Despite touting the economic stimulus as a great triumph, The very same report, however, notes that unemployment will average 10 percent for the rest of the year.
Soon after the White House released the Economic Report of the President on Feb. 11, 2010, Republicans derided its boast that the massive economic stimulus championed by President Barack Obama may in time be viewed as one of the great triumphs of timely, effective countercyclical macroeconomic policy.Washington Democrats still dont get it, House Republican Leader John Boehner wrote in a press release. Two days after the president brushed off Republicans' concerns that Democrats' job-killing policies are causing great uncertainty for small businesses, the White House is now declaring in a new report that the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' will be one of historys 'great triumphs.' The very same report, however, notes that unemployment will average 10 percent for the rest of the year. The Obama administration promised the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' would create jobs 'immediately' and keep joblessness below 8 percent.The report does, in fact, project that the unemployment rate will hover at about 10 percent through this year. With many press accounts of the economic report highlighting the forecast that job gains for 2010 will average 95,000 a month, those two facts may seem at odds. They are not.A certain number of jobs need to be created every month simply to hold the unemployment rate stable, said Gary Burtless, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. That's because the working-age population is growing.In addition, as the job market improves -- or is even perceived as improving -- some people who had given up on looking for work may get back in the game and be added to the unemployed ranks. So there would have to be about 100,000 jobs added a month just for the unemployment rate to tread water.Even still, the report says, there's evidence the labor market is stabilizing.That's because the economy shed 691,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2009, 428,000 in the second quarter, 199,000 in the third, and 69,000 in the fourth. So to have the number of jobs increasing even moderately is an improvement.But Boehner's statement includes an assumption masquerading as a fact: It's that the stimulus has failed if unemployment rates remain at 10 percent through the year. While Boehner and other Republicans have long cited rising unemployment as proof that the stimulus hasn't created jobs, many reputable and independent economists say it has, and that the unemployment rate would be even worse without it. The Economic Report of the President estimates the stimulus has already saved or created 1.5 million to 2 million jobs, and is on track to save 3.5 million by the end of this year. We gave President Obama aHalf Truewhen he claimed in his State of the Union address that the stimulus has already saved or created 2 million jobs, because that was on the high side of projections from his Council of Economic Advisers, the independent Congressional Budget Office and several other reputable economic forecasters. But we should note all of those forecasters put the number north of 1 million jobs.In other words, just because the unemployment rate may stay at a whopping 10 percent, doesn't mean that the stimulus didn't prevent an even worse catastrophe, Burtless said.As for the last bit of Boehner's statement, we gave aBarely Trueto House Republican Whip Eric Cantor and other Republicans who have continued to claim that Obama promised the stimulus would keep unemployment rates below 8 percent. That was a forecast based on where the unemployment rate was expected to go without a stimulus. That forecast was in line with other independent forecasts at the time, but proved overly optimistic, as Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, acknowledged again in a press conference on Feb. 11, 2010.So Boehner is correct that the president's economic report forecasts the unemployment rate will remain at 10 percent through this year (even as jobs are added). But again, when Boehner cites that statistic as proof that the stimulus is having no immediate effect on jobless rates as promised, it ignores the possibility that if not for the stimulus the unemployment rate might be even worse. Many economic forecasters believe that's exactly the case. Still, projections about the number of jobs saved or created by the stimulus are just that, projections. And many economists believe it is still way too early to measure its effectiveness. But we think it's misleading to simply point to a stagnant unemployment rate as proof that the stimulus isn't working. And so we rate Boehner's statement Mostly True.
The only thing the internet loves more than a good prediction is pretending that a good prediction exists. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen some far-reaching attempts to claim that this contagious and deadly disease had been predicted by episodes of "The Simpsons," George Orwell's book "1984," the alleged soothsayer known as Nostradamus, alleged psychic Sylvia Browne, South Korean television shows, the video game Resident Evil, and a novel by Dean Koontz.  far-reaching attempts episodes of "The Simpsons,"  George Orwell's book "1984," alleged soothsayer known as Nostradamus alleged psychic Sylvia Browne, South Korean television shows Resident Evil novel by Dean Koontz In November 2021, as a new variant of COVID-19 emerged that health officials called "omicron," social media users started looking for old pieces of media containing the word so that they could claim that this variant had been "predicted." What they found was a movie from the 1960s:    There really was a movie made in 1963 called "Omicron." And that's where this movie's connection to the current COVID-19 pandemic ends.  The word "omicron" isn't new, and it's use in a 1960s movie isn't all that surprising. "Omicron" is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and has been in use for thousands of years. In academic fields, it is often used to represent the 15th item in a list. The World Health Organization announced in May that it would be naming new COVID-19 variants as they emerge by using the the Greek alphabet. While the "delta" variant made headlines, there have been several other variants, such as epsilon, Iota and lambda, that didn't warrant too much concern. When the latest variant emerged, WHO skipped two letters, nu and xi, as they are common surnames, and named the new variant omicron.  World Health Organization announced in May skipped two letters WHO has assigned simple, easy to say and remember labels for key variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using letters of the Greek alphabet. These labels were chosen after wide consultation and a review of many potential naming systems. WHO convened an expert group of partners from around the world to do so, including experts who are part of existing naming systems, nomenclature and virus taxonomic experts, researchers and national authorities. The word "omicron" is also frequently used by astronomers to name stars. Omicron Persei, Omicron Andromedae, and Omicron Ceti are all real stars in the galaxy. It's not far-fetched to see how a fiction writer could name a fictional planet or a fictional alien "Omicron." Omicron Persei Omicron Andromedae Omicron Ceti In fact, when some social media users encountered the name of this new COVID-19 variant, a number of people noted how "omicron" would make a great name for a sci-fi movie. Some even created and posted fake movie posters. Here's one fake "Omicron" movie poster (left) next to the original movie poster (right) it was created from: original movie poster   While a few fake "Omicron" movie posters were circulated on social media in November 2021, there really have been a few movies with this title. In 1963, Italian writer and director Ugo Gregoretti made a movie called "Omicron" about an alien that took over a human body in order to learn more about earth. Here's one scene from the satirical film:  This is a real movie, but it has practically nothing to do with the current pandemic. Furthermore, using "omicron" in a work of fiction isn't all that uncommon. In 2013, "The Visitor from Planet Omicron" explored how an alien invasion could be thwarted by really good cooking. The plot of "The Visitor from Planet Omicron" would probably make better conspiratorial fodder as it involves a botanical virus and a corrupt government, but this low-budget comedy in no way "predicted" COVID-19.     