Rattlesnake Fang in Boot
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
On 25 February 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted to complain that the news media were not reporting his success in reducing the national debt during his first month in office: tweeted The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 February 25, 2017  As noted by news media from the Los Angeles Times to the Washington Post, the tweet appeared closely after a "Fox & Friends" segment in which guest (and former presidential candidate) Herman Cain reported the same numbers. That story appeared to have its origins in a post on the conservative blog Gateway Pundit ("Amazing! Trump Cuts US Debt by $12 Billion In His First Month") which took credit for the Trump tweet in an update to their story. Los Angeles Times Washington Post took credit There are two claims implicit in the tweet. The first claim is simply the factual nature of the figures reported. The second is that the numbers represent an item worthy of coverage. The numbers are factual in a literal sense, according to the online debt history search application offered by the US Treasury Department: application   Though the numbers regarding the debt at the end of Trumps and President Obamas first month are factual, their significance as a reportable bit of information or as an indicator of the impact or success of Trumps policies is questionable. Speaking to CBS News, Maya MacGuineas, director of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget, said: said It is true the debt outstanding declined by $12 billion in the first month of Donald Trumps presidency. We applaud the president for focusing on the debt as an important metric of success and economic health, but would point out that the improvement this early in his term has to do with normal fluctuations in spending and revenues rather than new policies he has implemented. Indeed, in terms of newsworthiness (or lack thereof), sporadic reductions of the debt are not uncommon (in red, below) on a month-to-month basis, according to The "Monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United States" reports released during the course of President Obama's second term in office: reports     In fact, the Washington Posts Wonkblog reports that, even on a day-to-day basis, fluctuations even greater than the one Trump referenced are not unheard of: reports The Gateway Pundit article says that the change in debt under Trump translates to a 0.1 percent reduction in the U.S. debt burden. Actually, it's .06 percent between Jan. 20 and Feb. 21  a very small change. (The national debt has gone up or down by as much .19 percent on single days this year.) Secondly, there are few mechanisms by which any actions Trump has taken as president would affect the national debt thus far, as he has not signed into law any financial measures related to federal borrowing. While there are arguments to be made that other factors related to Trumps presidency could affect the debt, the Post has said it is unlikely, and also impossible to quantify: Its impossible to know whether Trumps election has really had time to filter through to concretely affect the economy. Congress has not passed any of his policies yet. The stock market has certainly continued to boom, but it was already rising before the election. While it's possible anticipation of tax cuts or regulatory relief is heating up the economy and leading to increased government receipts, investors might also be choosing not to sell assets to avoid current capital gains tax rates and waiting to see whether the Republican-dominated Congress successfully slashes rates. Keith Hennessey, a former director of the U.S. National Economic Council appointed by George W. Bush, wrote a hypothetical memo to Congress analyzing the 45th Presidents tweet. In this document, he stated that neither Obama nor Trump had any effect on the national debt in their first month in office: hypothetical memo document Government borrowing in January and February is the byproduct of spending and tax policies set by Congress the year before. President Obama signed the fiscal stimulus law on February 17, 2009, but it took months before that began to change government cash flows and borrowing requirements. President Trump has so far not measurably affected fiscal policy in general or government borrowing in specific. Its unfair to assign any responsibility for borrowing in the first month to either president. Hennessey added that it is equally unfair to compare the 2009 economic situation with the 2017 one: GDP was plummeting when President Obama took office. Tax revenues were down, automatic stabilizer payments (e.g., unemployment insurance and safety net spending) were up, and funds were being spent from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In early 2009 government was borrowing a lot because the economy was weak, not because of President Obamas policies. In contrast, the U.S. economy is now growing. The smaller borrowing requirement for this month is mostly a result of this economic difference, and may also in part be simply an artifact of choosing such a short timeframe for comparison. More to the point, however, the fact that the day-to-day and month-to-month fluctuations of the national debt are so volatile, he argued, is why analysts dont typically look at the data for these time periods, accordingo to Hennessey: Had the president / Mr. Cain ended his timeframe one day earlier this tweet would have been invalid and debt would have increased (by just $1 B) in the first month. This is why analysts look at debt on an annual basis rather than daily/weekly/monthly. It should also be noted that, as the Fox and Friends segment aired on one of the nations most popular national cable news networks, "the media" did indeed report on this story. The reason it didnt pick up much steam is that the numbers were not newsworthy because they were taken out of context and are likely irrelevant to President Trump's actions in office. UPDATE: 28 February 2017 -- Modified the status of this article to "" to better explicate the difference between the accuracy of the debt figures and their newsworthiness. Hennessey, Keith.  "Memorandum for a Member of Congress: The Presidents Debt Tweet."
  keithhennessey.com.  25 February 2017. Swanson, Ava.  "Trump Is Upset the Media Is Not Reporting a Meaningless Statistic About the National Debt."
  The Washington Post.  25 February 2017. Hoft, Jim.  "Amazing! Trump Cuts US Debt by $12 Billion In His First Month  UPDATE: Trump Tweets Our Numbers"
  thegatewaypundit.com.  23 February 2017. treasurydirect.gov.  "The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It." Shabad, Rebecca.  "Fact-Checking Trump's Claim About Debt Dropping by $12b in Last Month."
  thegatewaypundit.com.  25 February 2017. treasurydirect.gov.  "Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD) and Downloadable Files." Morin, Rebecca.  "Former Economic Council Director Derides Trump's Debt Tweet."
