Did the Same Person 'Die Twice' from COVID-19?
Snopes is still fighting an infodemic of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and advice you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease.  fighting Find out Read Submit Become a Founding Member CDC WHO Scientists are still uncertain whether a person who has contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus disease can catch it again. However, according to an item circulated via social media ("Corona is so bad, this guy died twice!"), one person has apparently not only caught, but actually died of COVID-19 twice: uncertain   According to the two separate news accounts pictured above, a retired Milwaukee police lieutenant and a University of Memphis professor, identified with identical photographs, seemingly both died in March 2020 from the COVID-19 coronavirus. However, the news reports of the COVID-19 victim seen above employed different headlines to refer to the same person, Lenard Wells, who was both a former police officer and an instructor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis: same person Lenard Wells instructor [Wells] spent 27 years on the Milwaukee Police Department, where he worked tirelessly to bring racial equity to the ranks as president of the League of Martin, an association for African American officers. During his tenure, the League of Martin sued to make sure promotions and assignments were fair. "He wanted African American law enforcement officers to have the same rights and opportunities that were afforded to other officers," Assistant Milwaukee Police Chief Regina Howard said. After his police retirement, then-Gov. Jim Doyle appointed Wells chairman of the Wisconsin Parole Commission. In recent years, Wells taught criminal justice at the University of Memphis. Lenard retired from the Milwaukee Police Department after 27 years of service as a Lieutenant of Police. After retiring from the Milwaukee Police Department, he was appointed by Governor Jim Doye of Wisconsin to Chair the Wisconsin Parole Board. Forster, Victoria.  "Can You Get Sick with Coronavirus Twice? The Jury Is Still Out."
  Forbes.  8 April 2020. Luthern, Ashley.  "'A Law Enforcement Pioneer': Lenard Wells, Who Died of Coronavirus Complications, Leaves Lasting Legacy."
  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  23 March 2020.
Sen. Marco Rubio defended past support of a cap-and-trade bill in the Florida House by saying it was an attempt to protect the state from future federal regulations. Fox News moderator Bret Baier asked Rubio about the issue at a Republican presidential primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 28, 2016. Baier said Rubio had wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap-and-trade system while he was House speaker in 2008, and asked why Rubio had changed his mind. Rubio denied he backed a popular plan supported by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, claiming he was looking to insulate Florida from restrictions a future president might impose. I have never supported cap and trade, and I never thought it was a good idea, and I was clear about that at the time, Rubio said. Rubio has been very outspoken during this campaign abouthis opposition to cap and trade, which lets businesses trade pollution credits if they don't meet emission caps. But is his retelling of what happened in 2008 accurate? Cap and trade mission We literally went to the tape to find out, because the key evidence in this claim is a snippet from aMarch 13, 2008, appearanceRubio made on WFSUsFlorida Face to Face. Rubio was discussingHB 7135, an energy and climate change billchampioned by Cristthat included the Florida Climate Protection Act. That part of the law allowed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to formulate a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse emissions from electric utilities. Florida should position itself for what I believe is inevitable, and that is a federal cap-and-trade program. Florida should do everything it can to be an early complier so it can access early compliance funds and so that it can help influence what that cap-and-trade looks like at the federal level, Rubio said on the show, which ran during the legislative session. And so Im in favor of giving the Department of Environmental Protection a mandate that they go out and design a cap-and-trade or a carbon-tax program and bring it back to the Legislature for ratification some time in the next two years. Crist used a portion of this clip during his 2010 Senate primary campaign against Rubio in an attempt to show Rubio favored a cap-and-trade program. WFSU, which operates The Florida Channel covering state government, demanded Criststop using footage of the showbecause of a law barring use of its footage in political campaigns. This limited portion of the show has been resurrected online during the presidential primary, leading someconservative sitesto question Rubios stance on the issue. But wait, as they say, theres more. Rubios campaign had complained the clip was out of context, and it appears it really was. They havepointed to a longer edit of the footagethat shows Rubio going on to say: Im in favor of them designing it. Im not in favor of them designing it and implementing it. Im in favor of them designing it and then bringing it back to the Legislature. The way were going toclean up our environment, the way were going to lower carbon emissions, is not through government mandates. That certainly changes the context of his statement. Rubios campaign did not respond to PolitiFacts questions about his potential support of cap and trade, but they haveaddressed this issue before. In 2007, Rubio wrote anop-ed for theMiami Heraldthat said Crist should be applauded for his efforts, but the government mandates he has proposed will not only fail to achieve their desired result, they carry actual negative consequences. Rubio did cite proposals from his book100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Futureto increase ethanol production, develop bio-fuels and provide tax incentives for better fuel efficiency. But he concluded that instead of adopting measures that will