chengxuphd/liar2 huggingface dataset:
Statement: We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers.
Speaker: lamar smith
About the speaker: Lamar Smith is a Republican congressman from a San Antonio-based district in Texas. He became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in January 2011.
Date: July 1, 2010
Location: texas
Topics: immigration
Context: a floor speech
Fact-check justification: Where does all this leave us? Smith offered no studies backing up his statement, while we found two studies that found that employment would actually decline if undocumented workers were suddenly deported. Meantime, for various reasons experts across the spectrum said it's not believable that unemployment would halve should illegal workers vanish. Smith's simple logic is too simplistic. We rate his statement as .
Statement: The FBI is involved in an investigation about people in the Rio Grande Valley who are using cocaine to buy votes.
Speaker: greg abbott
About the speaker: Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.
Date: September 19, 2014
Location: texas
Topics: drugs;elections;crime
Context: the Rio Grande Valley
Fact-check justification: Abbott said the FBI is "involved in an investigation about people in the Rio Grande Valley who are using cocaine to buy votes." This statement referenced a cocaine-for-votes investigation resulting in several recent arrests. Given Abbott’s phrasing, though, it’s worth clarifying the alleged incidents occurred two years ago. Notably too, the investigation has yet to indicate anything about the voter ID law. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
Statement: Says a photo shows Hillary Clinton shaking hands with Osama bin Laden.
Speaker: viral image
About the speaker: Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
Date: June 3, 2016
Topics: terrorism;facebook fact-checks
Fact-check justification: As the BBC reported in October 2017, a Russian official was duped by the Photoshop job.   "Recall these fantastic, mind-boggling photographs of how Bin Laden was hosted in the White House," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova then said.   Of course, President George W. Bush was in the White House in 2004. Clinton was a senator .   We rate this Facebook post Pans on Fire!
Statement: Says Mary Taylor has a work schedule that is "almost untraceable.
Speaker: mike dewine
About the speaker: Mike DeWine, the Ohio attorney general, won the Republican primary for governor in May 2018 and is running in the general election in November. Previously he was one of Ohio's U.S. senator's, lieutenant governor and a member of the General Assembly.
Date: March 20, 2018
Location: ohio
Topics: candidate biography
Context: a TV ad
Fact-check justification: A TV ad by DeWine said that Taylor has a work schedule that "is almost untraceable." This attack refers to Taylor’s time as auditor, which ended when she became lieutenant governor in 2011. We were unable to find detailed records of her work schedule as auditor. By stating that her work schedule was "almost untraceable," the ad creates the impression that she was hardly ever at work, but the ad and the 2010 Plain Dealer article it draws from don’t prove that occurred. The ad omits Taylor’s explanation: that she worked out of a regional office close to her home. The ad also omits any information about where Taylor has worked in her current role. We were able to find her calendar while lieutenant governor by requesting it from her office. We rate this  .
Statement: Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the COVID vaccine in the United States … The actual number is almost certainly higher.
Speaker: tucker carlson
About the speaker: Tucker Carlson was a Fox News pundit until his departure in April 2023.
Date: May 5, 2021
Topics: public health;pundits;facebook fact-checks;punditfact;coronavirus
Context: a TV segment
Fact-check justification: Carlson said, "Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the COVID vaccine in the United States … The actual number is almost certainly higher." That’s highly . The source of Carlson’s numbers is the VAERS database, which is often exploited by anti-vaccine activists to make  vaccine claims. The CDC analyzed the VAERS death reports and concluded that there’s no "causal link to COVID-19 vaccines."  People can die after getting vaccinated for any number of reasons unrelated to the vaccine. We rate Carlson’s statement .
Statement: Says Mitt Romney "wants to end tax credits for wind producers.
Speaker: barack obama
About the speaker: Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
Date: August 9, 2012
Location: national
Topics: energy
Context: a campaign event
Fact-check justification: But the congressional analysts don’t say that extending it would necessarily lead to an upswing. They say that competition from cheap natural gas and a limited rise in the demand for power will tend to put a damper on the industry regardless of federal tax policy. Our Ruling Barack Obama said Mitt Romney plans to put an end to tax credits that benefit the wind power industry. Romney agrees. We rate the statement .
Statement: Governor (Perry), you were a Democrat, having worked for Al Gore as his campaign manager...
