Donald Trump, Jill Stein, bloggers blogging about Lady Gaga and a conservative website that stated Hillary Clinton wanted to jail flag burners when she was a senator.
They all took a recent ride on the AJC Truth-O-Meter, courtesy of PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia.
Want to see how they fared? Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Want to comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own? Just go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia). You can also follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/politifactga).
The online site Townhall.com on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016:
Hillary Clinton in 2005 co-sponsored legislation that would jail flag burners.
Clinton co-sponsored the Flag Protection Act of 2005, which carried a 12-month jail sentence to anyone who desecrates the American flag "to incite or produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace."
The bill, which was sponsored by a Republican senator from Utah, failed to pass.
Both parties have backed similar legislation in the past, even though the courts have ruled flag burning is legally protected.
We ruled the Townhall.com statement True.
Donald Trump on Sunday, November 27th, 2016 in a tweet:
Says he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
Neither Trump nor his allies have presented any evidence of widespread illegal voting.
In reality, studies have consistently shown that voter fraud is nowhere near common enough to call into question millions and millions of votes.
Indeed, the ability to carry off such a far-reaching conspiracy — potentially involving millions of people over the course of several months and without being noticed by election administration officials, many of them in states controlled by Republicans — is ridiculously illogical.
We rated Trump’s statement Pants on Fire.
Jill Stein on Saturday, November 26th, 2016 in a video:
“Wisconsin uses voting machines that are outlawed, they are illegal.”
Stein was the Green Party nominee for president. She is now pushing for recounts in key states where Trump won, including Wisconsin.
California banned electronic, touch-screen machines. But the touch-screen machines that are used by a distinct minority of voters in Wisconsin are approved by the Wisconsin Election Commission. They’re very legal.
Stein’s statement that is false and ridiculous.
We rated Stein’s claim Pants on Fire.
Bloggers on Friday, November 25th, 2016 in posts on the Internet:
Lady Gaga announced she would cover her face “until Trump gets fired from office.”
The original post, which has been taken down, was on a site that billed itself as a hybrid of news and satire, and referenced a real interview on CBS Sunday Morning.
There was no indication of what was real and what was made up in the story, and it was copied by several other sites that also didn’t identify the fabricated portions.
Although Gaga has spoken out against Trump, there’s no mention of him in the CBS interview — nor did she announce a plan to shield her face out of grief.
Bloggers may have been looking to garner applause for this one, but Gaga’s supposed mask appears to be made out of whole cloth.
We rated it Pants on Fire!
Ted Cruz on Sunday, November 27th, 2016 in an interview on ABC’s This Week:
“In 2015 roughly 10,000 political arrests occurred in Cuba. That is five times as many as occurred in 2010, when there were only about 2,000.”
Cruz would have been on more precise ground had he referred to 2016 and not 2015, as a spokesman said he intended to do.
And while the source of his figures is widely considered to be reliable, experts said it is hard to track and label every arrest for political reasons.
His point requires additional explanation but is largely accurate.
We rate Cruz’s claim Mostly True.
About the Author