have little if any impact on our environment and make life in Florida more expensive, we need a strategy that encourages environmental conservation, fuel efficiency and energy diversity, while continuing to stimulate our economy. Rubio also said in aMarch 2007 speechthat Florida was ripe to change energy policy because it was both environmentally sound and potentially lucrative. This nation, and ultimately the world, is headed towards emission caps and energy diversification, he said. Those changes will require technological advances that make those measures cost effective. The demand toward such advances will create an industry to meet it. Florida should become the Silicon Valley of that industry. Rubio did seem to change his tune a bit by 2009, when he was being criticized for his full-throated opposition of cap and trade after presiding over the passage of HB 7135. Environmentalists and scientists noted Rubio had shepherded the entire process as House speaker. The legislation was passed to move forward on cap-and-trade policy, and certainly Marco Rubio didn't stand in the way of that legislation passing and my understanding was that he was supportive of the process, John Reilly, a leading climate change expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hired by Rubio to advise lawmakers,told theMiami Herald. He certainly seemed to accept the science of climate change. Rubio argued then that he wanted to take executive authority away from Crist, although the DEP countered they would have always needed legislative approval. Cap and trade planning fell by the wayside as Crist waged a losing Senate primary battle against Rubio. It has worked out as it was designed to work out, which was to stop a cap-and-trade system in Florida, Rubio said in 2009. Some critics at the time doubted that was Rubio's true plan, as it was a big gamble that the Legislature would shut down any proposed DEP cap and trade proposal. But a2015 article in theNational Journalsaid that while the bill passed (and it passed the House and Senate unanimously), Rubio did add wording that prevented the plan from being implemented. The final bill indeed only allowed DEP to develop a potential plan, and required legislative approval to become practice. TheNational Journalquoted former House minority leader and state Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, who said, I fully credit him with the gutting of the bill. Our ruling Rubio said, I have never supported cap and trade. As House speaker in Florida, Rubio did preside over the unanimous passage of an energy bill that allowed the state to develop a cap-and-trade plan for electric utility emissions. But it appears his comments on the bill have been taken out of context, and that there may have been some legislative craftiness afoot. Rubio said he wanted Florida to cook up a plan of its own before federal regulations were imposed on the state. He also voiced opposition to government mandates and inserted a roadblock to letting any plan actually be implemented, details that get left out when Rubio is accused of supporting the measure. He now is much more vocal in his opposition of cap and trade, but it looks as if he has always favored a largely hands-off approach from government. We rate Rubios statement Mostly True. An interesting and highly lucrative con targeting those attempting to sell vehicles (and other high-ticket items) online works like the highly successful Nigerian scam, but while his bit of larceny also typically features businessmen from Africa intent upon closing odd-sounding deals, it plays on the victims' honesty rather than their greed: Nigerian scam [Collected via Facebook, May 2015]There is a scam going around and I was almost a victim of it today. I recently posted an ad on Craig'slist I was contacted by a person that sent me a check for 1500.00 for the item I was selling. When I received the check today it was for the amount of 4000.00. When I asked why the check was for so much they informed me that the extra money was to be shipped via western union to the shipper so the item could be picked up and delivered. I got suspicious and took the check to my bank to make sure this check was ligit. I was informed that it was in fact a fake. The bank told me that if I had cashed this check that it would have come back to me and I would be responsible for the 4000.00 and they would have access to all my banking information. I am asking everyone to please like and share this post to make it go viral so this does not happen to you or anyone you know or any hard working Americans. Here is a picture of the check below. Please take the time to like and share. Lets get this thing viral. [Collected via e-mail, 2003] My husband is currently selling his motorcycle online. Last week when he posted his bike he recieved an email from a hotmail account stating he was interested in buying his bike and he is located in West Africa. He mentioned that he knows someone in the US that owes him money and would like to get our address to meet and make the exchange and that he would pay for all shipping charges. Well, a friend of ours, his cousin is also selling his bike. And he got the same email, but from a different email and name. That sounds funny to me. Well, my husband re-posted his bike yesterday online and he received from another person just about the same email about him residing in West Africa. The scam works like this: Example 1: Dr. Dipo Morgans of Nigeria wants to buy your used car for $5,000. His friend, Mr. Okuta, will be sending you a cashier's check for $8,000. You are to keep $5,000 for the car and send the remaining $3,000 to Dr. Morgans. Example 2: Dr. Dipo Morgans of Nigeria wants to buy your used car for $5,000. He will be sending you a cashier's check for $8,000 on the understanding that you will forward $3,000 of it to the shipping company that will be transporting your car to Africa. In some versions of the scam, the buyer is not an individual but rather an agent for a firm that purchases cars on behalf of others, often diplomats stationed in foreign lands. This car broker is usually located in Africa. The "reason" for the inflated-value check will vary from one