copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2023-07-22): "Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery," Harris told attendees of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's national convention. "They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it." [...] But when presented with the language of one of the benchmarks in question -- one calling for instruction on how "slaves developed skills that, in some instances, could be used for their personal benefit" -- DeSantis seemed to distance himself even as he defended the work of the board that put the benchmarks together.
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2023-07-28): Florida's new social studies educational standards have drawn national scrutiny from academics and politicians alike, particularly the state's revised language around how skills enslaved people learned could be used for their "benefit." [...] While the concept of discussing enslaved people's skill sets in a classroom setting is broadly accepted, scholars who contributed to the AP African American Studies curriculum tell TIME that the use of the phrase "personal benefit" is the main problem with the Florida standards. Greg Carr, a historian at Howard University who contributed to the AP African American Studies framework, says, "To say that there's a benefit is absurd. There's no benefit to enslavement." What the Florida standards do not underline, he says, is that enslaved people "are trying to use their talents, their skills, their memory, their culture to resist, in ways big and small." Daina Ramey Berry, a historian at University of California, Santa Barbara, who also contributed to the AP African American Studies framework, says teachers must talk about "freedom in Africa" to emphasize that "before being captured and sold into slavery, African people came from highly civilized societies with a variety of skills."
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2020-06-15): Enslavement in the English colonies persisted after the Revolutionary War and the creation of the United States. Indeed, as the United States laid the foundation for its experiment in freedom and democracy, it also oversaw and benefitted from the kidnapping, human trafficking, lifelong bondage, and complete dehumanization of African people—a system of enslavement repeatedly enforced by the nation’s courts, political institutions, core documents, and most revered founders.
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2024-07-24): Enslaved people were regarded and treated as property with little to no rights. In many colonies, enslaved people could not testify in a court of law, own guns, gather in large groups, or go out at night. Especially on southern farms, enslaved people were expected to work from sun up to sundown, though they may have been given Sundays off to tend to their own small gardens, repair allotted clothing, or tend to other needs that might supplement their meager allotments of clothing and food. As property, slaves were frequently bought and sold, and sometimes family groups were divided across plantations or even colonies, though some slave owners sought to keep families together as a safeguard against slaves running away. Slaves of small households often lived in the kitchen or a small outbuilding, while slaves on larger plantations often lived together in a quarter or a group of quarters with an overseer. Religion, storytelling, music, and dancing were important parts of an enslaved person’s life, and could help share and preserve African cultural traditions across generations.
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2023-11-02): Now that Florida has approved teaching K-12 students that enslaved people benefited from slavery, approved classroom materials provided by PragerU—which was founded by a proud racist and produced "educational" videos teaching that Frederick Douglass would have agreed with America’s choice to prioritize white supremacy over ending slavery—and rejected an Advanced Placement course covering African American Studies, hundreds of Black congregations around the Sunshine State have taken it upon themselves to teach what America won’t. [...] The great thing about this—besides the fact that there are places Black kids can go to learn history that isn’t centered around appeasing white fragility—is that neither Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis nor his rabid band of woke-averse Florida education officials can really do anything about this. It’s not like they can yank a church’s tax-exempt status because they don’t like what the shepherd is teaching its flock. That’s why Black pastors have never really needed to be shy about the way they tell the truth about America. (*cough, cough Rev. Jeremiah Wright cough, cough*) So, unless DeSantis and his white-nationalists-against-wokeness pals plan to start bombing Black churches the way white people did the last time America was "great," all they can do is leave these Black congregations to their own devices—and that means allowing the youth to learn instead of being indoctrinated by those purporting to fight indoctrination.
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2024-06-13): According to a June 7 guest column, the Florida Department of Education has updated standards that teach "lies" about slavery. It was stated that the department has "reaffirmed" that some enslaved people learned something that could help them when they became free. It would be nice to know just how our state government will teach this concept. Is there a middle-school class on the benefits of slavery? Is there a whole book? [...] It should be simple enough to show how our state’s education system puts forward the theory that former slaves benefited from slavery, without broad generalizations.
