Elon Musk once tweeted: "If one day, my words are against science, choose science.

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed in the United States, dueling opinions were politicized and bluntly split between opinions based on hard science versus economics. This ended up leading to the recirculation of a purported tweet from Elon Musk about any of his putative future opinions “against science”:Well well well, how the turn tables from agedlikemilkThe ScreenshotA post submitted to r/agedlikemilk (a subreddit about statements that have quickly soured), a user shared a Twitter screenshot of Musk sharing the following quote:“If one day, my words are against science, choose science.” Mustafa Kemal AtatürkAt the top of the screenshot, a more recent tweet of Musk’s appeared, tweeted on the same day the above post was submitted to Reddit:FREE AMERICA NOW— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020COVID-19: Science versus “the Economy”Beginning around March 20 2020, the increasing spread of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 led to a patchwork of orders across states — typically described as “stay at home,” “shelter in place,” “quarantine,” or “lockdown” measures.The measures themselves emerged against the backdrop of early controversy over whether such measures would “wreck the economy” as well as initial assertions that handling of the burgeoning pandemic ought not be economically “worse” than preventing infections and excess death:WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020The above tweet incidentally appeared less than 48 hours after “lockdown” measures began.Moreover, medical science — specifically, epidemiology — was the impetus for global stay-at-home directives in a March 16 2020 report from Imperial College London. Researchers in that effort ran several projections to determine which the least damaging course of action would be moving forward during the COVID-19 pandemic:Imperial College London’s COVID-19 Report, ExplainedOn our page linked above, we described the overall conclusions of that research — namely a predicted unbearable outcome even if a “mitigation” strategy was adopted in the United States.Researchers predicted more than a million deaths in the United States alone even under the “mitigation” model with many public health restrictions, and they also emphasized that they believed the stricter “suppression” model was the only viable approach. Projections were based in part on the long duration between the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the development of a vaccine, which would take at least eighteen months.By April 15 2020, “anti-lockdown protests” began non-spontaneously occurring across the United States:Viral ‘Ohio State House COVID-19 Protest’ ImageAnti-lockdown protesters displayed behavior and signs that were not only anti-science, but anti-Semitic and arguably unethical as well:‘The Real Plague’ Anti-Semitic Sign Spotted at Ohio Anti-Lockdown COVID-19 Pandemic ProtestCOVID-19 ‘Sacrifice the Weak’ Reopen Tennessee Protest SignAlso, anti-grammar:Misspelled ‘We the Peaple, Re-Open Pennslvania’ SignA primary unifying motive for the protests was fiscal in nature, with protesters arguing to “re-open” the economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.COVID-19 DenialismPredictably, people favoring the purported health of the economy over safety measures espoused a number of scientifically-unsupported or inaccurate ideas about COVID-19 safety measures to further their position, such as erroneous claims that quarantine was not appropriate for asymptomatic or apparently healthy people:‘Quarantine is When You Restrict the Movement of SICK People’ Facebook MemeAny purportedly credible position in favor of ending the measures would quickly go viral, such as the unsupported claims of two California doctors:Medical Community Refutes Bakersfield Doctors’ Attempts to Minimize COVID-19Another untrue but popular circulating claim held no scientific proof existed that social distancing worked:Is There ‘No Scientific Proof’ That Social Distancing Prevents the Spread of Coronavirus?Science Weighs InIn the ever-changing discourse, parallels drawn between “COVID deniers” and climate change denial were common:Many of these [extant anti-science] groups, including Koch network-funded entities such as Americans for Prosperity and State Policy Network members have also attacked stay-at-home orders and orchestrated ‘Liberate’ movement protests nationwide … notorious climate deniers around the world are even claiming that the novel coronavirus pandemic is a hoax, or that it’s an evil plot by “globalist elites” like Bill Gates and George Soros to alternately force vaccines or a “world population cull.”On April 24 2020, the Cornell Alliance for Science explained how existing astroturfed networks were rapidly and effectively mobilized against COVID-19 suppression. That source also explained that the measures — while vocal and visible — stood in stark contrast to what medical science had to say about early conclusion of social distancing:With a new poll affirming that 72 percent of Americans still strongly support stay-at-home measures, the “open it up” rallies and traffic gridlock actions represent a distinct minority view. But they’ve gained outsized influence due to funding, legal assistance and organizational efforts provided by conservative interests, including gun advocates, and more are planned for the coming week.The protestors have typically demanded that states reopen businesses and lift their restrictions on social distancing, though experts warn that rapid re-openings could have fatal consequences.“The math is unfortunately pretty simple. It’s not a matter of whether infections will increase but by how much,” Jeffrey Shaman, a leading epidemiologist at Columbia University, told The Washington Post. […]The groups have relied heavily on social media to promote their cause and mobilize participants, prompting Facebook to declare it would remove posts by any groups advocating illegal behavior. Protestors, some of whom have shown up for the rallies heavily armed, have frequently flouted state rules around social distancing and wearing masks.With most Americans expressing reluctance to quickly reopen their states, it’s unclear whether the rallies will ever reach a critical mass. But some, like sociologist Robert J. Brulle, fear the rallies, both orchestrated and organic, will have more unsettling impacts … if that [anti-science] sentiment takes hold, it could make it difficult to advance vaccination campaigns and climate mitigation efforts, as well as to address the COVID-19 pandemic.On April 30 2020, Alliance for Science reported that the World Health Organization was warning of a “misinformation ‘infodemic,’ [via] anti-science groups around the world [who] are doubling down on a dizzying array of competing conspiracy theories about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and quoted a then-recent article in the journal Nature about the effects of statements and movements undermining science and the importance of amplifying credible sources:“In a world where anti-vaccination advocates and climate-change denialists persist, talking sense might seem hopeless, especially when social-media algorithms and deliberate bad actors amplify pseudoscience messages,” University of Alberta health law and policy researcher Timothy Caulfield wrote in Nature. “There is no easy answer to solving this, but science-informed messages are not easily found. We need more researchers making an effort.”On April 27 2020, Wired explained why the purposeful coordination of resources to force through a minority view and provide the appearance of broader popularity seemed so familiar. The “novel” element of the novel coronavirus created a massive vulnerability as science raced to mitigate the human toll, and special interests weaponized a portion of a panicked populace:The uncertainty around Covid-19 pretty much actively encourages conspiracy-minded thinking. According to Pew Research Center, three in 10 Americans believe Covid-19 was cooked up in a lab. Most people who believe in one conspiracy theory believe in several, so, on the right, they have coalesced around a kind of anti-science, anti-government, pro-gun, pro-nationalism worldview that sees itself as perennially under threat.“It’s the same kind of dynamic that applies to things like climate change. It’s the same ideological playbook,” says Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. “That’s why they’re happening so quickly.” The protests, the demonstrators, the supportive Fox News commentators, it was all a prebaked sure bet. [Mark Naison, a professor of history at Fordham University who has studied social protest movements] calls them “a poor man’s Trump rally” and opines that the president’s all-caps support of them on Twitter may be as simple as him missing that positive attention, especially in an election year.It is vitally important not to be falsely equivalent here: Most Americans will never shrug off social-distancing guidelines and take to the streets. The protests are unpopular, even among (non-MAGA-hatted) conservatives … [A rash of COVID-19 protests] are just a modern permutation of an identity crisis with roots very deep in America’s individualist history. Finding a coherent narrative in such a layered situation is a puzzle—one that ultimately has very little to do with Covid-19 or quarantines.To be clear, there was really no call in medical or epidemiological circles to prematurely end lockdown — the only “experts” making such claims were typically economists or political operatives. Which brings us to…Elon MuskAs the protests wore on, Musk took to Twitter a great deal to voice his opinion on COVID-19 suppression measures. And while science was squarely in favor of measures to stop the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, Musk didn’t seem to agree (even retweeting video of the widely-debunked Bakersfield doctors):Interesting … https://t.co/z8sqqPt48q— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2020Docs make good points https://t.co/WeXuZpMghY— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2020Give people their freedom back! https://t.co/iG8OYGaVZ0— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020Bravo Texas! https://t.co/cVkDewRqGv— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2020$TSLA CEO @elonmusk blasts shelter in place orders: “To say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic, this is not freedom, give people back their god damn freedom.”— Phil LeBeau (@Lebeaucarnews) April 29, 20202017 Elon Musk versus 2020 Elon MuskAbove is just a smattering of Musk’s many tweets expressing opinions around COVID-19 and applauding states prematurely lifting lockdown measures. As for the screenshot shared to r/agedlikemilk, it was authentic. It was a quote, but nevertheless, Musk tweeted it:"If one day, my words are against science, choose science. "Mustafa Kemal Atatürk— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2017TL;DRAfter Elon Musk appeared to side against science in COVID-19 discourse, screenshots of his purported tweet stating “If one day, my words are against science, choose science” circulated. It is true that Musk’s April 2020 tweets were “against science,” and further true that he published the original tweet.Comments


Brain 'Pacemaker' Might Help Slow Alzheimer’s

Explanation: This story reports on a “proof of concept” study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to improve behavioral and cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients, which involves implanting an electrical pulse generator under the skin to alter brain activity. To its credit, the story cautions that this is not anywhere close to being a readily available treatment. However, it neglects significant potential harms of using an implantable device and isn’t completely clear on the lack of a proven benefit. We think this study was one of those that isn’t quite ready for a consumer news audience; it’s just too preliminary and has the potential to stoke false hope. Authors of this study point out that Alzheimer’s disease is not just a memory problem but rather presents a host of cognitive and behavioral impairments, and even “small treatment advances” could have a meaningful impact by delaying their progress. DBS has been widely used with patients with Parkinson’s disease and other conditions, they say, and research suggests the technique can improve cognitive, behavioral and functional impairments. Also, any treatments involving medical devices should include cautions about potential harms, as described in our toolkit on medical device safety.