The animated show "Futurama" also features an alien character named Lrrr who is the ruler of the Planet Omicron Persei 8. While one could build a conspiracy theory around Lrrr and the other Omicronians starting the COVID-19 pandemic, Lrrr would probably rather eat humans (or force them to make more sitcoms) than kill them with a plague.  ruler of the Planet Omicron Persei 8  Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is not a work of fiction. It wasn't predicted by old sci-fi movies and it wasn't planned by nefarious forces. The latest variant was named "omicron" because that was the next usable letter in the Greek alphabet. The next variant will likely be called "Pi," the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, which will undoubtedly lead people to claim that the pandemic was predicted by movies like "Life of Pi" or by Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse who was the first to calculate an accurate approximation of pi.  Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse     How Futurama Is Related to the New Omicron COVID Variant. MARCA, 28 Nov. 2021, https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/tv-shows/2021/11/28/61a327fe268e3e001c8b4576.html. This Is How the Number 3.14 Got the Name Pi. Time, https://time.com/4699479/pi-day-history-origins/. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021. WHO Announces Simple, Easy-to-Say Labels for SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest and Concern. https://www.who.int/news/item/31-05-2021-who-announces-simple-easy-to-say-labels-for-sars-cov-2-variants-of-interest-and-concern. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021. The economic equity issues that proved pivotal in the 2012 presidential campaign are again shaping up as big factors this year. Both major parties are pushing to make sure their talking points prevail. Democrats cite statistics showing a yawning pay gap between men and women, with Republicans countering that young women are out earning men in some urban areas. The Claim The National Partnership For Women & Families, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, released a new analysis April 8, 2014, to coincide with Equal Pay Day. It cited U.S. Census data showing that women who work full time in Oregon are paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men -- a claim PolitiFact Oregon has investigated previously and found solid. But it went further. If the wage gap were eliminated, it said, a working woman in Oregon would have enough money per year for 2,877 gallons of gas, 72 more weeks of food for her family or nearly 12 more months of rent. We wondered if the specific pieces of the claim were on the money. The Analysis The basis of the groups claim comes from the U.S. Census Bureaus Current Population Survey. It lists, state by state, median annual earnings for year-round, full-time workers and draws on statistics from 2012, the most recent year available. Men in Oregon earned $47,402, compared with $37,381 for women, according to the data. Thats 79 cents on the dollar and adds up to a gap of $10,021 a year. The gap persists for a variety of reasons, said Mary King, a Portland State University economics professor, including a gender division of labor under which womens jobs are paid less, lack of strong family-leave policies, and women disproportionately ending up in low-paying retail and service work. Satisfied that women do earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by men -- the gap would be 21 cents -- we emailed Sadie Kliner, the National Partnership for Women & Families communications director. She directed us to a separate fact sheet. Gasoline prices, according to the sheet, were provided by Oil Price Information Service in cooperation with Wex, Inc. A gallon of regular gas in Oregon currently costs $3.697, it read. We checked that against AAA Oregon/Idahos website, which shows regular gas in Oregon right now averaging $3.69 per gallon. Then we did the math, dividing the wage gap of $10,021 by $3.69. The group claimed a woman could buy 2,877 gallons, but we found closing the gap would enable a woman to buy only 2,715 gallons. We contacted Kliner again, who noted that Oregons gas prices were $3.48 when the fact sheet was prepared in early March. A check of AAAs gas-price information confirmed Kliners point. We moved on to the 12 months worth of rent piece of the claim. The group, citing data from the Censuss 2012 American Community Survey, put the median cost for rental housing in Oregon at $862 a month. It showed a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percent. Independently verifying that number wasnt easy, since no county or or state organization tracks it. We called Multifamily NW, whose members manage more than 150,000 rental units from southern Washington to Medford. Jonathan Clay, the associations research and communications analyst, pointed us to a semi-annual survey released in October. Two-bedroom, one-bath units averaged $818 per month across the metro area, according to the survey, putting it within range of the margin of error in the Census data. We calculated that $10,021 would pay for 11.5 months of rent, just over half a month shy of the groups original claim of 12 months. Again contacting Kliner about the discrepancy, she noted that the group rounded the figure up, using the word nearly to account for the difference. Finally, in assessing food costs, we noted that the original claim said 72 more weeks of food for her family. While the claim didnt specify the number of children, we settled on two. We then checked the U.S. Department of Agricultures website, which publishes monthly food plans representing a well-rounded diet at four different cost levels. Drawing from the low-cost plan, two children could be fed on $97.50 per week. Food costs for an adult female would bring the familys weekly total to $144.90. That compares with the $139.10 per week for the 72 weeks in the groups pay-gap claim. Our Ruling A national advocacy group, in spotlighting Equal Pay Day, claimed that a pay gap between men and women exists in Oregon. PolitiFact Oregon has looked at the gap before and found that its real, but we took the next step by fact-checking the groups claim that the gap is big enough to pay for 2,877 gallons of gasoline, 72 months of food or nearly 12 months of rent. All three elements of the claim checked out -- or were very close -- according to independent sources. We rate the claim True. On the evening of Feb. 11, 2024, shortly afterthe Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII,an image of U.S. President Joe Biden with glowing red laser eyes circulated online, along with the caption, "Just like we drew it up."Screenshots of the post indicated that Biden's official account on X (formerly Twitter) made the post. image Screenshots The post referenced the "Dark Brandon" meme  that is, imagerydepicting Biden as a nonhuman villain with laser eyes and is a satirical response to critics. Prior to the championship game, many right-wingconspiracy theorists made posts about Democrats secretly scheming with Chiefs tight Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift to help Biden's 2024 presidential campaign. They believed high-profile Democrats worked with the NFL to rig the season so that Kelce and Swift would end up at the highly watched event and endorse Biden there, CNN reported. Dark Brandon depicting response conspiracy CNN reported (Screenshot via Reddit) Biden's official X account did indeed share the image, a reference to the Dark Brandon meme, along with the words, "Just like we drew it up," after the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory. We thus rated the claim  The original tweet is viewable on Biden's X account and archived here. (The account is distinct from the one he uses for presidential matters, which is @POTUS.) here POTUS Just like we drew it up. pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE  Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 12, 2024 February 12, 2024  The notion that Biden or Democrats had any role in the outcome of Super Bowl LVIII was nothing but an unfounded conspiracy theory. We reached out to the White House asking what it meant by, or why it authored, the post  which appeared to be trolling people who believed the conspiracy theory to be true. We'll update this report if, or when, we receive a response. unfounded conspiracy theory As wereported before, critics of the president started referring to him as "Brandon" around 2021, and memes depicting him as a cartoonish villain with laser eyessurfacedaround that time, too. As a response, supporters of the president  including White House DeputyPressSecretary Andrew Bates (tweet below) attempted toreclaim the "Dark Brandon" imagery tomock people who genuinely posted it. reported surfaced White House DeputyPressSecretary Andrew Bates reclaim  According to The Associated Press, the "Brandon" name stemmed from an incident in which a reporter mistook a crowd'schant of "F*** Joe Biden" for "Let's go, Brandon" in support of a NASCAR driver. Since then, anti-Biden people have used "Let's go, Brandon" as a rallying cry, putting it on T-shirts, merchandise and more. The Associated Press "Dark Brandon" memes  i.e. images of alaser-eyed Biden  are an apparent attempt by the president's supporters to comment on the conspiratorial nature of some of his critics. Bidenreferencedthe internet trend at the 2023 White House Correspondents Association dinner. referenced Kaczynski, Andrew and Oliver Darcy. "Right-Wing Media Figures Target Taylor Swift with Absurd Conspiracy Theory Ahead of the Super Bowl | CNN Business." CNN, 30 Jan. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/media/taylor-swift-super-bowl-right-wing-conspiracy/index.html. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. "'Let's Go Brandon': A Collection of Stories." Snopes, 2 Nov. 2021, https://www.snopes.com//collections/lets-go-brandon/.Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. Navlakha, Meera. "Joe Biden's Laser-Eyed Alter Ego Returns for Super Bowl Meme." Mashable, 12 Feb. 2024, https://mashable.com/article/joe-biden-dark-brandon-meme-taylor-swift-donald-trump.Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. Romano, Aja. "The 'Dark Brandon' Meme  and Why the Biden Campaign Has Embraced It  Explained." Vox, 11 Aug. 2022, https://www.vox.com/culture/23300286/biden-dark-brandon-meme-maga-why-confusing-explained.Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. Sforza, Lauren. "Biden Trolls MAGA Republicans with Super Bowl Tweet." The Hill, 12 Feb. 2024, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4462750-biden-trolls-maga-republicans-super-bowl-tweet/.Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. Thompson, Alex, and Allie Bice. "Dark Brandon Begins: How WH Aides Appropriated the Meme of Their Boss as an Underworld Kin." POLITICO, 8 Aug. 2022, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/08/08/how-a-meme-of-biden-as-an-underworld-king-became-appropriated-by-his-aides-00050405.Accessed 12 Feb. 2024. Since at least July 2021, online advertisements have displayed a picture of the cardboard from an empty toilet paper roll or a paper cup propping up a toilet seat. The ads appeared to promise a handy bathroom trick. For example, this ad appeared next to an article on the New York Post website. New York Post  This ad was hosted by the Outbrain advertising network and was perhaps displayed on a large number of websites.  The ad read: "[Pics] Always Place a Toilet Paper Roll Under the Toilet Seat at Night, Here's Why." A variation of the same ad said: "[Pics] Put A Toilet Paper Roll Under Public Toilet Seat, Here's Why." They were sponsored by the Maternity Week and Definition.org websites. Yet another variation of the ad said: "40 Brilliant Life Hacks Nobody Told You About." We also saw one that used a red cup instead of an empty toilet paper roll. "Always Place A Red Cup Under The Toilet Seat At Your Hotel, Here's Why."  Some social media commenters said it might be to warn others that there's no more toilet paper.  Clicking on one of the ads led to a 41-page slideshow article and a headline that read: "These 40 Brilliant Tricks Will Make Even The Hardest Items To Clean Sparkle." The story's first page read as follows: article Ever looked forward to cleaning the house? We didnt think so! But when it absolutely, positively has to be done  when your bathrooms looking a little grubby, for instance  were here to help. These 40 incredible hacks will make sprucing up your home an absolute breeze. And you just wont believe what you can do with a cardboard bathroom tissue roll... On that first page, the story once again teased some grand trick with a cardboard toilet paper roll, perhaps involving a toilet seat and nighttime. The web address (URL) even mentioned the toilet paper trick for what is known as UTM tracking. This meant that the website's creator was tracking whether the ad was successfully getting clicks and bringing in readers. After all, someone was apparently paying to run the ads on the Outbrain advertising network, so it's typically important to figure out if they're worth the investment. The article contained several odd household tricks. One claimed it would be good to put hairbrushes in the dishwasher. Another advised about pouring various liquids down the drain, which we covered in two previous fact checks about dish soap and salt. We also found a questionable oven cleaning tip, plus purported bread uses, which we also covered in the past. hairbrushes in the dishwasher advised dish soap salt oven cleaning tip bread uses covered On page 41, which was the last page, a toilet paper roll trick was finally revealed. However, it had nothing to do with placing it under a toilet seat at night. It simply advised to attach a cardboard roll to a vacuum cleaner hose to reach crevices. page 41 reach crevices  Courtesy: beeanchor/Imgur.com  The 41-page article never mentioned a word about why to always place a toilet paper roll under a toilet seat at night. It was nothing but clickbait. We clicked "next page" 40 times so you don't have to. We looked to home improvement websites such as BobVila.com to see if there was perhaps a legitimate purpose for the toilet paper roll or a red cup going under the seat. However, we found no such tips, tricks, or "life hacks." BobVila.com After this story was published, a reader sent in a tip that said an empty toilet paper roll propping up the seat might be a helpful warning to the next person to enter the stall that there's no toilet paper. We've clicked through thousands of pages in these kinds of strange slideshow articles that come from scammy ads. The subjects have included Tom Selleck, Disneyland, Costco, Alex Trebek's net worth, and around 100 other topics. Check out our entire collection. Each of our stories is presented on a single page. Tom Selleck Disneyland Costco Alex Trebek's net worth our entire collection Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising "arbitrage." The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads. submit ads to us In November 2021, rumors claiming that an unusual number of athletes had fainted or collapsed in the last year were widely circulated online. These rumors were often accompanied by fear-mongering captions that warned people against receiving COVID-19 vaccines. One video, for example, was accompanied by messages such as "Not normal ... Boost at your own [peril]," "#ATHLETES IN ALL SPORTS ARE DROPPING DEAD AND THE MASTERS FORCE VACCINES ON US ALL," and "Vaccines dropping them daily. Sick world." Not normal ... Boost at your own [peril] #ATHLETES IN ALL SPORTS ARE DROPPING DEAD AND THE MASTERS FORCE VACCINES ON US ALL Vaccines dropping them daily. Sick world This video does not show vaccine injuries or people fainting due to the COVID-19 vaccine. While this video shows real incidents from 2021, none of these incidents has been connected to the COVID-19 vaccine, other plausible explanations (such as dehydration or heat exhaustion) have been offered for these incidents, and a few of the clips in this video show athletes who were not vaccinated. There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine has resulted in an increase in fainting incidents. The above-displayed video features seven fainting incidents. We've been able to source six of the seven clips. None of the fainting incidents we were able to find more information on were caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. Here's what these clips show, starting with the first one:   The first clip shows Denmark's Christian Eriksen collapsing during the Euro 2020 in June 2021 after suffering a cardiac arrest. While this incident has been used by anti-vaxxers to stir up fear over the COVID-19 vaccine, Eriksen was not vaccinated. Inter Milan team director Giuseppe Marotta said: "He didn't have COVID and wasn't vaccinated either." Giuseppe Marotta said   The second clip shows Chinelle Henry and Chedean Nation, two West Indies cricket players who fainted during a match in July 2021. While both players were taken off the field in stretchers, neither required hospitalization.; While an exact cause for this incident was not given, labeling this a vaccine injury is pure speculation. Furthermore, both players returned to the field a few days later to compete. returned to the field Both players had collapsed on the field in separate incidents during the second T20I on Friday, but were back with the team on Sunday, the day of the third game. In separate messages posted on Twitter, both said they didn't have any hospital stay or restrictions imposed on them. "I just want to thank you guys for all your concern and well wishes, and I am doing well. No hospital stay, no restrictions. Now I'm just focused on going out there and getting the series 3-nil," Henry said.   