unrelated functions that might have ended up on their website. "Second, we do not store any information about users on our servers, as stated in our Terms of Service," Bloba continued. "Third, the terms about our right to users' content pertain to posts on our website (a post may be a game like Be Like Bill, or a quiz, or a video...). Because our website has a function for normal users to create a post in other languages, we have removed that term to avoid misunderstanding." On January 29, 2016, BBB communications director Katherine Hutt clarified the bureau's stance on "Be Like Bill," due to the multiple news reports conflating their earlier "clickbait" warnings with that particular meme and generator: "We don't issue warnings about a specific company without investigating first." Finally, outlets devoted to more detailed reporting on online security (such as Sophos' Naked Security blog) haven't issued any warnings about "Be Like Bill" or the popular comic generator. No widespread reports of adverse outcomes have substantiated news affiliate speculation, and the bulk of "Be Like Bill"-themed reports focused on the general ability for malware to spread through apps, not on any reports definitively (or anecdotally) related to that meme specifically. While users might tire of seeing Bill across their feeds, he doesn't pose a threat beyond annoyance-free browsing. | 0 | [
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FMD866 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The man arrested by Miami Beach police Tuesday for allegedly threatening President-elect Donald Trump online is a member of a prominent northeast family close to Bill and Hillary Clinton. According to the Daily Mail, he once gave $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee.Suspect Dominic Puopolo Jr., 51, sat near Hillary Clinton when she delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Puopolo s mother, Sonia, who died in one of the jets that flew into the World Trade Center on 9-11.During that eulogy on Oct. 6, 2001 in Boston, the former presidential candidate referred to Dom Jr. s latest computer wizardry. The wizard is now being held in a Miami-Dade County jail after using Twitter to threaten Trump s life.Trump is scheduled to be sworn in Friday in Washington, D.C. as Puopolo remains incarcerated on a charge of threatening to harm a public servant.Puopolo reportedly admitted to posting a video to Twitter, saying: This is the 16th of January 2017, I will be at the review/ inauguration and I will kill President Trump, President elect Trump today. He was nabbed after leaving a Washington Avenue Subway sandwich shop about 4 p.m. Tuesday.Puopolo, however, may not be the average Trump hater. On various social media platforms, where he posts as JesusChrist1701, the computer consultant claims to have testified in terror cases as an expert witness in a German federal court in Hamburg from 2003 to 2008.He also says he served in the Navy.He once posted a photo of himself holding an image of his mother in front of a wall that sports a picture of him with Colin Powell and a famous shot of Ronald Reagan.Puopolo has published a number of pictures of outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry, whom he calls a friend. Daily Mail | 0 | [
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FMD867 | 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 Hillary Clinton Give 20% of United States' Uranium to Russia in Exchange for Clinton Foundation Donations? Claim summaries: Allegations of a "quid pro quo" deal giving Russia ownership of one-fifth of U.S. uranium deposits in exchange for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation are unsubstantiated.
contextual information: In the months leading up to the 2016 United States presidential election, stories abounded about the relationships between the Clinton Foundation and various foreign entities. May 2015 saw the publication of a book called Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, an expos of alleged Clinton Foundation corruption written by Peter Schweizer, a former Hoover Institution fellow and editor-at-large at the right-wing media company Breitbart. A chapter in the book suggests that the Clinton family and Russia each may have benefited from a "pay-for-play" scheme while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, involving the transfer of U.S. uranium reserves to the new Russian owners of an international mining operation in exchange for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton Foundation The mining company, Uranium One, was originally based in South Africa, but merged in 2007 with Canada-based UrAsia Energy. Shareholders there retained a controlling interest until 2010, when Russia's nuclear agency, Rosatom, completed purchase of a 51% stake. Hillary Clinton played a part in the transaction insofar as it involved the transfer of ownership of a material deemed important to national security uranium, amounting to one-fifth of U.S. reserves (a fraction re-estimated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at closer to one-tenth of the United States' uranium production capacity in 2017) thus requiring the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), on which the U.S. Secretary of State sits. one-tenth During the same time frame that the acquisition took place, the Clinton Foundation accepted contributions from nine individuals associated with Uranium One totaling more than $100 million, Schweizer claimed in Clinton Cash. Among those who followed Schweizer in citing the transaction as an instance of alleged Clinton corruption was GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who said during a June 2016 speech in New York City: speech Hillary Clintons State Department approved the transfer of 20% of Americas uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. Trump's campaign repeated the allegation in a September 2016 press release, and again in an October 2016 television ad stating that Clinton "gave American uranium rights to the Russians": press release ad An image circulating via social media during the final months of the presidential campaign asked the question, "So Hillary, if Russia is such a threat, why did you sell them 20% of our uranium? Are you a liar, or a traitor, or both?" The Uranium One Deal Was Not Clinton's to Veto or ApproveAmong the ways these accusations stray from the facts is in attributing a power of veto or approval to Secretary Clinton that she simply did not have. Clinton was one of nine cabinet members and department heads that sit on the CFIUS, and the secretary of the treasury is its chairperson. CFIUS members are collectively charged with evaluating proposed foreign acquisitions for potential national security issues, then turning their findings over to the president. By law, the committee can't veto a transaction; only the president can. nine law All nine federal agencies were required to approve the Uranium One transaction before it could go forward. According to The New York Times, Clinton may not have even directly participated in the decision. Then-Assistant Secretary of State Jose Fernandez, whose job it was to represent the State Dept. on CFIUS, said Clinton "never intervened" in committee matters. Clinton herself has said she wasn't personally involved. said said There Is No Evidence That Uranium Went to Russia That a change of company ownership occurred doesn't mean that 10 to 20 percent of America's uranium literally went to Russia. Neither Uranium One nor ARMZ (Rosatom's mining subsidiary) is licensed to export uranium from the U.S. to other countries. Some exports did occur, however. A 2015 letter from NRC official Mark Satorius to a member of Congress revealed that an unspecified amount of yellowcake (semi-processed) uranium was shipped from a Uranium One facility in Wyoming to Canada between 2012 and 2014 for conversion (additional processing to prepare it for enrichment). A portion of that uranium was subsequently shipped to enrichment plants in Europe. letter The transfers to Canada were legal despite Uranium One's not holding an export license because the NRC granted such a license to the company that transported it. The transfers to Europe were legal because they were approved by another agency, the U.S. Dept. of Energy. Satorius stressed that the transfers were subject to NRC oversight and all applicable safety and national security regulations: Before issuing this license amendment to RSB Logistics Services or any other export license or license amendment the NRC must determine that the proposed export is not inimical to the common defense and security of the United States. Under existing NRC regulations, this means that any uranium proposed to be exported to any country for use in nuclear fuel would be subject to the Atomic Energy Act Section 123 agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and that other country and confirmed in case-specific, government-to government assurances for each export license. The receiving country is required to commit to use the material only for peaceful purposes (not for development of any nuclear explosive device), to maintain adequate physical protection, and not to retransfer the material to a third country or alter it in form or content without the prior consent of the U.S. The transfer of the U.S.-supplied uranium from Canada to Europe noted above also was subject to applicable Section 123 agreements. Additionally, a small amount of that exported uranium was, in fact, sold to other countries. According to a 2 November 2017 article in The Hill, Uranium One officials acknowledged that approximately 25 percent of the yellowcake exported for conversion was subsequently sold via "book transfer" to customers in Western Europe and Asia (yellowcake being a fungible commodity, that doesn't necessarily translate to a physical transfer of the product, however). article To date, there is no evidence that any of this uranium made its way to Russia. An NRC spokesman cited by FactCheck.org in October 2017 reaffirmed Satorius's assurances that "the U.S. government has not authorized any country to re-transfer U.S. uranium to Russia." NRC officials also say they're unaware of any Uranium One exports from the U.S. to foreign countries since 2014. cited The Timing of Most of the Clinton Foundation Donations Does Not MatchOf the $145 million allegedly contributed to the Clinton Foundation by Uranium One investors, the lion's share $131.3 million came from a single donor, Frank Giustra, the company's Canadian founder. But Giustra sold off his entire stake in the company in 2007, three years before the Russia deal and at least 18 months before Clinton became secretary of state. came sold off Of the remaining individuals connected with Uranium One who donated to the Clinton Foundation, only one was found to have contributed during the same time frame that the deal was taking place, according to The New York Times Ian Telfer (also a Canadian), the company's chairman: according His donations through the Fernwood Foundation included $1 million reported in 2009, the year his company appealed to the American Embassy to help it keep its mines in Kazakhstan; $250,000 in 2010, the year the Russians sought majority control; as well as $600,000 in 2011 and $500,000 in 2012. Mr. Telfer said that his donations had nothing to do with his business dealings, and that he had never discussed Uranium One with Mr. or Mrs. Clinton. He said he had given the money because he wanted to support Mr. Giustra's charitable endeavors with Mr. Clinton. "Frank and I have been friends and business partners for almost 20 years," he said. In addition to the Clinton Foundation donations, the New York Times also cited a $500,000 speaking fee paid to former president Bill Clinton by a Russian investment bank in June 2010, before the Uranium One deal was approved: The $500,000 fee among Mr. Clinton's highest was paid by Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank with ties to the Kremlin that has invited world leaders, including Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, to speak at its investor conferences. Renaissance Capital analysts talked up Uranium One's stock, assigning it a "buy" rating and saying in a July 2010 research report that it was "the best play" in the uranium markets. The timing of Telfers Clinton Foundation donations and Bill Clinton's Renaissance Capital speaking fee might be questionable if there was reason to believe that Hillary Clinton was instrumental in the approval of the deal with Russia, but all the evidence points to the contrary that Clinton did not play a pivotal role, and, in fact, may not have played any role at all. Moreover, neither Clinton nor her department possessed sole power of approval over said transaction. Foundation Admits to Disclosure MistakesOne fault investigations into the Clinton Foundation's practices did find was that not all of the donations were properly disclosed specifically, those of Uranium One Chairman Ian Telfer between 2009 and 2012. The foundation admitted this shortcoming and pledged to correct it, but as the Guardian pointed out in its May 2015 discussion of Clinton Cash, the fact that it happened is reason enough to sound alarm bells: pledged discussion It is also true that large donations to the foundation from the chairman of Uranium One, Ian Telfer, at around the time of the Russian purchase of the company and while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, were never disclosed to the public. The multimillion sums were channeled through a subsidiary of the Clinton Foundation, CGSCI, which did not reveal its individual donors. Such awkward collisions between Bills fundraising activities and Hillarys public service have raised concerns not just among those who might be dismissed as part of a vast right-wing conspiracy. An enormous volume of interest and speculation surrounds the workings of the Clinton Foundation, which is to be expected. Given the enormous sums of money it controls and the fact that it is run by a former U.S. president who is married to a former U.S. secretary of state and presidential candidate, the foundation deserves all the scrutiny it gets, and more. At the same time, for the sake of accuracy it's crucial to differentiate between partisan accusations and what we actually know about it however little that may be. Update On 17 October 2017, The Hill reported obtaining evidence that Vadim Mikerin, a Russian official who oversaw the American operations of the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, was being investigated for corruption by multiple U.S. agencies while the Uranium One deal was up for approval information that apparently was not shared with U.S. officials involved in approving the transaction. The Hill also reported receiving documents and eyewitness testimony "indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clintons charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow," although no specifics about who those Russian nuclear officials were or how the money was allegedly routed to the Clinton Foundation were given. In any case, none of these revelations prove that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participated in a quid pro quo agreement to accept payment for approval of the Uranium One deal. reported On 24 October 2017, the U.S. House intelligence and oversight committees announced the launch of a joint investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Russian purchase of Uranium One. announced Becker, Jo and McIntire, Mike."Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal."
The New York Times.23 April 2015. Becker, Jo and Van Natta Jr., Don."After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton."
The New York Times.31 January 2008. Diamond, Jeremy and Collinson, Stephen."Trump: Clinton Is a 'World-Class Liar.'"
CNN.22 June 2016. Giustra, Frank."Statement of Frank Giustra."
Geo.ca.25 April 2015. Grimaldi, James V., Ballhaus, Rebecca, and Nicholas, Peter."Gifts to Hillary Clintons Family Charity Are Scrutinized in Wake of Book."
The Wall Street Journal.22 April 2015. Herb, Jeremy. "House Republicans Investigating Obama-Era Uranium Deal."
CNN. 24 October 2017. Hirsh, Michael."Bill and Hillary's Excellent Adventure."
Politico.25 April 2015. Kessler, Glenn. "The Repeated, Incorrect Claim that Russia Obtained '20 Percent' of Our Uranium."
The Washington Post. 31 October 2017. Kiely, Eugene. "The Facts on Uranium One."
FactCheck.org. 1 November 2017. McElveen, Josh. "CloseUP Rewind: Hillary Clinton's First 1-on-1 Interview Since Declaring."
WMUR. 27 July 2016. Pilkington, Ed."Clinton Cash: Errors Dog Bill and Hillary Expos but Is There any 'There' There?"
The Guardian.5 May 2015. Qiu, Linda. "Donald Trump Inaccurately Suggests Clinton Got Paid to Approve Russia Uranium Deal."
PolitiFact.30 June 2016. Robertson, Lori."Fact Check: Trump's False 'Corruption' Claim."
NBC News.25 October 2015. Solomon, John and Spann, Alison. "FBI Uncovered Russian Bribery Plot Before Obama Administration Approved Controversial Nuclear Deal with Moscow."
The Hill. 17 October 2017. Solomon, John and Spann, Alison. "Uranium One Deal Led to Some Exports to Europe, Memos Show."
The Hill. 2 November 2017. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "NRC Approves Transfer of Control of Uranium Recovery Licenses to Russian Firm."