The story doesn’t talk about the cost of this device. Deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson’s disease costs $35,000 to $50,000, according to the National Parkinson Foundation. This study wasn’t designed to prove a benefit, although the story could have explained that more clearly. We’re rating this Not Satisfactory because it confuses readers with a headline stating the device “might help slow Alzheimer’s,” while the story itself focuses on the clinical outcomes of the three patients in the study, citing “signals” that the device slowed two patients’ decline, for example. The fact that two of the three patients declined at slower rate compared to 96 patients in a database doesn’t say anything about whether the device is really effective. Even so, there’s no specific data on how those patients’ outcomes differed and what was measured. The story doesn’t completely drop the ball, stating side effects “included hot flashes, heart palpitations and burning sensations in the skin, which were reversed by adjusting the DBS settings.” But any story on an implantable medical device should caution readers about the risks of surgery to both install and remove it and mention that medical devices are not required to undergo rigorous safety tests before they are allowed on the market. The lead’s assertion that the device “may be safe” neglects the inherent risks of implantable devices. The story left out another known risk of deep brain stimulation: depression. All three subjects were treated with antidepressant medication. Although, as the study authors note, the DBS may not have caused the depression–it is common in dementia, and treating it can improve people’s cognitive and functional abilities. Such as described for patient “LaVonne.” It’s questionable whether this study should have been brought to the attention of consumer news readers as the quality of the evidence showing it works—much less is safe–is too preliminary. This concept was tested on just three people, far too few for anyone to have any idea if it will work. Had the story been framed differently–without the overly hopeful headline and intro paragraph–and instead explored the science behind DBS and the challenges of studying it in Alzheimer’s patients, it might have rated Satisfactory on this criterion. We did appreciate the fairly prominent placement of a caveat that “it’s far too early to know whether it has value for people with Alzheimer’s” and the caution further down that a trial comparing it with a placebo device is needed. But, the story includes an anecdote of a patient who “regained” her cooking skills and improved her ability to perform other tasks while on the study without explaining that it’s unclear whether the DBS had an impact on the progression of her disease. It also could have been the medication she was on, for example. The story states: “More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s — a number that could rise to 16 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.” The story includes a useful comment from Keith Fargo, who directs scientific programs and outreach for the Alzheimer’s Association, that it’s “much too early” for for patients or caregivers to seek out this device. The story mentions that “medications for Alzheimer’s target brain chemicals involved in memory.” We like the prominent placement of the caveat that “it’s far too early to know whether it has value for people with Alzheimer’s” and it’s “not something patients can ask their neurologist for.” It also mentions DBS “would not be for everyone” including people who are frail or have other serious medical conditions. The story lets us know that this therapy is used in Parkinson’s patients, and that this small pilot study is exploring its potential for Alzheimer’s disease. It says the study highlights that “Alzheimer’s disease is more than just amnesia” and “problems with abilities like judgment and planning can actually be more challenging.” The story draws from sources other than a Ohio State Wexner Medical Center news release.


174 Democrats voted against a "bipartisan act to stop convicted terrorists and sexual predators from becoming TSA Agents.

Explanation: What's true: 174 Democrats voted against allowing further amendments to H.R. 1140, including one amendment related to prohibiting TSA from hiring agents convicted of sex crimes and terrorism. Ultimately, the bill was overwhelmingly passed by Democrats and voted against by Republicans. What's false: Despite voting against the amendment, Democrats were not opposed to barring TSA from hiring "convicted terrorists and sexual predators"; they deemed the amendment unnecessary because existing regulations already prohibited the hiring of such persons.

On March 6, 2020, Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, posted a tweet asserting that 174 Democrats had voted against a “bipartisan act to stop convicted terrorists & sexual predators from becoming TSA Agents”:  That tweet was misleading in several ways, however. First of all, the bill in question was not a “bipartisan act to stop convicted terrorists and sexual predators from becoming TSA Agents.” The bill — H.R. 1140, known as the “Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act of 2020” — was a Democratic-led effort to grant employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) the same protections as other federal employees: In Fiscal Year 2017 alone, TSA spent approximately $16 million to hire and train nearly 2,000 TSOs [Transportation Security Officers] who left within six months of being hired. Several factors contribute to TSA’s morale and attrition problems. TSOs are among the lowest paid employees in the Federal government and receive minimal, infrequent pay increases. TSOs’ job responsibilities have grown increasingly demanding, requiring extensive training on advanced security technologies and long hours in crowded, stressful environments. In addition, TSA employees are not granted many of the basic workplace protections afforded most other Federal workers under the Title 5 personnel system. For example, TSA employees have limited options for filing workplace grievances and cannot appeal disciplinary actions to an outside third-party such as the Merit Systems Protection Board. Further, TSOs are limited in their ability to negotiate protections because it is not one of the limited issue areas for which TSA permits collective bargaining. The “Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act of 2020” seeks to ensure that all TSA employees have access to the fair and transparent personnel system established under Title 5 of the U.S. Code. Under that Federal personnel system, TSOs and other employees would receive higher salaries as well as regular salary increases in future years. Employees would also receive access to MSPB processes and collective bargaining rights as are available to most other Federal workers. H.R. 1140 was not “bipartisan,” nor did it have anything to do with stopping “convicted terrorists and sexual predators from becoming TSA Agents.” The latter aspect became part of the debate on the bill along with claims that changes wrought by H.R. 1140 could potentially affect TSA’s ability to discipline employees involved in security violations: Committee Republicans are concerned that moving TSA employees under title 5 would undermine the agency’s ability to perform its national security mission. According to information obtained from TSA, H.R. 1140 would hinder TSA’s ability to address serious instances of misconduct among the workforce. Under current law, the agency may exercise one-step removal for serious offenses such as intentional security breaches, theft, failure of drug and alcohol tests while on duty, or arrests for certain criminal offenses. Under H.R. 1140, an employee who knowingly allows guns or explosives through a security checkpoint would no longer be immediately fired. H.R. 1140 would expand collective bargaining rights for TSA employees. As a result, security policies needed to protect the traveling public would be negotiable topics in union bargaining. Under current law, TSA can impose new security requirements, such as enhanced passenger screening when intelligence indicates credible threats. Under this bill, how those new security requirements are implemented could be subject to negotiation with the union. At the last minute, Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Arizona, made a motion to recommit with instructions (a mechanism used to amend a bill just before it is voted upon by the full House of Representatives) in order to add an amendment to H.R. 1140 related to the TSA’s hiring of persons convicted of certain forms of crime: The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Lesko motion to recommit with instructions. The instructions contained in the motion seek to require the bill to be reported back to the House with an amendment adding at the end of section 4 the rule of construction which states the Secretary shall ensure that the Transportation Security Administration continues to prevent the hiring of individuals who have been convicted of a sex crime, and offense involving a minor, a crime of violence, or terrorism. The motion carried, and the version of the bill subsequently voted upon by the House accordingly included the following sentence: “During the transition period and after the conversion date, the Secretary [of Homeland Security] shall ensure that the Transportation Security Administration continues to prevent the hiring of individuals who have been convicted of a sex crime, an offense involving a minor, a crime of violence, or terrorism.” This amendment did not create any new or additional protections against the TSA’s hiring of “convicted terrorists and sexual predators” as agents. (Existing TSA regulations already disqualify persons convicted of terrorism, rape, aggravated sexual abuse, and various violent crimes, among other offenses.) As the text of the amendment states, it calls upon the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that the TSA continues to prevent the hiring of [such] individuals, and as Lesko acknowledged, the amendment “preserves the authority the TSA currently has” and “simply ensures that current safeguards remain in place.” . @TSA should not be hiring sexual predators or terrorists to work at our nation's airports. Thankfully, the House passed my amendment yesterday to prevent these criminals from joining the federal payrolls. Yet, 175 Democrats voted against this commonsense measure. pic.twitter.com/7TkFnul6CB — Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) March 6, 2020  The vote that Kirk cited was not a vote on the bill itself, but rather a roll call vote on Lesko’s motion to recommit with instructions (i.e., 174 Democrats were voting against the motion and thereby seeking to prevent additional amendments to the bill). Democratic critics contended during House debate that Lesko’s amendment was an unnecessary “red herring,” as the “TSA conducts rigorous background checks and will continue to do so”:  Rep. Lesko:  [A] bad actor TSA screener told a passenger to reveal her full breasts and lift her pants and underwear. The victim in the case stated that she complied with the TSO’s instructions out of fear. Fortunately, this offender was immediately fired by the TSA. However, under this bill, H.R.1140, if it passed, this predator could be on the federal payroll for months or even years … My amendment is simple. It would enhance aviation security and protect the flying public by preventing the TSA from hiring any candidate with a history of sexual misconduct, offenses involving minors, or terrorism. Val Demings:  Let me be clear, there is nothing in this bill that will allow the TSA to hire individuals who have been convicted of sex crimes or offenses against a minor, a crime of violence, or terrorism. Let me be clear, the example that [Rep. Lesko] cited, there is nothing that would have precluded this person from being hired in the first place. The behavior took place after the person was hired. This is a red herring. We decided not to offer this amendment because it simply isn’t necessary. TSA conducts rigorous background checks and will continue to do so.