Speaker: debra medina
About the speaker: Debra Medina, a Wharton businesswoman, sought the 2010 GOP nomination for governor.
Date: January 14, 2010
Location: texas
Topics: elections
Context: Denton
Fact-check justification: But Medina correctly nudged Perry about his Democratic roots. And she was close to right about his Gore connection, though a visitor from another planet might read her statement to mean Perry was improbably Gore's national campaign manager. Instead, he was Gore's Texas chairman. We rate her statement . This rating was changed to  on Sept. 7, 2011.
Statement: America's tax code hasn't been updated in 30 years.
Speaker: paul ryan
About the speaker: U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.
Date: September 26, 2016
Location: wisconsin
Topics: taxes
Context: a tweet
Fact-check justification: But we didn’t hear back from either. Our rating Ryan said the tax code "hasn’t been updated in 30 years." The statement hinges on how a listener interprets the word "updated." While Ryan’s camp said he meant "reformed," the statement could just as easily be understood to mean tax law hasn’t been touched at all, when there have been around 40,000 pages worth of updates, many of which are commonly-used credits and deductions. For a statement that contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is .
Statement: In the late 1980s, the U.S. was nearly the lowest-taxed nation in the world, and a quarter century later we're nearly the highest.
Speaker: steve moore
About the speaker: Steve Moore is an editorial board member and senior economics writer at The Wall Street Journal.
Date: May 26, 2011
Location: national
Topics: history;taxes
Context: the Wall Street Journal
Fact-check justification: It clearly was. But Moore's main point, that taxes have gone up significantly since the late 1980s, is a stretch. To the contrary, we find convincing  that the U.S. today remains a relatively low-tax nation compared to its industrialized competitors. U.S. tax rates might go up over the next few years, but that's speculation, not established facts. On balance, we rate Moore's comment .
Statement: Says Joe Biden is "following through with a fracking ban.
Speaker: facebook posts
About the speaker: Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 
Date: January 25, 2021
Location: national
Topics: climate change;energy;facebook fact-checks
Context: an image
Fact-check justification: The Facebook post says Biden is "following through with a fracking ban." That’s not quite right. Biden has signed two executive orders related to land leases for oil and natural gas drilling. One order pauses new leases specifically in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while the other pauses new leases on all federal land. Neither ban existing fracking operations, and Biden has said repeatedly that he does not intend to do so. The Facebook post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it .
Statement: Most Americans are now getting their news from Facebook.
Speaker: rebecca kleefisch
About the speaker: Rebecca Kleefisch was the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 2011-19 under Gov. Scott Walker. She previously worked as a TV anchor and reporter, most recently with WISN-TV in Milwaukee. Kleefisch was defeated August 9, 2022 in her Republican primary bid for Republican nomination for governor.
 
Date: October 21, 2015
Location: wisconsin
Topics: economy;polls and public opinion;pop culture;technology
Context: a public forum
Fact-check justification:  . GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said the number of people who "believe in socialism ... is increasing."  . Conservative commentator Karl Rove said that at this point in 2012, "Rick Perry was ahead at 29.9 percent, and we had seven more leads before it finally settled on Mitt Romney."  .
Statement: Scientists struggle to understand why Antarctica hasn't warmed for over 70 years despite rise in CO2.
Speaker: instagram posts
About the speaker: Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.
Date: April 6, 2023
Topics: climate change;science;facebook fact-checks
Context: a post
Fact-check justification: An image on Instagram shared a headline that read, "Scientists struggle to understand why Antarctica hasn’t warmed for over 70 years despite rise in CO2." But the headline originated from a blog post that misleadingly characterized a study on the insulating properties of Antarctica’s high elevation and mountain ranges.  A co-author for the study said the abstract was used out of context, and the paper doesn’t rebut the idea of human-fueled climate change or show that the continent hasn’t warmed in the last 70 years.  We rate this  .
Statement: People are attaching HIV-infected needles to gas station pump handles.
Speaker: facebook posts
About the speaker: Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 
Date: June 4, 2019
Topics: fake news;public health;public safety;facebook fact-checks
Context: a Facebook post
Fact-check justification: An old hoax that has resurfaced on Facebook makes the  that people are attaching HIV-infected needles to gas pump handles. Besides one isolated case in 2017, we could find no reports of needles being discovered in gas station handles.   While it is not impossible for such a thing to take place, the suggestion that infected needles are being hidden in gas pump handles in any widespread manner is fear mongering and . We rate this post .