24 November 2010. U.S. Dept. of Treasury."The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)."
20 December 2012. Updated [17 October 2017]: Added synopsis of new reportage by The Hill. Updated [1 November 2017]: Added clarifications, more sources, and the announcement of a congressional investigation. Correction [16 November 2017]: Previous versions of this article incorrectly stated that no Uranium One-produced uranium had been exported to foreign countries. | 0 | [
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FMD868 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald J. Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to comment on the news that a cousin of Dwyane Wade, the N. B. A. star, had been shot and killed in Chicago, linking the death to his effort to win support from voters. “Dwayne Wade’s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago,†Mr. Trump wrote, misspelling Mr. Wade’s given name, which was later corrected. “Just what I have been saying. will VOTE TRUMP!†Mr. Trump, who initially did not express sympathy for the family of the slain woman, Nykea Aldridge, later in the day posted a Twitter message offering his condolences. Mr. Trump has been courting voters by painting a dire picture of life in minority communities, one troubled by poverty, violence and dysfunction, especially in “inner cities. †His case to black voters is that minority communities have suffered because of failed Democratic policies, and that they should support his candidacy. “What the hell do you have to lose?†he has said frequently over the past week in a rhetorical question aimed at . He has paid particular attention to Chicago, a city plagued by a seemingly endless spate of shootings and gun violence. Mr. Trump has had a penchant for using tragedies to illustrate his campaign’s message. After the June attack in an Orlando nightclub, Mr. Trump wrote: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness vigilance. We must be smart!†His comments regarding the Wade family drew near instant condemnation on social media, though the Wade family had not released a statement in response to Mr. Trump’s message. | 1 | [
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FMD869 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, lashed out on Tuesday at reports he was wiretapped by federal authorities, and his spokesman sent out a statement demanding a leaks probe and suggesting the surveillance was politically motivated. The statement issued by spokesman Jason Maloni on behalf of Manafort came a day after CNN reported that a secret court had authorized surveillance of Manafort under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), under which Americans can be targeted if they are suspected of acting as an agent of a foreign country. Manafort became Trump’s campaign manager in June 2016 but was forced to resign two months later amid reports of his business relationship with the Kremlin-backed former Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovich. Manafort is being investigated as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The court initially authorized FISA surveillance of Manafort in 2014 but that lapsed in 2016 for lack of evidence, CNN reported. FISA surveillance resumed later in 2016 and continued into 2017 as part of the FBI’s probe into ties between Trump campaign associates and Russian operatives, CNN said. “If true, it is a felony to reveal the existence of a FISA warrant, regardless of the fact that no charges ever emerged,†Maloni said in the statement on behalf of Manafort. “The U.S. Department of Justice’s Inspector General should immediately conduct an investigation into these leaks and to examine the motivations behind a previous administration’s effort to surveil a political opponent,†he said. The special counsel’s office and the FBI both declined to comment on Maloni’s statement. They also did not comment on CNN’s original report about surveillance of Manafort. Maloni urged the Justice Department to release any intercepts between Manafort and any non-Americans so people “can come to the same conclusion as the DOJ (Justice Department) | 1 | [
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FMD870 | 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 Really Donald Trump's Inauguration Poem? Claim summaries: A poem inspired by Donald Trump's inauguration was widely shared as if it were the official poem for the event. It is not.
contextual information: On 17 January 2017, the web site The Independent published an article about a poem written by Joseph Charles McKenzie which praised President-elect Donald Trump, described the future First Lady as "Melania the Fair," and described Trump's predecessor (Barack Obama) as a tyrant: published Come out for the Domhnall, ye brave men and proud,The scion of Torquil and best of MacLeod!With purpose and strength he came down from his towerTo snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power.Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd:Come out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! When freedom is threatened by slaverys chainsAnd voices are silenced as misery reigns,Well come out for a leader whose courage is trueWhose virtues are solid and long overdue.For, hell never forget us, we men of the crowdWho elected the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! When crippling corruption polluted our nationAnd plunged our economy into stagnation,As self-righteous rogues took the opulent officeAnd plump politicians reneged on their promise,The forgotten continued to form a great crowdThat defended the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! The Domhnalls a giver whilst others just take,Neer gaining from that which his hands did not make.A builder of buildings, employing good men,Hes enriched many cities by factors of ten.The honest and true gladly march with the crowdStanding up for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! True friend of the migrant from both far and near,He welcomes the worthy, but guards our frontier,Lest a murderous horde, for whom hell is the norm,Should threaten our lives and our nation deform.We immigrants hasten to swell the great crowdComing out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! Academe now lies dead, the old order rots,No longer policing our words and our thoughts;Its ignorant hirelings pretending to teachAre backward in vision, sophomoric in speech.Now we learnd of mind add ourselves to the crowdThat cheers on the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! The black man, forgotten, in poverty dying,The poor man, the sick man, with young children crying,The soldier abroad and the mother who waits,The young without work or behind prison gates,The veterans, wounded, all welcome the crowdThat fights for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! Whilst hapless old harridans flapping their trapsTeach women to look and behave like us chaps,The Domhnall defends the defenseless forlorn;For, a womans first right is the right to be born.Now the bonnie young lassies that fly to the crowdHave a champion in Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! But for all his great wisdom, the braw gallant manIs matched by his children, the handsome Trump clan,And the flower of Europe, Melania the fair,Adds a luster and grace with her long flowing hair.May they flourish and prosper to form a great crowdAround the good Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! Is there man left in Scotland, without base alloy,Who remembers the Wallace, the Bruce, or Rob Roy?Or have five hundred years of a blasphemous lieRobbed your manhood of might that you lay down and die?Get up and walk free, all ye brave men and proud!Long life to the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! Although this article was published under the headline "Poem celebrating Donald Trump inauguration describes Barack Obama as a 'tyrant,'" The Independent used a more sensational (and less factual) title when they shared this item on social media "Donald Trump to pay tribute to British heritage at inauguration with poem about Scotland": L Several other publications also shared this poem in articles claiming that it was "Donald Trump's inauguration poem," misleading readers into believing that this poem would actually be read at the inaugural event. Paper Magazine, for instance, reported that this was the "official poem for President-elect Trump's inauguration:" articles claiming reported The official poem for President-elect Trump's inauguration celebrates the Trump clan's Scottish roots (his mother, Mary Anne Macleod was born and raised in Scotland till she was 18) while taking time to exalt Trump to Christ status, and call President Obama a "tyrant." However, this poem is not an "official" selection for Trump's inauguration, nor was it commissioned by the president-elect. The text of the The Independent's article explained that this poem was merely inspired by Trump's election: The poem, which was not commissioned by Mr Trump or his transition team, refers to snatching power from a tyrant who has ill-gotten power. It was written by celebrated American poet Joseph Charles McKenzie of the Society of Classical Poets. The group said the inspiration behind the poem is to touch on the classical poetry existing throughout American history, and the inauguration poem marks important moments in US political history". This "inauguration" poem was first published by the web site ClassicPoets.org on 15 January 2017. The group did not claim that the poem would be read at the inauguration, but their version of the poem was accompanied by instructions for how the it would theoretically be presented if it were used at the inauguration: published The refrains at the end of each stanza are to be recited by the Inaugural crowd. A Pibroch is a rallying bagpipe tune and is pronounced like PEA-brohgh. Domhnall, the Scottish form of the name Donald, is pronounced like TONE-all Torquil was the royal progenitor of the MacLeods of Lewis, the outer hebridean island and birthplace of President Trumps immigrant mother, Mary Anne MacLeod. When the group shared the poem on Facebook, the lyric was accompanied by a message imploring Trump to include the poem, making it clear that this poem had not been selected for this purpose in the first place: shared No Republican has had an inaugural poem. Trump should be the first... This poem is not listed in the schedule of events planned for the inauguration. listed When reached for comment, the Society of Classical Poets confirmed that this poem had not been chosen as the official poem of Donald Trump's inauguration: Right. Not official. We are just recommending it for the event. MacKenzie, Joseph. "Inaugural Poem for Donald J. Trump."
Classical Poets. 15 January 2017. | 0 | [
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FMD871 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Wow! Bernie and Hillary have been making hay over the Flint water crisis for months now, using the crisis to secure votes from the black community. Leftists have been converging on the city like rats in search of the last peice of cheese on earth and now we have proof that Obama s EPA knew about the crisis, but didn t think the people of Flint were worthy of protecting.An internal Environmental Protection Agency memo showed officials didn t think Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for while residents of the Michigan town drank lead-contaminated water.House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz presented an internal memo between the EPA official who oversees Michigan, a branch manager in the EPA s Region 5, the associate director of the water division for Region 5 and an EPA environmental engineer about the water crisis in Flint.In the memo, one of the officials it wasn t clear who based on the screen shown by Chaffetz said Flint wasn t worth helping. Perhaps she already knows all this, but I m not so sure Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for, the memo stated.Chaffetz was incredulous at the memo. Are you kidding me? he said, looking at Susan Hedman, the former director of EPA s Region 5, which oversees much of the Midwest including Michigan. Why isn t Flint the community they go to? Of all the communities, the community having trouble is the one you go all out for, Chaffetz said. Via: Washington Examiner | 0 | [
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FMD872 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: I'm so tired of all these psychotics babbling anti Trump Propaganda Fucking libtards are completely brainless.I don't like Trump. Never have. Never watched The Apprentice. Turned the channel every time he came on TV. He was like the Khardashians to me. Crass commercialism by a person who was neither talented nor interesting. But. I am sick of all this insane Bullshit. 1. He is not a racist. He has been a public figure for 50 freaking years and nobody ever said that until he runs for President. And we know that they call every Republican racist. So why the fuck are you repeating, it you brainless fucktard? Don't you know propaganda when you hear it?- building a wall and saying SOME Mexicans are criminals IS NOT RACIST. Some Mexicans are criminals. Just look at the Federal Prison stats, idiot.- saying we must ban Muslims UNTIL WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE AND WHY THEY ARE HERE is not racist. There are assholes walking into malls in Minneapolis now screaming 'Allah Ahkbar' as they stab my fellow Americans. They BLEW UP THE FUCKING BOSTON MARATHON. So take that 'Islamaphobia' propaganda and shove it up your fucking ass. - saying 'the mexican judge' who keeps ruling against me in a lawsuit is biased is not racist. The Fucker is part of LaRaza. The law firm that brought the suit is sending other La Raza lawyers into the court to try the case. That is a conflict of interest. And I don't care if the guy was born in fucking Illinois. There are all kind of guys I know, he was born in NY. He is still 'Irish' to me because his family was. Or 'Italian'. Or 'A Jew'. It's just a shorthand, especially used a lot by New Yorkers because everyone is something. 2. The sexual harassment crap is bullshit. The guy has been running for President for over a year. Not a tweet. Not a chirp. Then he whacks that fucking fat-ass midget with the mean streak and the history of documented lying who covered for her whore hopping scumbag husband for 30 years with it all, and suddenly Gloria Allred, A CLINTON DELEGATE TO THE DNC CONVENTION, starts popping up people from left field to make spurious claims out of the ass while CNN, run by MAJOR CLINTON SUPPORTER Zucker, shills for the whole thing. What are you fucking stupid eating that bullshit? You look like an idiot.3. Nuclear Codes. What a bunch of shit. First, Hillary is an old ill woman who has seizures, can't stand up, can't hear, and when she testifies before Congress claims she can't remember anything that happened. So....you are worried about Trump with the Nuclear Codes?Oh, yah, and she was Sect. of State exactly while the US policy in the Middle East went to shit, created ISIS and directly caused the greatest Human disaster since World War II which is now threatening to spread terrrorists all over Europe and the US. AND SHE IS COMPLETELY CLUELESS ABOUT IT. She will tell you that we need to be kind and nice to the religion of peace OR it will Cause Terrorism. Oh Ya? Well Obama did it your way...AND NOW PEOPLE ARE WALKING INTO MALLS IN MINNESOTA SCREAMING 'ALLAH AHKBAR' AS THEY STAB MY FELLOW AMERICANS.So, beside that what do we have? Your propaganda masters used to claim that the Republicans were all anti-gay christian bigots. Well, OBVIOUSLY NOT TRUMP. He is from New York. He bangs models. He used to hangout at Studio 54 in the coke and gay days. He knew Andy Warhol. Guy is middle of the road. Guy went to the Wharton School and has testified before Congress about Money Supply, Credit and Economics. Guy will fill his cabinet with the best people and run things like a CEO. Guy seems to care about Veteran Issues, Social Security and the safety net, healthcare. All the things you fugging libtards are usually all inflamed about. You are like Pavlov's dogs, sitting up on your hinds and barking on commands because your liberal propaganda masters tell you to. You are pathetic. You suck. You are a monumental asshole. Last Edited by Craazee8 on 10/26/2016 02:04 PM | 0 | [
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FMD873 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Democratic presidential candidates gave a cool reception on Sunday to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s potential independent White House run, with Bernie Sanders saying it would add another billionaire like Republican Donald Trump to the race. With eight days to go until Iowa holds the first nominating contest on the road to the Nov. 8 presidential election, Republican Senator Marco Rubio basked in the glow of an endorsement from the Des Moines Register, the state’s biggest newspaper. The weekend disclosure from a source close to the situation that Bloomberg is laying the groundwork for a run that he could launch should Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton falter, sent shock waves rippling through the entire presidential field. Sanders, a democratic socialist and Vermont senator who is threatening Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, told ABC’s “This Week†program that Bloomberg’s entry would add a second billionaire to the field. Trump, a real estate mogul, is leading the crowded Republican field. Sanders has railed against “millionaires and billionaires†and the political power they wield throughout his insurgent campaign for the Democratic nomination. “That is not what, to my view, American democracy is supposed to be about, a contest between billionaires. If that takes place, I am confident that we will win it,†Sanders said. Many analysts believe a Bloomberg entry into the race could siphon Democratic votes and be another blow to Clinton, a former secretary of state and the wife of former President Bill Clinton. An independent bid would be a heavy lift for Bloomberg. The last major third-party candidate, Ross Perot, won 18.9 percent of the vote in 1992, which some observers believe enabled Bill Clinton to defeat President George H.W. Bush. Hillary Clinton, who won the Register’s endorsement on the Democratic side on Saturday, said she expected to negate Bloomberg’s rationale for running. “He’s a good friend of mine and I am going to do the best I can that I get the nomination and we’ll go from there,†she told NBC’s “Meet the Press.†“The way I read what he said is that if I didn’t get the nomination, he would do it. ... I will relieve him of that,†she said. Bloomberg, 73, a media magnate who has long privately flirted with the idea of a presidential run, served as mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013. He switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent in 2007 and has spent millions in recent years on national campaigns to tighten U.S. gun laws and reform immigration. Trump noted that he and Bloomberg had differences on the issues of gun control and abortion and that he would love to run against him. Bloomberg favors preserving a woman’s right to an abortion. “I know Michael very well and would love to compete with him. He is very opposite from me on guns and pro-life. ... I would love to have Michael get in the race,†Trump told CNN. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told the ABC program that Bloomberg had been a “great mayor,†who was unlikely to get into the race unless Trump and Sanders were the parties’ nominees. “But that’s way off into the future,†Bush said. Rubio, at a town hall meeting in Marion, Iowa, brought up Bloomberg’s attempts for more gun control. He said he had been asked in a television interview to comment on Bloomberg’s potential candidacy. “I said he’s not a candidate. If he gets in, we’ll talk about his record and his hatred for the Second Amendment,†Rubio said, referring to the constitutional amendment granting Americans the right to bear arms. Bloomberg’s news service competes with Reuters. (Additional reporting by Julia Edwards in Washington; Editing by Paul Simao and Peter Cooney) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 1 | [
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FMD874 | 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 California declared that it intends to provide COVID-19 relief funds to undocumented residents while also laying off first responders? Claim summaries: A meme linked two separate events together to foment political controversy.
contextual information: Snopes is still fighting an infodemic of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and advice you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. fighting Find out Read Submit Become a Founding Member CDC WHO In late May 2020, social media users shared a meme that contained a misleading claim about the state of California. The meme said the state had announced it would give undocumented residents a stimulus payment on the same day it said it would lay off first responders due to diminished state funds resulting from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, implying the two events are causally linked. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on April 15, 2020, acknowledged undocumented residents paid $2.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2019. He then announced the state would draw up a total of $125 million sourced from charitable donations and taxpayer funds to provide $500 stimulus payments to those residents. That was because they didn't qualify to receive federal stimulus checks under the CARES Act, a relief package meant to blunt the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. acknowledged CARES Act This announcement was unrelated to another statement Newsom made more than a month later. In the latter, he urged the federal government to provide financial assistance to states and local governments struggling with economic shortfalls to their operating budgets due to forced business closures during the pandemic. In an interview on CNN on May 21, Newsom stated that without federal help, cities and counties may be forced to lay off first responders. interview "The next time they want to salute our heroes, our first responders, our police officers and firefighters, consider the fact that they are the first ones to be laid off by cities and counties," Newsom said when asked by CNN host Jake Tapper what would happen if the federal government failed to bail out states and local governments. "The folks who are out there, the true heroes of this pandemic, are health care workers and nurses. Those county health systems have been ravaged, their budgets have been devastated and depleted, the budget accounts depleted since this pandemic." Budgets that deal with first responders like police, firefighters, and paramedics are generally administered by local governments, meaning it would be cities and counties in California, not the state itself, that would have discretion over whether or when to cut those services. Furthermore, Newsom didn't "announce" such layoffs would take place; he simply suggested cuts may occur in the absence of intervention from the federal government to financially shore up local governments. As of late May, California was facing a $54 billion budget shortfall resulting from economic fallout of stay-at-home orders that forced shuttering of most commerce beginning in mid-March, in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease. The state one year earlier had a surplus of $21 billion. $54 billion In sum, Newsom didn't "announce" layoffs for first responders but instead projected that layoffs at the local level were a looming possibility. He also didn't make the statement on the same day that he announced California would commit $125 million ($75 million of which would come from taxpayers) to give undocumented state residents $500 stimulus payments. The two events are unrelated, although the meme attempted to link them causally. We therefore rate this claim Lightman, David."Fact Check: Gavin Newsom Warns of Layoffs for Police, Firefighters. Is He Exaggerating?"