  Poltico.  25 February 2017. Wilber, Del Quentin.  "Trump Brags About the National Debt, But His Comparison Is Misleading."
  Los Angeles Times.  25 February 2027. A set of photographs showing former President Bill Clinton on vacation is frequently shared online by conspiracy-minded websites and social media users, along with the claim that the pictures show him with his arms around a convicted sex offender named George Nader. This rumor was first promulgated by proponents of the "Qanon" conspiracy theory in March 2018 after it was revealed that Nader, a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, had previously been convicted on charges related to child pornography: Qanon   The images were subsequently picked up by websites such as True Pundit, The Event Chronicle,, and News Punch and posted in articles that alluded to some sort of nefarious activity involving Clinton, pedophilia, and the Mueller investigation. True Pundit The Event Chronicle News Punch Here's how True Pundit presented these images in March 2018: BUSTED: Muellers New Star Witness Against Trump Caught Partying at Exclusive Island Resort with Bill Clinton ... George Nader testified last week to the Mueller grand jury. Mr. Nader is an adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates. According to The Times, Mr. Mueller is investigating whether Emirati money found its way to the Trump campaign, which would be illegal. That sounds very official and all but perhaps Mueller might ask his new star witness in the Trump investigation what he was doing partying on an exclusive island resort with Bill Clinton. Especially when The Clintons have been caught helping fund the bogus Trump dossier which helped launch Muellers probe. Optics here. Very bad.   Interest was renewed in these images in June 2019, after Nader was brought up on another set of charges related to child pornography. A tweet from "Praying Medic," a Twitter user described as a "Qanon Researcher" in the account's bio, was shared more than 2000 times: another set of charges Praying Medic   The above-displayed images are real, and they truly show Clinton posing with a man named George Nader. However, this is not the same George Nader who has a record of child-pornography charges and who was a key witness in Mueller's investigation. The man seen in this picture is actually an art entrepreneur who happens to share a name with the convicted sex offender mentioned in the Mueller Report. Mueller Report These images were taken in January 2017 during Clinton's vacation to Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. A number of Spanish-language news outlets received the images and published them in articles about the former president's trip. Diaspora Dominicana, for example, reported at the time as follows: reported LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic.- The former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, is on vacation in the Dominican Republic. He is spending his vacations in Casa de Campo, La Romana, in the residence of his friend and fellow student Ronald Gonzalez Bunster, a renowned entrepreneur with great interests in the electrical and tourism sectors of the Dominican Republic. Many of the pictured individuals were identified by these news outlets, including the person to Clinton's left. While these outlets identified this person as "George Nader," they also described him as an "artistic entrepreneur," a description that does not fit the Nader involved in Mueller's probe, who is a businessman and lobbyist: identified businessman and lobbyist (Clinton) is spending his vacations in Casa de Campo, La Romana, in the residence of his friend and fellow student Ronald Gonzalez Bunster, a renowned entrepreneur with great interests in the electrical and tourism sectors of the Dominican Republic ... In the photos appears the artistic entrepreneur George Nader Ricardo Cheaz, Dominican businessman, of oriental descent. The note received by Accent, along with the photographs is very eloquent. It says the following: "In Palmilla. Former President Clinton is on vacation. Playing golf and enjoying Palmilla with his Dominican friends." A family of artistic entrepreneurs with the surname Nader are active in the Dominican Republic. Georges S. Nader opened his first gallery in Port-au-Prince Haiti in 1966, and since then his family has expanded the business with galleries in Miami and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. family of artistic entrepreneurs gallery George Nader the artistic entrepreneur shared one of these photographs to his Instagram page in January 2017:   We reached out to Nader's company, Nader Enterprises, to confirm it was indeed him in the photograph. The company told us via email that "It's George Nader but not the pedophile!" Nader Enterprises, The websites sharing these images as if they showed Clinton with a sex offender are basing that claim solely on the fact that the pictured man shares a name with an individual involved in Mueller's investigation. Two people having the same name is quite common, however, and does not make them the same person. Aleem, Zeeshan.  "George Nader, One of the Trump-Russia Investigations Most Mysterious Figures, Explained."
  Vox.  28 March 2018. Kaplan, Talia.  "Bill Clinton Est Pasando Sus Vacaciones en Casa de Campo con Amistades Dominicanas."
  Diaspora Dominicana.  7 January 2017. Kaplan, Talia.  "Mueller Probe Witness George Nader Charged with Trafficking Child Pornography."
  Fox News.  3 June 2019. True Pundit.  "BUSTED: Muellers New Star Witness Against Trump Caught Partying at Exclusive Island Resort with Bill Clinton."
