Coca-Cola is not offering a bottle with the label 'Share a Coke with the KKK' for sale.
In March 2016, photos showing a bottle of Coca-Cola with the words "share a Coke with the KKK" written on its label started circulating online:    This is not a real product sold by Coca-Cola. While the "Share a Coke" campaign allows Coca-Cola drinkers to personalize their cans, some words or phrases (such as "KKK") are not available:    The image showing the "KKK" bottle was created for an online petition on the web site Color Of Change, asking the company to pull its sponsorship of the Republican National Convention due to Donald Trump's failure to condemn the KKK in an interview: petition interview Even with Trump refusing to disavow the support of the Ku Klux Klan this weekend and declaring All Lives Matter at a rally, Coca-Cola and other companies still have not canceled their sponsorship of the RNC. How can Coca-Cola, a company that heavily markets to and profits from Black people, fund a platform for a presidential nominee that is being bolstered into office by former Grand Wizard David Duke, the KKK, and other white supremacists? The petition presupposes both that Coca-Cola will be sponsoring the 2016 Republican National Convention, and that Coca-Cola would be effectively endorsing the Ku Klux Klan by sponsoring the RNC. On 23 February 2016, representatives from the advocacy groups ColorofChange, Americas Voice, CREDO Action, Million Hoodies, MoveOn, and Presente.org admitted as much in an open letter to Coca-Cola and other alleged sponsors of the 2016 RNC: letter Based on your corporate sponsorship of the 2012 Republican National Convention we have reason to believe that your company is planning to again sponsor the RNC this year. We believe it is a sign of strong corporate leadership for you and your company to refrain from sponsoring Donald Trumps hateful and divisive rhetoric. While Coca-Cola did sponsor the Republican National Convention in 2012, the company also sponsored the Democratic National Convention that year: sponsored Many of the sponsors of the Democratic convention were also sponsors of the host committee in Tampa for last week's Republican National Convention. "The Coca-Cola Company believes we have a role to play in the political process and that includes helping to make the political conventions a success," said Coca-Cola spokeswoman Nancy Bailey.
Claim:  Article describes incidents in the administration of Maine governor Paul LePage.  Example:  [Collected via e-mail, April 2012] Meet Maine's New Governor  In case you haven't heard aboutthis guy before, his name will stick in your mind! The new Maine Governor, Paul LePage is making New Jersey's Chris Christielook like an enabler. He isn't afraid to say what he thinks. Judging bythe comments, every time he opens his mouth, his popularity goes up.He brought down the house at his inauguration when he shook his fisttoward the media box and said, "You're on notice! I've inherited afinancially troubled State to run. Observe...cover what we do...but don'twhine if I don't waste time responding to your every whim just for youramusement." During his campaign for Governor, he was talking to commercial fishermenwho are struggling because of federal fisheries rules. They complainedthat 0bama brought his family to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park for along Labor Day holiday and found time to meet with union leaders, butwouldn't talk to the fishermen. LePage replied, "I'd tell him to go tohell and get out of my State." The Lame Stream Media crucified LePage, buthe jumped 6 points in the pre-election poll. The Martin Luther King incident was a political sandbag, which brought himNational exposure. The 'lame stream' media crucified him, but word on thestreet is very positive. The NAACP specifically asked LePage to spend MLKDay visiting black inmates at the Maine State Prison. He told them that hewould meet with ALL inmates, regardless of race, if he were to visit theprison. The NAACP balked and then put out a news release claiming falselythat he refused to participate in any MLK events. He read it in the paperfor the 1st time the next morning while being driven to an event and wentballistic because none of the reporters had called him for comment beforerunning the NAACP release. He arrived at that event & said in front of a TV camera, "If they want toplay the race card on me they can kiss my ass", and he reminded them thathe has an adopted black son from Jamaica and that he attended the localMLK Breakfast every year that he was mayor of Waterville. (He started hismorning there on MLK Day.) He then stated that there's a right way and a wrong way to meet with theGovernor, and he put all special interests on notice that press releases,media leaks, and all demonstrations would prove to be the wrong way. Hesaid any other group, which acted like the NAACP could expect to be at thebottom of the Governor's priority list! He then did the following, and judging from local radio talk show callers,his popularity increased even more: The State employees union complainedbecause he waited until 3 P.M. before closing State offices and facilitiesand sending non-emergency personnel home during the last blizzard. Theprior Governor would often close offices for the day with just a forecastbefore the first flakes. (Each time the State closes for snow, it coststhe taxpayers about $1 million in wages for no work in return.)LePage was CEO of the Marden's chain of discount family bargain retailstores before election as governor. He noted that State employees gettingoff work early could still find lots of retail stores open to shop. So, heput the State employees on notice by announcing: "If Marden's is open,Maine is open!" He told State employees: "We live in Maine in the winter, for heaven'ssake, and should know how to drive in it. Otherwise, apply for a State jobin Florida!" Governor LePage symbolizes what America needs; Refreshing politicians whoaren't self-serving and who exhibit common sense.  Origins:  Paul LePage is the Republican governor of Maine who was elected to that office in 2010 after serving eight years as the mayor of Waterville.  Prior to his stint as Waterville's mayor, LePage was general manager of Marden's Surplus and Salvage, a discount chain with 14 stores throughout the state of Maine.  Shortly after LePage took office as governor in January 2011 the laudatory piece about him reproduced above began circulating on the Internet; we found its salient points to be a mixture of varying degrees of truthfulness as described below:  Paul LePage   He brought down the house at his inauguration when he shook his fist toward the media box and said, "You're on notice! I've inherited a financially troubled State to run. Observe ... cover what we do ... but don't whine if I don't waste time responding to your every whim just for your amusement." Although this inaugural statement attributed to Governor LePage is widely quoted on Internet sites, it doesn't appear in either the transcript or the video recording of his inaugural address.  