attempt to defraud to another. Currency exchange problems will be cited. Or a horrified buyer will realize he's had the check prepared for far too large an amount. Or the check is being sent by a third party for the full amount this other person supposedly owes the buyer. Or it's a refund check for a failed sale for something that would have cost more. Or it would take 30 days to clear a check from Africa, hence the need to have an American third party send the payment. The reasons are many. And varied. And false. Cars or motorcycles aren't the only items to attract this form of scam: those attempting to sell horses have experienced it too. It's not unreasonable to extrapolate those attempting to sell boats will be similarly targeted. What matters is not the nature of the item being offered for sale but its price  it has to be high enough to justify the seller's feeling comfortable in sending thousands of his own dollars to a stranger under the mistaken belief he's already holding an even greater sum in his hand. In another form of the scam, those advertising online for roommates are contacted by prospective apartment-sharers who want to send cashier checks to cover the first few months rent plus a few thousand extra and who require the extra be mailed back to them. Though nothing is being offered for sale, it's the same scheme  the check will turn out to be worthless, but usually only long after the roommate-hunter has mailed his own very good check to the con artist. The scam works because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) requires banks to make money from cashier's, certified, or teller's checks available in one to five days. Consequently, funds from checks that might not be good are often released into payees' accounts long before the checks have been honored by their issuing banks. High quality forgeries can be bounced back and forth between banks for weeks before anyone catches on to their being worthless, by which time victims have long since wired the "overpayments" to the con artists who have just taken them for a ride. Although this scam is in its infancy, real people have already been bilked out of thousands of dollars by it  in some cases tens of thousands. The con has claimed victims in communities across the USA, so don't let your not having heard about it before lull you into a false sense of security. That the game is new doesn't mean it's not dangerous. How to Avoid Falling Victim to Cashier's Check Scams: Additional information:   Espinoza, Richard and Dan Morgolies. "Latest Net Scam Preys on Honest Folks."
  Charleston Gazette.  1 June 2003  (p. D7). Flaum, David.  "Scam Hits Sellers Over Net."
  The [Memphis] Commercial Appeal.  2 March 2003  (p. G1). Jones, Matthew.  "Beach Police Officers Warn of Fake-Check Web Scam."
  The Virginian-Pilot.  9 January 2003  (p. B4). Kades, Deborah.  "Wisconsin Residents Fall Prey to Used Vehicle, Lottery Scams."
  The Wisconsin State Journal.  12 December 2002. Kristof, Kathy M.  "Nigerian Money Con Targets Small Firms."
  Los Angeles Times.  7 September 2003 (p. C3). Associated Press.
  "Missoula Credit Union Members Taken."  15 March 2003. In late November and early December 2020, social media users shared posts claiming that former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been selected by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as climate envoy in his administration, owns multiple cars, yachts, homes, and a private jet. selected The source of this claim appears to be a "copypasta" meme circulating on social media platforms, meaning that people are copying and pasting text and sharing it without any accompanying supporting evidence. The intent of the posts appeared to be criticism of Kerry's lifestyle, which leaves a larger carbon footprint than the average person's. copypasta Here is an example, with the Facebook user's name cropped out for privacy:   The text of the post reads, "John Kerry as climate czar? Only Democrats could pick a guy with 6 houses, 12 cars, 2 yachts and a private jet to tell you that YOU should take the bus, don't eat meat, use electric cars and not fart to stop pollution." The block of text appears to be based on past news stories, many of them published in the lead-up to the 2004 presidential election, in which Kerry was the Democratic challenger to Republican incumbent President George W. Bush. Kerry's bid for the White House was unsuccessful, as Bush won a second term. But his campaign resulted in media scrutiny of his finances, namely wealth in his marriage that belongs mostly to his wife, Heinz ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry, with whom Kerry signed a prenuptial agreement. signed As we reported in 2004, the couple owned five homes at the time, with a combined value of roughly $29 million. She bought four of those before her marriage, and the couple jointly owned one. In 2017 the couple sold the home in Nantucket, which belonged to his wife's family, and purchased one in Martha's Vineyard. reported sold purchased The couple did make use of a luxury yacht, which brought Kerry scrutiny and criticism during the 2004 election cycle over reports that he docked it in Rhode Island to avoid paying higher taxes in Massachusetts. They sold it in 2017. Kerry has also made use of a private jet, but that, too, belongs to his wife. sold belongs The matter of the Kerrys' cars also came up in 2004, when news outlets reported that he owned multiple vehicles. At the time, he was criticized for calling on people to buy American-made products while his wife drove a German-made car. reported It is true that Kerry has made use of multiple homes, vehicles, a private jet and a yacht over the course of years, though much of the property belongs to his wife. It does appear, however, that the meme exaggerated the number of homes and yachts they have owned. The Club for Growth, an anti-tax group, portrays Donald Trump as a liberal in a new TV ad. Which presidential candidate supports higher taxes, national health care and the Wall Street bailout?asks the narratorin the Sept. 15 ad in Iowa as it shows photos of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. It's Donald Trump. The