Rio urges Carnival visitors to stick to urban areas.

Explanation: Brazilian health authorities are urging Carnival visitors to stick to celebrations in the city of Rio de Janeiro and avoid heading out of town for sightseeing at waterfalls and forests where yellow fever has been detected.

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Health, Latin America, Carnivals, Travel, Waterfalls, Sightseeing

Rio state Health Secretary Luiz Antonio Teixeira Junior said on Tuesday that there have been no recent urban cases of the disease and that the risk of contagion in touristic parts of Rio is “nearly zero.” “Visit our beaches, but avoid forests, bushes and waterfalls. That is where the mosquitoes that transmit the disease live,” Teixeira Junior said in a press conference. Brazil is vaccinating more than 20 million people against yellow fever in a massive campaign to control a budding outbreak, and the secretary said Rio state alone has vaccinated more than 8 million. The World Health Organization also suggests that visitors to Rio get vaccinated. As of Tuesday, Brazil’s Health Ministry has confirmed 213 cases across the country and 81 deaths in the current outbreak. That’s fewer than the 468 cases and 147 deaths that had been confirmed during the same period in the last outbreak, which was unusually large. Alfredo Lopes, the head of Rio’s hotel association, said tourism agencies have expressed concern about the outbreak. “There are many doubts because of yellow fever, but few cancelations for now. We don’t know how many people would come, but later chose not to,” Lopes said. Rio state Tourism Secretary Nilo Felix said the disease won’t have a meaningful impact during the high season for tourists. He expects 1.5 million visitors in the city in the next couple of weeks, about the same figure of 2017. James Story, the U.S. consul general in Rio, said he hasn’t heard of American concerns about yellow fever directly and believes the outbreak will not affect tourism in the coming weeks. “Carnival is an international festival with people from all over. I am sure this time will be no different,” he said.


A meme that claims Donald Trump has been in the public eye for 30 years and was never accused of racism before running for president has gone viral on social media.

Explanation: Donald Trump Was Never Accused of Racism Before Running for President

The claim that Donald Trump was never accused of being a racist before running for president is false. That rumor surfaced in the form of a meme on social media in mid-May, shortly after Donald Trump had all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination. The meme got traction after former MLB pitcher Kurt Schilling re-tweeted it on May 16th:  But Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump, were accused engaging in racially biased housing policies in 1973. The Department of Justice sued the Trump Management Corporation (Donald was its president at the time) for an “antiblack bias” in its housing policies that allegedly violated the Fair Housing Act, the New York Times reported in 1973:  Donald Trump also faced accusations of racism after he took out a full-page ad in the New York Daily News that called for the death penalty for the “Central Park 5,” a group of black teenagers accused of raping and beating a jogger, in 1989, the New Yorker reports: And, in early May, 1989, Donald Trump took out a full-page ad in the Daily News to say what he thought he knew about the case. Trump was on the front page of the papers often enough that season; the Post’s “SPLIT!” headline marking the end of his marriage would help fill the tabloid space between the teen-agers’ arrest and their conviction, as did “MARLA BOASTS TO HER PALS ABOUT DONALD: ‘BEST SEX I’VE EVER HAD,’ ” which quoted his then-mistress and second wife; soon, there was also coverage of his baroque business failures. Perhaps he thought it gave him gravitas, that spring, to weigh in on the character of the teen-agers in the park: “How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!” And his headline suggested what ought to be done with them: BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE! The Central Park 5 were falsely convicted and served time in prison before the jogger’s real attacker came forward and the teens were cleared of the charges and released in 2002. Trump was also accused of “making racial slurs against black people” in the 1991 book “Trumped!” that was written by a former Trump casino executive named John O’Donnell, the Inquisitor reports: The book’s description of remarks by Trump about black people could be significant if proven accurate because Steven P. Perskie, the casino commission chairman, has ordered proceedings to ban a high-roller from the gambling halls for making similar remarks. O’Donnell described a dinner conversation with Trump in which, he writes, they discussed Trump Plaza’s financial executive, who was black. He quoted Trump as saying he never liked the man and believed he was not doing a good job. Trump’s conversation is recounted: “And isn’t it funny. I’ve got black accountants at Trump Castle and Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. . . . I think the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” O’Donnell writes that he advised Trump against publicly espousing such views. Allegations that Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino had removed black dealers from tables at the request of gamblers later landed Trump;s business in court, UPI reports: TRENTON, N.J. — The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino has lost a bid to overturn a $200,000 penalty imposed because managers catered to the presumed prejudices of a high roller by removing a black dealer from his table. A New Jersey appeals court upheld a ruling by the Casino Control Commission. The court also ruled that the penalty, one of the highest ever from the Division of Gaming Enforcement, was not disproprotionate to the offense. So, claims that Donald Trump was never accused of racism before running for president are false. Comments


WHO says e-cigarettes, 'smoke-free' products do not help reduce cancer.

Explanation: Electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products are not helping fight cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, urging smokers and governments not to trust claims from cigarette firms about their latest products.

The seventh “WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic” said blocking the industry’s interference was critical to cutting the harm from tobacco use. “The tobacco industry has a long history of systemic, aggressive, sustained and well-resourced opposition to tobacco control measures,” the report said. “While some strategies are public and others more covert... all have the goal of weakening tobacco control.”  The report said tobacco giant Philip Morris International was trying to position itself as a responsible public health partner via its “Unsmoke” campaign, which encourages people to “change to a better alternative”. The WHO said the campaign aimed to ensure tobacco remained socially acceptable, while confusing consumers with terms such as “smoke-free products”, which may refer to products with toxic emissions and unknown short-term and long-term health effects. Philip Morris spokesman Ryan Sparrow said the WHO’s message made it harder to provide safer options for people who cannot quit smoking. “There is no question that the best choice for smokers is to quit cigarettes and nicotine altogether. The reality is many people do not. We cannot turn our backs on them,” he said. “Organisations like the World Health Organization need to stop talking at smokers and start listening.”  The WHO report said the industry hoped to win respectability through manipulative messages such as claiming their products were part of a “harm reduction” strategy, even though cigarettes still account for 97% of the global tobacco market. Vinayak Prasad, programme manager of WHO’s tobacco control unit, said development of new products was solely intended to expand the markets of tobacco firms. “There is no difference between cigarettes and heated tobacco products except that in terms of exposure: the exposure is less and the smoke is not visible,” he said. Electronic cigarettes, containing nicotine but not tobacco, were promoted as a way to quit smoking. But there was no evidence to justify the claim, and evidence from the United States showed they had increased the prevalence of young people smoking, he said. “So it’s also a gateway for young people,” Prasad said. “The answer is it needs to be regulated. WHO has clear guidelines – to get electronic cigarettes regulated. And if you are banning it, fine, but if you aren’t banning it don’t let it (go) free in the market, because the young people are taking it up.”


A photograph shows the wedding of a U.S. Marine disfigured by combat wounds.

Explanation: Testimony given at a coroner’s inquest several months later revealed that Ty’s death had been the result of heroin and alcohol intoxication rather than injuries sustained in a fall.

