rumours

Claim: Donald Trump hung a photograph of the Women’s March at the White House believing that it showed his inauguration. MOSTLY FALSE WHAT’S TRUE: A photograph of Donald Trump’s inauguration featuring the incorrect date (21 January instead of 20 January) was hung at the White House. WHAT’S FALSE: The photograph featured the wrong date but …

On 23 January 2017, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was a guest on the Fox News show “Fox Friends,” during which he talked about a range of political issues, including his opinion about statements made by pop star and cultural provocateur Madonna during the 21 January 2017 Women’s March on Washington event. During her speech, …

Between 21 and 23 January 2017, a swarm of at least 34 tornadoes devastated communities in the southeastern United States, resulting in at least twenty deaths. According to the Weather Channel: From the morning of Jan. 21 through Jan. 23, at least 34 tornadoes have been confirmed either by National Weather Service damage surveys, dual-polarization radar …

On 23 January 2017, both ProPublica and the Huffington Post published stories reporting that the Trump administration had frozen all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants, with the former publication describing the scope of the putative move: The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move …

The 21 January 2017 Women’s March on Washington was a rousing success from a purely numerical standpoint, drawing a crowd estimated at upwards of 470,000 people in and around the National Mall area at its peak. Nonetheless, the event had its critics, some of whom chose to take participants to task for being messy: Of …

Origin:On 20 January 2017, the day Donald J. Trump took office as President of the United States, news outlets posted photos purporting to compare the size of the crowd attending Trump’s inauguration to that attending Barack Obama’s first inaugural ceremony in 2009. Although there was not yet an official count of how many people actually showed …

On 20 January 2017, multiple media outlets began posting side-by-side photographs of the crowds at former President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration and President Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration: Obama’s inauguration set a record for attendance with an estimated 1.8 million people, as it was a historical event: he was the first African-American U.S. president to take office, …

Origin:On 18 January 2017, the right wing web site GotNews posted a story claiming that U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who is perhaps most famous for participating in the Civil Rights Movement at the side of Martin Luther King, Jr., didn’t pay property taxes on a $1 million townhouse located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood …

On 17 January 2017, an entomologist working at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes, Vazrick Nazari, published a paper that re-examined a genus of moth (Neopalpa), discovering a previously undescribed species in a large collection of specimens from California and Mexico. The paper, published in the peer-reviewed, open access journal ZooKeys, described …

Come out for the Domhnall, ye brave men and proud, The scion of Torquil and best of MacLeod! With purpose and strength he came down from his tower To snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power. Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd: “Come out for the Domhnall, the best …

Bethania Palma Markus is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for a variety of publications as a staffer and freelancer, including the Los Angeles News Group, the LAist, LA School Report, …

On 10 January 2017 actor Nicole Kidman (a dual citizen of the United States and her native Australia) reluctantly answered a question about President-elect Donald Trump by opining that Americans should put aside differences and support the new administration. Kidman’s remarks occurred during a BBC Two interview about her role in the film Lion. Thirteen …

Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus, whose animal and human shows both delighted audiences and invited criticism and controversy, announced on 15 January 2017 that they will be shutting down their tours permanently in May 2017, after 146 years. Officials with Ringling Bros. said that a variety of issues contributed to the decision. Ringling Bros. and …

On 12 January 2017, an MSNBC guest inadvertently added to conspiracy theories about Russia’s influence in the United States when he was seen saying the word “Russia” in a loop after a brief broadcast disruption. Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius was in the middle of an appearance on Hardball when the broadcast seemingly froze …

Bethania Palma Markus is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for a variety of publications as a staffer and freelancer, including the Los Angeles News Group, the LAist, LA School Report, …

Bethania Palma Markus is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for a variety of publications as a staffer and freelancer, including the Los Angeles News Group, the LAist, LA School Report, …

Claim: Meryl Streep was fired by director Ron Howard from a from a “Happy Days” reboot project for lying about Donald Trump mocking a disabled reporter. False Example: [Collected via Facebook, January 2017] Origin:On 9 January 2017, several web sites with a history of posting questionable information posted articles holding that actress Meryl Streep was “fired …

Origin:You needn’t be an expert in psychology to pinpoint January as one of the least enjoyable months of the year: the excitement of the holidays has concluded while related bills begin rolling in, the coming of a new year is for many people a reminder of passing time that prompts sad reflections about missed opportunities …

Bethania Palma Markus is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for a variety of publications as a staffer and freelancer, including the Los Angeles News Group, the LAist, LA School Report, …

Bethania Palma Markus is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for a variety of publications as a staffer and freelancer, including the Los Angeles News Group, the LAist, LA School Report, …