ad then shows a clip of Trump saying in 2004: In many cases I probably identify more as a Democrat. We have already fact-checked Trumps statements ontaxes(hes supported increases),health care(hes had different views over the years) and an attack about hisparty affiliation(he was once a Democrat). Here, we will fact-check if he supported the Wall Street bailout. Trump on the bailout In October 2008, Congress created a $700 billion emergency bailout fund called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP,  to rescue banks in response to the subprime mortgage crisis. President George W. Bush pressed for passage, and it also drew the support of GOP presidential nominee John McCain and the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. The Club for Growthcitedthree statements by Trump in support of the bailout. However, the ad omits that he expressed some skepticism about whether it would work. On Sept. 30, 2008, CNNs Kiran Chetry asked Trump about the bailout days before its final passage. The ad includes this segment of that interview: Chetry:Do you think that this bailout plan needs to pass in some way, shape or form for things to stabilize? Trump replied: Well, I think it would be better if it passed. But the ad omits the rest of Trumps statement in which he expressed some doubt about the bailout: I'm not sure that it's going to work.Youknow, it is trial and error. This is very complicated. This is more complicated than sending rockets to the moon. Nobody really knows what impact it's going to have. Maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't. But certainly it is worth a shot. I don't love the idea that the government's buying back all the bad loans. How about some of the good loans? You know? I don't like the idea that the government, frankly, is going to be negotiating with people to sell those loans, because maybe we'd be better off having the best bankers in the world do that. But I think overall, it's a probable positive, other than you have to control the price of oil. Because if you don't, whatever happens with the bailout, if you want to call it the bailout, whatever happens with the bailout, is will have no impact, no positive impact. OnLarry King Liveon April 15, 2009, King asked Trump his opinion of Obama and Trump turned to the bailout in part of his answer: I do agree with what they're doing with the banks. Whether they fund them or nationalize them, it doesn't matter, but you have to keep the banks going, Trump said. On Feb. 18, 2009, Trump talked about the bank bailout onDavid Letterman: The one thing is, the government came in and intelligently put money into the banks, so that if you have your money in CDs or whatever in the banks, youre not going to lose your money at least. In response to the ad, Trumptweeted: Little respected Club for Growth asked me for $1,000,000 -- I said NO. Now they are spending lobbyist and special interest money on ads! Trumps charge relates to a June 2 letter from Club for Growth president David McIntosh to Trump asking him to contribute $1 million to the group. Trump then issued apress releasesaying that the group was trying to shake him down. Club for Growth spokesman Doug Sachtleben told PolitiFact that Trump had asked for the meeting and was interested in donating to the group. Our ruling A Club for Growth TV ad states that Trump supports the Wall Street bailout. Trump made multiple statements in support of TARP, the bailout of the banks, in late 2008 and 2009. However, the ad omits that he raised concern that the banks had received billions and were not loaning them out. Overall, we rate this claim Mostly True. In July 2019, Facebook users began seeing posts advertising an $80 coupon offer for the H-E-B supermarket chain:  These posts were the latest iteration of the common "free coupon" or "free gift card" scams that frequently plague social media. The fraudulent social media posts falsely proclaimed the distribution of H-E-B coupons was in honor of the store's 50th anniversary ("HEB is giving free $80 coupon per family to celebrate its 50th anniversary!"), although the chain was founded in 1905 (and thus is approaching its 114th anniversary). Those postings also linked to sites (such as www.heb.com-jul.com) not actually affiliated with the chain. These fake coupon offers are a form of survey scam that typically instructs shoppers to follow "three simple steps" in order to get a free gift card. Once the steps are completed, however, users are not greeted with a coupon code: Instead, they are asked to fill out a survey and provide personal information such as home address, telephone number, e-mail address, and date of birth. Users are also required to sign up for credit cards or enroll in subscription programs in order to obtain their "free" gift cards. These fraudulent surveys are quite popular on Facebook. If you frequently use Facebook, there is a good chance that you'll run into one of these survey scams again. A July 2014 article from the Better Business Bureau listed key factors for identifying fraudulent Facebook posts: article Don't believe what you see. It's easy to steal the colors, logos and header of an established organization. Scammers can also make links look like they lead to legitimate websites and emails appear to come from a different sender. Legitimate businesses do not ask for credit card numbers or banking information on customer surveys. If they do ask for personal information, like an address or email, be sure there's a link to their privacy policy. When in doubt, do a quick web search. If the survey is a scam, you may find alerts or complaints from other consumers. The organization's real website may have further information. Watch out for a reward that's too good to be true. If the survey is real, you may be entered in a drawing to win a gift card or receive a small discount off your next purchase. Few businesses can afford to give away $50 gift cards for completing a few questions. H-E-B offers their genuine digital coupons to shoppers at https://www.heb.com/static-page/coupons. https://www.heb.com/static-page/coupons Legend:  A rattlesnake fang embedded in a pair of boots kills generations of owners. Examples:  [Brunvand, 1989] There is a rancher or cowboy who stomps the head of a rattlesnake after stunning it with a rope or quirt. The man sickens and dies within days. The man's son or nephew inherits the boots, and he too soon sickens and dies.  