Fauxtography, military, wedding photographs

Three days before Christmas of 2004, Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel was on a routine patrol during his second tour of duty in Iraq when a suicide bomber blew up near his truck. The blast took off a portion of his left arm and three fingers from his other hand, fractured his jaw, left him blind in one eye, shattered his skull, and melted most of the skin off his head. Sgt. Ziegel was in a coma for months afterwards and spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, where he underwent more than 50 operations including the fitting of a plastic cap for his skull and the surgical reconstruction of his face with holes for his missing ears and nose. The London Times described the transformation of Sgt. Ziegel’s experience into what seemed to be a modern day fairy tale:  The fairy tale goes like this: they are high-school sweethearts from a small town, Metamora, Illinois, in the American Midwest. He graduates from high school, becomes a US marine and is sent to Iraq. When he returns, they get engaged. He proposes before he leaves for his second tour. She is 18; he is 21. She can’t wait for him to come home. The tour is cut short. A suicide bomber blows up near his truck and he suffers horrific, life-changing injuries. A day later he is in San Antonio, Texas, at the Brooke Army Medical Center. She leaves her home town for the first time to fly there with his mother so they can be by his side. She is there for him. His injuries are severe. He will have numerous operations and she will stand by him throughout. It will be a year and a half before they all go home. In the meantime, she will move in with his mother. The homecoming is a triumph. He is a hero and she is his heroine. Their commitment to each other is inspiring and rock-solid. They get married. She is now 21 and he is 24. The wedding takes place on October 7, 2006, and that date is declared a state holiday. Renee and Tyler Ziegel Day. Their romance is covered by The Sunday Times Magazine. They plan to have a family. Love conquers all. During the period between Ty’s convalescence and his marriage to Renée Kline, photographer Nina Berman, on assignment for People magazine, visited him three separate times and recorded a series of photographs chronicling his recovery, homecoming and wedding day. One of those photographs was an iconic image shown which in 2006 won in the portraiture category of the World Press Photo contest, the most prestigious international award for photojournalism — yet it was questioned by some social media users when they encountered it with no explanatory context:  I wanted to know if there’s any way to tell if this photo is accurate? It’s circulating Facebook right now with a caption of “This man served our country. Like for respect”. But, the girl in the photo, why does she look so unamused? Shouldn’t she be smiling? And her face looks very pixelated. I would love to know more on the backstory if possible. The photograph was described as follows by Lindsay Beyerstein for a 2007 Salon article:  A young couple stands side by side facing the camera. There are all the usual accouterments: the frosted, school-photo backdrop, the red bouquet precisely matched to the red trim on the bride’s white gown. The groom wears a decorated dress uniform. It could be any couple in any town — except that the groom’s features have literally been melted off. He has no nose, no chin, no ears and no hair. His head appears to attach directly to his shoulders, and his face is so badly burned that it’s a struggle to decipher his expression. The bride’s expression is equally opaque. Some people think she looks stunned. Others describe her expression as anxious, or even fearful. Her mouth turns down slightly at the edges, but her wide brown eyes gaze straight ahead and something about the set of her jaw suggests resolve. Some viewers strenuously deny that there’s anything unusual about the young woman’s countenance at all. In that article, Nina Berman also described the circumstances under which the photograph was taken:  It was their wedding day. Before they went to the high school where they were married, they went to a commercial portrait studio. I normally don’t find those commercial studio pictures very interesting. They seem fake. People just put on a happy face. But then I thought, this is a different wedding picture, isn’t it? So I kind of stepped back. I thought, it’s the same as having someone with their body blasted off in a high school yearbook. Rituals like this, young people getting married, if this doesn’t say that this war is having an impact, I don’t know what does. It just cries out to people — hey, this war is real. There’s a very palpable reality to this war in certain communities. It’s right there, not in the cities or on the coasts. Most people in the media and the cultural elite don’t know anyone in the military. My whole goal is to say, hey, this war is not some kind of abstract thing. Unfortunately, difficulties in the marriage proved too much for the couple to overcome, and Ty and Renée were divorced in January 2008:  The fairy tale, as we know it, was not meant to be. They were too young to be married. Too young to process the possibility that what led them into a lifelong commitment was a desire for certainty in an uncertain world. There is no mystery, no implosion, no tragic conclusion. There were factors that added up. Factors that at the time they could not have foreseen. That a marriage would not offset the consequences of Ty’s injuries. That it would not compensate for the loss and the grief felt by a young woman losing her father. Everyone suspected it was too soon — that maybe it wasn’t right. But nobody spoke out. Others, strangers, projected onto them what they needed to believe. They were larger than life. When we heard their story, we put ourselves in their shoes, imagining what we would do in the same situation. Renee personified the courage and strength we hoped we would have. But she was 18 years old. And neither is prone to introspection. They weren’t people who asked why. Between the two of them, they had so much life experience, but the emotional narrative of their lives never caught up. What made us think it would? Why did we have such high hopes for them in the first place? Nobody really ever knew Ty and Renee. Not even Ty and Renee. But this is not the end. They emerged from the marriage with warmth and affection for each other — not anger and recrimination. She was there when he needed her most; she showed up and stood by him. That is more than many people will ever have in a marriage. It is something they will always share. Ty Ziegel passed away in December 2012:  A Metamora Iraq War veteran, who became a symbol of survival after a car bomb explosion, has died. Family members say 30-year-old Ty Ziegel died after falling on ice. Angela Cochran, Ziegel’s girlfriend, said he has been an inspiration in the three months since they began dating. “You can ask him anything about his scars, his time in Iraq, how everything happened; he’s like an open book,” said Cochran. “He was willing to share stories. That’s what makes him so inspiring. He’s not trying to hide.”


Chicago’s mayor says top cop drinking before incident in car.

Explanation: Chicago’s mayor said Friday that the city’s top police officer told her he’d had “a couple of drinks with dinner” before he fell asleep at a stop sign while driving home, an incident that the chief contends was related to a change in his blood pressure medication.

Medication, Police, Chicago, Health, General News, Eddie Johnson, Lori Lightfoot, U.S. News

Superintendent Eddie Johnson didn’t mention having anything to drink when he spoke to reporters Thursday night, and the department spokesman said officers who responded to a 911 call reporting a man asleep in a car at a stop sign didn’t observe any signs of impairment. Mayor Lori Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that she agreed with Eddie Johnson’s decision to request an internal affairs investigation of the Thursday incident to assure the public he’s not trying to hide anything about his actions. “It was the right thing to call for an investigation...,” Lightfoot told the paper. “We’ll see how that plays itself out.” After the newspaper’s report, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that, “While we have no indication of impropriety at this time, this question can only be answered by the internal affairs investigation.” Guglielmi had said Thursday that “there were no charges of intoxication, no information of intoxication as far as I know.” Johnson told reporters Thursday evening that he was driving home at about 12:30 that morning, after having let his driver go home to his family, when he felt lightheaded. He said he pulled over and fell asleep. The responding officers found Johnson slumped over but allowed him to drive home and did not administer a breathalyzer test or a field sobriety test. Johnson said officers do such tests only when a motorist appears impaired or officers smell alcohol or cannabis. He said the medical episode was the result of not following doctor’s orders. “When he adjusted my medication, I took the old medication for high blood pressure, but I failed to put the new medication in,” he said. During a news conference with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel in early 2017, Johnson had to be helped to a seat after he wobbled and appeared to be about ready to fall to the ground. Johnson was diagnosed decades ago with a kidney condition, which two years ago led to a transplant — with his son as the donor. Earlier this year he was hospitalized for a blood clot. In her comments, Lightfoot said that Johnson told her about how he had just changed medication, and said she has “no reason to doubt” his account of what happened. “We know he’s had some medical issues,” she told the Sun-Times. “He’s on the other side of a kidney (transplant) operation, which is obviously very, very serious. There have been some issues with high blood pressure, and so forth.” She also said that she knows from dealing with her parents that certain medications have side effects. “So I take him at his word.” She also did not condemn Johnson for having some drinks with dinner. “He’s a grown man,” she said. “He had a couple of drinks with dinner.” Johnson has been trying to restore public confidence in the department shattered by the 2015 release of the now infamous dashcam video of the fatal 2014 police shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald, both of which happened before he became superintendent. He said he wanted to take steps that would assure the public that his account was accurate. The investigation into Johnson will be handled by the public integrity unit within the department’s internal affairs division, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday. That unit is comprised of officers who are detailed to the FBI and work out of the FBI’s Chicago office. “If they have any sense that there was any impropriety, they would refer the case to outside investigative agencies,” Guglielmi added.


GSK to sell two vaccines in $1.1 billion deal to focus on newer treatments.

Explanation: GlaxoSmithKline will sell two travel vaccines to Bavarian Nordic for up to 955 million euros ($1.1 billion), the British firm said on Monday, as it looks to bolster its push into the lucrative cancer drug market.

The sale of anti-rabies treatment Rabipur and Encepur, used  for the prevention of tick-borne encephalitis, to the Denmark-based biotechnology firm includes an upfront payment of 301 million euros and milestone payments of up to 495 million euros. Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley has been pushing for a leaner structure since she took over in 2017 by spinning off or selling units to focus on reinvigorating GSK’s pharmaceuticals business. It staged a comeback into cancer treatments with a $5.1 billion buyout of U.S. drugmaker Tesaro in December last year. “This agreement with Bavarian Nordic will enable us to commit greater resources to our key growth assets and to our R&D pipeline,” Roger Connor, president of Global Vaccines at GSK said. GSK, which is preparing to separate its consumer-facing products and drugs businesses, acquired the vaccines from Novartis in 2015 as part of a broad asset-swap here in which GSK sold its oncology business to the Swiss drugmaker. The drugmaker reported revenue of 5.89 billion pounds ($7.61 billion) from its vaccines segment in 2018. London-listed GSK said that both vaccines will continue to be manufactured at its Marburg site in Germany until full production is transferred to Bavarian Nordic within five years.


SUNY Binghamton is offering a "Stop White People" course.

Explanation: What's true: Some Binghamton University resident assistants (RAs) utilized material with the words "stop white people," inspired by a popular Twitter hashtag, for use during an optional RA program developed by students. What's false: Binghamton University is not offering a "stop white people" course.