Statement: A German survey ranked Kyrie Irving as the "greatest threat to world peace" among world leaders.
Speaker: viral image
About the speaker: Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
Date: November 5, 2022
Topics: religion;sports;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus
Context: Instagram post
Fact-check justification: The graphic was altered so that Irving’s forward-facing photo appeared on top of Trump’s. According to German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, more than 2,000 Germans participated in the survey , which was commissioned by the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur in December 2019 . Participants in the survey said Trump was the "greatest threat to world peace," with 41% of the vote. The image was manipulated to deceive audiences. We rate this  !
Statement: We've got 40 years of study now that show that, with a good preschool start, you're less likely to be on public dole, you're less likely to be in prison.
Speaker: ken plum
About the speaker: Kenneth R. Plum, D-36th, has been a member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 1982 and served earlier from 1978 to 1980. His district contains a large part of Fairfax County, including Reston.
Plum is a mamber of the Rules, Science and Technology, and Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources committees. Plum has been the House Democratic Caucus chairman and the Democratic Party of Virginia chairman.
He was born in Shenandoah. Plum received a bachelor's degree from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, and a master's of education from the University of Virginia. He worked for almost three decades as a teacher, school administrator and director of adult and community education at Fairfax County Public Schools.
Date: March 12, 2015
Location: virginia
Topics: children;education;crime;welfare
Fact-check justification: Plum said, "We’ve got 40 years of study now that show that, with a good preschool start, you’re less likely to be on public dole. You’re less likely to be in prison." Three major studies on the issue vary in their results but provide a basis for Plum’s contention. Two of the three studies showed that preschool students were less likely to be incarcerated as adults than those who were not enrolled. All three studies suggested pre-K children were less likely to go on the public dole as adults, although the Ypsilanti study was more equivocal about that conclusion. The variations in the reports underscore that the linkage between pre-K and successful citizenship is not as ironclad as Plum suggests. Analysts debate whether the results from the three local programs studied would extend to other preschool initiatives across the county. With those clarifications in mind, we rate Plum’s  .
Statement: The facility (NextGen Precision Health Institute) construction alone will bring 3,400 jobs and $472 million in revenue to Missouri.
Speaker: mun choi
About the speaker: Mun Y. Choi was named the 24th president of the University of Missouri System in November 2016. He serves as the chief executive and academic officer of the system, which administers four universities, a health care system, an extension program, and 10 research and technology parks.
Date: February 25, 2020
Topics: education;jobs;technology
Context: an email update
Fact-check justification: Choi claimed the construction of the NextGen Health Institute alone "will bring in 3,400 jobs and $472 million in revenue to Missouri."  After some digging, we found these numbers were the result of a third-party foundation’s report and used in the university’s capital appropriations request to the state. The request stated the institute would create an estimated 3,287 jobs and have a total economic impact of about $468 million.  Because all figures regarding the economic impact of the NextGen Health Institute are estimates for the next 25 years and Choi’s numbers were very close, we rate this  .
Statement: Says Texas legislators in 2011 increased state spending on education.
Speaker: myra crownover
About the speaker: Myra Crownover, a former public schoolteacher, represents a Denton County district.
Date: January 30, 2012
Location: texas
Topics: education;state budget
Context: her campaign website
Fact-check justification: Crownover’s statement focuses on one stream of public school funding. But other legislative decisions resulted in funding reductions to Texas schools more than twice as great as her touted increase. Overall funding to the foundation program went down. So, lawmakers ultimately cut public school aid, with key leaders even acknowledging so as those decisions were sealed. To tell constituents otherwise is not only , it’s  and . !
Statement: Scott Walker cut school funding more per student than any governor in America.
Speaker: greater wisconsin committee
About the speaker: The Greater Wisconsin Committee is a liberal group active in Wisconsin state politics, from legislative races to statewide offices. It receives money from a variety of sources, including labor unions. Its campaign ads are typically done through the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund.
