A quiet first night for fact-checkers. Only a few quibbles, including on the minimum wage, mail-in voting and Social Security payments.
Democratic Convention Opening Night
Mailbag: Our Headline on U.S. Postal Service Story
Numerous readers in recent days sent us emails questioning why we have not changed the headline on our June 26 story, “Biden Floats Baseless Election Conspiracy.”
Biden’s Greatest Hits
A compendium of the top false and misleading claims by the Democratic presidential candidate.
Viral Chart Distorts Human Trafficking Statistics
A popular bar graph on social media claims to show that the number of human trafficking arrests skyrocketed under President Donald Trump, compared to those under former President Barack Obama. But the chart misleads by using cherry-picked and, in some cases, faulty numbers.
Trump Campaign Exaggerates Potential for Mail-In Voting Fraud After Election
The Trump campaign claims there’s a potential for “massive fraud” in Nevada because the Postal Service doesn’t postmark the state’s prepaid return ballot envelopes. That’s false. USPS policy is to postmark all ballots.
Harris Hasn’t Called Biden a ‘Racist’ or a ‘Rapist’
Contrary to claims in viral internet posts, Sen. Kamala Harris did not call former Vice President Joe Biden a “racist” or a “rapist.” Rather, she has been critical of Biden’s position on busing to integrate schools and comments he made about segregationist senators, and she has said that she believed women who accused Biden of making them feel uncomfortable.
Mailbag: COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution
A reader sent us a comment about our article on distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The article reviewed the Trump administration’s distribution plans.
Trump Proves Biden Right on USPS Funding, Mail-In Ballots
In late June, Joe Biden claimed President Donald Trump “wants to cut off money for the post office so they cannot deliver mail-in ballots.” At the time, we wrote that Biden had no evidence of Trump’s ulterior motive — but now he does.
Facebook Post Makes Baseless Claim About Bill Gates’ Family Ties
A Facebook post makes the baseless claim that Bill Gates’ mother was related to Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The post also shows an image of a young man who is misidentified as Gates.
Face Masks Don’t Cause Legionnaires’ Disease
A viral social media post is spreading the falsehood that wearing a face mask to slow the spread of COVID-19 could cause Legionnaires’ disease. But Legionnaires’ disease is caused by bacteria that festers mostly in warm, standing water, not in human saliva.