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30048
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Precipitation in smoky areas following a wildfire is likely to be extremely toxic.
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Oklahoma’s top court on Monday declined to delay a landmark trial set for May in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit accusing OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and two other drugmakers of helping fuel an opioid abuse and overdose epidemic in the state.
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false
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Science
|
The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision was a win for the state’s attorney general, whose case is set to be the first to face trial of roughly 2,000 lawsuits nationally seeking to hold opioid manufacturers responsible for contributing to the epidemic. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter’s 2017 lawsuit accuses Purdue, Johnson & Johnson & Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd of engaging in deceptive marketing that downplayed the risks of addiction associated with opioid pain drugs while overstating their benefits. The companies deny wrongdoing. They had sought to delay the May 28 trial to Sept. 16, citing the need to review records the state belatedly turned over that could be critical to their defense. The state is seeking over $20 billion in damages. The trial delay bid came as Purdue, owned by members of the wealthy Sackler family, was exploring filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to address potential liabilities stemming from the lawsuits, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. Purdue did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. After the trial judge declined on March 8 to delay the trial, Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue denied that his ruling would have any affect on whether it files for bankruptcy. “We appreciate the quick action taken by the court and for not rewarding the defendants with more time for a problem of their own making,” Hunter said in a statement. J&J and Teva did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, were involved in a record 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The epidemic has prompted lawsuits by state and local governments accusing Purdue and other drugmakers of contributing to the crisis. More than 1,600 lawsuits have been consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio, who has pushed for a settlement ahead of the trial before him in October. Other cases, including Oklahoma’s, are pending in state courts.
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10346
|
Less-invasive appendix surgery shines in new study
|
It’s also noteworthy that this reporter’s work consistently scores high in our reviews. The commitment to excellence is evident. This is a clear, concise explanation of a journal article’s findings. Elective appendectomy is a common surgical procedure that is now routinely performed using minimally invasive techniques. The question of whether laparoscopic appendectomy is safe and cost effective for a ruptured appendix has been an unresolved question. This new study adds some additional insight albeit with several important provisos.
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true
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Appendicitis,Reuters Health
|
Nice job on this. The story states: “For uncomplicated cases of appendicitis, in which the appendix is still intact, the tabs for the two surgeries came out about the same, at just over $7,800. …When the appendix had burst, however, the open surgery racked up a considerably higher bill. On average, it cost $17,594, compared to $12,125 for the laparoscopic surgery.” As already noted, the story did a good job comparing death rate, readmission rate and hospital stays between the two procedures. Good job comparing death rate, readmission rate and hospital stays between the two procedures. The story quotes the lead researcher’s own caveats about limitations of the research: “he acknowledged that the study has major limitations. First, it looks only at academic medical centers. And second, it’s not a randomized controlled trial, which means the patients being compared could be different in important ways, explaining at least part of the outcomes of the two types of surgery.Indeed, those who had laparoscopy were younger and usually had less severe disease, which could have biased the results in favor of the minimally invasive procedure.” No disease mongering at play here. There was no independent perspective offered. So, even though the lead researcher offered his own caveats about the limitations of the research, we always wish for an independent expert’s voice to be heard in such stories. The focus of the story was the comparison between two surgical approaches. The widespread use of laparascopic appendectomy was clear in the story. The story offered this helpful context: “…experiments comparing the two kinds of procedure have yielded mixed outcomes, and some experts remain unconvinced that laparoscopy is worth its higher upfront cost.The new study, in the Annals of Surgery, doesn’t settle that question. But it does suggest that laparoscopy could actually save thousands of dollars for some patients, when all costs — including physician fees, hospital fees and readmissions — are considered.” It’s clear that the story didn’t rely on a news release.
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2420
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Eighth Princeton student diagnosed with meningitis.
|
An eighth Princeton University student has been diagnosed with meningitis, a potentially fatal infection that causes swelling of the brain and spinal cord, a university spokesman said on Friday.
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true
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Health News
|
Health officials will conduct tests to determine whether the latest case is related to the previous seven that have been identified since March. Officials at the New Jersey school could not provide the current health status of the student. The latest case comes shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed the university to use an imported vaccine to help control the disease’s spread. The past cases at the Ivy League school were caused by the meningococcal bacteria known as serogroup B. State law requires all Princeton students living in dormitories to receive a meningitis vaccine that protects against most strains but not the serogroup B variety, Princeton spokesman Martin Mbugua said in an email. The outbreak of serogroup B meningitis is rare but not the first of its kind in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bexsero, made by Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, will be provided to all undergraduate students, graduate students who live in university housing on or off campus, and students and faculty with certain illnesses, such as sickle cell disease, Princeton officials said earlier this week. The FDA has allowed the use of the vaccine at Princeton under an Investigational New Drug application. The federal CDC considers the drug to be safe. “Everyone involved is working hard to organize a potential serogroup B meningococcal disease vaccine campaign as quickly as possible that fits into Princeton University’s academic calendar,” said CDC spokeswoman Sharon Hoskins. The Princeton inoculation campaign is set to be voluntary for students and is expected to begin in early December, with another event in February, according to the school’s website. Federal and New Jersey state health officials have not advised visitors or students to avoid the campus, Mbugua said. Meningitis is a serious disease that is spread through coughing and exchanges of saliva, and people living in dormitories or other crowded living quarters are especially at risk. The most severe cases can result in death, hearing loss, brain damage, kidney disease or amputation of limbs. Symptoms include fever, headaches and stiff neck.
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23107
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"Michael Bennet cast the deciding vote"" for the stimulus and the health care bill."
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NRSC attacks Michael Bennet for casting 'the deciding vote' for stimulus, health care
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false
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National, Health Care, History, Message Machine 2010, Stimulus, National Republican Senatorial Committee,
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"If you're seeking to tie your opponent to two controversial bills, what better way to do it than to say he cast the deciding vote to pass them? That's exactly what the National Republican Senatorial Committee is doing in the Colorado Senate race between incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet and GOP nominee Ken Buck. On Oct. 6, 2010, the Senate Republicans' campaign arm ran an ad attacking Bennet's role in helping pass two Democratic-sponsored bills, the economic stimulus and the health care overhaul. ""One vote makes a difference,"" the narrator says. ""Michael Bennet cast the deciding vote for Obama's stimulus that wasted billions, added to the debt and didn't create the jobs they promised. Bennet cast the deciding vote to allow passage of the trillion-dollar health care bill that slashed Medicare, hurting seniors. Bennet's vote was the key to billions in job-killing taxes, too. Michael Bennet: He's been their vote, not Colorado's."" We won't tackle the ad's description of the substance of the two bills. (We've addressed some of those points in the past.) Instead, we'll look at whether it's fair to call Bennet the deciding vote on those bills. First, some background on how the bills passed. Both measures had long and roundabout legislative paths to President Barack Obama's desk, but we'll stick to the two votes the ad specifically references on screen. The stimulus vote cited in the ad was taken Feb. 13, 2009. It was to approve the conference report of the bill -- that is, the version that both chambers must pass with identical language. Once both chambers pass identical versions, the bill goes to the president to be signed. For the stimulus, the final vote was 60-38, with exactly the number of votes needed to meet the three-fifths supermajority required of most major actions in the Senate. Meanwhile, the health care vote mentioned in the ad was taken Dec. 23, 2009. The vote was to invoke cloture -- that is, to cut off debate so that consideration of the bill could proceed. Invoking cloture requires 60 votes, and in this case the Democrats once again got exactly the 60 votes required. The idea that the Democrats couldn't spare even a single vote is the crux of the NRSC's argument. ""Absolutely Michael Bennet was the deciding vote,"" NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh told PolitiFact. ""Had he not done so, they wouldn’t have passed the health care bill, regardless of whether he was first, middle or last to cast his vote. End of story."" But is it? What about the argument that Bennet was merely one of 60 deciding votes. Couldn't the same charge be leveled at every member of the Senate who voted as Bennet did? We ran the issue by a variety of congressional scholars, and most agreed that it was a stretch for the NRSC to label Bennet's vote ""the deciding vote."" ""That statement is misleading and a distortion of fact,"" said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University. Several experts we spoke to pointed to historical examples in which lawmakers waited until the last moment to help push the bill over the top. Norman Ornstein, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, pointed to President Bill Clinton's attempt to pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 -- a bill that critics loathe for raising taxes but which supporters praise for eventually producing surpluses in the latter part of the decade. Lacking any Republican support in Congress, the measure faced nail-biter votes in both chambers, with then-Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, D-Pa., and Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., attracting wide attention for remaining undecided until shortly before the votes and then ultimately voting yes. In Margolies-Mezvinsky's case, her loss the following year was universally blamed on that vote. Then there was the 1985 vote on President Ronald Reagan's budget by then-Sen. Pete Wilson, R-Calif. Wilson was wheeled onto the Senate floor wearing blue pajamas following surgery for a ruptured appendix. ""That could be called a deciding vote,"" said Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution senior fellow emeritus. Indeed, there's a long and storied history of senators holding back on supporting a bill until certain demands are met, said Donald Ritchie, the historian of the Senate. This approach ""takes some nerve, because the undecided vote may come under fire from both sides, but the rewards can sometimes be significant,"" Ritchie said. So, did Bennet's approval of the stimulus and the health care bill follow the same pattern? The short answer is no. On the stimulus, Bennet spoke favorably of the bill at least as early as Jan. 31, 2009 -- two weeks before he cast the vote cited in the ad -- when the Rocky Mountain News paraphrased him saying he ""likes the overall direction of the legislation."" He was part of a bipartisan group of 20 Senators trying to shrink the size of the stimulus, which suggests that he was sufficiently supportive of the bill that he was willing to work behind closed doors to see it succeed. His approach does not seem like that of a reluctant holdout. On health care, Bennet actually took to the Senate floor to forcefully criticize deals struck by party leaders on behalf of holdout Democratic Senators, hoping to persuade them to vote for the health care bill. ""Columnists opposed to reform have criticized me for saying that I am willing to lose my seat to enact meaningful health care reform,"" he said on Dec. 21, 2010, two days before the vote. ""Now, I am being asked why I didn't negotiate a special deal with leadership. In fact, there was a report this morning criticizing me because the National Republican Senatorial Committee was rejoicing that I did not ask for special favors. Only in Washington would someone be attacked for not negotiating a backroom deal. Just because others choose to engage in the same tired Washington rituals, doesn't mean that I have to."" Bennet continued, ""So I have a message for the columnists, the political professionals, and those back home. I am not happy about the backroom deals. I am not happy that the public option was held hostage by people in our own party. I do not support rewarding delay with special deals. I will let others justify their vote and their tactics."" Indeed, as the health care debate came to a climax in the Senate, a stronger case can be made that any of several other senators deserve the title of the ""deciding vote."" In a Dec. 24, 2009, account tracing the health bill's Senate endgame, Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook of the Los Angeles Times cited Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., as a late holdout, due to his opposition to a proposal for a ""Medicare buy-in."" That policy would have allowed certain non-senior citizens to voluntarily join the federal health care plan for the elderly. According to the article, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., ""knew that he had to keep Lieberman in the tent. And the next night, when Democrats gathered for a special caucus meeting, Reid did not call out the Connecticut senator, focusing instead on the need to unite and move forward. Without the Medicare buy-in, Lieberman would be the 59th vote."" At the meeting, Reid turned to Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., ""who had a long list of demands, including more restrictions on funding abortions and full federal funding to expand Nebraska's Medicaid program. ... Reid was closing in on a deal."" Suddenly, another roadblock appeared: Republican opponents of the bill threatened to filibuster -- that is, indefinitely block consideration of -- an unrelated defense appropriations bill as a way of indirectly delaying the health care measure. To get around that, Reid had to convince Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. -- an opponent of the defense bill for substantive reasons -- not to join the Republican blockade. ""Reid was unwilling to challenge Feingold on a vote of conscience,"" the Los Angeles Times article reported. ""And when Democrats gathered for yet another special caucus meeting ... Reid was ready to concede defeat. But as dejected senators began to leave, Feingold arose: He would put aside his convictions on the war, he said, and vote with his party. 'I don't think there was a dry eye in the caucus room,' said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md."" And there was at least one more potential deciding vote -- the late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. It wasn't a question of whether Byrd would support the bill but rather a question of whether he'd be physically able to reach the chamber to vote. Byrd had spent six weeks in the hospital earlier in 2009 with a staph infection. On the day of the vote, Byrd ""was pushed onto the Senate floor in his plaid wheelchair,"" bundled in a coat, scarf and hat, according to an account in the New York Times. Lieberman, Nelson, Feingold, Byrd -- any of them could easily have been described as the deciding vote on the health care bill. So could any of the other 56 senators voting in favor. The NRSC ad ""is true, but not very informative, since there were 60 deciding votes,"" concludes David W. Rohde, a Duke University political scientist. The NRSC ad would have been quite justified in describing Bennet's vote for either bill as ""crucial"" or ""necessary"" to passage of either bill, or even as ""a deciding vote."" But we can't find any rationale for singling Bennet out as ""the deciding vote"" in either case. He made his support for the stimulus bill known early on and was not a holdout on either bill. To ignore that and the fact that other senators played a key role in completing the needed vote total for the health care bill, leaves out critical facts that would give a different impression from message conveyed by the ad."
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33217
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Facebook has deemed the posting of the U.S. Marine Corps emblem a violation of the network's community standards.
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Images of the Marine Corps Flag do not violate Facebook’s Community Standards, and therefore would not be removed from our platform.
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false
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Politics, facebook
|
On 28 July 2015, a contributor for the now-defunct Examiner website (to which anyone could submit content on a controversial, easily abused compensation-for-clicks basis) published an article reporting that Facebook had suspended the page “Locked and Loaded” (the companion social media arm for a separate blog of the same name) on the sole basis that it displayed an image of a U.S. Marine Corps emblem which was deemed to be in violation of Facebook’s community standards: Facebook unpublished the popular pro-military “Locked and Loaded” page, while telling administrators that a picture of the United States Marine Corps emblem with a ribbon marked “In Remembrance” violated their community standards. Administrator Robert Combs also received a three-day ban over the image of the Marine Corps logo. Combs told Examiner all he can do for the next three days is chat, but he intends to replace the page. It appeared that the individuals operating the banned page believed that the Marine Corps emblem itself was somehow a violation of Facebook’s community standards, but we were unable to locate any portion of the openly available guidelines under which the emblem would conceivably fall. Moreover, images spreading on social media were cropped or sized in a manner that obscured whatever might have been posted along with the (since-deleted) image on the (now unavailable) page. It was impossible to say with any certainty that the emblem itself was the reason for the suspension claimed in the screenshot, rather than text or commentary posted alongside of it that could have triggered a complaint. The most complete version of the purportedly deleted image we could find featured no aspects that might run afoul of Facebook’s community standards or any other visual cues about whether or why it had been targeted by Facebook moderators: As of 28 July 2015, the Locked and Loaded Facebook page was indeed unavailable, but images of the very same emblem were readily available across other Facebook groups and pages. In addition to the use of it by many (unbanned) members of Locked and Loaded‘s Facebook group, versions of the popular symbol were readily displayed on numerous Facebook groups and pages (some with millions of fans), including on the USMC’s verified Facebook page. If the USMC emblem itself were banned on Facebook (or by itself constituted reason for Facebook to suspend a group or page), rife sharing of the symbol would perhaps not be so rife. While it’s true that the “Locked and Loaded” Facebook page (which, incidentally, is neither officially nor unofficially a page specifically dedicated to military content) was suspended by Facebook for some reason, multiple other versions of the Marine Corps emblem have garnered millions of shares on Facebook with no reports of community violations. Furthermore, nothing in Facebook’s own published guidelines suggests that the symbol violates (or even tests) those rules. The most current article featured on Locked and Loaded‘s “News” page, titled “Socialism. The truth about the uneducated blacks in the USA,” presented an example of content that might violate Facebook’s community standards regarding hate speech: Facebook removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on their: Race, Ethnicity, National origin, Religious affiliation, Sexual orientation, Sex, gender, or gender identity, or Serious disabilities or diseases. While current evidence is insufficient to discern exactly why the Locked and Loaded Facebook page was suspended, it’s more plausible that an earlier post (which violated Facebook’s community standards) triggered an avalanche of complaints about the page’s overall content. The USMC emblem itself (which the page’s operator blamed for the suspension) is not only obviously not banned by Facebook, but it is widely and frequently posted by both Facebook users and the USMC itself. On 5 August 2015, a representative from Facebook responded to our inquiry about this claim and stated that it as false:
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22143
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I’ve been through four campaigns and have not done any negative campaigning.
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Sen. Herb Kohl says he’s never done any negative campaigning
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true
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Bipartisanship, Campaign Finance, Candidate Biography, Elections, Wisconsin, Herb Kohl,
|
"Twenty-three years into his Senate tenure, Wisconsin’s Herb Kohl hasn’t announced whether he will seek another six-year term in 2012. But as Republicans step up their criticism of him, Kohl is making crystal clear his disdain for the kind of rough-and-tumble campaign environment that almost surely would be part of another campaign. Compared to his last couple races when Kohl used his massive personal fortune to vanquish underfunded opponents with soft-sell TV ads, it would be a new environment for the senator who owns the Milwaukee Bucks and built the Kohl’s department and grocery store chains. In remarks to reporters in Madison on April 28, 2011, Kohl ruminated about the state of today’s campaigns. He said ""people don’t like anybody in public life"" because of ""venomous"" attacks and sniping among congressional members, something he said he engages in ""hardly at all."" Then he got specific: ""I’ve been through four campaigns and have not done any negative campaigning. And I don’t get into any personal jousts with other people in public life. But that’s just my style."" So has Kohl really avoided any negative campaigning? That’s quite a claim in this age of mud-slinging and aggressive campaign tactics. We decided to check it out. Of course, it would be impossible to track down every campaign statement Kohl made since 1988 and copies of decades-old TV ads. So we focused our look-back to media descriptions of TV ads, debates and the candidates’ strategies in his four races. We also talked to the people who should know best: several of his former opponents or their aides, Kohl’s campaign staff, and a longtime political reporter. Kohl has of course benefited from negative attacks launched by groups supporting his campaigns, but he spoke only of his own campaigns’ conduct, so we’ll limit our review to that. One more note before we begin: Because there is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes ""negative"" campaigning, we asked Team Kohl what exactly he meant by his claim. ""Sen. Kohl has said that he believes campaigning is about telling the people of Wisconsin what he’s done and what he plans to do, not tearing down his opponent or telling people not to vote for them,"" Kohl press secretary Lynn Becker said. ""He has not been deliberately malicious or factually dishonest in his campaigns or while serving in public office."" Indeed, his two most recent opponents said there was no negative campaigning in their contests -- and had high praise for Kohl. ""He never did anything negative in his campaign. He’ll have the job as long as he wants the job,"" said John Gillespie, founder of Rawhide Boys Ranch, who lost to Kohl in 2000. ""Say hi to Herb if you talk to him. Tell him I owe him a dinner,"" said Robert Lorge, Kohl’s 2006 rival. Fair enough. Those were landslide wins. What about the earlier contests? 1988: Kohl was a surprise entrant in the Democratic primary, winning the nomination comfortably over former Gov. Tony Earl, Ed Garvey and Doug La Follette. He frustrated his rivalsby limiting his debate participation and spending millions on TV ads. At the time, Earl’s media consultant David Axelrod charged that Kohl’s popular slogan -- ""Nobody’s Senator But Yours"" -- was an implicit negative attack. It implied that candidates who -- unlike Kohl -- have to raise most of their campaign money are beholden to donors, said Axelrod, who later went on to help a guy named Barack Obama get elected president. Earl attacked Kohl as uninformed and error-prone, prompting Kohl campaign aide Bill Christofferson to call Earl ""desperate"" and guilty of misrepresentation. Insiders on both sides agree that Kohl ran no attack ads in the primary -- and none in the very tight general election that saw Republican state legislator Susan Engeleiter close the gap to just a few pointswith a series of ads targeting Kohl in the closing weeks. Engeleiter herself told us she has ""nothing but positive recollections"" of a ""pretty cordial campaign."" She also praised Kohl’s dealing with her when she later was confirmed as administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. La Follette and Garvey say today that they wouldn’t call Kohl’s primary race negative. Regarding Kohl’s slogan, La Follette agreed with Kohl aide Christofferson, who said: ""Herb Kohl was talking about himself, not anyone else, when he promised to be 'nobody's senator but yours.'"" Indeed, Kohl explicitly used his positive campaign ads as a selling point, and called his victory a blow against negative campaigning. 1994: In his first re-election campaign, Kohl wasted little time aggressively portraying Republican opponent Robert Welch, a state lawmaker from Redgranite, as an ""extreme conservative"" and flip-flopper. At an early debate, he cited Welch’s no-exceptions stance against abortion and his vow never to vote for a tax hike as ""extreme."" According to media accounts, he did not explain the flip-flop charge. Afterwards, Welch told reporters Kohl was ""nastier than I expected."" Later, after Welch attempted to tie Kohl to President Clinton, Kohl launched a rare TV ad that focused on an opponent by name. Another followed. The ads accused Welch of distorting Kohl’s record. One said that ""fellow Republicans"" had criticized Welch’s tactics -- something deemed misleading in a Milwaukee Journal fact check. The exchange led Welch to accuse Kohl of running a ""multimillion dollar mudslinging campaign."" Kohl said it was Welch who went negative. The rhetoric heated up. At one point in the race, after Welch accused Kohl of ""religion bashing,"" Kohl spokesman Jeffrey Gillis said that "" Welch's attack again shows that he'll say or do anything to get elected."" So, that seems like quite a bit of snarling. Looking back, though, Welch’s campaign manager Mike Maxwell doesn’t have strong opinions about the back and forth. ""I don’t know that Kohl was particularly negative through that election,"" he told us. He didn’t recall the ""distort"" ad that Kohl ran. He did say that some might consider the ""extreme"" charge a negative attack. Kohl, Maxwell recalled, ""just had overwhelming resources and then he signed (Bucks first round draft choice Glenn Robinson) six days before the election."" (We could not reach Welch for comment). Kenneth Lamke, a Milwaukee Sentinel reporter who covered the 1994 race, offered the strongest opinion we heard on whether Kohl went negative against Welch. He says yes. Lamke said the ""extreme"" charge by Kohl was ""within bounds but uncharacteristic of Herb."" Lamke viewed the attack as unprovoked and an exaggeration; Gillis, the Kohl aide, said it was a response to the drumbeat of criticism of Kohl during the Republican primary. Lamke, we should note, asked us to describe his personal politics as ""leans Republican."" We asked several political scientists to characterize the language of the Kohl ad. They reacted cautiously because we could not provide the ad itself, just direct quotes from it in media accounts. That makes it impossible to fully judge the tone. Vanderbilt professor John Geer, an author of a much-cited book on negative campaigning, said it sounded like a ""tame"" response ad -- ""not the kind of classic negative ad the public doesn’t like."" Darrell West, of the Brookings Institution, agreed. UW-Madison’s Ken Goldstein said Kohl’s ad met the academic research definition of ""negative"" because it focused on Welch, not Kohl. The test of whether it was unfair is whether it was accurate, he said. So Kohl’s campaigns have been remarkably low-confrontation affairs, with the most notable exception being 1994, the first -- and perhaps only -- time Kohl aired TV spots going after an opponent. So how does Kohl fare on his statement that he has never campaigned negatively? Clearly, Kohl has spent the vast bulk of his time and money on upbeat, positive ads. Even his opponents agree strongly with that -- one even wants to buy him dinner. The only ad that pops up as arguably negative is the 1994 ""distort"" spot against Welch. It drew some critical attention, but is viewed as a pretty tame response ad. Beyond that, Kohl’s campaigns have engaged in some labeling and name calling. And Kohl’s aggressive 1994 portrayal of Welch as an ""extremist"" was arguably negative. Kohl is mostly on target here, with some minor exceptions. ."
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9515
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Bystander CPR may boost survival odds when ambulance delayed
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Bystander CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) remains an underutilized resource for victims of cardiac arrest. This story adds to evidence about how important it may be for observers to step in quickly when someone near them collapses, without waiting for the arrival of an ambulance. The story did a good job providing exact numbers on what the researchers measured, and it mentioned a few limitations to the study. It could have been a bit more clear on how this was measured–that it was looking at correlations between bystander CPR and survival rates, and not a direct experiment where more factors can be controlled (such as making sure the CPR is administered correctly). Studies like the one reported in this article are important for building understanding among the lay public about the benefits–and limits–of CPR.
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true
|
CPR
|
There is no direct cost to bystander CPR, so this category is not applicable. The story does a good job of giving exact numbers of survivors who did and didn’t receive CPR in the study. It provides exact survival times for ambulance arrivals at 5, 10, and 13 minutes. These statistics are provided both in terms of percentages and ratios. The intervention studied here involves a last-ditch emergency effort to revive a person who is dying. There are some potential harms if the resuscitated person survives, and the story didn’t mention those, but given the measured approach of this story and the nature of the research, we feel this one is N/A. In this story, important limitations of study findings are explained to some degree, enough to be satisfactory. An author of the study is cited explaining that the findings do not definitely establish that CPR is actually the direct cause of the higher survival rates reported. The reason for that, unstated, is that this study reports the correlation between cases in which bystander CPR was administered and patient survival rates. It wasn’t an experiment that could prove one caused the other–that could have been made clearer. Granted, at the end of the story we learn “the study is observational and doesn’t prove bystander CPR increases survival odds, the authors note in Circulation. Researchers also lacked data on how quickly bystanders intervened after the start of cardiac arrest, which could influence outcomes, the authors note.” But since some readers may not know what “observational” means, this could have been spelled out more. There is no disease mongering in the story. The story quotes two independent experts whose specific credentials are clearly presented. These sources are cited on the general mechanism of CPR and the importance of starting CPR early. Ideally, they’d also speak to the research itself, providing context on what the general public should know. But given that the story presents the research accurately, and included a discussion of limitations, this is a minor concern here. In a way this story is all about the alternative to bystander CPR: doing nothing until the ambulance arrives. There really isn’t another alternative that could have been discussed. The story doesn’t outright state that pretty much anybody is capable of performing CPR. However, it does imply that CPR is widely available by explaining that the biggest barrier to bystander CPR is that too few people know how to do it. More explanation about how easy it is to learn the procedure (training can be done in just a few minutes) would have improved that aspect of the article. While the story doesn’t make it explicitly clear what’s novel, it does provide enough context for the reader to understand that this study builds upon past research that was more general. That’s done via this quote: “We know from previous research that 1 in 8 people survive after a cardiac arrest if a bystander initiates CPR before the arrival of the emergency medical services,” Rajan said by email. “In contrast, if CPR is not initiated before the arrival of the emergency medical services, only 1 in 30 people survive a cardiac arrest.” The story does not appear to be based solely on a press release. It quotes two experts who were not involved in the study.
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34688
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A kitten died after ingesting a chemical sprayed on a Home Depot Christmas tree.
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Did a kitten die after ingesting chemicals sprayed on a Home Depot Christmas tree?
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unproven
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Critter Country, christmas trees, Crusader Habit, home depot
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On 10 December 2014, the Facebook page Forever Home Cat Rescue published a warning about an Ontario family who claimed their kitten (named Luna) became ill and died due to ingesting a chemical (ethylene glycol) that had been sprayed on a Christmas tree they had purchased at a Canadian Home Depot location: [Kim] Coates called Home Depot in a panic. She says the store told her the trees are sprayed with “a hypoallergenic pet-friendly substance akin to house paint.”After speaking with Home Depot, Coates says the supplier provided her veterinarian with a list of ingredients in the spray, one of which is ethylene glycol. Coates put the tree outside and Home Depot came to pick it up. This is the same chemical found in antifreeze and is highly toxic to animals, which are drawn by its sweet taste. Example: [Collected via Facebook, December 2014] URGENT!!! We just received a horrifying call from an adopter whose kitten Licorice died this morning of Ethylene Glycol poisoning after ingesting a Christmas tree needle from a tree purchased at Home Depot. Apparently, ALL Christmas trees from Home Depot are sprayed with this material found in ANTI-FREEZE! This has been verified through Home Depot Corporate and the veterinary office that tried to save the kitten’s life.Please keep this family (with four devastated children) in your thoughts tonight. One little girl thinks it’s her fault, because she picked out the tree. The initial warning about Home Depot Christmas trees was quite vague and relayed a difficult-to-understand chain of events, and the cat’s death occurred on the same day the warning was posted, leaving readers unclear about how much of the claim (if any) had been verified. On 11 December 2014, the CBC published an article about the death of Luna and the warning concerning Home Depot Christmas trees: A Stoney Creek, Ont., family adopted a black kitten named Luna from the cat rescue group called Forever Home.The family brought home a Christmas tree from Home Depot after taking the kitten home. They said the feline ingested pine needles and later died. A veterinarian informed the family the cause of death was poisoning from ethylene glycol, extremely toxic to cats. While the cat’s untimely death is sad, the composition of the tree is only one component of the warning circulating on animal advocacy pages; another is the timeline: according to Luna’s owners, the kitten became ill on 9 December 2014 and died the next day. That same day the warning about Home Depot Christmas trees was posted to social media, leaving little time for the circumstances of the kitten’s death to be fully investigated. If the warning were to be taken at face value, a comprehensive necropsy confirming ethylene glycol toxicity and test of the tree definitively determining the latter as the source of the toxin would had to have occurred inside the space of only a few hours. (Quite possibly the cat ingested something harmful that was present in the household somewhere other than on the branches of the family’s newly purchased Christmas tree.) Home Depot’s official Facebook account posted a reply to the thread on 10 December 2014, and their response addressed another consideration: Whether or not cut Christmas trees are frequently sprayed with artificial snow, many trees are sold from at given Home Depot location, but even though some of those trees go to homes where cats reside, there has not been a reported rash of cat poisonings due to the use of artificial snow on cut Christmas trees: We take all of our customer issues seriously and are actively working with the customer, our merchants and vendors to investigate the situation. Although we’ve only one report of this, we’re moving aggressively to address the matter. On 11 December 2014, additional details emerged which included quotes from the veterinarian who treated the cat and more information from Home Depot about the claim. According to the vet, the kitten’s cause of death had not been determined, and test results had yet to confirm the family’s suspicions: The family’s vet, Dr. Jenny Kungl, is cautious about jumping to conclusions. She says she’s awaiting post-mortem results and without that, “we need more significant evidence to say exactly what happened here.”Home Depot is “aggressively investigating” the incident, spokesperson Paul Berto said. He said that this is the only reported incident in Ontario and that it “applies to one of our specialty decor tree products that we had less than 300 units of.”
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37410
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U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration took steps to preserve the Affordable Care Act provision covering pre-existing conditions.
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Donald Trump Says He ‘Saved Pre-Existing Conditions in Your Healthcare’
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false
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Disinformation, Fact Checks
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On January 13 2020, United States President Donald Trump tried to attack a Democratic Party presidential candidate for “false advertising” by repeating a lie of his own.In a tweet attacking former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Trump claimed that he was “the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare, you have it now, while at the same time winning the fight to rid you of the expensive, unfair and very unpopular Individual Mandate”:But in reality, Trump and his administration have gone to court seeking the undoing of the Affordable Care Act; the law (also popularly known as “Obamacare”) originally mandated that healthcare plans not disqualify or inflate charges against those with pre-existing conditions, and that individuals be fined if they failed to have a plan. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, passed by a Republican-led Congress and signed into law by Trump, effectively struck the individual mandate down by reducing the amount of that fine to zero dollars.The effort to dismantle the law continued in July 2019, when a group of twenty Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit saying that without the fine, the law itself was unconstitutional. The Justice Department opted not to defend the ACA in the suit, Texas v. Azar.In December 2019, a panel of three judges from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the mandate itself was unconstitutional but did not make a further ruling concerning the overall law. Three days before the president’s tweet attacking Bloomberg, the administration filed a brief to the Supreme Court saying that there was no “present, real-world emergency” requiring the high court to make an emergency ruling on the matter, preserving the law through the high court’s current term, which expires in June 2020 — five months before the presidential election.The Trump administration has also sought to tear down the ACA’s regulations concerning short-term health plans; the law mandated that users could only be covered under these types of plans up to three months at a time, with no plan being renewable.Through an executive order he issued in July 2017, Trump and his administration have also walked back the ACA’s rules concerning less-expensive short-term health plans, allowing users to employ them for up to one year with an option to renew. But several analyses have found that while they tend to cost less, those types of plans do not protect users with pre-existing conditions. According to the Los Angeles Times, a plan administered by Golden Rule Insurance provided an example of how short-term plans “lowballed” their users:….the plan doesn’t cover preexisting conditions, which it defines as any condition for which medical advice or care was sought in the 24 months prior to the plan’s effective date, or would have caused “an ordinarily prudent person” to seek such advice or care in the 12 months prior to the effective date. […]This definition would allow the insurer to delve deeply into a customer’s health retroactively for two years should he or she present UnitedHealth with a claim. This was a habit health insurers engaged in freely before the ACA banned the practice.The plan’s prescription benefit is a skimpy $3,000, and it’s provided only through a discount card worth 20 percent to 25 percent of the cost of a prescription, leaving the customer exposed to what could be thousands of dollars in prescription expenses. It caps lifetime benefits for all services as low as $250,000.The plan doesn’t cover pregnancy, most abortions, most organ transplants or chemotherapy associated with bone marrow transplants. It won’t cover injuries incurred on a motorcycle or while horseback riding or skiing.In July 2019, a federal judge upheld the administration’s move making those types of plans more accessible.
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5801
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Collins urges Trump to back effort to restore health subsidy.
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A key moderate Republican urged President Donald Trump on Sunday to back a bipartisan Senate effort to shield consumers from rising premiums after his abrupt decision to halt federal payments to insurers. Sen. Susan Collins called the move “disruptive” and an immediate threat to access to health care.
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true
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Access to health care, AP Top News, Lamar Alexander, Health, Politics, North America, Patty Murray, Business, Susan Collins, Donald Trump
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“What the president is doing is affecting people’s access and the cost of health care right now,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has cast pivotal votes on health care in the narrowly divided Senate. “This is not a bailout of the insurers. What this money is used for is to help low-income people afford their deductibles and their co-pays.” “Congress needs to step in and I hope that the president will take a look at what we’re doing,” she added. Her comments reflected an increasing focus Sunday on the bipartisan Senate effort led by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., to at least temporarily reinstate the payments to avoid immediate turmoil in the insurance market, even as Trump signaled he wouldn’t back a deal without getting something he wants in return. The payments will be stopped beginning this week, with sign-up season for subsidized private insurance set to start Nov. 1. “The president is not going to continue to throw good money after bad, give $7 billion to insurance companies unless something changes about Obamacare that would justify it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who golfed with Trump Saturday at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. “It’s got to be a good deal,” Graham said. In his decision last week, Trump derided the $7 billion in subsidies as bailouts to insurers and suggested he was trying to get Democrats to negotiate and agree to a broader effort to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law, a bid that repeatedly crashed in the GOP-run Senate this summer. The payments seek to lower out-of-pocket costs for insurers, which are required under Obama’s law to reduce poorer people’s expenses — about 6 million people. To recoup the lost money, carriers are likely to raise 2018 premiums for people buying their own health insurance policies. Alexander and Murray have been seeking a deal that the Tennessee Republican has said would reinstate the payments for two years. In exchange, Alexander said, Republicans want “meaningful flexibility for states” to offer lower-cost insurance policies with less coverage than Obama’s law mandates. Still, congressional Republicans are divided over that effort. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney has suggested that Trump may oppose any agreement unless he gets something he wants — such as a repeal of Obamacare or funding of Trump’s promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. On Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described Trump’s demand for a sit-down with congressional Democratic leaders as “a little far down the road.” She noted the bipartisan effort in the Senate and said ultimately it will be up to a Republican-controlled Congress and executive branch whether the federal government can avert a shutdown by year’s end. The government faces a Dec. 8 deadline on the debt limit and government spending. “We’re not about closing down government. The Republicans have the majority,” Pelosi said. “In terms of the health care, we’re saying ’Let’s follow what Sen. Murray and Alexander are doing.” Collins praised the Senate effort so far, which included public hearings by the Senate health and education committee. Still, she acknowledged a potentially tough road in reaching broader agreement. “I hope we can proceed, but Democrats will have to step up to the plate and assist us,” said Collins, who is a member of the committee. “It’s a two-way street.” The scrapping of subsidies would affect millions more consumers in states won by Trump last year, including Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, than in states won by Democrat Hillary Clinton. Nearly 70 percent of the 6 million who benefit from the cost-sharing subsidies are in states that voted for the Republican. Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio said Sunday his state had anticipated that the insurer payments would be halted but not so quickly. He called for the payments to be reinstated right away, describing a hit to Ohio — a state also won by Trump last November — for at least the “first two or three months.” “Over time, this is going to have a dramatic impact,” Kasich said. “Who gets hurt? People. And it’s just outrageous.” Nineteen Democratic state attorneys general have announced plans to sue Trump over the stoppage. Attorneys generals from California, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York were among those saying they will file the lawsuit in federal court in California to stop Trump’s attempt “to gut the health and well-being of our country.” Collins appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” Pelosi also spoke on ABC, Graham appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” and Kasich was on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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30796
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"The group LGBT is adding a ""P"" to their name in order to represent pedosexuals."
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A 1994 study, led by Carole Jenny of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, surveyed 269 cases of children who were sexually molested by adults. In 82 percent of cases, the alleged offender was a heterosexual partner of a close relative of the child, the researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. In only two out of 269 cases, the offender was identified as being gay or lesbian.
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false
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Junk News, 4chan, 4chan hoaxes, lgbt
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Anti-gay activists continue to push the long-disproven idea that homosexuality and pedophilia are somehow connected, despite an utter lack of scientific proof. In December 2017, for instance, Facebook user Keya Hopkins shared an image purportedly showing a flyer in support of “LGBTP” rights, claiming that the “P” for stood for “Pedosexual”: LGBT is adding the letter P for Pedosexual. Although we knew it was coming, it breaks my heart to see the acceptance of it. Pedophile is when you have “relations” with children. Pedosexual is exclusive to only boys. We officially cannot protect our children. This world can end now! #imdone This is not a genuine flyer from an LGBT group, nor has any LGBT group condoned pedophilia, let alone announced that a “P” would be added to the acronym in order to show support for pedophiles. This fraudulent poster seems to be the work of a 4chan misinformation campaign that began with a 23 June 2016 thread about tricking LGBT activists into supporting pedophiles. These “PsyOps” campaigns are usually aimed at tricking (“redpilling”) people into seeing “reality.” Several users chimed in with their ideas of how to make and promote the poster, which originally included the tagline “Love Is Ageless”: Alright you fucking morons. You’re letting the LBGTQ “community”outsmart you. If they want to demand that society accept their horseshit identities, then it’s time we slip in one of our own, for godly keks. How do we do this? We convince them that Pedos deserve rights too. Think about it, if this were to catch any traction at all it would only further remove any legitimization they’ve gained. Flood twitter with #lgbtp and #loveisageless with pics like this This. You have to just act like it’s another form of sexual identification. No love is ageless shit. You have to get a Tumblr thing going with legit stuff first, and then eventually start slow, and then post that one and keep pushing it, eventually people will fight for molester rights! Nor was it the last time a 4chan group tried this. A January 2017 thread titled “LGBTP General: Subversive Memesmithing Edition” laid out further plans to spread the idea that the LGBT community supports pedophilia: Greetings, I come to you as a humble meming acolyte. I would like to propose a PsyOp centered around generating disgust for the burgeoning pedophile acceptance movement. This op, as you can probably deduce, will introduce fracture points in the LGBT movement by adding a “P” for pedophilia to their title. The left has continued to push perversions and this nudge will further polarize public sentiment for / against LGBT. This op, if it gained traction, would have several benefits: First, you associate that community with a blight that in fact is realistic – we all know faggots molest children at an alarming rate. Second, it D/Cs the LGBT(P) community, some of whom will actually ACCEPT these vermin into their ranks. This is incredibly damaging from a PR standpoint, as in lose-your-job / all public support damaging. Third, it encourages more people to out themselves out of a perceived security, which is nothing but an illusion manufactured (by us / cooperatives in the know) to destroy them. Phase 1 – Introduce OC. Push pedo acceptance particularly on the LGBT bandwagon via twitter sockpuppets etc. Offline, letters to editors and / or news orgs as an “oppressed person due to my sexual preferences.” Imagine if your 5pm news ran a story on this? Phase 2 – Dox pedos (they bring it upon themselves, as in Heart Progress), utilize national sex offender registry, familywatchdog.us actually specifies “offense against minor” Compile a list. Phase 3 – Distribute dox / propoganda in local settings, use your imagination. Here is some OC, in dire need of polishing to reach normies. Fire up GIMP and twitter puppets and let the triggering commence. Possible hashtags: WeArentMonsters GaysForPedoSexuality ConsentToLove ChooseNotAbuse Troll accounts posing as supporters of the “LGBTP” movement and at least one account posing as an official “LGBTQP” organization started to push the narrative on Twitter: To be clear, no LGBT organization has ever come out in favor of child molestation. Furthermore, this attempt to link homosexuality to pedophilia was rooted in bigotry, not statistics: An especially pernicious myth is that most adults who sexually abuse children are gay. A number of researchers have looked at this question to determine if homosexuals are more likely to be pedophiles than heterosexuals, and the data indicate that’s not the case. For example, in a 1989 study led by Kurt Freund of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Canada, scientists showed pictures of children to adult gay and straight males, and measured sexual arousal. Homosexual men reacted no more strongly to pictures of male children than heterosexual men reacted to pictures of female children.
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10788
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Hormone-blocking drug reduces breast cancer risk
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This story reports on results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, which found that the aromatase inhibitor, exemestane, is an effective option for preventing breast cancer in higher risk, postmenopausal women. The story does a nice job of discussing the study, presenting the outcomes, and framing it as a decision to be made after weighing the potential benefits and harms. However, we would have liked to have seen a broader discussion on whether healthy women would really want to take a medication with potentially serious side effects and only a modest benefit. There are significant side effects associated with tamoxifen and raloxifene and many women feel these potential harms outweigh the potential benefit of reducing their risk of developing cancer. Aromatase inhibitors have fewer side effects and may be a more attractive option for postmenopausal women who have an increased risk of breast cancer; however, studies have shown that a very small percentage of women in this higer risk group have any desire to take tamoxifen. It’s unclear whether aromatase inhibitors provide enough benefit to change womens’ preferences. In addition, about half of patients using aromatase inhibitors to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer have stopped taking the drug after just 2 years, so these drugs are not without problems. One could argue that nonadherence would be even greater in healthy women taking it to prevent a first breast cancer.
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true
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Associated Press,Cancer,women's health
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According to the story, brand-name aromatase inhibitors cost between $340 and $420 a month, but the story also points out that lower-costing, generic versions are available in the U.S. It would have been useful had the story also provided cost information for the other preventive drug options, tamoxifen and raloxifene. A particular strength of this story is its presentation of data. Dr. Winer, an independent source included in the story, translates a 65% risk reduction to mean that exemestane may reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer from 3% to 1%. Not only does the story provide absolute risk, but it also presents the number needed to treat. According to the study authors, 26 women would need to take exemestane for five years to prevent a single case of breast cancer. It should be noted, however, that few women in the study completed five years of therapy. Since this is being used as a preventive measure in healthy women, side effects are very important and data should have been provided. The story indicates that “slightly” more women taking exemastane experienced hot flashes, fatigue, sweating, insomnia, and joint pain, compared to those taking placebo pills. It would have been helpful to note, for example, that 40% in the exemestane group experienced a hot flash versus 32% in the placebo group. Citing older research, the story indicates that that joint pain, muscle aches, problems having sex, and vaginal dryness may be more evident with a longer duration of use. The story makes it clear that the study was a large-scale, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, which enrolled over 4500 women in North America and Europe. The women included had at least one risk factor for breast cancer. It also notes that given the significant risk reduction associated with exemestane, the study was stopped after 3 years to give women in the control arm the option of taking exemestane to prevent possible breast cancers. More information regarding participants’ characteristics, including age and race would have been helpful. This story did not engage in disease-mongering. In addition to including experts not affiliated with the exemestane study, the story also notes that the it was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society, the Avon Foundation, and Pfizer. In addition, the writer points out that the study lead and a few other authors have received speaking fees from Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies that make cancer drugs. This story compares the benefits and harms of exemestane with tamoxifen; however, a mention of how these compare with raloxifene, would have been useful. The availability of aromatase inhibitors is not in question. It’s clear from the story that aromatase inhibitors are currently used to prevent breast cancer recurrences. It’s also clear that this is the first study evaluating its utility for preventing the first instance of breast cancer in healthy women with a higher risk of developing the disease. The story does not appear to be based on the press release.
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11552
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Promise Seen in Drug for Retardation Syndrome
|
"This report from the New York Times is a win for almost everyone. The paper gets a big scoop and a drug company gets a nice dose of front-page publicity for its experimental drug. Who loses? Anyone who think it’s important to carefully assess what happens in medical research so that good decisions can be made about treatment (i.e. the rest of us). We can understand why Novartis would choose to selectively disclose the results of an important study to a reporter and then have him collect comments about the ""surprising results"" from others who haven’t seen the data. Such a strategy seems likely to yield plenty of positive reactions, as this story predictably reported, while limiting opportunities for unwanted hole-poking. But we think it’s unfortunate that the Times chose to play along with Novartis’s game. In our view, an interview with a hand-picked reporter is not the appropriate venue to release the results of important new medical research, and it seems naive for the Times to pass along Novartis’s perspective on the findings without being allowed to corroborate it with other expert sources. While this drug could eventually live up to its billing as ""perhaps the most promising therapeutic discovery ever for a gene-based behavioral disease,"" as one researcher breathlessly put it, we’d prefer to at least see a study abstract before seeing these kinds of claims put down in print for all the world to base their hopes on. It’s unfortunate that these issues obscured some of the interesting background on fragile X and the research process, which was informative and engaging. Mental retardation is a condition that places a huge burden on millions of patients and their families. Treatment options are limited and generally not very effective. A new drug that addresses the source of the problem would certainly be an important development worthy of front-page coverage in the New York Times. However, it is critical not to instill false hope by overhyping experimental drugs before their benefits are proven."
