Coins

Did President Joe Biden choose a "Satan worshipper" to oversee the health of Americans? No, that's not true: Biden picked Dr. Demetre Daskalakis to serve as the deputy coordinator of a national health response team for a single disease, monkeypox. Daskalakis does have a tattoo of a pentagram -- a symbol that some associate with Satan and the occult --…

Does a trident superimposed on the gold and blue Ukrainian flag represent membership in, or support for, the Nazi political movement? No, that's not true: The trident is the national symbol of Ukraine that is often added to the country's flag. The claim appeared in an Instagram post from November 25, 2022, under the title "Here I am driving to…

Was a debt jubilee, the cancellation of a broad range of debts from the public record, "officially declared" after Queen Elizabeth II's death? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, no such announcement has been made. The man who posted the rumor online was promoting his online store selling precious metals. The claim appeared in a Facebook post…

Are Federal Reserve notes -- commonly known as paper money -- just "obligations" and therefore exempt from taxes? And does the U.S. Constitution say gold and silver are the only form of "lawful money" to be used in paying debts? No, neither of those claims are true. The Constitution does not specify any particular form of currency, and under federal…

Was 80% of all U.S. dollars in existence created within the "last two months" as of April 16, 2022? No, that's not true: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), the agency within the Department of Treasury responsible for producing U.S. currency notes, told Lead Stories that the claim is false. Additionally, other "evidence" discussed in the claim is based…

Is the U.S. government's Medicare program providing "flex cards" to qualified seniors that allow them to spend up to $2,800 a year? No, that's not true: Flex cards -- attached to a flexible spending account with money put aside for specific expenses such as medical costs -- are not a part of the Medicare program. Many advertisements promoting these flex…

Does microwaving a penny for one minute cause it to shrink into a mini coin? No, that's not true: Metals expand when heated -- not shrink. Also, microwaving any metallic item, such as a coin, is dangerous as it can cause sparks and, ultimately, a fire. The claim appeared in a July 29, 2021, Facebook post (archived here). Above the…

Did Chinese authorities seize more than 7,200 human penises on a cargo ship from Nigeria? No, that's not true: This story originated on March 19, 2021 on the satire website World News Daily Report. The website makes it clear it is not to be taken seriously with the motto "Where facts don't matter." The photo used to illustrate the made-up…

Did archaeologists find a one million year-old artificial underground complex? No, that's not true: the archaeological site in question consists of approximately 3,500 well-studied underground chambers across various complexes, which extend across what is now central Israel. The claim offers no peer-reviewed scholarship in support of the idea of a million-year-old stucture and leading archaeological institutions say the man-made caves…

Does this collection of photos show the inner workings of airplanes that spray "chemtrails" and has this information been "declassified"? No, that's not true: These photos do not show "chemtrail spraying equipment." The photos are either misidentified, are a joke, or are intentionally unidentified, but they have been presented in a false context allowing imaginations to run wild. There is…