Perhaps he said it some other point during his inaugural day ceremonies, but we haven't yet been able to find a source documenting that he did. transcript video     During his campaign for Governor, he was talking to commercial fishermenwho are struggling because of federal fisheries rules. They complainedthat 0bama brought his family to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park for along Labor Day holiday and found time to meet with union leaders, butwouldn't talk to the fishermen. LePage replied, "I'd tell him to go tohell and get out of my State." While on the campaign trail in September 2010, LePage did make a comment to a group of fishermen about how he would "tell Obama to go to hell," although an Associated Press account of the incident gives it a somewhat different context: Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage told a group of fishermen at a GOP forum that he won't be afraid to tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell." LePage [said] that he regretted the words he chose in the small coastal town of Brooksville but that he wasn't backing down in his criticism of the administration for what he describes as free-spending, antibusiness policies. LePage was responding to a question when he made the remark about Obama, which was captured by a Democratic Party aide who was videotaping the event. "As your governor, you're going to be seeing a lot of me on the front page, saying 'Governor LePage tells Obama to go to hell,'" LePage said to applause. LePage's remark was part of a longer discussion of issues at the fishermen's forum. Dennis Blodgett, the town's GOP committee chairman, said much of the discussion focused on "too many federal regulations being crammed down our throats."   The NAACP specifically asked LePage to spend MLK Day visiting black inmates at the Maine State Prison. He told them that hewould meet with ALL inmates, regardless of race, if he were to visit the prison. He arrived at that event & said in front of a TV camera, "If they want to play the race card on me they can kiss my ass." In January 2011, some news accounts reported that Governor LePage had declined an NAACP invitation to attend an NAACP-sponsored Martin Luther King Day event which included a meeting with black inmates at the Maine State Prison, with the governor stating that he would meet with all prisoners or none at all, and telling the organization to "kiss my butt" when they responded that his proposal was unacceptable: Maine Governor Paul LePage declined an NAACP invitation to attend Martin Luther King Day events. Hell be attending a funeral of a State Trooper. NAACP didnt like that, and questioned his support for them. LePage responded ... uhm ... pretty clearly. They are a special interest. End of story ... and Im not going to be held hostage by special interests. And if they want, they can look at my family picture. My son happens to be black, so they can do whatever theyd like about it. The fact of the matter is theres only so many hours in a day, so many hours in a week, and so much that you can do. Hes turned down NAACP invitations before. They invited me to go to the state prison to meet black prisoners. I told them I would go, Id be more than happy to go, but I would meet all prisoners, and that wasnt acceptable to them. So tough Luck. To the suggestion that he had a pattern of slighting the N.A.A.C.P., he replied, Tell them to kiss my butt, adding, If they want to play the race card, come to dinner; my son will talk to them. However, the referenced event was actually a candidates' forum that took place in September 2010, while LePage was still a candidate for governor, not an event to be held on Martin Luther King Day in January 2011, after LePage took office.  The NAACP maintained (and offered documentation demonstrating) that their invitation for LePage to attend the candidates' forum at a prison in Warren made no mention of his meeting only with black prisoners, that LePage never told them he would go to "meet all prisoners" or none at all, that the NAACP never told him his proposal was "unacceptable," and that LePage's staff had simply cited "scheduling conflicts" in declining the NAACP's invitation: Gov. Paul LePage lied in recounting an exchange with the NAACP over an invitation to a campaign forum at a Maine prison, the head of the state organization said. In his now-famous "kiss my butt" television interview, LePage said the NAACP had invited him to meet with black prisoners and that he declined, but told the group, "I would be more than happy to go, but I would meet all prisoners  and that wasn't acceptable to them, so tough luck." That exchange never happened, said Rachel Talbot Ross, state director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and president of the NAACP Portland branch. The e-mailed invitation, dated June 14 and reviewed by The Portland Press Herald, makes no mention of race and says the candidates' forum is simply at the prison in Warren. It was to take place before all the prisoners, Ross said. Ross said neither LePage nor anyone from his campaign indicated the governor would go to "meet all prisoners," because he declined the invitation; and she said the NAACP never said that such a session "wasn't acceptable." Ross said she was baffled by the governor's perception that the forum was for black prisoners only. Her only communication with the campaign about the event was an e-mail from LePage's campaign scheduler on July 15. The e-mail from scheduler Micki Mullen declined the invitation to the Sept. 24 prison event and an NAACP town hall forum on Oct. 15, citing scheduling conflicts. The e-mail doesn't mention any concern about a segregated prison forum, LePage's desire to "meet all prisoners" or any conversation in which the NAACP turned down LePage's proposal. Ross said she was particularly upset by LePage's assertion that the NAACP would view a meeting with all prisoners as not "acceptable." Dan Demeritt, LePage's spokesman, said the then-candidate and his staff had a different "characterization" of the prison event, which eventually was canceled. However, after being read a copy of the invitation provided by Ross, Demeritt could not say where the characterization of the event as a forum for black prisoners only came from. In an interview, LePage initially responded to complaints that he had turned down invitations to two NAACP Martin Luther King Day events in Portland. After dismissing the NAACP as a "special interest" and referencing the prison forum and the supposed exchange over an alternative visit, LePage was asked about concerns that his actions suggested a pattern of ignoring the group. "Tell 'em to kiss my butt," LePage said.   