  13 March 2018. Gerstein, Josh.  "Mueller Witness Was Convicted on Child Porn Charge."
  Politico.  16 March 2018. Claim:  In 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama spoke out against raising the U.S. government debt limit.   Example:  [Collected via e-mail, July 2011]   'The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here." Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.'    Origins:  In 2006, while serving his first term as a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, Barack Obama made the remarks attributed to him above during discussion in the U.S. Senate prior to the call for votes on raising the debt limit. The full text of his remarks in the Senate on 16 March 2006 are:     The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.    Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is "trillion" with a "T." That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.    Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.    And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like    bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on. Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans  a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.    But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to thecommonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending. As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again.    Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.    Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.    I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit.    The shortened quote now attributed to him is a verbatim capture of the opening and closing paragraphs of his remarks of 16 March 2006. (The Senate vote held later that day on a resolution to increase the debt limitpassed by a 52-48 margin, with Senator Obama voting against it.) passed President Obama has undergone a change of position regarding raising the debt limit. In a 15 April 2011 Good Morning America interview, President Obama said this of his reasons for doing so:     Last updated:  7 October 2013    Congressional Record.  "Remarks by Sen. Barack Obama."    16 March 2006.   Farley, Robert.  "Obama Says Reagan Raised Debt Ceiling 18 Times; George W. Bush 7 Times."    St. Petersburg Times.  26 July 2011.   Stephanopoulos, George.  "President Obama One-on-One."    Good Morning America.  15 April 2011.   Werner, Erica.  "WH: Obama Regrets Vote Against Raising Debt Limit."    Associated Press.  11 April 2011. FACT CHECK:  Photograph shows shooting victim Trayvon Martin at Space Camp.  Claim:  A photograph shows shooting victim Trayvon Martin at Space Camp in 2009.    MOSTLY  Summary:   A photograph of Trayvon Martin at a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Education Coalition-related activity is real, although it was taken at Experience Aviation and not at Space Camp (or Aviation Challenge Camp). Example:    [Collected via e-mail and Facebook, September 2015]  I saw a facebook post with a picture of a young black youth from 2009. The post says: Notice how we never knew Trayvon Martin went to space camp. How media shapes black boy narratives. Is this really a picture of Trayvon Martin at Space Camp? -------------------------------------------------------- I've seen this circulating on Twitter and Facebook... this particular one is from "The Other 98%." Its a photo supposedly of Trayvon Martin at Space Camp taken on 8/11/2009. I've been unable to find a reputable source corroborating its authenticity but it appears to be fake in order to advance a particular political persuasion. Origins:   In late September 2015, Florida resident George Zimmerman (acquitted of criminal charges in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012) attracted media attention once again after re-tweeting a photograph of Martin's body. Consequently, a social media claim about photograph documenting Martin's attendance at a Space Camp gained related traction. George Zimmerman Renewed interest in the photograph of Martin at Space Camp didn't begin with Zimmerman's controversial Twitter activity, as copies of it were circulating several weeks prior (in August 2014): Trayvon Martin at Space Camp in Florida. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/z98u2d4OPs #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/z98u2d4OPs  Khaled Bey (@KhaledBeydoun) August 15, 2015 August 15, 2015   Notice how we never knew #TrayvonMartin went to Space Camp. how media shapes black boy narratives. #GeorgeZimmerman pic.twitter.com/18NjL0fwz2 #TrayvonMartin #GeorgeZimmerman pic.twitter.com/18NjL0fwz2  Raqiyah Mays (@RaqiyahMays) August 18, 2015 August 18, 2015   While the claim was neither extraordinary nor implausible, persistent tensions over Martin's death and Zimmerman's acquittal led to doubt among some social media users about whether the photograph was authentic. Debate over its authenticity escalated after Zimmerman's re-tweet, and on 26-27 September 2015 comedian Steve Marmel published items to Twitter and Facebook encouraging fellow users to respond to Zimmerman with the photograph whenever he mentioned Martin on social media. Twitter In his Facebook post, Marmel included the photograph shown above and explained his intent in publicizing the image: post Yesterday, I learned that George Zimmerman decided it would be fun to retweet Trayvon Martin's dead body. Soulless. Someone on this page - you can scroll the comments to see who - suggested that whenever Zimmerman does that.... And he does it a lot because he seems to be a sociopath, the reply should be this. A picture of the life he took. On his timeline. For all to see. I'm tired of this guy too. I want twitter to shut off his megaphone - to stop him from harassing INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE and doing this endless end-zone dance about how he got away with it. And after that, I never want to speak of him again. I do not wish him harm. I just wish him obscurity. Until then: Support for this man should be a societal litmus test that you either pass or fail. I thought this was a good idea.  Claims (unaccompanied by photographs) that Trayvon Martin had attended Space Camp emerged early on in the debate over his death. A 13 April 2012 editorial in Ebony, published when polemics assailing Martin's character had not yet begun to gain significant traction, examined the impact of respectability politics on the Martin family during the very early, pre-trial days of the case. At the time of the article's publication, Ebony's assertion about Martin and Space Camp was not yet the sort that would solicit doubt or skepticism as part of a narrative that hadn't yet developed: respectability However, it is worth considering how differently this developing story might be playing out if Trayvon and his clan were not such respectable Negroes; no one has been able to document any real evidence of Martin being anything other than a typical kid. One who wore Hollister clothes, went to space camp and played football. One who seemed more poised for the next season of Degrassi before youd ever picture him hanging around the kids from The Wire. A 19 July 2013 HLN piece partly corroborated the claim by way of Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton: piece Fulton also made mention of her son's interest in aviation.  