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mixture
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"Since the drug is in such an early stage of development, we’ll call this one not applicable. Again, the story falls down here when it passes along a Novartis researcher’s vague account of what happened in the study instead of providing us with actual statistics. The researcher says there was ""clear improvement"" in the treated patients, but the story should have pressed for a more detailed account of how many patients benefited, by how much, and according to what outcome. Also unsatisfactory was the rampant speculation about who else might benefit from the drug beyond patients with fragile X syndrome. According to the Novartis account of the research, only a subgroup of patients with an ""undisclosed biological trait"" benefited from therapy with the experimental drug. And this was in a study that was already extremely small (""a few dozen patients"") to begin with. But The Times quotes three different sources who suggest, based on no evaluation of the data, that the drug might be useful for a broader spectrum of autism disorders. And the quotes include some over-the-top language about the drug perhaps being ""the key to solving the mystery of autism and other developmental disorders."" By relentlessly playing up the positives and failing to rein in these more exuberant proponents, we think the story gives an unbalanced view of progress in the development of this drug and what it will likely be capable of. The fact is that very few drugs in this stage of development will be approved by the FDA and become available to patients. One of the big problems of reporting on research that hasn’t been published or peer-reviewed is that harms don’t get adequately quantified–a drawback that was on full display in this story. The report didn’t even mention the possibility of patients being harmed by this experimental drug. The story does an excellent job of explaining the science behind fragile X syndrome and the discovery process that led to the new investigational drug. And at first glance, the story seems to call attention to all the appropriate caveats and limitations that apply to early-stage drug research. We are told that the drug is years away from approval and that it might fail in future clinical trials. The Times also warns us that the trial results were not published or peer reviewed. Troubling, however, is the fact that other researchers who commented for the story were doing so without having reviewed the Novartis data and had to be told by the reporter what the study found. That doesn’t strike us as a recipe for collecting useful feedback about complex medical research. Also problematic is the story’s characterization of the study outcomes reported by the researchers. We are told that an ""undisclosed biological trait"" improved in the treated group more than in the control group. The story says that these and other details about the study could not be disclosed by Novartis for commercial reasons. So the question inevitably arises: If the limitations and restrictions on a study are such that a reporter can’t get independent feedback about it and can’t even tell us what benefits were found, is the newspaper really justified in spending 1800 words covering the story? If the only evidence you are allowed to report on is a company researcher’s assurance that ""clear improvements in behavior"" were found, we think it’s a good sign the story might need a little more seasoning before it gets splashed across the front page. This story does not resort to disease-mongering. While the story does collect feedback from a number of independent expert sources, we think the way these sources were used was inappropriate and potentially misleading. The reporter seems to have approached many of the sources and asked them to comment– without the benefit of any actual data–on the reporter’s second-hand description of the apparent positive results of Novartis’s research. The sources all respond with a variation on, ""Wow, that sounds wonderful."" And really, who wouldn’t say the same thing? Nobody doubts that a drug effective for fragile X syndrome would represent a huge medical breakthrough. But the more important question prompted by the article is whether such a breakthrough has in fact occurred. Although there are some cautions and caveats sprinkled throughout the article, we think the extremely positive tone of the expert quotes far outweighs these nuggets of restraint. What bears repeating (and what we think gets lost in this story) is that these experts are enthusiastic about the concept of an effective treatment; they are not endorsing Novartis’s claim that the drug caused ""clear improvements"" in behavior. The treatment approach appears to be genuinely novel. An expert source comments that fragile X syndrome, up until recently, was viewed as ""disability needing rehab, not a disorder needing medication."" There’s no question that the drug discussed in the story is years away from being available and may never get approved by the FDA. This drug does by all accounts represents a novel approach to the treatment of fragile X syndrome. It’s clear that this story wasn’t based on a press release. But do we need to create a cateogry for stories based largely on non-published disclosures in conversations with pharma execs?"
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14364
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"Chris Larson Says Chris Abele ""has had five years and he’s done nothing"" about the Estabrook Dam."
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"Larson says Abele has had five years in office and ""done nothing"" about the Estabrook Dam, with an earlier statement blaming him for a lack of consensus. But records and news accounts show Abele has been consistent in wanting the dam removed, has taken steps to make his wishes known and to build support for removal among nearby communities and other groups. Along the way, he has been thwarted by the County Board. Larson’s statement was that Abele has done nothing. That rates False."
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false
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Environment, Wisconsin, Chris Larson,
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"The fate of the Estabrook Dam on the Milwaukee River has played an outsized role during the 2016 campaign for Milwaukee County Executive. That’s especially true because, despite a 6-year-old order from the state Department of Natural Resources to either repair or replace the 80-year-old structure, and a circuit court order declaring the dam a nuisance, the issue has not been resolved. County Executive Chris Abele wants to tear the dam down, but the County Board has voted to repair the structure. When Abele challenger Chris Larson was on the board, he voted to repair the dam, but now says he’s willing to consider removing it because public sentiment seems to have changed. But Larson, a state senator, also has been sharply critical of Abele’s leadership on the issue. Both are Democrats running for the nonpartisan office in the April 5, 2016 election. Abele ""has had five years and he’s done nothing"" about the dam, Larson said during a March 29, 2016 appearance before the Rotary Club of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Press Club. That echoed what he wrote in a March 15, 2016 email to supporters: ""The current county executive has provided no leadership in forging a consensus on what to do with the dam, he has no urgency in addressing this problem."" Is Larson correct that Abele has ""done nothing"" on the matter? The options There are two major alternatives before county officials. Removal: The Milwaukee Riverkeepers, a coalition of environmental groups, has urged the removal of the dam. They note that the removal of the North Avenue Dam, a few miles downstream, led to improved water quality and a thriving fish and wildlife population. Advocates also argue the Estabrook Dam primarily benefits a small number of property owners who enjoy the impoundment, or lake, that the dam creates. They say that is unfair -- even illegal -- because a public facility is creating benefits for a few private property owners. Repair: The Milwaukee River Preservation Association, a group that includes riverfront property owners, and others, including County Board Chairman Theo Lipscomb, favor repairing the dam. They argue the dam creates an important water recreational area and say its removal could lead to the release of toxins built up behind the structure over the decades. Under orders by the federal government, the county hired a consultant, AECOM, to conduct an environmental assessment of the dam. The $250,000 report, released in early 2015, did not recommend an option. But it did note public sentiment at meetings held in September 2014 was about 2-to-1 in favor of removal and said that over time it would cost twice as much to repair and continue operating the dam than it would be to remove it. The report also cited the environmental benefits to allowing water to flow freely and called removal the most ""environmentally protective alternative."" The report was conducted during Abele’s tenure, under orders from the federal government, because it was believed, at the time, that the feds owned an island that is connected to the dam. Abele’s tenure There’s considerable disagreement between Abele and some members of the County Board -- especially Lipscomb, who represents the area -- over how to address the dam. If you had to describe Abele’s record on the dam in one word, it would be ""hamstrung."" On at least two occasions involving the 2015 budget, Lipscomb succeed in getting the board to insert money into the county budget -- first to repair the dam and later to build a fish passage, which is a component of one of the rebuilding options. Abele vetoed both, with one overridden and one sustained. In between the votes and vetoes, Abele’s parks department sent a memo to the board urging it to take action and noting the board itself had changed its position from remove to replace several times. Abele also sent the board a resolution to remove the dam, noting that repairs had become increasingly expensive. And Abele’s chief of staff, Raisa Koltun, followed up with several emails to Lipscomb, but the matter was never scheduled for a vote. Beyond the stalemate with the County Board, Koltun said Abele has worked to forge a consensus with local units of government that have an interest in the dam, including the city of Milwaukee, villages of Shorewood and Brown Deer and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District. He has also worked with groups like the Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited and the Milwaukee Riverkeeper, as well as pursued private and federal funding to help pay for the dam’s removal. Our rating Larson says Abele has had five years in office and ""done nothing"" about the Estabrook Dam, with an earlier statement blaming him for a lack of consensus. But records and news accounts show Abele has been consistent in wanting the dam removed, has taken steps to make his wishes known and to build support for removal among nearby communities and other groups. Along the way, he has been thwarted by the County Board. Larson’s statement was that Abele has done nothing. That rates ."
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27234
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Judge Kavanaugh, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, could be a deciding vote on a case that has the potential to dramatically increase the power of the presidential pardon.
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Oral arguments for the case have not been scheduled but will occur during this Supreme Court term. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh could become a deciding vote in the case.
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true
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Politics, brett kavanaugh, constitutional law, donald trump
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This article discussed the potential implications of a case that was, at the time of writing, undecided by the Supreme Court. On 17 June 2019 the Supreme Court decided that case, rejecting arguments that could have resulted in a stronger presidential pardon. Far from Kavanaugh’s being a deciding vote on the case, the court ruled 7-2 against the notion that Federal and State prosecution for the same crime violates the so-called “double jeopardy clause” of the Constitution. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented. On 29 November 2015, a motorist named Terance Gamble, who had been convicted of second degree robbery seven years earlier, was pulled over by an Alabama police officer because of a faulty headlight on his vehicle. Upon searching the car, the officer found a handgun, among other items. It is illegal under both Alabama law and United States law for convicted felons to possess firearms, and Gamble was eventually sentenced to one year in prison on that charge by the state of Alabama. During Gamble’s prosecution under Alabama law for possession of a firearm as a felon, the Federal Government also charged him with the same crime. Gamble’s lawyers argued that this second conviction was a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “double jeopardy,” which is intended to protect people from being prosecuted for the same crime more than once. The double jeopardy clause is found in Fifth Amendment to the U.S. constitution, which states (in part) that “No person shall … be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” Specifically, the clause has been interpreted to be a prohibition on: Gamble has been in federal prison since entering a guilty plea on 18 October 2016 that allowed him to appeal his case. In June 2018, the Supreme Court agreed to hear his argument that he has been unconstitutionally punished multiple times for the same crime. While the case is about the constitutionality of a man being charged twice for the same gun possession incident in a narrow sense, the case more broadly has the potential to significantly alter 150 years of Supreme Court precedent. Since the 1850s, the Supreme Court has allowed for one explicit exception to the Constitution’s double jeopardy protections: cases of dual sovereignty (or “separate sovereigns”) which stem from view that the federal government and state governments are distinct entities with occasionally overlapping jurisdictions. (Exceptions to this exception exist which seek to limit double prosecutions at the federal level, but as this case shows they do not always have that effect.) This ”separate sovereigns” exception to double jeopardy, though built on several previous rulings, was made most explicit in a 1920s bootlegging case, United States v. Lanza, which allowed a man to be charged with bootlegging crimes by both the state of Washington and the federal government. With respect to that case, Chief Justice William Howard Taft argued: We have here two sovereignties, deriving power from different sources, capable of dealing with the same subject matter within the same territory. Each may, without interference by the other, enact laws to secure prohibition, with the limitation that no legislation can give validity to acts prohibited by the amendment. Each government, in determining what shall be an offense against its peace and dignity, is exercising its own sovereignty, not that of the other. The separate sovereigns exemption has for much of its history been a controversial precedent which critics maintain is not rooted in the original text of the Constitution but is instead cobbled together from different partially relevant Supreme Court decisions — decisions rooted in a time when the federal government was less powerful and whose questions never directly sought to address the explicit matter of double punishment for the same crime in state and federal jurisdictions. This argument is reflected in Gamble’s filing. The government argues in this case that the precedent is well-established through myriad Supreme Court cases and consistent with the Founding Fathers’ vision of state and federal government duality: The dual-sovereignty principle has been “long held”, and “consistently endorsed” by this Court, which has recognized its soundness as a matter of “[p]recedent, experience, and reason alike,” The Court explained the roots of the principle more than 150 years ago. And in 1959, the Court described a challenge to the dual-sovereignty doctrine as “not a new question,” having been “invoked and rejected in over twenty cases” … Each sovereign is entitled to “exercis[e] its own sovereignty” to “determin[e] what shall be an offense against its peace and dignity” and prosecute the offender “without interference by the other.” Under petitioner’s interpretation of the Double Jeopardy Clause, one sovereign’s efforts (successful or not) to enforce its own laws would vitiate the other sovereign’s similar law-enforcement prerogatives. But that cannot be squared with the Constitution’s bedrock structure of governance. In this case, Gamble has explicitly asked the Supreme Court to rule on a single specific question: “Whether the Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause.” The reason Gamble v. United States is generating buzz from people other than constitutional law scholars is that the separate sovereigns exception also prevents President Trump from pardoning people for state crimes. Under current Supreme Court precedent, a presidential pardon of an individual does not prevent that individual from being prosecuted for the same or similar crimes under state law. “Under the dual sovereignty doctrine,” Adam J. Adler wrote in the Yale Law Review, “as long as two offenses are defined by different jurisdictions, they cannot constitute the ‘same offense.’” The Congressional Research Service issued an August 2018 report on the potential ramifications of the case, and this report included a discussion of its possible effect on the presidential pardon power: The Gamble case may nevertheless have significant collateral legal effects … A win for Gamble could also indirectly strengthen the President’s pardon power, by precluding a state from prosecuting an already-pardoned defendant who has gone to trial on an overlapping offense. Some pundits have speculated that the reason why certain politicians seem to be in a rush to seat Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is that is that he has a notably strong view of presidential powers and therefore would be a vote in favor of Gamble and for an expansion of presidential pardon powers — and the Supreme Court announced they would be hearing this case the day after Justice Kennedy’s retirement. This temporal proximity has prompted some commenters to opine that the rush might be motivated by a desire to limit the president’s legal liability in the Russia probe and other investigations: While we cannot speculate on the motives of politicians who are supporting Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, The Atlantic reported that prominent political legal scholars agree in a general sense with the view of this case’s having importance with regard to President Trump’s pardon power: Within the context of the Mueller probe, legal observers have seen the dual-sovereignty doctrine as a check on President Donald Trump’s power: It could discourage him from trying to shut down the Mueller investigation or pardon anyone caught up in the probe, because the pardon wouldn’t be applied to state charges. Under settled law, if Trump were to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, for example — he was convicted in federal court on eight counts of tax and bank fraud — both New York and Virginia state prosecutors could still charge him for any crimes that violated their respective laws … If the dual-sovereignty doctrine were tossed … then Trump’s pardon could theoretically protect Manafort from state action. If Trump were to shut down the investigation or pardon his associates, “the escape hatch, then, is for cases to be farmed out or picked up by state-level attorneys general, who cannot be shut down by Trump and who generally — but with some existing limits –can charge state crimes even after a federal pardon,” explained Elie Honig, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey. The Atlantic also reported that at least one member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who approved Kavanaugh for a floor vote before the full Senate, Orrin Hatch, has publicly weighed in on the topic (unmotivated, he says, by the implications for the pardon power), filing an Amicus Curiae brief in favor of Gamble which argued that “the pervasive federalization of criminal law to cover conduct that traditionally was prosecuted and punished by the states, and that falls within the states’ core legislative interests, threatens to undermine the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause unless the dual sovereignty doctrine is overruled in this context.”
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11378
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Trying brain pacemakers to zap psychiatric disease
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We especially appreciate the lack of hype in this story. The reporter clearly worked hard to stick to the evidence – not merely to promote the potential. About 65-70 percent of patients with major depressive disorder improve substantially with 1 to 2 course of standard treatment (medication, psychotherapy or combinations). Subsequent treatment options have progressively lower rates of treatment response. Therefore, a significant number of people need other treatment options. Deep brain stimulation is an invasive treatment, but one that has shown promise in a small number of patients.
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true
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Associated Press
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We give the story credit for at least citing a $30,000 cost for the “surgeries” but wish it had explained what that included and what it might not. Surgery to change the battery every two years certainly adds to cost. Undoubtedly patients require more intensive expensive followup and perhaps specialized checks to ensure the device is working. With broad strokes across discussion of three different uses for three different conditions, the story did an adequate job quantifiying benefits. As stated in the “Evidence” criterion above, this is where a control group and reporting response rates for treated versus control groups would be very informative. Instead, we only get a qualitative description of benefits which is useful but which might leave careful readers asking for more. This is one area where the story could have been improved. There was no detailed discussion of what can go wrong with deep brain stimulation. There was a brief mention of “if” the electrodes cause neurological side effects. But how often does that happen? And the story noted that the surgery does “sometimes” cause dangerous brain bleeding or infections. How often is “sometimes”? At a very high, overview level, the story explained the current state of the evidence. But more information would have been better. Current evidence for depression/OCD is based on case series. These studies don’t have a control group, making the results more subject to bias. No disease mongering of any of the conditions discussed. The story was repeatedly clear about deep brain stimulation being used when standard medications or behavior therapy had not worked. But it would be helpful to give estimates of the proportion of patients with depression or OCD who aren’t helped by available treatments. Several sources were cited. Dr. Mayberg’s connection to St. Jude Medical was mentioned. The story could have mentioned that Dr. Okun’s center and Dr. Greenberg have received funding from Medtronic. Greenberg’s current funding from the National Institute of Mental Health was noted. We think the sourcing and disclosure was adequate. A strong point of the story was that it repeatedly provided the context for the use of deep brain stimulation — “when standard medications fail…worst-case patients…doesn’t mean patients can abandon traditional therapy…people with intractable (problems)…(people who) failed behavior therapy.” This story already attempted to accomplish a lot, but to be complete, it could have offered explicit description of currently approved options: antidepressant medications (multiple classes); psychotherapy (multiple options); combinations of medications or medications and therapy; transcranial magnetic stimulation (limited availabilty), vagal nerve stimulation, ECT – and estimate of the proportion of patients who fail these treatments. Nonethless, we feel it met the criteria for a satisfactory score. The story states that 70,000 have had deep brian stimulation for Parkinson’s or other movement disorders, and that studies are underway on at least 60 people with intractable obsessive-compulsive disorder and 100 with severe depression. The experimental nature of these approaches is clear from the story. A nice touch would be to give a link to clinicaltrials.gov to allow readers the option of looking up more information on the studies in progress and finding out if recruitment is open and how to access the study. The story did a good job putting the new uses of deep brain stimulation into the context of other research and other therapeutic approaches. It’s clear that the story did not rely on a news release.
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39730
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The Wounded Warriors Project is a fraud and dedicates a small percentage of its proceeds to assisting veterans who were wounded in the line of duty and organizations that support them.
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Wounded Warriors Project is a Fraud
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false
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9/11 Attack on America
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"This claim is false. In fiscal year 2013, the Wounded Warriors Foundation took in $234 million in donations and dedicated 80 percent of that amount to programs for wounded veterans, according to tax records. The eRumor’s claim that the organization spends just 3.5% of its total income on grants for individuals and veteran organizations is misleading. The Wounded Warriors Foundation began awarding grants to veteran organizations with similar goals in 2012, the year cited by the eRumor, and the amount it awards in grants has increased dramatically since. The Wounded Warriors Foundation reports: Since its inception in 2012, WWP Program Grants has held two grant cycles each year. WWP Program Grants are awarded in amounts up to 250,000 and last one full year from the date of award. Our in-depth grant evaluation process ensures WWP provides financial support to groups espousing kindred priorities and policies, and with the same commitment to our mission to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. Historically, WWP has supported organizations that seek to enhance the lives of wounded service members through programs aimed at improving mental health and wellness; exposing wounded service members to new opportunities for physical fitness and activity; connecting wounded service members with their peers and communities; and enhancing economic empowerment and independence. In 2013, the Wounded Warriors Foundation reported that it paid $16.8 million in grants to other veteran organizations. And the claim that the group pays less than $1 million in grants to individual veterans is also false. Various organizations that receive grants from the Wounded Warriors Foundation use that money to provide direct assistance to disabled veterans, and those figures aren’t reflected in the eRumor’s claim. In just one grant cycle in 2014, a number of grant recipients provided direct support to veterans, according to the Wounded Warriors Foundation: 2014 SECOND CYCLE GRANT RECIPIENTS Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans – Homelessness Prevention: MACV offers short-term assistance when payment or service will resolve the veteran’s current crisis. Assistance includes direct payments for rent/mortgage, security deposits, transportation, utilities, food, clothing, and more. This direct assistance helps veterans to continue concentrating on long-term stabilization goals to obtain secure housing and employment. US Vets – Homelessness Prevention: Wrap-Around Shelter and Support Services for Homeless Veterans provides housing, meals, mental health counseling, case management, and employment services to post 9/11 veterans and their families who are homeless or at-risk for homelessness. Veterans One-stop Center of Western New York – Military to Civilian Transition: The Warrior Transition & Integration Assistance Program assists warriors with their transition and integration to civilian life through the collaborative provision of integrated care management. Direct services focus on homelessness prevention, workforce readiness and development, family resiliency/reintegration, and other supportive services to help empower warriors to complete their transition and integration. Variations of this eRumor also make claims about so-called excessive salaries that Wounded Warrior Foundation executives earn. Steven Nardizzi, the executive director of the group, earned $375,000 in 2013, according to the independent website Charity Navigator. That’s on par with the average salary of executives from other non-profits. Overall, the Wounded Warriors Foundation receives high marks for its overall performance, financial efficiency and transparency. Charity Navigator rated its overall performance at 86.11 out of a possible 100 for fiscal year 2013. Comments"
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21431
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"Mitt Romney ""drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car."
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Mitt Romney and the dog on the car roof: one columnist's obsession
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true
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National, Animals, Candidate Biography, Pundits, Gail Collins,
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"Gail Collins loves telling the story of how Mitt Romney drove his family to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car -- and telling it, and telling it, and telling it. The liberal New York Times columnist has mentioned the incident in print 19 times, by our count. She devoted a column to the incident in 2007 when Romney first ran for president. In another column, she suggested John McCain pick Romney for his running mate ""so I can repeatedly revisit the time Mitt drove to Canada with the family dog on the station-wagon roof."" And when Sarah Palin was picked instead, and Collins opined that ""unlike Mitt Romney, she has never gone on vacation with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car."" Collins regularly includes the incident in jocular news quizzes she writes. (A typical question: Which Republican hopeful ""continued to fail to explain why he drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car?"" Mitt Romney.) She complained that his 2010 campaign book No Apology didn't mention it, calling it ""a critical oversight."" Last year, just in time for the holidays, she suggested someone make ""a tasteful Mitt Romney Christmas Ornament"" depicting the scene of the dog on the roof. And just last week, she noted that the issue wasn't discussed during the Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Romney's top rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, reportedly shot a coyote that was threatening his daughter's dog, which made the Romney anecdote relevant. ""His puppy-rescue is a stirring picture, especially considering that Perry's chief competitor is the man who drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car."" Aside from wondering why Collins is so obsessed with the story, we also wondered: Is it true? We reached Collins to ask her why she liked the story so much, but she said she'd rather let her columns speak for themselves. (See a picture of Seamus here.) The story of Seamus the Irish setter is not an Internet rumor. It first appeared in the august pages of the Boston Globe in 2007, when the paper published a seven-part profile of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who had just launched a presidential run. The story of Seamus kicked off Day Four, a story about Romney's family life, written by Globe reporters Neil Swidey and Stephanie Ebbert. It begins in 1983 with a 36-year-old Mitt Romney carefully packing up his five sons and luggage into the family station wagon for a 12-hour trip from Boston to Ontario, where his parents had a cottage on Lake Huron. At the time, Romney was a successful young consultant with Bain & Company, but he hadn't yet started buying and selling companies with Bain Capital in the private equity field. ""As with most ventures in his life, he had left little to chance, mapping out the route and planning each stop. ... Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. "" Cruel? It's not presented that way in the story, which noted Romney built a special windshield for the carrier, ""to make the ride more comfortable for the dog."" But Seamus must not have been all that comfortable, because he began to experience, um, gastric distress. From the story: As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours. As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management. As the story quickly made its way around the Internet, Romney loathers -- and dog lovers -- had a field day. The liberal blog Wonkette said it showed Romney would be a great commander-in-chief for the notorious Iraq prison Abu Ghraib. David Kravitz of the liberal blog Blue Mass Group called it ""nuts"" and ""classic Romney: it solves a problem efficiently, in a business-like manner, and with no regard whatsoever for the suffering that the solution may cause."" Ingrid Newkirk of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told Time's Ana Marie Cox that Romney was giving his children ""a lesson in cruelty"" and that dogs under extreme stress might lose control of their bowels. ""That alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured,"" she said. Cox explored whether Romney's actions might have been illegal under animal cruelty laws. (A moot point, because the statute of limitations has long expired.) As to the accuracy of the story, the Globe learned of the incident from friends of the family and confirmed the details with the Romney family. And the candidate himself didn't dispute the report. In fact, in the days following, he defended it. Seamus loved riding in the carrier, Romney told reporters on the campaign trail in 2007. ""He scrambled up there every time we went on trips,"" Romney said. ""He got (up) all by himself and enjoyed it."" He also said PETA had targeted him because there was a rodeo at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, and because he went quail hunting in Georgia. ""And they're not happy that my dog likes fresh air,"" he added. Actually, Seamus had been dead -- of natural, non-station wagon-related causes -- for years when the story appeared. (He had retired to California to live with Romney's sister, who had more space.) We didn't get answers about Seamus from the Romney campaign, but from Neil Swidey, the Boston Globe reporter who unearthed the story. Swidey said he chose the incident to begin his story because he thought it would resonate with readers as an illustration of Romney's approach to solving problems -- trip is interrupted by dog poop, so Romney pulls over, borrows a hose, takes care of the problem, and is back on his way. ""I certainly didn't write it to make it the basis on which you judge a presidential candidate. The fact that some people appear to be doing that is a little bit crazy. But I can understand why it resonates with people,"" Swidey said. ""It's a window into how this guy operates."" Swidey said some people see it as evidence of Romney's heartlessness, while others see him as logical man and a problem solver. He confirmed the impression we got from reading the story, that the incident was amusing family lore, and that none of the Romney family was upset or disturbed by the dog riding on the roof. In fact, some of the Romneys said they thought the dog actually liked riding on the roof. (Finally, lest we be accused of utter frivolousness, we asked Swidey what aspects of Romney's biography might be more relevant to voters considering Romney for president. He pointed us toward the Globe's coverage of Romney's business career in private equity, his time as governor and Romney's relationship with his father George, who ran for president himself back in 1968.) Here, we're ruling on Collins' statement that Romney ""drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car."" It's important to note that the dog was not literally strapped to the car, as in tied around its midsection. Rather, Seamus was in a carrier with a protective windscreen that Romney had built. The dog's diarrhea might indicate that something was amiss, but Romney's family didn't seem bothered by it. The anecdote is presented in the Globe as funny family story, not as evidence of Romney's barbaric cruelty."
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1495
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The lipstick effect: Greeks discover need to pamper in crisis.
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Eva Vorlioti, a divorced mother of two, was forced to move back in with her parents to make ends meet during Greece’s debt crisis. While she cannot change the past, she is trying to efface one of its reminders: Her wrinkles.
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true
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Health News
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Wiping her face with a cotton pad after a Botox injection, the 49-year-old supermarket worker said she has cut down on petrol and entertainment to afford the treatments, which make the skin appear smoother by temporarily paralyzing muscles. “I want to look at myself in the mirror and feel good. I’m afraid of aging,” Vorlioti said. “Work, the crisis, they push you down and you want something uplifting.” She is not the only one seeking solace in beauty treatments amid a financial crisis that cut hundreds of thousands of jobs cut, slashed salaries and caused a sharp decline in life satisfaction among Greeks. In fact, it seems Greece is undergoing what has been dubbed the “lipstick effect”, where consumers turn to low cost beauty to boost their mood during economic depressions. Non-surgical procedures in Greece soared to more than 220,000 in 2016 compared to around 61,000 in 2010, the biggest jump in Europe in the six-year period, according to data by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS). At between 80 and 150 euros a pop, it doesn’t come cheap for Greeks, who earn an average net monthly income of about 780 euros. Some, like Vorlioti, need to save up for months in order to be able to afford a treatment and yet more are choosing to have them, doctors say. “The crisis has brought new people to the doctor’s doorstep, people who wouldn’t come before, both men and women who are struggling and want to improve their looks to feel better,” said Lia Papadavid, a dermatologist. “It’s like giving themselves a present,” she told Reuters shortly after giving a middle-aged female a filler injection around her eyes. The rise in Greece follows a world-wide upward trend in non-surgical procedures. It ranked 14th in the world among the top 24 countries in terms of volume of non surgical treatments in 2016, behind countries such as Italy and Germany but above Belgium, according to ISAPS. Surgical treatments, which can cost thousands of euros, are up only 10 percent since 2010. Waiting her turn at the Athens Aurum medical center, 43-year-old Eleni says she turned to injectables in 2013 and has not stopped despite the crisis. “No one has money to spare, everyone is being pressured right now with the crisis, some less, some more. I think it needs a bit of planning, and to love yourself.” Investment in the beauty industry doubled between 2009-2015, said the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises in a July report. New nail bars and beauty centers have popped up in central Athens and in the central Syntagma square, young men and women are seen handing out flyers advertising discounts on cosmetic services to passers-by. Chairman of the ISAPS Education Council Paraskevas Kontoes said the surge in non invasive treatments could be explained by their low cost, better results thanks to new technology and people needing to boost their self-esteem battered by years of crisis. Non surgical beauty treatments are fast enough to have in a lunch break, but their effects are only temporary. Results can last eight months or longer depending on the product, Dr Stefanos Stathakis said. He also said most people choose treatments for the face, tying in with other doctors’ reports that their clients believe they can help them score better in a job interview, particularly as competition for jobs in Greece is fierce. “They believe it will become easier for them to get a job,” said Vorlioti’s dermatologist Froso Saksioni. “People struggle and come here for a change. If you charge them a fortune for a treatment it’s like giving them a slap instead.” As Saksioni prepares for “a vampire lift”, where the doctor withdraws and then reinjects a patient’s blood to erase wrinkles, Vorlioti books her next appointment. “I’ve decided to cut down on everything else to do this”, she said. “When I feel good about myself, I think it shows.”
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1995
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"Earth Day organizers call for ""a billion acts of green""."
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If the environmental movement has a high holiday, Earth Day is it.
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true
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Environment
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"The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism’s celebration of Passover. In an effort dubbed ""A Billion Acts of Green,"" organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet's health -- from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. “Millions of people doing small, individual acts can add up to real change,” said Chad Chitwood, a spokesman for the umbrella group coordinating efforts. There will be hundreds of rallies, workshops and other events around the United States, where Earth Day was born, and hundreds more overseas, where it is now celebrated in 192 countries. In the United States the activities range from the premiere of the new film from the director of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (it’s called “Revenge of the Electric Car”) at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York to a discussion about creating a green economy in 12 cities along the Gulf Coast, where this time last year residents were reeling from the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In the years since the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 the environmentalist movement made great strides with passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other groundbreaking laws. But the bipartisanship that marked the birth of Earth Day — it was sponsored in Congress by a Wisconsin Democrat named Gaylord Nelson and a California Republican named Pete McCloskey — is often missing in discussions about environmental policy today. Efforts to fight climate change by regulating greenhouse gases, for instance, face fierce resistance from many Republicans and members of the business community, who dispute the science supporting global warming and warn new rules to regulate emissions will kill jobs and raise energy costs."
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14191
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Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump promised to repeal Obamacare, build a wall, ban Muslims, and more.
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A Clinton campaign video listed eight steps Trump has promised to take as president. Five of those are firmly on the Trump agenda. That includes repealing Obamacare, building a wall along the Mexican border, deporting illegal immigrants, banning Muslims at the border, and restoring waterboarding and other torture techniques. On eliminating gun-free zones on school grounds, he hasn’t repeated it recently, but we saw no evidence he had changed his stance. There might be some debate over his plan to defund Planned Parenthood, because he links that to continued abortions. However, there is no indication that the group plans to stop providing that service, so a President Trump would need to cut funding if he wanted to keep his promise. The one exaggeration in the video is his threat to kill the families of terrorists. Trump seems to have backed off that promise. He has said he would make them suffer, not necessarily kill them. The video might miss a couple of nuances, but it is generally accurate.
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true
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Abortion, Immigration, National, Health Care, Human Rights, Islam, Foreign Policy, Religion, Terrorism, Guns, Hillary Clinton,
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"Even before Donald Trump’s Republican rivals bowed out, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton posted a video warning about a potential Trump presidency. The video opens with a clip of Trump at an event saying, ""Everything I say I’m going to do folks, I do."" It then lists eight steps Trump has said he will take. As the text of each one appears on the screen, audio of Trump plays in the background. We’ll go through in order and assess whether Trump really has made each promise. We asked the Trump campaign if any of these promises were misstated, or if they weren’t actually promises. We did not hear back. ‘Get rid of gun-free zones on schools on his first day’ At a campaign event in Burlington, Vt., on Jan. 7, 2016, Trump said that the number of victims in San Bernardino, Calif., and in Paris would have been much lower if the people in those places had been armed. He lamented the deaths of five soldiers in a shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tenn. ""I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools, and — you have to — and on military bases,"" Trump said. ""My first day, it gets signed, okay? My first day. There's no more gun-free zones."" The Clinton campaign also cited an interview with Trump on the Outdoor Channel Jan. 21, 2016, in which he said, ""I'm going to get rid of gun-free zones on military bases. I'm also going to do it in schools."" Trump has said little recently about gun-free zones, but the issue resurfaced when a petition emerged that would allow delegates to the Republican National Convention to carry guns. On March 28, 2016, ABC reporter Jonathan Karl asked Trump if he would support that. Trump said he would consider the petition, but the Secret Service ruled out allowing guns at the conventions as a security risk. ‘Defund Planned Parenthood’ Trump’s stance on funding Planned Parenthood has shifted somewhat over time. In August 2015, he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that it would be worth shutting down the government to cut off tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood. But he has also praised the organization for providing regular care to women of limited means. In March, Trump said, ""Millions of women have been helped by Planned Parenthood,"" and then continued ""but we're not going to allow, and we're not going to fund, as long as you have the abortion going on at Planned Parenthood."" Trump’s overarching position on taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood is that he supports defunding Planned Parenthood so long as the organization continues to perform abortions. ‘Repeal Obamacare’ There doesn’t seem to be any ambiguity on this one. On his campaign website, Trump says ""On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare."" ‘Build a great great wall’ Trump has made building a wall along the border with Mexico his signature initiative, and he hasn’t wavered. He has said it many times. In the course of interviews with the New York Times published May 4, 2016, he said within his first 100 days the wall would be designed, and there would be bilateral talks with Mexico, presumably on how they would pay for it -- another promise Trump has made. Establish ‘a deportation force’ There is no question that Trump called for teams to remove an estimated 11 million people who are in the country without authorization. The term itself goes back to an interview Trump gave on MSNBC in November 2015 when he said ""You’re going to have a deportation force. And you’re going to do it humanely."" We couldn’t find Trump promoting this again, although in the Feb. 25, 2016, Republican debate, he didn’t back away from the phrase. CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer teed up a question saying, ""Mr. Trump, you've called for a deportation force to remove the 11 million undocumented immigrants from the United States."" Trump prefaced his answer with a cut at his rivals for supporting amnesty and then said, ""We either have a country, or we don't have a country. We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out."" Trump has definitely committed to expanding the number of immigration and border control agents and to removing 11 million people. He hasn’t said if he would create a new deportation unit. While he might not be touting the same phrase, the result remains the same. ‘Ban Muslims from entering the country’ Immediately after the shootings by Muslim fundamentalists in San Bernardino in December 2015, the Trump campaign issued a statement saying, ""Donald Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on."" Within a few days, Trump said certain people would be exempted, including American citizens who are Muslim, foreign leaders, and athletes headed to competitions. However, according to the New York Times, within his first 100 days ""the immigration ban on Muslims would be in place."" That puts the ban firmly in the promise zone. ‘Kill the spouses and children of our enemies’ Trump said this during an interview on Fox and Friends, Dec. 2, 2015. ""The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families,"" Trump said. In an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, Trump seemed to dial down this threat. O’Reilly asked him if he would have killed members of the bin Laden family. Trump said ""I don't want to be so bold. I want to tell you they would suffer."" Trump was pressed on this at the Republican debate in Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015. Asked how this policy would set the United States apart from ISIS, Trump said, ""We have to be much tougher."" Trump finished his answer with, ""I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families’ lives."" While this could be a death threat, it isn’t quite as clear as his original statement. Clearly, he wants to make family members suffer, but he doesn’t say how much. Restore waterboarding and ‘go further’ In the Republican debate right before the New Hampshire primary, Trump said, ""I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."" Trump stood by his waterboarding policy on March 22, 2016, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he would ""go further."" Trump has also said that ""torture works."" The only caveat that Trump offered during his CNN interview is that he would listen to military officials’ advice on the use of interrogation methods. Whether a Trump administration would ever use waterboarding, he has promised to keep it on the table. Our ruling A Clinton campaign video listed eight steps Trump has promised to take as president. Five of those are firmly on the Trump agenda. That includes repealing Obamacare, building a wall along the Mexican border, deporting illegal immigrants, banning Muslims at the border, and restoring waterboarding and other torture techniques. On eliminating gun-free zones on school grounds, he hasn’t repeated it recently, but we saw no evidence he had changed his stance. There might be some debate over his plan to defund Planned Parenthood, because he links that to continued abortions. However, there is no indication that the group plans to stop providing that service, so a President Trump would need to cut funding if he wanted to keep his promise. The one exaggeration in the video is his threat to kill the families of terrorists. Trump seems to have backed off that promise. He has said he would make them suffer, not necessarily kill them. The video might miss a couple of nuances, but it is generally accurate.
|
10656
|
Antibiotics beat cranberries in battle against bladder infections
|
The headline, sadly, missed the point of the story – which praised cranberries for avoiding creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This short story raises some confusing questions about the risk vs. benefits for women who seek a way to prevent urinary tract infections. But the topic’s complexity is not easily stuffed into a change-purse sized story. The story also mixes in treatment with prevention. Additionally, it does not point out that only women with frequent infections are candidates for preventive doses of antibiotics. American women and health insurers spend more than $1 billion each year on urinary tract infections, according to a 2005 report by the University of Michigan. This is from an estimated 7 million office visits. The choice of any antibiotic, and the way patients interact with primary physicians, can have enormous impact on our society’s costs and each patient’s health. Ineffective treatment at the beginning of symptoms may lead to repeated courses of antibiotics, and this is a drain on both the patient and society. Likewise, the issue of resistant bacteria from ineffective or overuse of antibiotics is also a threat to the community. This story raises complex questions but does not give us conclusive evidence or provide analysis of the one small study being reported.
|
mixture
|
health food claims,MSNBC,women's health
|
The story does not discuss costs and does not examine the relative price of different avenues for urinary health and prevention of infections by women. An important element of cost for these regimens is that women choosing cranberry extract can do so without a physician visit or prescription. Antiobiotics require both of those, with the associated costs (high). The story’s discussion of benefit was confusing. The headline says “antibiotics beat cranberries” but the lead sentence states that cranberry treatment may be “the best approach” for a woman worried about antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It’s good that the story included the absolute rates (4% vs. 1.8%) and we already know the number in each group. The story should have noted that there was no placebo group. We don’t know if cranberry prevented UTI, because we don’t know the baseline rate in the population (the study was probably too small to pick up modest differences anyway). Because of the awkward and confusing beginning, we give this an unsatisfactory score. This short story does raise one potential harm – what happens if women interpret this research to mean they should dose themselves with cranberry and fail to report symptoms to their doctors? However, we aren’t thrilled with the inadequate overall discussion. One could check Medlineplus as a source of additional harm of any supplements. There is a possible increased risk of kidney stones and medication interaction with the anticoagulant coumadin. The story barely meets this standard. It does give us the small number of patients in this research study (221 women) and it does give some data about the resistant bacteria samples taken from each arm of patients. We would have liked to see an outside expert address the quality of the study itself. This story avoids exaggerating the discomfort or dangers of urinary tract infections. The story appears to use one independent source. We aren’t given much context about urinary infections, in general, and how they are routinely prevented vs. what this research suggests might be an alternative. Two common methods for prevention include drinking plenty of water and frequently emptying the bladder. The story discussed cranberry capsule supplements, but never discussed their availability. Maybe that’s common knowledge to some folks, but not to all. We’ll rule it Not Applicable. There is nothing novel about cranberry capsules, and the story makes no such claim. The story does not appear to rely on a single source.
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20166
|
Crime rises in communities with casinos.
|
Linking crime to casinos not always a safe bet
|
mixture
|
Georgia, Gambling, Crime, Georgia Family Council,
|
"Developer Dan O’Leary is pushing a big idea that he says will bring scores of jobs and truckloads of money to Georgia. The state’s most powerful political leaders, however, don’t like his plan -- a casino-style entertainment complex with video lottery terminals that could be a source of lottery revenue for the state’s HOPE scholarship program. One group offered another reason to fight O’Leary’s plan that had the Truth-O-Meter spinning like a roulette wheel. The Georgia Family Council put together a fact sheet that said crime will increase if any form of casino-style gambling is allowed. PolitiFact Georgia thought it would be interesting to see if the council was gambling with the facts with its claim. O’Leary, part of a team that operates Underground Atlanta, wants to build the complex near the busy I-85 interchange at Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Gwinnett County. At one meeting last month, the Gwinnett-based council presented an argument why O’Leary’s plan is not a good idea. Some of the crime statistics included: ""A city can expect its crime rate to increase by 8 percent within four to five years of introducing casinos."" ""After casinos opened in Atlantic City, the total number of crimes within a 30-mile radius increased 100 percent."" Much of the research on crime and casinos was done slightly more than a decade ago when more states permitted casinos. Some experts say most of the reports are flawed. The council’s policy analyst, Toby Tatum, sent us several reports to back up the organization’s claim. Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations firm representing O’Leary, sent us information to support that side. PolitiFact Georgia took a look at their reports, and some research we found ourselves. It’s been generally believed that casinos result in more crime in the surrounding community, primarily because of concerns about organized crime. In the 1990s, experts said in one report that for each dollar in legalized gambling, there is a similar amount in illegal gambling. There have been occasional news reports of cases like gamblers committing insurance fraud to get more money to feed their addiction or stories of people embezzling money from their employer for gambling. A 2004 Department of Justice-sponsored study found pathological gamblers more likely to be arrested for such offenses as probation or parole violations, liquor law violations, trespassing and other public order offenses. There’s evidence that casinos may have an impact in less likely areas, such as driving under the influence. One Journal of Health Economics report found there is a higher percentage (9.2 percent) of DUI fatalities in counties with casinos. They are more likely to occur in rural counties, but less likely in urban areas. In 1999, a federal panel released what was considered the most comprehensive study on casinos in America in a quarter-century. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission wrote there is insufficient data to determine whether casinos cause more crime. ""The problem is that although a great deal has been written on the subject, so much of the writing on all sides is bombast and blather that it is difficult to discern any strong facts,"" the report said. Still, the commission concluded: ""Taken as a whole, the literature shows that communities with casinos are just as safe as communities that do not have casinos."" One of the most widely discussed studies on the topic was released in 2001 and co-authored by University of Georgia associate economics professor David Mustard. The study found some crime could decline because more less-skilled workers get jobs working at casinos and that the casinos improve economically depressed locations. Conversely, it found crime may rise because casinos draw unsavory characters and some compulsive gamblers commit crime to get more money to gamble. The study covered all 3,165 U.S. counties from 1977-1996. The study concluded that casinos increased all crimes except murder. Most offenses showed that the impact of casinos on crime began about three years after a casino opened. Eight percent of property crime and 10 percent of violent crime in counties with casinos was due to the presence of a casino, the study found. More recent news accounts of crime and casinos offer support to both sides of the debate. The Press of Atlantic City reported in September that the violent crime rate there was highest among the top-ranked gaming markets in the U.S., according to an analysis of 2010 federal crime statistics. Police Department leaders in that city and some researchers note that the Atlantic City statistics do not consider that the crime rate is based on its population of 39,000, rather than the 29 million visitors the city sees each year. In February, The Associated Press examined crime rates in areas near two large Connecticut casinos opened in the 1990s: the Foxwoods Resort and Mohegan Sun. The news organization looked at crime rates for several years before they opened and afterward and reported crime dropped by double-digit percentages in the nearby municipalities compared to the years before the casinos opened — mirroring a drop in crime nationwide. Few gambling facilities, though, are similar to what O’Leary has in mind in Georgia. The most frequent comparison is Dover Downs, located in Delaware. Dover Downs is one of the few casinos with video lottery terminals, which resemble slot machines. Jim Hutchison, a former Dover mayor and retired Dover police chief, worried about crime and other unruly elements when the state approved casino gambling in the mid-1990s. ""It's nice to say that after all the years they've been operating here in Delaware, specifically Dover Downs, all those concerns I had are truly unfounded,"" Hutchison, who has testified to Georgia lawmakers on behalf of Dover Downs, the city's biggest taxpayer, told the AJC in March. There is some research that shows crime does increase in communities with casinos. There are some reports, such as the AP investigation, that show a drop in crime in some communities with casinos. The anecdotal evidence from Hutchison suggests crime hasn’t increased since Dover Downs opened. To say the least, the evidence is mixed. Crime has gone down in some areas with casinos. It has increased in others. But there does appear to be some truth to the council’s claim, though it needs a lot of context to move the needle higher on the Truth-O-Meter."