The third clip shows Moussa Dembele, a striker for Atletico Madrid, who collapsed during training in March 2021. Diario AS reported that Dembele fainted after a "sudden drop in blood pressure" but that there were no other complications. Dembele was not hospitalized and after being examined by the team's doctors drove his own car home from the field. There's no evidence that this incident was related to a COVID-19 vaccine. It's worth noting, however, that Dembele tested positive for COVID-19 a month before this incident. Goal.com reported: Goal.com reported The former Lyon forward is the fourth player with the Liga leaders to have to self-isolate, and could miss the Champions League clash with Chelsea Atletico Madrid have received their second coronavirus blow in as many days after striker Moussa Dembele tested positive, following team-mate Joao Felix.   The fourth clip shows Jack Draper, a young British tennis player, suffering from a bout of heat exhaustion at the Miami Open in March 2021. As was the case with Dembele above, it's possible that COVID-19, not a COVID-19 vaccine, contributed to this medical episode. Draper said that he was diagnosed with coronavirus in January and that the lingering effects of the disease, in addition to the heat, may have contributed to his collapse. Draper said: Draper said "I was out for two weeks with COVID in January ... I didn't move a muscle and that was after pre-season as well, so I put in a really good pre-season and then I didn't play so it's been a rough start to the year [...] I got it, it's obviously an extremely aggressive virus and you can catch it from anywhere, but I got it and it did affect me quite badly for seven days. I had bad symptoms and then I recovered pretty quickly from there, but it definitely had an effect on me. I've put in loads of great training since then, so it's no excuse, but did it have an effect on me at the time? Probably. With a lot of these things you don't know how much it really affects you."   The fifth clip in this video is the one we know the least about. It doesn't appear to be a professional badminton event. Rather, this clip appears to come from a security camera at a recreational facility. Project Comprova, a collaboration of more than a dozen news outlets around Brazil, found that this video was likely shot somewhere in Malaysia. Little is known about this incident at the time, however, so we can't say exactly what happened here. What we can say, however, is that those claiming that this shows a "vaccine injury" are doing so without evidence. Project Comprova The sixth clip shows Charles Bulu, a Ghanaian referee, collapsing in March 2021 during the final minutes of an Africa Cup match between Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia. Goal.com reported that Bulu was initially appointed as the fourth official, but had to step in as the main referee after a colleague tested positive for COVID-19. Goal.com reported Bulu, who was treated at a hospital according to theGhana Football Association, told the Daily Graphic, a Ghanaian newspaper, that the incident was related to a poor diet, a lack of sleep, dehydration, and excessive heat: Ghana Football Association, I didn't eat quite well both at breakfast and lunch, hoping that I would rather take in some banana just before the game, only to arrive at the Match Officials' dressing room to realise that no such provision had been made, despite we requesting for it. [...] I could not take in as much water as my body needed and with the heat and intensity of the game, I began feeling dehydrated by the 68th minute, but unfortunately, there was no Fourth Referee to step in. I was hoping I could hold on till the next water break which was around the 75th minute, but before then I just blacked out. The final clip in this video compilation shows Bert Smith as he collapsed during a March Madness game in April 2021. Smith was taken off the floor on a stretcher but he didn't require immediate hospitalization. Hours later, as a precaution, Smith decided to visit a hospital, fearing that he may have a concussion. While smith did not have a concussion, the doctors did find that he had a blood clot. The Indy Star reported that Smith was put on blood thinners and was released a few days later. It's unclear what caused the blood clot, but Smith did test positive for COVID-19 a few months earlier. reported Smith was admitted into Methodist and put on blood thinners. Two days later, clot gone, he was discharged. Where did it come from? Nobody can say. Smith tested positive for the coronavirus in August, but doctors can't say whether there's a correlation between COVID-19 and his blood clot. An athlete fainting is not a particularly rare occurrence. According to The Athletic, a player faints on the football pitch every four days. But is the problem getting worse due to COVID-19? player faints on the football pitch every four days While the above-displayed video does not show athletes who fainted or collapsed from the COVID-19 vaccine, it does show various athletes fainting in 2021. There's not enough evidence to say whether or not fainting incidents are becoming more common due to the pandemic, but here are a few things to consider. First, people infected by COVID-19 mayexperience "long Covid," or lingering symptoms from the disease after the initial infection subsides. These symptoms may include shortness of breath, fatigue, and heart palpitations. Second, one of the rare side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine is Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the British regulator for drugs and vaccines, told Reuters that this is a rare side effect and its symptoms are often mild. symptoms may include shortness "Myocarditis or pericarditis remains a very rare potential risk with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and the events reported are typically mild with individuals usually recovering within a short time with standard treatment and rest. The current evidence does not suggest that sporting exercise is a contributing risk for these very rare events." Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, told the Telegraph that athletes diagnosed with COVID-19 are at a greater risk of having a heart condition than those who get the COVID-19 vaccine: Telegraph "Whilst vaccine induced myocarditis has been reported in children and young adults following the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, it's actually quite rare ... The risk of myocarditis, myocarditis-type injury to the heart, or other cardiovascular complications is much greater if you get Covid-19. That's why it's important to avoid Covid-19, and the best way to do that is to stay up-to-date with your vaccine doses. At the moment, there's not enough evidence to suggest any connection between COVID-19, or COVID-19 vaccines, and an increase in fainting incidents. When Reuters asked FIFA about this rumor, the soccer organization said that it was not "aware of a rise in episodes of cardiac arrests" and that there had not been any cases "flagged in relation to individuals receiving a COVID vaccine." 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 Association, Ghana Football. Public Announcement: Referee Charles Bulu Is Doing Well. https://www.ghanafa.org/public-announcement-referee-charles-bulu-is-doing-well. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "British Teenager Jack Draper Collapses with Apparent Heat Exhaustion at Miami Open." Sky Sports, https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/12256229/british-teenager-jack-draper-collapses-with-apparent-heat-exhaustion-at-miami-open. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. Charles Bulu: Referee in Stable Condition after Collapsing during Cote d'Ivoire versus Ethiopia Match | Goal.Com. https://www.goal.com/en/news/charles-bulu-fifa-referee-in-stable-condition-after/140om1o7bbfd41r6tnuue97tra. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. ---. https://www.goal.com/en/news/charles-bulu-fifa-referee-in-stable-condition-after/140om1o7bbfd41r6tnuue97tra. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "Chinelle Henry, Chedean Nation Taken to Hospital after Collapsing during West Indies-Pakistan Women's T20I." ESPNcricinfo, https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wi-vs-pak-2nd-women-s-t20-chinelle-henry-chedean-nation-taken-to-hospital-after-collapsing-during-match-1268505. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "Dembl sufre un desmayo durante el entrenamiento." AS.com, 23 Mar. 2021, https://as.com/futbol/2021/03/23/primera/1616520284_574257.html. "Fact Check-No Evidence COVID-19 Vaccines Are Linked to Athletes Collapsing or Dying from Myocarditis." Reuters, 29 Nov. 2021. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-sport-idUSL1N2SK160. "---." Reuters, 29 Nov. 2021. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-sport-idUSL1N2SK160. "I'm Fully Fit and Back on Duty  Referee Bulu." Graphic Online, https://www.graphic.com.gh/sports/sports-news/i-m-fully-fit-and-back-on-duty-referee-bulu.html. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "Inter Director Says Eriksen Did Not Have COVID and Was Not Vaccinated." Reuters, 13 June 2021, https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/eriksens-former-cardiologist-says-he-had-no-history-heart-concerns-2021-06-13/. Millar, Colin. "Moussa Dembele Returns to Atletico Madrid Training Days after Collapsing." Football Espana, 26 Mar. 2021, https://www.football-espana.net/2021/03/26/moussa-dembele-returns-to-atletico-madrid-training-days-after-collapsing. Morgan, Tom. "Covid a More Likely Cause of Surge in Footballers Collapsing with Heart Problems than Vaccines, Scientists Believe." The Telegraph, 26 Nov. 2021. www.telegraph.co.uk, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/11/26/scientists-rebuff-irresponsible-claims-pundits-say-covid-likely/. "Moussa Dembele: Atletico Madrid Striker Collapses in Training and Requires Medical Attention." Sky Sports, https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11838/12254909/moussa-dembele-atletico-madrid-striker-collapses-in-training-and-requires-medical-attention. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "No h relao entre casos de mal sbito em atletas e vacinas contra covid." Projeto Comprova, https://projetocomprova.com.br/publicaes/nao-ha-relacao-entre-casos-de-mal-subito-em-atletas-e-vacinas-contra-covid/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "---." Estado Verifica, https://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/estadao-verifica/atletas-mal-subito-vacina/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "NCAA Tournament Referee Who Collapsed during Elite Eight Game Says Medical Incident Saved His Life." CBSSports.Com, https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ncaa-tournament-referee-who-collapsed-during-elite-eight-game-says-medical-incident-saved-his-life/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. "Referee Bert Smith's Fall in Men's NCAA Tournament Game Didn't Kill Him. It Saved His Life." Indianapolis Star, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2021/04/09/ncaa-tournament-referee-bert-smith-collapse-game-saved-life/7148461002/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. Taylor, Daniel. "A Man Collapses on a Football Pitch Once Every Four Days. Is the Threat of Cardiac Arrest Getting Worse?" The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/2963733/2021/11/19/someone-collapses-football-pitch-every-four-days/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2021. In February 2021, a meme circulated on Facebook claiming that "Communist China" owned DreamWorks:   Since the meme urged people to "FACT CHECK THIS!", we did, and it appears that these claims are made up out of whole cloth.  DreamWorks Animation LLC is an American animation studio best known for making movies such as "Shrek" and "How to Train Your Dragon." It started as a division of the movie production company DreamWorks Pictures founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. In 2016, the company was acquired by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast Corporation, in a deal worth about $3.8 billion. founded in 1994 Variety reported at the time: reported NBCUniversal has set a deal to buy DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion in cash, giving the Comcast-owned media conglomerate added heft in its effort to compete with rivals like Disney, Time Warner and Viacom, all of which cater more directly to kid-and family audiences. [...] "DreamWorks will help us grow our film, television, theme parks and consumer products businesses for years to come, said NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke.  We are fortunate to have Illumination founder Chris Meledandri to help guide the growth of the DreamWorks Animation business in the future. NBCUniversal and Comcast are both American companies.  We're not entirely sure where the claim that "China owns DreamWorks" originated, but it might be based on some confusion over the animation company Pearl Studios, which was formerly known as Oriental DreamWorks. While these companies do have a connection, they are two separate entities. Oriental DreamWorks was started as a joint Chinese-American venture in 2012 between Chinese investment companies and DreamWorks Animation. When Comcast acquired DreamWorks in 2016, they noted that DreamWorks Animation owned a 45% stake in Oriental Dreamworks: acquired DWA is also the majority owner of AwesomenessTV, a leading video destination for Generation Z and Millennial audiences, and also owns 45% of Oriental DreamWorks, a world-class animation studio in China that produces family entertainment for both Chinese and global audiences. Two years after this deal in 2018, the Chinese investment firm CMC Capital Partners took full ownership of Oriental DreamWorks and relaunched it as Pearl Studio. Deadline reported: reported A consortium led by Li Ruigangs CMC Capital Partners has taken full ownership of Shanghai-based animation studio Oriental DreamWorks, relaunching it as Pearl Studio. Universal, which inherited 45% of the joint venture when parent Comcast acquired DreamWorks Animation in 2016, had been looking to offload its interests. Financial terms were not disclosed. The newly-christened studio will be led by CEO Frank Zhu and Chief Creative Officer Peilin Chou. The senior executive team also includes Head of Studio Dagan Potter, Head of Ancillary Business PC Xu and Head of Operation Cindy Zhou. Oriental DreamWorks, which launched in 2012, is the studio behind Kung Fu Panda 3 which was the first official U.S.-China animated co-production and one of the highest-grossing animated films ever when it released in the Middle Kingdom in 2016. In September last year, the studio unveiled a slate of key development projects. A Chinese investment firm (not the Chinese government) owns an animation studio called Pearl Studio that originated as a Chinese-American joint venture called Oriental DreamWorks. In no way can this be construed as the Chinese Communist Party's owning the American company DreamWorks. In her new book,Going Rogue, Sarah Palin said President Barack Obama's support for a cap and trade plan was misguided. The president has already admitted that the policy he seeks will cause our electricity bills to 'skyrocket.' Sadly, those hit hardest will be those who are already struggling to make ends meet, she wrote. Here, we're looking at Obama's comments on electricity bills. First, though, here's a quick summary of cap and trade for those who aren't famliar with it: To slow climate change, the government would set a cap on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. To comply, companies such as electric utilities must either upgrade to cleaner technologies or buy credits  also known as allowances  to continue polluting. Companies can buy and sell the credits as necessary to conduct their business. We were familiar with Obama's original quote from his campaign for president. It came from a videotaped interview he did with theSan Francisco Chronicleeditorial board very early in the campaign in January 2008.Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, Obama told theChronicle. Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.Obama also said the biggest challenge would be making sure voters understand why such a plan is necessary. The problem is, can you get the American people to say this is really important, Obama said. Obama was talking in general about cap and trade, but there is now a specific bill making its way through Congress, written by Reps. Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, Democrats from California and Massachusetts, respectively. Their goal is to lower carbon pollution by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Under their plan, most pollution permits initially would be given out for free. But eventually, companies would have to buy those permits from the government. The latest version of the bill includes a number of measures to offset higher utility bills for consumers. Revenue from the permits would be passed to consumers through rebates or expanded efficiency programs, and an additional 15 percent of the revenue would go directly to low-income consumers. Legislators have opted to give 85 percent of the polluting permits away for free instead of putting them up for sale, as Obama pledged to do on the campaign trail. In theory, this approach should reduce costs to consumers. So how much would rates go up for consumers? It's hard to say. There has been much debate about the costs, and it's been difficult to come up with a reliable number because the bills have been changing as they move through the House and the Senate. Republicans have cited numbers as high as $3,000 per year, a claim that when it was combined with a falsehood on health care, earned ourPants on Firerating. Recent estimates by the Congressional Budget Office and the Environmental Protection Agency are much lower  between $80 and $340 a year, depending on income. So the climate debate has changed substantially since Obama sat down with theChroniclenearly two years ago.Despite those potential cost cuts, there's still little disagreement that consumers will pay for cap-and-trade, whether it's $3,100 a year or $340. Because that hasn't changed since Obama first said that utility rates would necessarily skyrocket, and because Palin got Obama's words right, we give Palin a True. Wendy Davis, asked if shes unethically profited while in public office, suggested her opponent has committed infractions including one that resulted from hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. Responding to a reporter at the Sept. 30, 2014,gubernatorial debatein Dallas, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee and Fort Worth state senator accused Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, her Republicanfoe, of selling out Texans to serve the interests of people who make donations to his campaign. As an example, Davis pointed out payday lenders who have given Abbotts campaign $300,000 and then received a ruling from him that they can operate in a loophole in the law that allows them to charge unlimited rates and fees. Davis was revisiting a topic shes consistently explored: that a 2006 letter from Abbotts state office allowed payday lenders to skirt state lending laws. After Davis proclaimed link between Abbotts campaign donations and official action wasdescribedby theEl Paso Timesin January 2014, we foundHalf Trueher statement that Texas payday lenderswere charging 1,000 percent interest. In rare instances, lenders charged 1,000 percent annual interest, but payday loan rates then averaged 465 percent. For this fact check, we gauged whether Abbott piled up hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and then issued a ruling favorable to payday lenders, which offer low-dollar, high-interest short-term loans targeting low-income people who live paycheck to paycheck. The loans are generally for $100 and $500 and are most often issued for two weeks. Theyre considered risky because low-income borrowers are relatively unlikely to be able to pay them back. Abbott campaign contributions To our inquiry about the $300,000 described as given to Abbott, Davis campaign spokesman Zac Petkanas emailed usrecordsof Abbott campaign contributionsas filed in campaign reports atthe Texas Ethics Commission covering Sept. 16, 2002 nearly through July 2014. Our own sampling of state records showed Abbotts campaign fielded: --$80,000 from Trevor Ahlberg, CEO of Irving-based payday lender Cash Store, in eight  installments from Aug. 16, 2006 to June 16, 2014; --$57,500 from Roderick Aycox, founder of Georgia-based payday lender LoanMax, in five installments from Nov. 12, 2009 to June 9, 2014; --$30,500 from Cash America International Inc. PAC in 14 contributionsfrom Sept. 16, 2002 to July 29, 2014; --$30,000 from Ace Cash Express Inc. PAC, in eight donations from Oct. 5, 2005 to July 29, 2014. Then again, according to Petkanas and state records, less than 5 percent of the tallied payday-lender donations, or $13,000, had come in by Jan. 12, 2006, which was the date Abbotts office issued the ruling criticized by Davis. By phone, Petkanas said Davis did not mean to sayin the debate that all the $300,000 was given before Abbotts office ruled on payday lending. Texas Payday Lenders: Regulation and Evasion There's a lot of background to state actions involving payday lenders. In 1999, then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, Abbotts predecessor,filed lawsuitsagainst selected payday lenders, saying the companies were dodging state laws regulating interest rates. Separately, ausury provisionin the Texas Constitution caps interest rates on short-term loans from unlicensed lenders at 10 percent. Cornyn,saying lenders were getting away with interest rates of up to 1,000 percent, said: This kind of abusive payday lending is illegal in Texas, and those companies who continue this practice will face serious consequences. An October2000 reportby the Sunset Advisory Commission found that in recent years, different types of lending businesses have attempted to evade regulation including payday lenders. It recommended the Legislature authorize the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner to regulate payday loans in order to help control unlawful interest rates. In 2001, state lawmakers agreed tochanges in lawbringing payday lending under the offices regulation and directing the Texas Finance Commission to adoptrulesguiding the industry. According to a May 2001bill analysisby the House Research Organization, the requested rules would prohibit a lender from using a device, pretense, or subterfuge to avoid regulation of the lenders transactions, including by recharacterizing fees on a loan as a purchase of a good or service. Resulting additions to Texas law includea chartspecifying acceptable fees for payday loans of various dollar amounts and durations. But in subsequent years, according toAustin American-Statesmannews reports, Texas payday lenders found a way around the law by partnering with out-of-state banks, which financed payday loans out of the reach of Texas laws. State and national legislators then raised concerns about payday lenders dodging the restrictions; the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation cracked down in 2005,limiting the numberof payday loans a bank could issue and constricting the profitability of partnerships between payday lenders and banks. Thats when Texas payday lenders, under pressure from regulation, started transitioning to a new business model, called acredit service organization(CSO) in summer 2005, theStatesmanreported In January 2006. Its news story said Texas payday lenders ditched partnerships with FDIC-regulated banks and began working with third-party unregistered lenders. It also said Texas payday lenders got a boost recently from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in the form of a letter affirming the legality of the CSO model. Between 2004 and 2014, payday lender storefronts increased more than tenfold in Texas, theEl Paso TimesreportedFeb. 4, 2014. Abbotts interpretation of state law Next, we looked at the Abbott ruling declared by Davis. It turned out to be an aide's legal analysis. In 2005, the attorney generals office, headed by Abbott, fielded two requests to review the legality of payday-lender CSOs, agency spokesman Jerry Strickland said by email, one an August 2005 verbal request from the consumer credit commissioner, who inquired after a court case raised questions about whether the state had any sway over CSOs. In Lovick v. Ritemoney Ltd., the plaintiff accused payday lender Ritemoney Ltd. of disguising illegal interest fees as service charges. A state district judge, Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, wrote that Texas law does not construe such credit service fees as disguised interest, and the complaint was dismissed. Strickland said the other request for Abbotts judgment camein writingSept. 