She noted, "I actually have a brother that was involved in aviation. I don't want to say 'convinced,' but he encouraged him to pursue aviation. And Trayvon did. He went to experience aviation  the program Barrington Irving has. He started going there, like, over the summer.  He really enjoyed the program. He really was very interested. He would not miss a day. It was just something that he was focused on. He wanted to just be in the aviation industry."  The photograph of now-contested authenticity depicted Martin in a hangar wearing a Space Camp-style flight suit, and it was dated 11 August 2009. Martin was repeatedly mentioned on Facebook by Experience Aviation shortly after his death, and related organizations similarly confirmed that Martin attended "Experience Aviation" in the summer of 2009. Experience Aviation's web site details the organization's mission: Space Camp flight suit mentioned Experience Aviation Experience Aviation Experience Aviation is a nonprofit organization that utilizes aviation to build STEM skills in students and direct them toward careers in aviation and other STEM-related fields. In 2005, at age 21, Barrington Irving founded the non-profit organization, Experience Aviation Inc., to address the shortage of skilled professionals in aviation and other STEM-related industries by motivating youth and encouraging them to pursue careers involving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Experience Aviation is a 501-C3 non-profit organization based at Opa-Locka Executive Airport and the Glenn Curtiss Mansion in Miami Springs. The organization operates two 3,200-square-foot Learning Center facilities. Successful programs offered at the Center and at community partner facilities include a 10-week Build & Soar Project, a STEM Summer Academy, Inspiration Career Tours, and a Career Development/Internship program.  Irving spoke of Martin in a 30 March 2012 CNN piece about the teen's death and was depicted alongside a younger Martin in a separate article: piece separate During the summer of 2009, his parents  who separated when Martin was 11, but shared custody  enrolled their 14-year-old son in "Experience Aviation," a nonprofit program in Opa-Locka, Florida, that introduces young people to aviation. The seven-week program is the brainchild of Barrington Irving, the youngest person ever  and the first black pilot  to fly solo around the world, a feat he accomplished in 2007 at the age of 23. Irving remembered Martin as "a polite kid" who enjoyed flying. "When I first met Trayvon he had a strong interest in football. He reminded me of myself because I had a strong interest in football until I fell in love with aviation," said Irving. After graduating from the program, Martin spent the following summer as a volunteer, assisting new students enrolled in the aviation program. The photograph was authentic as confirmed by multiple involved parties in April and May of 2015. It bordered on splitting hairs to note that the program was not specifically Space Camp, but a separate, STEM-based summer science enrichment program called Experience Aviation. Conflation of the two was neither likely deliberate nor largely inaccurate: Martin did attend aviation camp during the summer of 2009, and was fondly remembered by the organization that hosted him. The September 2015 controversy (reignited by Zimmerman's tacit Twitter approval of a graphic photo of Martin's dead body) filtered the claim through a then-current lens: folks believed those who maintained Martin went to Space Camp had  fabricated the detail to further paint the teen as sympathetic or otherwise more worthy of compassion in light of that renewed debate. But the photograph appeared on the Internet no later than May 2012, a time when attacks on Martin's character had not yet begun in earnest. Martin's STEM camp attendance described in print in April 2012 (in a slightly inaccurate manner), and photographs supporting that assertion surfaced on the web in May 2012 or earlier. Not only did those separate assertions precede the bulk later claims about Martin, they appeared separately and remained largely uncontested until Zimmerman's retweet in September 2015. May 2012 Last updated:     28 September 2015 Originally published:   28 September 2015 Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said high levels of student loan debt motivated his proposal for free tuition at any public university or community college in New York state for students from families earning less than $125,000 a year. It is incredibly expensive, and the debt is so high its like starting a race with an anchor tied to your leg, Cuomo said of paying for college. Average college debt -- $30,000 per student. The governors office projected 210,000 students would seek the benefit. If so, the program would cost the state $163 million annually by 2019. So is Cuomo right about the average student debt load in New York state? The average debt load The Federal Reserve Bank of New York collected 2015 data on student loan debt in the state. The Fed reports 17.9 percent of consumers in New York state have a student loan, and their average college debt is $32,200. Thats higher than the national average of $29,700, the Fed said. The debt steadily increased for a decade. According to a September report from the State Comptrollers office, the average student debt load in New York State increased by more than 47 percent between 2005 and 2015. The national average grew by 56 percent. Total student debt statewide more than doubled during that time period. The Institute for College Access & Success, an independent, non-profit organization, pegged the average debt of the states college graduates in 2015 at $29,320. That ranked 18th highest among the states. Fifty-nine percent of the students graduated with debt, the organization said. The average debt among graduates of State University of New York campuses was generally lower than their private college counterparts. The average debt for University at Buffalo graduates was $26,165, followed by those at Binghamton University, $25,844; SUNY Albany, $25,727; and Stony Brook University, $23,542. The average debt for graduates fluctuated among private colleges in New York state. Among the higher averages were incurred by graduates of Ithaca College, $39,771; Rochester Institute of Technology, $38,198; St. Bonaventure University, $38,073; Fordham University, $37,607; and Syracuse University, $36,500, according to the institute. The average debt was lower - but still significant - for graduates at other private universities: Colgate University, $20,859; Cornell University, $24,394; Clarkson University, $29,000; New York University, $30,480;  St. Johns University, $33,179. Our ruling Cuomo said the average college debt for those who borrowed for college in New York state is $30,000 per student. Cuomo gets it right, according to the Institute for College Access & Success, which analyzed debt for 2015 graduates in New York State. And his claim is about what the Federal Reserve Bank of New York calculates for all New York state consumers with college debt. We rate his claim as True. Now that were living in a federal government shutdown, whats the hit to the economy? U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz wagged her calculator at the GOP and cited a whopping figure on Twitter. $10 billion in costs to the economy per week and this is what the R's had to say?tweetedWasserman