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32410
|
Leaked medical records document that Hillary Clinton exhibits signs of dementia and serious illness.
|
"Right after the name of Hillary Clinton's physician appeared in the news, suspect medical records attributed to that doctor were ""leaked"" online."
|
false
|
Fauxtography, dementia, hillary clinton, lisa bardack
|
On 8 August 2016, a new Twitter account titled @HillsMedRecords appeared and published what the user behind the account claimed were leaked medical records attesting to the poor health of Hillary Clinton. The account was quickly deleted by its owner, but screenshots of the purported records continued circulating on Twitter, allegedly showing documents prepared by Dr. Lisa Bardack on 5 February and 20 March 2014: According to these alleged “medical records,” Hillary Clinton was diagnosed with “early-onset Subcortical Vascular Dementia” in 2013, and subsequent doctor visits suggested the condition was worsening. Additionally, the records noted that Clinton suffered “intensified Complex Partial Seizures” between 2013 and 2014. One suspect aspect of the “leak” was that Dr. Bardack was widely named in real press reports as having attested to Clinton’s medical fitness to serve as president. On 31 July 2015, TIME mentioned Bardack by name in an article about a letter she had released documenting Clinton’s physical health: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is in “excellent physical condition,” her doctor said in a letter. According to Dr. Lisa Bardack, her physician, Clinton, is in good health, currently diagnosed with only hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies. The letter is the first of its kind to be released in the 2016 cycle, and comes as Clinton, 67, has come under scrutiny from some Republicans for her age and questions about her health stemming from a 2012 incident in which she suffered from a blood clot and concussion. Quite conveniently (and suspiciously), Bardack’s name wasn’t prominent in the news as Clinton’s physician prior to the release of that letter, and just over a week later her name was used to give credibility to “leaked” records (unusually coincidental timing, to say the least): The “leaked” documents seemed rather obvious forgeries, as they didn’t resemble anything like standard medical records, they weren’t printed on any form of letterhead, nor did they include the doctor’s signature (as if whoever crafted then hadn’t actually seen the genuine letter from Dr. Bardack and thus had nothing to imitate). They also exhibited some obvious formatting differences from the official letter issued by Dr. Bardack: In the “leaked” documents Bardack is listed as “Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Mount Kisco Medical Group,” while the letterhead of the verified document references her as “Chair of Internal Medicine[,] Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.” The “leaked” documents also don’t look like medical records, but rather like a report provided for purposes extrinsic to a standard medical charting (with no indication to whom or for what purpose such a report might have been provided). We contacted the Mount Kisco Medical Group to ask whether the displayed documents matched internal formatting of medical records or reports but were unable to immediately reach anyone there who could answer that question. In addition to contacting the practice, we also asked doctors to review the “leaked” records to determine whether they contained obvious signs of fabrication visible to physicians (but not necessarily laymen), and they unanimously agreed the documents appear to be forgeries. Dr, Bardack also released a statement attesting to the falsity of the “leaked” medical records: As Secretary Clinton’s long time physician, I released a medical statement during the campaign indicating that she is in excellent health. I have recently been made aware of allegedly ‘leaked’ medical documents regarding Secretary Clinton with my name on them. These documents are false, were not written by me and are not based on any medical facts. To reiterate what I said in my previous statement, Secretary Clinton is in excellent health and fit to serve as President of the United States.
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16526
|
"Mark Begich Says Dan Sullivan approved a ""light sentence"" for a sex offender who got out of prison and is now charged with a gruesome murder and sexual assault."
|
"Begich said Sullivan approved a ""light sentence"" to a sex offender who is now charged with ""murdering a senior couple and sexually assaulting their two-year-old granddaughter."" Active, who is awaiting trial, received a shorter sentence than he was supposed to, but the mistake that led to this sentence happened before Sullivan became attorney general. So to pin the error on Sullivan is wrong, and to suggest that he actively approved the sentence is a fabrication. The ad is not only inaccurate, it makes an inflammatory accusation."
|
false
|
National, Criminal Justice, Crime, Message Machine 2014, Mark Begich,
|
"Sen. Mark Begich, the incumbent Democrat from Alaska, has been forced to pull a television ad that said his Republican opponent’s actions as the state attorney general led to a gruesome murder -- a serious charge based on paper-thin evidence. Begich released an attack ad the Friday before Labor Day that said Dan Sullivan was soft on sex crime during his 18-month tenure as attorney general. Begich and Sullivan are locked in a toss-up race, one of several that could decide which party controls the Senate come November. ""(Sullivan) let a lot of sex offenders get off with light sentences,"" says the ad’s narrator, identified as a retired police officer, standing outside of an Anchorage apartment complex. ""One of them got out of prison and is now charged with breaking into that apartment building, murdering a senior couple and sexually assaulting their two-year-old granddaughter. Dan Sullivan should not be a U.S. senator."" The ad is talking about a crime allegedly committed by a man named Jerry Andrew Active on May 25, 2013 -- just hours after Active was released from prison. Active should have spent several more years behind bars for a prior sexual assault conviction, according to an Alaska Department of Law investigation, but a clerical error led to a shorter sentence. Active is currently awaiting trial on the May 2013 charges. The ad did not mention Active by name, but it gave a detailed description of the crime -- which received significant coverage in the Alaska media last year -- in front of the building where it occurred. The Sullivan campaign retaliated almost immediately with its own ad (in which they identify Active), defending his record and calling Begich’s ad ""shameful."" Both campaigns have pulled the videos down at the request of the victims’ family, who claimed the ad was insensitive and could affect upcoming prosecution. (PolitiFact obtained a copy of the ad in order to fact-check it; a TV report in Alaska shows a clip of it.) Even though the ads are no longer on the Alaska airwaves, the skirmish points to serious criminal justice issues. So we decided to dig in and see if Sullivan bears any responsibility for Active’s alleged crime. We found that the timing just doesn’t line up. Doing time Begich’s campaign declined to talk with us about the ad -- citing the pending trial -- so we asked the Alaska Democratic Party for evidence tying Sullivan to events leading to Active’s sentencing and the May 2013 crime. The party pointed out that Sullivan was attorney general in March 2010, when prosecutors negotiated a plea agreement with Active, who at the time was charged with sexual abuse of a minor, among other charges. (Sullivan’s name is stamped on the plea agreement, though it bears the signature of an assistant district attorney.) The Alaska Department of Law later found that Active’s 2010 plea agreement was based on incorrect information and should have come with a longer sentence. If Active had received the longer sentence, he likely would have still been in jail on the day he committed the murders. But Sullivan is not personally responsible for this plea agreement mistake. Let’s take a look at the course of events, according to the Department of Law. Keep in mind that Sullivan was attorney general from June 2009 to December 2010. In January 2009, state troopers arrested Active for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl and then physically assaulting the girl’s mother and brother. In March 2010, Active pled guilty to those charges, accepting a deal with prosecutors that sentenced him to about four years of jail time (including the time he had served up to that point, since his arrest in January 2009). Active was released in 2012. From then on, he was in and out of prison on probation violation charges until May 25, 2013, when he committed the murder referenced in Begich’s ad. When drawing up Active’s plea agreement in 2010, the state looked at his criminal history. As is customary, they received this information from the Alaska Public Safety Information Network. However, Active’s report failed to identify a 2007 felony conviction for providing a minor with alcohol. (That’s typically a misdemeanor, but Active’s charge was treated as a felony due to some nuances in the law.) Because of the inaccurate report, the Department of Law miscalculated Active’s presumptive sentence. They believed it to be between two years and 12 years -- leading to his four-year sentence and release in 2012. If their calculation had included his 2007 felony charge, he would have had a presumptive sentence of eight years to 15 years. The Department of Law said at the time that they are not sure how the mistake happened, though the information network sometimes has blind spots when it comes to offenses that happen in rural villages, like the one where Active was arrested in 2007, according to the Alaska Dispatch. Regardless, this chain of events happened before Sullivan became attorney general. The Alaska Public Safety Information Network pulled Active’s report the day after he was arrested in January 2009 -- Sullivan took office the following June. So although Active’s plea agreement and sentencing happened in 2010, while Sullivan was in office, the mistake that led to Active’s shorter sentence happened more than a year earlier. (At the time, Sullivan was on active duty for the U.S. Marine Corps, according to his campaign.) Additionally, it’s highly unlikely that Sullivan was personally involved with Active’s case and plea agreement at all, said John Skidmore, director of the Department of Law’s criminal division. The state handles about 40,000 cases each year, at least half of which are felonies -- so it’s ""unrealistic"" for an attorney general to be involved with individual cases, he said. ""There is no way that (any attorney general) would be involved in that sort of decision at that level at that time,"" Skidmore said. Part of a trend? The Alaska Democrats said that under Sullivan, there was a trend of the state giving sex offenders light sentences -- pointing to a dozen cases in which Alaska prosecutors negotiated sentences with sex offenders that fell at the low end of the sentence-length spectrum. They also noted that Alaska local television station CBS 11 produced a story in March 2010 about what happens to criminals who fail to register as sex offenders with the state. The story includes examples of convicted rapists receiving the minimum sentence for failing to register, and others having charges against them dropped. However, Alaska’s sentencing structure encourages prosecutors to negotiate sentencing agreements, leaving judges with little influence over sentencing, said former Alaska Chief Justice Walter Carpeneti in 2012. And these presumptive sentencing policies had been in place since the late 1970s -- so when Sullivan entered the office, these practices were already well-established. During his time as attorney general and subsequent role as commissioner of natural resources, Sullivan was one of the main faces of the ""Choose Respect"" campaign, started in 2009 by Republican Gov. Sean Parnell to address domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska. The ""Choose Respect"" campaign passed several pieces of legislation while Sullivan was attorney general, which his campaign said exemplifies his commitment to the issue. The laws passed include harsher sentences for people involved with child pornography or human trafficking, revision of bail laws for people charged with serious crimes, and specified procedures for DNA retention in murder and sexual assault cases. The campaign also said Sullivan hired the Department of Law’s first cyber-crimes prosecutor whose focus is combating child pornography. Following Active’s arrest for the May 2013 crimes, the state changed its plea bargaining policies, so Alaska prosecutors are no longer permitted to negotiate lower sentences with people charged with violent felonies or sexual crimes. Our ruling Begich said Sullivan approved a ""light sentence"" to a sex offender who is now charged with ""murdering a senior couple and sexually assaulting their two-year-old granddaughter."" Active, who is awaiting trial, received a shorter sentence than he was supposed to, but the mistake that led to this sentence happened before Sullivan became attorney general. So to pin the error on Sullivan is wrong, and to suggest that he actively approved the sentence is a fabrication. The ad is not only inaccurate, it makes an inflammatory accusation."
|
10332
|
Removal of complex renal tumors performed safely by robotic surgery in selected patients
|
This news release describes a study published in the The Journal of Urology whose findings suggest that “robotic nephrectomy” — robotic surgery to remove all or part of a kidney — has higher success rates than traditional open surgery when treating patients for complex clots and tumors associated with renal cell carcinoma. The study is a retrospective look at 32 individual robotic nephrectomy surgeries performed by nine surgeons, beginning with the first in 2008. The case studies involved surgeries performed on patients with inferior vena cava (IVC) tumors ranging from 1 to 11 centimeters in length. The release may have done a bit of a disservice to the quality of the research and the published results. It reads somewhat more promotional than informational and misses the mark on some of our criteria, including costs and quantification of the benefits. It offers some caution when describing the study’s limitations that could be helpful to readers, but the caution stated by the lead researcher in the journal manuscript itself was clearer and stronger. About 62,700 cases of renal cell cancer are diagnosed in the United States annually and approximately 14,240 deaths are attributed to the disease. Blood clots resulting from the tumor are a frequent occurrence in the renal vein (veins that drain the kidney) and inferior vena cava (veins that carry blood to the heart from the lower body). These clots can compromise blood flow to vital organs. The traditional approach has been open surgery with resulting long convalescent times and inherent risks associated with a large surgical procedure. Several years ago, minimally invasive surgery was introduced with the use of laparoscopic techniques involving cameras attached to thin, lighted tubes that allow surgeons to examine organs closely without open surgery. The use of robotically assisted minimally invasive surgery for removal of clots and tumors is a logical extension to laparoscopy. But like any new surgical technique, the robotic-assisted approach needs to be studied carefully not just for immediate effects, such as convalescent time, complications and blood loss, but also in the context of overall survival.
|
false
|
Cancer,Journal news release
|
No mention is made of the cost of the robotic procedure, nor is there any mention of how much the open procedure costs. As we’ve noted in previous reviews and posts, robotic surgery can be very expensive compared to traditional laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery. In some cases, the costs of the robot and the disposables used during a surgical procedure can be in excess of the reimbursement to the sponsoring hospital and those costs are eventually passed on to the consumer. The cost-effectiveness of robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery is still an open question that we think deserved some discussion in the release. Citing surgeons, the release notes that robotic nephrectomy for inferior vena cava tumor thrombus “has favorable outcomes in selected patients compared with open surgery, which can have a high rate of complications.” It then goes on to note that on the complication rate with open surgery is 12% to 47%, depending on the thrombus level, with a mortality rate of 5% to 10%. But it does not go on to give comparable complication figures for patients who underwent the robotic procedure. Nor does it specify what it means by complications. Here’s the actual data from the study: “Intraoperative complications occurred in only 1 patient who had a bowel injury during access that was repaired primarily. Postoperative complications occurred in 7 other patients, and included shortness of breath, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, ileus and emergency room visit for cardiac complaints in 1 patient each, as well as temporary renal impairment not requiring dialysis in 2 patients.” The director of robotic surgery quoted described the complications in his series as “relatively minor,” but does not specify what he means. If we are quoting the numbers correctly, there was a 25% post-op complication rate seen. We think that there should have been a bit more disclosure. The published article also notes that two patients (6%) enrolled had positive surgical tumor margins meaning that some residual tumor was left behind. We found that one of the statements about benefits was probably more useful to surgeons than reporters or patients trying to gauge the research impact: “Using robotic nephrectomy, our complication rate and lack of mortalities compare reasonably with open series with no grade III to V complications, according to the Clavien system, in any patient, including no deaths.” Remember: we are reviewing PR news releases here. These are meant for journalists who, in turn, would report to the public. The release gives a nod to harms in a comment by the lead surgeon who describes complications from the procedure as “relatively minor” but it could have just as well have said “relatively serious” for all the insight the phrase gave us about harms and risks from the robotic surgery. The surgeon also is quoted saying “even with a minimally invasive approach, the surgical management of severe cancers in mostly elderly patients will likely involve complications.” Again, we are not told what those complications are and their impact on the patient. The news release suggests in the opening paragraph that the results of this retrospective study are definitive while providing very little to support that contention. Here is how the lead investigator addressed the evidence in the journal article, using proper caution: “While our series supports a role for robotics in the minimally invasive management of IVC tumorthrombi, open surgery remains the standard therapy. It should also be emphasized that the robotic surgeons who embarked on this procedure did so after extensive experience with other robotic procedures, including kidney surgery. Given the complexity of the procedure and potential major intraoperative complications, including death, the procedure should be approached cautiously.” The news release would have been better if it had included that caution. There’s no evidence of disease mongering in the release. The release doesn’t tell us who funded the study or if there were any potential conflicts of interest. The lead author, Ronney Abaza, MD, Robotic Surgery Director at Ohio Health Dublin Methodist Hospital, has conducted training programs on behalf of the manufacturer of the robotic device. The news release did provide a few comments about open surgery, the standard surgical approach. However, it provides only the associated complication rate. A true comparison would have provided more supportive evidence. It is clear that robot assisted minimally invasive surgery is available in many institutions and has become the mainstay for prostatic surgery. The news release does point out that the surgeons who participated in the story were experienced with the technique. While implied in some parts of the release and downplayed in others, this is not a surgical procedure that should be undertaken lightly. The news release notes the history of the procedure and that this is the first multi-institutional study to examine the role of robotically assisted minimally invasive surgery for this condition. From the published study: “We report our combined experience with this procedure, to our knowledge the first multi-institutional and largest series reported to date.” “Removal of complex renal tumors performed safely by robotic surgery in selected patients,” trumpets the headline. But nowhere do we learn what “safely’ means. The lede says that “robotic nephrectomy for inferior vena cava tumor thrombus has favorable outcomes and reproducibility when performed by surgeons with adequate robotic experience,” but then fails to tell us what “adequate robotic experience” means. That is a fair question, given that 32 cases were performed in nine centers, and at least one of the surgeons was responsible for 10 procedures. That leaves 22 for the other eight, or fewer than three per surgeon over a time span that began in 2008 and is only now being reported.
|
35437
|
"A photograph shows a protester against pandemic stay-at-home orders holding a sign declaring that ""muzzles are for dogs and slaves."
|
But the photograph is indeed real, and was taken at a protest on May 15, 2020, against California’s stay-at-home order staged at the Humboldt County courthouse in Eureka, California. Kym Kemp’s Redheaded Blackbelt blog features the original photograph, along with a snapshot of another demonstrator holding the same sign.
|
true
|
Fauxtography, COVID-19
|
In May 2020, as demonstrators in various parts of the U.S. continued to advocate for the lessening of social-distancing measures and forced business closures enacted to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, social media users circulated the following photograph, said to have been taken at an “end the lockdown” protest: Many viewers found the protester’s sign equating the mandatory wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks to muzzles worn by dogs or slaves to be insulting, and they questioned whether this image was authentic or whether the wording of the sign had been digitally altered.
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16221
|
"Jeanne Shaheen Says Scott Brown ""voted to reward"" companies ""to ship jobs overseas."
|
More and more Britons are being prescribed potentially addictive medicines including sleeping pills, opioids and other painkillers, raising the risk of a drug crisis like the one in the United States, health officials said on Tuesday.
|
mixture
|
New Hampshire, Jobs, Government Regulation, Voting Record, Workers, Jeanne Shaheen,
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In a government-commissioned report, researchers at Public Health England (PHE) said evidence showed that “since at least 10 years ago more people are being prescribed more of these medicines and often for longer”. In 2017 to 2018 alone, 11.5 million adults in England - more than a quarter of the adult population - was prescribed one or more of the medicines under review, the PHE analysis found. The medicines included anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines and sleeping pills known as z-drugs, as well as the epilepsy and anxiety medicines gabapentin and pregabalin, antidepressants and opioid pain medicines. Many of these can be addictive and could cause problems for people taking them or coming off them, PHE said. The report also found higher rates of prescribing to women and older people. While the prescription of some drugs, including benzodiazepines and opioids, has dipped a little recently amid fears about the deadly opioid epidemic in the United States, others, such as the gabapentin, pregabalin and some antidepressants, are being prescribed more often and for longer. “This means more people are at risk of becoming addicted to them or having problems when they stop using them,” PHE said. “It also costs the National Health Service a lot of money, some of which is wasted because the medicines do not work for everyone all the time, especially if they are used for too long.” Responding to the PHE’s findings, the British Medical Association (BMA) doctors union said its members were worried: “We have seen the devastation that addiction to prescription drugs has had in the United States, and while the problem here is on a lesser scale, doctors ... are concerned at the number of patients being prescribed these medicines, and the length of time they are taking them for,” it said in a statement. An opioid epidemic in the United States has killed almost half a million Americans since 1999, and a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) policy forum earlier this year warned that the United States “is by no means alone in facing this crisis.” The Paris-based OECD said deaths linked to opioid use were rising sharply in Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and England and Wales. Campaigners at the UK Addiction Treatment Group (UKAT) said the PHE report showed “a nation crying out for help” and being put on potentially dangerous repeat courses of painkillers and antidepressants as a stop-gap measure. UKAT said the consequences of such prescribing were already in evidence with rising numbers of people seeking treatment for prescription drug addiction. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it was watching the U.S. crisis closely and aiming to take avoiding action in the UK. “We take the experience in the U.S. of dependence and addiction to opioids very seriously and are following ... developments ... to learn from the actions other countries are taking to tackle this issue,” it said in a statement.
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34771
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Texting the word 'HUNGER' to 35350 will cause Sam's Club to donate the monetary equivalent of 12 meals to a local food bank.
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What's true: For a limited time, texting the word 'MEALS' to 35350 will prompt General Mills to donate the monetary equivalent of 12 meals to a local food bank. What's false: Texting the word 'HUNGER' to 35350 no longer produces any positive result.
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mixture
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Business, general mills, sam's club
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In March 2015 a message began to circulate on social media sites claiming that texting the word “HUNGER” to the number 35350 would prompt the Sam’s Club chain of membership-only retail warehouse stores to donate meals to local food banks. According to several versions of the claim, each donation would provide twelve meals to a nearby food pantry once a donor’s location was confirmed. A few aspects of the “text HUNGER to 35350” campaign gave potential donors pause, however. For one thing, Facebook and Twitter pages maintained by Sam’s Club didn’t prominently publish any material confirming the campaign around the time it became popular in March 2015. Users who posted to the retailer’s Facebook wall to inquire about the legitimacy of the campaign were directed to a website prompting them to enter barcodes from General Mills products to generate donations under a program called “Outnumber Hunger”: Hi, here is a link that may help you http://www.outnumberhunger.com/samsclub/ On that page, information about a separate (and not clearly linked) aspect of the campaign was published: HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR CODES? *For every code you enter by January 31, 2016, General Mills will donate $1.20 to Feeding America — enough to secure 12 meals on behalf of local food banks. Maximum total donation to Feeding America from General Mills in conjunction with Sam’s Club’s promotions is up to $225,000, based on online code entry and other consumer actions through General Mills promotions with Sam’s Club. Look for ways to trigger donations at OutnumberHunger.com/SamsClub. Although the blurb confirmed a Sam’s Club campaign was slated to continue until 31 January 2016 (or until a $225,000 donation cap was reached), no mention of text-triggered donations was included. A Facebook link at the top of that page led to an Outnumber Hunger campaign page that hadn’t been updated for several months, which a number of Facebook members used to inquire about the legitimacy of the 35350 donation message. Outnumber Hunger referenced another page, Feeding America, in their “about” section. On that page, a status update dated 4 March 2015 explained: For every code from a participating product you enter online at http://www.outnumberhunger.com/samsclub by January 31, 2016, General Mills will donate 1.20 to Feeding America — enough to secure 12 meals on behalf of local food banks. Maximum total donation to Feeding America from General Mills in conjunction with Sam’s Club’s promotion is up to $225,000, based on online code entry, text and other consumer actions through General Mills promotions with Sam’s Club. To text your code, text HUNGER to 35350 by March 31, 2015. You will receive one (1) text reply which will confirm receipt and ask for your zip code so that the donation may be made on behalf of your local food bank. If you do not respond with your zip code via text, your donation will be made on behalf of food banks on a national level. If you respond via text with your zip code, you will receive one (1) text reply confirming receipt of your zip code. If you text a misspelled word or no food banks are near your zip code, you will receive an error reply via text. Maximum total donation to Feeding America from General Mills in conjunction with this text promotion is up to $80,000, subject to General Mills overall maximum donation of up to $225,000 in connection with Sam’s Club’s Outnumber Hunger promotions. Limit one (1) code sent via text per phone number. Msg & Data Rates May Apply. Must be 18+ to send text. Subject to General Mills privacy policy at www.OutnumberHunger.com/SamsClub. Look for ways to trigger donations at OutnumberHunger.com/SamsClub. According to the status update, texts would generate a donation to local or national food banks until 31 March 2015 (or until a cap of $225,000 was reached). If the fundraising maximum wasn’t met by that date, General Mills customers would be given until January 2016 to trigger donations by submitting bar codes from purchased products. However, by 12 March 2015 Sam’s Club had reached the stated cap for text-based donations, so texts sent to 35350 after that date no longer triggered food bank contributions. The “Sam’s Club Meals from Members Program” is active this year between until 31 March 2017, activated by texting the word ‘MEALS’ (not ‘HUNGER’) to 35350. Each text (one per person) will prompt the donation of $1.08 to Feeding America by General Mills, an amount considered to be the equivalent of twelve meals at local food banks, until either the cutoff date or the maximum donation level of $150,000 has been reached: Program begins on February 28, 2017 at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) and ends on March 31, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. ET or when the maximum donation amount of $150,000 has been met, whichever comes first (the “Program Period”). Administrator’s computer is the official timekeeping device for the Program. Send Text Message: During the Program Period, using a two-way text-messaging capable device (“Device”), text the keyword “MEALS” to 35350 and General Mills will donate $1.08 to Feeding America — enough to secure twelve (12) meals on behalf of local food banks. Maximum total donation from General Mills to Feeding America in conjunction with this Program is up to $150,000, which is part of the overall maximum donation of $225,000 in connection with General Mills’ participation in the Program. By participating in this Program, you will receive up to two (2) text messages in response to your text from an automated system. Consent is not required to buy goods and services. You will receive one (1) text reply which will confirm receipt and ask for your zip code so that the donation may be made on behalf of your local food bank. If you do not respond with your zip code via text or if you text a misspelled word, non-existent zip code or if a food bank is not located near your zip code, your donation will be made on behalf of food banks on a national level. If you respond via text with your zip code, you will receive one (1) text reply confirming receipt of your zip code. The Program is free (the donation comes from Sponsor), but message and data rates may apply from your carrier. Check your mobile plan and contact your mobile carrier for details. You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all mobile devices and other equipment and software, and all internet service provider, mobile service, and other services needed to access and participate in the Program, and you are solely responsible for all charges related to them, including charges from your mobile carrier.
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31668
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Children who watch at least 30 minutes of “Peppa Pig” per day have a 56 percent higher probability of developing autism.
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Morning News USA has since cast their own (muted) doubt on the story, updating their post with the caveat that University of Harvard epidemiologist Marc Wildemberg “does not seem [to be] a credible person to claim that watching Peppa Pig can lead to autism”.
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false
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Medical, autism, morning news USA, peppa pig
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On 20 October 2016, the website Morning News USA published a story (now with an editor’s note that the claims have been debunked) reporting that a popular children’s television character named Peppa Pig caused children to develop autism by inspiring them to replicate her irreverent attitude toward authority. This transparent piece of clickbait, which was picked up by a number of other websites and social media accounts, cited a 2012 “University of Harvard” study: Experts claimed that Peppa suffers from superiority complex, shows inappropriate behavior, is impolite, intolerant, disrespectful, envious, arrogant and proud. These are not the traits that children should emulate! They claimed that Peppa Pig is breeding disrespectful behavior among children. Besides, researchers from the University of Harvard published the result of an experiment that they conducted in 2012. It said that watching Peppa Pig was one of the main causes of autism among children. Marc Wildemberg, an epidemiologist who was the lead researcher said: “children exposed to at least 30 minutes a day of the show have a 56% higher probability of developing autism.” Outside of the clear misrepresentations of both autism and science, there are a number of equally obvious hints that this “research” is entirely fabricated. First of all, the “University of Harvard” is not a real place (Harvard University is, though). Second, Harvard University has not mentioned the study on any of their webpages and a brief search of Google Scholar reveals that this is because the study itself does not exist. Third, Marc Wildemberg, who probably doesn’t exist either, has never been associated with Harvard and has no web presence to speak of. The connection between autism and television was controversially suggested by an economist based solely on correlations between rain, cable television subscriptions, and autism rates in three states. The study, published as a non-peer reviewed National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, has since been widely criticized: [Lead author] Prof. Waldman’s findings do nothing to explain the mechanism by which television would influence autism, a gap that instrumental variables are inherently unable to fill. That’s one reason many autism researchers think he shouldn’t have publicized his results or made recommendations to parents. “I think this is irresponsible,” says [autism specialist] Dr. Klin of Yale. “We should not provide clinical advice unless there is scientific evidence to substantiate it.” Further, the assertion that autism is a learned behavior is not rooted any science. While the cause is unknown, many scientists believe it is the result of a combination of hereditary and environmental factors. Finally, to characterize autism as simply “rude” behavior offensively suggests that the behavior of an autistic person is necessarily bothersome, and intentionally at that. In reality, autism is composed of a broad spectrum of conditions related to an individual’s ability to interact and behave socially. As defined by the CDC: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people, but people with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people. The learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can range from gifted to severely challenged. Some people with ASD need a lot of help in their daily lives; others need less. This blatant piece of viral pseudoscience fear-mongering, however, is not the kind of help people with ASD or their parents and caregivers need.
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2499
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Bosnians mourn baby who died for lack of ID number.
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Thousands of Bosnians gathered in front of parliament on Sunday evening to mourn a three-month-old baby who died after failing to get timely surgery because a parliamentary wrangle prevented her getting a passport.
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true
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Health News
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Berina Hamidovic was the first victim of politicking over identity numbers, which has united Bosnians in protests against the institutional paralysis that has blocked post-conflict reforms and the country’s path towards the European Union. The somber gathering followed days of protests in Sarajevo and other towns over lawmakers’ failure to agree new legislation on citizens’ identity numbers. The row has left babies born since February unregistered, and therefore denied passports or medical cards. The protesters this time did not carry banners or posters, but encircled parliament with a ring of candles placed on the ground, and stood or walked in silence. The baby’s parents said the time they had wasted persuading Serbian border police to let her in without a passport to go to a hospital in Belgrade for surgery had cost her her chance of life. The baby was diagnosed with tracheoesophageal fistula - a hole between her gullet and windpipe - and had already had an unsuccessful operation in Sarajevo. “We practically had to take the child across the border illegally, although she was legally allowed to travel for urgent health reasons,” the baby’s father Emir Hamidovic said. When the baby was finally admitted to hospital in Belgrade, Bosnian authorities refused to pay for the surgery. Though the Serbian doctors agreed to carry out the procedure, the baby contracted an infection and died. “She perhaps had a chance to stay alive, but this is an obvious example how the state does not take care of its citizens,” said Hamidovic, 31, who is unemployed. The protests over ID numbers started two weeks ago after another 3-month-old baby was unable to leave for urgent surgery abroad because lawmakers could not agree how to redraw the districts that determine the 13-digit identification number assigned to each citizen. Similar ethnic wrangles have plagued Bosnia since the end of its 1992-95 war, which left it divided along ethnic lines with a weak central government and a system of ethnic quotas that has stifled development. The Serbs are pressing for a new registration arrangement along territorial lines. Muslims, known as Bosniaks, say that would only cement the ethnic divide.
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28461
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We fact-check a popular meme outlining the purported benefits of living in Sweden.
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Overall, the meme accurately states some of the details of Sweden’s social democratic institutions. However, like most politically-charged social media content, it leaves out important context. The most obvious thing to know about Sweden’s famous “cradle to grave” social safety net and good working conditions is that they are largely paid for by Sweden’s equally famous high taxes. Nonetheless, polling shows that Swedes are largely satisfied with the public services they receive in return.
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mixture
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Viral Phenomena, facebook memes, Health Care, medicare for all
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Sweden is often the subject of fierce political debate, with some championing it as an example of a well-run, successful social democracy, while others point to what they see as problems endemic throughout the country. It has also long been the target of misinformation and confusion relating to its integration and assimilation of immigrants, something we have written about in detail in the past. In the spring of 2018, a meme went viral which presented some of the positive aspects of Swedish society, in particular its health care system. On 25 April, the “Medicare for All” Facebook page shared this meme: I live in Sweden. We have social security, affordable health care, strict gun laws, 5 weeks paid annual leave, and [one] year maternity leave. A stay at the hospital for one night costs about $10. Prescription drugs have an annual cap of $210. We’re not a communist country, or even strictly socialist. We’re socio-democratic, and our freedoms are not inhibited. The meme cites the Twitter handle @SweResistance as its source. In March 2018, that Twitter user posted a series of tweets making the case for Swedish health care: For example, health care can cost a maximum of around $130 per year for visits to health care centrals etc, hospital.nights costs $12 per night with a $175 roof per month. Prescription drugs have a yearly roof of $250. #healthcare — Caroline 🇺🇸💜🇸🇪🌊 #FBR #RESIST (@SweResistance) March 10, 2018 It appears that “Medicare for All” actually changed some of the details in its meme for reasons unknown. We have fact-checked the claims made in the meme, rather than in @SweResistance’s Twitter thread. Strict gun laws While there is no objective definition of “strict,” Sweden does stringently regulate gun ownership and usage by comparison with the United States. According to an analysis by GunPolicy.org, a research project hosted at the University of Sydney, Australia: 5 weeks paid annual leave According to Section 4 of the Annual Leave Act, employees are legally entitled to 25 days’ paid leave each year. One year’s maternity leave This is not quite right. Sweden doesn’t have maternity leave, exactly; instead, it offers its inhabitants exceptionally generous parental leave. Parents of a newly born or adopted child are entitled to 480 combined days of parental leave, which they can split between themselves in whatever way they choose regardless of gender. In 2017, fathers claimed 28 percent of all parental leave days, according to government statistics. For 390 of the 480 days available, parents are paid at a rate of almost 80 percent their normal salary, according to Swedish government figures. The parental leave doesn’t need to be taken right away, either. Parents in Sweden can continue to take days off until their child turns eight years old. The claim of one year of maternity leave ignores the reality of how the Swedish system works, but it is absolutely possible that a new mother — depending on the agreement she has with the child’s other parent — could claim 365 days or more paid leave. A stay at the hospital for one night costs about $10 This is true. According to official government figures published on the Sweden.se web site, the maximum fee for a hospital visit is 100 Kroner (SEK.) Based on the exchange rate on 26 April 2018, that’s $11.56, which is closer to the $12 stated by @SweResistance. Prescription drugs have an annual cap of $210. This is also basically true, although the dollar amount again depends on the exchange rate. According to Swedish government figures, “nobody pays more than SEK 2,200 in a given 12-month period” for prescription medication. (That’s the equivalent of $254 as of April 2018.) Again, that’s very close to the $250 figure provided by @SweResistance. It’s not clear where the figure of $210 originates.
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8321
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Hyundai to provide COVID 19 tests, 'drive through' testing support in U.S.
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Hyundai Motor Co’s North American unit will expand its support for “drive through” testing for the coronavirus and donate 65,000 tests to hospitals in the United States, the South Korean automaker said on Tuesday.
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true
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Health News
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The company announced $4 million in grants and said it would support “drive through” testing at 22 hospitals. Hyundai said it would provide the tests, which have been developed by South Korea-based diagnostics company Seegene, to hospitals in cities including New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the global auto industry into the worst tailspin since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, with consumer demand collapsing as governments have enforced lockdowns in China, Europe and the United States. Hyundai’s U.S. sales fell 43% in March due to the pandemic.
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38154
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A commentary headlined “Why I Left California” about the progressive destruction of California lists detrimental bills and government policies approved by the California Legislature.
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"""Why I left California"" Commentary About ""The Progressive Destruction of California"""
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mixture
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9/11 Attack on America
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The “Why I Left California” commentary that began circulating in October of 2017 contains a mixture of truthful and fictional claims about the state’s policies on taxes, fees, environmental controls, criminal justice and more. It’s not clear where the commentary originated, but it has circulate in forwarded emails and has appeared on discussion boards. Some versions refer to Republican California Senator Jeff Stone, but we couldn’t find any connection between Stone and the “Why I Left California” commentary. Overall, most of the commentary’s claims are based on real state policies, proposals and laws. However, the commentary’s claims about tax increases, fee increases or other impacts of state policies are often exaggerated or incorrect. We’ll take a quick look at each claim. SB-1 Increases Gas Taxes by 20 Cents, Vehicle Fees by $100 California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1 into law in April, which brings the first increase in the state’s excise tax on gasoline in more than a decade to support road and bridge repairs. But the measure raises the tax by 12 cents per gallon for gasoline and by 20 cents per gallon for diesel effective Nov. 1, 2017 — not by 20 cents, as the commentary claims. And SB 1 includes additional registration fees for vehicles in California, but most motorists won’t see fees increase by $100 as the commentary claims. The Mercury News reports that owners of cars worth less than $5,000 will pay a $25 fee, owners of cars worth $5,000-$25,000 (40 percent of cars in the state) will pay a $50 fee, and owners of luxury cars will pay up to $175 in additional fees. Cap N Tax Increases Gas Prices 63 Cents to 93 Cents Per Gallon This claim refers to Assembly Bill 398. The bill extended cap-and-trade policies that California lawmakers approved in 2006 to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. There’s widespread agreement that expenses from California’s cap-and-trade law are passed on to consumers; however, the Legislative Analysts Office estimated in 2016 that the cap-and-trade policy had changed the cost of gasoline by 11 cents per gallon and the cost of diesel by 13 cents per gallon. It’s not clear what the commentary’s claims about raising gasoline prices from 63 cents to 93 cents came from, but it’s not on par with available cost estimates. Proposed New Tax on Every Residence for Tap Water. Senate Bill 623, which was introduced in February 2017, would establish a tax on drinking water (or tap water) for every residence and business in the state. The tax, expected to be levied at 95 cents per month, would generate $2 billion over 15 years to support remediation of groundwater contamination and to fix faulty water systems that compromise safe drinking water in the state. $346 Billion Parks Bond for Parks in Disadvantaged Communities. The California Legislature approved putting a $3.1 billion park bond on the ballot for November 2017. However, the commentary incorrectly states that the bond would total $346 billlion, and that it would only support disadvantaged communities. In reality, the bond would provide matching funds for communities across the state to undertake a backlog of maintenance projects; 20 percent of that amount would be dedicated to disadvantaged communities, the Los Angeles Times reports. Law To Release Any “Lifer” From Prison, Including Murders, Rapists In 2016, California voters approved a ballot measure known as Proposition 57 that aims to reduce the state’s prison population by 9,500 inmates over the next four years. The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation responded by releasing proposed revisions for parole guidelines that enable non-violent offenders “that would not pose an unreasonable risk of violence to the community” and meet other requirements to apply to have their sentences reduced or to be transferred to supervision. Obviously, murders and rapists would not be classified as non-violent offenders, and wouldn’t be subject for early release. New $10 Charge on All Residents Living in Mobile Homes This one refers to Senate Bill 46. The bill doesn’t create a new $10 charge for all residents living in mobile homes — it would extend an existing charge of $4 per mobile home lot . The fee, which supports Department of Housing and Community Development inspections of mobile home parks, is already in place but was scheduled to sunset in 2019. Reduce Purposeful Transmission of Aids from Felony to Misdemeanor. The California Legislature approved a measure in September 2017 that would downgrade the charge not informing a sexual partner of an HIV or AIDS diagnosis from a felony to a misdemeanor. Knowledgeable transmission of other communicable diseases is also a misdemeanor in California. Bill Requiring “True Sex” Omitted From Driver’s Licenses The California Legislature approved a bill that would create a “non binary” gender option for state driver’s licenses in September 2017. The claim that the bill requires the “true sex” of Californians to be omitted from driver’s licenses isn’t accurate. Bill to Create Safe Injection Zones in California. A bill to create safe injection zones in California was introduced in the state legislature — but the safe injection zone bill was voted down in September 2017. The goal of the legislation was to reduce heroin overdose deaths by giving users access to a “safe” injection zone under medical supervision. Comments
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27111
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The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients.
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Furthermore as CBS reports, “it’s hard to imagine how federal disability examiners could even authenticate profiles to evaluate applicants for disability. Social media profiles aren’t tied to Social Security numbers, for example, and many users set their profiles to private, preventing strangers from viewing them.”
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true
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Politics
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On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people’s social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes (“How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce ‘Happy’ Disabled People”) and the Daily Kos website (“Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets”). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people’s posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary’s symptoms when there is a CDI unit’s Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant’s case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to “investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA’s Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.”) In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of “other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications” but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are “too happy” their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS — Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling “fine” in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said “This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.” They reversed that shit so fast. — Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn’t yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a “fundamental misunderstanding” of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. “Disabled people don’t all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,” Barbarin wrote. “Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.” Perusing people’s social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that’s already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year — or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it’s also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo.
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15492
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"Forecast the Facts Says Scott Walker runs a state government that bans ""employees from talking about climate change."
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"Forecast the Facts said Walker runs a state government that bans ""employees from talking about climate change."" But the group could only name one obscure agency, outside of the governor's jurisdiction, that has such a rule in place. The rule was aimed at barring its workers from doing climate-change work while on state time. And that rule is poised to be amended. Meanwhile, we found plenty of examples where state agencies were discussing climate change."
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false
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Environment, Wisconsin, Forecast the Facts,
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"If a website from a progressive group is to be believed, state workers in Wisconsin cannot even say the words ""climate change."" So the scottaway.com website, developed by an operation called Forecast the Facts, allows readers to click a red button on the screen and get alternative words to use, like ""weather roulette"" and ""extended Popsicle season."" One tongue-in-cheek offering: ""In the U.S., FREE OUTDOOR HEATING is predicted to cause more heat waves, flooding, wildfires, sea level rise and drought."" Forecast the Facts, a project of the progressive Citizen Engagement Laboratory, says it developed the website in response to government denial of climate change. ""Governors Rick Scott (FL) and Scott Walker (WI) both run state governments that ban employees from talking about climate change,"" the group said on the site. Scott’s administration is reported to have an unofficial policy banning employees at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and other agencies, from using ""climate change"" or ""global warming"" in official communications. But we are interested here in Wisconsin and Walker, who is a top GOP presidential contender. Are state government employees in Wisconsin banned from talking about climate change? The genesis of the claim In April, we rated True a claim by the group NextGen Climate that Tia Nelson, executive secretary of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, was prohibited from talking about global warming while on state time. The board manages state lands and a trust that funds school libraries and makes loans to school districts. The board employs 10 full-time staff members. On April 7, the board voted 2-1 to approve a resolution that banned its staff from ""engaging in global warming or climate change work while on BCPL time."" The resolution grew out of concerns that Nelson had spent time advocating for climate change policies as part of her role as co-chair of Gov. Jim Doyle’s now disbanded task force on global warming. The board is to vote Tuesday June 16, 2015, on a measure that would change the ban from ""engaging in global warming or climate change work"" to engaging in ""policy advocacy"" on the board’s time. About the board But Walker is not on the board. Its members, as defined by the state constitution, are three other statewide elected officials -- Attorney General Brad Schimel and state Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, both Republicans, and Secretary of State Doug LaFollette, a Democrat. Thus, the board is not even part of the executive branch. Its 10 employees represent about .0003 percent of the state’s about 30,000 total employees. Cullen Werwie, communications director for the state Department of Administration, said no cabinet agency under Walker had such a ban. And we could not find any such evidence either. On the flip side, we did find examples of government engaging in conversation about climate change -- such as on the Department of Natural Resources’ web page, which talks about climate change and the Great Lakes, and the Department of Transportation documents related to its long-term transportation plan. A search for the terms ""climate change"" or ""global warming"" on wisconsin.gov sites yielded more than 1,000 results. A tenuous connection When we asked Forecast the Facts for back up to its claim, it sent an audio recording of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands meeting and vote. But that board, of course, is separate from Walker. And the group’s claim was broader, referring generally to state government employees, not just those in one department. Brant Olson, the campaign director for the group, could not name any other part of state government with such as ban in place. Instead, the group cited a quote from Laurel Patrick, the governor’s spokeswoman, in a New York Times article about the board’s ban: ""Generally, Governor Walker does not think it is unreasonable to enact policies requiring board staff to focus on board-related activities."" Olson said the quote showed the climate change ban was ""clearly a decision he endorses."" While we were reporting this item, though, the group swapped in some new words. The language on the web site was changed to read: ""Governors Rick Scott (FL) and Scott Walker (WI) both support state agencies that reportedly ban employees from talking about climate change."" Even that could be outdated if the public lands board passes the measure to amend its rule. Our rating Forecast the Facts said Walker runs a state government that bans ""employees from talking about climate change."" But the group could only name one obscure agency, outside of the governor's jurisdiction, that has such a rule in place. The rule was aimed at barring its workers from doing climate-change work while on state time. And that rule is poised to be amended. Meanwhile, we found plenty of examples where state agencies were discussing climate change."
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1792
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Peachy keen: ancient pits reveal origin of peach domestication.
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Peaches fresh from the tree or in treats like pie, jam and ice cream have been enjoyed by people for a long, long time. But, until now, it was not clear just how long it has been.
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true
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Science News
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Scientists said on Monday an analysis of well-preserved ancient peach pits traces the domestication of this sweet fruit back at least 7,500 years to China’s lower Yangtze River Valley in the vicinity of Shanghai. Indeed, peaches were among the first tree fruits to be domesticated as early human societies embraced horticulture, the study indicates. “There is a long history of peach cultivation in China,” said one of the researchers, Yunfei Zheng of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Relics and Archaeology in Hangzhou, China, noting that China still leads the world in peach production. The researchers compared peach pits, also called stones, from six Chinese locations, covering a period of roughly 5,000 years. An analysis of pit size from each location showed that peaches were growing steadily larger as time passed in the Yangtze valley, illustrating that people there had been domesticating this fruit. It took perhaps 3,000 years before the domesticated peaches came to look like peaches grown now. Peach pits, almost indistinguishable from today’s, date back about 4,300 to 5,300 years, the researchers said. Gary Crawford, a University of Toronto Mississauga anthropology professor who took part in the study published in the journal PLOS ONE, said there were many reasons why the peach tree was a good candidate for domestication. It is relatively quick maturing - producing fruit in just two to three years - as well as being responsive to breeding for size and sweetness, among other qualities. “It’s also tasty and produces a lot of fruit. They are rich in vitamins A and C and have a lot of energy - calories - per fruit,” Crawford added. “The flavor is amazing. I like eating them raw mostly, but peach pies and peach crumble are right up there.” Radiocarbon dating of the pits showed peaches split from their wild ancestors as long as 7,500 years ago. Peaches went from being small with very little flesh to a robust fruit like we see today. Crawford said the wild ancestor of the peach apparently is extinct. “In China, the peach is a symbol of long life and has a significant role to play in Chinese culture,” said Crawford, adding that conventional wisdom had been that the peach originated somewhere else in China. It was a capable Chinese culture called the Kuahuqiao that seems to have begun peach domestication. Rice domestication was already under way in the area. “They were settled in small towns, had a broad spectrum of foods and other resources, had dugout canoes and were burning areas of the landscape for managing the local ecosystems,” Crawford said. They also raised pigs, kept domesticated dogs, stored large amounts of acorns, used wooden tools and made high-quality wheel-turned pottery, Crawford said.
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5357
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EPA won’t make GE restart Hudson dredging for now.
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The Environmental Protection Agency declined for now to make General Electric restart dredging in the Hudson River, triggering a wave of condemnation Thursday from New York officials and environmentalists who say contaminant levels from its industrial pollution remain too high.