Viral Phenomena, binghamton university, outrage, stop white people

On 25 August 2016, multiple Fox News-linked accounts published tweets and articles about a school “training course” that led many social media users to believe was a class offered at the State University of New York at Binghamton (commonly known as Binghamton University) called “Stop White People.” Columnist Todd Starnes penned a column about the controversy, describing a “workshop” offered as “an official part of the residential assistant training program”: Nothing screams tolerance and diversity like a university workshop designed to target white people. The State University of New York in Binghamton has a bit of explaining to do after they held a workshop titled, “#StopWhitePeople2K16.” The workshop was an official part of the residential assistant training program at the taxpayer-funded university. The Binghamton Review, the university’s conservative newspaper, exposed this nonsense and they deserve a round of applause for their efforts. Starnes referenced a 24 August 2016 item published by student newspaper the Binghamton Review  that included additional detail about the teacup tempest, but the latter was far clearer about the minute scope and origin of the printed material (depicted above) that prompted the rumors: On Friday, August 12, an optional conference for Binghamton University Residential Assistants entitled “#StopWhitePeople2K16” was held in an effort to “take the next step in understanding diversity, privilege, and the society we function within.” Naturally, that title garnered a significant amount of attention in a very short period of time, and before long, the University delivered an official response to concerns from those who believed the title was racist. Brian Rose, Binghamton University’s Vice President of Student Affairs, wrote in his response to the controversy that the program was not “anti-white,” and instead was simply a “discussion” that “explored reverse racism, the relationship of communities of color with police, whiteness, crime and segregation in an open conversation format.” Rose also wrote that the titular hashtag “is commonly used ironically,” and “as the senior student affairs officer on campus,” he is “supportive of the students’ efforts to facilitate dialogue around a challenging set of topics.” Rose indeed issued an undated statement about an optional 12 August 2016 event for resident advisors (RAs) at Binghamton, during which three RAs hosted the presentation described in the printed material. Rose noted that the presentation in question centered on race relations and referenced a popular existing Twitter hashtag that was not created by Binghamton RAs: A program facilitated by three student resident advisors (RA’s) as part of an educational program for RA staff training has prompted public and internal comment and inquiry. The program title “#StopWhitePeople2K16” was drawn from a familiar hashtag in use on Twitter, and was not invented by the program facilitators. It is my understanding that the hashtag is commonly used ironically. The optional program was developed by the students themselves, supported by a young professional staff person. Its purpose, as conceived, was to facilitate a discussion among the RA’s that would improve their ability to handle conflicts among residents around issues of diversity. Upon learning of the concerns expressed over the session’s title by some off-campus groups and individuals, the university’s student-affairs office reviewed the session and the program content more closely to obtain an accurate understanding. We verified that the actual program content was not “anti-white”. The inclusion of the program in the educational session was not driven by any university administration initiative to advocate any specific viewpoint on diversity. About 40-50 RA’s chose to attend the session which ran concurrently with some other sessions. Topically the discussion in the program was far-ranging, student driven and explored reverse racism, the relationship of communities of color with police, whiteness, crime and segregation in an open conversation format. Post session feedback predominantly described the session as a respectful and productive conversation. Professional staff followed up directly with a few participants who had a mixed reaction to the program in support of those participants. What we strive to do from an administrative level is cultivate an environment where our students listen to one another, learn from one another and do so in a manner that doesn’t cause unnecessary harm. I have no indication that this particular program was inconsistent with the respectful environment we hope to support and sustain. Nevertheless, rumors quickly spread on social media indicating that Binghamton was offering a full course in their curriculum called “Stop White People,” and a number of web sites and online users reacted to that misinterpretation. We contacted the university’s media relations department and a representative with whom we spoke reiterated that the RA-only presentation was student-led and student-managed, adding that Binghamton at no time has offered a “Stop White People” class as part of any school curriculum.


Quotes Sen. Lindsey Graham as saying President Trump “probably knows more about medicine and specifically viruses than any of the so-called scientists at the NIH and CDC.”

Explanation: Sen. Lindsey Graham didn’t say that President Trump probably knows more about medicine and viruses than medical professionals. The quote was fabricated by a Twitter account that has posted fake statements in the past.

Fake news, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,

A popular tweet alleges that Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested President Donald Trump "probably" knows more about medicine and viruses than the NIH and the CDC. The tweet, which has been deleted, is circulating on other social media platforms and reads: "CAPITOL HILL: @LindseyGrahamSC says @realDonaldTrump "probably knows more about medicine and specifically viruses than any of the so-called scientists at the NIH and CDC. If anyone is going to eradicate this plague it'll be the president." The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) This is not a genuine quote by Graham. No credible news reports have published the statement, and we couldn’t find it on any of the senator’ s social media pages. Graham released a statement on Feb. 26 praising Trump’s response to the current coronavirus outbreak, but he doesn’t suggest in that statement that he believes Trump knows more about the virus than medical professionals. We reached out to Graham’s office for comment but did not hear back in time of publication. The person who tweeted the made-up quote, Dan Lyons, describes himself on his Twitter account as an "inventor of fake news." But this context is lost on people who viewed the tweet on other platforms and those who didn’t visit his profile. !


Government officials in Thailand have warned that an unidentified militant group contaminated canned foods with HIV.

Explanation: Thai Government Warns of HIV in Canned Foods

Rumors about canned food contaminated with HIV in Thailand were debunked years ago, but they went viral again on social media as 2016 came to a close. It’s not clear where, exactly, rumors about canned foods contaminated with HIV came from, but they spread quickly across social media. A post that was widely circulated on Twitter warned: Radio 1 FM announced that Thai govt confirmed: Emergency notification: Do NOT eat canned food especially those canned fruits manufactured in Thailand. There were 200 over HIV carriers instructed by their leader to contaminate the products of the canned food factory with their blood. The information was confirmed by the government this morning. In order not to let the people get infected after eating, many types of canned food such as loggan, lychee, rambutan and mango putting had been removed from the shelves of supermarkets. Please send GC to people you care. Prevention is better than cure! Please don’t take canned food from Thailand. We couldn’t find any credible reports of canned food contaminated with HIV. In fact, we found a press release issued by the Royal Thai Embassy in October 2014 that specifically debunked the warning: Related to the recent spread of rumours circulated via text messages alerting recipients that canned food, particularly canned fruits, manufactured in Thailand were contaminated with HIV virus. The Embassy wishes to inform that the circulated message is a hoax with no credible evidences to support such accusation. Related Thai agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Food and Drug Administration of Thailand, had announced that Thai canned products have been thoroughly inspected and are certified according to international standards (GMP and HACCP) before the products could be shipped out. In fact, the heat treatment during the processing method will eliminate all harmful microbes and other viruses that may existed. Moreover, HIV virus needs a human host cell to live and it does not live long outside the human body. Therefore, it is not possible that canned products are contaminated with HIV as claimed. In a separate statement, Mr. Roy Sparringa, head of Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) also said that ‘the message is not true, have long been circulated, and misleading’ and confirmed that BPOM has never found the said contamination. The message may aims to discredit the Thai food exporter and Thai canned fruits industry. Similar messages were also circulated in Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia in 2013. Warnings about food contaminated with HIV aren’t necessarily new, either. We previously investigated false reports that blood oranges from Libya had been injected with HIV infected blood and that bananas purchased at Walmart stores had been tainted with HIV infected blood. These warnings appear to prey on people’s fear of contracting HIV. However, it would be nearly impossible to contract HIV from blood injected into a fruit because the virus depends on a human host for survival, the non-profit group Aid for AIDs reports: “HIV is a very fragile virus outside of the body. The HIV virus needs the human body as its host. The life span of HIV outside of the body has not been determined. However, we know that HIV needs its host cell (a human), the body temperature, and the chemistry of the blood to survive. Out of the body, HIV is out of its environment. As the blood dries, the HIV will die. In areas like a syringe or on a razor in a medicine cabinet, HIV would probably live longer because of less airflow and it’s a more moist temperature controlled area. “Just remember, outside of the body HIV can’t survive. In minutes it will die and be harmless, but Universal Precautions should always be used.” All of these warnings about HIV-infected blood in foods are baseless and should be ignored. Comments


