Daily FactFloods

February 17, 2021

#FactFlood :ocean:

:speaking_head_in_silhouette: The Texas Power outage is about natural gas freezing, not wind.:droplet:Texas is in trouble. But it’s not because their wind turbines lack de-icing features.

:droplet: Roughly 34 Gigawatts of power capacity that is unavailable due to weather right now. :droplet: Of that, 30 Gigawatts is down due to freezing at gas and coal fueled power plants.
Only 4 Gigawatts is due to reduced wind output. :droplet: Another big factor is that Texas is the only state in the continental US with an isolated power grid, which means they can’t draw on the reserves from other states. #TakeASecToCheck out our sources:point_down:

February 12, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: Did the House impeachment managers violate a House rule about use of manipulated media? No, and here's why. The new rule (which is not active until 12/31/21) says no one in the House can share any media that has been distorted or manipulated with the intent to mislead the public. The video of clips from the Capitol Riots was edited for length, but it does not have any audio-visual distortions or edits to make it appear someone said something they did not. The Impeachment Trial is in the Senate, not the House, so even if the law was in effect it would not apply here.

February 11, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: Can Vitamin D help prevent severe cases of COVID-19? The science may point to YES. Unfortunately, people of color frequently experience Vitamin D deficiency. People with higher levels of melanin in their skin produce lower levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D may help to reduce the severity of COVID-19 illness by regulating your immune response and preventing cytokine storms. There are a lot of complex and troubling reasons people of color suffer more from COVID-19, but while the data on COVID-19 and Vitamin D may be mixed, a Vitamin D pill may be a simple way to make a small improvement.

February 10, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: A German study claims 68% of children have bad reactions to wearing masks. Be skeptical - this wasn't a scientifically valid study. Bad sample: This wasn't a random sample of kids wearing masks. An online survey collected parents' reports of their kids complaints. Research into the study shows that the participants were largely mask skeptics. No control group: They didn't check if kids without masks had the sample complaints. There is no other evidence suggesting masks harm people. Be skeptical of these results.

February 8, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: A Facebook video showing a doctor passing vapors through a surgical mask has people questioning how well masks protect us against COVID. Short answer - masks help! Yes, vapor can pass through a mask. That's how your breathe. Masks actually help protect you from larger germ-containing droplets that are expelled when people breathe and talk. Both the CDC and the WHO recommend wearing masks to limit the spread of COVID-19.

February 5, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: Can the mRNA in the COVID-19 vaccine give you the coronavirus? No. The mRNA in the vaccine codes for one tiny protein, the spike protein. It tells your cells to make this protein and then your body forms antibodies against it. Next time your body sees the spike protein it is ready to kill it. The part of the virus that makes you sick, the viral RNA, is never introduced to your body by the vaccine.

February 4, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: mRNA from the COVID vaccine does not become part of your DNA. Certain pages on social media and alternative health sites are claiming that the mRNA from the Moderna vaccine is designed to integrate into your DNA, permanently altering it and causing your cells to produce COVID-19 and make you sick. This is false. mRNA can't get into the nucleus of a cell, so it can't get near your DNA. Only a few viruses like HIV can integrate with your DNA, and they require special enzymes that only work with that particular virus to do this. COVID-19 can't integrate with your DNA, and neither can the mRNA in the vaccine. There are no enzymes to make this happen.

February 3, 2021

Today's #FactFlood: Facebook and Twitter are not unfair to conservatives. A Pew Research Center poll from 2020 shows that 90% of Republicans and conservative leaning independents believe that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are unfairly targeting them with censorship. This has led many conservatives to join other apps like Parler. A new study by NYU has shown that's not the case. In fact, the study shows the opposite. Right-wing viewpoints are being shared and spread to a larger audience than ever before.

February 2, 2021

💩 Looks like the military in Myanmar are taking a page out of our disinfo playbook. They are questioning the #ElectionIntegrity of their latest election, and have said the Dominion machines caused massive voter fraud.

💧 Dominion machines were never used in Myanmar.

💧 Dominion machines used in the US presidential election were not hacked and didn’t cause massive voter fraud.

February 1, 2021

💩 There is a rumor that the Biden administration lost track of 20 million doses of the #COVIDvaccine. This rumor has been amplified by misleading article titles from many media sources. Here is what we know:

💧 When the Trump administration began to distribute the vaccine, they put each state in charge of how to get the vaccine out to the public.

💧 This means that once the government shipped out the allotted doses each state developed its own way of tracking those doses.

💧 In some states this means that doses are only tracked once someone receives a vaccine and it’s reported by health officials 👇
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/27/ron-klain/trump-vaccine-plan-left-logistics-states-it-did-ex/

💧 Biden’s team wants to set up a tracking system that would allow the federal government to know where the doses are at all stages of distribution: from shipment to each state, location of storage, to patients receiving it. 👇
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/30/biden-covid-vaccine-states-463953

January 29, 2021

🗣 As cases of the new COVID strain start to pop up across the country people want to know: will the current vaccines protect us?