Schultz, D-Weston, who also serves as the chair of the Democratic National Committee. We wanted to check her number: How much will the shutdown cost the economy? Predictions about economic shutdown Wasserman Schultzs numbers are the same as those from theWhite House. A White House spokesman said the $10 billion figure came from an August report from the investment groupGoldman Sachs. We also found similar estimates fromMoodysandIHS. These financial firms agree that the impact depends on how long the shutdown goes on. The impact gets worse the longer a closure lasts. A brief shutdown would delay, not cancel, most spending, said the Goldman Sachs report. In a brief shutdown, it is likely that only federal employee compensation would be lost  most of the other activity would just be delayed and made up later. A longer shutdown  the longest shutdown on record in late 1995 and early 1996 lasted about three weeks  would affect a greater share of federal activities. The report includes three scenarios based on a two-day, one-week and three-week shutdown. It predicts a $2.6 billion economic loss for a two-day shutdown, $10.4 billion for a week and $36.8 billion for three weeks. Moodys found that a shutdown lasting three to four weeks would cost $55 billion, with costs accelerating as time goes on. Moodys takes into account the losses from federal workers not getting paid, the delay of housing and small business loans, the hit to tourism spending and the interruptions for contractors. To be clear, these are rough estimates of what we think impacts will be, Moodys analyst Brian Kessler told PolitiFact. There is just a ridiculously large number of moving parts. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys,testifiedbefore the Joint Economic Committee about the shutdown in September. A shutdown that lasts only three or four days would have modest economic consequences, costing the economy approximately 0.2 percentage point of annualized real GDP growth in the fourth quarter. ... However, shutting the government down for three or four weeks would do significant economic damage, reducing real GDP by 1.4 percentage points in the fourth quarter. And this likely understates the economic fallout, as it does not fully account for the impact of such a lengthy shutdown on consumer, business and investor psychology. IHScalculated a loss of $1.6 billion for one week as a result of furloughs, with the impact increasing for a longer shutdown. The spending habits of government employees probably would not change if the shutdown was short-lived, particularly if they believed that they would receive back wages, as in 1995, states the September IHS report. Any uncertainty about compensation, however, could increase the impact on consumer spending. Meanwhile, incomes would be maintained for Social Security beneficiaries. Medicare payments would also continue, so spending on health care services would not be harmed and hospitals and doctors would receive payments. Other experts weighing in on the estimates We also readstudiesaboutprevious shutdowns andmediareportsanalyzingthe potential hit to the economy. We interviewed Tad DeHaven, budget analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute; Jason Peuquet, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and Dean Baker, an economist with the liberal Center for Economic Policy Research. Our experts generally agreed on one key point: The economic hit will depend on how long the shutdown lasts. Jason Peuquet of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told us that it extremely difficult to quantify the impact on the economy of a shutdown. Sure, analysts can calculate the direct costs of furloughing federal employees, Peuquet told PolitiFact in an email. But once you factor in the impacts on thousands of federal contractors, the time and resources lost preparing for and implementing the shutdown, the added economic uncertainty of how lawmakers will resolve this, how the Federal Reserve may respond if the shutdown continues for an extended period, and then the ensuing economic reverberations of these changes, it is a very imprecise exercise. DeHaven of Cato emphasized that these analyses from economists are just estimates and that the actual impact on the economy could be different. If you go back and look at previous shutdowns, there was no long-term effect..., DeHaven said. For Wasserman Schultz or the White House to tweet out this going to cost X amount of money to me is nonsense. You could talk about the cost associated due to government creating uncertainty in the economy for a lot of things Washington is doing. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded that the cost of shutdowns in fiscal year 1996 was$1.4 billion-- most of that was for back pay to furloughed workers, according to University of Maryland political science professorRoy Meyers. In 1995, the government first closed from Nov. 14-19 and then again from Dec. 16-Jan.6. But Peuquet and Meyers told us that there are some factors that could make the shutdown economic hit different today, which means we cant simply add an inflation factor to the mid 1990s shutdowns. Back then, several appropriations bills had already been enacted -- allowing spending in several areas of the federal government. This time, those bills havent been enacted. The federal government also relies more heavily on contractors than it did in the 1990s, and they are unlikely to get back pay. We are still learning a lot of this as we go, Peuquet said. Another factor to consider: The economy is much worse now than it was in the mid 1990s. This one is going to be bigger in terms of daily costs..., Meyers told PolitiFact. The economy is weaker. It cant handle as much of a shock as it could handle in 95-96. Our ruling Wasserman Schultz said the shutdown is projected to result in $10 billion in costs to the economy per week. That number comes from an investment report from Goldman Sachs. We found other estimates from financial firms that were slightly larger and slightly smaller than the $10 billion figure, but they were in the same ballpark. A key point here, though, is that these are estimates. Experts agree that caution and caveats are needed: There is much uncertainty about the economic impact, including the timing and length of the shutdown. For instance, if the shutdown is short and workers get paid back wages, the impact could ultimately be modest. If the shutdown continues for several weeks, the price tag could escalate exponentially. Overall, we rate this statement Mostly True. In March 2021, an online advertisement appeared to claim there was something special about the McDonald's golden arches logo. A page in the resulting story said that, in the 1960s, a psychologist named Louis Cheskin advised that McDonald's customers "associated the arches with a 'pair of nourishing breasts.'" page story  The advertisement in question.  "It's not just an 'M,'" read the picture that showed the McDonald's Golden Arches. "28 Hidden Images in Famous Business Logos (That You Never Noticed)." McDonald's Ahh, the famous Golden Arches! You probably realized that the "M" design stands for "McDonald's." However, you probably didn't know that the successful food chain's marketing team consulted a psychologist, Louis Cheskin, while creating their famed logo. Cheskin suggested that customers would unconsciously associate the arches with a "pair of nourishing breasts." Talk about subliminal symbolism. While it's misleading to say that Cheskin advised McDonald's when the logo was being created, we found that the main part of the claim was true. At a time when the company was considering ditching the golden arches, Cheskin advised McDonald's to keep them because they were, as Cheskin put it, "mother McDonald's breasts." The July 1995 issue of Reader's Digest appeared to be one of the sources of the information. While the issue wasn't available online for further reading, we found a story that cited the magazine in a Tennessee daily newspaper, The Jackson Sun. On July 24, 1995, the newspaper reported: July 1995 issue story The Jackson Sun Louis Cheskin, a specialist in the psychology of marketing who began his research in the 1930s [...] worked with McDonald's when it was about to abandon the arches as the architectural elements of its outlets. His research showed that the arches were great assets because they had "Freudian implications in the subconscious mind." Exactly what was meant by this was uncertain, but Davis Masten, who runs the company that Cheskin started, recalls that Cheskin also referred to the arches as "Mother McDonald's breasts" - a powerful association if you're replacing home cooking. Robert and Margaret Sneed, of Texas, were getting in their car at the McDonald's on Highland after lunch Saturday. They were en route to South Carolina through the Smokies. Asked if that was the association they had with the yellow arches of McDonald's, the retired couple laughed. "I believe that my only thought was a cup of coffee, fries, and a Big Mac," Robert Sneed said. "But I guess this is some kind of subliminal thing where we're presumably thinking this but not supposed to know we're thinking this, is that it?" "I think of an arch as being an entryway," Margaret offered. "I think of it more as being an entry to a restaurant, but then, I never was very imaginative." The newspaper also printed that "market research showed many people subconsciously connected" McDonald's golden arches "to mother and home cooking." In the 1997 book "The Total Package" by Thomas Hine, he published the same information, including the mention of "mother McDonald's breasts": book Cheskin worked with McDonald's at the time it was about to abandon arches as architectural elements of its outlets. He advised that the memory of the arches be kept in the form of the M in "McDonald's." His case was based, he said, on research that showed that "the arches had Freudian applications to the subconscious mind of the consumer and were great assets in marketing McDonald's food." In other words, Cheskin said, the arches are "mother McDonald's breasts, a useful association if you're replacing homemade food." We thank the reader who sent us information on this book. It helped to add to the data that showed the overall claim in this fact check is true. Another bit of credible reporting came from the BBC. In 2003, it printed a special article titled "Fast Food Factory." The story invited readers to "explore the past, present, and future of McDonalds and with it the fast-food industry." The piece mentioned the famed golden arches and its purported association to a pair of breasts: special article mentioned Attracting the Customers The logo for McDonald's is the golden arches of the letter M on a red background. The M stands for McDonald's, but the rounded m represents mummys mammaries, according to the design consultant and psychologist Louis Cheskin. In the 1960s McDonald's was prepared to abandon this logo, but Cheskin successfully urged the company to maintain this branding with its Freudian symbolism of a pair of nourishing breasts. This may seem funny, but it is no laughing matter to the industrial psychologists and marketing consultants who are paid millions to find new ways to seduce us into buying by manipulating our unconscious desires. We reached out to McDonald's and provided questions for our story, and the company responded by asking for our deadline. We heard back a second time when the company let us know that they may need more time. We reached out two additional times but did not receive any further responses. McDonald's In sum, it's true that, in the 1960s, Cheskin advised McDonald's to keep the golden arches at a time when the company was considering getting rid of them. On Oct. 25, 2021, the rating for this story was changed from "Research In Progress" to "Unproven" for the reasons mentioned at the end of the fact check. On Nov. 12, 2021, the rating for this story was changed from "Unproven" to "True" after we received information from a reader about a book that contained data on Cheskin's past. In July 2019, an $80 coupon began making the rounds on Facebook for the ALDI grocery store chain. These shared posts were the latest iteration of the common "free coupon" or "free gift card" scams that frequently plague social media and have also preyed on shoppers of chains such as Kroger and Target: Kroger Target  A different scam coupon offer also circulated with the ALDI logo in December 2015, advertising a "get 40% off all purchases in store" promise. Another displayed what appeared to be a free coupon for "$60 off a minimum $70 purchase", and even one for $75 off:  "Aldi has a coupon for $60 off a minimum $70 purchase. Aldi has verified this is a scam, but people are sharing it all over facebook." These coupons are not legitimate, as ALDI themselves noted on their Facebook page:  These coupon offers are a form of survey scams that direct victims to either a survey on an website not owned by ALDI, or what looks like a Facebook page for ALDI. The survey pages nor the Facebook page have any affiliation with the company, despite being adorned with the ALDI logo. Both instruct people to share the bogus ALDI coupon offer on their Facebook timelines and submit comments about it:  This page instructs shoppers to follow these "two simple steps" in order to get their coupons. Once the steps are completed, however, users are not greeted with information explaining how to claim their coupons. Instead, they're asked to take a brief survey that entails providing personal information such as home address, telephone number, e-mail address, and date of birth, and are required to sign up for credit cards or enroll in number of subscription programs in order to obtain their "free" gift cards:  A version of the scam also surfaced in May 2016, and another later in 2018. ALDI responded to frustrated consumers on Facebook:  In June 2017, a version of the scam touting discounts in honor of ALDI's purported anniversary also appeared on Facebook: "HEY FRIENDS CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!Aldi is giving Free $75 Coupon to Everyone to celebrate 103rd Anniversary!Each Person (1)- Go & get yours!ALDI-COM.COM" However, attempting to visit the linked domain (ALDI-COM.com) led to a "deceptive site ahead" warning and not to ALDI's official web site:  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 lists key factors for identifying fraudulent Facebook posts: article "Dont believe what you see. Its 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." All in all, trying to claim that "free" deep discount ALDI coupon is likely going to end up costing you a lot more than you'll save. Patterson, Emily.  "Customer Survey Scam Lures Victims with Gift Card." 