The State employees union complained because he waited until 3 P.M. before closing State offices and facilitiesand sending non-emergency personnel home during the last blizzard. The prior Governor would often close offices for the day with just a forecast before the first flakes. LePage was CEO of the Marden's chain of discount family bargain retailstores before election as governor. He noted that State employees getting off work early could still find lots of retail stores open to shop. So, he put the State employees on notice by announcing: "If Marden's is open, Maine is open!" Governor LePage did keep state offices open until 3:00 P.M. when a winter storm hit Maine in mid-January 2011, with his spokesman stating that the governor's rule of thumb was that "If Marden's is open, Maine is open": State workers may want to invest in some snow tires. Gov. Paul LePage seems less willing than his predecessor to close down state offices in bad weather. Case in point: During [a] storm which deposited 12-16 inches of snow in Kennebec County, LePage kept state workers at their posts until 3 p.m. Under former Gov. John Baldacci, they might not have gone to work in the first place. Baldacci received criticism during his tenure for appearing too eager to close down state government during a snowstorm. LePage spokesman Dan Demeritt explained that LePage, former general manager of Marden's Surplus & Salvage, expects state workers to get to work just like employees in the private sector. "The rule of thumb is: If Marden's is open, Maine is open," Demeritt said. In 2007, when a snowstorm prompted Baldacci to close state offices, the state controller calculated that the state paid stay-at-home workers about $1 million in salary and benefits.   Last updated:  9 April 2015    Murphy, Edward D.  "NAACP Leader Says LePage Lied."   Kennebec Journal.  19 January 2011.    Sharp, David.  "Maine Gov. Candidate: I'd Tell Obama to Go to Hell."   Businessweek.  29 September 2010.    Sharp, David.  "Maine Storm Packs Heavier-Than-Anticipated Snow."   The Boston Globe.  12 January 2011.    The Washington Post.  "Governor on NAACP Flap: 'Tell Them to Kiss My Butt.'"   15 January 2011.    WCSH-TV [Portland].  "NAACP Refutes LePage's Version of Prison Invitation."   14 January 2011. Claim:  Donald Trump issued a pithy criticism of Obamacare. INCORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED Example:  [Collected via e-mail, July 2012] I recently read an article on facebook attributed to Donald Trump about Obamacare. Here it is: Let me get this straight...We're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose  chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress who didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a Dumbo President who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we'll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government who has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a Surgeon General who is obese, and financed by a country that is broke!!!!  Origins:  In the wake of a June 2012 Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of health care reform legislation commonly known as Obamacare, the above-quoted criticism of that legislation began circulating online, commonly attributed to business magnate Donald Trump. This item saw renewed circulation in mid-2015, when Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. However, this criticism didn't originate with any public statement made by Donald Trump: it's an anonymous bit of political humor that has been posted and reposted many times in blogs and social media since at least as far back as March 2010. posted reposted A number of sources (such as Fox News and CNSNews.com) have erroneously attributed credit for this quip to Dr. Barbara Bellar, an Illinois State Senate candidate who used it in a speech she delivered at a Chicago Women for Romney rally in August 2012.  However, as noted above, this bit had already been repeatedly posted to online sites for more than two years before Dr. Bellar incorporated it into her 2012 speech (and she has acknowledged that she was not its originator): Fox News CNSNews.com acknowledged So let me get this straight. This is a long sentence. We are going to be gifted with a health care plan that we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don't, which reportedly covers 10 million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman doesn't understand it, passed by Congress, that didn't read it, but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese and financed by a country that is broke. So what the blank could possibly go wrong?     Last updated:  8 July 2015 Claim:  The job of President of the United States is being outsourced to India.  Example:  [Collected via e-mail, June 2009] Is this true?  What a GREAT IDEA!!! Washington, DC   June 11, 2009 Congress today announced, that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India, as of September 1, 2009. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $750 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that his office has incurred during the last 3 months. It is anticipated that $7 trillion can be saved to the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). "We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," Reynolds noted. Obama was informed by email this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time. Gurvinder Singh, a tele-technician for IndusTeleservices, Mumbai, India, will assume the office of President as of September 1, 2009. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, NY. Thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month, but no health coverage or other benefits. It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India, he will be working primarily at night. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center," stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview. "I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President." A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem as Obama had never been familiar with the issues either. Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson. "Obama has used them successfully for years, with the result that some people actually thought he knew what he was talking about." Obama will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 26 weeks. Unfortunately he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit. Obama has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Obama may have difficulties in securing a new position due to a lack of any successful work experience during his lifetime. A greeter position at WalMart was suggested due to Obama's extensive experience at shaking hands, as well as his 'special' smile. Origins:  As we've noted on many occasions, really good satire hews a fine line between plausibility and absurdity, so it's not surprising we often receive "Is this true?" inquiries about satirical articles that circulate widely via e-mail  the receipt of an out-of-context, news-like article with a premise that seems vaguely credible with a quick read-through can easily leave readers confused about its authenticity. This humor piece about the U.S. presidency's being outsourced to India is actually an updated version of a 2004 satirical article about President George W. Bush.  