Abortion, Children, Sexuality, Texas, American Life League,

Think twice about buying Girl Scout cookies, a national group urges, because participating girls are taught to admire "pro-abortion women." A reader told us she fielded a Feb. 4, 2014, email blast with that message signed by Judie Brown, president of the Virginia-based American Life League. One of the blast’s claims: The Girl Scouts of the USA "curriculum now promotes Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, Betty Friedan, founder of NARAL Prochoice, and other pro-abortion women as icons for our children to emulate." According to a biographical sketch posted online by Harvard University, Sanger was a nurse and lecturer who opened the country’s first birth-control clinic and later founded the American Birth Control League (which was renamed the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942). Friedan, according to another Harvard web page, famously authored "The Feminine Mystique," published in 1963, which "fueled the controversy over women's proper place in society and had a dramatic impact on women in the United States and abroad. Friedan quickly became the leading advocate for change in the status of women." In 1966, Friedan helped found the National Organization for Women (NOW), a civil rights organization for women, serving as its first president, according to the web page, and later was vice president of the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws and also on a Girl Scouts USA board. By telephone and email, Paul Rondeau, the league’s executive director, credited a former Girl Scouts troop leader, Christy Volanski, with the research behind the claim. The league calls itself the largest grass-roots Catholic pro-life organization in the nation. Let’s take the Girl Scouts’ "promotion" of Sanger and Friedan one by one. Margaret Sanger Rondeau told us that after the group sent its email blast, Volanski made it clear that the Girl Scouts’ "promotion" of Sanger was not directly in the scouts’ curriculum; instead, that occurred via social media. Volanski, of Spring, Texas, guided us to the Pinterest page for Girl Scout Cadettes, meaning scouts in grades six through eight, includes a link to a May 17, 2013, entry on"The Eloquent Woman" blog created by Denise Graveline, a public speaking coach and communications consultant based in Washington, D.C. The blog entry lists 13 speeches on human rights by women including Sojourner Truth, Clara Barton, Margaret Chase Smith, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Gaga, Betty Friedan and Sally Field. The Sanger entry says: "Women's rights to birth control were Margaret Sanger's campaign in the 1920s, and for her efforts to speak out on this issue, she was arrested and ignored and fought. Her focus was the children born ‘unwelcome, unwanted, unprepared for, unknown,’ a stirring bit of alliteration." That entry links to another web page describing and excerpting a speech by Sanger in 1925 on the results of overpopulation and a lack of birth-control options. A web link leads to the full March 30, 1925, speech, posted on an Iowa State University website, in which Sanger argued for women to be free from "enforced, enslaved maternity. There can be no hope for the future of civilization, no certainty of racial salvation," she said, "until every woman can decide for herself whether she will or will not become a mother, and when and how many children she cares to bring into the world." We saw no mention of abortion on the Sanger web pages. Betty Friedan Friedan appears in the Girl Scouts’ curriculum, Volanski told us, as one of the exemplary women described in bottom-of-the-page blurbs in "Your Voice, Your World, The Power of Advocacy," a 2008 guide for older scouts interested in learning about how to make a case for change. The guide, which we obtained from Austin-based Girl Scouts of Central Texas, has more than 50 of the "Voices for Good" blurbs, each one about specific women and their actions/achievements in the years from 1792 through 2007. Two blurbs mention Friedan, neither one touching on abortion or her involvement in starting the abortion rights action league. In 1963, the guide says, Friedan published "The Feminine Mystique," "attacking the belief that homemaking and childbearing are the only ways for women to find satisfaction in their lives. She postulates that a system requiring women to find their identity solely as wives and mothers stunts them. The book galvanizes the women’s movement." In 1966, the guide says, Friedan and Pauli Murray, the first black woman Episcopal priest, wrote the mission statement for the National Organization for Women, with a declared purpose of women gaining full participation in American society in "true equal partnership with men." Today, the guide says, the group’s priorities include an end to violence against women. Other women described in the blurbs include prominent figures in the Democratic Party, which has championed abortion rights. The women include Texan Barbara Jordan, the first woman to keynote the Democrats’ national convention; Geraldine Ferrraro, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee; Hillary Clinton, singled out for seeking health care reform in 1993; and Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress. Other women blurbed in the guide include Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court; Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979; civil rights icon Rosa Parks; Eleanor Roosevelt; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a union organizer who helped launch the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920; and Dolores Huerta, co-founder in 1962 of what became the United Farm Workers and an organizer for women’s equality and other causes. We spotted no mentions of abortion or birth control in the 103-page guide. By phone, we asked Volanski if the women touted in the guide represent a mix of Americans. "They do have a couple of conservative ladies in there," Volanski said, mentioning Mother Teresa. "I’d say it’s wide-ranging," she said, yet more of the chosen women are "left-leaning," making the mix unbalanced, she said. Girls Scouts respond On a "What We Stand For" web page, the Girl Scouts of the USA says: "The Girl Scout organization does not take a position on abortion or birth control. We believe this is a private matter for girls and their families." By phone, Kelly Parisi, spokeswoman for the New York-based Girl Scouts, said the scouts’ curriculum does not depict Sanger, Friedan and other women as pro-abortion icons. Parisi noted that the entry on the Pinterest page created for scout Cadettes points to a web page listing speeches by 13 women; that is, it doesn’t promote Sanger alone. Also, Parisi said, the Friedan blurbs in the scouts’ guide state only that she wrote her book and helped found NOW, Parisi said, not delving into her position on abortion access. "You cannot talk about women’s history in this country without mentioning Betty Friedan," Parisi said. Asked about Volanski’s suggestion that the mix of listed advocates is unbalanced, Parisi replied: "We’re not trying to be balanced because we’re not trying to promote a political agenda. We don’t vet these women based on their political beliefs." "We are a nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization," Parisi said. Rondeau, by email, said our sampling of the blurbs in the guide (which we’d shared with him) demonstrates its pro-abortion slant in that all but two of the women whose blurbs we noted had shown such a lean, while only Mother Teresa clearly believed otherwise. "The pattern seems quite clear," Rondeau wrote. Our ruling The league said Girl Scouts USA’s curriculum "promotes Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, Betty Friedan, founder of NARAL Prochoice, and other pro-abortion women as icons for our children to emulate." A Girl Scouts’ Pinterest page--not the scouts’ curriculum--leads to a blog post highlighting speeches by 13 women, including one by Sanger. The scouts' advocacy guide, part of the organization’s curriculum, features two blurbs on Friedan and also thumbnails other women who have advocated abortion rights. However, none of the guide's 50-some biographical blurbs mentions any woman's activism per abortion as a reason for singling her out. Abortion is not mentioned elsewhere in the guide, either. We find no factual reason to conclude that the scouts are teaching girls in this vein. We rate this claim as .


Reports of e-cigarette injury jump amid rising popularity, U.S. data show.

Explanation: Complaints of injury linked to e-cigarettes, from burns and nicotine toxicity to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, have jumped over the past year as the devices become more popular, the most recent U.S. data show.

Between March 2013 and March 2014, more than 50 complaints about e-cigarettes were filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to data obtained through a public records request. That is on par with the combined number reported over the previous five years. The health problems were not necessarily caused by e-cigarettes. And it is not clear that the rate of adverse events has increased. In 2011, about 21 percent of adult smokers had used e-cigarettes, according to federal data, more than double the rate in 2010. Still, David Ashley, director of the office of science at the FDA’s tobacco division, said the uptick is significant, especially in light of a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing an increase in the number of e-cigarette-related calls to poison control centers. “Both together does suggest there are more instances going on,” he said. The FDA is poised to regulate e-cigarettes and other “vaping” devices for the first time, potentially reshaping an industry that generates roughly $2 billion a year in the United States. Some industry analysts see e-vapor consumption outpacing that of traditional cigarettes, now an $85 billion industry, within a decade. E-cigarettes are battery-powered cartridges filled with a nicotine liquid that, when heated, creates an inhalable mist. Little is known about the long-term health effects of the products, which were developed in China and moved into the U.S. market in 2007. “Some evidence suggests that e-cigarette use may facilitate smoking cessation, but definitive data are lacking,” Dr. Priscilla Callahan-Lyon of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products wrote in a recent medical journal article. Contradictory findings from preliminary studies have become ammunition in the lobbying campaign around the devices, which allow users to inhale nicotine without the damaging tar produced by conventional cigarettes. Public health officials have said the devices may encourage  nonsmokers, particularly young people, to try conventional cigarettes. E-cigarette advocates have argued that they provide a safer alternative for smokers. The FDA has sponsored research to try to answer safety questions, and it is examining its database of adverse events for any trends that might raise concerns. The complaints from the public filed with the FDA cited trouble breathing, headache, cough, dizziness, sore throat, nose bleeds, chest pain or other cardiovascular problems, and allergic reactions such as itchiness and swelling of the lips. One person told the FDA that while eating dinner at a restaurant a customer at the next table was smoking an e-cigarette. “The vapor cloud was big enough to come over my table and the e-cig smoker was ‘huffing’ it voraciously,” the person, whose name was redacted, wrote. “I got dizzy, my eyes began to water and I ended up taking my food to go because of the intense heartbeat I began to develop.”  One woman wrote that her husband began smoking e-cigarettes liberally in his car and home after being told they were safe and that the vapor was “just like water.”  “My 4-year-old has had a raspy voice since he started but I really didn’t think anything of it till last night my husband was just puffing away on that thing for hours and I woke up wheezing and unable to breathe.”  Miguel Martin, president of Logic Technology, one of the biggest U.S. e-cigarette makers along with Lorillard Inc and privately held NJOY, said the spike in adverse event reports reinforces the importance of regulation, especially in areas governing manufacturing practices and labeling, where standards can vary dramatically. “Clearly, because of the business opportunities, you have companies in an unregulated environment that are importing without checks and balances,” he said, adding that while Logic pays attention to quality control, “some other companies just are not having the same diligence or focus.”  Most e-cigarettes are made in China and sold under more than 300 brands in the United States, some through retail stores, others online. The quality of the products is inconsistent, however, making it difficult to tease out the cause of any health problems. One smoker began using e-cigarettes following dental surgery after the dentist said quitting smoking would speed the healing process, according to a report filed last October with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that was forwarded to the  “It blew up in my mouth while inhaling, burning my stitches and gum, lip and fingers,” the report said. Others complained of over-heating devices. “The electric cigarette gets hot when you use it and alters the taste buds,” wrote one consumer. “I just recently realized what was turning my taste buds black.”  It is not possible to draw general conclusions from individual case reports, but there is a growing recognition that the inconsistent quality of the devices, aside from any risk inherent in the inhalation of nicotine vapor, poses potential safety risks. In a bid to address quality concerns, some e-cigarette makers are beginning to make them, either partially or wholly, in the United States. Reynolds American Inc, which began selling its Vuse e-cigarettes in Colorado last July and expects to expand nationwide this summer, makes its products in Kansas and North Carolina, though it still imports its batteries from China. The reason, Richard Smith, a Reynolds spokesman said, is that inconsistent quality is turning off potential customers. “There has been a high level of trial among adult consumers but a low level of adoption,” he said. While the cost may be higher than sourcing ready-made products from China, the pay-off, Reynolds is betting, will be customer loyalty. If a quality problem arises during the manufacturing process, Smith said, “we can identify and fix it.”