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true
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Peter Lopez, New York, Hudson, North America, Environment, Dredging, U.S. News, Pollution
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The EPA issued a certificate to Boston-based GE saying that it has completed its remedial action under the federal Superfund program. Critics of the cleanup wanted the EPA to withhold the certificate and to demand further dredging. EPA Regional Administrator Peter Lopez said more time and testing are needed to fully assess the $1.7 billion cleanup that GE has done, and he stressed that the company can still be compelled in the coming decades to do more work, including additional dredging. “GE is not off the hook,” Lopez told reporters during a conference call. “If new information comes in that causes EPA to conclude that more work is needed to protect public health and the environment, we can and will require GE to take that action.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, promptly announced they intend to sue the EPA over its decision. They claim levels of the contaminating polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, remain unacceptably high in the river sediment and in fish. Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper, two environmental groups lobbying for additional dredging, said they would support litigation. “Since the EPA has failed to hold GE accountable for fulfilling its obligation to restore the river, New York state will take any action necessary to protect our waterways and that includes suing the EPA to demand a full and complete remediation,’” Cuomo said in a written news release. “Anything less is unacceptable.” Cuomo accused the Republican Trump Administration of putting corporations’ interests ahead of public health and the environment. EPA officials said their decision was guided by Superfund law and science. The EPA said in a “five-year review” of the river released Friday that there is not enough testing data on fish, water and sediment yet to determine if the cleanup will succeed in its goal of protecting human health and the environment. Lopez said that will take more time and monitoring before a conclusion could be reached. The review found some signs of progress in removing highly contaminated sediment, though it found three spots in the upper river with slightly elevated levels of PCBs. Until the mid-1970s, GE factories discharged more than 1 million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of PCBs into the river. The probable carcinogen, used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment, was banned in 1977. GE said the EPA’s decision confirms the success of the project. “GE will continue to collect environmental data to assess ongoing improvements in river conditions and to work closely with EPA, New York State, and local communities on other Hudson environmental projects,” the company said in a written statement.
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9233
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Western and Lawson scientists develop game-changing blood test for concussions
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This release summarizes a very small study testing the use of plasma metabolites in diagnosing concussion. The researchers performed a retrospective analysis on blood samples taken from 29 male hockey players who had earlier been diagnosed with or without a concussion at a sports clinic. The authors examined a large number of potential chemicals that could identify patients with a concussion and appear to have identified around 17 that best predicted a concussion in this small population. However hopeful these results may be, there are some important caveats that weren’t highlighted in the news release. One was simply acknowledging the small number of athletes, all were male and participated in one sport, hockey. Whether these results may be generalizable remains to be determined. Second, the results were based upon retrospective analyses. The usefulness of such a test is when applied prospectively — or in real time. Whether the results will be the same when used prospectively is unknown. Finally, and maybe most important, how would these results be used to improve care? And do these results provide additional information beyond current practice or other tests that lead to better identification, classification and ultimately treatment. For all these reasons, the results from this small, preliminary study should be viewed cautiously and not as a clear “game changer.” We have reviewed several stories and news releases about simple blood tests for concussion and remain wary when we see the term “game changing.” (See our tips on writing about concussion research.) The impact of concussion and repetitive head trauma — or traumatic brain injury (TBI) — has been highlighted in recent years by studies showing severe damage in professional football players in the United States. This has increased concerns for younger athletes and led to efforts to better identify and treat TBI. Key issues include how to diagnose athletes at the time of a potential injury to determine whether they can return to play, and for those initially thought to have a concussion — how best to treat them and determine when it may be safe to return to competitive play. A large number of tests have been proposed and are in various stages of evaluation including: survey questionnaires, brain imaging studies and blood tests. A blood test that can determine if a concussion has occurred may be a very important addition to the armamentarium used to diagnose concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI). But while this new study might seem like a novel, ‘game changing’ discovery, the preliminary nature and other drawbacks warrant caution.
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false
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blood test,concussion,Lawson Health Research Institute
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We are told the test is “relatively inexpensive” as would be the drawing of blood, but we’re not given a hint at what the cost is for measuring more than a dozen metabolites. The release might have better addressed the unknowns about this preliminary test by letting readers know that a commercial test is not yet available and its cost remains unclear. Even though we are told that “with fine tuning we can now look at sets of as few as 20-40 specific metabolites and maintain the diagnostic accuracy level of the test over 90 per cent,” we’re not sure what this means. It appears that the reference to more than 90 percent comes from the study abstract. While this provides some quantitative data on the overall effect, it does not provide the sensitivity (how many with a concussion had a positive test results) or specificity (how many without a concussion didn’t have a positive test result). A key question is diagnosing a concussion at the time of the potential injury is to determine whether a player can return to the game. It appears this test is not designed for that. The question then is how could this test be used. It isn’t clear. No potential harms are mentioned, but they certainly exist. We encourage releases on diagnostic and screening tests to address the potential for false positive (over-diagnosis) or negative results (under-diagnosis) that could have an impact on patient care. Does it matter that this study was done with only 29 hockey players, 12 of whom had concussions and 17 who had not? Is this significant or not? We don’t know because the release offers very little discussion of the evidence. The release would have done readers a greater service if it had gone beyond stating the results were “preliminary” and acknowledged that so few patients were studied that it is premature to offer a conclusion about the test, that there was no comparison with other methods for identifying a concussion, and that the study was based on retrospective analysis. Among the disadvantages are that some key statistics cannot be measured, and significant biases may affect the selection of controls. Concussions are a real and growing problem, especially among those who play contact sports. There is no mongering here. The news release notes the funder and acknowledges that the “The technology is subject to a patent application filed through WORLDiscoveries®, the joint technology transfer office of Lawson and Western.” The news release mentions that there are other ways to diagnose a concussion. It notes: “Diagnosis of a clinically significant concussion, or a mild traumatic brain injury, can be difficult as it currently relies on a combination of patient symptom assessment and clinician judgement.” “This new method…is unique in that previous attempts have looked unsuccessfully for a single highly accurate protein biomarker that can distinguish concussed from non-concussed adolescent patients” We’ll rate it borderline satisfactory for giving a nod to alternative tests. However, the release would have been more informative if it had included some actual numbers comparing the potential test with traditional tests and other blood tests in development. We aren’t told if it is available or not or even when it might become available. The release could have been much more transparent about its availability. When we assessed the release it appears that there isn’t a test per se, but a series of chemicals that could be combined into a future commercial test. It appears that the novelty of measuring metabolites has been well established in this study. Using the term ‘game-changing’ in the title is unjustified. Few technologies (especially one tested in only 19 individuals) can be called game-changing. This is a very preliminary result, and while encouraging, it in no way provides evidence that this is a game changer. It may be, but that can be said of many tests and treatments in early development that later do not pan out.
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25542
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There are 300,000 babies born deformed every year in this country because of women who are alcoholics while they're carrying those children to term.
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Biden way off on alcohol-related birth defects
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false
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National, Health Care, Joe Biden,
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Biden said he wouldn't consider changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 because of the negative effects of alcohol. As evidence, he said 300,000 babies suffer birth defects each year because their mothers are alcoholics. Problem is, that number is way off. The National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome states that about 40,000 children are born each year suffering from Fetal Alchol Spectrum Disorders, which includes birth defects, but also conditions such as learning disabilities or poor motor skills. The group says that number is more than Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome and Muscular Dystrophy combined, but it's still quite a way from 300,000. As for birth defects alone, the Surgeon General says that alcohol-related birth defects affect between .5 and 2 infants per 1,000 births. That comes to between about 2,100 and 8,300 cases a year, given current birth rates.
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5454
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Illness outbreak reported at state prison, 1 inmate dead.
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Public health and corrections officials are responding to an illness outbreak at an Alabama prison that left one inmate dead.
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true
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Meningitis, Disease outbreaks, Prisons, Health, Alabama, Public health
|
The Alabama Department of Public Health said Friday that here has been a pneumococcal disease outbreak at the Ventress Correctional Facility in Barbour County. Three inmates were hospitalized and one inmate died after developing meningitis. Health officials said the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria can cause illnesses ranging from ear and sinus infections to pneumonia and meningitis. The Alabama Department of Corrections is giving antibiotics to inmates and staff who have had close contact with inmates who have been ill. The health department has ordered vaccine doses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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3881
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This Week from Albany: Break before budget work.
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In New York state government news, the Legislature is taking a break before work on the state budget heats up.
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true
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Legislature, Albany, New York City, Home health care services, New York, Andrew Cuomo, State budgets, New York state government, Health care services, State governments
|
Most lawmakers will spend the week in their home districts but a select few will gather in New York City for a hearing on what experts say is a looming crisis in home health care services. When the full Legislature returns Feb. 28, lawmakers can look forward to a month of backroom negotiations over the state budget. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a $152 billion spending plan. Lawmakers hope to agree on a final budget before April 1, the start of a new fiscal year. Another unresolved issue is Uber’s request to expand upstate. Ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft are both prohibited from operating outside of New York City. ___ This story has been corrected to show the home health care services hearing in in New York City, not Albany.
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35028
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"Radio host Rush Limbaugh once claimed that actor Michael J. Fox was ""exaggerating"" his Parkinson's disease symptoms in a political ad."
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Then Limbaugh pivoted to a different critique: “Michael J. Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited and in the process is shilling for a Democratic politician.”
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true
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Entertainment
|
In February 2020, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. While U.S. President Donald Trump honored the controversial commentator with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, some social media users noted that Limbaugh had a history of making demeaning comments on his program. For instance, one widely shared video clip supposedly showed Limbaugh mocking actor Michael J. Fox and claiming that he was “exaggerating” symptoms of his Parkinson’s disease. Just A Quick Reminder Of The Time Rush Limbaugh Mocked Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's By Pretending To Shake Uncontrollably. pic.twitter.com/dX3L0jtnUv — Austin (@austin63867) February 3, 2020 This is a genuine clip of Limbaugh describing Fox on his program. Media Matters archived the full audio of this segment, which originally aired during an Oct. 23, 2006, episode of Limbaugh’s radio show. Here’s a partial transcript of the segment: In this commercial he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act. This is the only time I’ve ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has. He can control himself to keep himself in the frame of the picture. And he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter. But his head and shoulders are moving all over the place. This is really shameless, folks. This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting. Fox, who is probably best known for playing young conservative Alex P. Keaton on the show “Family Ties” and the time-traveling high school student Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” series, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991. In 2006, he filmed a 30-second ad for former Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and her support of stem cell research: Limbaugh was commenting on this advertisement in the above-displayed clip. The segment stirred considerable controversy at the time and even drew an apology from Limbaugh. The Guardian reported: “Hours later the talkshow host was forced to retract. ‘I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong. '” While Limbaugh initially apologized, he would later say on his show that he never made fun of Fox and that this controversy was created by the “drive-by” media. Limbaugh also renewed attacks on Fox and said that the actor was “allowing his illness to be exploited” and was “shilling for a Democratic politician.” The Washington Post reported: After his apology, Limbaugh shifted his ground and renewed his attack on Fox. “Now people are telling me they have seen Michael J. Fox in interviews and he does appear the same way in the interviews as he does in this commercial,” Limbaugh said, according to a transcript on his Web site. “All right then, I stand corrected. . . . So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act.”
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8877
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Promising Cancer Drug May Endanger Child's Bones.
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A compound that looked promising for treating a brain tumor found mostly in children may damage growing bone — possibly making it too dangerous to use in young patients, researchers reported on Monday.
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true
|
Health News
|
The drug fully eradicated medulloblastoma tumors in mice in 2004. But further testing showed it caused permanent bone damage in immature mice, Tom Curran of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues found. Writing in the journal Cancer Cell, they said the drug, known by its experimental name HhAntag, will need to be developed with caution. And, they said, similar drugs will need careful testing. HhAntag, made by California-based Genentech, affects a gene called Hedgehog, involved in both normal development and in cancer. It is a so-called signal transduction inhibitor, designed to interrupt Hedgehog’s cancer-causing effects. Several such drugs are currently in pediatric clinical trials. “While it is not clear that the bone defects we observed in mice would also occur in children, and while signal transduction inhibitors may still represent a highly promising approach to treating pediatric cancer, it may be important to perform preclinical testing in young animals before moving ahead to clinical trials,” Curran said in a statement. Medulloblastomas account for about one in five childhood brain tumors. “Current therapy, involving a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, is relatively successful with a five year survival rate of 78 percent,” Curran’s team wrote. “However, the prognosis is much worse for patients younger than 3 and in older patients with metastatic disease.” The Hedgehog-inhibiting drugs had been considered a promising new approach for these young patients. But even brief use of the drug in 10- to 14-day-old mice caused permanent damage, Curran found. “We already knew that the same biological pathway involved in the growth of tumors was also involved in bone development but we did not expect temporary inhibition to cause an irreversible change in bone growth,” Curran said. It may be possible to find a way to protect the growing bones of children and still use the drug, Curran said. “Thus, although the impact of a brief suppression of Hedgehog pathway on bone development in mice is quite striking, this should not preclude attempts to develop a highly promising anti-cancer treatment for pediatric medulloblastoma,” his team concluded.
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26059
|
“OSHA says masks don't work” to reduce COVID-19 transmission “and violate OSHA oxygen levels.”
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OSHA recommends that masks be worn to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Masks aren’t a cure to prevent spread of COVID-19, experts say. But they are an effective tool in slowing transmission.
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false
|
Labor, Public Health, Workers, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
|
"When it comes to fighting the spread of COVID-19, the consensus among health authorities is that masks provide some measure of protection for people around the wearers. So, has the federal agency charged with ensuring healthy conditions in the workplace declared that face coverings don’t work, and actually pose a health risk? That’s the claim of an article (archived here) widely shared on Facebook that carries this headline: ""OSHA says masks don't work — and violate OSHA oxygen levels."" The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Department of Labor, recommends the use of masks. Initially, the lead federal agency on the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not recommend face coverings. That changed in April: ""We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (‘asymptomatic’) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (‘pre-symptomatic’) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms. In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission."" The article we’re checking is on a website called GreenMedInfo. The article doesn’t have text per se, but rather two videos and links to OSHA web pages. But we found that on its website, OSHA repeatedly recommends the use of face coverings: From OSHA’s ""COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions"": Cloth face coverings are worn in public over the nose and mouth ""to contain the wearer's potentially infectious respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks and to limit the spread"" of the coronavirus. From OSHA’s ""Guidance on Returning to Work"": Employers must determine PPE (personal protective equipment) such as gloves, surgical masks and face shields) are necessary for employees. From OSHA’s ""Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19"": ""Provide a face mask, if feasible and available, and ask the person to wear it, if tolerated. ...Most workers at high or very high exposure risk likely need to wear gloves, a gown, a face shield or goggles, and either a face mask or a respirator, depending on their job tasks and exposure risks."" A Department of Labor spokeswoman told PolitiFact that OSHA ""generally recommends that employers encourage workers to wear face coverings at work. Face coverings are intended to prevent wearers who have COVID-19 without knowing it from spreading potentially infectious respiratory droplets to others. ""OSHA has not suggested they are ineffective for that purpose."" The spokeswoman also said OSHA has not made any determination on whether masks have any impact on oxygen levels. A Facebook post claims ""OSHA says masks don't work"" to reduce COVID-19 transmission ""and violate OSHA oxygen levels."" OSHA actively recommends masks, when appropriate, in the workplace, and has made no determination on whether they affect a person’s oxygen levels."
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34611
|
A Texas man found a dead rat in a partially consumed bottle of Dr Pepper.
|
As of 11 May 2016, Dr Pepper dispatched a courier to Graves’ location to collect the rat and purportedly contaminated Dr. Pepper bottle for independent third-party testing; Graves refused the pickup attempt. No information is currently available as to whether Graves and the brand managed to come to an agreement about circumstances under which the specimen could be tested, and the claim remains unproven.
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unproven
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Fauxtography, contaminated food, dr pepper, food
|
On 9 May 2016, a Texas man named John Graves published several photographs to Facebook alongside a claim that he had discovered a dead rat in his grandson’s partially-consumed bottle of Dr Pepper: Graves’ status update read: Nothing like your grandson drinking half a Dr Pepper only to find a dead rat floating on the bottle. Response from Dr Pepper was…..”send us the bottle and we will let you know something in 6-8 weeks!” Are you kidding me? What if my grandson drank poison or disease? This was purchased in Galveston yesterday at Valero on 39th and Broadway. Beware people. Way to stand behind your products Dr Pepper. On 9 May 2016 Graves provided further details about his claim to Houston news outlet KPRC, stating that the rat went unnoticed for a day after his three-year-old grandson opened and consumed half of the bottle of soda. Graves didn’t indicate that the soft drink tasted different or that any note was taken of the (fairly large) rodent’s presence inside the bottle, and Graves himself said the rat was a “pretty good size”: John Graves of Katy said his 3-year-old grandson, Kayden, drank the Dr Pepper on Sunday after they bought it in Galveston. The boy was given the soft drink while he sat in his car seat. He didn’t finish it, so they put the cap back on. When they opened the 20-ounce bottle the next morning, they found a rodent floating inside. “Pretty good size. About 3 inches long, with a big tail,” Graves said. They immediately took Kayden to his pediatrician to undergo some tests. Blood and urine samples were taken, and the state of Texas and the Centers for Disease Control were contact. They are now waiting for the results. Graves said that a Dr Pepper spokesperson requested the bottle and rat be submitted to the company for testing, but that he was concerned about maintaining the sample’s integrity and sought an independent analysis of the specimen: The family also contacted Dr Pepper. A spokesperson told them and KPRC 2 that they want the bottle so they can run tests on it … the Graves family wants to have its own testing done before handing the bottle over to Dr Pepper’s people. “I want to get the rat tested to see where it came from, how it got there, if there is any medical concerns we should be concerned about,” Graves said. “There is no telling what could happen to that sample.” As of Tuesday, the family was working with Dr Pepper to figure out if the rodent could be sent to an independent lab in Houston. Dr Pepper tells Channel 2 it would be happy to send the rodent to a qualified lab in Texas; however, at this point the only qualified lab the company is aware of is Alteca LTD in Kansas. Food safety expert Jay Neal told the outlet that it was possible (but not probable) that a rodent could wind up in a sealed bottle of soda, noting that rats and mice were capable of entering small spaces. While Neal said the claim could be accurate, he also explained why it was an unlikely scenario, noting a small window during which such contamination could occur: It’s washing the bottle, it’s filling the bottle, it’s putting the cap on the bottle, it’s putting the label on the bottle, all in less than 15 seconds[.] In response to the viral controversy, Dr Pepper released a statement that described the claim as “virtually impossible” and that testing would take six to eight weeks from the date of receipt. In their statement, the brand maintained that the laboratory would be an independent third party (as Graves said he sought): Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our consumers. We take all consumer complaints very seriously, are very concerned about the call we received today from Mr. Graves and are investigating it as best as we can. What we know from our experience is that given the controls and safeguards we have in our production facilities it is virtually impossible for any foreign object to enter any container during the bottling process. All of our containers enter our facility on pallets in our warehouse and remain covered until the moment they are placed on our high-speed filling lines. Once on the filling lines, they are inverted and rinsed out before they are filled and capped. We have offered to dispatch a courier to pick up the product to take it out for testing by a third party forensics laboratory, but the consumer has declined this request. This lab would be able to analyze any rodent that got into the product, determine how it entered the container and even inspect the contents of its stomach. This process can take 6-8 weeks to yield conclusive findings. Until we have the opportunity to review the contents, we don’t have a way to do a full investigation.” While Graves’ story has not been explicitly disproven, skeptics pointed out that it showed many similarities to a man’s 2015 claim that KFC served him a battered, fried rat, a story that was later revealed to be a hoax. It was also similar to a woman’s 2005 claim that she discovered a severed finger in Wendy’s chili, which later unraveled under scrutiny. Yet another, similar claim was disproven after experts said that Mountain Dew (and other soft drinks) could dissolve a mouse, thanks to the acids that incorporated into their flavoring agents to give them a tanginess and bite. In this case, the rat depicted appeared merely to be drowned, but in no way visibly decomposed.
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26521
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“North Carolina & Virginia State line is closed. Nothing in or out.
|
A Facebook post said North Carolina's border with Virginia was closed. Some North Carolina local governments have restricted travel. But NC and Virginia have not blocked travel across the border.
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false
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North Carolina, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Amid the coronavirus outbreak, North Carolina officials have asked residents to limit their movement. Gov. Roy Cooper issued a ""stay-at-home"" order that lasts until the end of the month. And one Facebook post that’s circulating on the social media site suggests there’s a blockade along North Carolina’s northern border. ""North Carolina & Virginia State line is closed. Nothing in or out,"" the post reads. As of Wednesday, it had been shared more than 800 times. Is it true that the North Carolina-Virginia border is closed? No. This is a gross exaggeration of the situation that could add to the anxiety North Carolinians already face. We reached out to authorities in both states. ""The Virginia State Police has not closed any borders or roads as a result of COVID-19,"" Corinne Geller, public relations director for Virginia State Police, told us in an email. ""No action has been taken by the state of North Carolina to close our border with Virginia,"" said Kelly Haight Connor, communications manager for the NC Department of Health and Human Services. In fact, there has been no sweeping order to close state borders either, said Steve Abbott, spokesman for NC’s Department of Transportation. However, some local NC governments have gone a step further than Cooper’s order and enacted movement restrictions within their jurisdictions. The bottom image of the Facebook post was used in a story from WATE about authorities blocking a highway between Robbinsville and Tellico Plains, Tennessee. That decision to block that road was made by the Graham County Emergency Planning Committee, WATE reported. Elsewhere, Fayetteville issued a curfew. And Dare County has banned entry to visitors and non-resident property owners. A list of municipal movement restrictions can be found by clicking ""COVID-19 related information"" on DriveNC.gov. A viral Facebook post says ""North Carolina & Virginia State line is closed. Nothing in or out."" The NC-Virginia border isn’t closed, according to officials from both states. Nor is there a statewide ban on movement in or out of the state. The post broadcasted serious misinformation at a time when people are nervous about how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their work and their access to essential goods."
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6867
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Woman pushes on 2 years after brain tumor changed her life.
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Meah Ezykowsky was lying unresponsive in her bed when her mom rushed into their Latrobe home, knowing something was wrong.
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true
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Cancer, Pittsburgh, Tumors, Health, Latrobe
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That morning of March 20, 2017, the family learned Ezykowsky had a record-sized meningioma tumor — a noncancerous mass that will impact more than 32,000 people this year. The grapefruit-sized tumor had grown so large that it pushed Ezykowsky’s brain to the side until she could no longer function. Rushing to Excela Health Latrobe Hospital, Michelle Kuba pleaded with doctors that her daughter wasn’t high or drunk. She eventually persuaded them to perform a CT scan, which provided a clear picture of the tumor. “The doctor came in and said, ‘I’m so sorry, but your daughter has a massive brain tumor. We cannot help her. It’s taking her life,’ ” Kuba recalled. “And he said, ‘I cannot stay with you. I have to go find somebody to take her case.’ ” At that moment, Kuba prayed — to God and to her late husband, Ryan Ezykowsky, thinking of it as a custody battle. “I kind of was, like, arguing with him down the hallway,” Kuba said. “Because I thought, ‘Who wins custody?’ I was just begging, just begging God and begging Ryan, just please let us keep her.” ‘Tina’ Strapped into a helicopter with her mom sitting next to the pilot, the then-19-year-old Ezykowsky was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. There, she endured hours of tests that ended when doctors needed time to plan for the surgery on the tumor Ezykowsky named “Tina,” for reasons unknown to the family. Finally, she was wheeled to the operating room for what was supposed to be a surgery that lasted six to eight hours. Michele was left in a waiting room with her second husband, Joe Kuba, and her 17-year-old daughter Ryssa Ezykowsky. During that time, Michele took a trimmer to her head, cutting off her hair, knowing her daughter would be bald the next time she saw her, but having no idea what else to expect. She cleaned the waiting room, she passed out snacks, emptied garbage cans and ran the sweeper, waiting for the every-few-hours phone call from a nurse who would tell them everything was OK. “The eighth hour passed, and the ninth hour and the 10th hour and the 11th hour,” Michele said. “And in those hours, I was literally losing my mind.” When Ezykowsky’s doctor came out of surgery 15 hours later, all Kuba could do was grab hold of him. She was told the entire tumor could not be removed without killing her daughter. About 20% is left and it will grow in the future — doctors just aren’t sure when, Kuba said. After, she was led down the neurological intensive care hallway — walking past patients in vegetative states or who were ventilated — to her daughter’s room at the end, not knowing what to expect. “I get to her room and they had just removed her breathing tube, and all she had was oxygen and she was talking,” Kuba said. “And that does not happen. And right then and there she got named Miracle Meah by everyone at Presby.” Green Day A week after surgery, Ezykowsky once again found herself in an unexpected situation — at a Green Day concert. Ezykowsky and her mom were in a courtyard when a woman approached them, offering free tickets to see the rock band, playing across the street from the hospital. “Pretty much as soon as I said, ‘Yeah, sure, we’ll go see them,’ I was like, ‘Why did I say yes to that?’ ” Ezykowsky said, laughing. By then, Ezykowsky learned she had only a pinpoint of vision out of her right eye and had lost any memory prior to junior high school. But what she wasn’t expecting was a personality change. The formerly quiet student studying social work with a focus on substance abuse was now “a party,” Kuba said. Through high school, Ezykowsky advocated for Students Against Destructive Decisions, speaking on state and national levels. “My dad was actually killed by a drunk driver,” Ezykowsky said. “So I wanted to do what I could to prevent it from happening to other families, so that’s why I started speaking about it and telling my story.” But “Tina” quickly changed her path. The 21-year-old is now an outgoing artist, photographer and musician, with slightly different goals. Recently finishing mobility training with a cane, she is setting her focus on getting a guide dog, which she hopes to use to educate kids about being blind. “It seems like leaving the house, people just look at you like, ‘What’s her deal?’ Like they don’t understand it, and there’s so many misconceptions about being blind,” Ezykowsky said. Kuba agreed, adding, “That’s the hardest part is people will say, ‘Well, she’s back at school, right?’ or ‘She has a job?’ That’s kind of where we’re at a loss because . she’s not just blind, so it’s, like, if that was just one aspect that would be one thing. But it’s like how do you go back to something when you don’t have a memory?” Recovery Released from the hospital March 27, 2017, Ezykowsky was forced to relearn skills — “second firsts,” her mother calls them — such as walking, cooking and doing basic chores. But the 19-year-old found herself back in the hospital a week later being treated for hydrocephalus, or fluid on the brain. The morning of surgery, Ezykowsky woke up with a fever of 104 degrees, forcing doctors to apply a temporary stent to remove fluid from her brain until they could complete the surgery. Finally, doctors were able to add a tube that runs from her brain into her belly, where the fluid is absorbed by the lining, Kuba said. At the same time, doctors worked on her eyes, providing the only way Ezykowsky has any vision at all. Over two years later, Ezykowsky and Kuba are still working to master basic skills, filling their days solving TV mysteries, attending art classes and keeping anxiety and post-traumatic stress low. While the future is still uncertain, Ezykowsky is positive about one thing. “I know I’ll be helping other people somehow with whatever I do, because I’m not happy if I’m focusing on me,” she said. “I like to be focusing on somebody else.” Through it all, Ezykowsky stuck to that philosophy. When their dad died, Kuba told her daughters, “It’s your story that made you stronger. I said, ‘You have the choice to make that happen. You can choose to let it wreck you or you can choose to let it help you and help other people.’ ” And not once has Ezykowsky asked, “Why me?” Each time Kuba wishes she could take that pain from her daughter, Ezykowsky says, “This is for me. This is for me for whatever reason.” ___ Online: https://bit.ly/2IykhM0 ___ Information from: Tribune-Review, http://triblive.com
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37767
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"Antifa is renting U-Hauls to quietly infiltrate ""residential neighborhoods"" for ""attacks."
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Like a game of telephone, a rumor that “antifa U-Hauls” were moving into “residential neighborhoods” for unspecified “attacks” appeared to stem directly from a fake anti-fascist account created by the virulent white supremacist group Identity Evropa. Two days later, Twitter nuisance Jack Posobiec and Fox News spread iterations of the claim; predictably, no such “invasion” came to pass. A similar and likely directly related rumor circulated about “antifa buses” in Ada, Oklahoma, and it too was false. In particular, the “antifa U-Haul” rumor posed a risk to customers of U-Haul, who were at risk specifically if they were moving into a new neighborhood where the rumor had taken root.
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false
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Disinformation, Fact Checks
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"A June 27 2020 post by user Cindy Kowalczyk was shared thousands of times, claiming (without citations or sources) that “Antifa plans residential Neighborhood attacks” using U-Haul moving trucks:The Rumor and Earlier IterationsIn the above screenshot, black text against a gray background read:Just a heads up for all my Facebook family It has been reported Antifa plans residential Neighborhood attacks. Apparently reports say they will be renting uhauls to carry people unnoticed into tthe neighborhoods. Keep your eyes open let your neighbors know and be safe.A commenter on the post asked for a source:Just curious as to where this info came from? Reports? From who?Kowalczyk responded twice:I’m sure it didn’t come from CNN or any other mainstream media news source.here we go again. It was sent to me. I am not revealing my personal iMessages and sources of messages I get via Facebook to you or anyone else.As observed by the commenter, the information was suspiciously without a source. Its content was also structured in passive voice, asserting “it has been reported” (but not by whom) and adding the more nebulous “apparently reports [said. ]”The claim appeared to be yet another variation on a previously viral (and completely false) claim that antifa protesters were being “bused” into Ada, Oklahoma:Were Four Busloads of Protesters (or ‘Antifa’) in Ada, Oklahoma Met by ‘600 Armed Americans,’ — and the News Won’t Report It?Kowalczyk maintained the antifa U-Haul rumor would not be reported by “mainstream news” sources, an element in common with the above “busloads of protesters” rumor. That particular claim was embedded in both rumors, providing an immediate suggestion that an absence of verification or credible source was due not to it being a falsehood, but some sort of media conspiracy to suppress brewing “attacks.”Inherent Risks, Coded Language, and No Clear PointAs commenters observed, the rumor had another innate risk — U-Haul trucks are generally used by individuals or families during a residential move.On top of that, anyone arriving in a U-Haul truck to a new neighborhood was likely to, at that point, be unknown to their new neighbors. By suggesting that strangers in U-Hauls were “planning attacks on residential neighborhoods,” the rumor posed a risk to any innocent people who just happened to be moving at the time it spread.A longer post which mentioned the “antifa U-Haul” rumor demonstrated how anyone who was unlucky enough to be driving a U-Haul in late June and early July 2020 was at risk due to the rumor, and it mentioned a concurrent false rumor about anti-fascist protesters, Gettysburg, and July 4th 2020:ANTIFA PLAN: 30,000 members per state…many trained by radical Islam they plan on killing as many Trump supporters and whites as possible! !ANTIFA To Desecrate Gettysburg National Cemetery on July 4 [2020]- Then MURDER & BURN White Suburbs under cover of “Fireworks”[…]Side note: In VA, Jonesey adding a confirmation to this post. [On June 28 2020] at his local firework stand that has been at the same spot for years…there was a semi truck delivery, at which point Uhaul trucks from all over where loading up.The claim also referenced “residential neighborhoods,” which was puzzling. Any area zoned for homes and apartments was a “residential neighborhood,” but people expressing concerns sparked by rumors like these appeared to think it was specifically about their neighborhoods, all across the United States.It was clear from comments on the post that the rumor was causing significant fear, but aside from “attacks,” the post didn’t provide any clear objective. It merely stated that “antifa” rented U-Hauls en masse, and left sharers to fill in the details with their imaginations.Judging by the rumor’s traction, the strategy was highly effective.A First Wave of the Same RumorTwitter nuisance and Pizzagate pusher Jack Posobiec made a point of mentioning vague and unsourced “intelligence” received by police in New York and Washington, DC about the use of U-Hauls on June 2 2020:UPDATE: Now DC is receiving intelligence about U-Haul trucks connected to suspected weapons stashes around the city— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 2, 2020It’s Going Down tweeted about the rumors on the same day, citing a Fox News article with dubious information:Neo-Nazi groups, already shut down by Twitter, promoted on social media the lie that ""ANTIFA"" was going to come into suburban ""white hoods"" to riot and attack people. Now this lie is being promoted at #FoxNews. Egregious example of misinformation and manipulation. pic.twitter.com/mrBXhyeb37— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) June 2, 2020@IGD_News referenced a June 2 2020 Fox News article (“Antifa arrests coming, concerns over riots heading to suburbia, government source says”) which essentially served as an in-print version of the same rumor. Fox cited an anonymous source to claim “well-armed, suburban, and rural neighborhoods” were targets for “antifa”:Agitators behind the rioting that has paralyzed the country over the past week want to move into more suburban areas, a government intelligence source has told Fox News.Much of the worry stems from the notion that many in well-armed, suburban, and rural neighborhoods won’t hesitate to exercise their Second Amendment rights and elevated anxieties could lead to heavy confrontation.“Antifa knows this,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Local and state authorities have to get a grip on this because if it moves to the suburbs, more people will die.”Subsequently, Fox News quoted yet another anonymous source in an effort to substantiate the rumors:An NYPD source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, concurred that fears were escalating in suburban pockets of New York state following a rash of rumors pertaining to looting starting there.“People in other places like Suffolk County are worrying, preparing for the worst,” said the source. “There is just a lot of confusion and fear.”Confusion and fear spreading doubtlessly in part due to sourceless Fox News claims that “antifa” planned to attack and raid “well-armed” neighborhoods.As of July 1 2020, none of the claims in that article had come to pass — although they clearly continued spreading on Facebook, fueled by imagination, anxiety, and the usual disinformation purveyors.A Likely SourceOn June 1 2020, NBC News reported that white supremacists posing as “antifa” created a Twitter account and spread the same rumors circulating on Facebook in July 2020.U-Haul trucks were not mentioned, but the core of the rumor was nearly identical:A Twitter account claiming to belong to a national “antifa” organization and pushing violent rhetoric related to ongoing protests has been linked to the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, according to a Twitter spokesperson.The spokesperson said the account violated the company’s platform manipulation and spam policy, specifically the creation of fake accounts. Twitter suspended the account after a tweet that incited violence.As protests were taking place in multiple states across the U.S. [on May 31 2020], the newly created account, @ANTIFA_US, tweeted, “Tonight’s the night, Comrades,” with a brown raised fist emoji and “Tonight we say ‘F— The City’ and we move into the residential areas… the white hoods…. and we take what’s ours …”This isn’t the first time Twitter has taken action against fake accounts engaged in hateful conduct linked to Identity Evropa, according to the spokesperson.In other words, the rumor was started by white supremacists and accelerationists in an effort to fuel tensions and foment violence.TL;DRLike a game of telephone, a rumor that “antifa U-Hauls” were moving into “residential neighborhoods” for unspecified “attacks” appeared to stem directly from a fake anti-fascist account created by the virulent white supremacist group Identity Evropa. Two days later, Twitter nuisance Jack Posobiec and Fox News spread iterations of the claim; predictably, no such “invasion” came to pass. A similar and likely directly related rumor circulated about “antifa buses” in Ada, Oklahoma, and it too was false. In particular, the “antifa U-Haul” rumor posed a risk to customers of U-Haul, who were at risk specifically if they were moving into a new neighborhood where the rumor had taken root.Comments"
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11767
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Fentanyl is now killing more Americans than heroin or any other opioid.
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"Our ruling Sen. McCaskill said, ""Fentanyl is now killing more Americans than heroin or any other opioid."" Sen. McCaskill said, ""Fentanyl is now killing more Americans than heroin or any other opioid."" The CDC says illegally manufactured fentanyl is primarily responsible for the increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids in 10 states. But fentanyl and fentanyl analogs aren’t the only synthetic opioids claiming lives. There is no breakdown of fentanyl from the larger synthetic category number. The CDC says illegally manufactured fentanyl is primarily responsible for the increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids in 10 states. But fentanyl and fentanyl analogs aren’t the only synthetic opioids claiming lives. There is no breakdown of fentanyl from the larger synthetic category number."
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mixture
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Drugs, Health Care, Public Health, Missouri, Claire McCaskill,
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"Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is requesting information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the United States Postal Services and the U.S. Department of States regarding a drug she claims is illegally making its way into the country. In a press release from Nov. 22, 2017, the senator said, ""Fentanyl is now killing more Americans than heroin or any other opioid, and we should use every tool at our disposal to keep it from entering the United States."" The number of opioid overdose deaths has been getting a lot of attention in recent years, but is fentanyl now the leading cause? What is fentanyl? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is a synthetic, or man-made, opioid sold legally as a pharmaceutical drug to treat pain. It is also illegally made and is increasingly used to intensify the effects (or ""high"") of other drugs, such as heroin. Most recent cases of fentanyl-related overdose and death have been linked to illicitly-manufactured fentanyl. Heroin is an opioid synthesized from morphine that can be a white or brown powder, or a black sticky substance. Heroin is an illegal, highly-addictive opioid, typically injected but also smoked and snorted. Although fentanyl is similar to heroin, fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more potent, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Have overdose deaths increased? There was a 21 percent increase nationally in overall overdose deaths from 2016 to 2017. The CDC categorizes six types of drugs, with fentanyl part of the ""synthetic opioids excluding methadone."" Fentanyl-related deaths are on the rise. A 2016 study of 10 states over six months detected fentanyl in 56.3 percent of 5,152 synthetic opioid deaths. The CDC reported a total of 20,145 overdose deaths, up from 9,445 in 2015, which means the number of overdoses related to synthetic opioids excluding methadone more than doubled between 2016 and 2017. Sarah Feldman, the deputy communication director for McCaskill, told us that ""the term ‘synthetic opioids excluding methadone’ is, according to the CDC, exclusively represented by ‘fentanyl and fentanyl analogs.’"" But CDC spokeswoman Courtney Lenard said the synthetic opioids category isn’t exclusive to fentanyl. She gave an example as prescription pain reliever tramadol, which isn’t fentanyl-based. In other words, fentanyl and fentanyl analogs are a subset of synthetic opioids. ""Fentanyl deaths cannot be separated out,"" Lenard said. Our ruling Sen. McCaskill said, ""Fentanyl is now killing more Americans than heroin or any other opioid."" The CDC says illegally manufactured fentanyl is primarily responsible for the increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids in 10 states. But fentanyl and fentanyl analogs aren’t the only synthetic opioids claiming lives. There is no breakdown of fentanyl from the larger synthetic category number."
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27382
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Over the course of his career, Democratic Congressman Joe Kennedy has received $348,000 in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.
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So Kennedy has given theoretical support to universal healthcare, but has been fuzzy on the details of how it should be achieved, and he did not support specific legislation that, if passed, would have massively expanded health coverage in the United States.
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true
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Politics, big pharma, campaign donations, ethics
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In January 2018, Rep. Joe Kennedy III attracted scrutiny from both left-wing and right-wing observers, after he was designated to give the official Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address in January 2018. On 28 January 2018, this meme appeared, making claims about the Massachusetts Congressman’s purported links to the pharmaceutical industry, and his record on several major issues: This is Joe. Pharmaceutical companies have given Joe $348K since 2011. Joe has $434K of stock in a company charging $1,000 per pill for a live-saving drug. Joe opposes legal marijuana and universal healthcare legislation. Don’t be like Joe. Pharmaceutical industry donations An article from GritPost.com elaborated on these claims: Rep. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) might be pharma’s favorite Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, given that he’s received more than $57,000 from the pharmaceutical/health products industry in this current election cycle alone. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, that’s approximately four times more than pharma’s average contribution to House Democrats. Over the course of his short Congressional career, Kennedy has received more than $348,000 since 2011. The source of these claims about contributions to Kennedy is the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, DC-based non-profit that tracks political donations on the web site Open Secrets. The figures in the article are accurate; the industry’s contributions to Kennedy total $348,077 over the course of his six-year career as a politician. Investments in pharmaceuticals The Grit Post article and the meme also allege Kennedy had personal investments in a controversial pharmaceutical company. Grit Post writes: As the Boston Globe reported last year, Rep. Kennedy has more than $434,000 invested in Gilead Sciences, Inc. Gilead is the manufacturer of life-saving hepatitis C drug Sovaldi — which Gilead recently increased to $1,000 per pill, or $84,000 for a treatment. While it’s true Kennedy has investments in Gilead, this claim is slightly misleading and out of date. In May 2016, the Boston Globe reported that the Congressman had “earned stock value of up to $434,999 from investments in Gilead Sciences Inc” and furthermore: His holdings in Gilead, as of the end of 2015, totaled between $180,004 and $450,000, according to financial disclosures. So actually, Kennedy’s investments in Gilead could have been as low as $180,004 at the time of the Boston Globe article in May 2016. The Globe was careful to point out that members of Congress are not required to provide exact figures for their personal investments and assets, but rather ranges. Grit Post left out this detail. In any event, Kennedy provided a more up-to-date financial disclosure at the end of 2016, which showed his investments in Gilead by then totalled between $80,003 and $200,000. Financial disclosures for 2017 have not yet been published. Whatever the exact amounts involved, Kennedy’s investment in Gilead has been controversial largely because the company sells Solvadi, its brand name for the drug sofosbuvir, which is used to treat Hepatitis C. As Grit Post points out, Gilead Sciences has attracted criticism for the high price of Solvadi which is $1,000 per pill or $84,000 for a course of treatment. Kennedy’s investment is part of a trust fund managed by a financial adviser. Craig Holman, from the advocacy group Public Citizen, told the Globe in 2016 that the profits Kennedy and the company were making were “harming many of the citizens of Massachusetts.” According to Open Secrets, 19 members of Congress (as well as Donald Trump) held shares in Gilead Sciences in 2015. Stance on marijuana The Grit Post meme’s claim that Kennedy opposes marijuana legalization is accurate. While the national conversation has shifted to discuss recreational marijuana’s legalization, over the years many leaders have come to voice support for the medical uses for marijuana. However, Kennedy not only opposes recreational use, but he has a record of voting against measures to protect and enhance access to medical marijuana. In 2015, Kennedy was one of 10 Democrats who sided with a Republican majority to pass a bill that would—among many other things—restrict funding for states that wanted to legalize marijuana. The bill died in Senate. Grit Post also correctly pointed out that Kennedy, in a 2016 interview, said “I don’t think marijuana should be legalized.” Stance on universal healthcare The meme’s claim that Kennedy opposes “universal healthcare legislation” requires closer examination. In September 2017, Kennedy expressed tentative support for a single-payer healthcare system, but hesitated to support bills then before the House of Representatives and Senate that would have expanded Medicare. At the time, Kennedy told Boston Public Radio the bills were “100 percent right on the value that they’re trying to enshrine into federal law — that healthcare is a right in this country, not a privilege to be enjoyed by the few…” However, he said there were “details” in the House bill (introduced by Democratic Rep. John Conyers) with which he was ‘struggling.’ When pressed, Kennedy said he supported universal healthcare, but said a single-payer system (funded by taxes and administered by the government) was “a way that we could get there, and that’s great, but I think that the critical piece to this is ensuring that everybody gets access to quality, affordable, accessible healthcare…”
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8102
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Sewing machines become latest weapon against coronavirus as California volunteers swing into action.
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Smita Paul has been sewing scarves and clothing for her small fashion business since 2003 but ever since the coronavirus struck the Bay Area and created a shortage in personal protective equipment for hospital workers, she has switched from sewing scarves to sewing masks.
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true
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Health News
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“We are all horrified. The idea of one of my friends having to go into this situation without having any protective gear, I just can’t imagine,” said Paul. “If we can do one little thing, we’re going to do it.” Paul is among a growing number eager to answer desperate calls from healthcare workers on social media and community forums asking for assistance in acquiring masks, gloves and other equipment needed to protect them against the pandemic that has killed at least 660 people in the United States and sickened more than 50,000. Craig Enis, 50, works as a registered subacute nurse at Generations Healthcare in Walnut Creek, California. He said the facility is running low on surgical masks, gowns for isolation rooms, and hand sanitizer. “N95-masks are just nonexistent right now,” he said. Enis is afraid for himself as a healthcare worker and for his vulnerable patients, but nothing scares him more than possibly bringing home the virus to his two children. “It’s incredibly scary because I’m a single father, and they have no choice but to be with me, so whatever I come home with, they’re exposed to,” Enis said. A Google spreadsheet circulating online showed informal requests for almost three dozen medical facilities in the Bay Area, including the University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF), Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health. Each request described items the facilities would accept and how to deliver them. With California under a stay-at-home order, Paul rallied volunteer sewers to help. She has posted an instructional video on YouTube, provided kits with materials, and coordinated deliveries. “We’re all volunteering, and it just shows what a group of concerned citizens can do. We’ll probably get 100 masks out today,” said Paul, whose company, Indigo Handloom, is partnering with community members, including City College of San Francisco’s fashion department, to increase mask production. Anne Cocquyt, 36, in San Francisco, spent the weekend collecting unused and unopened boxes of N95-masks for nurses at Kaiser. She said she felt compelled to help after hearing reports on social media that nurses were cutting up plastic bottles to use as face shields. “That’s when we said ‘OK, we need to do something right now,’” Cocquyt said. “This is a drop in the bucket but at the same time this might be one day’s worth of supplies for the nurses in the ER.” In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it was working to increase its supply of protective gear as quickly as possible and develop “a process to efficiently collect, inventory, inspect, and distribute these donations.” UCSF, meanwhile, set up three donation sites that opened on Monday. A statement called the donations critical for frontline employees.
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10156
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An element of mystery in zinc cold treatments
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The common cold is just that, common, and there is currently no cure. Treatments focus on reducing symptoms, but do not change the course of the infection. Prevention efforts focus on hand hygiene to reduce transmission. Large doses of vitamin C, echinacea and, more recently, zinc, have become increasingly popular judged by the number and variety of products that are now available. However, there is little evidence to support their use. This story reports on a recent review of the available literature on the evidence that zinc improves the outcomes in individuals with colds. The story does an excellent job of laying out the problem, describing the new information available from the literature review, and putting it into context for the reader. The story does a good job of describing how many studies showed no effect of the zinc products. In the one study showing a benefit of zinc nasal gel, the story provides quantification of benefits in natural frequencies (days of duration of the cold) rather than in terms of relative reduction. The story does a great job of describing the design of the current study, which is a special kind of literature review and quotes an independent expert as well as the lead author on the current study and the representative of the manufacturer. Overall, this was a very well-written story, free of hype and full of helpful information.