Although the 2009 version's topical references  a weak economy, a  updated growing budget deficit, the looming threat of job outsourcing  might strike a chord with many Americans, and those who are no fans of the current U.S. president might appreciate its sly digs at Barack Obama, why we've received so many inquiries about this particular article is something of a puzzle, as its premise isn't at all plausible: The U.S. Constitution and U.S. law have very specific provisions about the line of succession to the presidency, and that line does not encompass Congress' arbitrarily bypassing the vice president (and everyone else in the chain of succession) to hand over the office of chief executive to an unelected foreign resident.   Not to mention that if the U.S. presidency were really set to change hands within the next few months, that subject would be the dominant topic of every American news outlet, not an obscure bit of information spread solely via e-mail. If nothing else, the notion that the U.S. presidency would be given over to someone who would undertake it as a moonlighting job for $320 per month crosses the line from believability to absurdity. Last updated:  23 July 2009 In July 2021, a set of photographs supposedly showing a $325,000 Ferrari 458 Italia owned by Joel Osteen, televangelist and megachurch pastor, was widely circulated on social media:   While Osteen may own an expensive car (or two), he does not own the vehicle shown in this picture. It should also be noted that reports about Osteen owning a Ferarri 458 Italia have not been verified. In fact, some news outlets that initially published this claim, such as the Houston Chronicle, have since deleted their articles. some news outlets that initially published this claim We have not been able to find any verified reporting that Osteen owns a $325,000 Ferrari. There don't appear to be any photographs of Osteen driving this exotic sports car, and we have not been able to find any statements from Osteen in which he talks about an exotic collection. This rumor appears to be little more than an assumption. Osteen does have a reported net worth in the tens of millions (more on that later) and a large house in Houston, Texas. It certainly seems possible that Osteen has purchased an exotic car (or two), but so far these reports are not verified. As for the photographs above, one (the top right image in the above-displayed meme) was originally posted to an Exotic Cars Flickr page in 2010. A spokesperson for the Exotic Car Life Flickr account told us that the photograph was taken in Coral Gables, Florida down the street from the luxury car dealership The Collection. They told us that they saw the car, which they believed to be a customized order, at one other event and provided us with numerous photographs, none of which featured Osteen. Exotic Cars Flickr page in 2010 The spokesperson said: "I saw the car on another occasion at an event, no Joel Osteen was seen." It should also be noted that this meme features photographs of two different Ferraris. As noted above, one pic shows a custom Ferrari in 2010 in Florida. The other photograph shows a Ferrari in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013. The following video appears to be the source of the second photo:  In addition to this video's being taken in Switzerland, not Houston, Texas, where Osteen resides, the driver can be seen toward the end of this video, and it is not Osteen. It's worth nothing that in 2018, an associate pastor at Osteen's Lakewood Church was criticized for buying his wife a $200,000 Ferrari. associate pastor at Osteen's Lakewood Church was criticized for buying his wife a $200,000 Ferrari As these pictures went viral, a number of other claims about Osteen's net worth were circulated on social media. One viral tweet, for example, claimed that Osteen had a net worth of more than $40 million, that he lived in a $10.5 million mansion, and that his Lakewood Church received $4.4 million in PPP Covid-19-relief loans. These claims, in general, are true. However, there's a little nuance that should be noted. Osteen does own a home in Houston that is valued at around $10 million, and his Lakewood Church did receive a $4.4 million PPP loan. Claims about Osteen's net worth, however, are just estimations. We found estimates for Osteen's net worth ranging from$40 to $100 million, which indicates that these are little more than guessing. While we can't determine Osteen's exact net worth, it is safe to say that he's wealthy. around $10 million receive a $4.4 million PPP loan Osteen's net worth $40 100 million, The bulk of Osteen's fortune appears to come from book sales. In addition to being a megachurch pastor and a televangelist, Osteen is also a successful author. In 2006, The New York Times reported that Osteen's 2004 book "Your Best Life Now" sold more than 3 million hardcover copies: New York Times reported Mr. Osteen, a television evangelist, has signed a book deal with Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, that publishing insiders say is potentially one of the richest for a nonfiction book and could bring the author more than $10 million. Mr. Osteen's contract follows the enormous success of "Your Best Life Now," published in 2004 by Warner Faith, a division of the Time Warner Book Group. More than three million hardcover copies were sold, along with more than one million copies of associated journals, daily devotionals and study guides. Osteen talked about his wealth during an interview with PennLive in 2013: PennLive "I believe we are supposed to be leaders," Osteen said. "That we are supposed to represent Christ. I believe we are supposed to look good and excel at what God called us to do. You have gifts from the inside and you are supposed to excel. It is not that tradition saying you are supposed to be poor and humble. I believe Jesus died so we can have an abundant life and be leaders. I believe that's a part of the ministry that resonates with people." Osteen has repeatedly fought off the label of a prosperity gospel televangelist. "I don't really know what the prosperity gospel is," Osteen said. "The way I define it is that I believe God wants you to prosper in your health, in your family, in your relationships, in your business, and in your career. If that is the prosperity gospel, then I do believe that." Update [20 July 2021]: Added additional information about source photos. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown reeled off statistics on Californias prison spending during his final State of the State Address after a total of 16 years as governor. Brown, who has followed a federal court order to reduce the states prison overcrowding, warned legislators at the state Capitol not to simply pass more crime laws but instead consider a holistic approach to criminal justice. He suggested California has gone too far on prison spending since 1970. The corrections budget then was about 3 percent of the general fund. Now, its 8.9 percent, about $12 billion, Brown said. Was the governor right? Has Californias prison spending nearly tripled as a share of the states general fund budget since 1970? We set out on a fact check. Our research Californias1970-71 fiscal year budget, produced under then Gov. Ronald Reagan, backs up the first part of Browns claim. It lists the corrections department as 2.8 percent, or nearly $40 million, of the states $1.4 billion general fund budget that year. California's 1970-71 fiscal year budget. Browns 2018-19 budget proposal, meanwhile, also supports the claim. It shows the state expects to spend 9 percent, or nearly $12 billion, of its $132 billion general fund on the corrections department. Thats up about $1 billion from prison spending two years ago. Franklin Zimring, a UC Berkeley criminal justice professor, called Browns claim about the increased share of prison spending absolutely true. Californias prison population exploded from 1980 through the late 1990s and prison building metastasized in the state, Zimring said. We went from a little over 24,000 prisoners in California prisons to over 170,000 prisoners in 2010 and 2011. Zimring attributed the increase to the states booming population during that period, tough sentencing laws, particularly 1994sThree Strikeslaw, and the national focus on drug crimes. Fewer inmates, higher costs California has sharply cut its prison population following a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court order for California to reduce prison overcrowding. The population reached a peak of163,000 inmatesin 2006, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The state estimates it will house an average of about 119,000 prisoners this year. But as the inmate numbers have dropped, state corrections spending has continued to rise. Thats, in part, because California has the highest per capita inmate cost in the nation, at an estimated $80,000 annually for 2018-19, as we examined in arecent fact check. Theres been no corresponding reduction in prison staff as inmate numbers have fallen, causing per capita costs to spike. At the same time, prison staffing costs have increased. Jeffrey Callison, a state prisons spokesman, told us the conditions of the court order prevent California from closing prisons even as the inmate population is reduced. So long as the order is in effect we cannot close prisons because to do so would reduce our capacity, thereby pushing us back above 137.5 percent level of prison crowding, Callison said in an email. That level is tied to prison capacity and defined by the court, he said. Our ruling Gov. Jerry Brown recently claimed Californias corrections budget in 1970 was about 3 percent of the general fund. Now, its 8.9 percent, about $12 billion. Californias1970-71 fiscal year budgetsupports the first part of Browns claim, listing prison system spending as 2.8 percent of that years general fund. Browns budget proposal for this fiscal year, meanwhile, shows the corrections department is now estimated to be 9 percent of the general fund, or $12 billion. A UC Berkeley criminal justice professor told us the governors spending claim rings true, noting the states prison population exploded during the 1980s and 1990s, driven by the states overall population boom, strict criminal sentencing laws and a national focus on drug crimes. The governors numbers are on the mark and theres nothing significant missing from his statement. We rate Browns claim True. TRUE The statement is accurate and theres nothing significant missing. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. Claim:  If John Kerry were elected President, the Secret Service would have to protect him and every property he owns for the rest of his life. Status:  False. Example:  [Collected on the Internet, 2004] You will pay upkeep/Secret Service for 5 Kerry mansions.  It is good to be John F. Kerry....... The F stands for Forbes in case you ever wondered. He is one of the richest Senators in Government. When someone is elected president, it means the Secret Service has to protect the President and his family as well as his property. The Kerry's have five US properties not counting the several foreign properties they own too. The cost to run these homes are more than what the average American could afford, even if the rent was free, and all you had to pay the water, gas & electric. Including ground keepers, maintenance, pool, and house keepers. To be President would require the taxpayers to pay for all that now if elected. Including a complete staffed Secret Service security 24 hours a day. In addition to that we will have to pay for each of their homes for security improvements even if they never go to them all there is that just in case. Who do you think will pay for all this? We Pay! This takes all the expense off Kerry and puts it on us. Nevertheless, factor another major cost to Americans that Kerry does not want you to know about. Becoming president would automatically include taking care of all their properties with Secret Service Agents that includes 5 agents per 6 hour shift 4 times a day 365 days of the year for the rest of their lives so long as they own those properties. It comes with being President once you are elected. It requires us the taxpayers, to pay for this as well as his annual salary as well as his retirements including the cost of living adjustments to boot.  These salaries and agents protect all their real estate property with Secret Service Agents and pay the bills for the rest of his life. In addition, feed the Secret Service Agents and rotate new ones every 6 hours for the rest of his life. Do the math. Five properties need to be protected. This requires five Secret Service Agents per shift, daily every six hours, per property! That is 20 Secret Service Agents per day per property everyday including Holidays. Wow, what does that cost? Lets say an average of 20 agents per property, each earning a about $60K per agent to survey the perimeters and protect. Now times that by five properties so far. That is if the Kerry's do not buy any more properties afterwards. This also includes the Agents vehicles and repairs, gas, meals, days off, paid vacation, and medical plan visits etc per agent. Who pays? YOU pay, the whole time they are alive after becoming President! Is this the best use of our tax money electing Kerry to take care of all their properties both foreign and domestic? On the other hand, shouldn't he pay for his own? Yet, the Presidential salary could not afford it. The more I think about paying for Kerry's properties everyday, just makes me happy keeping President Bush all the more merrier. Without raising taxes to boot. How on earth would Kerry pay for everyone to have Healthcare, increase our military, and have us pay to protect his investments, all without raising our taxes? Tax and spend Kerry is his party motto. Which really has to make you wonder why anyone with his wealth, would take a salary of that of a U.S. Senator, never mind wanna be President? Do you believe him now why he needs to be the Prez? To serve the people? On the other hand, the people serve Him and his wife! IF YOU AREN'T COMPLETELY APPALLED, THEN YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION Origins:   The fact that Senator John Kerry's middle name is "Forbes" is about the only piece of information this latest political diatribe gets  right. John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, together own several homes, but since they signed a prenuptial agreement and have kept their premarital assets separate,  a Boston townhouse (which John Kerry mortgaged in 2003 to finance his presidential bid) is the only one of these homes that they technically own as a couple.  