UK pushes for more ventilators, hospital beds as coronavirus cases mount.

Explanation: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told British manufacturers to boost production of ventilators and ordered private hospitals to prepare for an overspill of patients from the public health service ahead of an expected surge of coronavirus cases.

Johnson was due to speak to manufacturers on Monday and the government had already asked engineers to find ways to quickly produce more ventilators in Britain which the government would buy, the prime minister’s office said. Germany and Italy have scrambled to get more ventilators and manufacturers warned on Friday that hospitals everywhere faced a lack of vital equipment needed to treat coronavirus patients. The government was also negotiating with private healthcare providers about paying for thousands of beds in private hospitals, to be brought into use if coronavirus spreads rapidly in Britain. “The public are right to be proud of the NHS, but the scale of the challenge we face means we can’t do this alone,” the head of Britain’s National Health Service, Simon Stevens, said in a statement issued by Downing Street. All hospitals would be given instructions on Monday to help them to prepare, he said. Britain has so far had fewer confirmed cases of coronavirus than other countries in Europe such as Italy, Spain and France but the death toll almost doubled to 21 on Saturday. A British government source said the government would ban mass gatherings from next week in an attempt to curb the coronavirus outbreak, an escalation of its crisis plan that critics have said was too relaxed.


Explanation: The US Food and Drug Administration just approved a new drug to treat psoriasis, a common skin condition that can form thick, silvery scales and itchy, dry, red patches. Siliq (brodalumab) is mainly intended for patients who don’t respond to other forms of treatment, like anti-inflammatory topical medications and light therapies. The “last resort” recommendation may be due to the four completed suicides that took place during the clinical trial, leading the FDA to believe that Siliq may be correlated to an increased risk of suicidal ideation and behavior — especially in patients with a history of depression. As a result, the FDA is requiring Siliq to be sold with a “boxed warning” (the strictest warning put in the labeling of prescription drugs) and only through a restricted program. The FDA news release devotes a significant chunk to the drug’s potential harms and makes clear who should or shouldn’t be taking Siliq. What’s mainly missing from the release are any numbers to give a sense of the scope of potential benefits and harms. Regarding the drug’s potential benefits, the release uses only vague, comparative wording (“more patients… had skin that was clear or almost clear.”). We don’t know how the participants were selected, how long they were followed up and how their improvement was assessed. Furthermore, a clinical trial was stopped for a period of time due to safety concerns, which was then continued by another drug manufacturer. Although not explicitly stated, it is fair to assume that drug manufacturers also funded these clinical trials. These are study limitations that were never disclosed by the news release. We did find a 90-page FDA briefing document online from 2016, which includes some efficacy data. Curiously, this document mentions five clinical trials instead of three. We’re not sure why the FDA release didn’t include the two other clinical trials that compared Siliq (brodalumab) to ustekinumab. We also reviewed TIME.com’s coverage of this new drug. Specialty drugs treating skin conditions like psoriasis can be expensive. The main competitors to Valeant’s Siliq may be Novartis’ Cosentyx and Eli Lilly’s Taltz — both of which cost at least $16,600 for one dose. Although some of this could be covered by insurance, patients could still be responsible for co-pays, which could amount to thousands of dollars. In addition, if patients have exhausted all existing treatment options and are desperate to clear up their psoriasis, they may be willing to try riskier therapies. If there is a new alternative that is FDA-approved and cost-effective, then it certainly deserves to be reported — as in this case, with strong caveats.

The FDA evaluates drugs without considering costs, which is why they are not discussed in this news release. We rate this one Not Applicable. However, it looks like Siliq will end up being an expensive drug. Its main competitors could be Novartis’ Cosentyx and Eli Lilly’s Taltz — both of which cost thousands of dollars for a dose. A half dose of Cosentyx sells for over $8,300, while a half dose of Taltz costs over $13,600. Each drug then follows a different dosage pattern. If companies can talk about a drug’s benefits, then it’s not too early to discuss what it may cost. We hope the FDA could one day also comment on the projected cost of a drug and its cost-effectiveness. The news release does not give any numbers to describe the magnitude of benefit shown in the three clinical trials. All we know is that “more patients treated with Siliq compared to placebo had skin that was clear or almost clear.” But how many more patients and by how much? And how was this exactly assessed? The news release vaguely mentions a scoring system that looked at the “extent, nature and severity of psoriatic changes of the skin” without elaborating any further. In a 2016 FDA briefing document online, there is some data related to the drug’s effectiveness, but the number of analyzed subjects falls short of the total 4,373 trial participants cited in the news release. Without any numbers describing the benefit, we have no idea how effective Siliq really is, which is why we give the news release a Not Satisfactory rating here. We could have rated this release unsatisfactory on this criterion, since no numbers are given about the extent of the problems found in the trials. But we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt because of the extent of discussion on potential harms – despite the absence of numbers. The release mentions that completed suicides occurred in patients treated with Siliq during clinical trials, which is why the drug’s label will include a boxed warning. Although the release states cause and effect hasn’t been established, some patients — especially those with a history of depression — seemed to show an increased risk for suicidal ideation and behavior. The release uses language that may confuse readers about harms. In one place it says “A causal association between treatment with Siliq and increased risk of suicidal ideation and behavior has not been established” and in the next sentence claims that “Because of the observed risk of suicidal ideation and behavior, the labeling for Siliq includes a Black Boxed warning….” Patients may also experience more infections, or allergic/autoimmune conditions, as Siliq targets the immune system. Other side effects associated with the drug include joint pain, headache, fatigue, diarrhea, throat pain, nausea, muscle pain, injection site reactions, influenza, low blood cell count and fungal infections, the news release adds. Although we would have liked to have seen some numbers indicating how often these side effects occurred, and clarity about whether or not they were observed, we believe the news release does an adequate job addressing harms, as a significant chunk is devoted to this issue. This is why we give it a Satisfactory rating here. There is too little discussion on the trials to assess the quality of evidence in the news release. We only know that there were “three randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials with a total of 4,373 study participants with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.” We don’t know who these participants were, how they were selected, how they were assessed for benefits and side effects, and long they were followed up. We wish the FDA would point us to any published studies that were referenced in the approval process. According to the 2016 FDA briefing document online (page 71, fourth paragraph), clinical trials were abruptly stopped by the then drug manufacturer Amgen in May 2015, which meant participants did not take the drug past late June 2015. Studies resumed after AstraZeneca subsequently took over the drug’s development. The reason for it being stopped was due to the four completed suicides that took place during the clinical trial. In addition, the FDA describes 11 individual suicide behavior and ideation events, and three deaths from unknown cause from October 8, 2010 through February 3, 2014. These participants were found to be on an active drug product and not on placebo (2016 FDA briefing document, page 18). Curiously, the FDA briefing document mentions that five clinical trials took place altogether. Three compared Siliq to placebo, while the remaining two looked at Siliq compared to Ustekinumab (sold under the brand name Stelara). Since many of these details were omitted, we give the news release a Not Satisfactory rating here. There is no disease mongering in this news release. It provides some good, concise context on the skin condition and its symptoms. The news release does not disclose funding sources for the clinical trials. A 2016 FDA briefing document online (page 6, second paragraph) implies that the drug company funded the clinical trials to support its application for FDA approval. Since none of this is mentioned, we give the news release a Not Satisfactory rating. Since Siliq is recommended as a last resort drug of sorts, the news release hints there are other alternatives available. These include other topical treatments like anti-inflammatory drugs, light therapy and oral/injected medications, such as immunosuppressants. Although we would have liked more elaboration on other treatment options, we feel the news release did just enough for a Satisfactory rating here. Since Siliq is a new psoriasis drug that just received FDA approval, it is clear that it is now coming onto the market. The news release states the drug will only be available through a restricted program called the Siliq Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy. The release then lists the requirements of the program, which include patient counseling, signing of a patient-prescriber agreement form and pharmacy certification. We feel this is good enough for a Satisfactory rating here. The news release makes it clear that this is a drug for patients who have not responded to other established methods of therapy. A FDA director comments that Siliq provides psoriasis patients with “another treatment option.” We feel this is good enough for a Satisfactory rating. The news release does not include unjustifiable, sensational language.


Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose. Some Covid-19 patients do get pneumonia, and one of the symptoms is a dry cough. A runny nose doesn’t rule out Covid-19. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun. There’s no evidence for this. There’s evidence that similar viruses transmit less well in the heat, but many countries with reported Covid-19 cases are experiencing temperatures higher than this. If someone with the new coronavirus sneezes, it travels about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne How far the droplets spread from a sneeze depends on environmental factors, but it is likely to be several metres. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours - so if you come into contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap. We don’t know how long the virus survives on surfaces yet—it may be between hours and days. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it. There’s no evidence yet that the virus can survive in clothing and be transmitted this way. Any soiled clothing should be thoroughly washed. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice. There’s no evidence that the temperature of liquids consumed can either protect you from or cure diseases caused by viruses. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes. We don’t know how long the virus can last on the skin, especially not down to the minute. But you should regularly wash your hands. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice. There’s no evidence that this works as a preventative or a cure for the virus. The symptoms of Covid-19 are that it first infects the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3 or 4 days. The virus then blends into nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs causing pneumonia. This takes about 5 or 6 days. With pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty breathing This is a roughly accurate description of the most common symptoms, although not everyone with Covid-19 gets pneumonia, and the symptoms may not come in this exact order or at these times. Claim 1 of 10


A meme showing a mug shot of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz suggests that the congressman has had “seven DUIs” and is responsible for the “suspicious” death of his college roommate.