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true
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"The story does not mention the costs of zinc products. The story does a good job of describing how many studies showed no effect of the zinc products. In the one study showing a benefit of zinc nasal gel, the story provides quantification of benefits in natural frequencies (days of duration of the cold) rather than in terms of relative reduction. The story discusses unpleasant taste, upset stomatch, stinging sensation and, potentially, loss of smell as harms or side effects of zinc products. The story does a great job of describing the design of the current study, which is a special kind of literature review. The story does not exaggerate the seriousness or prevalence of colds. In fact the writer could have emphasized that colds are expensive, resulting in lost productivity and sick days due to illness in workers and their children. The story quotes an independent expert as well as the lead author on the current study and the representative of the manufacturer. The story mentions over-the-counter antihistamines, decongestants, and pain releivers as alternatives, appropriately pointing out that there is no ""cure"" for the common cold. The story clearly states that zinc products are available over the counter in drugstores. The story clearly states that zinc products are not a new idea. Because the story quotes multiple experts, the reader can assume that the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information."
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2382
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"Belgium extends ""right-to-die"" to terminally ill children."
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Belgium became the first country to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children of any age on Thursday when its lower house of parliament passed new “right-to-die” legislation by a large majority.
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true
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Health News
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The law goes beyond Dutch legislation that set a minimum age of 12 for children judged mature enough to decide to end their lives. It has popular support in Belgium, where adult euthanasia became legal in 2002. In the Chamber of Representatives, 86 lawmakers voted in favor, 44 against and 12 abstained. Most opposition parties supported it, as well as the governing socialists and liberals. One man in the public gallery shouted “murderers” in French when the vote was passed. The Christian Democrats, although members of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo’s coalition, voted against. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders denounced the law ahead of the vote in a rare joint declaration and Catholic bishops have led days of prayer and fasting against it. “This is not about lethal injections for children. This is about terminally ill children, whose death is imminent and who suffer greatly,” said Carina Van Cauter, a lawmaker for the Flemish Liberal Democrats who back the law. “There are clear checks and balances in the law to prevent abuse,” she said of the legislation, which now has to pass the largely symbolic stage of being signed by the country’s monarch. The vote has attracted more attention abroad than in Belgium, where none of the major newspapers carried the news of Thursday’s vote on their front pages, and television news concentrated on Belgium being in the international spotlight. Children seeking to end their lives must be “capable of discernment”, the law says, and psychologists must test them to confirm they understand what they are doing. Parents must also approve of their child’s decision. Supporters of the law say these safeguards would rule out the very young and teenagers not mature enough to decide. Opponents have dismissed these rules as arbitrary and warned the new law will lead to a slippery slope of ever wider interpretation and a “banalization” of euthanasia. Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, asked at a prayer vigil last week why the state wanted to give minors such responsibility when they had to wait until 18 for many other legal rights. “The law says adolescents cannot make important decisions on economic or emotional issues, but suddenly they’ve become able to decide that someone should make them die,” he said. Belgium’s rules on euthanasia have come under international scrutiny in the past year after it granted the right to die to deaf twin brothers who were about to turn blind [ID:nL6N0AJBLI] and to a transgender person after an unsuccessful sex change operation. The new law specifies that children seeking euthanasia must be terminally ill rather than just in a state of unbearable suffering, which is the qualification for adults. Belgian nurse Sonja Develter, who has cared for some 200 children in the final stages of their lives since 1992, said she opposed the law. “In my experience as a nurse, I never had a child asking to end their life,” Develter told Reuters before the vote. But requests for euthanasia did often come from parents who were emotionally exhausted after seeing their children fight for their lives for so long, she added. In practice, supporters of child euthanasia say, there are likely to be few minors who will be allowed to die. The Netherlands has had five cases of child euthanasia since the law went into effect there in 2002. The total number of Dutch euthanasia cases has been 2,000 to 4,000 a year. Between 2006 and 2012, there was just one case of a Belgian under the age of 20 requesting euthanasia. Over 1,000 people opt for euthanasia in Belgium annually. Apart from Belgium and the Netherlands, euthanasia is also legal in neighboring Luxembourg, and France is considering legalizing it later this year. Switzerland allows assisted suicide if the person concerned takes an active role. In the United States, assisted suicide is legal in Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington states.
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9024
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Screening mammography for women 40-49 detects more cancers compared with older age groups
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A news release from the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), one of the oldest radiology societies in the country, summarized a study that found “screening mammograms for women 40-49 detects more cancers compared with older age groups,” according to its headline. But is this true? The language of the news release is confusing, and at the end the authors write that there was not a significantly different amount of cancers detected in women aged 40-49 versus women aged 50-69. The release also didn’t provide a link to the study, which will be presented at the annual ARRS conference next month. Without the study, however, it is difficult to assess whether the benefits that the authors found are real. The argument on when to get a mammogram is nothing new. It’s been a source of debate in the medical community for years, ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended in 2009 that routine mammograms for women with low breast cancer risk start at age 50, instead of age 40. But not everyone is on board. The American Medical Association still advocates for mammograms to begin at age 40, while the American Cancer Society has issued guidelines saying that annual mammograms should begin at age 45. The decision on when to begin screening with mammograms is an important one, as they are the gold standard for detecting breast cancer (over 200,000 women and 2,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year). But it is also a personal one, and should be considered in the context of cost and individual risk, among other factors.
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false
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American Roentgen Ray Society,mammography
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Costs are a huge part of the controversy on when to begin breast cancer screenings. This news release doesn’t mention the cost of mammograms, but they can be substantial. One study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that in terms of cost-effectiveness, it was five times more cost effective to do mammograms on women over the age of 50 than women aged 40-49. This is because while the costs of mammograms stay the same, the incidence of disease is much lower in the 40-49 age group. The numbers in this news release were very confusing. The news release began by saying, “When compared to the screening population ages 50 and over, screening mammography in women ages 40-49 detects 19.3% additional cancers.” However by the end of the release, they wrote “the number of cancers detected in women ages 40-49 was not significantly different from women ages 50-59 or 60-69.” So which is it–did the mammograms detect more cancers or not? It left us, and likely readers, feeling unsure. It’s also not unexpected that if you test more women, you will find more cancer. But do all of these cancers need to be treated? Not all breast cancers will spread and be life-threatening. Overdiagnosis (finding an actual cancer that doesn’t need to be treated) could lead to unnecessary treatment with surgery and chemotherapy, which is obviously harmful if the cancer didn’t need to be treated. The news release did not explain additional harms of earlier mammogram screening, of which there are several. One is radiation exposure; though mammograms involve minimal radiation, the risk of exposure still exists. The larger harm, however, is the possibility of false-positives and false-negatives. Mammograms aren’t foolproof tests; the American Cancer Society estimates that mammograms miss 1 in 5 breast cancers (false negatives). They also estimate that about half of women getting an annual mammogram over a 10-year period will have a false positive (where the screening indicates something abnormal, but in reality there is no cancer). False positives are more common in younger women, and can lead to additional tests, cost and anxiety for women when nothing is wrong. The higher rate of false positives in women ages 40-49 is one of the reasons that the mammogram age is so controversial. For the group 40-49 years of age about 3% of the callbacks resulted in an actual cancer detected while it was about 6% and 7% in the older age groups. The news release said that the findings from this study will be presented at the 2018 ARRS Annual Meeting this April, and the study has not been published yet. From the news release it seems as though the study had a large sample size, which is good. But without the study itself we miss crucial information about the women studied, if there were any biases and study limitations, and what sort of measures the researchers used to take confounding variables into account. At this point, we only have preliminary data. Without understanding the study methods, it’s unclear how the study sample was drawn and specifically if the sample was randomly selected. The release veers into disease mongering with this sentence: “When compared to the screening population ages 50 and over, screening mammography in women ages 40-49 detects 19.3% additional cancers at the expense of an overall 1.5% increase in callbacks and 0.1% in increased biopsies….” This sentence makes it sound like the incidence of the disease is high in this age group. In fact, at age 40 the average woman has a 1.45 percent (or 1 in 68) chance of developing breast cancer over the next 10 years. The news release did not mention anything about funding sources or conflicts of interest for the study. Just because a radiology society put out a study that proposed using more radiology procedures doesn’t mean that there was a conflict of interest; but without disclosures from the study, we can’t be sure. The news release didn’t discuss breast MRIs or other ways of detecting cancer in younger women. While there are other procedures, such as ultrasounds, that can detect breast cancer, mammograms remain the gold standard of breast cancer screening. Mammograms are a widely available intervention. However, like all medical care, women in rural areas far away from clinics or hospitals may have trouble accessing mammograms. One thing that the news release didn’t mention is that this debate is not new– organizations have been going back and forth on when to recommend mammograms for almost a decade. There are compelling arguments for both sides, but this study is only one in a body of evidence that advocates for earlier mammograms. It would have been better if the news release had added some context about the mammogram debate to help readers understand why (or why not) this research was important. No unjustifiable language.
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3960
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Minnesota restricts movement of farmed deer to curb disease.
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State officials are asking deer farmers to not transport the animals to and from their properties for a month while investigators trace a new case of chronic wasting disease on a farm in western Minnesota.
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true
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Animals, Health, Deer, Minnesota, Animal health
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The Board of Animal Health issued its request last Wednesday for the state’s 330 deer farms to voluntarily stop moving deer until Jan. 15, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The board considered putting the state on mandatory lockdown, but opponents argued that would negatively impact breeding. “That designation would have a long-lasting impact on every farm in the state, even if they had nothing to do with any case of CWD,” said Tim Spreck, a lobbyist for the the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association. Spreck and others warned the board that if they adopted a state lockdown, other states could block Minnesota deer imports, and this would hinder farmers’ ability to participate in the breeding business. “It felt like we needed to tap the brakes, rather than having deer continuing to move here and there,” said Dean Compart, chairman of the Board. He initially thought that the statewide lock down was probably the right course of action, but he changed his mind. “You have to do what you can to stop the disease, but you don’t want to damage an industry,” Compart noted. Rep. Rick Hansen, a Democratic Farmer Labor Party member, said the board’s decision could present a threat to wild deer. “This is an example of an agency unable to respond to the facts,” Hansen, who has called for stricter rules on deer farms, said. “This is protecting the status quo.” The board’s request came after a doe tested positive for CWD in Douglas County. Dr. Beth Thompson, the state veterinarian who serves as executive director of the board, said the 8-year-old doe wasn’t born there, raising concerns that it became infected at another farm. Thompson said that herd is connected to multiple herds outside the county. All of those farms have been placed on lockdown. The infected deer has been killed and an epidemiologist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken samples from deer at the other farms, Thompson added. Thompson said she hopes to have some test results within weeks, but that the investigation will likely last at least a month.
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1458
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Therapy through song: Choir helps Hungarian lung patients breathe more easily.
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A Hungarian doctor has prescribed her lung disease patients a new form of physical and spiritual therapy - singing in public as part of a choir.
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true
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Health News
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The “Breathing for the Soul” choir, which was formed this spring, gave its second performance on Thursday in the ball room of a Budapest Hotel. Its members, many seriously ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and drawn from hospitals across Hungary, say the singing has improved the quality of their lives. “I’ve never thought in my life that I would ever sing,” Maria Aranyi, 74, who has been suffering from serious asthma for a decade. “After the grey days, there is a place where I feel good ... after singing I noticed that I could also breathe more easily.” Many lung disease patients become inhibited in their daily lives and get increasingly isolated. Singing in a choir has brought them new friends. Doctor Katalin Vardi came up with the idea of forming the choir after learning that similar patients in other countries had found singing beneficial. She said introducing concerts had given a new sense of purpose to people who have to cope with the thought that their symptoms could get worse as the disease progresses. “We upped the stakes for them, in order to change their own image of themselves,” Vardi said. “With this community ... they can show their talent to the world and the fact that they work together for this, is a hugely positive feeling for them.” The songs were chosen to showcase the patients’ abilities by conductor Gyorgy Philipp, who said the concert was a huge challenge for people who had never been on stage. “We select songs that make it possible for patients to be able to perform longer lines, more difficult tunes and they can develop through that system,” he said.
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2076
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Magic mushrooms may ease anxiety of cancer: study.
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The hallucinogen psilocybin — known by the street name magic mushrooms — may help ease the anxiety that often accompanies late-stage cancer, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
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true
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Health News
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Cancer patients given a moderate dose of psilocybin — a hallucinogen with effects similar to LSD — were measurably less depressed six months after a single dose compared with a placebo. Patients seemed somewhat less anxious, they reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The pilot study of 12 cancer patients was designed to prove that hallucinogenic drugs could be studied safely as a way to relieve the distress of advanced cancer. It revives a promising field of study lasting from the 1950s to the early 1970s that suggested some patients experienced powerful and sustained improvement in mood and anxiety from hallucinogens. Researchers said the studies were abandoned in the early 1970s when hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD — lysergic acid diethylamide — became widely used on the streets, leading to strict federal laws regulating their use. “Forty to 45 years ago, the culture was going through tremendous upheaval. These compounds were associated with a very politically active counterculture,” said Dr. Charles Grob of Harbor-University of California Los Angeles Medical Center and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute. “It was something of a public health crisis. Everything had to be shut down,” Grob said in a telephone interview. Federal law prohibits the use of the magic mushroom compound for any purpose. If it proves effective among late-stage cancer patients, U.S. regulators would need to make special accommodation for its use, Grob said. Grob’s study looked to see whether psilocybin could help ease some of the anxiety of dying cancer patients. During the treatment phase of the study, patients were given a moderate dose of psilocybin and watched closely for six hours. They were told to lie still with their eyes closed as they wore headphones and listened to soothing music. During the placebo phase, each of the 12 patients received a dose of niacin — a vitamin that raises levels of good cholesterol — and given the same instructions. The treatments were given in random order and neither the doctors nor the patients were told which compound was administered. All the volunteers tolerated the treatment sessions well, with no signs of severe anxiety or a “bad trip.” Most patients showed a trend of improvement in their symptoms of anxiety and at six months, and there was a statistically significant improvement on one depression scale. Grob said the pilot study proved the drug could be studied safely in cancer patients. He said two other academic research institutions in the United States — Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and New York University — were doing similar studies using a slightly higher dose. “Times have changed and it’s now possible to pick up this research model again,” he said. As many as 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and California voters in November will vote on whether to legalize pot. “I think that is an indication that there has been a very strong shift within society to move away from the old cultural bias and politics of the process many years ago. I think there is a greater capacity to be open-minded and let science dictate our conclusion, not politics,” Grob said.
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10219
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Promising Test for Dendreon’s Prostate Cancer Drug
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"This story about a drug company’s announcement of positive study results fails readers in every important way. It portrays a ""decisive"" clinicial trial that shows a first-of-its-kind prostate cancer drug ""prolonged the lives of men."" It spins the tale of a determined company rewarded for its persistence against a slow-witted bureaucracy, whose earlier inaction led to the loss of ""a lot of good men."" It presents testimony of a cancer-stricken patient ""looking into the abyss,"" seeking only ""a chance."" It anticipates the drug’s approval, and documents Wall Street’s instant validation of the study findings. Not until paragraph eight does the story state that the company has not released the results, that the findings will not be discussed in public for two weeks, and that even then they will not have been peer-reviewed or published. It does not say that the results of this medical study were announced in a conference call to investors. It recklessly, even perversely, suggests that the FDA’s earlier inaction, combined with patient protests and what are now claimed to be positive results, constitute proof of efficacy. It’s hard to imagine why a story would delay and omit key information, imply efficacy had been demonstrated in the absense of evidence, or fail to balance all the positive views with those of a skeptic, or at least someone who urges prudence until the data are made public. It is true that this story was originally published in the paper’s business section. But all journalists share a common responsibility to the public when writing stories about diseases and treatments. In today’s media environment, where a story’s readers usually encounter it out of context of a ""section,"" few readers will be ""savvy"" enough, if that is the word, to bring lower expectations of accuracy, balance and fairness to a story about what a drug can do for a deadly disease merely because it was originally written for the ""business"" section. It’s painful to imagine how families affected by advanced prostate cancer may respond to this article, and then to what they will subsequently learn. Even investors are badly served by such an unbalanced, incomplete story. In any case, it is distressing to see such credulous, feeble, negligent journalism published anywhere in the New York Times."
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false
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"While the story anticipates approval and comments on the drug maker’s stock price, it fails to anticipate the drug’s cost or comment on the expense required to extend life by several months. The drug maker’s chief executive is quoted saying the results were ""an unambiguous hit on the primary endpoint of overall survival."" It paraphrases his saying the outcome met the goals the FDA had previously set for the drug. The story additionally paraphrases the chief executive verifying that the drug ""would have had to reduce the risk of death by 22 percent compared to a placebo"" to meet FDA requirements. The chief executive is parsing his language very carefully, skillfully avoiding making an explicit claim about the drug’s proven benefits. Rather than stating that the chief executive would not plainly describe the results, the reporter enables his evasion by connecting the dots between what the FDA said must be shown with the chief executive’s assurances that it had been. For context, see ""Relies on Press Release,"" below. The story suggests the drug’s side effects are milder than those of standard chemotherapy. But the source of this assessment is a member of the study team who is a consultant to the drug maker. There is no description from an independent source of the drug’s safety profile. The story does not report until paragraph eight that the ""decisive"" study results have not been released by the company and will not be presented at a medical meeting for about two weeks. The story does not indicate that even then, the results will not have been peer-reviewed or published. The story quotes the drug maker’s chief executive estimating that 100,000 American men per year are diagnosed with cancer that has spread beyond the prostate gland and is not benefitting from other therapies. The reporter should not have depended on this self-interested source. Other news stories, quoting a variety of independent sources, estimated the number of affected men at 40,000 to 60,000 per year. In addition, the reporter allows a source with dual conflicts of interest–he is a patient who could benefit from the treatment and a stockholder in the company that makes the drug–to make emotional appeals for approval. He says many men have been ""lost"" since the FDA’s failure to approve the drug, and that he and other patients are ""looking into the abyss"" and just ""want a chance"" to live. The story quotes six sources: Too many sources are biased in favor of the company and its product, and they are given signficantly more space in the story than independent voices. There is no source who is openly skeptical or even ambivalent about the findings. There is no one who suggests that conclusions made before findings are published may be premature. The story says the only approved treatment for the cancers Provenge treats is Taxotere, which has been shown to extend life by three months. This may be technically accurate as stated. But the American Cancer Society lists at least eight other chemotherapy agents used to treat advanced prostate cancer. The story describes the findings of the clinical trial as ""decisive,"" and speculates the ""widely anticipated results could pave the way"" for the drug’s approval. The result is to imply imminent availability, an outcome that is by no means certain. The story accurately describes Provenge as a novel type of cancer vaccine therapy. It describes the history of similar drugs, none of which has been approved. The story’s tortured formulation suggesting that the goals the FDA had set for the drug had been met–while avoiding plainly stating what the FDA had required and what the results showed–first appears in the company’s press release. Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) announced today that the pivotal Phase 3 IMPACT study of PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) in men with advanced prostate cancer met its primary endpoint of improving overall survival compared to a placebo control. The magnitude of the survival difference observed in the intent to treat population resulted in the study successfully achieving the pre-specified level of statistical significance defined by the study’s design."
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1497
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Steep alcohol taxes drive Turkey's drinkers to home-brew.
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Carefully testing the temperature of a bucket of fermenting beer, Onder Ceyhan pushes back the foam to add a touch of yeast to his latest batch of home-brewed drink.
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true
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Health News
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Ceyhan says he, like many others in Turkey, has been driven to brewing his own beer by the high price of commercially produced alcoholic drinks and the hefty taxes imposed by Turkey’s ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party. “I might never have started this if beer wasn’t so expensive,” the 25-year old university student said. Under President Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Muslim known for his dislike of alcohol, taxes on booze have increased steadily and now account for two thirds of the cost of some alcoholic drinks. From early 2003, when Erdogan came to power, to October 2017, prices of raki - a traditional aniseed-flavored spirit - have jumped by 665 percent and beer prices by 580 percent, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK). “What surprised me when I got into this was the cost. If I can make it this cheaply, it’s strange that commercial beers are so expensive,” said Ceyhan. He makes beer from an online kit, while others brew cider, lagers and wine. Some also dilute shop-bought ethanol to make their version of vodka or raki. While only a small portion of Turkey’s 80 million people drink alcohol regularly, many of those who do are determined not to be denied their tipple by the rising prices - even though drinking home-brewed alcohol is not without its risks. Following the latest 10 percent increase in alcohol duty, which came into effect in December, the number of people producing their own drinks has grown, distributors say. “It’s like a hidden reflex, a desire to be self-sufficient. We don’t know what will be restricted or what they will allow tomorrow,” said a 58-year old brewer, who asked to remain anonymous fearing a potential backlash. “It’s as easy as making coffee, but it’s ready in about a month,” said the civil servant from Ankara, who makes wines and beers of different flavors, including raspberry and coffee. He said a bottle of his homemade beer costs around a quarter of the price in the shops. Erdogan’s distaste for alcohol stands in contrast to modern Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who championed secularism and was often pictured with a glass of raki. The president has criticized alcohol consumption as morally harmful to society, insisting that Turkey’s national beverage is not raki but the non-alcoholic yoghurt drink ayran. As of 2013, all advertisements, promotions and sponsorships of alcohol and tobacco products have been banned in Turkey. Such products are frequently blurred out in television shows. The surging taxes have reduced the volume of commercial alcoholic drinks sold in Turkey, with beer sales falling 10 percent between 2012 and 2016, and raki sales dropping by nearly a quarter, according to data from Turkey’s tobacco and alcohol watchdog (TAPDK). Cagatay Mekiker, marketing director for Turkey’s second- largest producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages, Antalya Alkollu Icecekler, said sales of ethanol had risen as part of a “rebellion” against the tax rises. He did not give a figure for the increased ethanol sales but Arda Gurdal, marketing director at drinks company AFS Icecekler said sales rose by up to 5 or 6 percent in the past year. Since the December hike, tax now constitutes nearly two-thirds of the 93 lira ($24) price of a standard 70 centiliter bottle of raki at the supermarket. One bottle costs more than 6 percent of the minimum monthly wage in Turkey. A bottle of Antalya Alkollu Icecekler’s ethanol sells for half that price at one of Turkey’s main supermarket chains, and can make up to 4 liters of drink, brewers say. Mekiker said the final product from some mixtures was not “real raki”. Even advocates of the home-mixed drinks admit that diluting ethanol with water and aniseed flavoring is not the same as making an authentic drink - and admit there are dangers. In 2015, several people in Turkey died of alcohol poisoning, predominantly from bootleg alcohol used in the mixing of raki, while others went blind from improperly mixing alcohols, which can have a purity level of up to 95 percent. For some, though, the over-riding factor is cost. “Am I crazy? Why would I bother making drinks of poor quality at home instead of drinking the fine ones if it wasn’t for prices?” said 23-year old Memet Yucekaya, who uses ethanol.
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21081
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"The largest number of gamblers are ""from the poorest segments of the population."
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"The council's blog stated ""the largest numbers of gamblers comes from the poorest segments of the population."" The council's president said he was speaking in general about gambling -- not specific to lotteries or casinos or to any specific location. The data about the income demographics of gamblers must be explained in the context of the type, frequency and sometimes location of gambling. There is a lot of data to suggest that lottery sales outlets are concentrated in poor neighborhoods and that poor lottery ticket buyers end up spending a higher portion of their income. But that isn't what the council claimed. And the research about lotteries would not necessarily apply to the Las Vegas-style casinos that the Florida legislature is now considering."
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false
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Gambling, Poverty, Florida, John Stemberger,
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"In the ongoing war about gambling in Florida, some critics have turned to the Bible to state their case. The Florida Family Policy Council, an Orlando-based conservative Christian organization, has sided with gambling opponents. In a post on its blog, the council poses the question Is Gambling Morally Wrong? The blog post from Oct. 20, 2011, uses partial quotes from Wayne Grudem, a theology professor at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona and author of the book Politics According to the Bible: ""My own judgment is that large commercial gambling outlets such as casinos and state-sponsored lotteries bring much more harm to a society than the benefits they generate (such as tax revenue)… First, it is socially harmful (and fiscally regressive) because the largest numbers of gamblers comes from the poorest segments of the population. Second, (it) leads to an addiction to gambling … and this addiction destroys marriages, families … and increases societal breakdown. Third, studies have shown that where gambling businesses are established, crime rates increase."" (Here is the page in the book that contains these quotes.) There are a few interesting claims in that statement but for this Truth-O-Meter we will explore whether the largest number of gamblers come from the poorest segments of the population. The council's president, John Stemberger, said the blog was about gambling in general, not just casinos or lotteries in Florida. Gambling is a hot topic in Florida. Two South Florida Republican state legislators -- Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff and Rep. Erik Fresen -- have proposed opening the door to full-scale gambling by allowing three mega-resort casinos to bid on licenses for Las Vegas-style games. One company, Genting, has proposed a massive casino for downtown Miami. We reviewed six studies that included information about gambling and income as well as several news articles or websites. We also interviewed about a dozen academics who have studied gambling. Some of the sources came from Stemberger and Grudem, while others came from professors, the gambling industry or gambling opponents. The research we examined fell into a few general categories. Research from the casino industry. Not surprisingly, those involved in the casino industry found that the bulk of their visitors are middle or upper-class. American Gaming Association's 2011 State of the States survey of casino entertainment states that compared to the general population, casino visitors are less likely to have a household income of less than $35,000 and more likely to have incomes between $35,000 and $100,000. ""The demographic profile of casino visitors is similar to that of the general U.S. population. While men are more likely to have visited a casino than women, and the average casino visitor is slightly older, the breakdown by income and level of education mirrors that of the general population."" (For more from the casino industry check out Harrah's 2006 survey.) Lottery studies. There is a lot of evidence -- some focused on particular cities or states -- that lotteries draw in poor people. ""A number of studies have investigated the demographic predictors of lottery gambling and have tended to find that, on average, state lottery products are disproportionately consumed by the poor...,"" states this 2005 Brookings Institution paper. ""Average annual lottery spending in dollar amounts is roughly equal across the lowest, middle and highest income groups. This implies that on average, low-income households spend a larger percentage of their wealth on lottery tickets than other households."" One of the best examples we found was this 1998 investigation by the Washington Post, which found that the lotteries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia rely on ""a hard core of heavy players, who, on average, have less education and lower incomes than the population as a whole, according to lottery documents and data."" For example, among heavy players in Virginia, ""one in six had household incomes of less than $15,000, according to the lottery data."" In Washington, data showed that ""the city's most anemic lottery market lies west of Rock Creek Park in an area with the highest education and income levels and the thinnest concentration of minorities."" (To find more articles or studies about gambling in particular cities or states, check out this bibliography at the end of this article or from this anti-casino group.) Researchers at Duke University published a 1999 report, ""State Lotteries at the Turn of the Century."" It found that lottery participation increased as people made more income but only up to the $100,000-per-year level. Still, among those who do play, ""players with incomes less than $50,000 spend more than others, and the lower income categories have the highest per capita spending,"" it said. One of the report's co-authors, Philip Cook, told PolitiFact in an e-mail that his research shows ""poorer households spend a higher percentage of their income on state lotteries (which are the most common form of gambling). The percentage who participate in lottery play is not higher for low income households. But those who do play, play a lot."" National gambling research. The most extensive research we reviewed stemmed from The National Gambling Impact Study Commission, a 1999 report done for the federal government. For that study, The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago published a 768-page report compiling surveys of nearly 3,000 gamblers and non-gamblers. The report included detailed statistics on gambling, by income and by type of game. To summarize the report's key findings, we turned to Dean Gerstein, the report's principal investigator who now works as a vice provost and professor at Claremont Graduate University. ""If you define gambling fairly broadly — placing a bet on a game of chance at least once in a lifetime, or once in the past year, or even once in the past month — then members of the poorest segment of the population are, in general, less likely to gamble than members of the middle segments. By any reasonable definition, the largest numbers of gamblers are clearly not poor,"" he wrote in an e-mail to PolitiFact. ""The richest Americans, the 10 percent or so with incomes greater than $100,000/year, are actually the most likely to spend money gambling -- as they are to spend money on everything else, since they have far more money to spend. But since this group of well-off people is relatively small, only 10 percent of the population, the number of gamblers from the middle income segments ($25,000 - $100,000) is much larger."" But when poor people gamble, a larger proportion have serious problems related to their gambling than wealthier people, Gerstein said. ""In general, gambling very heavily doesn’t do nearly as much damage to rich people as it does to poor people — rich people can afford to throw away a lot more money on gambling without getting into hot water."" What the experts and Stemberger said Many of our experts said the council's claim was too vague -- research about gambling and income typically specifies the type of gambling, the frequency, and sometimes the location. The regular purchaser of lottery tickets at a store in inner-city Baltimore probably isn't the same as the occasional high roller at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. ""In my opinion this is a poorly worded and misleading statement,"" said David Just, an economics professor at Cornell, who has studied poverty and lotteries. ""By no means does this group constitute the majority of those playing the lottery. Those in poverty are just 16 percent of the U.S. population. They do not outspend the other 84 percent of the country. There is some evidence that a larger proportion of them play, but this is weak evidence and heavily disputed. It is widely believed they spend a higher portion of their income than wealthier individuals. While I can sympathize with the motive behind the FFPC (Florida Family Policy Council) statement, it seems they should have been more careful in making their argument. Lottery tickets and casino visitors are really different crowds for the most part."" John Welte, a senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions at Buffalo State University of New York who wrote about geographic factors and gambling in this article, told us that the council's claim was wrong. ""That statement is not correct,"" Welte said in an e-mail. ""Gamblers are generally not more common in the poorest segments, although poorer gamblers tend to gamble more often. What is true, and perhaps more relevant, is that problem gamblers are more prevalent in the poorest segments of society."" But research shows that lotteries can hurt the poor. ""The bottom line is a lot of this gambling is directed toward the poorer segments of society who are spending proportionally more,"" said John Kindt, a business administration professor at the University of Illinois who studies gambling. Kindt said he was speaking primarily about lotteries but that lotteries are like a gateway drug to creating new addictive gamblers. ""We are making poor people poorer."" We sent our findings to Stemberger, and he asked us to consider two additional reports. One was a 1997 article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune about a study of state treatment programs for problem gamblers that found that poor problem gamblers had debts proportionally higher than more affluent gamblers. But the article stated, ""state officials said they couldn't conclude that compulsive gamblers are disproportionately poor. That's because state-funded programs may attract the poor more than affluent people who have insurance or other options for treatment."" Stemberger also pointed to studies about gambling in Wisconsin. This 1995 study of Native American casinos found gamers have an average household income of between $20,000 and $30,000 a year. Fewer than 15 percent enjoy household incomes in excess of $60,000, while almost 30 percent have household incomes less than $20,000. But the study didn't state that the gamblers were disproportionately poor compared to the population near the casinos. Our ruling The council's blog stated ""the largest numbers of gamblers comes from the poorest segments of the population."" The council's president said he was speaking in general about gambling -- not specific to lotteries or casinos or to any specific location. The data about the income demographics of gamblers must be explained in the context of the type, frequency and sometimes location of gambling. There is a lot of data to suggest that lottery sales outlets are concentrated in poor neighborhoods and that poor lottery ticket buyers end up spending a higher portion of their income. But that isn't what the council claimed. And the research about lotteries would not necessarily apply to the Las Vegas-style casinos that the Florida legislature is now considering."
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41782
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"President Donald Trump sought to ""throw 32 million people off of the health care they had."
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In a televised town hall, newly announced presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders repeated several misleading claims that we have written about in the past.
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mixture
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Affordable Care Act, budget, health care, income inquality, medicare, Social Security,
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In a televised town hall, newly announced presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders repeated several misleading claims that we have written about in the past.The town hall was televised on CNN on Feb. 25, just a few days after Sanders launched a second bid for the presidency. As we mentioned, he discussed health care, taxes and economic inequality, among other topics.Sanders repeated the misleading claim that Trump sought to “throw 32 million people off of the health care they had.” Some of those are people who would choose not to get insurance if the mandate penalty were removed, so it’s misleading to say they’d all be thrown off.The figure Sanders cites is a government estimate of what would happen if Congress repealed the Affordable Care Act without replacing it. The effect of a repeal and replace bill — which failed to emerge from the Senate — was not forecast to result in as severe a decline in the number of uninsured. Trump supported the Republican-backed American Health Care Act — a bill that sought partial repeal and replacement of the ACA — but when that plan faltered, he also advocated for an immediate repeal of the ACA, with a replacement at a “later date.”If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017Sanders relies on a July 19, 2017, Congressional Budget Office estimate of the effect of the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act of 2017, which fits the bill as a “repeal and then replace at a later date” approach. The CBO did forecast that the bill would increase the number of uninsured by 32 million people over 10 years.But not all of them would be thrown off their insurance, as Sanders said. As the CBO notes, “In the nongroup market, some people would choose not to have insurance partly because they choose to be covered by insurance under current law to avoid paying the penalty.”The ACA imposed a tax penalty on those without health insurance, but the mandate penalty was repealed as part of the new tax law, effective Jan. 1.The Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act would have repealed coverage provisions of the ACA after 2020, with the delay “presumably giving Congress time to come up with a replacement,” Timothy Jost wrote for Health Affairs. What a replacement plan might have looked like is unknown, and CBO did not estimate what the effects of a replacement bill would have on the uninsured. But in his tweet, Trump did advocate for a replacement bill “at a later date.”Moreover, Trump did support the American Health Care Act — the main repeal-and-replace effort in 2017. The House passed it, but the Senate did not and it died. That year, Sanders and numerous Democrats claimed the bill would throw 24 million people off the health insurance they have. As we wrote then, however, while an analysis by the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation did say that 24 million fewer Americans would be insured under the American Health Care Act than under current law in 2026, not all of them would “lose” insurance they have “today” or be “kicked off” their policies, as some Democrats described it. Rather, we wrote, the 24 million represents a complicated mix of some losing insurance, some deciding not to have it, others gaining it and others not being eligible for Medicaid insurance in the future.One other thing to note, as our fact-checking colleagues at the Washington Post pointed out, CBO has since revised its estimate of the impact of repealing the individual mandate to buy insurance. In a May 2018 CBO report, the Post noted, repeal of the individual mandate is now projected to result in 8 million fewer insured by the end of the decade — half the number CBO initially forecast. Sanders repeated the Democratic talking point that under the Republican tax plan championed by Trump, “83 percent of the benefits go to the 1 percent.”But as we have written, that’s misleading. It’s true for 2027, but only because most of the individual income tax changes expire by then.The Republican tax legislation, which Trump signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, allows most of its individual income tax provisions to expire after 2025, making the tax benefit distribution more lopsided for the top 1 percent than in earlier years.In 2018, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, the top 1 percent of income earners would get 20.5 percent of the tax cut benefits. In 2025, that percentage would be 25.3 percent, with the top 1 percent (those earning above $837,800) getting an average tax cut of $61,090.Just two years later, in 2027, the percentage of tax benefits to this income group jumps to 82.8 percent, “because almost all individual income tax provisions would sunset after 2025,” the TPC explains. The top 1 percent still benefits from some of the remaining tax cuts, such as reducing the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. But their average tax cut drops by nearly two-thirds to $20,660 in 2027.Why do these individual tax cuts expire in the law? Republicans say they expect a future Congress will extend those cuts, rather than allowing taxes for many to increase. But in order to pass their tax bill through budget reconciliation, a process requiring only a majority vote in the Senate, Republican lawmakers could not add more than $1.5 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. Nor could they have a bill that added to the deficit beyond that 10-year window.The tax law is expected to increase the deficit by $1.46 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.Sanders said that while Trump promised during the campaign not to cut Social Security or Medicare, his proposed 2019 budget included cuts of $500 billion to Medicare and $72 billion to Social Security. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, however, says “the proposed savings from Social Security and Medicare are in fact quite modest in size, would have little effect on benefits, and would actually reduce out-of-pocket health care costs for most seniors.”Sanders: I’ll tell you, it’s not just a president who said to the working class of this country, “I am on your side, I’m not going to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” and then he came forward with a budget, trillion dollar cut to Medicaid, $500 billion to Medicare, and $72 billion to the Social Security Disability Fund.Presidents’ proposed budgets are largely symbolic, more a statement of priorities than anything Congress actually takes up. Indeed, Congress had passed — and Trump signed — a bipartisan two-year spending bill a few days prior to the White House releasing its FY 2019 budget proposal.While the president’s budget proposal does include spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said Sanders’ claim is “extremely misleading when it comes to Social Security and Medicare – less so for Medicaid.”In a Feb. 16, 2018, analysis of Democratic claims that Trump’s budget would “slash,” “gut” and “devastate” Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, CRFB writes: “It is certainly true that the budget proposes substantial reductions in Medicaid spending, but the proposed savings from Social Security and Medicare are in fact quite modest in size, would have little effect on benefits, and would actually reduce out-of-pocket health care costs for most seniors.”Let’s take these one at a time.Sanders said Trump’s budget would cut Medicare by $500 billion. While the Congressional Budget Office noted direct spending on Medicare would decrease by $472 billion over 10 years under the president’s proposal, Goldwein notes that some of that is due to moving “graduate medical education” and “uncompensated care” from the Medicare budget to other parts of the budget.According to CRFB’s analysis, the Trump budget would reduce future Medicare spending increases by about $334 billion, and “come exclusively from reforming the delivery system, lowering drug prices, and reducing inefficiencies rather than cutting benefits for beneficiaries, and could be seen as broadly consistent with the President’s promise during the 2016 campaign not to cut Medicare benefits.” “In fact,” the analysis says, “the Medicare policies in the budget would have the effect of reducing drug prices, health care costs, Medicare premiums, and cost sharing. In other words, President Trump’s Medicare policies would reduce costs faced by seniors.”“Many of the President’s (Medicare) policies are similar to those put forward by President Obama,” CRFB says.As for Social Security, the $25 billion in reductions amounts to “less than 0.2 percent over a decade,” CRFB states, and “importantly, most of these changes are meant to reduce overlapping or improper payments and address certain inequities in the program.” In fact, the analysis states, “Just over half of the savings come from policies also proposed by President Obama in his own budgets.”To get to $72 billion, Sanders also includes $48 billion the Trump budget claims to save from “Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income … from testing and eventually implementing different return-to-work strategies in these programs,” CRFB says. Goldwein said that $48 billion is “phony baloney,” a mere pilot program that is likely to only save a fraction of that amount. (CBO estimates total Social Security savings in the Trump plan at a much more modest $18 billion over 10 years. )“When it comes to Social Security and Medicare, there is no slashing, gutting, or devastating to be found,” CRFB states.Sanders may have a point with Medicaid, CRFB states. Outlays for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and non-defense discretionary spending would be reduced “at least 25 percent below their baseline levels for 2019-2028, with even deeper cuts in 2028.”“Claims that Medicaid spending is significantly reduced in the budget are therefore reasonable,” CRFB says. Goldwein said the net effect of cuts to Medicaid are close to $1 trillion.Sanders again exaggerated the gap in health care spending between the U.S. and the rest of the world. “We’re now spending almost twice as much per capita on health care as any other country,” Sanders said, echoing a similar claim he has made since at least 2015.Sanders has a point that the U.S. spends a lot more on health care than other nations. But he went beyond the facts by saying America spends nearly twice as much as any other country.The U.S. spent $10,209 per capita in 2017, according to the most recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD. That’s more than double the 2017 OECD average of $4,069 per capita, and quite a lot more than most other developed nations.However, Switzerland spent $8,009 per capita, Luxembourg spent $6,475 per capita and Norway spent $6,351 per capita. So, the U.S. didn’t spend almost double what they did.Sanders also claimed: “In the United States right now, we have more income and wealth inequality than any other country on Earth.” That, too, is an exaggerated statement that Sanders has been making for a while.The U.S. does not have more income inequality than any other country, according to the OECD Income Distribution Database.Measured by the “Gini coefficient,” which the OECD says “is based on the comparison of cumulative proportions of the population against cumulative proportions of income they receive,” the U.S. ranks 6th out of the 38 industrialized nations for which the organization tabulated income inequality. As of 2016, the U.S. had a rating of 0.39 on a scale of 0 to 1, with 0 indicating “perfect equality” and 1 indicating “perfect inequality.” Countries with a higher inequality rating than the U.S. were South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile and Turkey.By another measure, which calculates a country’s share of “disposable” income held by the richest 10 percent of individuals, the U.S. (at 6.3 percent) ranked 5th. In that category, the U.S. again trailed South Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile.As far as wealth inequality — which is different from income inequality — the U.S. does top the OECD’s list, at least when countries are ranked by the share of wealth held by the wealthiest households.“Based on top wealth shares, household net wealth is most unequally distributed in the United States, where the richest 10% of households own 79% of total wealth, while the richest 1% holds 42%,” the OECD said in a June 2018 report.But the OECD’s Wealth Distribution Database doesn’t include a wealth inequality calculation for every country.When we checked the 2018 Global Wealth Report, which the Credit Suisse Research Institute published in October, we found that the U.S. had less wealth inequality than some nations the OECD leaves out.The institute estimated that, in 2018, the richest 10 percent of Americans owned 75.9 percent of all the country’s wealth (see table 6-5 on page 156). That put the U.S. in 5th place out of the 41 economies covered by the report. Countries with greater wealth concentrations were Thailand (85.7 percent), Russia (81.8 percent), Turkey (81.2 percent) and India (77.4 percent).When looking at the share held by the wealthiest 5 percent, the U.S. (63.3 percent) fell to 6th place behind those same four countries and Indonesia. And when considering the share held by the wealthiest 1 percent, the U.S. (35.3 percent) moved down further, to 12th place behind the five previously mentioned countries, as well as Colombia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Sweden, South Africa and Finland.We asked the Sanders campaign what supporting information the senator had for his claims about income and wealth inequality in the U.S. So far, we have yet to receive a response.Correction, Feb. 28: An earlier version of this story cited outdated CBO data on the revised impact of repealing the individual mandate on the number of uninsured.
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3988
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Officials: Wisconsin deer herd put down due to disease.
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An entire herd of whitetail deer on a farm in southwest Wisconsin has been euthanized because of chronic wasting disease, state agriculture officials said.
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true
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Animals, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Health, Deer, Animal health, Wisconsin
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More than 100 deer in Iowa County were euthanized last month after about 20 tested positive for the disease, The La Crosse Tribune reported . Veterinarians and animal health technicians from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sedated the animals before euthanizing them. The deer had been quarantined since October, when the DATCP confirmed a deer shot on a Waupaca County hunting ranch tested positive for the disease. The deer was traced back to the Iowa County farm. Nearly 80 deer in the county that were 16 months old or older were tested for the disease. Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disorder found in deer, elk and moose. It’s caused by an infectious protein that affects the animal’s brain. State and federal indemnity programs will compensate the deer farm, though an amount has yet to be determined. ___ Information from: La Crosse Tribune, http://www.lacrossetribune.com
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9441
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Blood From Young People Safe and Just Might Help Alzheimer’s Patients
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This NBC story reports on a tiny “proof of concept” study testing whether it’s safe to give Alzheimer’s patients infusions of plasma from young men. Earlier lab experiments with rodents appeared to show improvement in older animals when getting such plasma. A secondary goal of this “trial” was to see if the infusions improved the mental status of Alzheimer’s patients, which it did not. Aside from the small size of the study, and the lack of any real data it produced, its “conclusions” are basically the observations/opinion of caregivers as to changes in these patients. Although one of the researchers calls the work exciting, we’re not sure what he’s talking about. The study had less than a dozen participants. There was no measurable data. There is no insight into what, if anything, is in the plasma of young men that might benefit these patients. There has been no peer-reviewed publication describing the work. The beginning of “real” clinical trials is at least a year off and there’s no guarantee that they will take place, and if they do, they’re likely to only deal with whether this approach is safe. Few diseases are as cruel to patients and their loved ones as Alzheimer’s is. It steals their memories and then their ability to think and communicate, leaving a shell of the person they once were. Therefore, any news about potential treatments is like a life preserver on a stormy sea, and when that news is shown to be premature at best, and reckless at the worst, it is these families who suffer. Stories dealing with this disease, as well as other debilitating illnesses, should always keep in mind the impact they may have on these vulnerable people.
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mixture
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alzheimer's disease,dementia
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There is no mention of the cost of this new approach in this story. The story does state that whatever product is potentially developed, it will not be whole plasma. Since we know what the cost to patients would be for current whole plasma transfusions, and for whole blood transfusions as well, it seems plausible for some estimate to be made based on what patients are now charged for either plasma or whole blood transfusions. There is no quantifiable data reported in this story. In fact, there’s little if anything that can be considered to be actual data. The “success” of this approach, the story says, is based on the reported observations of Alzheimer’s patients’ caregivers to the researchers. This is all just subjective opinion, not actual fact. Moreover, it refers only to half of those in the so-called trial, and they were no longer blinded to whether they received plasma or a sham transfusion. Additionally, the report states that researchers told a conference that, “There was no measurable effect on memory or thinking,” which are arguably the most important effects that Alzheimer’s has on its victims. Given that and the paucity of other real information in the story, its questionable why it was even written at all. There are no mentions of harms anywhere in this story. Transfusions are invasive procedures and carry with them certain unpredictable risks. While the story does say at the end that any eventual product would be cleansed of components that mandate blood-type matching, there is no other discussion related to potential harms. The story starts by explaining this so-called “proof of concept trial” involved only 18 Alzheimer’s patients, an incredibly small number from which researchers could draw conclusions. Then the story says what began as a blinded trial was changed to include only half the patients — nine of them — who knew they were getting plasma rather than placebo. The reason: “it (the trial) was taking so much time and effort.” Also, the trial only lasted a single month, an extremely short period to be able to develop behavioral changes among these patients. After the story acknowledges that the only results were basically subjective observations by caregivers, the story clearly states, “But that doesn’t mean there really was an effect. You just cannot tell with a trial of only 18 people.” But remember, the trial really actually only had nine patients who completed it. Given all this, the decision to publish the story is questionable at best–there’s no news here, the evidence quality is so low it is not worth exciting readers about. The story doesn’t disease-monger. We’ll give the story a Satisfactory here since it does quote one source unaffiliated with the research and points out that earlier work led to the formation of a private company which intends to market a product derived from the research. However, the story would have been stronger if it had commentary from an independent expert with a more skeptical perspective. The story does state flatly that, “There’s no cure (for Alzheimer’s), and treatments that have looked promising have flopped in big trials.” The story states that the small “proof of concept trial” is just the beginning, and that the company “plans to move forward with formal clinical trials in 40 volunteers next year.” That presumably would be just a phase one trial to show safety so readers should know that any working product would be years away, at the least (and if ever). The story establishes that the testing of this idea in humans is new. This story does not appear to have relied on a news release. In this cast, that’s unfortunate since a news release produced by Stanford University is more cautious and comprehensive in its detail than is this NBC story.