Sacramento Bee.21 May 2020. CNN."Newsom Warns of Police, Fire Layoffs in California."
21 May 2020. Associated Press."California Announces $125 Million Fund for Undocumented Immigrants Impacted by Coronavirus."
15 April 2020. Associated Press."California Faces a Staggering $54 Billion Budget Deficit Due to Economic Devastation from Coronavirus."
7 May 2020. | 0 | [
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FMD875 | 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: Texas has outstripped the national poverty rate since at least 1959.
contextual information: Texas remains home to a greater share of people in poverty than the nation as a whole,Bee Moorheadwrote in a September 2015,oped articlein theAustin American-Statesman. Not news? Well, Moorhead, executive director of the Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy/Texas Impact, also wrote that according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, Texas once again outstripped the national poverty rate in 2014, as we have done since at least 1959. Thats 56 years--a long time to be better at poverty. We wondered. To our inquiry, Moorhead emailed us a spreadsheet,drawing on bureau figures, indicating that in select years, or each decade from 1959 through 2009, more Texans lived below the federal poverty level, by percentage, than Americans as a whole. According to the figures, which we confirmed on the bureau website, the share of Texans in poverty was greatest in 1959 31.7 percent, 9 percentage points greater than the 22.1 percent of Americans nationally in poverty. In the selected years, the smallest gap occurred in 1979 when 14.7 percent of Texans lived in poverty compared with 13.1 percent of Americans overall, according to the figures. Moorhead said she separately drew the 2014 Texas poverty rate (16.4 percent) from a chartfetchablefrom a bureau web page last updated Sept. 16, 2015. Nationally in 2014, the bureauannounced,the poverty rate was 14.8 percent, meaning 46.7 million people lived in poverty. Moorhead also pointed out abureau websiteenabling comparisons of poverty in a state to the nation each decade from 1960 through 2010, leading us to develop this Texas-U.S. comparison: SOURCE:Web page,Poverty Rates by County, 1960-2010,U.S. Census Bureau (accessed Oct. 7, 2015) Measuring poverty Through the bureau, the federal government has estimated residents living in poverty for more than 50 years, initially from a U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate of how much income that families under economic stress needed in order to put food on the table. How the government defines poverty has changed a bit over the years, but generally,the bureau says, it uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty. If a family's total income is less than the family's threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty. The thresholds dont vary by location, the bureau says, but are updated for inflation. The poverty definition rolls in income before taxes and does not include capital gains or noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps), the bureau says. Each years national poverty estimates derive from the bureaus Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, which surveys about 100,000 households a year, asking about income from more than 50 sources,according tothe bureau. An experts look Moorhead did not delve into poverty rates for every year from 1959 on, so we asked Daniel Dillon of the University of Texas Child and Family Research Partnership for a look. Drawing from CPS data, heput together a chartsuggesting the Texas poverty rate exceeded the national rate each year from 1959 through 2014. But Dillon and bureau spokesman Robert Bernstein told us that comparative year-by-year figures start only in 1980. Since 1980, Dillon summed up, the Texas poverty rate has generally bounced between 15 percent and 17 percent with a few exceptions. The fact that is it so consistent means that the rate of growth in the general population is basically on par with the rate of growth in the poor population. Sometimes they dont change at the same rate though, like after the recession, where the number of poor shot up but population growth was stable. This caused the poverty rate to increase. So the poverty rate is reflecting the interplay between total population change and poor population change, the latter of which is generally more affected by fluctuations in the economy. Big picture: The 4.4 million Texans in poverty in 2014 was double the 2.2 million residents in poverty in 1980,Dillon noted. In the period, the states total population increased 87 percent, escalating from 14.3 million to 26.7 million, he noted. Dillon pointed out there were times the gap between poverty in Texas and the nation narrowed, including 2014. Broadly, he wrote, the gap grew through the 1980s until about 1988, at which point it peaked at a difference of 5 percentage points. Then the gap began to narrow, he wrote, expanding and contracting every few years until 2010 when it began to close. In 2014, Texas had a poverty rate 1.6 percentage points above the national rate, Dillon said. Thats the closest we have been to the national rate since 1984, when the gap was 1.3 percentage points. Several factors, Dillon said, explain why Texas has consistently had a bigger chunk of residents in poverty than the nation on average. The state is home to a larger foreign-born population than most states and is one of a few minority-majority states in that non-Hispanic whites make up a minority of the residents, he wrote. In comparison to their numbers, minority groups in Texas tend to be overrepresented among the poor. Education level is also strongly linked to poverty status, and Texas is the near the bottom when it comes to the percentage of the adult population with a high school degree, Dillon said. Finally, Texas has a higher percentage of children than most states and child poverty has been on the rise. Today, a quarter of Texas children live below the poverty line. Dillon said the narrowing gap between the Texas and national poverty rates might be explained by the state generally growing faster than most states due both to new births and migration from other places. As long as the mix of people moving to Texas are more likely to be above the poverty line than below it, this will drive the poverty rate down. Similarly, if births to non-poor families outpace those to poor families, this will also drive the rate down, Dillon wrote. Another indicator We also askedLori Taylor, a Texas A&M University economist, to evaluate Moorheads claim. By phone, Taylor said that while its likely the Texas poverty rate has consistently outpaced the national rate, on average, its worth mention that the rate has always been calculated by assuming the same income levels put residents in poverty regardless of location. She said this has tended to lead to overstatements of people in poverty in lower cost-of-living parts of the country and understatements of residents in poverty in high-cost areas. Taylor and a colleague pointed out in aDecember 2014 articlethat in 2013, per the government's poverty threshold, a family of four with two children and a household income of $23,624 was classified as poor regardless of whether the family lived in rural Arkansas, where a typical two-bedroom apartment rents for less than $600, or in New York, where a two-bedroom apartment rents for more than $1,400. In the past few years, the census bureau has been developing its Supplemental Poverty Measure, which reaches its rates by taking into account regional differences in housing costs. And, Taylor noted, the bureaufound in its 2013 surveysthat Texas and the U.S. had the same 15.9 percent SPM rate. In contrast, the general 2013 poverty rate for the country was 14.8 percent and the Texas rate was 16.9 percent. By phone, Moorhead agreed that using a standard measure of poverty across the country is insufficient to characterize the complexity of regional economies. But the SPM is a new measure too, she said, and rates havent been calculated retroactively to cover nearly all the years included in her Texas-U.S. comparison. Our ruling Moorhead said Texas has outstripped the national poverty rate since at least 1959. Available poverty rates for select years through 1979 and for 1980 through 2014 back up this statement. Yet poverty rates dont appear to be available for many earlier years. Also, a new supplemental poverty measure makes a case for the same share of Texans and Americans lately living in poverty provided regional differences in housing costs are factored in. We rate this claim 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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FMD876 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race Julia Angwin and Terry Parris Jr., Pro Publica, October 28, 2016
Imagine if, during the Jim Crow era, a newspaper offered advertisers the option of placing ads only in copies that went to white readers.
That’s basically what Facebook is doing nowadays.
The ubiquitous social network not only allows advertisers to target users by their interests or background, it also gives advertisers the ability to exclude specific groups it calls “Ethnic Affinities.” Ads that exclude people based on race, gender and other sensitive factors are prohibited by federal law in housing and employment.
{snip}
The ad we purchased was targeted to Facebook members who were house hunting and excluded anyone with an “affinity” for African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic people. ( Here’s the ad itself .)
When we showed Facebook’s racial exclusion options to a prominent civil rights lawyer John Relman , he gasped and said, “This is horrifying. This is massively illegal. This is about as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find.”
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 makes it illegal “to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.” Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines .
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibits the “printing or publication of notices or advertisements indicating prohibited preference, limitation, specification or discrimination” in employment recruitment.
{snip}
Facebook says its policies prohibit advertisers from using the targeting options for discrimination, harassment, disparagement or predatory advertising practices.
“We take a strong stand against advertisers misusing our platform: Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law,” said Steve Satterfield, privacy and public policy manager at Facebook. “We take prompt enforcement action when we determine that ads violate our policies.”
{snip}
He said Facebook began offering the “Ethnic Affinity” categories within the past two years as part of a “multicultural advertising” effort.
Satterfield added that the “Ethnic Affinity” is not the same as race–which Facebook does not ask its members about. Facebook assigns members an “Ethnic Affinity” based on pages and posts they have liked or engaged with on Facebook.
When we asked why “Ethnic Affinity” was included in the “Demographics” category of its ad-targeting tool if it’s not a representation of demographics, Facebook responded that it plans to move “Ethnic Affinity” to another section.
Facebook declined to answer questions about why our housing ad excluding minority groups was approved 15 minutes after we placed the order.
{snip} | 0 | [
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FMD877 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: MANILA — Since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines just over a month ago, promising to get tough on crime by having the police and the military kill drug suspects, 420 people have been killed in the campaign, according to tallies of police reports by the local news media. Most were killed in confrontations with the police, while 154 were killed by unidentified vigilantes. This has prompted 114, 833 people to turn themselves in, as either drug addicts or dealers, since Mr. Duterte took office, according to national police logs. Addressing Congress last week in his first State of the Nation address, Mr. Duterte reiterated his approach, ordering the police to “triple†their efforts against crime. “We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered or been put behind bars or below the ground, if they so wish,†he said. But human rights groups, Roman Catholic activists and the families of many of those killed during the crackdown say that the vast majority were poor Filipinos, many of whom had nothing to do with the drug trade. They were not accorded an accusation and a trial, but were simply shot down in the streets, the critics say. “These are not the wealthy and powerful drug lords who actually have meaningful control over supply of drugs on the streets in the Philippines,†said Phelim Kine, a deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Asia. Critics of the president’s campaign have rallied around the case of Michael Siaron, a rickshaw driver in Manila, who was shot one night by unidentified gunmen as he pedaled his vehicle in search of a passenger. When his wife rushed to the scene, a photographer took a picture of her cradling his body in the street, and the photograph quickly gained wide attention. Scribbled in block letters on a cardboard sign left near his body was the word “pusher. †His family members insist that he was not involved in the drug trade, though they said he sometimes used meth. Indirectly acknowledging criticism that his policies trample over the standard judicial process, Mr. Duterte said that human rights “cannot be used as a shield to destroy the country. †He has called for drug users and sellers to turn themselves in or risk being hunted down, a threat backed up by the bodies piling up near daily on the streets of Philippine cities. The approach appears to be driving down crime: The police say that they have arrested more than 2, 700 people on charges related to using or selling illegal drugs, and that crime nationwide has fallen 13 percent since the election, to 46, 600 reported crimes in June, from 52, 950 in May. Mr. Duterte’s crackdown has been hugely popular. Filipinos, pummeled by years of violent crime and corrupt, ineffective law enforcement, handed him an overwhelming victory in the May presidential election, and have largely embraced his approach. A national opinion poll conducted after his election and just before he took office found that 84 percent of Filipinos had “much trust†in him. The model for Mr. Duterte’s policies is Davao City, where he was mayor for most of the past 20 years. Draconian laws there, including a strict curfew and a smoking ban as well as a approach to drug users and sellers, have been credited with turning the city into an oasis of safety in a region plagued by violence. The dark side of that approach was that more than 1, 000 people were killed by death squads during his administration, according to several independent investigations. Mr. Duterte has denied having direct knowledge of death squads, but he has long called for addressing crime by killing suspects, whom he calls criminals and has referred to as “a legitimate target of assassination. †He has repeatedly said that those hooked on meth, the most popular drug here, were beyond saving or rehabilitation. He ran for president largely on the pledge of applying the same policies nationwide, promising to kill 100, 000 criminals in his first six months in office. While the number may have been typical Duterte bravado, the threat of mass killing appears to have been real. On Tuesday, the International Drug Policy Consortium, a network of nongovernmental organizations, issued a letter urging the United Nations drug control agencies “to demand an end to the atrocities currently taking place in the Philippines†and to state unequivocally that extrajudicial killings “do not constitute acceptable drug control measures. †Ramon Casiple, a political analyst at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said that he shared those concerns but that it was too early to decide whether Mr. Duterte’s approach is effective. “Let’s give him his 100 days,†Mr. Casiple said. Mr. Duterte has recently raised his sights beyond users and dealers, accusing five police generals of protecting drug lords, though he presented no specific evidence. He also publicly accused a mayor, the mayor’s son and a prominent businessman of drug trafficking, threatening their lives if they did not surrender. But the people killed on the street tend to be more like Mr. Siaron, the rickshaw driver. Mr. Siaron lived with his wife in a shack above a creek. Having never finished high school, he survived on odd jobs like house painting and working in restaurants. Lately he had been pedaling a rickshaw, earning about $2 a day ferrying passengers through the warren of alleyways in a part of metropolitan Manila. On the night he died, he had stopped by his father’s fruit stand to ask for an apple. Then he told his father he would seek one more fare before heading home. As he rode off, gunmen on motorcycles sped by, pumping several bullets into him. What happened next turned him into a national symbol of the human toll of Mr. Duterte’s war. When she heard he had been shot, Mr. Siaron’s wife, Jennilyn Olayres, ran into the street, burst through police lines and collapsed next to him on the asphalt. The photographer snapped the picture: a distraught woman cradling her lifeless husband under a streetlight, a Pietà of the Manila slums. The police have not commented publicly about the case and have not accused Mr. Siaron of selling drugs. “My husband was a simple man,†Ms. Olayres said at his wake several days later. “He may have used drugs, but he was not violent and never bothered anyone. His only concern was looking for passengers so we can eat three meals a day. †During his speech to Congress, Mr. Duterte dismissed the photo, which had appeared on the front page of The Philippine Daily Inquirer the previous day under the banner headline “Thou shall not kill. †“There you are sprawled on the ground, and you are portrayed in a broadsheet like Mother Mary cradling the dead cadaver of Jesus Christ,†he said. “That’s just drama. †But if the antidrug campaign has targeted people on the margins of society, Mr. Siaron is an apt symbol. “We’re small people, insignificant,†Ms. Olayres said through sobs as she stood next to her husband’s coffin. “We may be invisible to you, but we are real. Please stop the killings. †| 1 | [