The government is obligated to provide Secret Service protection to the President and his immediate family, so if John Kerry were elected to that office, of course he and his family would be entitled to the same level of security detail that the Secret Service provides to every President.  That protection might indeed include the use of public funds to pay the costs of installation and maintenance for security systems at some of the Kerrys' homes, because the protection of First Families is viewed as a right and proper charge upon the nation.  Security measures of this level would not be specific to the Kerrys; the homes of all Presidents are treated this way, as (to a lesser extent) are the homes of all former Presidents.  homes It is not true, however, that every single residence owned by the either of the Kerrys (whether it be in America or abroad) would be staffed by five Secret Service agents around the clock, and that those agents would be guarding the Kerrys and all their properties for the rest of John Kerry's life.  Secret Service staffing levels vary as the situation requires, and lifetime protection for former Presidents and their spouses was eliminated by Congressional legislation in 1997.  President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, are the last First Couple who will receive such a benefit; President George W. Bush and all who succeed him in the White House will be limited to receiving Secret Service protection for a period of not more than 10 years from the time they leave office.  protection In any case, the idea that U.S. voters would have to pay higher taxes if John Kerry were elected President in order to "protect his investments" is just silly.  The projected U.S. federal budget for 2005 is $2.4 trillion  the amount of money spent to protect the President and his family (whoever that President might be) is but a teeny-tiny fraction of a drop in that vast bucket.  The only thing sillier than that notion that taxes would have to be raised to protect a putative President Kerry is the suggestion that the cost of Secret Service protection should be a factor in voters' choosing who should serve as President of the United States. budget For more information about the protection afforded former Presidents, see our article about a similar rumor that was attached to the previous First Couple when President Bill Clinton left office in 2001. article Last updated:  2 October 2004    Sources:   Burger, Timothy and Kenneth Bazinet.  "Hil and Bill Buy 3M Home, Sweet Home in Capital."   [New York] Daily News.  30 December 2000  (p. 6).     DeFrank, Thomas.  "1st Family's N.Y. Bunker."    Fuchs, Marek.  "First Family's Arrival Changes the Focus of Secret Service Office."   The New York Times.  29 October 2000  (Weekend Calendar; p. 5).     Grove, Lloyd.  "The Reliable Source."   The Washington Post.  12 January 2001  (p. C3). In May 2023, a reader informed us by email of a scam appearing in Facebook and Instagram ads that claimed Delta Air Lines was holding a promotion to give away $500 gift cards for $1 each. On the same day, we reviewed a second "Delta Airlines Online Shopper" scam in an email from an address ending in asahi.com that promised a "$100 reward" or gift card, simply for taking a survey. Needless to say, these were not legitimate giveaways, nor were they offered by Delta Air Lines. Always remember with online offers that if they seem too good to be true, they probably are. Worse, they are likely to be phishing scams that can result in both privacy and monetary losses for victims. First, Delta Air Lines was not giving away $500 gift cards for $1 each. Even something as small as $5 gift cards for $1 each would make little sense, as it would be putting Delta or other airlines in the position of losing money to the throngs who would buy up the cards. The scam ads read as follows: Elevate your travel experience with Delta! We're giving you an extraordinary opportunity to fuel your dreams of exploration. For only $1, you can get a $500 gift card - a limited time offer that's too good to pass up. It's time to see why Delta isn't just an airline, it's the Delta difference. Apply now and book your next Delta journey today! The paid ads on Facebook and Instagram led to a fake survey onduwucuu.info. After filling out the survey, the scam led users towb.giftgiveaways.xyz where they were asked to fill out personal information and a credit card number. As for the email scam that promised $100 Delta Air Lines "rewards" or gift cards for taking a survey, the messages were often coming from "ozdxuofbqh.asahi.com via loi5sir.classyield.site." Clicking the link in the message led to a strangely-labeled "Hitech Research" website onignitesurge.org. The page instructed users to take a survey and then pick a "free" offer on gadgetspromodeals.com or other websites. However, these "free" offers came with monthly subscription fees that were hidden in the terms and conditions. Nowhere on these pages did we find a box for customers to check to indicate that they agreed to the fine print that appeared on another page. The domain name giftgiveaways.xyz was last registered on May 15, just seven days before we looked into the "$500 gift cards for $1" scam. Meanwhile, ignitesurge.org, the website associated with the $100 Delta Air Lines "reward" email scam, was last registered on April 5. Newly-registered domain names are often a big red flag associated with scams. We advise all readers to do their due diligence before giving their credit card number to a website they've never heard of. Scammers often hide subscription fees in terms and conditions and purposely do not mention these fees anywhere on the product checkout pages. Contact your credit card company immediately if you believe you have given your credit card number to scammers. Delta Air Lines hosts a page about the scams they've seen over the years, including gift card promotional websites: page Over the years, Delta has received reports of attempts by parties not affiliated with us to fraudulently gather customer information in a number of ways including: fraudulent emails, social media sites, postcards, Gift Card promotional websites claiming to be from Delta Air Lines and letters or prize notifications promising free travel. These messages were not sent by Delta Air Lines. We do not market to our customers this way, but individuals or groups intending to gather and use your personal data for their gain can be inventive in their approach  often adding messages to generate a sense of urgency so you take action. Scammers know that airfare can be quite pricey. By pushing fake offers for cheaper airline tickets, they attempt to scam the masses with their fraudulent schemes. If readers encounter offers in the future that seem suspicious, we recommend contacting the airline company directly to ask questions. For further reading n the realm of "way too good to be true," we once covered anotherscam that claimed Delta Air Lines was giving away first-class air travel tickets and $10,000 in cash. scam "Protect Your Data." Delta Air Lines, https://www.delta.com/us/en/legal/privacy-and-security/protect-your-data. In early July 2020, social media users shared a meme that continued to fuel long-standing culture war animosity directed at former NFL player and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick, this time by noting that he had been "hired" by Disney to "teach your kids about American history." culture war   The meme both sensationalizes and exaggerates Kaepernick's role with Disney. While it's true that Kaepernick has made an agreement with Disney and ESPN Films to create a documentary series focusing on race, that doesn't mean he has been "hired" by Disney to "teach children" about American history.  