  Better Business Bureau.  4 July 2014. 10 July 2019: This story has been updated with a scam offer appearing on Facebook that promises $80 off at ALDI. Shortly after news broke on 28 October 2016 that additional Clinton e-mails were potentially located on a computer linked with aide Huma Abedin, rumors circulated that thousands of potentially incriminating documents were found in a computer folder titled "life insurance," and that Abedin had cut a deal with investigators: Clinton e-mails 10,000 new emails found on Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner's computer and phones. They were in a file marked "Life Insurance". #Corruption #Corruption  Morgan Brittany (@MorganBrittany4) October 29, 2016 October 29, 2016 The "life insurance" claim (which bore some similarity to the long-circulating Clinton body bags rumor) appeared to hit a tipping point with the tweet reproduced here, and numerous articles all cited that single uncorroborated item (which may have been meant as a wry joke). Clinton body bags  A slightly earlier tweet expressed the same notion, but again with no source link or reference: So did Huma steal 10,000 emails and saved it on her comp just in case Clinton targeted her? Hence: "life insurance"  Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 30, 2016 October 30, 2016 We were unable to find any descriptive claims (credible or anecdotal) involving Huma Abedin's purported "life insurance" folder that appeared prior to these tweets. However, not long before they showed up on Twitter, a commenter on the web site Zero Hedge made a similar remark (in what appeared to be a joking reference to the "body count" rumor):  Articles containing the "life insurance" folder claimed cited only the tweets as a source. A popular related rumor held that Abedin "cut a deal" or negotiated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presumably in relation to a criminal investigation into Clinton:  commenter  cited FBI Source: Huma requesting immunity deal  Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) October 29, 2016 October 29, 2016   I am certain that Huma faces some serious jail time for lying to @FBI but will she make a deal with the @FBI to testify against Hillary?? pic.twitter.com/tMVs4HGoGQ  Villi Wilson (@Conservative_VW) October 31, 2016 @FBI @FBI pic.twitter.com/tMVs4HGoGQ October 31, 2016  On 30 October 2016, multiple blog posts claimed Abedin had "turned on" Clinton and began "negotiating" with the FBI: blog posts Hows It Feel, Hillary? CNN Just Announced Huma Has Decided to Negotiate with FBI Huma Abedins lawyers are negotiating with the FBI about conducting a full search on estranged husband Anthony Weiners laptop in light of the new probe into Hillary Clintons emails. Huma Abedins lawyers are negotiating with the FBI about conducting a full search on estranged husband Anthony Weiners laptop in light of the new probe into Hillary Clintons emails. Those articles were based on a CNN article that stated: article The computer in question is considered to belong to [Abedin's estranged husband Anthony] Weiner. Prior to obtaining the warrant, investigators saw enough of the emails to determine that they appeared pertinent to the previously completed investigation and that they may be emails not previously reviewed. Agents saw enough of the emails that they believed there could be classified information and that it warranted further inquiry, law enforcement sources told CNN. Because they didn't have a warrant specific to Abedin's emails, officials weren't able to further examine them. Justice Department and FBI officials view Abedin as cooperative with the investigation. A correction to that article suggested that the original piece gave an inaccurate impression: Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that talks between the Department of Justice and Abedin's lawyers were underway. They are not. However, the context of the source material made it clear that CNN reported Huma Abedin was "cooperative with the investigation," not "cooperating with investigators." The former suggested compliance without resistance, while the latter hinted Abedin was assisting law enforcement agents to protect herself in an attempt to build a case against Clinton. At the time the rumors began circulating, little was known about the 28 October 2016 e-mail investigation development (providing scant basis for informed speculation). No substantiated information suggests that Abedin required or sought immunity, or that she maintained a "life insurance" folder. Perez, Evan and Pamela Brown.  "FBI Discovered Clinton-Related Emails Weeks Ago."