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FMD878 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: California and other states would be barred from setting their own rules governing design and testing of self-driving cars, while federal regulators would be blocked from demanding pre-market approval for autonomous vehicle technology, according to a U.S. House Republican proposal reviewed by Reuters on Thursday. The draft legislation, while far from becoming law, still represents a victory for General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Tesla Inc and other automakers and technology companies seeking to persuade Congress and the Trump administration to pre-empt rules under consideration in California, New York and other states that could limit deployment of self-driving vehicles. The industry also opposed an Obama administration proposal last year that raised the possibility of giving regulators the power to review and approve self-driving car technology before it was put into service, similar to the vetting by Federal Aviation Administration of new technology for aircraft. The 45-page draft package of 14 bills would designate the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as the lead agency for regulating self-driving cars, pre-empting state rules. States could still set insurance and registration rules but could not use them as a way to regulate self-driving technologies. California has proposed changes to its self-driving car rules, but automakers said in April it has not gone far enough. One of the bills in the proposal would allow the U.S. Transportation Department to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles per year from U.S. federal motor vehicle safety rules, which currently prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without steering wheels, pedals and other human controls. Another would declare crash data, other testing and validation reports from automated cars turned over to U.S. regulators to be “confidential business information.†U.S. Representative Bob Latta, who chairs a key panel overseeing automobile regulation, called the draft legislation “an important step in establishing a framework to allow innovators to safely develop and test autonomous vehicles.†He said Republicans want “to continue working with all parties in a bipartisan manner as we refine language and move toward a consensus package.†On Tuesday, a bipartisan trio of U.S. senators said they planned to introduce legislation to remove regulatory roadblocks to the introduction of self-driving cars. Mitch Bainwol, head of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an auto trade group, told Congress on Wednesday it should work to eliminate state or local laws that could “unduly burden or restrict the use of self-driving vehicles in the future.†| 1 | [
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FMD879 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: It was around 10 a. m. on a summer morning, and James Altucher, perhaps the world’s least likely success guru, was packing his worldly possessions, about 15 items, into a small canvas bag. “If I were to die, my kids get this bag,†Mr. Altucher said sardonically as he packed away his laptop, iPad, three sets of chinos, three and a Ziploc bag filled with $4, 000 worth of $2 bills (“People always remember you if you tip with $2 bills,†he said) and departed a friend’s loft on East 20th Street. A few months ago, the boyish let the lease expire on his Cold Spring, N. Y. apartment, and dumped or donated virtually everything he owned, more than 40 garbage bags of sheets, dishes, clothes, books, his college diploma, even childhood photo albums. Since then, he’s been bouncing among friends’ apartments and Airbnb rentals. It is not that he is down on his luck. Several of the 16 books he has written, including his 2013 manifesto, “Choose Yourself,†continue to sell briskly. His weekly podcasts, “The James Altucher Show,†featuring interviews with notables as diverse as Ron Paul and Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew, and “Question of the Day,†with Stephen Dubner, are downloaded about two million times a month. Mr. Altucher is simply practicing what he preaches. Over the last this former tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist and financial pundit has reinvented himself as a guru, preaching survival in an era when the American Dream — the college diploma, the corner office, the home — seems like a sham. So one by one, he has shed all of them. “I have ambition,†he said, “to have no ambition. †“In the past 25 years, income has gone down for the student loan debt is at an high,†Mr. Altucher said over a lunch of zucchini pancakes at a Russian restaurant in the Flatiron district. “We had $3 trillion in bailout money, and income inequality got higher than ever. People feel like they were scammed. †Mr. Altucher’s diagnosis will come as no surprise to the anxious middle class, the downsized and the dispossessed who have propelled the angry populism of Bernie Sanders and Donald J. Trump. But while there is no shortage of anger and confusion about the supposed waning of the American Dream, what makes Mr. Altucher stand out are his conclusions. College, he says, is a waste of money. Although he graduated from Cornell, Mr. Altucher argues that the college degree has become a costly luxury in a world where millennials feel like debt serfs and professional jobs are scarce. In a 2012 book, “40 Alternatives to College,†he argued that young adults could travel the world, educate themselves online and start a business with the same $200, 000 they may spend on college. Investing the money with even a 5 percent return would offer greater financial benefit over the course of a lifetime, he wrote in a blog post. Similarly, he believes homeownership is a foisted upon unwitting citizens by a $14 trillion mortgage industry. “It’s a total scam,†he said in an online interview. “Nobody should put more than 5 to 10 percent of their portfolio, their assets, in any one investment. But when people buy a home, they go crazy. They put like 50, 60, 70 percent of their net worth into this one investment. It’s illiquid, so when times are hard, you can’t sell it. †And he think stocks are a racket. It’s a fierce worldview that is rooted in Mr. Altucher’s own life. In the 1990s, as a young Silicon Alley whiz, Mr. Altucher made millions with a company, Reset Inc. that counted Sony and Miramax as clients. Soon, he and his wife at the time, Anne (they divorced in 2010) were living in a loft in TriBeCa that he bought for $1. 8 million and spent another $1 million renovating. He felt flush enough to take a helicopter to Atlantic City on weekends to play poker. The lavish lifestyle did not fill his emotional void. “Nobody should feel sorry for me,†he said. “I was really stupid, but I thought I was dirt poor. I felt like I needed $100 million to be happy. So I just started investing in all these other companies, and they were just stupid companies. Zero of these investments worked out. †As his fortunes collapsed, he was forced to sell his apartment for a $1 million loss (it was after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001). To reclaim his wealth, he set his sights on the stock market. He read more than a hundred books on investing, and eventually wrangled a job writing for James Cramer’s site, TheStreet, and later The Financial Times. Before long, his trademark hairdo, which looks like carnival cotton candy spun from steel wool, was a familiar sight on CNBC. But his fortunes crumbled once again during the financial crisis that began in 2008. The hedge fund he started ran out of gas, various withered, writing gigs dried up. With few options open, he decided to chronicle his failures on a personal blog, which he named Altucher Confidential. “I just said, ‘I’ve made every mistake in the book: Here’s what they are,’†Mr. Altucher said. To Wall Street friends, he seemed like Howard Beale, the anchorman in “Network†who had a meltdown . Instead of touting the latest hot mutual fund, he wrote posts like “10 Reasons You Should Never Own Stocks Again. †(Reason No. 1: You’re not that good at it.) He confessed thoughts of suicide. “Financial people were like watching a train wreck in real time,†Mr. Altucher said. “I had friends I hadn’t talked to since high school call me and say, ‘Hey, are you O. K.?’†He soon discovered a sizable audience of people whose own dreams had just gone down the sinkhole. They, too, were looking to claw their way out. “The No. 1 search phrase on Google that takes people to my blog is ‘I want to die,’†Mr. Altucher said. But Mr. Altucher seems like an unlikely person to look to for solace. Bookish, contrarian and given to speaking in staccato bursts, this skinny computer geek from North Brunswick, N. J. is like the Robbins, the strapping star. His appearance turned out to be a plus, as he developed a following blogging about his “life hacker†experiments. There was “the 5 p. m. diet,†in which he eats nothing after that time (“Your face gets more angular. I’ve seen it happen. Not just with me. With everyone on this dietâ€). There was “the alien trick†to beat anxiety, in which he pretends to be an alien and wake up every day on another planet with a new body (“I have no worries because tomorrow I will be in a new body. No envies. No worries. Only new things to exploreâ€). There was his zombie email gimmick, when he would respond to unread emails from seven years ago: “Sure! I’ll have coffee today†(“People laugh and all is forgiven,†he said). By writing candidly about his own triumphs and flameouts, Mr. Altucher “shows readers how they can succeed despite their flaws, not because of a lack of flaws,†said Tim Ferriss, author of the “ †series. “This is hugely refreshing in a world of gurus who are all forced smiles and . †It helped that Mr. Altucher, despite his biting views on topics like college, maintained a positive tone. “I am an optimist,†he said. “There’s a great novel from the ‘60s by Richard Fariña called ‘Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.’ Basically, I’ve been down on the floor so many times, I know now that I can always bounce back, and it gets faster each time. †His philosophy is perhaps most clearly articulated in “Choose Yourself,†which he summarized over lunch like this: “If you don’t choose the life you want to live, chances are, someone else is going to choose it for you. And the results are probably not going to be pretty. †Chapters include “How to Be Less Stupid†(“I lose at least 20 percent of my intelligence when I am resentfulâ€) and “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Mediocre People†(procrastination, he writes, “is your body telling you that you need to back off a bit and think more about what you are doingâ€). A key tenet of the book is the Daily Practice, a wellness regimen that comprises the physical (eat well, try to go to sleep by 9 p. m. and rise by 5 a. m. break a sweat for at least 10 minutes a day) emotional (be around people you love, who love you) mental (write a list of 10 ideas each day to exercise the “idea muscle†before it atrophies) and spiritual (feel gratitude every day). He calls them the four pillars of happiness. “A chair needs four legs to be stable,†he said. And there has never been a better time to choose yourself, he said. You do not have to be Mark Zuckerberg, he said, to be an entrepreneur. “You can learn basic web development,†he said. “You can go to Codecademy. com, learn the basic skills in three months, then sell them on Freelancer. com, where there are millions of jobs. I know who are making a few thousand dollars a month. †Thanks to you don’t have to be Deepak Chopra to write books. “Everybody is or can be an expert on something,†he said. “Take me: I haven’t been in the kitchen in 20 years. I hate eating vegan. But how hard would it be to read every book on veganism, buy some ingredients, write up a little book: ‘The ’s Vegan Cookbook’?†He would know. “Choose Yourself,†which Mr. Altucher on Amazon, sold more than a copies, he said, and made The Wall Street Journal’s list. His fans swear by him. One reader, Beck Power, recently wrote an essay on Medium about how he inspired her to ditch a frustrating job to start her own online travel business. “I dance in my underwear,†she wrote. “I don’t have panic attacks anymore. †A talk he gave at a London church last year drew about 1, 000 people, and fans have organized “Choose Yourself†meetups in cities around the world. On LinkedIn, where he publishes original free essays, Mr. Altucher has more than 485, 000 followers and is ranked the No. 4 “influencer,†after Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Mohamed A. the financier and author. “He’s the Oprah of the internet,†said Kamal Ravikant, a tech entrepreneur who wrote the Amazon best seller “Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It. †Unlike most gurus, “James is on a very personal journey, allowing his readers and listeners to experience it in real time,†said Brian Koppelman, a creator of Showtime’s “Billions,†who also moderates “The Moment,†a podcast on Slate. “He’s telling you the story on Saturday, on Sunday he’s talking about how it failed, and on Monday he’s talking about doing it a different way. †Mr. Altucher, in fact, disputes that he is a guru in the first place. “I am not a guy at all,†he said. “Advice is autobiography,†he added. “I only say what has worked for me, and then others can choose to try it or not. †Besides, what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. “It’s like Mike Tyson says,†Mr. Altucher said. “‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. ’†| 1 | [
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FMD880 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A group of investigative journalists whose slogan is digging dung, fertilizing democracy is holding South African President Jacob Zuma to account over his widely criticized links to a family of wealthy businessmen. AmaBhungane, which means dung beetles in the Zulu language, was founded by three veteran reporters to expose wrongdoing in South Africa. Together with online news site the Daily Maverick, amaBhungane in June released leaked emails and documents that they said showed allegedly improper dealings in government contracts and influence peddling by the Guptas, a family with close ties to Zuma. Zuma and the Gupta family, which has said the emails were fake, have denied wrongdoing. Co-founder Stefaans Brummer said amaBhungane, which was founded in 2010, had spent several years probing Zuma s family business dealings, and had verified the authenticity of the leaked documents. Our very first stories as amaBhungane was a series called Zuma Inc and we looked at the Zuma family and how its business fortunes had grown since Zuma took the office of president, Brummer said. He said the Gupta name popped up in several of amaBhungane s inquiries into Zuma s family business links and the organization was well placed to process the trove of information in more than 100,000 emails and documents. You fight hard for every piece of information and when something like this happens it s like Christmas, you suddenly have a lot of information, said Brummer. Brummer said amaBhungane, which mostly uses external hard drives to store documents for safety reasons, had sent a copy of the leaked Gupta emails to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project | 1 | [
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FMD881 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The New York Times is inviting readers to take advantage of its reporting, analysis and commentary from the through the aftermath of the 2016 election. Readers will have unlimited access to NYTimes. com for 72 hours from 12:01 a. m. ET on Monday, November 7 until 11:59 p. m. ET on Wednesday, November 9. “This is an important moment for our country,†said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. publisher of The New York Times. “Independent journalism is crucial to democracy and I believe there is no better time to show readers the type of original journalism The New York Times creates every day. †Below are highlights of what readers can expect from The Times’s coverage of this historic election: FOLLOW The Times’s live coverage on election night for reporting on hundreds of races across the country and analysis by the political team. The Upshot plans to provide live forecasts of the Presidential and Senate elections, as it did during the 2016 primaries and the 2014 Senate midterms. These forecasts offer readers a constantly updated estimate of the final vote, based on the turnout patterns, exit polling, and demographics of places where votes have already been counted. The New York Times mobile news apps are free to download. Users can sign up for breaking news notifications, which allows users to stay on top of major news events. Readers can also sign up for free newsletters and get more of The New York Times delivered to their inbox. JOIN a livestream of election coverage on The Times’s Facebook page continuously throughout the night starting at 4:30 p. m. ET. Coverage will include live video reports from correspondents at polling stations across the country as well as college campuses, election viewing parties and more. International correspondents in a handful of countries will capture worldwide reaction to the results of the American election. LISTEN to a special show hosted by The podcast on Election Day in which Times politics reporters will answer questions from listeners. The day after the election, Times reporters will come together to discuss the results and recap this remarkable year in politics. | 1 | [
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FMD882 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump s economic proposals would be disastrous for the economy. That s the conclusion that Germany s economic ministry concluded in an internal memo, first reported on by the German magazine Der Spiegel.According to the memo, if Trump were to be elected president of the United States his economic policies would lead to a shrinking gross domestic product, fewer jobs and higher unemployment. What s more, the memo says that Trump s economic policies violate both U.S. and international law. In a more blunt statement, the memo says that Trump s proposals are not feasible and that they do not provide the foundation for a realistic economic policy. So to summarize, Germany s economics ministry has officially concluded that Trump s proposals would destroy the U.S. economy and are completely divorced from reality. That s an incredibly strong condemnation from one of the United States strongest allies, and one of the most powerful economies in the world, and according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center, Trump s proposals would reduce income revenue by $2.6 and $5.9 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. In September, the economics research firm Oxford Economics found that if elected president, Trump s economic proposals would cause the economy to be $1 trillion dollars smaller in the year 2021 than experts are currently expecting.It isn t particularly easy for economists to create a complete prediction of what the future would look like after a Trump administration. There are many factors, such as his policies regarding immigration, that contribute to the various possible outcomes. Obviously, it s not yet clear what policies he will put into place when. That being said, it appears more and more to be a matter of finding out exactly just how bad these possible outcomes are than a matter of whether they re bad or not a Trump presidency would unquestionably be an economic disaster for the United States.Featured image from Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD883 | 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 Chick-fil-A Closing All Restaurant Locations in 2024, as Announced in 2023? Claim summaries: Reference.com appeared to report via online ads in late 2023 that Chick-fil-A would be shutting down all of its restaurants. However, this was false.