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33665
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Children’s TV host Barney the purple dinosaur was caught with cocaine hidden in his tail and cussed out a child.
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Purple dinosaur children's host Barney had cocaine hidden in his tail and cussed out a child?
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false
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Entertainment, ASP Article, Radio & TV, Television
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Barney, the purple dinosaur from television’s Barney & Friends, has been on the air since 1992, hosting a show which uses song and dance to teach preschool tots in an environment of warmth and caring. Barney’s is a loveable persona, and the children he interacts with as part of the show happily sing and dance along with him, looking upon him as a much-admired friend. Two common rumors about Barney (police uncovered a cache of illegal drugs secreted in the rotund dinosaur’s tail, or the endlessly loving and patient children’s host roundly cussed out a hapless tyke) strike at the heart of Barney’s appeal to the smaller set. It’s not the funny costume or the songs that make the show a success; it’s the friendliness and constant optimism of the show’s purple host. The rumors’ presentation of Barney as a nefarious character who deals drugs or secretly hates children runs contrary to his steadfast image of wholesomeness and trustworthiness. Baseless rumors of similar denigrating nature have plagued other children’s hosts cherished for their friendliness and sincerity. Back fence gossip asserted the genial Mr. Rogers was a convicted child molester or had served in the armed forces as a sniper and thus had dispatched many to their graves. The radio host Uncle Don was believed to have uttered “There; that ought to hold the little bastards” into a live mike at the conclusion of one of his shows when he thought the station was no longer broadcasting. And “Steve” of TV’s Blue’s Clues was said to have died of a heroin overdose, a clear indication that, contrary to his squeaky-clean on-camera image, he’d been deeply into illegal drugs. In the case of the rumors about Barney, the source for the rumor about drugs having been found in his tail can likely be laid at the feet of some of his small fans who misunderstood the meaning of various news articles they might have heard about. Like so many other successful television shows, Barney & Friends has spawned various lines of show-related merchandise, including various Barney toys such as plush dolls in the likeness of the purple dinosaur himself. While most of such playthings have doubtless lived out their guiltless existences being hugged and squeezed by sundry tots, a few stuffed Barneys have been used as drug caches: Children, especially small ones, don’t easily grasp small differences — to them, a news story about illicit drugs having been discovered inside a Barney doll during a police raid is likely to be understood as drugs having been found inside Barney the television star himself. Given that to a small child, everything they see of Barney happens to him on camera, the story would quickly flesh out to the dinosaur’s having been arrested while the cameras were rolling, the police appearing on set to pull the drugs from his tail and haul him off in dino-cuffs. As for the “Barney cusses on live TV” rumor, it circulates in two forms: That a pain-riddled Barney who had tripped and stubbed his toe let loose with a few profanities, or that an enraged Barney cussed out a child who had unwittingly stepped on his tail during a shoot. The specific origin of this rumor is unknown, but James Lileks of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote in 2006 that “the existence of the Barney Swear Tape is a first-grade urban legend.” Barney & Friends is not broadcast live: A tape of the show is processed and edited before it airs on television. Had the actor inside the Barney suit actually cut loose with a stream of expletives during a taping of the show, his outburst would never have reached his adoring viewing audience at home. In fact, Barney’s voice is provided by a different actor than the one who performs inside the (non-miked) purple dinosaur suit, so anything the latter said on stage wouldn’t have been captured at all. Other rumors about the purple dinosaur include:
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9721
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How well do flu shots work? Here’s what the science says.
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This story asks a simple, straightforward question that annually affects much of the population — do flu vaccines work, and how well? The story looks at the evidence offered from a host of studies, giving a fair appraisal of what the data does and does not tell us. [Editor’s note: for another perspective on this issue, see last week’s blog post by Alan Cassels: This flu season, let’s immunize ourselves from the annual infection of exaggerating relative risk reductions.] Outbreaks of influenza come as regularly as the leaves changing color in the fall. And like the autumn colors, the effectiveness of the flu vaccine can change year to year. This story both explains why there is such variability and answers the questions that most people would, or should, have about getting an annual flu shot.
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true
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flu shot,vaccines
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While the story only touches on the costs of flu shots in passing, saying that they’re relatively cheap, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this category. At least at two points in the story, the issue of costs are raised. We would have liked it even better had the story mentioned the actual range of possible costs for the flu vaccine. A quick web search shows the prices ranging from $10 to $30, based on information from the CDC. And free shots are regularly available at public health centers as well. The story does a good job of explaining what the actual benefits of the influenza vaccine really are. Just as a recent HealthNewsReview.org blog post did, the story goes way beyond the typical media version touting claims of X-percent effectiveness and explains what that means in terms of individual people escaping flu symptoms. This accuracy of interpretation does carry with it, however, one risk: For a public so used to hearing that vaccines are, say, 60 percent effective, actually finding out that they’d only prevent one person from getting symptoms for every 33 people vaccinated may not sound good enough for the lay person. The story does mention that the risks of negative reactions to getting a flu shot usually center on inflammation at the site of the injection, a comparatively minor side effect. It emphasizes that given such a minimal risk, there are very few harms for getting this protection, minimal though it may be in some years. The story gives readers the results of numerous meta-studies that compile partial answers on the vaccine’s effectiveness. It also rightly points out the limitations of those studies, and the research they’re based on, in that ethics forbids the kind of control versus placebo trials that could show cause and effect. Nevertheless, the story is clear in pointing out the limitations of the data it presents, giving readers enough information to make their own decisions. The annual influenza outbreaks offer the possibility for disease-mongering but we feel that’s not the case with this story. The author of this story compiles ample evidence from reliable and respected independent sources concerning influenza. It does not, however, offer any information concerning conflicts of interest, but with this type of story, we’re hard pressed to see how there would be a conflict. The story does mention the meager alternatives to influenza vaccination — that is, proper hand washing hygiene and the isolation of flu patients from those free of the disease. The story offers answers to basic questions about the value of getting an annual flu shot. Those questions are obviously based on the fact that flu vaccines are usually readily available for those who want them. While some years present a possible shortage of vaccine, for most years, vaccination is determined by personal choice, rather than availability. The story appropriately explains that this vaccine has been around for decades. The story is taking a second look at the vaccine’s effectiveness, which as it explains varies from year to year and may not be as high as most people think. The story shows no indications that it was based on a news release.
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34393
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A woman narrowly escaped an abduction attempt at the Coon Rapids Walmart in Minnesota.
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We contacted Stipp via Facebook to ask about the Coon Rapids Walmart incident, but have not yet received a response.
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unproven
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Inboxer Rebellion, facebook warnings, human trafficking, stranger abduction
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On 4 June 2017, Facebook user Tianna Stipp shared a post cautioning others about an incident she purportedly experienced at the Coon Rapids Walmart in Minnesota: You know those really long posts on Facebook that you just bypass thinking “oh yeah, that will never happen to me? ?” well, this is going to be one of those, but please do not just scroll on by.. Saturday after work Kalvin brought Levi to me at work in Coon Rapids, I needed to run to Walmart to pick up some essentials and so I took Levi and went to the Walmart right off of Round Lake Blvd, in Coon Rapids, MN. We walked in and I went immediately back to the baby section along the wall is car seats and then diapers. A gentleman stopped me and asked me if I could help him pick out a car seat for his daughter. I asked him how old she was and how much she weighed. He was looking at infant carriers and so I showed him the convertible car seats. He started asking me personal questions about Levi’s age, weight, where we live, if I am from around here, and whether or not his father and I were together. I was instantly turned off. Stipp’s post was one of countless similar warnings in which a shopper, typically female, believes that she narrowly escaped the grasp of human traffickers in the course of an interaction with fellow shoppers in a retail environment. Although the questions were perhaps bothersome and unwanted, nothing in particular set off alarm bells on first glance. According to Stipp, the man she encountered became increasingly engaged as she attempted to extricate herself from the conversation. Stipp speculated that her discomfort caused her child to become visibly fussy — at which point the man reportedly asked her if he could hold and comfort the boy: As I started to walk away- he got frantic and asked me If I would put the car seat in his vehicle for him. I told him “I’m sorry I can’t do that.” I started to walk away again, and he began following me. He stopped me again when I got to the diapers and said “oh I have a 6 year old boy. What does he need?” I pointed to a seat and said “this will be fine.” He started asking me again to put them in his car and I denied again. I didn’t grab anything and walked to the sippy cups, looking all around for an associate. . I began to ignore his questions. Levi started to get fussy and I took him out of the cart and began to soothe him. I think he could tell I was uncomfortable because he wouldn’t calm down. The guy asked me to Hand him Levi.. I told him “no, thank you.” He became persistent and said “it’s ok. I will hold him for you. ” I told him “my son doesn’t like strangers. I think I am just going To take him home.” I began down the aisle in search for an associate and there was no one to be found. The gentleman was walking next to me and his phone rang. He had a very strong accent but the parts I could make out pushed me over the edge. I heard “yes. Yes. Meet me outside the car.” I looked down the garden center as I knew he would have to pay for his items and I could easily find an associate there. I started that way and he tried to walk straight out without paying for his items- he was stopped and, as he went back around to check out as he was still on his phone. Stipp added that she summoned a Walmart greeter, and then fled the store. On advice she later received from family members, Stipp said she called the police to report the encounter: I waved to the greeter at the door as If I knew him and whispered to him “I am afraid. This gentleman was very persistent on wanting to hold my child and get me to go to his car. I’m going to go this way. Please do not tell him where I went.” I pulled Levi close and ran as fast as I could across the front of the store and back into the store to the bathroom. I cried and pulled myself together for probably 5 minutes. Peeked out the door, seen a manager and told him what happened. Asked him to walk me to my car as I wanted to leave. I drove to CVS in Anoka, called Kalvin and told him what happened. Told him we were safe. But I was so scared. I had my first Anxiety attack in over 4 years. I Called my mother, Wendy Perry and spoke to my Step Dad, Neal Perry, who told me to call the police because if he didn’t get away with my child. He will go back for someone else’s. I need thought of that.. I Hung up and instantly called and I spoke to a Sargent last night and he told me I did everything I could and Did it right. Although the story’s subtext was somewhat dependent on the interpretation of the reader, it sounded most of all as though an overbearing shopper made a fellow customer feel uncomfortable. Stipp made it clear that she felt differently: I gave them times and a detailed description of the man who tried to take my baby away from me.. I spent a majority of my day yesterday trying to wrap my head around what happened and how I could have done things differently. But I don’t think I could have. I protected my child the best way I knew how. And I’m sharing this with all of you in hopes you never have to encounter this situation. There are some sick freaks out there && I never thought I would have to encounter one. . Stipp claimed that the police told her that she “did it right” and “did everything she could,” hinting that authorities were in agreement with Stipp’s interpretation of events as a ruse to abduct children. Many of the comments on Stipp’s thread came from readers who were also convinced the incident was related to trafficking (although they disagreed on whether the mother or child was the intended victim), recounted instances in which the “same thing” happened to them, encouraged Stipp to carry a gun or conceal her identity, and repeatedly claimed that similar interactions are becoming exceedingly common. One of the recurring themes amid hundreds of comments was absolute, unshakeable conviction that Stipp narrowly avoided being targeted, and that abductions of that nature were on a measurable upswing: Although the report notes that a Walmart associate suggested Stipp was possibly followed out to her car, the department did not appear to believe the incident was related to human trafficking. The department did look for the individual, but noted that he might very well have been going about his business unaware that Stipp was so unsettled by the encounter: As Stipp and hundreds of commenters demonstrated, the belief that Walmarts, Targets, Krogers, and IKEAs are teeming with accented men swarming with the intent to whisk women and children away is as pervasive as it is old. Dozens of nearly identical Facebook posts recount similarly vague (but shared as harrowing) accounts of purported attempted abductions in Target, Walmart, mall parking lots, or other family-friendly retail outlets. Rumors of this sort became fashionable on Facebook in or around May 2015, when a woman shared a story, later debunked, about an Oklahoma Hobby Lobby store encounter. The following month, Twitter was overrun with rumors of a sex slavery ring targeting college kids at summer job interviews; later that same month a long-circulating urban legend about a theme park abduction appeared and made the rounds again. Subsequent stories included a frightening (but false) claim about purported teenaged abductors (armed with heroin-filled syringes to drug putative victims) at a Denton, Texas, Dillards, a story from a woman convinced she was a near-victim of human traffickers with gift bags in the parking lot of a Hickory, North Carolina, Walmart store, and a constellation of rumors claiming Target stores in Tampa, Longview (Texas), and Houston were populated by a legion of sex trafficking scouts. Not long after a similar claim on Facebook went viral, “Free Range Kids” author and parenting advocate Lenore Skenazy wrote about the skyrocketing popularity of social media abduction horror stories: What the heck is going on, America? This “My kids were about to be trafficked, I just KNOW it” post is so shockingly similar to last week’s, “My kids were about to be trafficked, I just KNOW it” post that it feels … creepy. A lot creepier than being at Ikea where a couple of men glance at my kids. The reader who sent me this link asked if I thought there might be some “validity” to it, to which I must respond: No. In fact, I think it’s crazy. What, two men are going to grab two or three kids, all under age 7, IN PUBLIC, in a camera-filled IKEA, with the MOM and the GRANDMA right there, not to mention a zillion other fans of Swedish furnishings? Can we please PLEASE take a deep breath and realize how insanely unlikely that is? How we don’t need to be “warned” about this? How NOTHING HAPPENED! You can TELL nothing happened, because the whole thing was described as an “incident.” And Lenore’s #1 Rule of Reporting is: When something is called an “incident,” it’s because nothing happened. In fact, my alternate headline for this post was: POINTLESSLY TERRIFIED MOM URGES OTHER MOMS TO BE POINTLESSLY TERRIFIED Skenazy notes that the tales themselves fueled the belief that trafficking is happening everywhere, but that is completely incongruent with known patterns of abduction or trafficking: So while we’re at it, here’s a snippet of last week’s note from David Finkelhor, head of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, on the likelihood (or not) of sex trafficking of young children in America: Child abduction rarely occurs in a crowded public venue like that, where help would be easy to muster. Moreover: Most sex trafficking lures and abductions are of teenagers. We have been so brainwashed by talk of trafficking that we imagine we see it everywhere.
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11601
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New Pill for MS Shows Promise in Clinical Trial
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Readers are well served by information on the study’s design, the preliminary nature of the research, the industry-funding behind the work and the strength of the study’s findings. The story also took the additional step of making it clear to readers in multiple ways what type of work is left to be done before this drug becomes a strong clinical option. We wish the story had at least offered some cost information on the experimental drug’s sole competitor, that it had provided more numbers to quantify both benefits and risks, and that it had told readers that some of the information in the story came directly from a news release. Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is one form of the disease. It is characterized by a waxing and waning of symptoms with no disease progression. Treatment has been aimed at the immune system and has included injectable drugs (interferons, glatiramer and natalizumab) as well as a newly introduced oral drug, fingolimod. None of the existing treatments are ideal and all bring a host of side effects into play. An additional oral medication as a treatment option could increase medication compliance with some patients and could prove to be the right therapy for people with specific profiles. As this story also notes, though, promising results in clinical trials are still a good distance away from an actual clinical application. We appreciate the notes of caution throughout this piece, and we wish more stories took this approach.
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true
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HealthDay
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Multiple sclerosis is a chronic illness requiring ongoing treatment. So, cost of treatment is an important consideration. This story did not include cost information,in part because the drug in question is not on the market. Acccording to this Bloomberg story, it costs $4,000 a month, and searches on Drugstore.com and other sites back this up. Tip: we’ve added a new resource for journalists to help them track down costs of medical interventions.
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32772
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NASA admitted to dosing Americans with airborne lithium.
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Use of lithium as a chemical propellant and research agent by NASA was not novel or secretive — the rudimentary information on NASA’s web site was first published in 1958. Conspiracy theorists latched on to the use of the word “lithium” and extrapolated that it was used by NASA to surreptitiously drug the populace. NASA openly “admitted” to using lithium in a manner widely expected of that element, but use of the word “admitted” also implied disclosure by accident or under duress. The practice was well documented both by NASA and outside research, and bore no hallmarks of a long-running plot to surreptitiously drug Americans under the guise of rocket launches.
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false
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Politics Conspiracy Theories, anonhq, chemtrails, lithium
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On 19 April 2016, the web site AnonHQ published an article that purported to show “proof” NASA admitted to spraying lithium into the atmosphere: There’s the official explanation for why NASA is spraying lithium, a pharmaceutical drug most often used to treat people with manic depression or bi-polar disorder, into our ionosphere, and then there is the probable reason(s). It would be easier to accept NASA’s official explanation if they were not so secretive about everything they study and do in space – but one thing is for certain – NASA’s own personnel have admitted that lithium, along with other chemicals, are intentionally being placed into our environment regularly. It is possible that many of NASA’s own employees aren’t even aware of the true motivations for carrying out such a project, ironically displaying the very behaviors that these chemicals/pharmaceuticals are meant to instill. In the first bomb-shell video a NASA employee ([redacted]@nasa.gov) admits that lithium is being sprayed in the atmosphere, and says that it is “harmless to the environment.” NASA Confesses to Thoughts on this? 👉 Dosing Americans with Air-borne Lithium & Other Chemicals AnonHQ https://t.co/zfElekED5a — Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 19, 2016 The article then launched into assigning of purported motives for dosing Americans with lithium, a potent anti-manic psychiatric medication. From there, the article made its case for the existence of a NASA lithium spraying program (without any citations, and bearing a strong similarity to a previous hoax): It is very real, and there is ample scientific documentation to corroborate what I put forth here: A Pub Med abstract titled, Feasibility of Aerosol Vaccinations in Humans discusses how an increase in antigen volumes can be beneficial in aerosol delivery of vaccines, and could be used in “developing countries and disaster areas.” The abstract also admits that several thousand human subjects have already been aerosol vaccinated with live attenuated measles and influenza A vaccines. The executive summary further states that aerosol vaccinations are ideal for “large populations.” This has apparently been happening since as early as 2003. Another discussion of aerosolized vaccinations can be found in The New England Journal of Medicine. A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Aerosolized Vaccines Against Measles states that these vaccines were tested on children in India that were as young 9 months old. The World Health Organization has been researching aerosol vaccines for years now, as have “philanthropic” agencies which have clear aims to sterilize the population. It is also worth noting that the pharmaceutical industry has been absolved from any legal responsibility for medicating the masses since they were awarded legal protection from all lawsuits by Congress in 1986. This law was challenged, but upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011. Many powerful agencies are making sure that we “take our medicine.” In fact, many nations are participating in our unwitting, forced vaccination, and the dumping of any number of attenuated viruses, chemical concoctions and other ‘chemtrails’ on our heads with dogged frequency. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) considered giving a license application to PaxVax Australia (PaxVax) for the intentional release of a GMO vaccine consisting of live bacteria into the environment in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria. They planned to release cholera on their people. According to the regulator, this GMO vaccine qualified as a limited and controlled release under section 50A of the Gene Technology Act 2000. Of course, we can’t ignore the USA. Michael Greenwood wrote an article stating that: “The incidence of human West Nile virus cases can be significantly reduced through large–scale aerial spraying that targets adult mosquitoes, according to research by the Yale School of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health.” Buried among the tinfoil were a few actual facts: that 2003 study does exist, but it studied aerosolized vaccines — i.e. ones that are inhaled as opposed to injected — and had nothing to do with dropping chemicals from planes. Another unrelated piece of “proof” offered up by the author was the widespread and well-documented efforts to combat the spread of West Nile virus by spraying insecticide, initiatives that targeted mosquitos, not humans. The excerpt also referenced “GMO vaccines,” a term we were unable to even define (a 1998 paper speculated on the promise of “genetically engineered vaccines”). Also included was a video titled “NASA admits chemtrails,” published to YouTube on 13 July 2013 (and purportedly recorded three days earlier): The clip (which had no video component, only audio) was purported to be a recorded phone call between a woman identified only as “Sue” and NASA astrophysicist Douglas Rowland. “Sue” brought up a video she watched in which lithium was mentioned, and the exchange that followed illustrated how the caller and the NASA scientist were carrying on entirely separate conversations. Sue fixated on the use of the word “lithium” as Rowland tried to explain NASA’s study of the upper atmosphere, and why conditions there differed from those at lower altitudes: Sue: When the article came out in the major newspapers including The Huffington Post there was no mention of lithium, not one. Not one mention of lithium until I heard the recording of the actual … I … listened to the rockets go off. I had no idea there was going to be a lithium dispersed until I heard ‘Payload … lithium … dispersed.’” Rowland: Right, there was lithium dispersed and I’d be happy to talk about it. I think you may be under so misconceptions about what we’re doing, but I’m happy to tell you any details that you need. Sue: It says in your article that you’re doing it for communications. Rowland: There are many reasons we’re doing it because we don’t understand how the wind in the upper atmosphere moves. Chemtrails … there are different kinds of chemtrails. Different trails at night. We use different trails during the day. The wind blows them around. They glow either on their own or from scattered sunlight. We take pictures and we can see how the wind trail moves around. It’s just like if you were taking a picture of an airplane contrail. You could use that to see how the wind was blowing. This is much higher altitude so we use these chemical trails. Sue: What is the purpose of knowing what the wind’s going to do in the ionosphere? Rowland: The purpose is really to understand our planet. It’s very fundamental science. Every day we know there is electrical current that flow over the head that is naturally there. They have been there ever since the Earth had an atmosphere and electrical field. And the wind is driven by the sun. The sun heats the atmosphere, the wind blows and every day that wind drives an electric current and we’re trying to understand what causes that. Simply how does it work in detail, and also importantly when the sun becomes active with lots of sun spots and lots of magnetic activity that changes the wind pattern and changes the electric current. We want to understand both what it is on a regular day when there is no solar activity and then what it is when there is a lot of solar activity. Sue: Is there some other way you can do it without dispersing the lithium? Rowland: We’re researching other ways. The lithium is actually harmless to the environment and we can show you more about that but it is tricky to use because it’s very faint. You can’t see it with your naked eye. You have to have special cameras to see it so we don’t like to use it for that reason. It’s hard measurement to make. We’re researching other ways to put censors directly on the rocket to measure the wind and those are ongoing. We’re trying to develop them now and one of the purposes of this mission was to do that. Between incorrectly framed data about unrelated studies of mass vaccination or West Nile virus spraying and the video, AnonHQ concluded that “hopefully we’ve established that this IS happening,” when neither the article nor video had established any such thing. What actually transpired was folks (one of whom harassed a NASA scientist and encouraged others to do the same) misinterpreted publicized scientific research to fit a pre-existing conspiracy theory. In the conversation between Rowland and Sue (during which portions were clearly elided) the only admissions made were those about the detail of upper atmosphere study, already publicly disclosed on a regular basis by NASA and linked in this article. The use of lithium in such research was neither a secret nor cause for concern. NASA published an article in January 2013 explaining its purpose, one of many highlighting projects of the nature Rowland discussed: NASA successfully launched a Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital rocket at 5:50 p.m. EST this evening from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. During the flight, two red-colored lithium vapor trails were produced. Reports from those viewing the launch or vapor trails came from as far away as the Outer Banks, N.C.; eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Two different methods for creating the lithium vapor were tested to determine which configuration is best for observing various science phenomena in space. NASA has two missions later this year that will use lithium trails to assist scientists in observing events in space … In the technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket’s payload section contained solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded in a thermite cake. The thermite was ignited and produced heat to vaporize the lithium. The vapor was released in space to be detected and tracked optically. The lithium combustion process posed no threat to the public during the release in space. When heated, the lithium rods change to lithium vapor and small amounts of lithium oxide. The thermite reaction produces iron and aluminum oxide. NASA similarly reported the same sort of research in July 2011, in an openly-available article about the observation of lithium trails in the upper atmosphere: The rockets — known as sounding rockets from the nautical term “to sound,” meaning to measure — will launch sometime between July 5 and 23 depending on ionospheric and weather conditions. NASA’s sounding rocket program at Wallops dates back to the agency’s inception in 1958. Not only do sounding rockets offer a low cost way to access space, they also provide access to areas of the atmosphere too low for satellites. In this experiment, the scientists will fly two pair of rockets. One in each pair will measure data about the charged or “ionized” gas — called plasma — as well as the neutral gas, through which it travels. The other will shoot out a long trail of lithium gas to track the wind movement. The instrumented rockets are 40 feet long and 17 inches in diameter, carrying a payload of 600 lbs. The lithium rockets are 14 inches in diameter and are about six feet long. Beginning July 5, the team will set up each day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT, ready to launch as soon as there’s evidence of currents in the ionosphere as well as a crystal clear skies – necessary for successful observation of the lithium trail. With all the focus conspiracy sites placed on NASA, none appeared to discover the agency’s explanation of purpose for lithium in rocket launches (published in 1958 and available freely on the agency’s web site): Chemical propellants in common use deliver specific impulse values ranging from about 175 up to about 300 seconds. The most energetic chemical propellants are theoretically capable of specific impulses up to about 400 seconds. High values of specific impulse are obtained from high exhaust-gas temperature, and from exhaust gas having very low (molecular) weight. To be efficient, therefore, a propellant should have a large heat of combustion to yield high temperatures, and should produce combustion products containing simple, light molecules embodying such elements as hydrogen (the lightest), carbon, oxygen, fluorine, and the lighter metals (aluminum, beryllium, lithium) … Devices such as the nuclear rocket must use some chemical as a working fluid or propellant, although no energy is supplied to the rocket by any chemical reaction … Propellants that would be suitable for use in electric propulsion devices are the easily ionized metals. The one most generally considered is cesium; next best are rubidium, potassium, sodium, and lithium. On 21 April 2016, we spoke with both Rowland and NASA’s Keith Koehler. Koehler confirmed that the tracer rockets in question operated at far higher altitudes than commercial aircraft (chemtrail conspiracies focus on lower altitudes). Koehler explained why vapor tracers were necessary to measure atmospheric conditions: Vapor tracers used in NASA suborbital rocket missions allow scientist to see that which is not visible to the naked eye. They are used to measure atmospheric winds and/or ion drifts in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, typically between 50 and 248 miles altitude (Commercial aircraft fly around six miles altitude.). The vapor is released along a portion of the rocket trajectory. The small amount of vapor is then visible from the ground. By tracking their motions directly with cameras on the ground (or in an airplane), these tracers make it possible to observe the movements of the upper atmosphere or the ionosphere directly. The purpose of the measurements is to understand how the natural upper atmospheric winds and/or ion drifts behave, not to change them. The releases would therefore have little value if they were changing the behavior of the upper atmosphere or ionosphere. The tracers are released in a part of the atmosphere where meteors from space deposit 100 to 200 tons of metallic material every day across the globe compared to a one-pound tracer release, for example. The meteors contain the same types of metallic material used in the tracers.
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9722
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Cheers! For those managing diabetes, wine can help, study says
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A trial that randomized people with Type 2 diabetes to drink one glass of either wine or water daily found that there might be some benefits to drinking the wine, according to this story. How much? Some. How much is that? The story doesn’t pin it down. The story is devoid of quotes and specifics, giving readers a vague sense of benefits, while missing key limitations in the study or warnings about risks that the researchers clearly pointed out in their journal article. As our criteria emphasize, news stories about research results should be specific, giving readers hard numbers and relevant context with which to gauge the value of the thing being studied, in this case wine with dinner for people with Type 2 diabetes. Vague descriptions of “some” benefit are not enough, especially when those potential benefits appear to be quite modest.
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mixture
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red wine
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The story does not report the cost of wine or mineral water, but these drinks are so commonplace that it seems reasonable to assume that readers already know what they cost. So we’ll rate this Not Applicable, but we’d note that a typical bottle of wine is 750 ml, which is 5 servings of 150 ml (about 5 oz) that were ‘prescribed’ in the trial. Although the cost of a moderately priced bottle (say $10) every 5 days is not huge, this could be a burden for some people on a fixed income. A better choice for them might be more fresh vegetables. The story relies on vague descriptions of benefits. The only specific benefit mentioned is a 10 percent increase in HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and even in this instance readers are not given absolute numbers or any information about the importance of such a change. (This 2 mg/dL increase in HDL cholesterol among the red wine drinkers is very modest, and it is not clear that this is clinically important.) Otherwise, the story merely makes broad references to improved cardiac health, improved triglyceride levels, better sleep, fewer symptoms of metabolic syndrome and so on without quantifying the differences or explaining whether they were meaningful to the health of the individuals in the study. In their journal article, the researchers detailed how modest and sometimes murky the results were. The story presents the results in a far bolder and simpler manner, giving readers an exaggerated sense of the clarity and power of the observed effects. What we need to know (and don’t get from the story) is whether these people will have a decrease in the important health outcomes of heart attacks and strokes in the future as a result of the wine drinking. Although the researchers did not report adverse events in their journal article, they described at length how they excluded several categories of participants, including smokers, pregnant women, those with a family history of addiction, women with close relatives who had breast cancer, anyone under 40 and others, in order to minimize the potential risks of drinking alcohol. Other risks of alcohol include less common events such as falls, which may not be apparent in a smaller study over only 2 years. In addition, the public tends to generalize, and the take away from this story for some readers might be that red wine is good for everyone with diabetes. In fact, this study was only among well controlled type 2 diabetics who were either on oral agents or insulin no more than once daily. The researchers explicitly warned about the potential risks of recommending that people with diabetes drink wine. That concern about harming people who might be vulnerable to adverse effects of alcohol was left out of the story. This ruling is a close call. The story tells readers about some of the key strengths of this study, that it is the first long-term randomized controlled trial of alcohol of its type, that it compared white and red wine in order to look for possible effects of components other than alcohol, and that a genetic marker of alcohol metabolism was measured, which revealed differences in how people responded according to which gene marker they have. But the story fails to report important limitations of the study. It doesn’t tell readers that it involved fewer than 250 participants. The story reports the trial was conducted by researchers in Israel, Sweden, Germany and the United States, giving it an international feel, without telling readers that all the participants came from two centers in Israel. Lastly, the story should have pointed out that cholesterol (and other markers studied such as blood pressure and waist circumference) are markers or surrogates for more important outcomes that matter to patients. What we really need to know is risk of heart attack, stroke, and death down the line. The story is clear that this study is relevant to people who have Type 2 diabetes. There are no quotes or other indications that independent sources were consulted. An outside perspective, particularly from someone who could point out that the benefits were very modest clinically, would have been valuable. There is no discussion of how the effects seen in this study compare with other methods of improving cardiac health, managing cholesterol or sleeping better, including lifestyle or medications. Moderate exercise, for example, also raises HDL levels, lowers blood pressure, and reduces waist circumference. And yes, it also improves sleep and mood, and reduces fall risk. It is obvious that red and white wine are readily available to most readers. The story notes that this study is based on randomizing people to either drink wine or mineral water and then following them for two years, in contrast to most studies in this area, which are generally based on observational data or small, short-term trials. The lack of any direct quotes and the absence of any comments from independent sources make it difficult to determine whether or not this story relies largely on a news release. But since we didn’t see any obvious similarities between the story and two news releases that were issued about the findings (see here and here), we’ll give the benefit of the doubt on the rating.
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11342
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Cervical cancer vaccine sparks debate
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This story reports on the movement in some states to make the new HPV vaccine a requirement for all young women. This short piece does a good job of representing the cost, novelty and availability of the vaccine, but fails to mention any harms of the vaccine and does not describe the strength of the evidence to support its use. Furthermore, the story only quotes one expert, the father of a young girl being vaccinated who happens to be a physician. The story should have quoted additional experts or clinicians who could provide some additional perspective. Although the story does state that the vaccine could reduce HPV-related cervical cancer by 70%, this is not adequate quantification of the benefits. 70% of what? The reader should be informed whether HPV-related cancer accounts for a small or large amount of cancer cases. Finally, the story avoids disease mongering by not exaggerating the annual number of deaths from cervical cancer. However, the story could have provided more context for these numbers – for example, how common HPV is and how rare it is for HPV infection to lead to cervical cancer.
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mixture
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The story does mention the cost of the vaccine. The story should have compared this cost to the alternative – regular pap smears. This is important information given that women will still need regular pap smears even if they are vaccinated. Although the story does state that the vaccine could reduce HPV-related cervical cancer by 70%, this is not adequate quantification of the benefits. 70% of what? The reader should be informed whether HPV-related cancer accounts for a small or large amount of cancer cases. The story does not describe any potential harms of the vaccine. The story does not describe the strength of the available evidence to support the use of the vaccine. The story does not exaggerate the annual number of deaths from cervical cancer. The story could have provided more context for these numbers – for example, how common HPV is and how rare it is for HPV infection to lead to cervical cancer. The story only quotes one expert, the father of a young girl being vaccinated. The story should have quoted additional experts or clinicians who could provide some additional perspective. The story does not mention any alternatives, most notably, regular pap smears. The story states that the FDA only recently approved the vaccine. The story clearly states that the vaccine was only recently approved and that this represents a novel approach to preventing HPV infection. We can't be sure if the story relied on a press release as the sole source of information.
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6258
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A familiar name: Democrat Kennedy fights GOP on health care.
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A familiar name from Massachusetts, Rep. Joe Kennedy III, is carrying his family legacy into a new era, battling Republicans who want to undo Barack Obama’s health care law.
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true
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Joe Kennedy III, Health, Politics, AP Top News, Massachusetts, Barack Obama
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Kennedy, the 36-year-old grandson of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and great-nephew of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, has been a low-key presence in the House since he was first elected in his Boston-area district in 2012. But he emerged last week as a major Democratic voice against the Republican health care bill, delivering several speeches in a committee’s all-night session that have been viewed millions of times on the internet. While the technology may be new, his support for the Obama-era health care law and more services for the poor are familiar Kennedy territory. Sen. Ted Kennedy spent decades pushing for comprehensive health care before his death from brain cancer in August 2009. Now his great-nephew is fighting Republicans who are trying to unravel the 2010 law. They say the system is failing as premiums have risen and insurers have pulled out. Kennedy challenged House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who had called the GOP replacement bill an “act of mercy.” “With all due respect to our speaker, he and I must have read different scripture,” Kennedy said during the debate. “The one that I read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. It reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful, but how we care for the least among us.” He added: “This is not an act of mercy. It’s an act of malice.” His office posted the video on Facebook, and as of Monday, it had almost 10 million views and more than 225,000 shares. Kennedy acknowledged his family legacy but stressed that he can’t allow it to overwhelm his actions. “I obviously am very proud of what my family has accomplished and what they have done,” he said in an interview, but “if you try to do this job and carry that weight around, you’re never going to be able to do anything.” When talking about his grandfather’s speeches, he is emotional, putting his hand on his heart. “God, have you read some of his speeches?” he asks, and notes that a one-minute viral clip is an easier task. It’s clear that he’d rather be talking about the details of his opposition to the health bill. During the committee debate, he criticized the bill for its one-year freeze in Planned Parenthood funding, and the resulting decrease in health services for women, and the repeal of a requirement that state Medicaid plans must provide “essential health benefits,” including mental health care. A separate Facebook video of him talking about mental health care has more than 4 million views. That issue is important in his family — mainly to his cousin, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who left Congress in 2011 and has since been open about his own battles with substance abuse and mental health. Now an advocate for increased mental health services, Patrick Kennedy says his cousin “managed to capture a moment when all eyes were on health care, and focus it with laser precision.” He says Joe is the right person to carry on the family legacy. “Most members have to be around for a long time and pay their dues before they garner the kind of credibility he’ll have,” Patrick said of Joe. “The fact is, is he going to use that to good purpose? As he demonstrated this week, he is not only prepared but is using to good purpose that incredible family legacy he was given by birth.” One of Kennedy’s good friends in Congress is Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a 39-year-old Oklahoma Republican who entered Congress with Kennedy four years ago and says he disagrees with the Massachusetts Democrat on almost everything. Mullin says they joke a lot, but they rarely joke about health care. They both sit on the Energy and Commerce Committee, where they took opposite sides on the bill last week. “He doesn’t speak out very often. He’s not someone that is front and center,” Mullin said. “But health care is something that is very important to him.” The internet took notice, with retweets and Twitter shout-outs from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who tweeted: “Wow. This is a Kennedy who could be President. A must watch.” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi cited his “passion and his leadership.” New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee and a lawmaker who worked with both Ted Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy before Joe came to Congress, says his party needs more young people talking about the benefits of the health care law, since many don’t think it helps them. Joe Kennedy says millennials are engaged, apolitical, want the system to work and want solutions. “Trying to get to some of the solutions here is difficult,” Kennedy said. “But we need to find a way to get there.”
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35252
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"Dr. Anthony Fauci said there was ""nothing to worry about"" in late February 2020 in regards to COVID-19 and it was ""safe"" to do things like go to the movies and the gym."
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"What's true: During a Feb. 29, 2020, interview, Dr. Fauci said that at that time and under the circumstances pertaining to that date, Americans didn't need to change their behavior patterns. What's false: However, Fauci did not say there was ""nothing to worry about,"" and although he stated that Americans did not yet need to change their behaviors, he noted that what was then classified as the COVID-19 outbreak could require that to change."
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mixture
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Politics, COVID-19
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In early April 2020, the Trump administration was facing strong criticism for its response to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic. Against that backdrop, social media users shared posts critical of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leaders of the administration’s ongoing COVID-19 response. The posts accused Fauci of throwing U.S. President Donald Trump under the bus for a belated response to the growing public health crisis, while failing himself to adequately warn the American public of the looming disease threat. Social media posts by Trump’s supporters highlighted an April 12, 2020, interview on CNN in which host Jake Tapper asked Fauci, “Do you think lives could have been saved if social distancing, physical distancing, stay-at-home measures had started third week of February, instead of mid-March?” To that question, Fauci gave the answer that earned him the ire of Trump’s supporters: You know, Jake, again, it’s the what would have, what could have. It’s — it’s very difficult to go back and say that. I mean, obviously, you could logically say, that if you had a process that was ongoing, and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those kinds of decisions is — is complicated. But you’re right. I mean, obviously, if we had, right from the very beginning, shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then. In rebuttal to this perceived criticism of the Trump administration, social media users accused Fauci of himself minimizing the threat in a Feb. 29 television interview. One such tweet, bearing the hashtag #FireFauci was retweeted by Trump on April 12, 2020, raising speculation that the president was preparing to fire the doctor. Another tweet complained that Fauci had said it was “safe” to do things like go to the movies and the gym in early February and March but “dropped Trump in the grease on CNN,” or let the president take the blame. These criticisms ignore the context of Fauci’s Feb. 29 commentary and the rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 situation. On Feb. 29, Fauci gave an interview on the NBC morning talk show “Today,” during which he stated that at that moment in time, “the risk is still low, but this could change.” “I’ve said that many times even on this program,” Fauci stated in that interview. “You’ve got to watch out because although the risk is low now, you don’t need to change anything you’re doing. When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from spread.” The situation with COVID-19 in the United States was indeed drastically different on Feb. 29 than it was in mid-April. On Feb. 29, news reports indicated there were 70 known cases in the U.S., and officials were reporting the first known death from the novel coronavirus on American soil. That day also saw the first few reports of “community spread,” or transmission of the disease from an unknown source.
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10657
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One-a-day pill OK’d for Type 2 diabetes
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"This story reports on the FDA approval of a new drug, Januvia, for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Januvia is yet another option in a large sea of existing therapies for type -2 diabetes. Januvia may represent an improvement over other therapies in its convenience and a possible decreased risk of side effects. Januvia can be taken once a day orally, as opposed to injections or multiple daily oral doses for other drugs. However, because Januvia represents a new approach to treating diabetes, little is known about its long-term safety or efficacy and it is still unclear how it will fit in with existing approaches. This story does provide the reader with some context for the controversy around this drug, but could have gone further to inform the reader. The story does not quantify the benefits of treatment. The story does state that the effects of the drug were ""modest,"" but this is not adequate information on the benefits of treatment. Although the story indicates that further research is needed, it does not adequately describe the nature of the existing evidence. Furthermore, the story states that the drug will cost $4.86, but there is no indication of how this cost compares to existing therapies. Furthermore, it is likely that often the drug will need to be combined with other drugs, adding to the costs. By accurately describing the prevalence and seriousness of diabetes, the story does not engage in disease mongering. The story does mention alternative treatments, such as diet and exercise, metformin, and insulin, however the story could have done more to explain how this new drug will fit in with existing therapies. Furthermore, the story should have compared the side effects of the new drug to some of the newer drugs on the market, such as Byetta, and not to some of the older drugs."
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true
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"The story states that the drug will cost $4.86, but there is no indication of how this cost compares to existing therapies. Furthermore, it is likely that often the drug will need to be combined with another drug, adding to the costs. Also the article cites what is likely to be the average wholesale price and not the price to the consumer. The story does not quantify the benefits of treatment. The story does state that the effects of the drug were ""modest,"" but this is not adequate information on the benefits of treatment. The story mentions the side effects of the drug. The story also comments on the uncertainty around the long-term safety of the drug. Although the story indicates that further research is needed, it does not adequately describe the nature of the existing evidence. By accurately describing the prevalence and seriousness of diabetes, the story does not engage in disease mongering. The story quotes multiple sources. The story aso points out that an expert was paid by the drug company. The story does mention alternative treatments, such as diet and exercise, metformin, and insulin, however the story could have done more to explain how this new drug will fit in with existing therapies. Furthermore, the story should have compared the side effects of the new drug to some of the newer drugs on the market, such as Byetta, and not to some of the older drugs. The story clearly states that the drug was recently approved and will soon be on the market. The story clearly states that this drug is the first in its class, representing a novel approach to the treatment of diabetes, however there are several others that are in the pipeline that will likely be available by the end of the year. Because the story quotes multiple independent sources, the reader can assume the story does not rely on a press release as the sole source of information."
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35386
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A squirrel in a rural Colorado town tested positive for bubonic plague in July 2020.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that recent decades have seen an average of around seven human plague cases in the U.S. each year that typically occur in rural areas, most commonly in the southwestern states. Globally, between 1,000 and 2,000 people will be diagnosed with plague each year, yet health experts argue that there is still little cause for concern. Snopes contacted the CDC for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.
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true
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Critter Country, bubonic plague
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In July 2020, media outlets reported that a squirrel in Colorado tested positive for bubonic plague, making it the first case of plague in Jefferson County. This claim is true, though experts caution that the incident is not cause for immediate concern. “On Saturday, July 11, 2020, a squirrel found in the Town of Morrison tested positive for bubonic plague. The squirrel is the first case of plague in the county,” wrote the Jefferson County Public Health Department in a press release. It is not immediately clear what prompted the investigation into the dead squirrel and no further incidents of other animal or human infection were reported at the time of publication. NOTICE: On Saturday, July 11, a squirrel found in the Town of Morrison tested positive for bubonic plague. The squirrel is the first case of plague in the county. Read more: https://t.co/Ernd8QYrgA — Jefferson County Public Health (@JeffcoPH) July 12, 2020
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12608
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"In America, ""more people die from"" prescription narcotic painkillers ""than from heroin and cocaine combined."
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Which is deadlier: prescription painkillers, heroin or cocaine?
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mixture
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Criminal Justice, Drugs, Crime, Wisconsin, Brad Schimel,
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"The explosion of deaths from heroin and other opioid drugs promises to be an issue in the 2018 elections, in Wisconsin and across the nation. As Wisconsin’s top cop, Attorney General Brad Schimel has promised aggressive efforts to continue to push back against the tide. In a March 12, 2017, interview on WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Schimel, who is seeking re-election, said the overdose spike ""did get ahead of us."" His explanation: prescription painkiller abuse has soared, leading in turn to greater use of heroin from Mexico, Central America and South America. Another factor: the rise of fentanyl, an often illegally produced and sold painkiller of super high potency. ""In America,"" Schimel added, ""more people die from the painkillers than from heroin and cocaine combined."" Is he right? Digging into the numbers To back Schimel’s claim, his office provided a 2011 news release from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that quoted 2008 figures on prescription painkiller use, abuse and related deaths. ""Overdoses involving prescription painkillers are at epidemic levels and now kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined,"" the release quoted CDC Director Thomas Frieden as saying. On the surface, it’s compelling -- if very dated -- evidence for Schimel’s claim. But a deeper dive, and a look at more recent trends, tells a somewhat different story. In 2008, heroin deaths were just starting to take off, and illegally made and distributed knockoffs of prescription fentanyl were not yet a huge story. At that time, the number of deaths involving prescription painkillers greatly exceeded those involving heroin and cocaine. But when Schimel spoke, much more recent figures were available. In 2015, the CDC estimated that heroin and cocaine deaths were more than double the 2008 total, largely due to spiking heroin use. By contrast, prescription opioid-involved deaths had risen but not as fast. Let’s do the 2015 math on Schimel’s equation: there were 12,998 heroin-related deaths and 6,784 deaths involving cocaine, per the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Total: 19,782. Meanwhile, a spokesman at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics offered this total for prescription painkiller deaths: 17,536. So by the agency’s own math, based on its widely publicized number, Schimel’s claim doesn’t hold up. But -- stay with us -- that doesn’t leave the attorney general without a leg to stand on. Other creditable health-care organizations and federal agencies say there were 22,598 deaths involving one or more prescription opioid painkillers -- a figure that would make Schimel’s claim accurate. And those organizations are citing numbers published by the CDC. How can that be? Changing definitions The confusion is over an adjustment the CDC made regarding fentanyl, the synthetic painkiller that is sold both as a prescription medicine and as an illegally produced street drug used to intensify the high of other drugs such as heroin. In 2016, the CDC decided to narrow what it considers ""prescription"" opioids because law enforcement reports suggested many of the deaths involving fentanyl were from the non-prescription street version of the drug. So the agency removed some or all synthetic opioids from the ""prescription"" death tally, saying it’s a better way to portray what’s really happening. It’s not a perfect fix -- it excludes deaths associated with prescription fentanyl, for example. That brings the number down from 22,598 to 17,536 or even lower -- and is the difference between Schimel’s claim being on or off target. Clearly the CDC prefers the lower number and emphasizes it in its public presentation, but the higher figure, or both, are cited by others. The rating Schimel said that in America, ""more people die from"" prescription narcotic painkillers ""than from heroin and cocaine combined."" His claim would go unchallenged if this were 2008, the year upon which his claim is based. But changing drug trends and a 2016 alteration in how federal officials tally deaths creates problems for his math. Still, there’s a case to be made for his number based on a long-used but recently de-emphasized way of calculating deaths from prescription drugs."
