Did Kamala Harris descend from a slave owner and it is a "deep, dark secret" that has "come back to haunt" her? Yes, it is true that Sen. Harris does apparently have an Irish great-great-great-great-great grandfather who owned slaves in Jamaica, it is also likely that Harris's great-great-great-great-great grandmother was his slave and was inpregnated through rape. This is no…

Did Kamala Harris say she believed Joe Biden's "rape Accusers"? No, that's not true: This is a misrepresentation of what Senator Harris said about women who said they felt "uncomfortable" from Biden's touching them and another woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by the former vice president. None of the women accused Biden of rape. Harris is quoted in…

Does a photo show Barack Obama with his had inside his young daughter's pants? No, that's not true: The photograph of Obama with his arm around his daughter taken by a journalist in 2007 was digitally altered. The original shows Obama's above his daughter's waist. The claim appeared as a meme in a post (archived here) shared on Facebook on…

Did Nancy Pelosi "confirm" that China would prefer Joe Biden as president? No, that's not true: Pelosi was quoting Trump administration's National Counterintelligence and Security Center intelligence report that concluded that Russia favored Trump, while China favored Biden. A short video clip from Pelosi's August 9, 2020, appearance on CNN's State of the Union show was edited to omit the…

Did Kurt Russell share a poem titled "The Badge" that attacks the "defunding the police" movement? No, that's not true: An earlier version of the poem attributed to "unknown" appeared in a Facebook post on June 7, 2020, but it did not include any mention of "defund the police." A more recent version purportedly shared by the actor does address…

Did President Trump post a tweet suggesting "child lifes matter" should be painted on the streets of Hollywood? No, that's not true: The message was published on a fake Trump Twitter account, a fact missed by some who believed it was a sign that the president was signalling belief in the QAnon Pizzagate conspiracy theory. The bogus account unsername @realDonalTrump_,…

Did the family of Martin Luther King Jr. successfully sue the U.S. government for the civil rights leader's murder? No, that's not true: The family brought a civil suit against a Memphis man, Loyd Jowers, not the U.S. government. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on June 8, 2020. It read: Mrs. Coretta Scott King sued the…

Can a person in Michigan send in applications for absentee ballots for people no longer living at their residence and then vote multiple times? No, that's not true. According to the secretary of state in Michigan, that is not possible -- signatures on the absentee ballot application request must match the signature on the voter registration. The secretary of state…

Did Mark Zuckerberg post about the participating in a "sexual congress" and enjoying "ingesting adrenochone," but finding it "challenging" to watch it being taken from "little participants" while on Jeffrey Epstein's private island? No, that's not true: It's a fake post using used a photo from the Facebook founder's 2012 Christmas vacation in Maui, Hawaii. A screenshot of the fake…

Did Sarah Huckabee Sanders post a tweet saying "it's not the government's job to protect my health" and that "when you trade liberty for safety, you end up losing both"? No, that's not true: The quote originated from a parody Twitter account that poses as the former White House press secretary. The quote appeared in a Facebook post (archived here)…

Has Democrat Joe Biden promised to outlaw gas cars if elected U.S. president? No, this is not true. Biden's "Clean Energy" policy released in July 2020 does not include a promise to outlaw gas-powered cars. It does propose actions and incentives to promote a rapid adoption of electric vehicles as a replacement to gas-guzzling internal-combustion engines. The claim is stated…

Does a photo of thousands of people packed shoulder to shoulder without face masks show the crowd at the Sturgis 2020 motorcycle rally? No, that's not true: The photo was taken at a previous Sturgis rally when there was not a COVID-19 pandemic. The city of Sturgis has not imposed mask and social distancing requirements for the estimated 250,000 people…

Did Illinois just quietly pass a law making it a felony to record police without consent? No, that's not true. Illinois did pass a law in 2014 that relates to "eavesdropping" devices to record "private conversations," but this does not apply to recording police officers performing their duties in public, making an arrest or during a protest. The claim appeared…

Are two stamps needed for mail-in ballots to be delivered and counted? No, that's not true: The U.S. Post Service has a policy of delivering all ballots, even if they do not have enough postage on the envelope, a USPS spokesman told Lead Stories. No stamps are needed in 18 states where prepaid envelopes are provided for voters. A quick…

Are a series of images circulating on social media accurately depicting what life looked and felt like during the 1918 flu pandemic? No, that's not true: While some of the photographs are, in fact, from the time when what was known as the Spanish flu ravaged the globe, infecting about 500 million people and killing at least 50 million, to…

Are images of a deceased teenager connected to Hillary Clinton? No, that's not true: The photographs are of Scarlett Keeling, a British teenager who was killed in India in 2008. There is no evidence supporting the claim that the pictures are from the former secretary of state's laptop. The photographs appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on August…

Was the Disney movie "Lilo & Stitch" edited to include a pizza box as a signal to pedophiles? No, that's not true. The scene in the movie as originally released in theaters in 2002 showed Lilo hiding in a clothes dryer, but DVD versions distributed in Britain in 2010 showed her hiding in a cabinet with a pizza box as…

Will Mars look as big as the Moon in the night sky on August 27? No, that's not true: This is an old hoax that has circulated at least since 2003. The size of Mars would have to magnify about 140 times to match the size of a full moon. It has not ever happened and will not on any…

Does U.S. Treasury law make it unlawful for American businesses to refuse to take "legal tender" cash as payment for goods and services? No, that's not true: The Federal Reserve, which oversees the U.S. money supply, made it clear on its website that private businesses are free to follow their own policy about if to accept cash or demand payment…

Would a drop in the percent of positive tests for COVID-19 prove the U.S. has reached "herd immunity"? No, that's not true: The doctor overseeing the testing lab at the pandemic's ground zero says so-called 'positivity' data is not an indicator of herd immunity. Increasing numbers of COVID cases in Florida and Arizona at the time the claim was made…