Aliens

Does a photo show that archeologists have uncovered the skeleton of a giant? No, that's not true: This picture was created in 2011 for a Worth1000.com Photoshop hoax contest called "Size Matters 4," which had a size-altering but photorealistic theme. This entry was made by the designer posting as Whitmath57. The Photoshop hoax contest was held on August 14, 2011.…

Can you declare yourself not a U.S. citizen to avoid paying taxes to the IRS? No, that's not true: The U.S. Constitution and the Internal Revenue Code clearly define citizenship and how a "person" is defined for tax purposes. The tactic is used by several groups, including the "sovereign citizen" movement. The FBI calls its followers "anti-government extremists who believe…

Were Republican Party leaders Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Paul Manafort and Mitch McConnell born nine months after a purported UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947? No, that's not true: Although some of the four Republican Party members were born in the 1940s, none were born in 1947. Lead Stories has previously fact-checked a similar claim in 2019, in…

Did a giant flying saucer hover over a military convoy while a soldier stood guard, seemingly oblivious? No, that's not true: This image was entered in a creative UFO Photoshop contest in December of 2005. It is a doctored composite of several elements including the military convoy, the UFO, the chain link fence and some additional sky to extend the…

Did Derek Chauvin's attorney say that "space aliens" flew in, inhabited Chauvin's body and caused George Floyd's death? Yes, but the meaning is lost without the full context of the statement. Defense attorney Eric Nelson mentioned space aliens in his closing argument on April 19, 2021, as an example of a scenario prompting reasonable doubt. Chauvin's lawyer did not use…

Has President Joe Biden taken down the southern border wall that former President Donald Trump built? No, that's not true: On Biden's first day in office, January 20, 2021, he ordered a "pause in construction and obligation of funds" relating to the expansion of the border wall Trump had decreed. Biden's order says nothing about tearing down the part of…

Did President Bill Clinton quietly sign into law an economic reform measure secretly passed by Congress and did President George W. Bush later orchestrate the 9/11 attacks to prevent the enactment of the law, commonly known as NESARA? No, that's not true: The claims about NESARA, which at the time of its introduction stood for the National Economic Security and…

Did 9,000 "illegals" enter the United States in all of 2020 versus 108,000 in the first three months of 2021? No, that's not true: The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to Lead Stories the agency's numbers are vastly different from those in a posted claim. In the 2020 calendar year 547,816 people were apprehended entering…

Did Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tell President Joe Biden to "go f--k yourself"? No, that's not true: No tape, transcript nor witness corroborates the claim. The source for the quote is a website with a history of publishing false claims. Lead Stories searched for publicly available corroboration and found none and a spokesperson for the governor's office told Lead Stories…