Then yet another male relative begins to wear the boots, then dies. And so it goes until someone takes a good look at the heels on the boots and discovers the rattlesnake's fangs broken off and still seeping venom!  [Benton, 1937] There's a crazy, far-fetched tale of an old cattleman who bought a new pair of boots. On his way homefrom town he got off his horse for some reason or other and was bitten by a rattlesnake. He died. Some time later his son, seeing the old man's boots in a corner, put them on and went to work. That night he got sick, swelled up, and died. There was a scratch on one of his legs. Nobody knew why he died. A little later another member of the family put on the boots, which were still new. He died also with a scratch on his leg. I've forgotten how many people died from wearing the boots, but the tale has it that the mystery was finally solved by discovering a couple of rattlesnake fangs in the boots. They had broken off there when the old man had been bitten and had continued to bite all those who wore the boots later! Variations:  The apocryphal boots of lore are often said to have killed three generations of the same family, or to have done away with three brothers.  Origins:  This   legend is even older than the 1937 print sighting (quoted above) would lead one to believe. Another sighting surfaces in a 1782 book, making it easily the oldest intact urban legend in existence. Snake experts dismiss this story as mere lore due to what's known about the structure of rattlesnake fangs and the potency of that varmint's venom. Although people have been poisoned by the broken or shed fang of a rattler, the tip of such an implement is highly unlikely to contain enough dried venom to do serious damage to the victim, let alone strike him dead. Cases on record have the scratched victim experiencing throbbing and sharp pain in the injured extremity, but only for a few hours. For the injury to be fatal, a much larger amount of venom would have to be injected into the victim  a surface scratch by the tip of a fang would introduce only whatever venom happened to be present on the part of the fang's surface that caused the scratch. Although there's no truth to the legend about a fatal pair of boots killing one family member after another, its underlying message that it always pays to be careful around rattlesnakes is worth heeding. Though a fang left that long in a boot wouldn't do much harm, supposedly "dead" snakes have been known to bite, sending a number of victims to the hospital every year.  Never assume the head of a decapitated snake  is safe to handle. Bites from dead snakes are more common than you might think, said Dr. Jeffrey R. Suchard, a medical toxicologist at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix. Nearly 15% (5 of 34) snakebite victims admitted to that hospital between June 1997 and April 1998 were bitten by dead snakes.  Documented cases of deceased slitherers' delivering fatal bites can be traced back several hundred years to Spanish explorers. In 1956, rattlesnake researcher L.M. Klauber published a study showing that rattlesnake heads are dangerous for 20 minutes to an hour after decapitation.  Says Bill Sloan of the Arizona Herpetological Association: "As you go down the evolutionary scale, the functions of the brain and functions of the body become a little more separated. There's a reflex action involved when you touch a snake's mouth. The fang is like a hypodermic needle. It's going to continue to work if you put your hand near it." Which it did in the case of Justin Cluff: [Arizona Republic, 1999] Justin Cluff isn't surprised. The 21-year-old Queen Creek man could have died after picking up the decapitated head of a Mojave rattler a friend had shot with a .22-caliber rifle. The snake head rallied and sank a fang into Cluff's knuckle. "I had been around snakes so much I felt comfortable with them," Cluff said. "I guess I loosened up on my grip. That's when it bit me. The pain was terrible." Cluff ended up losing part of his right index finger. Barbara "fangs for the memory" Mikkelson Last updated:  29 June 2007    Sources:   Benton, Thomas Hart.  An Artist in America.   New York: Robert M. McBride, 1937  (pp. 210-211).   Brunvand, Jan Harold.  Curses! Broiled Again!  New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.   ISBN 0-393-30711-5   (pp. 76-78). Curses! Broiled Again!    Buckland, Francis.  Curiosities of Natural History (First Series, 4th ed.)   London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1883  (p. 200).    Ropp, Thomas.  "Dead Snakes Still Bite."     Also told in:   Cohen, Daniel.  The Beheaded Freshman and Other Nasty Rumors The Beheaded Freshman and Other Nasty Rumors   The Big Book of Urban Legends.  New York: Paradox Press, 1994.  ISBN 1-56389-165-4  (p. 56). The Big Book of Urban Legends Claim: Chattanooga shooter Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez was a refugee.  Examples: [Collected via e-mail, November2015]Seems like another false message is being spread. But I can't verify it.   Origins: Ongoing, worldwide debate about Syrian refugees escalated after a series of November 2015 terror attacks in Paris. Among threads of that larger discussion were assertions that specific individuals involved in previous attacks were "refugees." In the aftermath rumors circulated claiming Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan (born in Virginia) was a refugee, and similar memes assertedthe Tsarnaev brothers (who emigrated as children, and one of whom was a naturalized American citizen) were "asylum seekers." A concurrent rumor held thatMuhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, perpetrator of the July 2015 Chattanooga shootings, was also a refugee. Nidal Hasan Tsarnaev On 16 July 2015 Abdulazeez engaged in a shooting spree attwo military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing five servicemen before he himself died in a shootout. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later indicated that Abdulazeez's motives were unclear, but possibly religious in nature. indicated Why Abdulazeez perpetrated the shooting remained somewhat of a mystery, but whether the Chattanooga shooter was a refugee was far less complicated. He was "a Kuwait-born U.S. citizen":The gunman who targeted U.S. military service members in a late-morning shooting Thursday in Tennessee was a 24-year-old electrical engineer who had grown up in Chattanooga as part of a conservative Muslim family. complicated Kuwait-born citizen Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait but moved with his family to the United States as an infant after the start of the Persian Gulf War and became a U.S. citizen, according to accounts given by friends and one of his sisters.  TIME reported:He was of Jordanian descent and was born in Kuwait in 1990, according to a federal official quoted in the New York Times. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen after moving to the country with his mother, who is from Kuwait, and father Youssuf Abdulazeez, who is Palestinian, reported the SITE Intelligence Group. reported   Little is known about the circumstances under which Abdulazeez emigrated to the United States:Born in Kuwait in 1990, Mr. Abdulazeez became an American citizen in 2003 through the naturalization of his mother, federal officials said; his father was also naturalized. Because he was a minor, he did not have to apply separately for citizenship. A divorce complaint filed by his mother in 2009 and then withdrawn, said the parents were from the State of Palestine.  On 13 November 2015, the Associated Press reported that investigators remained circumspect about Abdulazeez's motive:"We're still trying to make sure we understand Abdulazeez, his motivations and associations, in a really good way," FBI Director James Comey told reporters during a visit to Nashville's FBI field office on Friday.Comey said he understands the public interest in the shooting, but he did not know whether there would ever be a public report on it."Sometimes the way we investigate requires us to keep information secret. That's a good thing. We don't want to smear people," he said.  That article stated that the FBI considered "Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez [to be]a homegrown violent extremist." However, he emigrated to the United States as an infant, was a naturalized U.S citizen, and was never once described as a "refugee" prior to the November 2015 controversy over asylum seekers.Last updated: 20November 2015Originally published: 20November 2015 emigrated Born in Kuwait in 1990, Mr. Abdulazeez became an American citizen in 2003 through the naturalization of his mother, federal officials said; his father was also naturalized. Because he was a minor, he did not have to apply separately for citizenship. A divorce complaint filed by his mother in 2009 and then withdrawn, said the parents were from the State of Palestine.   On 13 November 2015, the Associated Press reported that investigators remained circumspect about Abdulazeez's motive:"We're still trying to make sure we understand Abdulazeez, his motivations and associations, in a really good way," FBI Director James Comey told reporters during a visit to Nashville's FBI field office on Friday. reported Comey said he understands the public interest in the shooting, but he did not know whether there would ever be a public report on it. "Sometimes the way we investigate requires us to keep information secret. That's a good thing. We don't want to smear people," he said.   That article stated that the FBI considered "Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez [to be]a homegrown violent extremist." However, he emigrated to the United States as an infant, was a naturalized U.S citizen, and was never once described as a "refugee" prior to the November 2015 controversy over asylum seekers.   Last updated: 20November 2015 Originally published: 20November 2015 For over a year, unscrupulous financial sites (primarily the Oxford Club) have been trying to peddle costly memberships and newsletter subscriptions to consumers by deceptively touting that Congress recently passed a $42.4 billion "consumer rebate program" entitling taxpaying Americans to a "cash rebate on every single purchase"  a program that you, too, could cash in on ... if you paid $49 for a subscription to find out how:  Such come-ons typically referenced a "new" or "secret" law that had been "quietly" enacted at the end of 2015: Late on Friday, December 18, 2015, President Obama quietly signed a new 233-page Congressional act into law. There was little fanfare. After all, it was the weekend before Christmas. And most of the White House reporters had already gone home for the holidays. But buried deep inside the act, in Section 106, is a hidden bombshell ... one that I believe deserves your immediate attention. In short, it contains a program that Gives Every Taxpaying American the Right to Collect a Cash Rebate on Nearly EVERY Single Purchase Made in 2016 This is not a joke. Were talking about an opportunity to collect a cash rebate on virtually anything you pay for during this year. All of this was highly misleading.  The referenced "cash rebate" program was actually a decade-old tax deduction provision that applied to a small minority of taxpayers and could not fairly be described as a program to provide consumers with "cash rebates on nearly every purchase" (at least not without stretching the definition of the word "rebate" to the breaking point. In general, the U.S. income tax code has long allowed taxpayers who itemize their federal income tax returns to deduct any state and local income taxes they pay during the year.  However, some state and local governments don't impose income taxes on residents and instead fund their operations in other ways (such as higher sales or property taxes), so those who live in such states were disadvantaged by not having a federal tax deduction to offset what they paid to keep their local government services running. To make things a little more equitable, for ten years running Congress voted in an exception every year that allowed taxpayers to choose to deduct either state and local income taxes or state and local sales taxes on their federal returns.  