Nobody cuts Biden’s mic and part of video attributed to Pelosi was rigged
During a recent congressional hearing on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Republican Senator from Idaho, James Risch, used his interrogation time to question Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a conspiracy theory circulating in the conservative media.
“It has been widely reported that someone has the ability to press the button and mute (of President Joe Biden) and prevent him from speaking. Who is that person?†asked Risch.
Blinken seemed intrigued by the senator’s question, responding: “There is no such person.”
This false narrative that someone controls what the president says is based on fake news reported in right-wing media, according to the Washington Post.
At the inauguration, Biden declared “beautiful Marines” as he walked past a group of soldiers. But some social media users claimed the president said “salute the Marines,” repeating what a voice in his earpiece told him to do.
Then, during a virtual retreat in March, the Republican National Committee, or RNC, claimed the White House cut the video feed before Biden had a chance to answer questions. But there was never supposed to be a question-and-answer session during the retreat. The official program for the event included a “pool spray outside the city at the top,” meaning reporters at the White House pool were allowed to hear the opening remarks, but must then leave the room. before the discussion. The video stream caught the first few seconds when Biden started the chat, but then paused, as expected.
The idea that someone is cutting off Biden’s speech is that the RNC is making “a mountain out of a molehill,” Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler said.
“It is particularly appalling that a senior senator like Risch falls prey to such nonsense and wastes precious time at an important national security hearing,” Kessler said.
Pelosi’s fake comment added to video
President Joe Biden, at the March virtual retreat, ended his comments by saying, “And I’m happy to take questions if that’s what you – I’m supposed to do, Nance. I do. “
In a video clip circulating on social media, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was virtually attending the retreat, can be heard saying, “Am I logged in? No, we don’t want that. he speaks.”
But the Pelosi part of this exchange is bogus, according to the Associated Press. In the actual video, she does not respond when she leaves the meeting and her screen changes to an image of Biden. The President then answered questions on systemic racism and the child tax credit.
The manipulated video, with the Pelosi fake line added, was created as a political satire by comedian Michael Clive but was posted to Twitter without being tagged as a joke.
“Yes, it’s me, imitating Nancy Pelosi but this Twitter version has been changed,” Clive told the AP. “The original is labeled satire at the end.”
The votes have not disappeared
California Governor Gavin Newsom last week was not recalled in a vote that unofficial results show decisively keeps him as head of state.
A video circulating on social networks falsely claims that 400,000 of these votes have disappeared.
The video shows a graphic on CNN titled “Should Governor Newsom Be Recalled?” â€With 4,530,002“ no â€votes and 2,225,915“ yes â€votes. But then the numbers change, showing that the “yes” votes decrease to 1,874,206, while the “no” votes remain unchanged.
A voice on the video said, “Where did they go? 400,000 votes just disappeared? Wow.”
The video is genuine, according to PolitiFact.com, but the change was to correct a reporting error.
A representative from Edison Research, the group that provides election data to CNN and other news outlets, accidentally reported the total number of votes cast at that time, and not just the “yes” votes, as the number of votes to recall Newsom. The error was then corrected in the graph.
“This error was captured at 11:19 p.m. ET and corrected two minutes later at 11:21 p.m. ET,” Edison Research executive vice president Rob Farbman told PolitiFact.
Morning eye grime is not caused by spiders
A recent Facebook post claims that the scab in people’s eyes when they wake up is caused by spiders.
The post claims that it is “spider mating season” and that it is a “well known fact that at night male spiders confuse eyelashes with female spiders and that is why in the morning we wake up sometimes with our eyelashes stuck together, â€the post said.
This post, which has been shared nearly 5,800 times, is false, according to USA Today. The scab that people wake up with is an oily substance called meibum that is released from the eye glands, Yale School of Medicine assistant professor Vicente Diaz told PolitiFact.
“When people are sleeping and they don’t move their eyelids, it kind of dries up that way,†Diaz said.
• Bob Oswald is a seasoned Chicago-area reporter and former editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at [email protected]