contextual information: In December 2023, multiple online advertisements were displayed to users, including possibly on YouTube, that showed one or more photos of Chick-fil-A restaurant locations with the claim that the company would be closing down in 2024. The caption for one of the ads read, "They're Closing Doors in 2024. These Fast Food Restaurant Chains Are Closing The Doors In 2024." Another ad with a picture of a Chick-fil-A restaurant read, "Restaurant Chains Closing. It's Time To Say Goodbye, These Restaurants Be Closing The Doors." We found several other variations of similar ads that made the same claim about Chick-fil-A's supposed future plans. Some of the ads said said the company would be closing up shop in 2023. All of these ads were false. It was not true that Chick-fil-A was going to be closing all of its locations, going bankrupt or going out of business for other reasons. An April 2023 report from QSR Magazine detailed the chicken sandwich company's strong financial earnings. QSR Magazine All of the ads led to a lengthy article on Reference.com with the headline, "These 53 Restaurant Chains Are on the Brink of Disappearing Entirely." In the article's page source code, we noted that the story was perhaps written during or before the year 2020 and was last republished in 2021. In other words, the article that was being advertised in December 2023 was two or more years old. article The article listed nearly 70 businesses, most of which appeared to be American brands. Under each business name were several paragraphs describing whether the companies would be closing some or all of its locations. Nowhere in the nearly 70-slide article was Chick-fil-A mentioned even once. The ads with the photos of Chick-fil-A restaurant locations were false and misleading clickbait that may have originally been created to entice readers to scroll or click through the slides, all for nothing. The reason why these kinds of ads and articles exist is usually something called advertising arbitrage. Advertising arbitrage is a strategy in which an advertiser hopes to make more money on ads displayed in a lengthy article than it would cost to display an initial clickbait ad meant to attract users to the article. In other words, instead of the ads being both attractive and potentially helpful to consumers, they instead mislead users from the start. Advertising arbitrage We reached out to Chick-fil-A's media relations team by email to ask if it had a statement to share regarding the false and misleading ads and will update this story if we receive a response. Note: If readers would like to report any strange or misleading ads on Snopes, we invite you to contact us. Please include the full link of the website where the questionable ad led to so that we can attempt to investigate and potentially block any such ads. contact us Klein, Danny. Chick-Fil-A Nearing $19 Billion in Sales.QSR Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023, https://www.qsrmagazine.com/growth/finance/chick-fil-nearing-19-billion-sales/. Liles, Jordan. Snopes Tips: How To Avoid Ad Arbitrage Clickbait. Snopes, 2 Jan. 2022, https://www.snopes.com/articles/387913/avoid-ad-arbitrage-clickbait/. | 0 | [
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FMD884 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Last week, President Trump made a public announcement to Americans and Hurricane Maria victims of the bankrupt nation of Puerto Rico. President Trump used his address to assure Puerto Rican s that America s are committed to doing whatever is necessary to help them recover from the unimaginable disaster. Trump went on to clarify, We are with you, we will stay with you and we will come back stronger than ever. We are sending tremendous amounts of supplies, tremendous amounts of food and water, and we are sending people to help. POTUS' @realDonaldTrump on Hurricane Response Efforts in #PuertoRico on Instagram, part of 9/29/17 Weekly Address. https://t.co/dIfYMIztnn pic.twitter.com/oBNykqk11W Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) September 29, 2017President Trump, who is in the midst of dealing with his third simultaneous disaster took to Twitter to congratulate the efforts of our military and first responders for the amazing job they re doing despite no electric, roads, phones, etc. The military and first responders, despite no electric, roads, phones etc., have done an amazing job. Puerto Rico was totally destroyed. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017President Trump also retweeted a video shared by the US Coast Guard, sharing their efforts to help those in need of help in Puerto Rico:.@USCG crews worked together with the @RedCross, @fema, and members of local #police, #fire and #government to distribute disaster #relief supplies, food rations and #water in Rio Grande, #PuertoRico, yesterday, following #Hurricane #Maria. Full video https://t.co/4NtrRuY0HQ pic.twitter.com/QVcmuvBdpt USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) September 30, 2017President Trump shared a video on Twitter that was posted by Dan Scavino, explaining the progress the US Navy is making in helping deliver medical goods and services to the citizens of Puerto Rico:#USNSComfort en route to #PuertoRico, from Norfolk, Virginia to support Hurricane Maria relief efforts. pic.twitter.com/HWkyFXw7uw Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) September 30, 2017Trump s Homeland Security chief echoed Trump s comments about the hard work and efforts of our military and first responders when she told reporters that the government s response to Hurricane Maria was a good news story. San Juan s Mayor, who is relying on the efforts of President Trump and donations from American citizens, used her opportunity on Fake News CNN to trash President Trump and the efforts of his homeland security.President Trump hit back after Puerto Rican Mayor Carmin Yulin Cruz used her platform on leftist CNN to criticize America s efforts in aiding the victims of Puerto Rico:The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017Trump took it a step further and exposed the poor leadership of the Mayor, who, according to President Trump is not getting the workers of Puerto Rico to help with the aid and rebuilding efforts, suggesting they want everything done for them and are not willing to contribute. Trump suggested it should be a community effort as opposed to American military and first responders doing all of the work. Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017 want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017Again, Trump praised the efforts of Americans who are helping the Puerto Ricans:The military and first responders, despite no electric, roads, phones etc., have done an amazing job. Puerto Rico was totally destroyed. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017Mayor Cruz boasted about the response she got from private individuals after she trashed President Trump s Homeland Security efforts. Joy Reid on MSNBC: Actually, I was asking for help. I wasn t saying anything nasty about the president, but don t take my word for it. Cruz then referenced 3-star General Buchanan who claimed that he doesn t have enough troops and he doesn t have enough equipment of what he needs to get the situation under control. Shortly after the Mayor took to the leftist MSNBC news outlet to make clear that this is not a political issue, Dan Scavino Jr., revealed a dirty little secret about the Mayor, who has a history of tweeting hateful comments about President TRump even before the hurricane hit Puerto Rico. In this tweet shared by Dan Scavino Jr., Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz openly states on Twitter that Trump does not deserve to be President .@realDonaldTrump hater, the Mayor of San Juan is the perfect example of an opportunistic politician. Go ask PR Gov about responsiveness. pic.twitter.com/us3p78P9zK Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) September 30, 2017Scavino then went on to share the Governor of Puerto Rico s comments about the America s responsiveness to the disaster relief efforts:"The president and the administration, every time we ve asked them to execute, they ve executed quickly." Governor of Puerto Rico Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) September 30, 2017Perhaps Puerto Rico s mayor thought she could get away with criticizing President Trump and no one would ever find out about her open disdain for our President. Social media, however, has a way of coming back to haunt people like Mayor Cruz. Shame on her for putting politics before the people of Puerto Rico who are so desperate for help.Hopefully, the residents of Puerto Rico won t be affected by the nasty mayor s comments. They deserve better. Maybe in the next election, they ll get someone to represent them who isn t so stupid as to make the matter of their survival a political issue. | 0 | [
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FMD885 | 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 Cory Booker has accepted over $400,000 from the pharmaceutical industry during his political career.
contextual information: Both Republican and Democratic voters have little love for prescription drug makers. When asked,four out of five Americanssay the cost of drugs is unreasonable. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has signed on to a bevy of plans to bring prices down. There are too many people profiteering off of the pain of people in America, from pharmaceutical companies to insurers, Booker said at thefirst Democratic debatein Miami. The Trump campaign fired off a reminder that Booker has history with the drug makers. Cory Booker has accepted over $400,000 from the pharmaceutical industry during his political career, @TrumpWarRoomtweeted June 26, the night of the first Democratic debate. FACT: Cory Booker has accepted over $400,000 from the pharmaceutical industry during his political career.pic.twitter.com/1HUfFVBGVU By one measure, that number is correct. But a more granular look at drug maker political money delivers a lower number, and the tweet gives no hint that Booker stopped taking pharmaceutical money in 2017. The Trump campaign sent us toBookers career summary pageon the Open Secrets website, a reliable source of federal political money data. Booker first ran for Senate in 2013. Since then, people and groups tied to the pharmaceutical/health products industry have given Booker $411,948. The number is actually higher. Booker runs a leadership PAC, a common device on Capitol Hill to raise money for a variety of uses, from travel expenses to helping other candidates fund their campaigns.Bookers PACgot $56,000 since 2014, for a grand total of $468,000. Theres an important caveat: That industry group includes much more than drug makers. Drug wholesalers, medical equipment makers and dietary supplement companies all fall under this category. The wholesalers would have a stake in bills aimed at lowering prescription drug costs, but many other companies, such as Nestl, which owns several dietary supplement brands, and Medtronic, maker of insulin pumps and much more, would go untouched by such legislation. Boiled down to drug makers alone, according to data pulled by the Open Secrets staff, Bookers total is $327,000. That includes both donations to his campaign committee and his leadership PAC. One last wrinkle would add some money back in. The Trump campaign tweet was based solely on Bookers federal receipts. But as mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, Bookerraised millions. Some of that came from people tied to drug makers. A notable example is Jonathan Sackler, a member of the family behindPurdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. In 2009,Sackler gave $26,000 to Booker Team for Newark, a joint campaign committee to help elect Booker and a slate of city councilors. At the end of the day, we found that drug makers gave Bookers campaigns upwards of $350,000. Thats less than the tweet claimed, but still a hefty amount. And if drug wholesalers are added in, the gap largely disappears. In June 2017, Booker told NPR he had stopped taking industry donations. We put a pause on even receiving contributions from pharma companies because it arouses so much criticism,Booker said. Recently, hetweeted, Big pharma companies need to be held criminally liable for the opioid crisis. Ive said I would not take contributions from corporate PACs, from pharma executives they are part of this problem. Big pharma companies need to be held criminally liable for the opioid crisis. Ive said I would not take contributions from corporate PACs, from pharma executives they are part of this problem.Its time to work on a solution. Chip in to help us run a people-powered campaign As far as his PAC money, that revenue stream has died for Booker. Up through 2016, drug makers had given him $202,000. Since then, as the chart below shows, the amount from drug makers directly is zero, with some ongoing donations from individuals who work for drug makers. New Jersey is home tomany large pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Individuals who work for them have continued to give to Booker, but since 2016, that has fallen from nearly $100,000 to about $26,000. Bookers campaign noted that he joined with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on adrug importation bill. Booker also put forward legislation that would allow the Medicare program tonegotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. These and other measures have drawn strong opposition from the drug industry. The Trump campaign said that in the course of his career, Booker has accepted over $400,000 from the pharmaceutical industry. The number is close. What the tweet ignores is that Booker stopped taking money from pharmaceutical industry PACs and top executives. Since 2016, Booker received zero dollars from drug makers and individual contributions have fallen by 75%. The average reader of the tweet would have no idea that Booker has shunned pharmaceutical money for the past two years. Thats additional context, but Booker did accept the money in years past. That meets our definition of Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD886 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Republican party cannot, in good faith, agree that they are still the Party of Lincoln, because as President Lincoln worked tirelessly to end slavery and reunite the nation, our modern-day GOP seeks to divide and is openly racist.In yet another example of how modern-day Republicans are nothing like that of Lincoln, Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) has now said that he would back Donald Trump even if his comments regarding the Ku Klux Klan were intentional. He s openly admitting that he would back a KKK-loving presidential candidate over any Democrat.Here are his comments in full regarding what Trump had to say about the KKK: I think it s an unfortunate response. A very unfortunate response. Like I say, I ve met Mr. Trump once. It was a businesslike discussion and I walked away thinking he s been doing a great job as a showman out here and he s brought a lot of people into this thing. There was a side of him that I did not see when I visited with him personally.My choice would still be honestly, I m still leaning to Marco Rubio, as I suspect there are others [who] are. But nonetheless, our critical issue is fixing things in the United States, and you can t do that if you ve got Bernie or Hillary, because they have a differing point of view about what s right and what s wrong with this country.And there are some things wrong with this country: [The Congressional Budget Office] is very clear within 10 years the 250th birthday of our country, 2026 99 percent of all the revenues we collect will go to two categories: interest on the federal debt and mandatory payments on entitlements. You can t fix that unless you ve got a team in here agreed that you re focused on it. And I just don t think Democrats are going to do that. I think it has to be a Republican.Even if you re disappointed with the way he s responding to things, even if you re mad at him, you disagree with him, if he did it intentionally I don t think he did, I think he just made a mistake even if he did, they re still going to do a better job with him there than if you had Hillary or Bernie in his place. Rounds told reporter Todd Zwillich that Trump would boost voter turnout and at the end of the day if he is the nominee, then will he bring more people out or won t he? You can call it transactional, but it s factual. Trying to mend fences, because he is one of the few people in a position to do so, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) condemned Trump s remarks. He said: When I see something that runs counter to who we are as a party and as a country, I will speak up, so today I want to be very clear about something. If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people s prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln. This is fundamental. And if someone wants to be our nominee, they must understand this. I hope this is the last time I need to speak out on this race. It seems Ryan is in deep denial of not only his own party, but of the base of voters that continuously votes Republican. As much as he wants to say the GOP is still the Party of Lincoln, they re not. That s been evident since the big party shift of the early 20th century when the South slowly went from Democrats to Dixiecrats to Republicans, and the Northern states went from Republican to Democrat. If Lincoln were around today, he d denounce the modern-day GOP and unquestionably back the Democratic nominee. That s a fact.Featured image: Wikimedia Commons | 0 | [
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FMD887 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Friday he favored the United States reaching trade agreements with individual countries as opposed to multilateral accords like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump, who is leading in the race for the Republican nomination for president, has made his opposition to trade deals like the 12-nation TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement a centerpiece of his campaign toward the Nov. 8 vote. “To do these deals where they wrap them up and they put 12 countries in one. TPP is an example. I want individual trade deals with individual countries,†Trump told a Palm Beach, Florida, news conference ahead of the state’s nominating contest on Tuesday. “Some countries treat us better than others. Some are worse,†he said. “China will take advantage of TPP. It’s not in it now but believe me they come through the back door. They are watching it so closely,†said Trump, a real estate developer. The deal was reached in October. Trump said he favored free trade but it must be “fair.†He said NAFTA had cost many Americans their jobs and TPP, which must be ratified by Congress, would do the same. The United States already has bilateral trade deals with 20 countries, including Canada, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and South Korea. (Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 1 | [