Date: August 28, 2014
Location: wisconsin
Topics: children;education;message machine 2014;state budget;states;taxes
Context: a TV ad
Fact-check justification: As for comparing states on school funding for the entirety of Walker’s term, those figures simply aren’t available yet. Our rating The Greater Wisconsin Committee said: "Scott Walker cut school funding more per student than any governor in America." Based on the latest census figures, for 2011-’12, the Wisconsin cuts were the largest based on two measures -- state revenue provided to local schools and overall spending by schools of state, federal and local money. But more recent figures indicate that Wisconsin’s school spending cuts are no longer the largest, at least for a more recent period. For a statement that is accurate but needs additional information, our rating is .
Statement: A man who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a horned fur cap is an "Antifa thug.
Speaker: facebook posts
About the speaker: Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 
Date: January 6, 2021
Location: national
Topics: elections;facebook fact-checks;jan. 6
Context: a Facebook post
Fact-check justification: A Facebook post said a man who was photographed storming the U.S. Capitol in a horned fur cap is an "Antifa thug." The man is a known QAnon supporter who has backed Trump. We rate this post ! RELATED:  A day of crisis at the US Capitol, fact-checked RELATED:  Is this a coup? Here’s some history and context to help you decide
Statement: Says Anthony Fauci's statement that the coronavirus death rate is 10 times that of the seasonal flu is "a claim without any scientific basis.
Speaker: ron paul
About the speaker: Ron Paul, a Texas physician, served two stints in the U.S. House. He also was the Libertarian Party nominee for president in 1988 before later seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012. He didn't seek re-election to the House in 2012.
Date: March 16, 2020
Location: texas
Topics: corrections and updates;public health;facebook fact-checks;punditfact;coronavirus
Context: an opinion article
Fact-check justification: Paul said that Anthony Fauci’s statement that the coronavirus death rate is 10 times that of the seasonal flu is "a  without any scientific basis." We won’t know for some time what the actual death rate is for people who contract the current coronavirus, COVID-19. But based on figures that are available, it’s indicated to be at least 10 times higher than the death rate from the flu. We rate Paul’s statement . Correction, March 24, 2020 : CDC estimates have indicated a COVID-19 death rate of 0.06%, not 0.0006%, as we originally reported. This fact-check has been updated with the correct figure.
Statement: Says Mitt Romney has put forward a plan "that would cut taxes for millionaires while raising them for the middle class.
Speaker: martin o'malley
About the speaker: Martin O'Malley is the former governor of Maryland who is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He has also served as the mayor of Baltimore.
Date: September 4, 2012
Location: national
Topics: taxes
Context: Charlotte, N.C
Fact-check justification: O’Malley said at the Democratic National Convention, "Mitt Romney . . .  puts forward a plan that would cut taxes for millionaires while raising them for the middle class." Actually, Romney’s plan includes across-the-board tax cuts for everyone, including millionaires. It does not specifically include tax increases on the middle class. But Romney’s tax plan is vague and doesn’t appear to be able to keep all its promises. Romney has said he wants to eliminate deductions while cutting tax rates for everyone; bring in the same amount of revenue for the government; keep a higher burden on the wealthy; and keep low rates on savings and investments. A credible, independent analysis shows these goals are in tension with each other and don’t add up. The Romney campaign has repeatedly declined to offer more specifics. In the past, the Obama campaign has pointed to this report and framed its claims more carefully, and we’ve given them positive ratings when they’ve done so. Here, O’Malley is blunter. He says that Romney plan "would cut taxes for millionaires while raising them for the middle class." It might, but that’s not what Romney says his intentions are. Instead, he would like rate cuts for everyone. We rate O’Malley’s  .
Statement: Says he "made St. Petersburg the state's best maintained large sewer system in 2007.
Speaker: rick baker
About the speaker: From 2001 to 2010, Rick Baker served as mayor of St. Petersburg. In 2017, Baker announced he would run for a third term
Date: July 28, 2017
Location: florida
Topics: infrastructure
Context: a Facebook post
Fact-check justification: Baker said he made St. Petersburg the state's best-maintained large sewer system in 2007. Baker’s  is that the Florida Water Environment Association gave St. Petersburg a Wastewater Collection System Award. But the award was hardly a comprehensive comparison of similarly situated cities in the state. Nor is it the only award that recognizes excellence in sewage management. St. Petersburg was under consent orders for Baker’s tenure that required the city to make improvements to the system. Outside investigators looking into the current sewage crisis have put some blame on Baker’s years for not addressing some problems with the system. This statement is partially accurate, but needs clarification of additional information. We rate it . Tampa Bay Times senior researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.