  CNN.  31 October 2016 (updated). On 22 June 2017, the Occupy Democrats Facebook page posted a meme claiming that the United States government paid for Mitch McConnell's care and rehabilitation when the Republican senior senator contracted polio as an infant in the 1940s. meme This claim is contrasted, in the meme, with McConnell's support for the Senate Republican health care plan published that day: plan As a kid, Mitch McConnell had polio, and the government paid for ALL of his care and rehabilitation. Now, as the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, McConnell is taking government-funded care away from tens of millions of Americans. Let that sink in.   An article accompanying this meme reports that government-sponsored, publicly funded healthcare saved the young McConnell's life: article Mitch McConnell has been relentlessly working to roll back Medicaid and deprive millions of Americans of government-sponsored healthcare coverage for eight years now. But if it werent for the government, McConnell wouldnt be able to walk at all.  Young Mitch came down with a terrible case of polio as a child in Alabama. My mother was, of course, like many mothers of young polio victims, perplexed about what to do, anxious about whether I would be disabled for the rest of my life he admitted in a 2005 interview. But luckily for him, his mother took him 50 miles to the Warm Springs, where President Roosevelt won his own battle with polio and established a polio treatment center that was paid for by the public. President Roosevelt asked the people of America to send in dimes to the White House as part of his March of the Dimes foundation. Over two and a half million dimes were mailed in, and they paid for Mitchs physical therapy and treatment. A Death and Taxes article posted on the same date reports a similar story:  article How did Warm springs fund McConnells therapy, you ask? This was two decades before Lyndon Johnson launched federal health coverage by signing into law the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. In the mid-30s, Roosevelt and his law partner Basil OConnor founded the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation and started organizing fundraising balls around the country. By 1938, however, the balls grew less effective and the president needed a new strategy. Using a phrase coined by vaudeville entertainer Eddie Cantor, March of Dimes  a spin on the popular newsreel series March of Time  Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes foundation and launched a campaign asking the public to mail ten-cent donations to the White House. Within a month, Roosevelt received around 2,680,000 dimes. The campaign continued through WWII. McConnell started visiting Warm Springs in 1944. In other words, he overcame polio with the help of public money allocated by the White House. Mitch McConnell has often told the story of his childhood affliction with polio, and the role of FDR's Warm Springs rehabilitation center in his recovery. In his 2016 memoir The Long Game, McConnell recounted how he was struck with polio at the age of two while staying with his mother in his aunt's home in Five Points, Alabama.  memoir It's one of my life's great fortunes that Sister's home was only about sixty miles from Warm Springs, Georgia, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt had established a polio treatment center and where he'd often travel to find relief from the polio that paralyzed him at the age of thirty-nine. My mother took me there every chance she had. The nurses would teach her how to perform exercises meant to rehabilitate my leg while also emphasizing her need to make me believe I could walk, even though I wasn't allowed to. So it's clear that Mitch McConnell did indeed receive significant help  primarily in the form of physical therapy and physical therapy training for his mother  from the polio rehabilitation center established by Roosevelt at Warm Springs, Georgia.  However, neither this particular center nor the care given to McConnell were government-funded. Roosevelt purchased the property at Warm Springs, Georgia and established a center there in 1927, having visited frequently for therapy for his own polio, which he contracted in 1921. He (and others) set up the Warm Springs Foundation, a nonprofit organization that depended on wealthy philanthropists and donations from members of the public.  1927 In 1934, Basil O'Connor (once a partner at Roosevelt's law firm and a close associate of the recently-elected President) began organizing fundraising for the Warm Springs Foundation, set around the President's birthday celebrations each year. Within four years, these birthday balls had raised $1,350,030 for the Warm Springs rehabilitation center (the equivalent of $23.3 million in 2017). equivalent In September 1937, Roosevelt reconstituted the Warm Springs Foundation as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (as polio was then widely known); in January 1938, the directors of the foundation launched the first "March of Dimes", a phrase coined by vaudeville star Eddie Cantor who helped promote a nationwide fundraising drive which attracted the support of Hollywood stars as well as charitable middle-class families giving 10 cents each.  In six months, the March of Dimes raised $81,073 (which would be about $1.4 million in 2017). In July 1938, the New York Times published a detailed auditor's report, which offered a breakdown of donations and expenditure. report Some aspects of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis perhaps reflect a more innocent time. For example, the hundreds of thousands of dimes sent by members of the public were processed at the White House and a cheque was given to Roosevelt, who then turned it over to O'Connor for distribution via the Foundation. However, in many ways the operation was a precursor of the professional, almost corporate style of non-profit fundraising and campaigning that has followed since. For example, a large portion of funds raised in 1938 came from attendees at 8,000 Presidential birthday balls throughout the country, labor organizations contributed the equivalent of $760,000, and the Western Union and Postal Telegraph companies wrote off the cost of thousands of birthday greetings sent to the President at 25 cents per message. The following year, charity sporting events were held throughout the country, and badges were distributed to donors as part of an awareness-raising "Give a Dime and Wear a Button" campaign.  year Funds raised for the Warm Springs Foundation and National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis were also distributed in the form of research grants to scientists hoping for a breakthrough in the treatment of polio. grants This came to fruition in the 1950s when Dr. Jonas Salk  who had received a grant from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis  developed a successful polio vaccine.  Jonas Salk The Warm Springs center that helped in Mitch McConnell's recovery was indeed founded by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was President at the time McConnell was struck by the disease, in 1944. Roosevelt was the driving force behind both the Warm Springs Foundation and its successor, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, and used his political office to energetically promote fundraising for polio care and research. The funding came from the kindness and charity of the public, as well as wealthy celebrities and large corporations. However, it was operated as an innovative, nationwide nonprofit organization, not a federal or state agency, and it was not taxpayer or government-funded. The Warm Springs center visited by McConnell remained owned and operated by a nonprofit organization until 1974, when the state of Georgia took it over, making it truly government-run. Since 2014, it has been owned and operated by Augusta University.  Augusta University McConnell, Mitch. "The Long Game." (pg 9,10).
 Penguin Random House. 31 May 2016. New York Times. "$1,350,030 Raised for Warm Springs."
 New York Times Archive. 16 January 1938. New York Times. "Net of $1,021,034 to Paralysis Fund."
 New York Times Archive. 7 July 1938. New York Times. "Sport World Aids in Paralysis Drive."
 New York Times Archive. 27 December 1938.