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FMD888 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 21st Century Wire says Although he had some great ideas on the campaign trail, still expect the war hawks and Israeli Lobby instruments like John Bolton, Tom Cotton, and Rudy Giuliani to gradually nudge the new President and his administration, in a concerted attempt to try and reshape Trump s relatively common sense campaign foreign policy directives Kristina Wong and Rebecca Kheel The HillDonald Trump s election was as much a surprise to the defense world as it was to much of the nation. Here are five key things the Pentagon can expect from Trump. 1. Rising spendingTrump has called for a much bigger military and some experts think he could increase defense spending by 20 percent, from $583 billion in 2017 to nearly $700 billion.While that may sound like a lot, it is in line with what the Obama administration projected for 2012 before the Pentagon was hit with sequestration mandatory budget caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act.Trump has called for increasing the size of the active duty Army from 475,000 to 540,000 troops, and the Marine Corps from 24 to 36 battalions. He wants to build a 350-ship Navy, have 1,200 fighter aircraft in the Air Force and increase missile defense.Trump has pledged to lift limits on spending from the 2011 budget bill, something that would require action by Congress and could be difficult. The limits are in place until 2021.The Congress is controlled by the GOP, but not all Republicans are in favor of more military spending.Increasing defense spending could also increase the deficit, something Trump and the GOP are loathe to do. He separately wants to cut taxes, including for the wealthy, would could add to deficit concerns.2. Targeting ISISTrump has said he would aggressively pursue military operations to crush and destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but what that would entail is far from clear.By the time Trump takes office on Jan. 20, offensives to retake ISIS s strongholds in both countries will be underway, but the terrorist group is expected to continue waging an insurgency in both places even if they fall.Trump would likely seek cooperation with Russia in Syria to defeat ISIS, but it s not clear what that would mean. Russia began an air campaign there in September 2015, but has been hitting anti-regime rebels supported by the U.S., as well as civilians.Trump has also called for international cooperation to cut off ISIS s funding, expanding intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt its propaganda and recruiting. Trump has said he would also decimate Al Qaeda.3. Syria and AfghanistanNearly 500,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced by the Syrian war, an intractable problem for President Obama.Trump has suggested that Syria President Bashar al-Assad is better than the alternative, which would be the coalition of anti-regime rebels that include U.S.-backed moderates as well as extremists. At the same time, Trump has said he would build safe zones in Syria, in order to stop the flow of refugees into Europe.Those two goals are somewhat contradictory, as Syria and Russia have a broad definition of terrorists and have been hitting those civilians the safe zones would protect. U.S. defense officials and experts say implementing safe zones would mean war with Syria, and possibly Russia.Trump s future policy in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has 9,800 troops, is also unclear.Before his bid for presidency, he had called for withdrawing troops, and criticized efforts to nation-build in the country. He reiterated that sentiment earlier this year, saying at a rally in August that he would end the era of nation building. However, with the Taliban making a comeback, and al Qaeda and ISIS militants also trying to build safe havens, there will be pressure for Trump to maintain U.S. troops in Afghanistan.4. Closer ties with Russia?U.S. relations with Russia could improve under Trump.Trump has said he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before he takes office in January, and repeatedly complimented him during the campaign.His statements on Russia s invasion of the Ukraine territory in Crimea and his refusal to blame Russia for cyber hacks against U.S. political institutions has unnerved people in both parties.It s possible Trump won t change policy toward Russia.Vice President-elect Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) took a much harder line against Russia during the campaign, suggesting during the vice presidential debate that the U.S. Could take military action against Russia in Syria.Trump will likely face staunch opposition to cozier relations from Congress from key Republicans such as Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whose name has been floated for secretary of State under Trump, has been highly critical of Russia s role in Syria.Some experts say although Trump may seek to actively engage Russia, cooperation would likely be based on what s mutually beneficial. He is a deal maker so he s going to want things in return for giving Russia what it is seeking, said Paul Schwartz, defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Trump s win also puts the future of the 67-year-old NATO alliance in question at a time when lawmakers are working on bulking up the eastern flank to deter an increasingly aggressive Russia and finding ways to combat hybrid warfare, cyber attacks and terrorism.Trump called NATO obsolete multiple times over the course of the campaign, saying it should do more to fight terrorism. Trump also said he would look at whether NATO allies have fulfilled their obligations to us before deciding whether to defend them if they are attacked.Just five of 28 members meet the goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense: the United States, the United Kingdom, Greece, Estonia and Poland.Michael O Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said there are a few paths Trump could take to fulfill his campaign promise.In one scenario, Trump could immediately pull out of commitments to defend countries that aren t meeting their 2 percent obligations.Trump could also make deals with such countries that give them a few years to meet the goal.5. Guantanamo staysWith President Obama unlikely to fulfill his pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by Jan. 20, Trump will inherit the facility and almost certainly keep it open Continue this story at The HillREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 0 | [
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FMD889 | 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 Donald Trump has bankrupt four separate businesses.
contextual information: U.S. Sen. Mark Warner says presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has a lot of ammunition to fire at Donald Trump's business record. To think that Mr. Trump is trying to lay out this proposition that he's a successful business guy. He's failed miserably, bankrupting four separate businesses, Warner, D-Va., said during a June 21 interview on CNN. We looked at Warner's contention that Trump bankrupted four businesses. Clinton has made similar charges against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, including on July 6 when she spoke in front of the shuttered Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. Earlier this year, many of Trump's GOP primary opponents also accused him of running businesses into the ground. Kevin Hall, Warner's communications director, sent us a series of media reports about Trump's business problems. Some Trump companies indeed have sought protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law, which shields businesses from creditors as they reorganize with the hope of remaining open. Under court supervision, the companies devise a plan to pay back some of their liabilities over time. That's different from a Chapter 7 filing, which involves liquidating a company's assets and distributing the proceeds to creditors. PolitiFact National has explored several claims about Trump's business record and has tallied a list of bankruptcies for his companies. Let's take a look.
1991 bankruptcy: Trump's first bankruptcy came when he sought protection for the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Trump funded most of the casino's $1 billion construction by using junk bonds with high interest rates, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. When it sought Chapter 11 protection a year after its opening, the casino had about $3 billion in debt. As part of the restructuring, Trump cut his ownership stake in the Taj Mahal by half and sold his airline as well as his personal 282-foot yacht, The Washington Post said in an August 2015 story.
1992 bankruptcies: Two more of Trump's Atlantic City casinos - the Trump Castle and Trump Plaza and Casino - sought Chapter 11 protection amid heavy debt and cash flow problems, United Press International reported at the time. A fourth bankruptcy also occurred in 1992 when Trump sought protection for The Plaza hotel in midtown Manhattan. The hotel, which Trump bought for $390 million in 1988, had accumulated more than $550 million in debt. Trump gave up a 49 percent ownership stake and remained CEO, although he had little control over the day-to-day operations of the company, according to The New York Times.
Most recent bankruptcies: Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts filed for bankruptcy in 2004 when his casinos - including the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Marina, and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, and a riverboat casino in Indiana - amassed an estimated $1.8 billion in debt, according to The Associated Press. Trump agreed to reduce his share in the company from 47 percent to 27 percent in a restructuring plan, but he still was the company's largest single shareholder and remained in charge of its operations. Several years later, Trump Entertainment Resorts - formerly Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts - was slammed by the Great Recession and missed a $53.1 million interest payment in December 2008, according to ABC News. The company declared Chapter 11 in February 2009. After negotiating with the board of directors, Trump resigned as the company's chairman and had his corporate stake in the company reduced to 10 percent. The company continued to use Trump's name in licensing.
All told, the record shows that three of Trump's Atlantic City casinos as well as The Plaza hotel went bankrupt in the 1990s. His overall casino and resort company went bankrupt twice in the 2000s while operating under different names. So you could argue that five Trump companies have gone into bankruptcy.
Beyond the numbers: The next question is whether Trump is personally to blame for driving these ventures into bankruptcy, as Warner's statement suggests. Trump defends his use of bankruptcy laws, saying they've allowed him to keep businesses afloat and that he's rarely relied on them during a career of making hundreds of business deals. In a statement released the day Clinton made her Atlantic City trip, Trump pegged the number of bankruptcies at four. "It is an effective and commonly used practice in business to use bankruptcy proceedings to restructure a business and ultimately save jobs," Trump said in a July 6 statement.
Experts told PolitiFact National last September that Trump has had a high number of bankruptcies. But they didn't entirely blame him for the Chapter 11 filings and noted that most occurred in the gambling industry, which has struggled. A 1991 article by United Press International about the financial woes of the Trump Castle and Trump Plaza and Casino said the Atlantic City gaming industry was depressed and that nine of the city's 12 casinos saw declining revenues in 1990, with those two Trump casinos seeing the biggest revenue losses. The New York Times noted in a story earlier this month that Trump's share of the overall Atlantic City casino market started to fall in 1997, and that while revenues for non-Trump gaming ventures in the city rose over the following five years, revenue at Trump casinos declined. Trump told the newspaper that his casinos ran into trouble because they began competing against each other - a statement that The Times said was a tacit acknowledgment that he overbuilt.
Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, told the Los Angeles Times last year that Trump put his Atlantic City casinos in so much debt that subsequent managers couldn't manage them properly. But Michael Viscount, an Atlantic City lawyer who represented unsecured creditors during the 2004 Chapter 11 filing of the Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, doesn't blame Trump for the bankruptcies. He told Forbes magazine in 2011 that he didn't blame Trump for his Atlantic City casino bankruptcies. Viscount said creditors knew what they were getting into when they lent Trump money. "They've all played this game before, in the insolvency space. The company that possessed his name filed bankruptcy because it was overleveraged," Viscount told Forbes. "What does that tell you? People want to lend him money. He does grandiose things with it."
Adam Levitin, a law professor at Georgetown University, said in an August 2015 post on a blog dedicated to bankruptcy and credit issues that a Chapter 11 filing alone doesn't demonstrate a lack of business acumen. "Sometimes businesses go bankrupt because of poor management, but sometimes it's because of factors beyond their control," Levitin wrote. "And indeed, how much, if at all, was Trump involved in the management of the companies?" Levitin wrote. "I wouldn't be shocked if he was basically licensing his name." Levitin told PolitiFact National last September that it's not fair to put all the blame on Trump for his company's bankruptcies because he's acted as any investor would. "Investors often own many non-integrated companies, which they fund by taking on debt, and some of them inevitably file for bankruptcy," Levitin said. "The only difference is that Trump puts his name on his companies, which means people associate them with him, but he's not at all the leader in the bankruptcy space," Levitin said. "These bankruptcies were not defining moments for Trump and shouldn't color our view of him."
Our ruling: Warner said Trump has bankrupted four separate businesses. The number, if anything, is conservative. We count five. But beyond the number, Warner's statement also asserts that Trump was the cause of the bankruptcies, and that's harder to parse out. There's no doubt he had a role in many of the failings, having larded his casino operations with huge debts. But analysts note that Trump wasn't acting alone; he had willing investors who put up big sums of money in the risky gaming industry. There are also questions about how involved he was in running all of the casinos that bore his name. So on the whole, we rate Warner's statement Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD890 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on Sunday she has extreme reservations about the U.S. Senate’s healthcare overhaul and does not think it will be able to pass this week. Collins, a moderate Republican who has not taken a formal stance on the bill, said she was concerned it would cut Medicaid too deeply and said she wants to see an upcoming analysis by the Congressional Budget Office before making a decision. “I have very serious concerns about the bill,†she said on ABC’s “This Week†program. “It’s hard for me to see the bill passing this week.†Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has pushed for a vote before the July 4th Independence Day holiday recess that begins at the end of this week. He can afford to lose the support of only two Republicans in the face of unanimous Democratic opposition. Five Republican senators have announced they will not support the bill, which is designed to repeal and replace Obamacare, in its current form. One of those senators, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, called on Sunday for a slowdown in the process to give the Senate and the public time to evaluate the healthcare bill. “We don’t have enough information. I don’t have the feedback from constituencies who will not have had enough time to view the Senate bill. We should not be voting on this next week,†he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.†Another senator who has announced that he does not support the current version of the bill, Rand Paul of Kentucky, said he would back it if the Senate reached an impasse on healthcare. “If we get to impasse, if we go to a bill that is more repeal and less big government programs, yes I’ll consider partial repeal,†Paul said on ABC. The Senate’s 142-page proposal, worked out in secret by a group led by McConnell, aims to deliver on a central campaign promise of President Donald Trump to undo former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which has provided coverage to 20 million Americans since it was passed in 2010. Republicans view the law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, as a costly government intrusion and say individual insurance markets created by it are collapsing. “I think they have, at best, a 50-50 chance of passing this bill,†Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on ABC. He said Democrats “are doing everything we can to fight this bill because it’s so devastating for the middle class.†The House of Representatives has passed a measure similar to the Senate plan. The Senate would phase out Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor more gradually than the House bill, waiting until after the 2020 presidential election, but would enact deeper cuts starting in 2025. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD891 | 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: In the last seven years of my tenure, Texas created 1.5 million new jobs. As a matter of fact, without Texas, America would have lost 400,000 jobs.