Finally, at the end of 2015, a bill was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama making this temporary yearly provision a permanent part of the law.  signed So, the minority of taxpayers who live in one of the nine no-income tax states (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and Wyoming) and itemize their federal tax returns may see some benefit to this not-new-but-recently-permanent law, as may a few others (such as taxpayers who have relatively low incomes but made large taxable purchases during the course of a given year).  But it's a tax deduction rather than a "cash rebate" program, and it affects only a small percentage of taxpayers and not "every taxpaying American." As the Stock Gumshoe site summarized the issue: Stock Gumshoe I expect lots of you were already fully aware of this, or blissfully unaware because it will never impact on your lives or your tax obligations, but [the "permanentization" of this tax break] is real and it has certainly made a difference for folks in no-income-tax states and a few other folks in non-typical circumstances. And its also been the law of the land for about ten years, and has recently been made permanent so you wont have to be on pins and needles each Winter as you watch to see if Congress extends the break another year. And no, it is not a rebate to 119 million Americans ... but for at least the 24 million or so households in no income tax states (or the ~8 million of them who itemize deductions, anyway) it could certainly make (and in all cases where theyve been paying attention since 2004, probably already has made) a difference on their tax returns. On 1 April 2016, the web site Breitbart published an article reporting that a California man posing as a woman had been arrested after filming women in the bathroom of a Macy's department store: article A Palmdale, California, man wearing womens clothing was arrested in a Lancaster Macys store after he was seen in a womens bathroom. The man was allegedly videotaping women in the bathroom. Jason Pomare, 33, was arrested over the weekend after mall security officers learned he had been hanging out in a Macys department store womens bathroom. The security guards contacted a Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department (LASD) deputy who found the cross-dressing man in a mall storage area, NBC Los Angeles reported. Breitbart also tied the story to anti-discrimination ordinances regarding bathroom usage by transgender people: It is not clear if Lancaster has a bathroom ordinance like the one defeated in Houston last year where men would legally be allowed to enter womens bathrooms and locker rooms. Breitbart Texas Lana Shadwick covered the defeat of that ordinance in Houston. Pomare was not charged with any offenses related to being in the womens bathroom other than the illegal filming. On 12 April 2016, the web site Daily Headlines published the same story, citing Breitbart as a source, and inaccurately confusing using bathrooms with filming inside them: published A man from Palmdale, California, wearing a bra and dress enters the ladies bathroom at Macys and what happens next should not surprise you. The man, Jason Pomare, 33, entered the bathroom which the ACLU and the liberal elitists in this country say is his God given right. He sets up a hidden camera in one of the stalls and for the next two hours, tapes women using the bathroom. Eventually, one woman noticed the camera with the record light on and notified mall security, who arrested Pomare. There was absolutely no way for anyone to see this coming, was there? (Removes tongue from cheek) Although Breitbart provided a link to the source for their report, the site either didn't bother to check that source's date or deliberately misrepresented the incident in order to leverage more interest in it. The linked news articlefrom Los Angeles television station KNBC was clearly dated 13 May 2013 (not 2016, or "last weekend"): article    KNBC's 2013 reporting described an unambiguous violation of the law. The incident had nothing to do with bathroom ordinances, itinvolved unquestionablyillegal actions, and the individual identifiedwas arrested and charged: bathroom ordinances Charges were filed against a man who wore a wig and women's clothing to disguise himself as he allegedly used a concealed camera to record "hours" of video of women in a Los Angeles-area department store restroom. Jason Pomare, 33, of Palmdale, was arrested after customers contacted security officers at a Macy's store to report a man in the women's restroom. The security officers contacted a deputy, who was on patrol at the Antelope Valley Mall (map) when he saw a man matching the subject's description leave the store. Pomare was charged with six counts of unlawful use of a concealed camera for purposes of sexual gratification. After his arrest, investigators said a video camera found in his purse had "hours" of video of women using the restroom inside the store. (Pomare's arrest was alsoreported by the Antelope Valley Times in May 2013.) reported  Neither Breitbart nor Daily Headlines updated their articles to note that the incident hadn't taken place in April 2016, and that the arrest occurred well prior to the passage of any prominent bathroom ordinances. And both sitesfailed to take into account that more recent non-discrimination ordinances haven't legalized filming bathroom occupants, no matter what their gender identity might be. non-discrimination ordinances Pomare was charged with six counts of unlawful use of a concealed camera for the purposes of sexual gratification, a charge that would alsobe applicable in any jurisdiction that permitted transgender individuals to use bathrooms aligned with their gender. Ordinances of that nature haveno provisions permittingthe surreptitious filming of bathroom occupants for personal sexual gratification (or any other reason), nor have such provisions been sought or suggested by anyone.  Dilworth, M.  "Palmdale Man Arrested for Videotaping in Women's Bathroom."