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4854
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Alabama infant mortality rate hits record low .
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Alabama’s infant mortality rate has reached a record low, but racial disparities have persisted, state health officials announced Wednesday.
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true
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Kay Ivey, Infant mortality rate, Health, General News, Health statistics, Alabama
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The Alabama Department of Public Health announced the 2018 infant mortality rate was the lowest in Alabama history with 7.0 deaths per 1,000 live births It is an improvement over the 2017 rate of 7.4 and the 2016 rate of 9.1. “I am committed to improving the health of mothers and babies, and I am glad to see the infant mortality rates in 2017 and 2018 have improved from the rates earlier in this decade,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. However, Alabama’s mortality rate remains higher than the provisional U.S. rate of 5.7. “The continuing decline in Alabama’s infant mortality is a start to closing the historically large gap between the state and national rates,” Alabama Center for Health Statistics Director Nicole Rushing said. A total of 405 infants born in 2018 in Alabama died before reaching their first birthday. There also remains a racial disparity in infant mortality rates. The infant mortality rate for black infants in Alabama was 11.0 in 2018, more than twice the infant mortality rate for white infants at 5.1. State Health Officer Scott Harris said the the reduction in infant mortality is encouraging, but the state must continue to address Alabama’s racial disparities in birth outcomes, increase access to prenatal care and getting treatment for women for drug use disorders. Jim Carnes is the policy director for Alabama Arise, which advocates for low-income families. He said the state also needs to examine barriers to health care. “Of course we celebrate the improvements in Alabama’s rate, but there are some disturbing trends,” Carnes said, noting the persistent racial disparity and the number of births without prenatal care. While low-income women gain Medicaid coverage during pregnancy, they often don’t have care before or between pregnancies that could address chronic conditions or problems before they are pregnant, Carnes said. “That is something we could impact in a huge way with Medicaid expansion,” Carnes said. The Health Department said the leading causes of infant deaths in 2018 were congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities; disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight; sudden infant death syndrome and bacterial sepsis of newborns. These causes accounted for 50% of Alabama infant deaths.
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8315
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Northern Ireland authorities give green light to abortion services.
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Northern Ireland authorities on Thursday gave the green light for the rollout of abortion services, activists and leading doctors said, although it was unclear when the first procedures would take place.
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true
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Health News
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While abortion was decriminalised last year, the British region’s health ministry missed an April 1 deadline to begin providing wider access to terminations, blaming the pressure the coronavirus has placed on services. That left the British government’s Northern Ireland Office advising women to travel to England for an abortion even though the pandemic has closed air traffic, leaving women facing an 8-hour ferry journey from Belfast to Liverpool. In a statement on Thursday, the health ministry said medical professionals “may now terminate pregnancies lawfully on health and social care premises,” but the ministry did not provide details on where and how women could access abortion services. Former director of the Royal College of Midwives in Northern Ireland Breedagh Hughes told Reuters that her understanding was that teams of medics were ready to run the services from Friday, but women would need to contact local health organisations or support groups for details. The Northern Ireland committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists welcomed the move. “We are aware of women seeking an abortion in very difficult circumstances, including those with an underlying medical condition who cannot travel and others in extremely vulnerable situations,” committee chair Carolyn Bailie said in a statement. “We welcome the advice that those women can now be cared for within Northern Ireland.” The Alliance For Choice advocacy group said the new advice was a huge development but noted that women unable to leave their homes due to the coronavirus restrictions would struggle to access services as regulations state a first course of abortion pills must be taken in a clinic. The delay in rolling out services prompted Britain’s leading provider of abortions to step in earlier on Thursday and say it will offer abortion pills to women in Northern Ireland by post. Some local charities have been trying to source abortion pills and offering telephone consultations with doctors abroad. But the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which books abortions for Northern Irish women in England, has far more resources to offer the service. BPAS said it had been informed about two women attempting suicide because they could not access abortion care in Northern Ireland. Doctors can prescribe pills via telephone in the rest of the United Kingdom, a measure introduced in response to coronavirus lockdown. Socially conservative Christian members of the Belfast regional assembly voted down a similar proposal on Monday. The British parliament bypassed a years-long veto from those politicians in Belfast last July to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, where abortion has been legal for decades. Some lawmakers remained sceptical about Thursday’s changes and demanded clear information on how women access services. “Today’s announcement further muddies the waters,” Green Party leader and long-time abortion rights advocate Clare Bailey told Reuters. “There is a maze for women to get through. The executive have acknowledged the legal change but have not implemented services properly. The fight for abortion rights in Northern Ireland has not ended.”
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28646
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Congress passed a law that makes it legal for mentally impaired persons to purchase guns.
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What's true: Congress passed a law repealing a measure that was originally intended to make it easier to prohibit the sale of firearms to people deemed “mentally defective” by requiring the Social Security Administration to provide disability benefit information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. What's false: The repeal does not change any actual firearm regulations; there have been (and still are) laws on the books that prohibit the sale of guns to some groups of people based on mental illness.
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mixture
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Politics Guns, barack obama, donald trump
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On 15 February 2017, the United States Senate backed a joint resolution already passed by the House of Representatives that aimed to block an Obama administration rule that sought to limit the sale of guns to some groups of mentally disabled individuals: Congress on Wednesday sent President Donald Trump legislation blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people. On a vote of 57-43, the Senate backed the resolution, just one of several early steps by the Republican-led Congress to undo regulations implemented by former President Barack Obama. The House had passed the measure earlier this year. The White House has signaled Trump will sign the legislation. This rule, finalized on 19 December 2016 in the final days of the Obama presidency, used the implementation of the National Instant Criminal Background Check Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 to require the Social Security Administration to report to the Attorney General individuals receiving certain kinds of Social Security mental health disability benefits so that this information could be used in firearm background checks: These final rules implement provisions of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (NIAA) that require Federal agencies to provide relevant records to the Attorney General for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Under these final rules, we will identify, on a prospective basis, individuals who receive Disability Insurance benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (Act) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments under title XVI of the Act and who also meet certain other criteria, including an award of benefits based on a finding that the individual’s mental impairment meets or medically equals the requirements of section 12.00 of the Listing of Impairments (Listings) and receipt of benefits through a representative payee. We will provide pertinent information about these individuals to the Attorney General on not less than a quarterly basis. As required by the NIAA, at the commencement of the adjudication process we will also notify individuals, both orally and in writing, of their possible Federal prohibition on possessing or receiving firearms, the consequences of such prohibition, the criminal penalties for violating the Gun Control Act, and the availability of relief from the prohibition on the receipt or possession of firearms imposed by Federal law. Technically speaking, however, it was (and remains to this day) already illegal to sell guns to anyone “who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution” per Title 18 section 922(g) of the United States Code. Adjudicated as mental defective”, the Obama administration argued, is further clarified in an Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms regulation (Title 27 U.S.C. section 478.11) to be: (a) A determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease: (1) Is a danger to himself or to others; or (2) Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs. (b) The term shall include— (1) A finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case; and (2) Those persons found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 850a, 876b. Under the Obama rule, information from the Social Security Administration regarding mental disability benefits would be added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check database for use in firearm background checks. The Obama rule, a response to the 2012 Sandy Hook Massacre, had been praised by gun control advocates, but opposed by gun rights groups, disability advocacy groups, and civil liberty groups. This repeal used an obscure rule called Congressional Review Act, which can invalidate certain regulations passed by a previous administration when a simple majority of both chambers and a president’s signature — a rule invoked many times early in Trump’s presidency to remove regulations passed by Obama. Enforcement of this Obama regulation would not have begun until 19 December 2017.
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509
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Decorated with butterflies, infant-sized coffins sent to measles-ravaged Samoa.
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Volunteers in the New Zealand city of Rotorua are preparing two dozen white-lined coffins to be transported to Samoa at the end of the week as the measles-ravaged Pacific island nation languishes under a growing death toll that has now hit 70.
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true
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Health News
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The smallest of the coffins, designed for the bodies of babies, are decorated with felt butterflies, daisies, stars and hearts. Volunteers have placed a teddy bear in each of the infant-sized caskets. “It’s not easy. No-one is prepared to lose that many children,” said Tagaloa Tusani, a New Zealand-based volunteer who is organizing the coffin transport. “No funeral home is prepared for that.” The highly infectious disease has attacked Samoa’s most vulnerable, with 61 out of the 70 casualties aged four and under, the government said on Monday. After causing devastation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Ukraine, among others, measles cases started appearing en masse earlier this year in the New Zealand city of Auckland, a hub for travel to and from small Pacific islands. The virus then took hold in Samoa which had the lowest vaccination rates in the region. There are now almost 4,700 reported cases of measles in Samoa’s island population of only 200,000. The World Health Organization (WHO) last week described the global epidemic as “an outrage” given most deaths have been in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated. “The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world’s most vulnerable children,” said the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus. Supported by foreign governments and international aid agencies, Samoa has been conducting a vaccination drive that the government said has now covered nearly 90% of eligible people. There are currently 16 critically ill children in intensive care in Samoa, and two pregnant women are also in hospital. International groups have been sending medical supplies to Samoa, and providing doctors and nurses, to help combat the disease. The volunteers in Rotorua, located south-east of Auckland, usually make coffins for New Zealand families who can’t afford them. Volunteer coffin-maker Ron Wattam said he never imagined they’d be catering for an epidemic of this magnitude. “The caskets are white, and white-lined inside, all made up to very suitable undertaker standards,” said Wattam. “It’s the least we can do.”
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13139
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"Margaret Sanger ""wanted a black Christian leader to be like a Judas goat and lead the blacks to genocide. Remember that? And they picked Martin Luther King as their spokesman."
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"Robertson said that Sanger ""wanted a black Christian leader to be like a Judas goat and lead the blacks to genocide. Remember that? And they picked Martin Luther King as their spokesman."" His statement twists a sentence Sanger wrote in a 1939 letter - discussing the need to seek the support of black ministers in a program to promote birth control in the South - into a murderous conspiracy. His claim that King became the spokesman for the effort is just as preposterous and rests on a 1966 award the civil rights leader received from Planned Parenthood for his support of family planning."
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false
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Abortion, History, Public Health, Women, Virginia, Pat Robertson,
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"Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson recently said that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. partnered in a conspiracy to promote black genocide. ""Margaret Sanger was the head,"" Robertson said. ""She wanted a black Christian leader to be like a Judas goat and lead the blacks to genocide. Remember that? And they picked Martin Luther King as their spokesman."" Robertson made the statement on the Nov. 8 broadcast of ""The 700 Club,"" his long-running television show that airs from Virginia Beach. It came during his interview of Wellington Boone, a black Christian minister and author from Duluth, Ga., who shares many of Robertson’s socially conservative views. Both men are unrelenting critics of Planned Parenthood, a woman’s health care organization that is the largest single abortion provider in the U.S. Boone, during his interview with Robertson, accused Planned Parenthood of being in cahoots with ""the left"" in a plan to slow black birthrates. That’s when Robertson weighed in with his comment on Sanger and King. Let’s unpack it. Sanger In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League to distribute contraceptives and promote their use. The organization changed its name to Planned Parenthood in 1942. Robertson and Boone are hardly first to accuse Sanger of espousing black genocide. The charge initially was made by some African-Americans in the early 1930s who distrusted the efforts by Sanger, who was white, to set up a birth control clinic in their Harlem neighborhood, according to Jean Baker, a Goucher College professor and author of the biography ""Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion."" Baker, in an email, told us Sanger’s motives at the time were misunderstood and that Sanger was ""far ahead of her time in opposing segregation"" and ""saw birth control as a solution to black poverty."" Baker added, ""... to not offer clinics to blacks would have been a racist action by a woman who promoted contraception for every woman."" But Robertson and many other foes of Planned Parenthood say there’s smoking-gun proof that Sanger had racist intent. They point to a Dec. 10, 1939, letter she wrote to a benefactor discussing her plans to begin The Negro Project - an effort to offer birth control and other social services to Southern blacks. ""We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members,"" Sanger wrote. Baker told us it’s a ""far stretch"" to interpret those words as evidence of a conspiracy to eliminate blacks. She said that Sanger, sensitive to the criticism she had received in Harlem, concluded that if she was to ease suspicions about her goals in the South - during a time of lynchings and segregation - it was essential to teach black ministers and physicians about birth control and convince them to encourage it. It should be noted that Sanger enlisted two prominent black civil rights leaders to serve on the advisory board of The Negro Project: W.E.B. DuBois and Mary Bethune. It’s hard to imagine either would have joined an effort to exterminate blacks. That brings us to another civil rights leader. King Robertson, you’ll remember, also said that King was the black minister who was chosen to be ""spokesman"" for Sanger’s efforts. Chris Roslin, a spokesman for Robertson, says the claim is based on a 1966 event. Planned Parenthood that year gave King its Margaret Sanger Award in honor of his support of family planning. King could not attend the event, but his wife, Coretta, showed up to accept the award and read his speech. In it, King wrote: ""There is a striking kinship between our movement and Margaret Sanger's early efforts. She, like we, saw the horrifying conditions of ghetto life. Like we, she knew that all of society is poisoned by cancerous slums. Like we, she was a direct actionist – a nonviolent resister."" In other words, King did not regard Sanger as a racist. Sanger, who was suffering from congestive heart failure, did not attend the event. She died four months later. It should be noted that Planned Parenthood started providing abortions in 1970, four years after Sanger’s death, according to Katherine Lozada, a spokeswoman for the organization. They were offered by the chapter in Syracuse, N.Y., after the repeal of a state law that criminalized abortion. Planned Parenthood’s role as an abortion provider took off after the U.S. Supreme Court, in its 1973 Roe v Wade decision, ruled that women have a right to abortions. Sanger, in a 1932 article for The Nation, wrote, ""Although abortion may be resorted to in order to save the life of the mother, the practice of it merely for the limitation of offspring is dangerous and vicious."" Baker told us that ""in time, she became upset by the rise in incidence of illegal abortion and pushed the idea of staff physicians administering pregnancy tests and referring pregnant women to hospitals for ‘therapeutic’ abortions. ""Sanger's ideas were changing, but she was always sensitive to the idea because she believed that birth control could effectively prevent conception, and abortion would be unnecessary,"" Baker said. Our ruling Robertson said that Sanger ""wanted a black Christian leader to be like a Judas goat and lead the blacks to genocide. Remember that? And they picked Martin Luther King as their spokesman."" His statement twists a sentence Sanger wrote in a 1939 letter - discussing the need to seek the support of black ministers in a program to promote birth control in the South - into a murderous conspiracy. His claim that King became the spokesman for the effort is just as preposterous and rests on a 1966 award the civil rights leader received from Planned Parenthood for his support of family planning.
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5864
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Wife’s cancer diagnosis hits home for Packers’ Crosby.
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Mason Crosby won his competition to remain the Green Bay Packers’ kicker.
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true
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Mason Crosby, Green Bay, Health, Tumors, NFL, Sam Ficken, Green Bay Packers
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His wife beat a more formidable challenger. Molly Crosby, a 32-year-old mother of five, had been dealing with bouts of coughing and congestion all summer. Some preliminary exams in Green Bay showed a spot on her right lung. That led the Crosbys to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for additional tests. A carcinoid endocrine tumor was found. The tumor isn’t as dangerous as other forms of cancer but was disconcerting for an otherwise healthy, nonsmoker. “We found out the day before we reported to camp,” Crosby said on Wednesday. “We were at Mayo the two or three days leading up to training camp, when they did all their scans and got the final prognosis.” Crosby flew back to Green Bay for the start of training camp. After a subpar 2018 season, Crosby had to beat out Sam Ficken. Crosby managed to keep his focus and retained the job for a 13th season. “I’ve trained a long time in compartmentalizing different situations,” Crosby said. “Whenever I was home, I was fully home. The organization was unbelievable through training camp, just giving me time to be with Molly and be with the family and help where I could throughout the day and evening. I just tried to be fully in on both things. I have felt a lot of freedom in this. “I love doing what I’m doing but the importance of taking care of family and being there for Molly and the kids, when I look back on it, it was a special camp. I was able to really fully immerse in both things. It was nerve-wracking, too. Day in and day out, it was coming in, having to work and compete at a high level, and then going home and flowing back into a normal routine. Then, we’d sit down at night and you’d remember that surgery was coming and Molly had cancer. Those things were heavy.” That surgery was at the end of the preseason, with part of Molly’s right lung removed. While she will go back to Mayo for a scan in mid-October, Crosby said the doctors are positive they got rid of the tumor and she will not require radiation or chemotherapy. Since 2009, the NFL has held its annual “Crucial Catch” campaign to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It was a campaign that had already hit home for Crosby. A grandmother died of breast cancer and a sister-in-law is in her third year battling ovarian cancer. Now with his wife’s diagnosis, the fight against cancer has grown more meaningful. “That’s what it’s about is early detection,” he said. “It’s getting routine checkups. Don’t take it for granted. The numbers, with our technology, are amazing with prevention but treating it if you catch it early enough. That’s one of the big things is pushing that. Let’s try to get earlier detection so we can fight this thing. “With Molly’s cancer, it’s always been really important to me but I’m going to continue to push the charge forward and make sure that everybody gets the care. We feel so fortunate with the care that we got. Hopefully, everybody gets the same care and the same prognosis that we got.” The Packers (3-1) will play at the Dallas Cowboys (3-1) on Sunday. Some of Crosby’s finest professional moments have happened at AT&T Stadium. In the 2010 season, the Packers won the Super Bowl in Arlington. A playoff game in the 2016 season against the Cowboys marked the highlight of his career. His 56-yard field goal with 1:33 to play gave the Packers a 31-28 lead. Dallas tied the score, but Crosby booted a 51-yarder on the final play for a 34-31 victory. “The two minutes in that game were the most exciting two minutes I think I’ve ever had in a game,” he said. “To be able to execute it twice in that situation was awesome.” ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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38176
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Sargento Cheese recalled seven types of cheese in August or September 2017 for listeria contamination; consumers have been warned that eating recalled Sargento Cheese products “could kill your family.”
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Sargento Cheese Recalls 7 Types of Cheese in August or September 2017
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false
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Food / Drink
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Sargento Cheese didn’t recall any products due to listeria contamination in August or September of 2017. Those false warnings were based on an outdated recall from February 2017. The false cheese recall warning started with an article that appeared at HealthyFoodTeam.com in early September 2017. The article, which appeared under the headline, “Breaking: America’s Most Popular Cheese Recalled … Immediately Throw it Away, This Can Kill Your Family,” begins: It’s time to check your fridges. Sargento Foods Inc. has just issued a massive recall of seven cheeses due to a potential contamination from listeria monocytogenes. The company confirms no illnesses have been reported yet. Listeriosis is a serious infection contracted by eating food contaminated with bacteria. An estimated 1,600 people get infected each year—and about 260 die. The bacteria is most harmful to pregnant women, newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems. The FDA’s website lists all recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts in a helpful database on its website. It’s a good idea to check warnings about food recalls there, especially those you hear about via Facebook. In this case, there were no Sargento Cheese recalls in August or September 2017. Digging a little deeper, however, Sargento Cheese did issue a product recall in February 2017 over listeria contamination. It appears that the false recall warning in September 2017 was based on the outdated recall alert from February because they list the same seven cheeses being recalled. After reports of the Sargento recall continued to spread in September 2017, Sargento clarified in a statement that no product recalls had been issued at the time: Comments
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20100
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On allowing Shelby County's schools merger commission to finish work before allowing any new merger legislation.
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Gov. Haslam, schools merger and new legislation
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false
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Tennessee, Education, Bill Haslam,
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"Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on whether to allow new schools merger legislation before the completion of work by Shelby County’s Transition Planning Commission. Jan. 12: ""My sense is there is a real good-faith effort being made now to come up with the right plan, and I would like to see that play out before anything else happened legislatively."" April 2: ""I would just love to see that commission reach the end of their work, come out with a proposal and then let the municipals make a decision. I’ve felt that all along."" May 8: ""I’ve made my thoughts clear: I really did want to see the commission have a chance to get their plan out and implemented."" May 9: Haslam signs into law the new state legislation paving the way for Shelby County suburban cities to hold Aug. 2 referendums to create new municipal school districts. As Shelby County awaited Gov. Bill Haslam’s decision on what to do when new schools legislation reached his desk, the Memphis-dominated Shelby County Board of Commissioners was already considering how it might respond legally after the bill, allowing Aug. 2 referendums on creating new municipal districts, became law. This despite the fact that Haslam had made statements all year saying he wanted the countywide schools merger Transition Planning Commission (TPC) to complete its work before any new legislation affecting the merger was enacted. Why the concern over creating a legal strategy to challenge the municipal districts when the governor, who had said he did not want new legislation, had the power to kill the bill with a veto? After all, the legislature had adjourned and speakers of the state House and Senate had said they would not be reconvening, not even to override a veto. But Commissioner Walter Bailey, one of the longest serving public office-holders in the state, said members of that body held little hope that Haslam would provide the veto that in essence would prevent the municipalities from creating new municipal districts before the TPC had completed its work. ""He indicates his feelings on one hand but I don’t think his actions have been consistent,"" Bailey said. On May 9, Haslam signed the bill. We decided to look at whether, in so doing, the governor had effectively changed his position on whether to endorse new schools legislation before the schools merger commission had completed its work. This is our first use of the Flip-O-Meter in Tennessee, and it's important to stress this from the Flip-O-Meter description: ""We are not making a value judgement about flip-flopping. Some people say it shows inconsistent principles and lack of backbone. Others say it's just pragmatism and a willingness to compromise."" Some background is required to understand why this is such a crucial issue for Shelby Countians. Last August, U.S. Dist. Court Judge Samuel ""Hardy"" Mays ruled that Memphis had followed proper legal procedures in surrendering the charter of its special school district. That ""surrender,"" in essence, forced consolidation of Memphis City Schools (MCS) with the suburban Shelby County Schools (SCS) system. The judge’s ruling also upheld a new state law, called Public Chapter 1, that set up a transition process culminating in the final transfer MCS to the county system in time for the 2013-14 school year. Chapter 1 also included a clause saying that, upon the completion of merger in the summer of 2013, the statewide ban on municipal or special school districts could be lifted in Shelby County. It took only a few months for the suburban municipalities to put plans in motion to create municipal school districts, with the goal of opening in time for the 2013-14 school year and thus opting out of the merged system. But Haslam, who made one of the 18 appointments to the 21-member schools merger Transition Planning Commission (TPC), told The Commercial Appeal editorial board in January he wanted the TPC to finish its work before enacting any new legislation that would impact the process. ""My sense is there is a real good-faith effort being made now to come up with the right plan, and I would like to see that play out before anything else happened legislatively,"" Haslam said. The suburban push for rapid formation of municipal schools, however, came to a halt in early spring when Tennessee Atty. General Bob Cooper advised that no action could be taken to form municipal districts ""until from and after the beginning of the 2013-14 school year."" But Senate majority leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, who had authored the suburban-friendly Public Chapter 1 in 2011, had already begun pushing for new legislation that would explicitly allow the suburbs to legally move forward. As Norris moved that new legislation, Haslam on April 2 reiterated his preference for letting the TPC finish its work: ""I would just love to see that commission reach the end of their work, come out with a proposal and then let the municipals make a decision. I’ve felt that all along."" TPC chairwoman Barbara Prescott, at an April meeting, said that new legislation enabling municipalities to immediately opt out of the merged system qualified as interference with the process. ""I believe we should be able to finish this work under the same legislation that we started,"" Prescott said. Norris, however, insisted the new legislation was aimed not at interfering with the process but would instead make the merger process less complicated, by allowing everyone to know on the front end whether the municipalities would or would not be part of the new district. Norris, in the final days of the legislative session, oversaw passage of a bill that, when it became law, would provide for municipal school referendums to be held on Aug. 2. That would allow municipal school board elections in November and lead to a tight but feasible process for starting up in time for the 2013-14 school year. With the legislature adjourned and the new legislation headed his way, Haslam told reporters it was unlikely he would kill the bill with a veto but again stated his position: ""I’ve made my thoughts clear: I really did want to see the commission have a chance to get their plan out and implemented."" The past tense indicated where Haslam was headed. In justifying signing the bill or allowing it to become law, Haslam suggested the TPC would be done with its work by June, just ahead of the the July 13 beginning of early voting in the Aug. 2 referendums: ""I think their report will be out in June and hopefully the recommendation and the vote won’t be until August so there will be some window to do that. Sometimes that’s just the way the timing works. In a perfect world I’d love for there to be a little bit more time to consider that."" On May 9, without public comment, Haslam signed the bill into law. So a key question here -- maybe the key question -- involves just when the TPC’s ""work"" will be completed. This document from the TPC lays out the timeline, with different deadlines for various committees and target dates for the TPC to pull everything together. One key date does indeed come in June, as Haslam indicated. By June 14 or June 21, the TPC timeline calls for it to ""finalize draft plan."" However, the documents show that is not the end of the process, and it assumes the ""draft"" plan will undergo significant change. Many more meetings and decisions follow, with a busy four-week ""comment period"" running from June 25 to July 20. During that comment period, the TPC would engage the public, the unified county school board and the state Department of Education for suggestions about major or minor adjustments and, on July 17, the TPC will hold a session ""to review and approve revisions for incorporation into plan."" Another three-week comment session will follow, again including several TPC meetings, again providing for feedback from the school board and the state. On Aug. 9, the TPC would meet, make ""live edits to finalize plan"" and then, finally, vote on ""final approval of plan."" At that point, the plan would be submitted to the school board ""for up or down approval"" and to the state ""for endorsement by mid August."" So there will be a ""draft plan"" by mid-June, as Haslam suggested, but the TPC’s work will be far from complete. Indeed, early voting will begin four days ahead of the TPC even giving final approval to the ""draft plan."" A final official plan will not get a vote by the full TPC until Aug. 9 -- at which point suburban municipalities will have already voted to on whether to create their own districts. And even then, the school board and state must give their approvals before it becomes final. It is understandable why Haslam, a Republican governor, would feel compelled to sign legislation strongly favored by Republican-dominated suburbs in Shelby County. It may even, as Norris contends, ultimately be the best thing for the county and the state. But, by not exercising the veto power that would have killed the bill, the governor acted contrary to his earlier statements that no new schools legislation should be enacted before the schools merger team had completed its work. On the Flip-O-Meter, Haslam earns a ."
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4449
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A healthy lifestyle may offset genetic risk for Alzheimer’s.
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A healthy lifestyle can cut your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia even if you have genes that raise your risk for these mind-destroying diseases, a large study has found.
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true
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Los Angeles, Genetics, Health, General News, AP Top News, Dementia
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People with high genetic risk and poor health habits were about three times more likely to develop dementia versus those with low genetic risk and good habits, researchers reported Sunday. Regardless of how much genetic risk someone had, a good diet, adequate exercise, limiting alcohol and not smoking made dementia less likely. “I consider that good news,” said John Haaga of the U.S. National Institute on Aging, one of the study’s many sponsors. “No one can guarantee you’ll escape this awful disease” but you can tip the odds in your favor with clean living, he said. Results were discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles and published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association. About 50 million people have dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type. Genes and lifestyle contribute to many diseases, but researchers only recently have had the tools and information to do large studies to see how much each factor matters. One such study a few years ago found that healthy living could help overcome genetic risk for heart disease. Now researchers have shown the same to be true for dementia. Dr. Elzbieta Kuzma and colleagues at the University of Exeter Medical School in England used the UK Biobank to study nearly 200,000 people 60 or older with no signs or symptoms of dementia at the start. Their genetic risk was classified as high, medium or low based on dozens of mutations known to affect dementia. They also were grouped by lifestyle factors. After about eight years of study, 1.8% of those with high genetic risk and poor lifestyles had developed dementia versus 0.6% of folks with low genetic risk and healthy habits. Among those with the highest genetic risk, just over 1% of those with favorable lifestyles developed dementia compared to nearly 2% of those with poor lifestyles. One limitation: Researchers only had information on mutations affecting people of European ancestry, so it’s not known whether the same is true for other racial or ethnic groups. The results should give encouragement to people who fear that gene mutations alone determine their destiny, said Dr. Rudy Tanzi, a genetics expert at Massachusetts General Hospital. Less than 5% of the ones tied to Alzheimer’s are “fully penetrant,” meaning that they guarantee you’ll get the disease, he said. “That means that with 95% of the mutations, your lifestyle will make a difference,” Tanzi said. “Don’t be too worried about your genetics. Spend more time being mindful of living a healthy life.” One previous study in Sweden and Finland rigorously tested the effect of a healthy lifestyle by assigning one group to follow one and included a comparison group that did not. It concluded that healthy habits could help prevent mental decline. The Alzheimer’s Association is sponsoring a similar study underway now in the United States. Healthy living also is the focus of new dementia prevention guidelines that the World Health Organization released in February. ___ Marilynn Marchione can be followed at: @MMarchioneAP ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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13556
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Food stamps have gone up two-and-a-half times under Barack Obama.
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"Giuliani said that ""food stamps have gone up two-and-a-half times under Barack Obama."" Due to expanded eligibility and outreach, as well as the after-effects of the Great Recession -- each of which began under Bush -- the number of SNAP beneficiaries and the cost of the program has risen under Obama. However, the increase in these metrics has been 36 percent and 50 percent, respectively -- far less than the two-and-a-half-times multiplier Giuliani used. It’s also worth noting that both of these figures have been falling consistently over the past several years, a trend that Giuliani’s comment obscures."
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false
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National, Federal Budget, Poverty, Rudy Giuliani,
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"Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a surrogate for Donald Trump, criticized President Barack Obama’s stewardship of the economy as he touted Trump’s efforts to court African-American voters. ""So, now you compare New York to Detroit and Baltimore, and you look at the number of crimes in both of those cities and you look at New York, you look at the unemployment rates, you look at the economic opportunities, and you see that I think Donald Trump is the first Republican since Jack Kemp, and me, to go into minority poor communities and say, the Democrats have failed you for 50 years, and you are reflexively giving them your vote, and they are going from bad to worse,"" Giuliani said in an interview on the Sept. 4, 2016, edition of CNN’s State of the Union. ""Food stamps have gone up two-and-a-half times under Barack Obama. He should be ashamed of himself. Jobs should have gone up two-and-a-half times."" Is the use of food stamps -- formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP -- really two-and-a-half times higher than it was when Obama took office? The short answer is that it’s higher -- but not by nearly that much. And in recent years, it’s been falling. As we’ve noted, SNAP is the federal government’s largest food program, eclipsing other big farm-bill food spending for school lunches and breakfasts and for Women, Infants and Children. It helps low-income people buy groceries, usually with benefit cards that work like debit cards. Two factors undergird the rise in food stamp use during Obama’s presidency. The first is that the number of food stamp beneficiaries ticked upward under President George W. Bush due to policies that broadened eligibility for the program and more aggressive efforts to get eligible Americans to apply for benefits. These policies remained in place under Obama. The second is the 2007-09 recession, which drove the number of SNAP recipients to record highs. In an average month in 2011, one in seven U.S. residents got help. So what does the trend line for food stamp usage under Obama look like? Here’s a graph, drawn from Agriculture Department data: Note that the number of beneficiaries did rise -- but not nearly by two-and-a-half times, or 150 percent. At the outset of Obama’s presidency, nearly 32 million people were receiving SNAP benefits. By May 2016, that number had risen to 43.5 million -- an increase of 36 percent. That’s a significant increase, and it’s one of the weakest economic metrics on Obama’s watch. But it’s not two-and-a-half times as high as when he came into office, as Giuliani said. It’s also worth noting that, while the number of recipients is higher now than it was when Obama took office, it has fallen, slowly but consistently, over the past three years. What about the cost of the program? We created a graph from that data as well. This shows that during the Obama presidency, the cost of SNAP increased at a somewhat faster rate than the number of beneficiaries did -- by just under 50 percent. But even that increase was nowhere near the two and a half times or 150 percent that Giuliani cited. We inquired with Giuliani’s office and Trump’s campaign but did not hear back. Our ruling Giuliani said that ""food stamps have gone up two-and-a-half times under Barack Obama."" Due to expanded eligibility and outreach, as well as the after-effects of the Great Recession -- each of which began under Bush -- the number of SNAP beneficiaries and the cost of the program has risen under Obama. However, the increase in these metrics has been 36 percent and 50 percent, respectively -- far less than the two-and-a-half-times multiplier Giuliani used. It’s also worth noting that both of these figures have been falling consistently over the past several years, a trend that Giuliani’s comment obscures.
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1040
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Groups sue over Alabama abortion law; judge blocks Mississippi ban.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging a law enacted by Alabama last week that bans nearly all abortions and makes performing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison.
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true
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Health News
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The lawsuit is one of several the groups have filed or are preparing to file against states that recently passed strict anti-abortion measures in an effort to prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that guarantees a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. On Friday, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, signed a bill into law that bans abortion beginning in the eighth week of pregnancy. In Mississippi, a federal judge blocked a law that would ban abortions once an embryonic heartbeat is detected, which can occur at six weeks after conception. “This dangerous, immoral, and unconstitutional ban threatens people’s lives and well-being and we are suing to protect our patients’ rights,” Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a women’s healthcare and abortion provider, said in a statement. The ACLU’s Alabama chapter and Planned Parenthood of America filed their complaint in federal court in Alabama on behalf of the Southern state’s three abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood Southeast. Anti-abortion advocates expected legal challenges to Alabama’s new law, which will be the most restrictive in the nation when it takes effect in November, and say they welcome the chance to have a court test their conviction that a fetus’ right to life is paramount. Mississippi joined Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio earlier this year in outlawing abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat. In granting the preliminary injunction on Friday, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves wrote that the Mississippi law, which was scheduled to take effect on July 1, would prevent a woman’s free choice “which is central to personal dignity and autonomy.” The measure was challenged in court on behalf of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s lone abortion facility. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood obtained an injunction from a judge in March blocking Kentucky’s abortion ban. The two organizations have filed lawsuits in Ohio and are preparing a legal fight in Georgia, they said in a statement on Friday. The wave of anti-abortion legislation reflects a boost of confidence among anti-abortion advocates after Republican President Donald Trump nominated two conservative judges, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, to the Supreme Court, tilting the court’s political balance to the right.
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35685
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A leaked Pentagon video reveals a government plot to vaccinate people against thoughts, ideas, and religion.
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Notably, much of the speculation about FunVax occurred in 2011 and 2012 (Harper registered the domain in April 2011), and almost all claims made about it lead back to Harper and the film project. The clip in question was not “leaked” until September 2011, making the chronology of the FunVax conspiracy even more suspicious. While it’s possible a separate source disseminated the video as Harper endeavored to fund and film his documentary, there’s also no compelling evidence any information about FunVax originated from a source other than Harper himself.
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false
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Politics
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On 20 January 2015, the disreputable web site Natural News published an article titled “600 strains of an aerosolized thought control vaccine already tested on humans; deployed via air, food and water.” According to the article, a “leaked Pentagon video” revealed the government had tested a mind-control vaccine dubbed FunVax (fundamentalist vaccine) on unwitting civilian populations. The claim stated the vaccine was dispensed through large-scale spraying, vehicle exhaust, food, and water. (It should be noted with the exception of nasally administered flu vaccines, most vaccines are still dispensed through far more unwieldy syringes.) Central to the rumors were a single YouTube video described as a “leaked Pentagon presentation” and a link to a website on which those plans were purportedly detailed, like this rumor we collected from the internet: Pentagon FunVax presentation on how the military can spread a virus and use a vaccine to extinguish “undesirable human behavior”. Behavior modification through vaccination. Say goodbye to your free will. The article explained while these claims have circulated since at least 2011 (the date of the video’s publication on YouTube), an increase in “medical police state” activity had enabled people to “connect the dots” about the covert deployment of this mind control vaccine: As you’ll see in the document and video below, the vaccine was intended from the start to be deployed against civilian populations, and 600 strains of infectious viruses were tested on human subjects. One of the transmission vectors documented in the testing exploited an influenza strain to spread the mind-infecting virus as a pandemic. The point of all this is to infect the minds of the population and transform people into what the government calls “normal.” From the government’s point of view, of course, “normal” means “obedient and mindless.” This is all described in a video and a document that surfaced several years ago but which are only now beginning to connect the dots as the medical police state in America accelerates to insane levels of aggression against the population. See recent stories on medical kidnapping in Arkansas and CPS kidnapping of children in Arizona for starters. The video that supposedly exposed the FunVax plot has been circulating the Internet since at least 2011, yet no event or circumstance has validated the claims made in or about it since its first appearance, and recent interest in the clip came about solely through its “discovery” by Natural News. The document appended as supplemental proof to the long-circulating video [PDF] is hosted on wanttoknow.info, a site devoted to discussion and dispersal of conspiracy-related material. While legitimate documents can and do sometimes emerge through what appear initially to be unreliable channels, no source is given for this “quarterly FunVax report” dated to June 2007. On the site itself, the poster of the document admitted the video and the document were possibly faked and no evidence corroborating their authenticity was known: Though this may sound like some bizarre science fiction novel, the four-minute Pentagon video presentation and official FunVax report below show that this vaccine against fundamentalism is actively being tested for implementation. As it has been a few years since this date of this video and report, it is entirely possible this program has already been started. There is some possibility that the above video and document are faked. But if they are, it is very intelligent disinformation. Who would spend all of the time and money required to come up with such a sophisticated and coherent story? And why? Knowing how science and the military often work together, a program like this is all too possible. I once attended a lecture by Al Gore’s science advisor in which he said he had been invited to see some of the most secret biological research programs being undertaken by the U.S. military. He said it gave him nightmares for months. It’s likely true a number of covert programs would send chills down the spines of most Americans were they made privy to the nuts and bolts of strategic defense planning, biological or otherwise. As to who might be responsible for such disinformation, that could be anyone’s guess. However, right around the time FunVax conspiracy theories began to circulate, an active Kickstarter campaign titled “FunVax — A Film About the Conspiracy” was launched by an individual named Ryan Harper. (The campaign ultimately failed to achieve its funding goal.) Harper is also the registrant for the domain FunVax.com, a site ostensibly created to promote the film.
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8732
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Indonesia says lack of coronavirus cases a blessing from God.
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Indonesia’s health minister defended the country’s screening process for coronavirus on Thursday and said the absence of confirmed cases in the world’s fourth-most populous nation was a “blessing from the Almighty”.
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true
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Health News
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The sprawling Southeast Asian country of more than 260 million people has not recorded any cases though some of its citizens overseas have contracted the virus, including eight crew on the Diamond Princess cruise liner off Japan’s Yokohama. Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said 134 test samples taken from people suspected of having the coronavirus had turned out negative. “If until this second all came out negative, then it’s a blessing from the Almighty,” he told reporters. Putranto said tests on two patients who died this week after suffering symptoms associated with contracting the virus had been negative. On Feb. 23, a Singaporean man died after reportedly suffering fever and shortness of breath in the city of Batam, but the head of the local health agency said this was due to another unspecified disease. The death of a 37-year-old man in Semarang in Central Java who was suffering pneumonia after returning from overseas was not caused by the coronavirus, but by H1N1 flu, he said. Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in the United States, said in a study this month that Indonesia should strengthen outbreak surveillance and control - especially as it had direct flights from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The Harvard team said Indonesia’s lack of confirmed cases “may suggest the potential for undetected cases” as air travel may contribute to cases being exported from China. Indonesia has barred entry to visitors who have been in China for 14 days and stopped all flights to and from there. Indonesia has tested relatively few people in comparison to some neighbors and its population, but Putranto said tests were conducted when “doctors determine they have symptoms that point to that direction.” “Imagine if everybody who had a cough or flu was checked, then millions would be checked,” he said. Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, the World Health Organization’s Indonesia representative, has said the WHO was “quite confident that Indonesia is ready to be able to respond to this situation.” Separately, Indonesia will send a Garuda Indonesia (GIAA.JK) plane in the next few days to Japan to pick up 68 of its citizens working aboard the coronavirus-affected Diamond Princess, officials said. The crew could be quarantined for up to 28 days on Sebaru island in the Java Sea north off Jakarta, where 188 crew members from another cruise ship are also being held in quarantine. The coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people globally and killed nearly 2,800, the majority in China.
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7995
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No proof drug touted by Trump is effective against coronavirus: EU.
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The European Commission said on Tuesday there was no evidence that a drug touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as a potential miracle cure against COVID-19 was effective against the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
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true
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Health News
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Trump had said that hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, could be among “the biggest game changers in the history of medicine” for its potential effects against COVID-19. “The efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 patients has to date not been proved,” a spokesman for the European Commission said on Tuesday, relaying an internal opinion from the European Medicine Agency. The spokesman said there was also no evidence either of the positive effects of chloroquine, another malaria drug, which is also being tested for its possible use against COVID-19. The U.S. Health and Human Services on Thursday listed hydroxychloroquine as a protected medical resource after Trump signed an executive order to prevent its hoarding and price gouging. Hungary, a European Union member, last week banned the commercial export of hydroxychloroquine. “As Hungary is one of the world’s largest exporters of this ingredient, the protection and medical supply of the Hungarian population is now a priority,” the government said..
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6600
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US Embassy in China sends new alert for mystery health issue.
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The U.S. Embassy in China sent its second alert in two weeks Friday to its citizens over unexplained health issues that have prompted the evacuation of a number of U.S. government employees working at a consulate in a southern city.
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true
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AP Top News, Cuba, Health, Guangzhou, North America, International News, China, Asia Pacific
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The alert urged Americans to seek medical help in the event they suffered any “unusual, unexplained physical symptoms or events, auditory or sensory phenomena, or other health concerns.” The alert comes as a U.S. medical team is screening more Americans who work at the Guangzhou consulate. A previous case in Guangzhou, disclosed last month, prompted the tests. The incidents have raised fears the unexplained issues that started in Cuba in 2016 have expanded to other countries. China says it has uncovered no information that could point to a cause. The most recent evacuations followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said “a number of individuals” had been brought to the U.S. but didn’t say how many were affected or evacuated. Friday’s alert called for people to be attentive of symptoms including “dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive issues, visual problems, ear complaints and hearing loss, and difficulty sleeping.” It urged them “not to attempt to locate the source of any unidentified auditory sensation. Instead, move to a different location.” The U.S. government has deemed the Cuba incidents “specific attacks” on American workers but hasn’t publicly identified a cause or culprit. Most of the incidents were accompanied by bizarre, unexplained sounds that initially led U.S. investigators to suspect a sonic attack. Asked about the latest incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday that the U.S. had not formally raised the matter with Beijing. “If the U.S. makes formal contact with us, China will continue necessary investigations in an earnest and responsible manner and maintain close communication and cooperation with the U.S.,” Hua said at a regularly scheduled news conference. China earlier said it had looked into the case announced last month but came up with no clues about the cause of the symptoms. A U.S. official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity, said the evacuated American government workers were being brought from China for testing to the University of Pennsylvania. That’s where doctors have been treating and studying patients previously evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The preliminary findings of the medical reports on the 24 personnel affected in Cuba showed they had sensory and memory problems similar to the brain dysfunction seen with concussions. The Penn team said the patients from Cuba experienced persistent disability though rehabilitation therapy customized for them seemed to help. Canada in April also ordered families of diplomatic staff in Cuba to return home after mysterious health symptoms were detected in 10 Canadians stationed on the island. Canada said the 10 continued to show unexplained brain symptoms and that “medical information raised concerns for a new type of a possible acquired brain injury.” In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month about the first case in China, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China had “said all the right things and have demonstrated their willingness to help us identify the vector which led to this medical incident.” The China incidents affect one of the most important of the seven U.S. diplomatic outposts in the country. The Guangzhou consulate opened months after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington in 1979 and moved to its new purpose-built facility in 2013. It serves four southern provinces with a combined population of more than 204 million and processes more than 1 million visa applications of all types annually. It is also the only U.S. diplomatic installation in China authorized to process immigrant visas and handle adoptions. People working in The Canton Place complex, a few kilometers (miles) from the consulate, said Thursday they were just hearing about the incidents, reflecting a lack of coverage in China’s entirely state-controlled media. Aled Williams, a British teacher at a kindergarten said Thursday that the reports sounded “sci-fi-ish.” “Hard to get my head around how it works,” he said. “Better watch myself.” Linda Chen, who runs a coffee shop in the area, said she was mystified as to why only certain people seemed to have been affected in an area known for its comfort and safety. “For me I feel it’s very strange. But I don’t feel that there’s something to be very afraid of because it’s probably a very special case,” Chen said. ___ Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
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37954
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2 years, 10 months, 23 days. The length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge.