contextual information: Addressing supporters in an airport hangar in Addison, Perry said that on his watch, companies in Texas created almost one third of all new American jobs. And, he said, in the last seven years of my tenure, Texas created 1.5 million new jobs. As a matter of fact, without Texas, America would have lost 400,000 jobs. Sounded familiar. In May 2013,we found Truea Perry claim about Texas accounting for 33 percent of the countrys net new jobs over the last 10 years. That conclusion was supported by comparing state-by-state job gain estimates and a separate calculation of net job gains nationally, both by the federal government. Later, in January 2015, werated Mostly TruePerrys statement that starting in December 2007, 1.4 million jobs were created in Texas. In that same period, the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. His figures mostly held up according to household surveys by the federal government looking into civilian employment including self-employment, though at the time positions not yet recovered outside Texas totaled closer to 350,000, according to the latest available data when Perry spoke to lawmakers Jan. 22, 2015. When we looked at the earlier Texas-nation comparison by Perry, his spokesman encouraged us to consultMark J. Perry, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan campus in Flint. Professor Perry wrote in a November 2014online commentarythat from December 2007, the start of the national recession, through October 2014, Texas saw civilian employment balloon by 1.36 million jobs. In contrast, he wrote, civilian employment in the other 49 states without Texas is still 0.26% and more than 350,000 jobs below the December 2007 level there were 134.9 million non-Texas jobs in October vs. 135.26 million in December 2007. To our query, the scholar emailed a chart showing that based on what the government calls total employment, covering all jobs including self-employed posts, Texas had 1,410,400 more jobs in November 2014 than it had in December 2007 while the rest of the country had 352,440 fewer jobs. Total employment, he said, serves as a comprehensive indicator and is used to calculate unemployment rates. A little more: The BLSsays the definition of employment in the federal household survey, which the governor relied on for his comparisons, comprises wage and salary workers (including domestics and other private household workers), self-employed persons and unpaid workers who worked 15 hours or more during the reference week in family-operated enterprises. Employment in both agricultural and nonagricultural industries is included. In contrast, the federal government's oft-quoted payroll survey of employers covers only wage and salary employees on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments. By this other metric, Cheryl Abbot, a regional economist for the bureau, told us, Texas netted 1.2 million additional jobs from December 2007 to December 2014. In the period, she said, 24 states had net decreases in total civilian employment. But again, those figures werent total employment, the indicator chosen by Perry. After Perry declared for president, we circled back to Abbot, who emailed us data indicating that from December 2007 to December 2014, Texas saw an increase in total employment of 1,572,694; the nation as a whole had a surge of 1,169,000. Put another way, but for Texas, the nation would have experienced a total employment decrease of 403,694. When we looked into Perrys seven-year contrast before, analystDavid Cooperof the liberal Economic Policy Institute commented that the timeframe singled out by Perry may deliver a more glowing contrast for Texas than other periods. According to the governments payroll surveys, he said, the country had added 9.1 million jobs since June 2009, the acknowledged end of the national recession, with Texas accounting for 1.5 million of the additions. Significantly, he said, the rest of the country as a whole lost jobs from June 2009 until February 2010. Since then, he said, the U.S. had added more than 10 million jobs with Texas (again) accounting for more than 1 million of them. At the time, Professor Perry said that in his view, the best comparison of Texas to the rest of the nation starts in December 2007. His point: Texas never experienced significant job losses during the Great Recession, while the rest of the country did, he emailed. Therefore, comparing job gains since June 2009 or Feb. 2010 really wont make much sense. Of course the non-Texas US gained a lot of jobs since June 2009, and more than Texas, but thats because Texas never lost any (very many) jobs in 2008 and 2009 like the rest of the country. Texas is a great economic success story, and an anomaly vs. the rest of the country regarding job losses/gains, he wrote. Also at the time, Abbot said by email Perrys claim could have been precise by referring to total civilian employment rather than jobs. That said, as of November 2014, Abbot said, 24 other states had yet to reach pre-recession employment levels. On a statewide basis, Texas by far leads all states, with total civilian employment growth of 1,410,440. California is a distant second with civilian (household) employment growth of 452,763, Abbot wrote. Our ruling Perry said: In the last seven years of my tenure, Texas created 1.5 million new jobs. As a matter of fact, without Texas, America would have lost 400,000 jobs. These figures hold up though Perry cherry-picked a time period arguably giving Texas more of a gloss than it might get with other periods. More generally, no governor determines job gains or losses in a state; outside factors tend to prevail. In Texas, the fracking boom comes to mind. Governors dont create oil and gas fields. We rate this claim Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. CORRECTION, 12:40 p.m., June 18, 2015:This fact check was revised to correct our error in quoting an email from Cheryl Abbot of the BLS. This change, clarifying that 24 states had net decreases in civilian employment in the period singled out by Perry, did not affect our rating. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD892 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: No, Ben and Jerry's Did Not Honor Rittenhouse Shooting Victim with New Flavor Claim summaries: A Twitter post spoofed Ben & Jerry's public statement on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
contextual information: On Nov. 13, 2021, Victory News Network (VNN) Twitter account published a graphic positing that Ben & Jerry's honored one of Kyle Rittenhouse's shooting victims, Joseph Rosenbaum, with a new flavor: Victory News Network Ben & Jerry's Honors Rittenhouse Shooting Victim All profits from 'Rosenbaum's Heroic Hazelnut' will be donated to the Black Lives Matter organization. This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a Twitter account website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows: follows Simlarly, the corresponding website, VictoryNews.online, describes its content this way: "This is a parody website, dummy." Rosenbaum, one of the men shot and killed by Rittenhouse during a riot stemming from an August 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, had previously been sentenced to prison for sexually abusing five boys, according to court records. There is, however, no ice cream flavor from Ben & Jerry's known as "Rosenbaum's Heroic Hazelnut." The satirical tweet from VNN emerged after Ben & Jerry's Twitter account criticized the proceedings of the Rittenhouse trial. sentenced In response, Twitter and Facebook users shared the satirical post about "Rosenbaum's Heroic Hazelnut" -- often with no satire or parody disclaimer -- as a commentary on Ben & Jerry's announcement: For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor. why Twitter, Nov. 13, 2021. https://twitter.com/VictoryNewsNet/status/1459574391042236423. Accessed 16 Nov. 2021. Victory News Network. Victory News Network, https://www.victorynews.online/. Accessed 16 Nov. 2021. Whats True and False About Kyle Rittenhouses Alleged Victims. Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/09/11/rittenhouse-victims-records/. Accessed 16 Nov. 2021. | 0 | [
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FMD893 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: November 8, 2016 279 The wars the US is waging in the Middle East fulfil none of the definitions of guerrilla or "terrorist" war. The US simply calls them that so that it can deceive the American people and circumvent constitutional safeguards in order to wage wars of aggression. For those fighting and dying there – only Death is real. For the American people, Middle East Terrorism is a total fabrication. A standard definition of War is that it is “a conflict carried on by force of arms” We all know the old face of war in the classical days, where two sides in different coloured uniforms lined up and charged at each other until the sun set. Whoever had the most soldiers standing at the end of the day was the winner and they took over the territory of the losers. It was all about territory and redrawing borders. This kind of warfare held up until around the time of the American Civil War. Since then lines have become blurred. A standard definition of Guerrilla War is that it is “the use of hit-and-run tactics by small mobile groups of irregulars operating within a territory controlled by a regular military”. By the the time of the Anglo-Boer War (circa 1900) the Boers had invented Guerrilla Warfare, where small bands went in and did as much damage as possible using what they had. It was very effective. — An online register lists the names of 293,209 British Soldiers who had to be brought in to wage the war. However, adding in all the other Colonials it was probably closer to 500,000 who were needed to subdue about 30,000 rag-tag South African Boers. Eventually the British found a very workable solution. They rounded up all the women and children remaining on the farms (who had been feeding and sleeping the rebels every night) and put them all in concentration camps. Their suffering was extreme. The men had to give up. Guerrilla warfare is not about capturing Territory, but about demoralisation, damage to infrastructure, and forcing vast numbers of very expensive regulars to guard infrastructure. A standard definition of Terrorism is that it is “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims” By the 1960s another form of warfare was emerging. We called it, “Terrorism”. We can all agree that none of the above methods are mutually exclusive. Modern mainstream Media spends a lot of time blurring these lines for the public, but I think we have a reasonably clear understandings of what the differences are. Modern Terrorism is actually more complicated than this definition. It started as aircraft high-jacking; then evolved into small bands shooting innocent people at certain events; and has now evolved into its ‘classic’ contemporary form of suicide vests, suicide vehicles etc. Terrorism is always an “Asymmetric Warfare” (for obvious reasons) where the powerful side, (usually a State or Country) has state of the art military equipment and the other side has very little other than hand held weapons and human bodies. Suicide-vests are the quintessential weapon of terror. Because they are hidden they can have a kill ratio of ten or more to one. They are therefore extremely effective as psychological weapons. Terrorists are almost by definition a very small group of disenchanted radicals who do not have access to modern sophisticated and expensive military equipment, so they have to resort to this sort of asymmetric terrorism. Terrorism has a different aim and a different modus operandi from conventional war. For terrorists time and place of battle or time and place of victory are not a factor. Terrorists choose a target, and then over time slowly start infiltrating the area. They look like regular people. They remain as “sleepers” until called to action. They are unobtrusive and have no visible weapons; they often befriend and mix freely with the local population. Once activated, they make sure that they terrorise the population. Terrorism is not about capturing Territory; it is aimed at destroying economic infrastructure, about killing and wounding the local population in a game of demoralisation, economic destruction, discrediting the existing government, and sapping the morale of the local people, which can then lead to an economic collapse and/or making the State ungovernable. History does not show many (if any) instances of a conventional military winning against Terrorism. The British-Irish insurrection lasted from 1915 until 1998 without a military victory. Finally a political settlement had to be agreed upon. The US’s standard duplicitous propaganda has given the American People a totally false view of what is going on in Syria and much of the Middle East. Most of the mainstream media are in on the game of deceit about America’s war on Terrorism. In Mosul, Raqqa, Aleppo, and all the others, the “terrorists” have magically acquired large numbers of tanks, howitzers, rocket platforms, cannon Vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, etc. They seem to have flags, uniforms, and badges. Somehow they all have the entire range of military equipment. This is absolutely not asymmetric Terrorism, this is genuine conventional war. The US and its surrogates are in a real military war. The American (and allied) politicians should be held accountable. US Politicians and mainstream media have allowed the US government to hide behind a false flag of “Terrorism”. This has fooled the people into supporting a conventional war without realising that that is what it is. When the US announced its ‘War on Terror’, it was creating a subterfuge. When a country is put on a war footing, the powers-that-be understand well that under a condition of war the conventional laws-of-the-and can be modified and sidestepped. Lots of things which would never be acceptable in times of peace can be justified in times of war. In the Middle East (and a few other places) the US cannot ever admit that they (and their surrogates) are in a military war. This would be unconstitutional . By declaring a ‘War on Terror’, the US leadership has been able to legitimise its illegal war making and put its illegal acts in a pseudo- legal framework whilst without formally declaring war placing the nation onto a war footing. The US has developed the habit of declaring anything and anybody they wish to hurt, anywhere in the world, as “terrorists” so that they can the use their loosened set of rules. Somehow the American people have failed to hold their media corporations, or their elected and appointed officials accountable. Instead they routinely allow them to subvert the Constitution by subterfuge and deceit. When the government of a country allows the well being of its people to be compromised in this way, the outcome is usually civil disobedience and/or revolution. In extreme situations, the final refuge of governments wishing to escape responsibility for their failures is War. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD894 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday seemed to dial back his pre-election remarks opposing the creation of a Palestinian state -- but that did little to ease the emerging standoff between his government and the Obama administration, which reportedly is considering going to the U.N. to pressure Israel on the matter.
The Israeli prime minister, shortly before Tuesday's election, had said he would not allow a Palestinian state on his watch.
But on Thursday, Netanyahu claimed he hadn't actually changed his position.
"I didn't retract any of the things I said in my speech six years ago, calling for a solution in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes a Jewish state," Netanyahu told Fox News' Megyn Kelly.
He clarified that he thinks the conditions for a two-state solution, "today, are not achievable" -- since he said Palestinian leaders do not accept Israel as a Jewish state and terrorists could occupy any territory Israel withdraws from.
But he also told MSNBC he ultimately wants "a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution" if circumstances change.
The latest comments, however, were greeted with skepticism by Obama administration officials.
He made clear the administration is focusing on what Netanyahu said before the election, and not on what he's saying now. Earnest accused Netanyahu of "backing away" from the commitment to a two-state solution with those earlier comments.
"It does raise questions about his commitment to that solution," Earnest said.
In a stark warning, Earnest said the position the U.S. historically has taken before the United Nations -- protecting Israel from intervention -- was based on the idea of a two-state outcome. He said that foundation has now been "eroded" and the U.S. is reevaluating its position.
The White House said late Thursday that Obama had called Netanyahu to congratulate him on his win and reiterated the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution "that results in a secure Israel alongside a sovereign and viable Palestine."
Earnest's comments came amid reports that the Obama administration is indeed considering looking to the U.N. to pressure Israel into a peace deal with the Palestinians, despite historically blocking such action at the world body.
Foreign Policy reported Thursday that the U.S. is looking at supporting a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for peace talks and a comprehensive settlement.
"The more the new [Israeli] government veers to the right the more likely you will see something [at the United Nations] in New York," a Western diplomat told Foreign Policy.
Netanyahu told Fox News he hopes the Obama administration is not seriously considering this.
"I hope that's not true, and I think that President Obama has said time and time again, as I've said, that the only path to a peace agreement is an agreement, a negotiated agreement. Â You can't impose it," he told Fox News. "You can't force the people of Israel, who've just elected me by a wide margin, to bring them peace and security, to secure the State of Israel, to accept terms that would endanger the very survival of the State of Israel. I don't think that's the direction of American policy. I hope it's not."
But Obama administration officials are leaving the door open.
After the election, the Obama administration made clear it still supports a two-state solution and would work to achieve it -- somehow. Officials would not say whether that means going through the United Nations. But they didn't rule it out, either.
"We haven't made a decision," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday. "It's just natural that we would be looking at the different options."
"Based on PM Netanyahu's comments we will need to reevaluate our position and the way forward. We're not going to get ahead of any decisions about what the United States would do with regard to potential action at the U.N. Security Council," a senior administration official also told Fox News on Thursday.
The potential shift comes after Netanyahu's Likud Party won big in Tuesday's election -- positioning him for a third consecutive term as prime minister.
The consideration of going to the U.N. underscores the growing rift between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations. The two already at odds over a pending Iran nuclear deal, Netanyahu staked out a new area of disagreement with his Palestinian state comments.
The prospect of U.N. interference already is raising the hackles of the Israelis.
After a U.N. spokesman on Wednesday said it is "incumbent" on the Israelis to pursue a peace deal and support the creation of a Palestinian State, among other conditions, Israel's ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor fired back.
"The United Nations may disagree with the policies of the Israeli government, but there is one fact that can't be disputed -- that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East," he said. "If the U.N. is so concerned about the future of the Palestinian people, it should be asking why President Abbas is in the tenth year of a five-year presidential term or why Hamas uses the Palestinian people as human shields."
The Palestinians had urged the U.N. Security Council to accept a resolution demanding that the Israelis leave Palestinian territories. The U.S. opposed it.
Foreign Policy reported, however, that France is now pressing the U.S. to take another look at a separate resolution, which they offered, calling for resumed peace talks toward a final deal.
Diplomats told Foreign Policy there are still significant differences between the U.S. and French approaches, but suggested they could be resolved. Foreign Policy reports that the U.S. delegation also could simply abstain on a U.N. resolution vote.
The dynamic on the council also has changed in recent months.
When the Security Council last voted on the Arab nation-backed measure to set a deadline for peace talks and Israel's withdrawal from the territories, supporters could not secure the nine votes needed for adoption from the 15-member council -- meaning the U.S., which opposed it, did not have to exercise a veto to block it. However, with Venezuela now on the council, supporters could have the needed nine votes today -- forcing the U.S. to make a decision on whether to veto.