8, 2005 from then-state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso. Shapleigh wrote that as a CSO, a payday lending company dodges both federal guidelines restricting payday loans and the interest-rate limits established by the Texas Finance Commission. As the states leading enforcement agency, it is imperative that your office investigate this new business model and take necessary enforcement actions against businesses purposefully and illegally skirting Texas laws. On Jan. 12, 2006, Barry McBee, the states first assistant attorney general,signed a letterresponding to the commissioner, Leslie Pettijohn, saying there was nothing patently illegal about payday lender CSOs under state lawand there was no statutory limit to the fees they could charge. McBees letter pointed out that, in keeping with state law, payday lender CSOs were charging the maximum-permitted 10 percent interest on loans plus service fees to arrange the loan between a borrower and third-party lender. He wrote that, according toChapter 393 of the Texas Finance Code, there is not any limit on the amount of fees a CSO can charge in such transactions. Any discussion of whether the use of this model is the best public policy choice for the State of Texas, McBee wrote, is one that must be addressed by the Legislature and has not been explored by this office. Legislative Review In the 2013 legislative session, lawmakersdebatedreformingpayday lending practices, but attemptsstalled. Expert Analysis By phone, Don Baylor, a former senior policy analyst for the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for programs serving low-income Texans, said that after the Lovick v. Ritemoney ruling, payday lenders remained uncertain if they could legally operate as CSOs. But, Baylor said, its fair to say the OAG letter provided enough regulatory certainty for the entire (payday lending) industry to jump on board with the CSO model. Baylor also said that after the Lovick ruling, the attorney general doesnt have the authority to prohibit loans from being made under the CSO model. He credited the explosion of payday lender CSOs to ambiguous wording in the 1987Credit Services Organization Act, which was written to help Texans improve credit scores and not with payday lenders in mind, he said. Payday lenders found the CSO costume and dressed up in the costume, said Baylor. Its a very creative way they came up with to get around the constitutional usury limits. Our Ruling Davis said paydaylenders gave Abbott $300,000 in campaign donations and then received a ruling from him that they can operate in a loophole in the law that allows them to charge unlimited rates and fees. This statement references a 2006 legal analysis -- not a ruling -- from a top state aide to Abbott that tracked with a court ruling permitting payday lenders to charge unlimited fees in spite of state caps on related interest. Clarification is needed in that only 5 percent of the described $300,000 in donations occurred before the analysis was issued. Regardless, Abbott's office reaffirmed a way for politically supportive payday lenders to squeeze Texas borrowers. We rate this statement Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. Claim:  Minutes of emergency response agencies' meeting reveal that on 26 November 2004 four Long Island shopping malls will be hit in a terrorist attack using chemical weapons.  Status:  False. Example:  [Collected on the Internet, 2004] Hello all, Some information has come to me.  It has not been released to the general public, but it's something we all need to be aware of. A couple of weeks ago someone was seen taking photos of my ambulance company in Bay Shore. This same person was seen outside Exchange Ambulance in Islip doing the same. The police were notified and the person was apprehended outside Southside hospital, again taking photos. He is a man of Middle Eastern descent and is being held for investigation. It seems that he was gathering information about our response capabilities in a mass casualty attack. The NY Field Office of the FBI held a meeting at Bay Shore Fire Department for officials from the local PD, EMS and FD's. They have information from this man and from their own intelligence that a mass attack is planned for Long Island. On Black Friday (November 26) 4 Long Island Malls are supposed to be hit simultaneously with chemical weapons. This would be the first time a chemical weapon is used in the United States. Forces from NYC and Washington DC would be diverted to aid here on Long Island leaving these areas vulnerable. A second attack would take place in these areas. Ever since 9/11 EMS has undergone extensive training on howto deal with a terrorist attack and to think it could really happen here is terrifying. There is also concern about car bombings as a large number of vehicles have gone missing in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Ambulances, taxi's, commercial vans and airport limos have been reported stolen.  These vehicles look perfectly innocent driving through our neighborhoods and no one would think twice about seeing them. This is not an internet scam. The officers at my department were at this meeting and I saw the minutes myself. I figure it's pretty serious if the FBI made an appearance to share what they know. I'm not sure why this isn't being released to the public. I can only assume that if this got out, no one would shop and it would be devastating to our economy. I do not want to spread panic, only information. Take from this what you will, but I needed to let you all know. I love you all and I felt I needed to share this with you. I know it's hard to believe. I can't believe that an Al Qaeda operative was only a few blocks from my home. Origins:  We first happened across this e-mail in mid-October 2004. At this time, the identity of its author is not known to us, nor is that of whomever penned the following preface that appears on a number of the forwards: The following email was sent to me last night by a personal friend.  She is the directly involved with the ambulance corp.  I am sending this email to the Red Cross to inquire.  Nonetheless, please read it and try and shop around Nov. 26, not THE 26th. Her email is not a "forward to 10 people" It is personally written and personally sent to her friends based on facts she is personally aware of. We searched for news articles that made reference to a man of Middle Eastern appearance being detained under the circumstances described, but to no avail. We also did not hear scuttlebutt about a potential terrorist assault on Long Island set for 26 November 2004 from sources other than just the one e-mail, which is noteworthy, given that supposedly at a meeting at the Bay Shore Fire Department on Long Island the FBI informed any number of police, fire, and emergency personnel of it. (It was not really plausible that everyone in the room, with the exception of one letter-writer, would have stayed entirely mute about an upcoming chemical attack on their neighborhoods, preferring to keep a secret over potentially safeguarding themselves and their loved ones by making the risk known.) Common knowledge has it that Black Friday (the term for the day after American Thanksgiving) is biggest shopping day of the year. (Which is somewhat true  though as far as actual sales go, it lags behind the four days that make up the two weekends just prior to Christmas, in terms of number of shoppers loosed on the stores it might well be.) It therefore follows that mall-targeting terrorists looking to cause the greatest harm to the greatest number would select that day over any number of  biggest shopping day others. Doug Einsfeld, chief of Exchange Ambulance of the Islips, said the e-mailed warning was a hoax. About two months prior to the rumor's emergence, the volunteer ambulance corps and local law enforcement had conducted a terror drill based on a scenario involving a chemical attack at Long Island malls taking place on the day after Thanksgiving. Einsfeld concludes that printed information about the drill, circulated internally and to police and fire officials, must have been used as a basis for the alert. He confirms that a man was seen taking pictures outside the volunteer ambulance corps' building.The FBI was notified and did investigate, but no evidence of the man intending any harm was uncovered. Regarding the e-mail's claim of the errant shutter bug's being taken into custody, Suffolk Police Third Squad Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman said no such arrest was made. As for the claim of the man being of Middle Eastern appearance, Einsfeld said he saw the man only from behind and couldn't tell his ethnicity. This was not the first time it had been whispered that terrorists were plotting to kill shoppers. In October 2001, a fiction about the revelation of a planned strike in malls on Halloween by one of those involved in a letter to his girlfriend swept the nation. There was nothing to that story, but it nevertheless kept people away from the stores that day. letter to his girlfriend Adding to the plausibility of the Long Island tale were reports from the summer of unusual interest in that area's emergency vehicles. On 12 August 2004, the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs circulated this memo: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS FORWARDED BY THE NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE FOR YOUR INFORMATION.August 12, 2004 The following alert was released by Westchester County Department of Emergency Services based on information fron New Jersey authorities and should be practiced by all agencies. Within the past week, the Office of Counter-Terrorism received three reports of suspicious activity concerning ambulances. The most recent incident involved an individual who attended an open-house at an ambulance squad in Middlesex County. The man, who claimed he was from Pakistan and a physician, asked a series of questions to the squad members that related exclusively to the operation of the emergency vehicles, including the speed at which the vehicles responded to calls and the use of the lights and sirens.  