Here is what we know:

💧 The CDC is now listing three COVID-19 variants found globally, one from the U.K., one from South Africa, and one from Brazil 👇
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html

💧 We currently have two vaccines approved for Emergency use by the FDA from Pfizer and Moderna. Vaccines from other companies will likely be approved soon.

💧 Both companies have determined that the vaccine will be effective against these new strains, a claim that Dr. Fauci has supported. They both will be monitoring the situation to see if the current version of the vaccine will need to be modified. 👇
https://www.news10.com/news/pfizer-and-moderna-covid-19-vaccines-protect-against-new-strains/

💧 To stay updated on the situation check the CDC for regular updates!

January 28, 2021

💩 There is a rumor going around that baseball legend and Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron, died of complications due to the COVID-19 vaccine.
💧 This is FALSE. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office said Monday that Aaron died of natural causes.👇
💧💧💧 This is part of an ongoing wave of COVID-19 disinfo that is targeting vulnerable communities. Let’s make sure we all #TakeASecToCheck and verify information with a credible source before spreading it on social media. We can help #ChangeTheRatio of bad to good information on all of our newsfeeds!

January 27, 2021

💩 Some GOP senators have called Trump’s impeachment trial unconstitutional because he is no longer in office. Many constitutional law experts disagree. Here’s why:
💧 The Constitution does not exactly say whether or not a former president or other federal official can be impeached after they leave office. It does however give the House of Representatives “the sole power to impeach an official.” We can rely on precedent to determine what that means.
💧 20 federal officials have been impeached by the Congressional House since our country was founded and one of them was impeached and tried after he resigned (Secretary of War William Belknap). This sets a legal precedent for Congress’s ability to impeach a former federal official.👇
💧 Many scholars believe that by preventing former officials to be impeached you allow people to escape any accountability for wrong doing during their time in office. An impeachment conviction also could mean the official is barred from hold another federal position.👇
💧 During a debate about whether or not to impeach Daniel Webster in the 1800s Former President and then Congressman John Quincy Adams said, “ I hold myself, so long as I have the breath of life in my body, amenable to impeachment by this House for everything I did during the time I held any public office.”👇

January 26, 2021

💩 Rumor: Biden’s inauguration was pre-recorded and aired in Spain before the U.S.
💧 Reality: This is a strange and baseless claim. There’s zero evidence.
💧 Spanish news sources say it’s not true.👇
💧 Fox news had live commentary and coverage.👇
💧💧💧 And of course, Bernie’s jacket and mittens are all the proof you need:

January 25, 2021

People are worried that Biden’s Health and Human Services’ freeze on Trump’s December drug policy may increase their insulin and Epi-pen costs. Here is what we know about the HHS freeze:

💧 Trump signed an executive order finalized by HHS in December of 2020:
• It required community health centers to provide insulin at cost in order to receive federal funding.

💧 Community Health Centers pushed back:
• They claim to already give these drugs at cost and that the new rule just puts a strain on their administrative teams.

💧 Experts also say that the rule probably won’t really affect the prices of drugs, because it doesn’t apply to most provider or patients.

💧 Biden’s freeze does not repeal Trump’s drug policy. It just gives his administration 60 days to review it.

For the full story click here 👇
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/community-health-centers/hhs-freezes-rule-targeting-community-health-centers-drug-discounts

January 22, 2021

💩 Once again, people are making a baseless claim about Joe Biden wearing an earpiece. This time they claim it cause him to goof up a salute to the Marines during his inauguration. This is FALSE and part of a decade long #DirtyDisinfoTrick.

💧 Both the GOP and DEMS have been the target of baseless claims of wires and earpieces, starting with George W. Bush back in 2004. Other earpiece conspiracy targets include: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Kelly Loeffler, and of course Joe Biden.

💧 Every single one of those claims was debunked. For a little history check out this article 👇
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/coordinated-push-conspiracy-theories-target-biden-hours-debate-n1241426

💧 This Biden rumor is particularly malicious because it casts doubt on his mental capabilities, while making light of the speech impediment he spent years overcoming. Just a reminder, Biden’s health and fitness for them job have been verified 👇
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/former-vice-president-biden-s-medical-history-summary-report/ca7808de-da80-4f40-84e8-9dc3b23a7f12/

💧💧 A little bonus #FactFlood! Presidents do not initiate a salute to military personnel. They are Commander-In-Chief of the Armed forces, so all military personnel initiate salutes to them. Also presidents being in civilian clothes are not required to return salutes. The current practice of presidents returning salutes actually started with Ronald Regan in 1981.
http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/2008/12/24/to-salute-or-not-to-salute-thats-obamas-question/