Fox News' Jonathan Wachtel and Kimberly Schwandt contributed to this report. | 1 | [
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FMD895 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson expressed views on Wednesday at odds with President-elect Donald Trump’s positions on key foreign policy issues like nuclear proliferation, trade deals, climate change and relations with Mexico. In a nine-hour Senate confirmation hearing, the former chief executive of oil company Exxon Mobil said he favored maintaining U.S. sanctions against Russia for now and that NATO allies were right to be alarmed by Moscow’s growing aggression. Russia dominated much of the hearing because of concerns by Democrats and Republicans over Moscow’s interference in the U.S. presidential election and its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and involvement in the Syrian civil war. Questions soon moved to the threat posed by Islamic State, China’s behavior in the South China Sea, human rights and Tillerson’s ability to make a clean break from a career at Exxon Mobil to become America’s top diplomat. Tillerson said his differences with Trump on some major issues would not necessarily put him at loggerheads with the White House. He said everyone in Trump’s Cabinet would have the chance to discuss issues “and the president will decide.†He described himself as open and transparent. In a stark departure from Trump, Tillerson said it would not be acceptable for some U.S. allies to acquire nuclear weapons. He also did not see the need for a Muslim registry, saying he did not support targeting any particular group. Asked by Democratic Senator Edward Markey about Trump’s comments in interviews he would not oppose U.S. allies including Japan obtaining nuclear weapons, Tillerson replied: “I do not agree.†Tillerson said he did not oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Trump has criticized, but acknowledged the negotiated deal may not serve all U.S. interests. Tillerson, however, left room for broad reversals or changes to Obama administration policies, in line with Trump’s positions, including trade with Cuba and the Iran nuclear deal, which he said ought to undergo a full review. The hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was interrupted sporadically by protesters. Tillerson, 64, is expected to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. Senators have expressed concern about Tillerson’s ties to Russia while at Exxon Mobil and Trump’s desire to improve relations with Moscow. Tillerson refused to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal and kept the door open to a possible change in U.S. sanctions policy against Russia, saying he had not seen classified information on Russian meddling. “I would leave things in the status quo so we are able to convey this can go either way,†Tillerson said, suggesting “open and frank†dialogue with Moscow to better understand its intentions. He blamed Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine since 2014 on an “absence of American leadership†and said the United States should have taken stronger actions to deter Russia. “I’m advocating for responses that will deter and prevent further expansion of a bad actor’s behavior,†he said. Tillerson said it was a “fair assumption†Putin was aware of Russian efforts to interfere in the U.S. election. He said he had not discussed Russia policy with Trump, which Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said was “pretty amazing.†In a tense exchange, Republican Senator Marco Rubio pushed Tillerson on whether he believed Putin was a war criminal, in reference to Russia’s military actions in support of Syria’s government. “I would not use that term,†Tillerson said, adding: “Those are very, very serious charges to make and I would want to have much more information before reaching a conclusion.†Rubio, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, shot back: “There’s so much information out there. It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin’s military has conducted war crimes in Aleppo,†referring to the Syrian city recently retaken by government forces backed by Russia. He added: “I find it discouraging, your inability to cite that which I think is globally accepted.†Tillerson sidestepped questions on human rights, declining to condemn countries like Saudi Arabia and the Philippines for rights abuses, saying he wanted to see the facts first. Rubio told reporters later that he was unsure he could vote for Tillerson. As one of 11 Republicans on the 21-member panel, his support is key to Tillerson winning the committee’s backing. Tillerson said he would recommend a “full review†of the nuclear deal with Iran reached with the United States and world powers. He did not call for an outright rejection of the 2015 accord in which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Trump has made contradictory statements about the deal and has threatened to dismantle it. Tillerson said China should be denied access to islands it had built in the contested South China Sea. He added his approach to dealing with North Korea, which recently said it was close to carrying out its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, would be “a long-term plan†based on sanctions and their proper implementation. Asked if he could make unbiased decisions after his time at Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer, he said he would act in America’s interests. Tillerson dodged a direct question on whether he believed climate change was caused by human activity. “The risk of climate change does exist and the consequences of it could be serious enough that action should be taken,†he said, adding the ability to predict the effect of greenhouse gas was “very limited.†Trump has called global warming a hoax perpetrated by China and has threatened to quit the Paris climate accord, a global agreement to curb emissions. Tillerson called Mexico “a long-standing neighbor and friend of this country.†Trump has said he will build a wall on the Mexican border, and in his 2015 presidential announcement speech described Mexican migrants to the United States as drug-runners and rapists. Tillerson’s responses were calm and measured, without any obvious reliance on notes. He opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine because he said he thought they would be ineffective. On Wednesday, he said he never personally lobbied against sanctions and emphasized that he was not aware of Exxon Mobil directly doing so. Tillerson later acknowledged he spoke to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew regarding gaps between American and European sanctions on Russia. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy vigorously challenged Tillerson on the issue, saying he called a U.S. senator to express concerns over the measures, which “likely constitutes lobbying.†Exxon lobbied Congress regarding sanctions against Russia following the annexation of Crimea. The lobbying directly related to energy matters, according to regulatory filings. | 1 | [
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FMD896 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Sunday on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,†host Fareed Zakaria said President Donald Trump’s “erratic foreign policy†was “damaging†to America. Zakaria said, “But first here’s my take. There has been much focus onDonaldd Trump’s erratic foreign policy. The out landish positions, the many the outright mistakes, but far more damaging in the long run might be what some have termed the Trump effect. The impact of Donald Trump on the domestic politics of other countries. That effect appears to be powerful, negative, and enduring. It could undermine decades of American foreign policy successes. He added, “In foreign policy, great statesmen always keep in mind one crucial reality, every country has its own domestic politics. crude rhetoric, outlandish demands, poorly thought through policies, cheap shots, all place foreign leaders in a box. They cannot be perceived as surrendering to America and certainly not to an America led by someone who insists on showing that for America to win others must lose. That’s one big difference among many between doing a real estate deal and managing foreign policy. †Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 | [
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FMD897 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Protesters campaigning against Sharia Law were met with a number of on Saturday, as rallies took place in 28 cities across America. [The rallies, which were organized by the national security organization ACT! for America, attracted strong support in cities such as Phoenix, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, New York, Boston, and Seattle. Sharia is the law of Islam, which governs how Muslims pray, eat, establish families, and all aspects of a Muslim’s life. The rules of sharia come from Quranic commandments and the hadiths, a collection of sayings of Muhammad. Sharia significantly restricts the freedom of women and allows for extreme punishments for violations such as adultery, blasphemy, and apostasy. Sharia is the basis of laws in Islamic countries, both Sunni and Shia. A press release from the ACT! for America website reads: This is a march against Sharia law and for human rights. Our nation is built on the freedom of religion — a pillar of our democracy — which we must always respect, protect, and honor. However many aspects of Sharia law run contrary to basic human rights and are completely incompatible with our laws and our democratic values. However, many marches were disrupted by who accused participants of “Islamaphobia†and stoking hatred against Muslims. #MuslimsAreWelcomedHere being chanted pic. twitter. — Dan Renzetti (@DanRenzetti) June 10, 2017, In Seattle, protesters could be heard singing: “No hate, no fear, Muslims are welcome here,†as footage showed the two groups involved in a physical altercation. ANTIFA JUST BEATDOWN A TRUMP SUPPORTER. HUGE WILD BRAWL. BATTLE IN SEATTLE! !!! pic. twitter. — Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) June 10, 2017, In New York, protesters attempted to drown out the chanting of the march by sounding air horns and banging pots and pans. Video footage from the event showed protesters launch urine towards Canadian conservative journalist Lauren Southern. Here’s the moment #antifa threw pee at Lauren Southern as I was trying to interview her pic. twitter. — Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) June 10, 2017, “Out of nowhere liquid was splashed onto my face from one of the masked individuals in the crowd. It got all in my eyes and over my face and totally reeked. The first two seconds were a little horrifying because I wasn’t sure if it was an acid attack,†Southern told Breitbart News. Several people were arrested after fights broke out at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, although nobody was injured, according to local reports. Fights break out during â€anti sharia†march, counterprotest at Minnesota State Capitol https: . Photos: @floresliz12 pic. twitter. — Star Tribune (@StarTribune) June 10, 2017, According to Reuters, there was a heavy police presence at the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg, as barricades and police mounted on horses separated two groups of approximately 60 protesters. were reportedly “dressed in black masks and hoods†and could be heard chanting, “No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA. ’†On Friday, 129 national and local organizations signed a letter urging city mayors to condemn the marches, emphasizing the fact they take place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com, This article has been edited since publication. | 1 | [
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FMD898 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: WASHINGTON — If they squint hard enough, they can see hope in the form of an ambitious piece of legislation like a big tax cut. Then there is the fact that Hillary Clinton will not be president. And Mike Pence, the faithfully conservative vice is there to keep watch. Those conservatives who insisted that electing Donald J. Trump president would be a grievous mistake — a group that included governors, senators, radio hosts, prominent columnists and some of the most savvy political operators in the country — are now saying they see an upside to four years of a Trump White House. But even as they find small reassurances, those who counted themselves part of the Trump opposition are wondering what their place will be for the next four years in a Republican Party they can hardly recognize. And they have begun to ponder what it all means for a conservative movement they thought they understood better. “Oh God,†said Charlie Sykes, the Wisconsin radio host who became a vocal opponent of Mr. Trump’s during the Republican primaries. He was describing how he had arrived at peace with the election results then, he said, he realized that he had not done so at all. “You kind of have to a lot of what you thought about the shape of reality,†he said. “It’s not just that you’re wrong it’s that you fundamentally misread what happened. †What is so disorienting for many conservatives is that the Trump victory was the culmination of the unruly populist upwelling in American politics, first manifested in the Tea Party movement, that traditional Republicans thought they could eventually absorb. Instead, those forces have overtaken them one by one — first claiming their House majority leader, Eric Cantor then their speaker, John A. Boehner and then an entire field of presidential candidates. Now it may claim their party. Some on Mr. Trump’s team are already boasting how they plan to break with decades of conservative orthodoxy on government spending and pursue a huge infrastructure spending package that sounds more Roosevelt than Reagan. “The conservatives are going to go crazy,†Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s senior counselor and chief strategist, gleefully told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Friday. “With negative interest rates throughout the world, it’s the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything — shipyards, ironworks, get them all jacked up,†said Mr. Bannon, who has aimed almost as much fire at what he regards as establishment Republicans as he has at Democrats. “It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater than the Reagan revolution. †Some conservatives say they could surely live with a few of the proposals of Mr. Trump’s they find worrisome, like a big spending bill, especially if they come with sweeteners like tax breaks or spending cuts in other areas. The easiest way to forge ahead, many are finding, is to disassociate the man from the policy. “I will do everything I can to help him,†said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has refused on numerous other occasions to help Mr. Trump, including voting for him or attending the Republican National Convention. Mr. Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill this week that he believed he could work with Mr. Trump on issues like the military budget, which both men support expanding. Americans for Prosperity, the political advocacy group supported by David and Charles Koch that decided not to spend any money on the presidential race this year despite spending tens of millions to help Mitt Romney in 2012, is also cracking the door to Mr. Trump. The group, however, declined to say whether it had met or spoken to anyone inside Mr. Trump’s transition team. “We’re encouraged on several fronts by the possibility of the Republican Congress working with the new president,†said Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity’s president, citing the prospect of repealing some of President Obama’s energy policies along with the Affordable Care Act. But as with any period of grief, acceptance comes in different ways. Some find catharsis in writing. Others console themselves in data that show they really were not all that wrong. Then there are those who still talk as if they are in mourning: They have good days and bad days. “Life goes on,†said Bill Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor and leading “Never Trump†stalwart, who has written columns about his coming to terms with Trump. Any given day, Mr. Kristol said in an interview, he feels a range of competing sentiments. “I’m sort of somewhere between ‘trust but verify’ and ‘distrust but verify,’ †he said, using modified versions of Reagan’s famous quote about how he approached negotiating with the Soviets. On the subject of Reagan — it is hard not to talk to conservatives today about Mr. Trump and not have them wistfully invoke their — Mr. Kristol said he feared people were drawing parallels to Mr. Trump that risk setting the wrong standards for success. “The Reagan revolution wasn’t that he beat Jimmy Carter in 1980,†he said. “Not that I didn’t love that. The Reagan Revolution was that he governed successfully for eight years and won the Cold War. †Others are concerned that the conservative movement missed an opportunity to appeal to a younger and more diverse group of voters. And they wonder how it will do so with someone as divisive as Mr. Trump atop the Republican Party. Steve Deace, a conservative radio host in Iowa and prominent “Never Trump†figure, pointed to the tens of thousands of voters in Wisconsin and Michigan — states Mr. Trump barely won — who voted in other races but did not cast a vote for president, evidently because they could not bring themselves to vote for him. “That’s not lightning in a bottle,†he said, making the point that Mr. Trump repelled so many voters that he almost lost. “That’s like you showed up for work and they said this is your last paycheck and you and your wife go to Las Vegas, put it all on black and it pays off. †Mr. Sykes, the radio personality in Wisconsin, said he at least felt liberated. By not supporting Trump he does not feel compelled to defend him like so many of his conservative friends do. Mr. Sykes has been writing a new book, which he tentatively titled “How the Right Lost Its Mind. †But he is struggling to finish it. “Obviously I thought it was going to have a different ending,†he said, asking aloud what he still struggles with. “How did this happen? Who are your friends? What do they actually believe?†| 1 | [
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FMD899 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: UK royals in Bahrain amid crackdown Wed Nov 9, 2016 9:9AM Persian Gulf Britain's Prince Charles speaks to Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa upon arriving in the Bahraini capital Manama on November 8, 2016. (Photo by AP)
Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have arrived in Bahrain on a three-nation tour of the Persian Gulf states amid strong criticism of London’s continued arms sales to the repressive regime in Manama.
The plane carrying the British royals touched down at Sakhir Air Base in central Bahrain on Tuesday on the last leg of the tour, which had already taken them to Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
They were received by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah and then taken to a nearby palace to meet with the country’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah.
Since 2011, the United Kingdom has sold 55 million dollars worth of arms to Bahrain. The year saw the eruption of peaceful anti-regime protests on the island.
London has been under fire by international rights organizations for selling military equipment to Manama, which is involved in a harsh and deadly crackdown on opposition activists.
It was reported late last month that the UK will open a massive permanent military base in Bahrain and deploy warships to the Persian Gulf. A Bahraini protester shouts slogans during clashes with regime forces in the village of Sitra, south of Manama, on February 12, 2015. (Photo by AFP)
The military base, which is the first such facility being opened by Britain in 40 years in the Persian Gulf region, will be launched next month, Britain’s Express newspaper reported.
Britain will station around 600 military forces at the Royal Navy Facility and will deploy its warships to patrol the surrounding waters and guard oil and gas shipments in the waters.
When Britain kicked off the project in 2014, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon described it as “a permanent expansion of the Royal Navy’s footprint” in the Persian Gulf. The project has bypassed the parliament.
According to data released by the UK Trade and Investment in September, the UK government has become the world’s second biggest arms dealer, with bulk of its weapons fueling deadly conflicts in the Middle East. Loading ... | 0 | [
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