The individual appeared very nervous, did not ask about patient care, and left the premises when asked to complete a membership application. The second incident occurred at a hospital in Essex County and involved an inquiry made by a male of Middle-Eastern appearance who was first observed standing near an ambulance at the emergency room doors while writing notes in a small notepad.  When confronted by the vehicle's operator, a firefighter/EMT, the man asserted that he was employed as an ambulance mechanic. He then asked where a nearby fire department serviced its vehicles.  The man provided an illegible New York driver's license when asked to produce identification before leaving the premises. Lastly, OCT received information concerning an unusual attempt by three men of Middle-Eastern appearance to join a volunteer ambulance squad. The men expressed to squad members an "abnormal interest" in operating the emergency vehicles, and further insisted that the process by which they obtain the appropriate credentials and certifications to join the squad be expedited at their personal expense. Due to the recent threat elevation to ORANGE (HIGH) for the financial sector and intelligence relating to the threat of Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDs), any suspicious activity relating to emergency vehicles is of particular concern and should be reported to law enforcement immediately. As demonstrated by recent attacks in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and elsewhere, terrorist operatives worldwide continue to rely on VBIEDs as a method of attack.  This tactic has been used here in the past, notably in the 1993 World Trade Center and 1995 Oklahoma City bombings.  The World Trade Center and Oklahoma City attacks were carried out with rented vehicles, highlighting the need for awareness among the car, truck, and  limousine rental community of the potential for vehicle-borne attacks in the United States. As always, report all suspicious activities and individuals to the toll-free terrorism tip-lines.New York State: 1-866-SAFE-NYSNew York City: 1-888-NYC-SAFE It was feared in the summer of 2004 that those mysterious men might have been weighing up the possibilities of fashioning ambulances or firetrucks into rolling bombs by loading them with explosives or chemicals and using them to breach security barriers at hard-to-reach targets, the underlying assumption being emergency vehicles would be allowed near or into locations ordinary cars and trucks would be turned away from. Also considered was the possibility of such vehicles being used to launch a second wave of attack on the heels of an initial terror strike when all was confusion and no one would think to try to prevent an ambulance or fire truck from going to the aid of the injured. Long Island, which lies off New York City, is 118 miles long and 20 miles across at its widest point, and is connected to the Big Apple by three expressways.  It is home to a population of 2.65 million. Regarding the entities mentioned in the warning e-mail, the Exchange Ambulance of the Islip's is a volunteer non-profit service consisting of approximately 100 members. It is located on Long Island and serves the towns of East Islip, Islip, Islip Terrace. Southside Hospital  is Long Island's largest community hospital, having 377 beds. Exchange Ambulance Southside Hospital The region believes itself adequately prepared for a terrorist attack, including an event in Manhattan that could immobilize the area and cut off the Island from the mainland for days or perhaps weeks. Emergency workers on the island have engaged in a number of simulation drills for disaster events including train derailments with mass casualties, detonations of dirty bombs containing chemical, biological, or radioactive agents, hostage takings, and evacuations of specified areas. As Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said in August 2004, "We are cognizant that we are in close proximity to the No. 1 target in America." Which could well be what triggered this rumor  that sense of proximity could have worked to cause someone to jump at shadows, misremembering an alert from the summer about suspicious characters as a current matter (especially in light of another man being seen taking photographs) and misunderstanding the paperwork generated around a summer 2004 disaster preparation drill as minutes of a meeting in which a specific warning was issued.  Barbara "minute- and second-guessing" Mikkelson Last updated:  7 November 2004    Sources:   Guart, Al.  "'Mideast' Snoops Spurring Ambulance-Bomb Alert."   The New York Post.  29 August 2004  (p. 12).     Kelleher, Jennifer Sinco.  "Terror E-mail a Hoax."   Newsday.  7 November 2004.     Rather, John.  "2 Counties Buff Disaster Plans."   The New York Times.  22 August 2004  (Long Island Weekly Desk, p. 5). In February 2022, a meme supposedly featuring a quote from comedian George Carlin about "participation trophies" was recirculated on social media: participation trophies   This is not a genuine quote from Carlin.  The above-displayed meme reads: "Here's an idea for you to ignore. Instead of giving kids participation trophies teach them activities where the result is the reward. Our society has lost sight of what's truly important and it's about damned time we found it again." We weren't able to find any record of Carlin uttering this phrase. When we looked for the origins of the quote, we did not find an old stand-up routine or a passage from one of Carlin's books. Instead, we traced it back to a 2016 post by Laurie Neverman on the Common Sense Home website. 2016 post by Laurie Neverman on the Common Sense Home website   Neverman wrote that she originally posted this message to her personal Facebook page in September 2015 and that since then a number of Facebook pages have attempted to take credit for it: I wrote the passage above back in September 2015 and posted it on my personal Facebook wall. Friends gave me so much feedback on it that I shared it on the Common Sense Home Facebook page. Then a couple of huge Facebook pages took it and put their names on it (with no credit to me, naughty folks) and it was wildly popular on their pages, too. Given all the people who seemed to approve of the concept, I decided to write a post on it. This frequently happens with misattributed quotes. A message will get posted by a relatively unknown person and then, in an attempt to legitimize that opinion and spread that message to a wider audience, the words will be erroneously placed into the mouth of a celebrity. For example, Clint Eastwood did not say "the problem is not guns," Jim Carrey did not call for the "media to close for 30 days," and Kurt Russell did not write a poem that opposed defunding the police. the problem is not guns media to close for 30 days poem that opposed defunding the police While Carlin did not say this about "participation trophies," he did express similar sentiments during a stand-up routine about how "every child is special." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Xtk7ALaUIIt's worth noting that while the culture war skirmishes over participation trophies is relatively new, participation trophies themselves are not. Participation trophies have been given out since at least the 1920s. Participation trophies have been given out at least the 1920s   Fatsis, Stefan. Weve Been Handing Out Participation Trophies for 100 Years. Slate, Apr. 2019. slate.com, https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/participation-trophy-history-world-war-i.html. No More Gold Stars - Creating Real World Rewards. Common Sense Home, 2 Dec. 2016, https://commonsensehome.com/no-more-gold-stars/.