On July 6, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and Disney announced a first-look deal for a documentary series  to be produced by ESPN Films  about Kaepernick's experience, according to a press release from ESPN. press release "Colins experience gives him a unique perspective on the intersection of sports, culture and race, which will undoubtedly create compelling stories that will educate, enlighten and entertain, and we look forward to working with him on this important collaboration," Disney executive chairman Bob Iger said in the statement. Per the press release, the "first project in development as part of this deal is an exclusive docuseries chronicling Kaepernicks journey. Using extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive that documents his last five years, Kaepernick will tell his story from his perspective." Overall, the partnership "will focus on telling scripted and unscripted stories that explore race, social injustice and the quest for equity, and will provide a new platform to showcase the work of Black and Brown directors and producers." Kaepernick has been a lightning rod in popular culture since 2016, when he began protesting systematic racism and police violence against Black Americans by kneeling during the national anthem before NFL games. His protest was mimicked by other players, but it also became a recurring talking point among media pundits, some of whom accused him of disrespecting national symbols. This narrative has been echoed by the White House. accused echoed The issue Kaepernick raised with his protest has hardly gone away. In the spring of 2020, racial justice protests swept the country after a video went viral of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for almost nine minutes. Floyd died in police custody. The public outcry coupled with massive protests prompted a national conversation about racism and compelled many businesses  including entertainment companies  to reckon with their own failures when it comes to racial equality. Lopez, Isabelle."The Walt Disney Company Announces Overall First-Look Del with Colin Kaepernick."
ESPN Press Room.6 July 2020. Steinberg, Brian."Colin Kaepernick Signs First-Look Deal With Walt Disney."
Variety.6 July 2020. Adler, Dan."Our Never-Ending Culture Wars: Colin Kaepernick and Nikes Betsy Ross Air Maxes Edition."
Vanity Fair.2 July 2019. BBC."Trump: NFL Kneelers 'Maybe Shouldn't Be in Country.'"
24 May 2018. Johnson, Martenzie."Colin Kaepernick Tried to Tell White America."
The Undefeated.30 May 2020. On Feb. 16, 2024, the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken and formidable opponent, Alexei Navalny, was announced by the Russian prison service.The former lawyer was 47, and he was serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism in an isolated penal colony above the Arctic Circle. Vladimir Putin's The notice, released by the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region andtranslated from Russian by Reuters, read as follows: The notice translated from Russian by Reuters On Feb. 16, 2024, in penal colony number 3, convict Alexei Navalny felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. The medical staff of the institution arrived immediately, and an ambulance team was called. All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established. The notice indicated it was last updated at 2:19 p.m. Feb. 16. According to a Feb. 17 tweet by Navalny's spokesperson,Kira Yarmysh, he was "murdered" and the official time of his death was 2:17 p.m. Feb. 16, "according to the official message to Alexey's mother." Alexey Navalny was murdered. His death occurred on February 16 at 2:17 p.m. local time, according to the official message to Alexey's mother. An employee of the colony said that the body of Navalny is now in Salekhard. It was picked up by investigators from the IC. Now they are    (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 17, 2024 February 17, 2024  Ivan Zhdanov,the director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, tweeted on Feb. 17 that when Navalny's lawyer and mother arrived at the colony, they were told that the cause of Navalny's death was "sudden death syndrome." tweeted on Feb. 17 On Feb. 19, Navalny's anti-corruption foundation posted an updatein which they reaffirm that his official time of death was 2:17, pictured below: an update  (Image via acf.international) The Kremlin has not been transparent in releasing more specific details the exact cause of Navalny's death; therefore, information surrounding the exact cause and time of Navalny's death cannot be absolutely confirmed without independent investigation. Because of this, we rate this claim as "Unproven." If more information surrounding the details of his death is confirmed, this story will be updated accordingly. Many world leaders  including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and U.S. President Joe Biden  publicly pointed to Putin as being behind Navalny's death. Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, spoke at the Munich Security Conference within hours of the announcement of her husband's death. In her speech, she stated that she did not know whether to believe the report of his death because"we cannot trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie." U.S. President Joe Biden  Just one day beforethe announcement of his death, on Feb. 15, Navalny was seen in a video-link court hearing in which he joked with the judge about sending him money because he was running out of funds due to the judge's decisions. Just one day before  Alexei Navalny Appears Healthy in Video-Link Court Hearing on Day before His Death.www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFGlH9WS5yI. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024. 'Alexey Navalny Timeline: From Poisoning to Prison to Death'.Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/16/hold-alexei-navalny-timeline-from-poisoning-to-prison. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024. Bayer, Lili. 'Yulia Navalnaya Takes Stage at Munich Meeting after News of Husband's Death'.The Guardian, 16 Feb. 2024.The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/16/yulia-navalnaya-munich-security-conference-navalny-putin. Faulconbridge, Guy, et al. 