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2023-09-28): Ron DeSantis: A proposed Florida school standard to teach that enslaved people benefited from slavery was a "hoax that was perpetrated by Kamala Harris." DeSantis is dodging the facts. The Florida Board of Education set new social studies standards for middle schoolers July 19. In a section about the duties and trades performed by enslaved people, the state adopted a clarification that said "instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
Claim: purports Florida middle school students will be taught that 'enslaved people benefited from slavery' (Post, 2023-07-20)
Evidence (2024-08-19): Enslavers used enslaved people for a wide range of labor, though the largest number of enslaved people labored on large plantations to harvest agricultural commodities such as cotton and sugar. But slavery was not limited to plantations, and people who resided in urban areas also held enslaved people and required them to labor in a number of different roles. [...] Facing this legal apparatus, as well as the violence that enslavers routinely meted out, enslaved people nonetheless managed to defiantly survive, build families, and create communities. Enslaved people on plantations and elsewhere often organized their own religious practices and operated their own systems of exchange and commerce. In other words, even against the reality of laws and violence that tried to erase their humanitiy, enslaved people strove to control their daily lives as much as possible. [...] Of the other presidents who owned slaves, Zachary Taylor benefited the most from slave labor. He had inherited two slaves from his father, but later purchased a plantation in Mississippi that included a large number of enslaved persons. Taylor served only two years as president before dying in office, but he had enslaved servants in the White House while also supervising his Mississippi plantation’s operations from the nation’s capital. Like Jackson, Taylor demanded that his overseers treat enslaved people with care in order to protect his financial investment, rather than out of humanitarian concerns.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-08-06): Hunter Biden admitted to accepting funds from China in July 2023. A former business associate has also testified some of the deals took place while Joe Biden was vice president.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-05-18): In the days ahead of their first meeting, Biden and McCarthy shared a short and courteous call that one source told CNN left the speaker hopeful there could be room for a deal. But days later, in their first in-person meeting since February, sources close to both men described interactions between Biden and McCarthy as sharp. McCarthy directed his questions at Biden only for Senate Majority Chuck Schumer to jump in, leading McCarthy to point out he wanted to hear from the president. At one point, McCarthy pointedly told Biden his claim that Republicans were taking away veterans funding was simply a lie. Biden described some of McCarthy’s comments in the meeting afterward as "a little over the top." [...] While Biden described McCarthy’s behavior as "a little over the top" during last week’s meeting, other sources familiar with the meeting described McCarthy as obnoxious and "a little much." One source familiar with the meeting said McCarthy spoke as though he were posturing for his caucus rather than in a room with the President and his fellow congressional leaders.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-30): Joe Biden claimed that he had no knowledge of, or investments in, his son's foreign business ventures.[16][17] A 2020 investigation led by Republican senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley found no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden, noting only that Hunter Biden had used his family name to develop business relationships.[18] [...] Further Hunter Biden financial allegations [edit]On 25 September, the committee issued a subpoena for Hunter Biden's bank records. They found two wire transfers in summer 2019 from Chinese nationals that listed his father's Delaware home as the beneficiary address. Hunter's attorney stated that these were loans from a Chinese company that Hunter had invested in; and that the address listed was for his new bank account, which used his parents' address as his only permanent address at the time.[92] [...] - ^ "Comer Reveals How Joe Biden Received Laundered China Money" (Press release). House Oversight Committee. November 1, 2023.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2021-04-06): The Justice Department is investigating Hunter Biden's finances including scrutinising some of his past Chinese business dealings and other transactions, a "person familiar with the matter" told The Associated Press in December. [...] The New York Post cited a purported email from Hunter Biden in August 2017 indicating he was receiving a $10m annual fee from a Chinese billionaire for "introductions alone", though it is unclear who was involved in the alleged introductions. [...] Tony Bobulinski told Fox News that, contrary to Joe Biden's statements that he had nothing to do with his son's business affairs, Hunter had "frequently referenced asking him for his sign-off or advice on various potential deals" in China.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-12-08): Questions have been raised over the past two decades about Hunter Biden's business practices, and whether he had leveraged his name and access to his powerful father to make money and land clients. [...] In 2013, the younger Mr Biden became a founding board member at BHR, a private equity firm backed by some of China's local governments and largest state banks. [...] On 9 August, Mr Comer cited bank records obtained by his panel that he said showed the Biden family and its associates had earned $20m from oligarchs in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine during his vice-presidency.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2021-05-12): Yet McCarthy’s May 12 claim that the legitimacy of Biden’s victory hasn’t been questioned is wrong — many Republican lawmakers have done so. Some have cited "irregularities" and claimed that electoral processes in some states were unconstitutional. One of them, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, notably has walked around Congress with a face mask that says "Trump won."