  The Antelope Valley Times.  14 May 2013. Klemack, John Cadiz and Jonathan Lloyd.   "Man Disguised as Woman Recorded "Hours" of Mall Restroom Video: Investigators."
    KNBC-TV [Los Angeles].   14 May 2013. On July 17, 2022, the Facebook page The Sized posteda meme that claimed a dog in Colombia named Negro was known for paying for cookies with leaves. We received mail from our readers that asked if this was true. We soon found that the story of the dog was real. posted The post has since been removed, but the meme lives on: The meme said, "After watching customers pay money to buy cookies from a store, a dog in Colombia named Negro started bringing a leaf in his mouth and presenting it to the store attendant. The leaf-cookie exchange has become a daily occurrence for extremely good boy Negro, who is a 'paying' customer just like everybody else." Colombia This true story appeared to have first been posted on Twitter on April 16, 2018. The tweet was liked and shared for a total of hundreds of thousands of engagements. Twitter tweet l es "NEGRO" y le gustan las galletas. Llega a la tienda del Colegio y como si fuera un estudiante ms, pide una galleta. No es fiada ni regalada. Negro ve qe los estudiantes llevan billetes y reciben algo a cambio. l toma una hoja del suelo y se acerca a comprar su antojito. pic.twitter.com/Hkf5kVsCKR pic.twitter.com/Hkf5kVsCKR  Gloria? (@AyPlobnrg) April 16, 2018 April 16, 2018  The tweet translates to, "He is 'NEGRO' and he likes cookies. He arrives at the school store and as if he were just another student, he asks for a cookie. It is not trusted or given away. Black sees that the students carry bills and receive something in return. He picks up a leaf from the ground and goes to buy his snack." According to The Dodo, the store referenced in the meme was a small shop on the campus of Institucin Educativa Tcnico Diversificado de Monterrey, which is located in Monterrey, Colombia. The Dodo Institucin Educativa Tcnico Diversificado de Monterrey Apparently, this tale of man's best friend was once subjected to a bit of misinformation. The La FM Facebook page previously falsely claimed that the story took place in Mexico. Commenters called out La FM for the mistake. Facebook falsely claimed  This picture of the school was posted on its Facebook page. The article from The Dodo said that, as of 2018, Negro the dog was serving as a "guardian of sorts," watching over the children's daily activities. He had been cared for by the school's faculty since around 2013. According to the story, one day Negro decided to try something that he witnessed the students doing at the shop: Early on in Negro's tenure at the school, he came to be aware of the little store on campus where students gather to buy things on their breaks; sometimes they'd buy him cookies sold there. This, evidently, is where the dog first learned aboutcommerce and decided to try it out himself. "He would go to the store and watch the children give money and receive something in exchange," teacher Angela Garcia Bernal told The Dodo. "Then one day, spontaneous, he appeared with a leaf in his mouth, wagging his tail and letting it be known that he wanted a cookie." The Dodo added that, "Staff have made sure he's only getting treatssafe for dogs to eat, and they do limit his purchases to just a couple a day (to stave off inflation in both the leafy currency and his waistline)." We didn't find any other pictures of Negro on the school's Facebook page. His most recent photographs were posted in 2018. Note: We reached out to Angela Garcia Bernal, who was previously interviewed by The Dodo. However, we were unlikely to receive a response any time soon, as our message went to her message requests. Messenger does not issue notifications for message requests from unknown senders. Institucin Educativa Tcnico Diversificado de Monterrey. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057287746349. Messenger, Stephen. "Dog Always Brings A Leaf To 'Buy' Himself Treats At The Store." The Dodo, 25 Apr. 2018, https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/dog-buys-treats-using-leaf.