'Putin Foe Alexei Navalny Dies in Jail, West Holds Russia Responsible'.Reuters, 16 Feb. 2024.www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/jailed-russian-opposition-leader-navalny-dead-prison-service-2024-02-16/. Guldbk, Karoline. 'Bekrefter ddsfall'.dagbladet.no, 17 Feb. 2024, https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/bekrefter-dodsfall/80992002. Henderson, Cameron, et al. 'Putin Is Responsible for Navalny's Death, Says Biden - Follow Latest'.The Telegraph, 16 Feb. 2024.www.telegraph.co.uk, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/16/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news5/. 'Https://Twitter.Com/Gerashchenko_en/Status/1758479753898504421?T=137'.X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1758479753898504421?t=137. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024. 'Https://Twitter.Com/ioannZH/Status/1758831082500165791'.X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/ioannZH/status/1758831082500165791. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024. 'Https://Twitter.Com/Kira_Yarmysh/Status/1758801430125695199'.X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/Kira_Yarmysh/status/1758801430125695199. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024. 'Kremlin Foe Alexei Navalny's Team Confirms His Death and Says His Mother Is Searching for His Body'.AP News, 17 Feb. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/russia-alexei-navalny-death-opposition-leader-37da0915157576372d6493be7ad04b5c. 'Navalny's Death: The Full Russian Prison Service Statement'.Reuters, 16 Feb. 2024.www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-prison-service-statement-about-navalnys-death-2024-02-16/. 'Western Officials and Kremlin Critics Blame Putin and His Government for Navalny's Death in Prison'.AP News, 16 Feb. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-death-global-reactions-putin-19e7fd6318763627f6917a92678cd190. 'World Leaders Blame Putin's Government in Russia for Death of Alexei Navalny'.PBS NewsHour, 16 Feb. 2024, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/world-leaders-blame-putins-government-in-russia-for-death-of-alexei-navalny.    -   . 16 Feb. 2024, https://web.archive.org/web/20240216120742/https://89.fsin.gov.ru/news/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=729444. Feb. 20, 2024: This article was updated to include new information released by Navalny's team in the days following the announcement of his death. In early 2017 several news outlets reported on a story that owners of Amazon's Alexa digital assistant device owners were "left out of pocket" after a 6-year-old girl named Brooke Neitzel inadvertently triggered one into placing an order for an expensive dollhouse, and a news report on the incident triggered a plague of automated, unwanted dollhouse ordering: reported [In January 2017] it was reported that an Amazon Echo in Dallas, Texas, had ordered a $170 dollhouse after six-year-old Brooke Neitzel asked: 'Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?' Although the little girl apparently meant it as a rhetorical question the device saw it as a command and ordered a KidKraft Sparkle mansion dollhouse, as well as four pounds of sugar cookies. But to make matters worse many Amazon Echoes apparently picked up on TV anchor Jim Patton's words in the report: 'I love the little girl saying "Alexa ordered me a dollhouse".' Viewers at home were then left stunned when their own Amazon Echoes picked up the voice requests in the report and ordered dolls houses too. As voice-command purchasing is enabled as a default on the Alexa devices, viewers found it had mistaken the show for their command and bought the toy. According to that report, a Texas kindergartner's request for Alexa to "play dollhouse" with her and "get [her] a dollhouse" resulted in her family's being charged for an order for a top-dollar toy. And when the family's tale was reported by a San Diego news station, "stunned" viewers also became the recipients of unwanted dollhouses simply because an anchor repeated the same phrase, which their own Amazon Echo/Alexa devices picked up on and transformed into orders.   In one interview, Neitzel's mother Megan provided the Alexa log showing that her daughter had asked the device "Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?" But the embedded video of the log suggested that instead of confirming a dollhouse order, Alexa had responded, "Sorry, I couldn't find the answer to your question": interview  We attempted to replicate the circumstances of the purported inadvertent order and were unable to do so. When asked "can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?" our, Alexa responded with "now shuffling songs by Bauhaus." Asking "Alexa, can you get me a dollhouse?" returned "hmm ... Im not sure what you meant by that question." "Alexa, can you play dollhouse with me? returned  ... heres a sample of 'Dollhouse Sounds' by Dollhouse Incorporated. Alexa, can you get me a dollhouse? was answered by I wasnt able to understand the question I heard." No permutation of "[c]an you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?" we tried resulted in a prompt to confirm a dollhouse order in any of our experiments conducted with two separate Alexa-enabled devices. The only potential purchase-triggering word appeared to be "order," after which it was necessary to confirm or decline the transaction (which we did at least three times and did not accidentally order any dollhouses). An Amazon spokesperson told us in response to our inquiry that ordering items through Alexa is a multi-step process that requires confirmation: You must ask Alexa to order a product and then confirm the purchase with a yes response to purchase via voice. If you asked Alexa to order something on accident, simply say no when asked to confirm. You can also manage your shopping settings in the Alexa app, such as turning off voice purchasing or requiring a confirmation code before every order. Additionally, orders you place for physical products are eligible for free returns. This conforms to our own experience: we couldn't induce Alexa into ordering anything without its first showing us the item, displaying a price, and asking us for verbal confirmation.  We also couldn't get Alexa to order two items at once, as supposedly happened with the dollhouse and cookies  Alexa always processed multiple items separately no matter how we tried to join them, displaying a price and requiring a verbal confirmation for each item. We also could find no confirmation (outside of anecdotal repetition) that a spate of unwanted dollhouse orders followed in the wake of San Diego newscaster Jim Patton's report on the story.  Perhaps the television audio of that newscast might have woken up some viewers' Alexas, but those viewers would still have had to confirm any potential dollhouse purchases by responding 'yes' to Alexa's request for purchase confirmation. We have yet to locate any of the "viewers at home left stunned" as their Alexa devices foisted undesired $165 toys upon them. CBS News.  "6-Year-Old Orders $160 Dollhouse, 4 Pounds of Cookies with Amazon's Echo Dot."
  5 January 2017.