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Several Facebook posts (and tweets) simply read “2 years, 10 months, 23 days, the length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge”; we found no variation of the claim that included a citation. Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on October 31 2017, and received commission on November 2 2017. Although the calculation was oddly specific and therefore slightly inaccurate, Barrett took the bench roughly two years, ten months, and 23 days before the posts began circulating.
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true
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Fact Checks, Politics
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On September 27 2020, a number of Facebook posts claiming that Amy Coney Barrett had been a judge for “2 years 10 months [and] 23 days” began circulating:All three of the posts above read:2 years, 10 months, 23 days.The length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge.Occasionally, a person sharing the post added to the text:All of the examples we found utilized Facebook’s text-based status update image generator, creating a colorful and highly shareable post without the ability to easily add a citation. Commenters frequently opined that Amy Coney Barrett’s time on the bench was insufficient, but none appeared to be verifying the accuracy of the viral posts.BackgroundAt 7:28 PM EST on September 18 2020, NPR reported that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died of metastatic pancreatic cancer; the Supreme Court issued a press release:Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this evening [of September 18 2020] surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C., due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer. She was 87 years old. Justice Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993. She was the second woman appointed to the Court and served more than 27 years.At 8:15 PM EST on September 18 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was named in articles about who might be Ginsburg’s possible replacement on the bench:The line to succeed the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court likely starts with these federal appeals court judges:Amy Coney BarrettA finalist for Trump’s second high court nomination, which ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett, 48, is a favorite of religious conservatives.Barrett rocketed to the top of Trump’s list of potential nominees after her 2017 confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, when Democrats cited her deep Catholic faith not as an advantage but an obstacle. She was confirmed, 55-43.By September 19 2020, Coney Barrett was described as a front-runner in ongoing coverage of Ginsburg’s death. Politico reported:President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, setting in motion a likely sharp shift toward a more conservative court.If confirmed, Barrett would take the seat vacated after the death of the liberal-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Trump indicated that he intended to nominate Barrett on September 19 2020:Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appellate judge and Notre Dame law professor, is a proven conservative with a compelling personal story who has long been atop President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court short list.Trump announced Saturday [September 19 2020] he is nominating Barrett to be the new high court justice during a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin confirmation hearings on Barrett’s nomination on October 12 [2020].Barrett, the mother of seven children and a former law clerk to the late right-wing beacon Justice Antonin Scalia, Barrett, now 48, was a finalist for the Supreme Court spot that went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.She met with Trump to discuss the nomination on Monday [September 21 2020], sources close to the process told CNN.Amy Coney Barrett’s Resume and Time on the BenchOn September 21 2020, SCOTUSBlog.com profiled Amy Coney Barrett’s career, detailing her “prolific” academic career and adding:Barrett spent a year as a law and economics fellow at George Washington University before heading to her alma mater, Notre Dame, in 2002 to teach federal courts, constitutional law and statutory interpretation. Barrett was named a professor of law at the school in 2010; four years later, she became the Diane and M.O. Research Chair of Law. Barrett was named “distinguished professor of the year” three times. […]During her 15 years as a full-time law professor, Barrett’s academic scholarship was prolific. Several of her articles, however, drew fire at Barrett’s confirmation hearing, with Democratic senators suggesting that they indicate that Barrett would be influenced by her Catholic faith, particularly on the question of abortion.On the University of Notre Dame’s website, a biography page described Barrett’s career in academia further. A subsequent section on SCOTUSBlog.com read in part:Trump nominated Barrett to the 7th Circuit on May 8, 2017. Despite some criticism from Democrats, she garnered bipartisan support at her confirmation hearing … On Oct. 31, 2017, Barrett was confirmed to the 7th Circuit by a vote of 55 to 43.On September 26 2020, the White House published a briefing (“Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Exceptional Legal Experience, Expertise, and Judicial Record Make Her the Right Choice to Serve on the Supreme Court”) and addressed Barrett’s qualifications. That section noted she had served as a judge since 2017:EXCEPTIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:Judge Amy Coney Barrett brings a wealth of experience from her time in private practice, academia, and public service.As noted, Amy Coney Barrett received her commission on November 2 2017:Federal Judicial Service: Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh CircuitNominated by Donald J. Trump on May 8, 2017, to a seat vacated by John Daniel Tinder. Confirmed by the Senate on October 31, 2017, and received commission on November 2, 2017.2 Years, 10 Months, and 23 DaysThe “2 Years, 10 Months, and 23 Days” posts appeared around September 27 2020, but they were later shared in screenshots on later dates.Two years, ten months, and 23 days after November 2 2017 was either September 25 or 26 2020, according to a “time between dates” calculator.TL;DRSeveral Facebook posts (and tweets) simply read “2 years, 10 months, 23 days, the length of time Amy Coney Barrett has been a judge”; we found no variation of the claim that included a citation. Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on October 31 2017, and received commission on November 2 2017. Although the calculation was oddly specific and therefore slightly inaccurate, Barrett took the bench roughly two years, ten months, and 23 days before the posts began circulating.Comments
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16341
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In Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses.
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"Shaheen’s ad says that ""in Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses."" The measure backed by Brown nine years ago made sure that women were provided photos of developing fetuses, along with a lot more information. It certainly forced doctors and their representatives to provide this information to women seeking abortions -- except in cases of emergency -- and it ensured women received the information both through verbal questions and a signed consent form. Brown has a point that the bill wouldn't have ""forced"" them to look at color photographs -- but it did just about everything else it could possibly do up to that line. This statement is accurate but needs clarification."
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true
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Abortion, New Hampshire, Legal Issues, Women, Jeanne Shaheen,
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"As the 2014 New Hampshire Senate race veers toward a conclusion, the state’s next senator needs the support of women voters. Incumbent Jeanne Shaheen underscored that point when she targeted Republican challenger Scott Brown’s record supporting women’s reproductive rights during his tenure as a state senator from Massachusetts. Her aim was to undercut Brown’s assertion that he is a pro-choice politician. An ad with a female narrator released on Oct. 7 said, ""In Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses."" The ad, titled ""Force,"" drew a swift response from Brown. He held a press conference the same day the ad was released, calling it a lie and adding that it was ""not only insensitive, it is also deeply offensive."" ""I have always been a pro-choice, independent Republican and have a strong record of supporting women’s health care,"" Brown said in Derry, N.H., with his wife Gail by his side. Brown demanded that Shaheen pull the ad, and the next day he launched his own ad calling Shaheen’s commercial a ""smear campaign."" More than ever in this hotly contested Senate race, this seemed like a job for PolitiFact. For support, the ad, and Shaheen’s campaign, pointed to Massachusetts Senate Bill 979, ""An Act Relative to a Woman’s Right to Know,"" filed in 2005. While the bill co-sponsored by Brown and Republican Michael R. Knapik eventually failed, it would have given any woman seeking an abortion information and mandated 24 hours to consider the consequences of that decision. (Exceptions would only be given in the case of a medical emergency.) ""The purpose of the Woman's Right to Know Act is to ensure that every woman considering an abortion receives complete information on the procedure, the risks, the status of her unborn child, and her alternatives, and sufficient reflection time, thereby reducing the possibility of serious, lasting, or life threatening consequences of a medical, emotional and psychological nature,"" the bill states. Similar laws have been proposed and enacted in other states following a 1992 Supreme Court decision allowing the state of Pennsylvania under its ""Abortion Control Act"" to require a woman seeking an abortion to give her informed consent prior to the procedure, receive a host of information about abortion and adoption, and wait 24 hours before having an abortion. The introduction to the Massachusetts bill cites that Supreme Court decision, saying the state ""has an important interest in ensuring that women seeking abortions are provided a fully informed choice and a sufficient period of time to reflect on the information provided, ‘to reduce the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.’ Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 882 (1992)."" So how about those photographs of fetuses that women would be ""forced"" to look at? Like similar laws proposed and passed elsewhere, the proposed Massachusetts law would have required doctors or their representatives to provide women with lots of information at least 24 hours before an abortion was scheduled, including the names of adoption agencies and contact information for public and private agencies that offer financial and medical support to women throughout a pregnancy and after childbirth. It also required women to receive descriptions of the ""anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two week gestational increments from fertilization to full term, including color photographs."" If photos were unavailable ""realistic drawings"" were considered acceptable. The bill made clear that photos of fetuses must be provided to women seeking abortions, but didn’t stop there. It also called for descriptions of the different methods of abortion and ""the physical, psychological and emotional risks or medical complications commonly associated with each method; a description of the physical, psychological and emotional risks or medical complications of pregnancy and delivery; a description of the support obligations of the father of a child born alive."" Before performing an abortion, the doctor or a representative would have to ask the woman if she had ""seen"" the information and ""provide the woman with an opportunity to contact abortion alternative agencies at this time should she so desire."" In addition, a woman’s signature was required before the abortion was performed to give her consent and ""indicate that she has been offered the information described in this section."" Brown says the bill was intended to give adoption a chance and ""did not force women to do anything. I would never force women to do anything."" He’s got a point. Nowhere in the bill is the word ""force"" used. Still, the language of the bill certainly ensures women would be given the information, asks them if they had ""seen it,"" and provided at least 24 hours to review it before having an abortion. Our ruling Shaheen’s ad says that ""in Massachusetts, Scott Brown pushed for a law to force women considering abortion -- force them -- to look at color photographs of developing fetuses."" The measure backed by Brown nine years ago made sure that women were provided photos of developing fetuses, along with a lot more information. It certainly forced doctors and their representatives to provide this information to women seeking abortions -- except in cases of emergency -- and it ensured women received the information both through verbal questions and a signed consent form. Brown has a point that the bill wouldn't have ""forced"" them to look at color photographs -- but it did just about everything else it could possibly do up to that line. This statement is accurate but needs clarification."
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34833
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A November 2019 Trump administration proposal would end Social Security disability payments for thousands of recipients.
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"What's true: According to the logic of the administration's own proposals, the changes to how ""continuing disability reviews"" take place would indeed lead to thousands of recipients losing Social Security disability benefits. What's false: That loss of benefits would not be arbitrary, and the criteria and standards used to determine a recipient's eligibility for disability benefits would not change. Rather, the frequency of eligibility reviews would increase, thus discovering ineligibility sooner and more frequently."
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mixture
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Politics
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In December 2019, readers asked us about reports that claimed the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had proposed changes to the way Social Security disability payments are made, which could cause thousands, even hundreds of thousands, to lose their benefits. On Dec. 12, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Tribune posted an article with the headline “Trump Administration Proposes Social Security Rule Changes That Could Cut Off Thousands of Disabled Recipients.” The article reported that: “The Trump administration is proposing changes to Social Security that could terminate disability payments to hundreds of thousands of Americans, particularly older people and children. The new rule would change aspects of disability reviews — the methods by which the Social Security Administration determines whether a person continues to qualify for benefits. Few recipients are aware of the proposal, which is open for public comment through January.” The left-leaning website Common Dreams published an article with the headline “‘A National Disgrace’: Trump Proposes Social Security Change That Could End Disability Benefits for Hundreds of Thousands. '” That story reported: “Activists are working to raise public awareness and outrage over a little-noticed Trump administration proposal that could strip life-saving disability benefits from hundreds of thousands of people by further complicating the way the Social Security Administration determines who is eligible for payments.” On the face of it, the changes proposed by the Trump administration would not, in fact, directly or immediately strip disability benefits from thousands of would-be recipients, rather the changes would introduce more (and more frequent) eligibility reviews for those who wish to receive them. However, some critics have argued that those increased bureaucratic requirements would over-burden some would-be recipients, in particular especially vulnerable recipients, and would ultimately (albeit indirectly) result in thousands losing disability benefits. The Social Security Administration distributes disability benefits in two principle ways: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which typically provides benefits to people based on their previous Social Security tax contributions and history of work, and is paid out of the Social Security insurance fund; and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which typically provides benefits to people based on their disability status and inability to work, and is paid out of general tax coffers. In order to prevent potential abuse and waste in the system, the Social Security Administration conducts “continuing disability reviews,” essentially investigating whether each recipient still has a disabling condition, and if so, which kind. Those reviews take place more or less frequently, depending on the nature of each individual’s disability, broken into three “medical diary categories,” as follows: In November, the Social Security Administration published its proposals to make several changes to the review system. The most significant proposal was to add a fourth medical diary category, “Medical Improvement Likely.” Recipients placed in that category would undergo a review every two years. According to a document accompanying the proposals, the decision to introduce the fourth category was made, in part, because the administration saw a pattern whereby some in the “Medical Improvement Expected” category were being prematurely subjected to re-evaluation, after six-18 months, before a medical improvement had the chance to take hold, and some in the “Medical Improvement Possible” category had successfully treated their impairment comfortably within the three-year review interval. The introduction of the new category would therefore mean the bureaucratic burden on some recipients would actually be lessened, since they would be subject to review less frequently, though clearly it would also mean others would be subject to more frequent reviews. On the whole, the administration has estimated that, between 2020 and 2029, the new category would tend towards requiring more frequent reviews for those currently in the “Medical Improvement Possible” category, rather than less frequent reviews for those currently in the “Medical Improvement Expected” category: The administration expects the introduction of the “Medical Improvement Likely” category to lead to an 18 percent increase in the total number of reviews undertaken over the next decade. This would therefore lead to an increased up-front cost in administering the disability benefits programs, and an increased aggregate bureaucratic burden to recipients (even if some individual recipients would actually undergo reviews less frequently). Greater scrutiny of individual cases, and enhanced enforcement of eligibility criteria, results in some recipients no longer being deemed eligible, and no longer receiving either SSDI or SSI, which saves money for the Social Security insurance fund and the Treasury, respectively. For the 2015 fiscal year, for example, the Social Security Administration calculated a 19.9:1 return on investment rate for disability benefits enforcement — meaning that for every $1 spent on performing reviews, the government would save $19.90 on disability benefits that would otherwise have been paid, over the course of a lifetime, to recipients who are now deemed ineligible. To be specific, the administration estimated that the $717 million spent on reviews in 2015 would ultimately save $14.3 billion in lifetime disability benefit payments. So the introduction of the Trump administration’s proposals is highly likely to ultimately lead to thousands of disability benefits recipients no longer receiving those benefits — both because some will be overburdened by the bureaucratic demands of more frequent reviews, and because some recipients whose medical status no longer meets the eligibility criteria will have that ineligibility discovered sooner. A considerable measure of truth, therefore, exists in the reports published by the Philadelphia Inquirer and Common Dreams.
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8779
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Skin creams seen to cause tumours on mice.
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Certain commonly available skin creams may cause skin tumours, at least in mice, and experts should be checking to see if they might cause growths in people as well, researchers reported on Thursday.
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true
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Health News
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They found several creams caused skin cancer in the specially bred mice, which had been pre-treated with ultraviolet radiation. The cancers are not melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, they stressed in their report in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, but another type called squamous cell carcinoma. Such tumours are slow growing, highly treatable and only fatal if patients fail to have them removed. Allan Conney and colleagues at Rutgers University in New Jersey said they discovered the risk while testing a theory that caffeine could prevent skin cancer. “We sort of got into this by accident,” Conney said in a telephone interview. “We wanted a safe cream that we could put the caffeine into.” They were testing specially bred albino mice, which are prone to develop skin cancer. The mice are pre-treated with ultraviolet radiation to simulate the effects of a human who has had heavy sun exposure in the past but then stopped — something that may be happening in the population as people realize the risks of getting a tan. Conney’s team decided to test the creams first and found that all four they tested caused tumours to grow on the mice. He said he does not know why, but suspects two ingredients — mineral oil and sodium laurel sulphate. “We’d like to understand the mechanism. What is most important is to see whether these moisturizing creams are tumorigenic in people,” Conney said. He said his lab is not equipped to do this but someone should. But he added, “I don’t think that people should be scared because this is a mouse study and we don’t know whether or not it applies to humans.” Other experts were sceptical about the study. “This is a pretty artificial situation with the mouse skin primed by a lot of UV light to develop cancer,” Karol Sikora, Medical Director of Cancer Partners U.K. in Britain, said in a statement. Dr. Jonathan Rees, an expert in dermatology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said squamous cell carcinoma was not a big health worry. “Non-melanoma skin cancer in man is very, very common and is almost 100 percent curable with an operation usually simpler than a tooth filling,” Rees said in a statement. Conney said the mouse was a commonly used model in skin cancer but said he agreed that it does not perfectly replicate human skin and human behaviour. He said his team approached Johnson & Johnson to create a cream without the suspect products and they developed one using other readily available ingredients. “They are things that are commonly used in many moisturizing creams,” he said. This cream did not cause the tumours in the mice, they said. He said Rutgers and Johnson & Johnson had patented the new cream jointly but did not know whether it would be commercially developed. A spokesman at the company was not immediately available for comment.
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35246
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Bill Gates is being sued by India over the deaths of girls resulting from vaccinations.
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However, the meme jumps the rails at suggesting anything more than that Gates is interested in improving lives through medical research and vaccinations.
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false
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Politics, COVID-19
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During the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic in 2020, a popular social media meme asserted that philanthropist Bill Gates was partnered with business magnate George Soros in owning a lab in Wuhan, China (the presumed location where the COVID-19 outbreak originated), and was being sued by India over the deaths of girls resulting from vaccinations: It is true that the Microsoft co-founder, through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has expended billions of dollars funding research and childhood-immunization programs in developing countries. Gates, who has long warned that we are inadequately prepared to deal with global pandemics, has also pledged to make billions of dollars available for funding the manufacture of vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was a member of the Leadership Council for the Gates Foundation’s Decade of Vaccines Collaboration effort launched in 2010.
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26770
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”America has been vaccinating cattle for coronavirus for years, yet the news tells you it’s new and gunna kill you all so go buy mask.”
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There is no vaccine for COVID-19, the new coronavirus that first appeared in China. None is expected soon. The vaccine for cattle won’t help humans, and won’t protect against this new form of coronavirus.
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false
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Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"The fact that there’s already a coronavirus vaccine for cattle should make you doubt claims that the virus causing the current human outbreak is new and deadly. That’s what a Facebook post would lead you to believe. It adds to a long list of misleading claims about the virus that, as of March 1, 2020, had hit 59 countries. ""Just in case you are wondering how much the media controls people, America has been vaccinating cattle for coronavirus for years,"" the Feb. 27, 2020, post claims, ""yet the news tells you it’s new and gunna kill you all so go buy mask."" The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The post shows a photo of a bottle with labeling that includes, ""Bovine Rotavirus-Coronavirus Vaccine"" and ""For veterinary use only."" (The image and the post were deleted in the course of our reporting, but we found similar posts showing the image elsewhere along with similar claims.) The vaccine pictured, called ScourGuard 4K, is made by animal drug manufacturer Zoetis and is real. And we found products with similar labeling available for sale online. But the vaccine is, according to the drug manufacturer, ""effective as an aid in preventing diarrhea caused by bovine rotavirus (serotypes G6 and G10), bovine coronavirus, and E. coli in calves of vaccinated dams."" It won’t help humans, at least not now. ""The coronavirus used in the Bovine Rotavirus-Coronavirus Vaccine is distinct from the current coronavirus,"" said Ming Tan, a faculty member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. ""The antibodies produced by the Bovine Rotavirus-Coronavirus Vaccine will not recognize the current"" coronavirus ""and thus will not protect humans from infection."" Studies would need to be done to determine whether the bovine vaccine could provide any help with the current coronavirus, said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security. ""The bovine vaccine may be formulated in a manner that is not conducive to humans,"" he said. There is a ""very remote"" chance a bovine vaccine might work in humans, said Richard Watanabe, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California, but ""the possibility it would work is low enough that it is more efficient to design a vaccine specifically for COVD-19."" It helps to differentiate some terms being used in the news and social media. Many reports refer to the coronavirus. But coronavirus is a general term; there are different coronaviruses out there. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. They’ve been around for a long time, but there are different strains. More specific terms relating to the current situation include: 2019 novel coronavirus — novel, as in, new. SARS-CoV-2 — the technical name of the new virus. COVID-19 — the name of the disease caused by the new coronavirus, as in ""coronavirus disease, 2019."" All three of those terms refer specifically to the coronavirus that was discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has spread around the world. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine for COVID-19 and none is expected soon. One of the leading American experts on coronavirus, Anthony Fauci, who is director of the federal government’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Fox News on Feb. 27, 2020, his team is working with a drugmaker and expects to begin a clinical trial within the ""next month and a half."" ""That whole process is going to take about a year to a year and a half. Even though we are going as fast as you possibly can, it's still going to take a good year, year and a half to see if we have a vaccine that works,"" he said. A Facebook post claims: ""America has been vaccinating cattle for coronavirus for years, yet the news tells you it’s new and gunna kill you all so go buy mask."" Despite what the post suggests, the existence of a bovine vaccine doesn’t mean there is a coronavirus vaccine for humans, and none is expected soon."
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33375
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Data suppressed by the CDC proved that the MMR vaccine produces a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American boys.
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The claim put forward in a video is that earlier MMR vaccination is associated with an increased risk of autism in African-American boys and that the CDC has spent the last 13 years covering this linkage up.
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false
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Medical, ASP Article, Disease
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On 24 August 2014 a CNN iReport claiming intentional suppression of data relating to 340% increased risk of autism among specific populations of African-American boys following MMR vaccinations went viral. The story seemed to disappear mysteriously, further fueling the notion that an intentional coverup was underway. The idea that vaccines lead to autism is not a new conspiracy theory, nor is it a particularly uncommon one. A now heavily discredited study published in the medical journal Lancet in 1998 planted a seed of fear about vaccine safety; and despite efforts to counteract the widespread concern among worried parents, public health officials continue to encounter growing public resistance to vaccination. And the CNN iReport in question was based on a video which featured William Thompson, a senior researcher at the CDC, seemly “confessing” to anti-vaccinationist Brian Hooker about a coverup at the CDC and included material such as a claim by Dr. Andrew Wakefield (who in 1998 published a fraudulent research paper claiming a link between MMR vaccine and the appearance of autism and has since been barred from practicing medicine in the UK) asserting that the results of a study proving a link between autism and MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccinations had been “hidden” by the CDC: The second iReport published on 22 August 2014 explicitly claimed that the CDC had been involved in an intentional coverup: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14754936 Dr. Thompson has admitted the 340% increase in boys receiving the MMR vaccine “on time,” as opposed to delayed, was buried by himself, Dr. DeStefano, Dr. Bhasin, Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp, and Dr. Boyle … Dr. Thompson first called and spoke with Dr. Brian Hooker, who then revealed the information to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the Autism Media Channel. On 27 August, Thompson released a statement via law firm Morgan Verkamp, LLC, confirming that he had spoken with Dr. Brian Hooker and that he had “omitted statistically significant information” from his study. Titled “STATEMENT OF WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, Ph.D., REGARDING THE 2004 ARTICLE EXAMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MMR VACCINE AND AUTISM,” Thompson’s statement began: I want to be absolutely clear that I believe vaccines have saved and continue to save countless lives. I would never suggest that any parent avoid vaccinating children of any race. Vaccines prevent serious diseases, and the risks associated with their administration are vastly outweighed by their individual and societal benefits. What got lost in the brouhaha over Dr. Thompson’s “confession,” allegations about a “cover-up” at the CDC, and threats of whistleblower lawsuits was what should have been the main point: Did collected data actually prove that the MMR vaccine produces a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American boys? The answer is no, it did not. On 27 August 2014, Dr. Hooker’s article published in the journal Translational Neurodegeneration that concluded “African American males receiving the MMR vaccine prior to 24 months of age or 36 months of age are more likely to receive an autism diagnosis” was removed from public domain due to issues of conflict of interest and the questionable validity of its methods: The CDC issued a statement regarding the data in question, with instructions for accessing the study at the center of the controversy. As the CDC noted, the authors of that study suggested that the most likely explanation for the moderate correlation between autism and vaccination in young children was the existence of immunization requirements for autistic children enrolled in special education preschool programs: The study looked at different age groups: children vaccinated by 18 months, 24 months, and 36 months. The findings revealed that vaccination between 24 and 36 months was slightly more common among children with autism, and that association was strongest among children 3-5 years of age. The authors reported this finding was most likely a result of immunization requirements for preschool special education program attendance in children with autism. For a thorough analysis of the flaws and misinformation associated with the current CDC autism “cover-up” conspiracy theory, we recommend the posts on the subject at ScienceBlogs, which note of the claim at the heart of this matter (i.e, allegedly suppressed proof of a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American boys after MMR vaccination) that: So is Hooker’s result valid? Was there really a 3.36-fold increased risk for autism in African-American males who received MMR vaccination before the age of 36 months in this dataset? Hooker [performed] multiple subset analyses, which, of course, are prone to false positives. As we say, if you slice and dice the evidence more and more finely, eventually you will find apparent correlations that might or might not be real. In this case, I doubt Hooker’s correlation is real. There’s no biologically plausible reason why there would be an effect observed in African-Americans but no other race and, more specifically than that, in African-American males. In the discussion, Hooker does a bunch of handwaving about lower vitamin D levels and the like in African American boys, but there really isn’t a biologically plausible mechanism to account for his observation, suggesting that it’s probably spurious. There are multiple other studies, many much larger than this one, that failed to find a correlation between MMR and autism. What [Hooker] has done, apparently, is found grist for a perfect conspiracy theory to demonize the CDC, play the race card in a truly despicable fashion, and cast fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the CDC vaccination program, knowing that most of the white antivaccine activists who support [him] hate the CDC so much that they won’t notice that even Hooker’s reanalysis doesn’t support their belief that vaccines caused the autism in their children. Last updated: 3 February 2015
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30131
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Christine Blasey Ford is closely linked to the CIA, and her sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are part of a CIA plot.
|
Even if Melges were associated with the MKUltra program, the fact of Christine Blasey Ford’s attendance and employment at Stanford several decades later does not even come close to establishing a link between the two.
|
false
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Politics, brett kavanaugh, christine blasey ford, CIA
|
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford faced a torrent of personal attacks and conspiracy theories in September and October 2018, after she publicly accused federal judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, of sexually assaulting her when they were both high school students in Maryland in the early 1980s. In late September 2018, a conspiracy theory emerged holding that Blasey Ford was closely linked to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and that her allegations were false and part of a CIA plot to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation and disrupt President Trump’s agenda. One meme which spread the conspiracy-mongering read as follows: If you believe this woman’s story, consider this … Her grandfather, Nicholas Deak, was a well known CIA agent for decades. Her father Ralph Blasey II ran three CIA-front companies Red Coats Inc., Datawatch, and Admiral Security Systems. And her brother Ralph Blasey II [sic] once worked for the law firm Baker Hostetler which was behind the creation of Fusion GPS and subsequently the dossier used to start the Russian collusion investigation. Get the picture? Another meme emerged from a tweet and blog post published by conservative radio host Michael Savage on 27 September 2018: WHO IS DR BLASEY FORD? WELL, BESIDES BEING A “PROFESSOR” AT THE OFF BRAND UNIVERSITY, SHE ALSO WORKS AT A MAJOR UNIVERSITY DOWN THE STREET FROM PALO ALTO. SHE JUST SO HAPPENS TO HEAD UP THE CIA UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY. CHRISTINE BLASEY’S BROTHER, RALPH THE THIRD, USED TO WORK FOR THE INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM OF BAKER, HOSTETLER. THE FIRM CREATED FUSION GPS, THE COMPANY WHO WROTE THE RUSSIAN “DOSSIER”. THEY LATER ADMITTED IT WAS ONLY A COLLECTION OF FIELD INTERVIEWS. BAKER HOSTETLER IS LOCATED IN THE SAME BUILDING WHERE THE CIA OPERATES THREE COMPANIES CALLED: RED COATS INC. ADMIRAL SECURITY SERVICES AND DATAWATCH THEY ARE OPERATED BY RALPH BLASEY II. HE IS THE FATHER OF CHRISTINE AND RALPH III. CHRISTINE AND RALPH III’S GRANDFATHER WAS NICHOLAS DEAK. FORMER CIA DIRECTOR WILLIAM CASEY ACKNOWLEDGED DEAK’S DECADES OF SERVICE TO THE CIA. IS DR. FORD DEEPLY TIED TO THE CIA? pic.twitter.com/QcRLchqGGn — Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) September 27, 2018 The theory that Blasey Ford, in making her allegations against Kavanaugh, is acting on behalf of the CIA or as part of a CIA plot against him has three basic components: This theory, and its component strands, were written about and promoted on several non-mainstream web sites during September 2018, including What Does It Mean, the BrassBalls blog, ZeroHedge, Before It’s News, and in a segment on Alex Jones’ InfoWars show (in which Jones claimed Blasey Ford and her family were part of the “leftist arm of the CIA,” whose function is “to create transgender children,” among other pronouncements). On 17 September, WhatDoesItMean.com’s “Sorcha Faal” outlined this somewhat complicated web of claims: An intriguing in-depth new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that a Stanford University Psychiatry Professor named Dr. Christine Blasey has become the latest centerpiece of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plot to harm President Trump with her last-minute allegation, just days prior to US Senate confirmation, that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had attempted to sexually assault her over 30 years ago when they were teenage school children — while being kept from the American people about Dr. Blasey is that she currently oversees the CIA Undergraduate Internship Program Stanford University developed by the notorious CIA-connected Stanford University Psychiatric Professor Dr. Frederick T. Melges — who himself, in 1985, took into his care the homeless woman Lois Lang who assassinated CIA paymaster Nick Deak — and that afterwards saw the CIA’s black operations monies being controlled by Ralph G. Blasey Jr. — who, not so mysteriously, just happens to be the father of Dr. Christine Blasey. WhatDoesItMean.com has a long history of fabricating evidence, quotations, and stories, as noted by RationalWiki: Sorcha Faal is the alleged author of an ongoing series of “reports” published at WhatDoesItMean.com, whose work is of such quality that even other conspiracy nutters don’t think much of it. The primary audience of Sorcha Faal’s reports and the only ones who take them seriously are usually other conspiracy theorists … Each report resembles a news story in its style, but usually includes a sensational headline barely related to reality (e.g. “American Rebel Forces Attack Gas Pipelines, Explode Trains As US Civil War Nears”) and quotes authoritative high-level Russian sources (such as the Russian Federal Security Service in the same article) to support its most outrageous claims. Except for the stuff attributed to unverifiable sources, the reports don’t contain much original material. They are usually based on various news items from the mainstream media and/or whatever the clogosphere is currently hyperventilating about, with each item shoehorned into the conspiracy narrative the report is trying to establish. The Stanford Connection Stanford University does not operate or manage its own “CIA Undergraduate Internship Program,” but rather promotes that internship (which is operated by the CIA itself in Washington, D.C.) to its students, along with several other fellowships and professional opportunities, under the auspices of the university’s Haas Center for Public Service. Christine Blasey Ford is a research psychologist at Stanford, not a CIA internship program administrator. None of the posts claiming she directs, leads, or is in charge of the internship program provided any evidence to that effect, and none of them explained or acknowledged that the internship is an external one, run by the CIA itself thousands of miles away from Stanford’s campus. The Haas Center for Public Service lists four staff members responsible for advising students on internships and fellowship. including the CIA’s undergraduate internship, and Blasey Ford is not one of them. This claim of a direct personal link between Blasey Ford and the CIA, via Stanford University, therefore falls down. However, as an institution Stanford does have a history of working with the CIA, especially as part of Project MKUltra, a shadowy CIA-sponsored program in the 1950s and 1960s in which scientists and researchers, especially in the field of psychology, used drugs and other techniques to experiment with behavior modification and mind control. Stanford was just one of dozens of universities, research institutions, and hospitals across the United States that served as venues for such experimentation, which was at times illegal and unethical for using human beings as subjects, sometimes without their knowledge or consent. (Famously, the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski was subjected to brutal psychological experimentation, suspected to have been part of an MKUltra sub-project, while he was a promising mathematics student at Harvard in the late 1950s.) In January 1973, CIA Technical Services Director Sidney Gottlieb — the infamous poisons expert who oversaw the MKUltra program — destroyed many documents relating to the substance of the experiments upon the order of then CIA Director Richard Helms, the U.S Senate would later hear. However, in 1977 a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a trove of material, mostly invoices and other financial documents, relating to the program. Among that trove were hundreds of pages establishing the fact that Stanford University had been one of the dozens of institutions where MKUltra experimentation took place. The documents are now available on the web site of the university itself and indicate that MKUltra activities occurred at Stanford from around 1953 to 1964, with many of the orders and invoices signed by Gottlieb himself. Ralph Blasey III Here’s how the BrassBalls blog explained this strand of the conspiracy theory: Christine Blasey’s brother [Ralph] used to work for the international law firm of Baker Hostetler. The firm created Fusion GPS, the company who wrote the Russian “dossier”. They later admitted it was only a collection of field interviews. Baker Hostetler is located in the same building where the CIA operates three companies called Red Coats Inc., Admiral Security Services, and Datawatch. They are operated by Ralph Blasey II. He is the father of Christine and Ralph III. This component of the overall theory is riddled with factual errors, fabrications, and logical failures. According to his LinkedIn profile, Ralph Blasey III (Christine’s brother, and the son of Ralph Blasey Jr.) did indeed once work as a litigation partner for Baker Hostetler in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. But Baker Hostetler did not “create” Fusion GPS, as the blog post claims. Rather, in 2017 Fusion GPS told the Washington Post that they had performed some work as a subcontractor for Baker Hostetler, who were representing a Russian holding company in a money laundering case brought by the U.S. Justice Department. (More information about Fusion GPS’ place in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections can be viewed here.) However, Fusion GPS told the Post that their work for Baker Hostetler began in 2013, while Ralph Blasey III stopped working for the law firm in 2004, nine years before they engaged Fusion GPS. Baker Hostetler’s Washington, D.C. address is 1050 Connecticut Avenue Northwest. None of the three companies listed in the conspiracy theory as CIA fronts run by Ralph Blasey Jr. (Christine’s father) has offices at that address. Ralph Blasey Jr. is listed as Vice President for Business Development of one of them, Red Coats, Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland-based cleaning company. Admiral Security Services (which provides security guard and concierge services) is a division of Red Coats, and Datawatch Systems is owned and operated by the same people but located at a different address (albeit within walking distance in Bethesda.) Ralph Blasey Jr. works for only one of those three companies, none of which shares an address with Baker Hostetler (the law firm which Ralph Blasey III, in any case, left in 2004) or has been shown by any evidence whatsoever to be “operated” by the CIA. Like many other companies in the Washington, D.C. area, Datawatch Systems, which provides doorway and access security services, does have contracts with several federal government departments and agencies, as does Red Coats, Inc., and Admiral Security Services. However, none of them has a contract with the CIA. This attempt to link Christine Blasey Ford to the CIA through her brother Ralph therefore fails on several fronts. Nick Deak Before we get to the substance of this part of the conspiracy theory, it’s worth pointing out the profound logical flaw at the heart of it. The underlying premise here is that, if Christine Blasey Ford’s grandfather was an intelligence agent, she herself must therefore be steeped in spycraft and have the same interests, temperament, and profession as her grandfather. Anyone with a different personality or career to that of their grandfather will instinctively recognize this assumption as nonsensical. In any event, the claim here is that Blasey Ford’s grandfather was the legendary CIA-linked currency trader Nicholas “Nick” Deak. Without offering any evidence of a familial relationship, the BrassBalls blog stated that “Christine and Ralph III’s grandfather was Nicholas Deak. Former CIA Director William Casey acknowledged Deak’s decades of service to the CIA.” Deak has been the subject of speculation and fascination for decades. In 1964, Time magazine called him “the James Bond of the world of money,” writing: Born in Hungary 58 years ago, Deak holds a doctorate in economics, can talk money in five languages, used to work for the League of Nations. A naturalized American, he spent World War II as an [Office of Strategic Services] agent parachuting into Burmese jungles to search for Japanese prisoners. On a postwar assignment, he sneaked Hungarian boxcars past the Russian occupiers to help rebuild West Germany’s railways. Deak still keeps in OSS trim with a vegetarian diet, daily sprints around his own suburban running track, and ski trips with his Viennese wife. From a paneled office (cable address: Deaknick) overlooking lower Manhattan harbor, he supervises more than 100 agents working for Deak & Co., one of the world’s biggest dealers in foreign currencies. In 1985, Deak was shot dead (along with his receptionist Frances Lauder) at his office in Lower Manhattan by Lois Lang, a homeless woman with a history of mental illness. Because of Deak’s life-long connections to the CIA and a recent scandal which had implicated his firm in money laundering on behalf of international crime organizations, theories have been put forth that Lang was not merely motivated by her own delusions, as investigators concluded, but was acting under the direction of nefarious and organized forces, criminal or governmental. In 2012, Arkadi Kuhlmann, who replaced Deak as CEO of his firm, told Salon of his own skepticism about the official account of his predecessor’s murder: “I never believed that the whole thing was random,” said Kuhlmann, in an interview with Salon. Ditto the government inquiry that triggered the collapse preceding Lang’s rampage. “We were the CIA’s paymaster, and that got to be a little bit embarrassing for them,” he said. “Our time had passed and the usefulness of doing things our way had vanished. The world was changing in the ’80s; you couldn’t just accept bags of cash. Deak was slow at making those changes. And when you lose your sponsorship, you’re out of the game.” Whatever the truth about the death of Nicholas Deak, one thing is clear: he was not Christine Blasey Ford’s grandfather. Multiple news articles before and after his death stipulated that he had only one child, a son named Robert Leslie, also known as “Les.” This information obviously rules out the possibility that Deak was Blasey Ford’s maternal grandfather, and since we know her father is Ralph Blasey Jr., we can say with certainty that Deak was not her paternal grandfather either. This eliminates the third and final component of the conspiracy theory, as articulated by Michael Savage and others. Interestingly, the WhatDoesItMean.com does not claim that Deak was Blasey Ford’s grandfather, but rather connects the two by way of another figure from a bygone era, Dr. Frederick Melges: Though the American people were correctly told that Nicolas Deak assassin Lois Lang had previously been under psychiatric care, this report continues, what was failed to be reported to them was that Lang had been under the direct care and medical supervision of the CIA’s own Stanford University Psychiatric Professor Dr. Frederick T. Melges just prior to her traveling from Seattle to New York City to carry out this assassination—and who was the exact type of assassin Dr. Melges had been working to create in his CIA-funded mind control MKULTRA programme—and whose Canadian victims of are still being silenced after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, this past December, imposed a gag order on them to keep them silent—but that does apply to Judge Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey, who remains able to teach her CIA Undergraduate Internship Program at Stanford University the MKULTRA mind control techniques discovered by Dr. Melges. The claims that Lang had been treated by Dr. Melges, and that Melges was associated with the MKUltra project, was written about in Salon‘s 2012 account of Deak’s death: In August 1975, records show that Lang was discovered naked and catatonic in a Santa Clara motel room … Police responding to the motel room took Lang to nearby Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. For the next month, she was put under the care of Dr. Frederick Melges, a psychiatrist associated with the Stanford Research Institute. One of Dr. Melges’ main areas of research: drug-aided hypnosis. A few years after Lang was put in Melges’ care, the New York Times exposed the Stanford Research Institute as a center for CIA research into “brain-washing” and “mind-control” experiments in which unwitting subjects were dosed with hallucinogenic drugs and subjected to hypnosis … The Stanford Research Institute received CIA funding, and Dr. Melges published work about using drugs and hypnosis to create “disassociative states,” i.e., induced schizophrenia. One of Melges’ partners on these experiments was a doctor named Leo E. Hollister, who first dosed Ken Kesey with LSD as part of an Army experiment in 1960. He later admitted to author John Marks that he conducted drug research for the CIA … In other words, the doctor who cared for Lang in Santa Clara was a senior figure at one of the CIA’s top institutional grantees. He worked side-by-side with a self-identified CIA collaborator, and conducted research into the kind of drug-induced behavior modification that the agency is known to have funded. We were unable to verify the claim that Dr. Melges took Lang into his care in 1975, or what that treatment might have entailed. Frederick Towne Melges (known as “Rusty“) was a psychiatrist from Battle Creek, Michigan, who received his medical degree from Columbia University before working at the University of Rochester and Duke University in later years. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Melges worked at Stanford University, researching the perception of time. He conducted studies into the effects of cannabis and alcohol on time perception, personal perceptions of the future, persecutory delusion among people with acute mental illness, and several subjects related to human emotion. Some of his research involved administering doses of THC (the hallucinatory component in cannabis) as well as alcohol. We were not able to verify the claim that Melges worked at the Stanford Research Institute, and it is unclear whether he ever took part in any MKUltra-related experimentation. However, even if one accepts for the sake of argument the claims made by WhatDoesItMean.com and Salon, no meaningful link exists between Dr. Melges and Christine Blasey Ford. Melges, who suffered from diabetes, died at the age of 52 in Durham, North Carolina, in July 1988, having worked at Duke University since 1977. Blasey Ford got her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988, then received a master’s in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University in 1991, a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Southern California in 1996, and a master’s in epidemiology from Stanford University in 2009. She and Melges never attended or worked at the same university contemporaneously. The earliest record we could find of Blasey Ford’s working at Stanford was in the year 2000, by which time Melges had been dead for 12 years (and had left Stanford more than a decade before that).
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19169
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"Creative Advocacy Network Says an arts tax would provide ""funding for certified arts and music teachers for every elementary school serving Portland residents."
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Would a Portland arts tax put an art or music teacher in every elementary school?
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mixture
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Oregon, Taxes, Creative Advocacy Network,
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"The proposed Portland tax for the arts is nothing if not divisive. Supporters say the tax will mean having arts educators in every city elementary school, as well as better access to the arts throughout Portland. Detractors have called the tax poorly structured and say it uses children as a front for a plan to move money into already well-established institutions. The $35-a-person tax, which would collect some $12 million, actually goes to two different areas. About 70 percent of the money would be distributed to Portland-area school districts to help hire art and music teachers and to K-12 arts programs. The remaining funds would go to the Regional Arts and Culture Council for distribution among Portland arts organizations, such as the Oregon Symphony and the Portland Art Museum, which would use the money to offer publicly accessible art programming. To be sure, the money for schools seems to be the political campaign's primary selling point. On its website, the pro-tax Schools and Arts Together says the tax would ""restore arts and music education in Portland's six school districts by providing stable, long-term funding for certified arts and music teachers for every elementary school serving Portland residents."" And Jessica Jarrat Miller, executive director of the Creative Advocacy Network, which proposed the tax, asserted something similar during a September radio interview: ""If we pass this measure, we will be able to fund teachers to make sure that every elementary school in our city has certified art instruction."" And yet, a recent article in Willamette Week partly challenged that assertion. The weekly quoted former Emily Nazarov, the Portland organizer of Stand for Children, as saying the organization had ""some serious concerns whether the measure will deliver on its promise of music and art teachers in every school."" PolitiFact Oregon decided to check. Under the measure and an associated inter-governmental agreement, each district would get funding for one art or music teacher for every 500 elementary students. In return, the district agrees to have one full-time art or music teacher in each elementary school. That works fine for the David Douglas School District. Dan McCue, the spokesman for the district, told us that David Douglas has nine eligible elementary schools -- and would get enough money for nine art or music teachers. As it stands now, each of the elementary schools already has a full-time music teacher, so the art tax money ""would be used to preserve those positions."" But the formula falls apart if a district has some schools that are smaller than 500 students. Consider Portland Public Schools, the largest of the Portland districts. The district has 58 elementary schools -- but according to the 500-student formula, would receive funding for only 44 or 45 full-time positions. That means, should the tax pass, the district would have to find the money for the additional 13 or 14 teachers. We spoke with David Wynde, the district's deputy chief financial officer, to see if we understood the situation correctly. He confirmed we did. That would still represent some relief for the budget, he said. This year, PPS is funding 32 full-time arts or music positions. We called Jarrat Miller to see if she could explain how the tax would restore ""arts for every Portland elementary school,"" as one mailer put it, if some districts were actually pitching in supplemental cash? ""It's been widely misrepresented and confused,"" Jarrat Miller said. For Portland Public, she said, it's true that the tax would only provide 44 or 45 full-time teaching positions. It's equally true that, at least for the first year, PPS has agreed to pay for 13 additional full-time art or music teachers to make sure that every school has at least one. However, she said, the inter-governmental agreement – though not finalized – has been revised to say that if the district faces a financial hardship, the city of Portland would figure out a way to avoid cutting off the money. The bottom line, Jarrat Miller said, is that ""nobody is forcing the district to do anything they can't do."" In the event that Portland Public Schools had no money to commit to art instruction, the 45 teachers would still be more than the district is currently providing, she said. Those teachers would likely split their time among all 58 elementary schools. While 58 teachers is better, 45 would be enough to give all students art or music education once a week. The 500-to-one ratio, for what it's worth, was selected based on national student-teacher-ratio averages. ""It's not a whole body that matters; it's how much education the kids are getting... that's what the ballot measure insists on,"" Jarrat Miller said. Wynde, the Portland Public financial officer, said he believed the additional language provided the district with the flexibility to renegotiate if funding becomes unstable. Nazarov, the local organizer for Stand for Children, seemed slightly less convinced. She said the organization was pleased that the inter-governmental agreement had been amended but thought the languageshould be more explicit in protecting the money. School and Arts Together has said that the arts tax would provide ""funding for certified arts and music teachers for every elementary school serving Portland residents."" It does accomplish this goal; however there are some important details that are missing –perhaps most glaringly, this idea that some districts would have to kick in money to ensure that each school has a full-time art or music teacher. Now, it's true that, in the case of financial hardship, this part of the measure could be renegotiated. But it's not clear what defines financial hardship or how those negotiations would take place -- and the inter-governmental agreement is still being drafted. Even if we assume that the funding would continue, it wouldn't be a full-time teacher in each school. We agree that it's not the body that matters so much as the amount of instructional time. But we also feel that most people voting on this tax imagine that, with it, districts would be getting enough cash to put a full-time art or music teacher in each elementary school – and that's not necessarily the case."
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