Do ballots cast by people not on the voter rolls in Maricopa County, Arizona, constitute evidence of fraud in the 2020 election? No, that's not true: People can cast provisional ballots, which are only counted if it's determined that the voters are eligible to vote, according to county officials. Such people would then be added to the rolls at a…

Is a photograph showing a BMW car half submerged in floodwaters with a "F*ck you Greta!" sticker prominetly showing on the rear window real? No, that's not true: someone photoshopped the sticker onto a real image of a car flooded by water during heavy rainfall in Germany in 2021. An example of the photo can be seen in this Facebook…

Was Edward Mordake a man born with a second face on the back of his head that could laugh, cry and whisper horrible things to him? No, that's not true: The legend of Edward Mordake, sometimes called Mordrake, appears to have begun as a work of fiction by writer Charles Lotin Hildreth in 1895. The account of Mordake's life tortured…

Did ink bleeding through ballots impact vote tallies in the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona? No, that's not true: Even if a voter's ballot marks do bleed through from one side of a ballot to another, they don't impact the tally, according to county officials. Officials point to the fact that the ballots have off-centered columns, so any potential…

Were Jews in Nazi death camps victims of critical race theory? No, that's not true: Critical race theory is an academic framework developed -- 30 years after the death camps closed -- to study how racism is embedded in institutions, including racism against Jews. It's a way to study racism in educational settings without focusing on just individuals. It is…

Were over 74,000 more mail-in ballots received and counted than were mailed out for the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona? No, that's not true: County officials say the true tally shows there were 446,000 fewer mail-in votes than ballots sent out. They said the meme's claim relies on muddling all early votes: mailed ballots together with early voting ballots.…

Is Mayim Bialik, an actress with a doctorate in neuroscience, opposed to vaccination? No, that's not true: Bialik debunked the claim after a misinterpretation of an excerpt from her book was used to portray her as someone who did not believe in vaccinating her children. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on July 14, 2021. The…

Does dialing 112 provide a direct link to "state trooper info," and does it apply to all 50 states in North America? No, that's not true: 911 is the official local and nationwide emergency number in the United States, while 112 is a global emergency number primarily used in European countries. The additional claim that dialing 112 is a way…

Are all Hallmark cards made in China and all American Greetings cards made in Ohio? No, that's partly false: About 70% of Hallmark's cards are made in the United States, with about 30% made in China, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. American Greetings Corp. is headquarted in Cleveland, Ohio, and on its website lists manufacturing facilities in Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas.…

Does this picture show a man walking past a super-realistic mural painted on a building featuring two kittens napping? No, that's not true: This is not a mural on a building. This image is part of a digital art series by Andrey Shcherbak. The digitally created images feature cats and kittens that have been added to various scenes with the…

Are a new round of stimulus checks being issued in the U.S. on July 30, 2021? No, that's not true: This is a prank post intended to lure people in and play a crude joke. There were, as of July 15, 2021, no bills working their way through the U.S. government aimed at issuing further stimulus checks to all Americans.…

Do these numbers from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) document 895 deaths or serious injuries of military veterans from COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: Anyone with internet access can add a report to the VAERS list; the public access link to it expressly warns against unwarranted conclusions based on VAERS material. The list only provides a tally…

Is a solar storm coming to Earth, so dangerous that it could impact GPS, the internet and satellites? No, that's not true: a solar storm has already come -- on July 3, 2021, -- and gone, according to NASA. It did briefly impact radio communications over the Atlantic Ocean, but there is no incoming solar storm as of this writing.…

Would taxing churches in the U.S. result in taxpayers paying only around 3% of what they pay now? No, that's not true: Although religious institutions may receive an estimated $71 billion in tax exemptions, the 3% statistic does not appear to have any basis in the amount of taxes foregone as a fraction of taxes collected on taxable entities. Churches…

Do people need to "remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from the virus they got vaccinated against because you're not vaccinated"? No, that's not true. Mocking public health advice, this meme leaves out the primary purposes of vaccination: Preventing you from becoming infected; Preventing you from infecting others. Both unvaccinated and (to a far lesser…

Do middle-aged Bald Eagles go into isolation for 150 days, break their own beaks and pluck out all their feathers to regenerate themselves to live to the age of 70? No, that's not true: The oldest documented Bald Eagle was 38. Raptor experts at the World Center for Birds of Prey and the Fish & Wildlife Service say the allegorical…

Does this photo of bulk peanut butter packaged on plastic foam trays and covered with plastic wrap show how peanut butter is packaged and sold in Canada? No, that's not true: This photo shows bulk peanut butter for sale in an unnamed shop in Trinidad and Tobago. This is not the standard way for peanut butter to be packaged in…

Does a picture of thousands of people packing a wide Cuban street show 2021 protesters taking to the streets against Communism? No, that's not true: The picture is several years old and has been described in captions either as a parade of International Workers' Day celebrants or as a commemoration of the death of Fidel Castro. All described the scene…

Was the first slave owner in America a Black man? No, that's not true: Anthony Johnson, an Angolan who was an indentured servant in the Virginia colony starting in 1621, did gain the recognized right to own property, including slaves, after he was released following years of being an indentured servant. He used slaves on his Maryland tobacco farm, but…

Do Los Angeles County and the combined population of seven Midwestern and Western states have roughly the same population, but different congressional representation? Yes, although the comparison is misleading: Every state (and therefore, counties in the state) is represented by two U.S. senators, no matter the area's population. Conversely, the number of a state's representatives in the U.S. House, which…