Explanation: What's true: The image used in the meme is a genuine mugshot from Matt Gaetz’s October 2008 DUI arrest (but he was never convicted in connection with that arrest). What's false: Claims of “seven DUIs” and a “suspicious” college roommate death have their origin in a post by conspiracy theorist Wayne Madsen and remain wholly unverified.

Memes peddling false political claims often work best when they sprinkle a pinch of fact into their misinformation stew. That appears to be the strategy employed in memes making use of U.S. congressman Matt Gaetz’s mug shot from a 2008 DUI arrest:  The fact blended into these memes’ fictions is that a mug shot stemming from Gaetz’s arrest for driving under the influence is real, as has been acknowledged by the congressman himself and was reported by the Tampa Bay Times in 2014: It was the night before Halloween in 2008 when Gaetz, then 26, drove back from the Swamp, a nightclub on Okaloosa Island. He drove a 2001 BMW SUV registered to his state senator dad. Near midnight, Okaloosa County Deputy Chris Anglin clocked Gaetz going 48 in a 35 mph zone. Anglin later reported that Gaetz fumbled for his license and registration, his eyes were watery and bloodshot, and he swayed and staggered when he got out of the car. Smelling alcohol, Anglin asked Gaetz if he had been drinking. Gaetz replied no. Minutes later, he admitted he had consumed two beers. Twice, Anglin conducted an eye test. Twice, Gaetz’s eyes didn’t follow the prompt. Gaetz, who had recently begun practicing law, declined any field sobriety tests. He was arrested and refused the breath test. A controversy ensued when charges against Gaetz, whose father was a member of the Florida State Senate at the time, were dropped and his license was reinstated. This occurred despite a Florida law requiring a year-long suspension for refusing to take a breathalyzer test. According to the Tampa Bay Times, “A field officer for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles declared there was no evidence that Gaetz refused a breath test. Yet the refusal was clearly documented in [the arresting officer’s] affidavit and arrest report.” The arresting officer, Okaloosa County Deputy Chris Anglin, resigned a month after the Gaetz arrest under pressure from his superiors, who cited disciplinary issues. The question of whether Gaetz’s father’s political connections played an improper role in these outcomes has dogged Gaetz for years. Gaetz, for his part, has dismissed such allegations as “tabloid journalism.” In terms of what is accessible via public records, the 2008 arrest is Gaetz’s only recorded DUI. Despite that, several memes and articles make the claim that Gaetz has had at least seven DUI arrests. The earliest iteration of this claim appears to stem from an August 29, 2016, post written by conspiracy theorist Wayne Madsen, who stated: “Matt Gaetz, currently a member of the Florida House of Representatives, portrays himself to the Bible-thumping voters of the Panhandle as a God-fearing conservative. However, even a partial glance at Gaetz’s record reveals at least seven arrests for drunk driving and a reputed alternate gay life style. Gaetz’s politically powerful father Don ensured that none of the arrests led to prosecutions.” Madsen provided no hint as to the location or nature of these purported records. We reached out to Madsen via his website to ask if he could provide any documentary evidence for these claims but did not receive a response. A criminal record produced by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, whom we queried on July 3, 2019, showed only one DUI arrest, but such a report would not include offenses from other states:  Public records searches performed by Snopes in other jurisdictions did not turn up any additional DUI arrests. Another bit of a fact sprinkled into this claim is that Gaetz does have a prolific record of traffic violations. A 2014 investigation conducted by northern Florida newspaper TCPalm tracked the driving records of hundreds of Florida state politicians. Matt Gaetz, with 16 speeding tickets between 1999 and 2014, was among the most frequently cited lawmakers. Mentions of a “suspicious” death of Gaetz’s roommate during his four years at Florida State University between 1999 and 2003, like the claims of seven DUIs, did not exist online prior to Madsen’s August 2016 piece, in which he stated: What would be Panhandle politics without a dead body? Gaetz’s roommate at Florida State University was reportedly found dead under suspicious circumstances while they were undergraduate students. … Sources close to the investigation of the death, however, told [Wayne Madsen Reports] that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the death as a possible homicide but the agency was later politically-pressured to rule it a suicide. Madsen being the only source for this claim merits suspicion on its own: He has a history of making wholly baseless claims without evidence. A prominent proponent of the claim that former President Obama is not a U.S. citizen, he has, for example, falsely claimed that Barack Obama had “homosexual trysts” with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Senate majority leader Bill Frist (among others), and Madsen is the author of a self-published book asserting that Obama’s rise to the White House was engineered by the CIA. Not only is the suspicious “roommate death” claim flawed, but further doubt is cast on its veracity by the fact that we have been unable to identify any contemporaneous press accounts of suspicious deaths of a Florida State University student who could possibly have been a Gaetz roommate between 1999 and 2003. Though an administrator at Florida State University confirmed to us that roughly 30 students with expected graduations between 1999 and 2003 passed away during that time period, we found nothing publicly suggesting a Gaetz link to any case that received press coverage. As such, we consider the claim without merit. While the mug shot and 2008 DUI arrest are true, additional elements of this brand of Matt Gaetz meme appears to be sourced solely from the imagination of a conspiracy theorist.


A 26-year-old man named Alex Smith of Minneapolis died because he had aged out of his mother's health insurance and couldn't afford insulin.

Explanation: In November 2017, we confirmed the similar case of Shane Patrick Boyle, an uninsured type 1 diabetic who died of ketoacidosis shortly after starting a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise enough money for a one-month supply of insulin.

Politics, big pharma, diabetes, health insurance

An Associated Press analysis published in late September 2018 warned that prescription drug prices in the United States were still rising precipitously despite President Trump’s vow to reduce them. During the first seven months of the year, the report said, prescription drug prices saw 96 increases for every cut. The human cost of runaway prescription drugs prices was dramatically illustrated in a meme shared on the Occupy Democrats Facebook page on 18 September:  This is Alex Smith. He died this year at age 26 because he couldn’t afford insulin in America. He made $35,000 a year as a restaurant manager, and couldn’t afford his $450 a month health insurance with a $7,600 out-of-pocket deductible. The insulin he needed for diabetes was $1,300 a month. When he turned 26 and was kicked off his mom’s insurance, he started rationing his life-saving insulin. He died a month later. The text is mostly accurate, although it has Smith’s given name wrong (it was Alec, not Alex), and he died in 2017, not “this year” as claimed in the 2018 meme. According to local news reports, Alec Raeshawn Smith’s lifeless body was found in his apartment on 27 June 2017, 27 days after his coverage under his mother’s health insurance policy had lapsed due to his age. The cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication of diabetes that occurs when the body produces excess blood acids (called ketones) because it lacks enough insulin. In a piece contributed to Truthout.org in February 2018, Smith’s mother, Nicole Smith-Holt, wrote that even though Alec had a full-time job, it did not come with employer-provided health coverage: For Alec, this meant that his insulin and supplies cost almost $1,300 a month. He and I together researched for months in advance about his health insurance options. They weren’t good. The best plan we found would cost him $450 a month for the premium with a whopping $7,600 deductible. That deductible meant he would be paying out-of-pocket for his medicine for many months anyway, so he decided to go without the plan until he could find a different job with benefits. The prohibitive cost drove Smith to ration his insulin use to try to make his supply stretch to the next payday. “I have since learned that this is not uncommon,” Smith-Holt wrote, and is indicative of a worsening health care crisis: Globally, half of the people who need insulin can’t reliably get access to it. With 6 million people in the US insulin-dependent, and nearly 40 percent of Americans uninsured or facing high deductibles that leave their medicine costs uncovered, the crisis is occurring right here, too. Endocrinologists here in the US report that as many as one in five of their patients are not able to afford their insulin. For many persons with diabetes, that means they land in the emergency room with diabetic ketoacidosis. For others, like Alec, they never get there. Just 27 days after his coverage under my insurance ended, I received the call no parent ever wants to get. The American Diabetes Association released a report in March 2018 estimating that the total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the United States had risen 26 percent in the previous five years: People with diagnosed diabetes incur average medical expenditures of $16,752 per year, of which about $9,601 is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes…. People with diabetes who do not have health insurance have 60% fewer physician office visits and are prescribed 52% fewer medications than people with insurance coverage — but they also have 168% more emergency department visits than people who have insurance.


UN health revises advice for 3 infections transmitted by sex.

Explanation: The U.N health agency says three common infections transmitted by sex are increasingly resisting antibiotics, and is calling on doctors and patients to make sure the right drugs and doses are used.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday updated its treatment guidelines for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which together infect more than 200 million people every year. It’s the first such WHO update since 2003, partly due to low past budgets and priority levels, and growing scientific data. Medical officer Teodora Wi called gonorrhea a “very smart bug” that repeatedly adapts to new antibiotics. It can infect the genitals, rectum, and throat. Chlamydia can cause ailments like burning sensations while urinating. WHO says mother-to-child transmission of syphilis resulted in over 200,000 early fetal deaths, stillbirths or neo-natal deaths in 2012.