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-12-09): Biden’s aides argue vociferously that any comparisons with the former president’s legal problems are in bad faith since the charges are of vastly differing levels of severity and Trump is himself running for president while Hunter is not. So far, no evidence has emerged showing President Biden benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings. And Biden’s team is confident voters will make their decision for reasons other than the president’s troubled son. [...] There were also dinners that Joe Biden attended with Hunter Biden and some of his foreign business associates at Cafe Milano in Washington, though Archer testified that business was not discussed during the meals, telling lawmakers, "We ate, and kind of talked about the world, I guess, and the weather, and then everybody left." Despite no evidence that Joe Biden benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings, his surface-level interactions that overlapped with his son’s business activities continue to provide fuel to his political opponents.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2022-12-02): In an exchange caught on camera before Thursday’s State Dinner, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was asked how it feels to dine with Hunter Biden even as his party prepares to investigate President Joe Biden’s only surviving son.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-09-12): PolitiFact, Hunter Biden and China: Sorting through a murky business deal, May 22, 2020 [...] Washington Post The Fact Checker, Biden said his son earned no money from China. His son says otherwise., Aug. 1, 2023 [...] The Washington Post, Biden said his son earned no money from China. His son says otherwise, Aug. 1, 2023
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-12-14): Comer cited three "direct monthly payments to Joe Biden from Hunter Biden’s business entity" as evidence that Joe Biden profited from a deal Hunter Biden made with a Chinese energy company. But Hunter Biden’s attorney said the payments — which totaled a little over $4,000 — simply reflect Hunter Biden repaying his father, who bought him a truck while Hunter was in the throes of drug and alcohol addiction. That explanation appears to be corroborated by emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop, as reported by the New York Post last year. [...] In a floor speech on Dec. 13 in support of the resolution for a formal impeachment inquiry, Comer said, "One bank investigator was so concerned about Hunter Biden’s financial transactions with the Chinese company that he wanted to re-evaluate the bank’s relationship with him. He noted that his transactions served ‘no current business purpose.'" [...] Comer and other Republicans have said the email confirmed the committee’s suspicion that Hunter Biden’s payments from the Chinese firm smelled of money laundering.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-09-12): And, of course, by what their constituents will tolerate. Recent polling has established that the Republican base will tolerate McCarthy’s impeachment push quite easily. In polling conducted by SSRS for CNN, three-quarters of Republicans said they thought Biden was involved in his son Hunter’s business in a manner that violated the law — a belief that extends even beyond what McCarthy asserted Tuesday. [...] Biden has demonstrably misrepresented his son’s business activities, as The Washington Post has documented. But this claim contrasts Biden’s repeated denials about having discussed his son Hunter’s or his brother Jim’s business activity (recently collected by the Republican majority on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee) with moments in which Biden interacted with people doing business with his family members. [...] This appears to refer to a 2015 email exchange between a business associate of Hunter Biden’s and a communications staffer with the Obama administration in which they shared statements that were being offered to the news media in response to questions about Hunter Biden’s Burisma work. You would be forgiven, given McCarthy’s framing, for thinking the interaction was more significant.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2020-10-19): "We also know that these deals didn't just make the Bidens money — they had dangerous consequences for our national security. We know that Hunter Biden's firm, backed by the Chinese government, invested in a company that was actively stealing nuclear secrets from the United States. We know that China has been consistent in its efforts to acquire U.S. technology, and that their spies have been caught trying to steal our nuclear technology. [...] PolitiFact, "Hunter Biden and China: Sorting through a murky business deal," May 22, 2020 [...] Washington Post, "Trump says Hunter Biden ‘walks out of China with $1.5 billion.’ Biden’s lawyer said that’s not true," Sept. 25, 2019
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-07-31): GOP Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said that Archer’s testimony reaffirms questions about Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son’s foreign business dealings and show the president was not being truthful in his previous denials. "When Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States, he joined Hunter Biden’s dinners with his foreign business associates in person or by speakerphone over 20 times," Comer said in a statement, referring to testimony that Democrats have also acknowledged Archer gave. [...] Speaking to CNN in recent weeks, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled that Republicans have yet to verify the most salacious allegations against Joe Biden, namely that as vice president he engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national in order to benefit his son’s career, an allegation the White House furiously denies.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2022-08-07): McCarthy Says House Investigation of Hunter Biden Will Include U.S. Intel Chiefs House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said the chamber’s investigation into Hunter Biden will include a probe of U.S. intelligence agencies and chiefs who likely knew about his foreign business dealings while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-09-12): The corruption claims aren’t limited entirely to Burisma matters. McCarthy has speculated that Chinese companies could have tried to influence the elder Biden when he was vice president, through deals with his son. Trump has tried to imply that Biden was being paid off by the Chinese through a University of Pennsylvania center. (The center received no gifts from China.) Republicans have dwelled on a July 2017 WhatsApp message in which Hunter reportedly threatened a Chinese business associate, writing, "I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled." Hunter Biden’s lawyer has said he was not with his father; there is no evidence President Biden gained anything from the matter being discussed. (The younger Biden was struggling with drug addiction at the time.)
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2023-09-13): What the records have shown is that during and after Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president, Hunter Biden made millions of dollars through complex financial arrangements from private equity deals, legal fees, and corporate consulting in Ukraine, China, Romania and elsewhere. [...] Facts First: McCarthy’s claim omits key context about what was – and wasn’t – reportedly discussed in the calls and dinners. A Hunter Biden associate testified that even though Joe Biden was on these calls and at these dinners, he didn’t discuss business. And Republicans have not presented any evidence that Joe Biden himself benefited financially from his appearances at the dinners or on the calls. [...] Regardless, Joe Biden’s denials seem to be falling flat with the American public, according to new CNN polls released last week. About 61% of Americans believe Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business dealings in Ukraine and China while he was vice president, according to the poll.
Claim: Kevin McCarthy says Joe Biden was wrong that Hunter made no money from China (Viral post, 2023-08-06)
Evidence (2024-02-25): They highlight specific statements from Biden that he "never discussed" with his son or brother anything involving their businesses, and that his son never made money in China. Biden's statement in regard to China is not true. Hunter Biden has testified in open court that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Chinese business interests. [...] Hunter Biden has acknowledged receiving millions of dollars from overseas business endeavors, often into companies with multiple partners. The structure of those companies and the beneficiaries are opaque -- perhaps deliberately. But it is not uncommon for business entities to use shell companies for strategic and tax-related reasons -- which is legal. And none of the money received by Hunter Biden has been linked to Joe Biden himself.