In December 2018, amid massive civil unrest in France, a photograph of a serrated knife hidden in a baguette appeared on social media with a quip that it showed “bladed weapons confiscated from rioters” by Paris police. As of December 6 the image had accumulated tens of thousands shares, and a screencap published to Facebook …
Were ‘Bladed Weapons’ Discovered in Baguettes During Riots in France? Read More »
On November 12, 2018, Twitter user @SydneyShyanneS tweeted a tale about the cash-sharing app Venmo, modern dating, and bar interactions which later became virally popular: this dude has been calling my bar to check the cameras because he asked a girl to put her number into his phone & she Venmo’d herself $2,000 ???? drunk …
Did a Woman Use Venmo to Send Herself Thousands of Dollars from a Stranger’s Phone? Read More »
Amid escalating news reports of unarmed adults and children being teargassed over an international border by the United States, infants and children being forcibly, and permanently, taken from their parents, and asylum-seekers being held in detention camps, yet another story and image appeared: Photo credit: Adria Malcolm for Yahoo! News As some readers and viewers …
Are Asylum-Seekers Getting Numbers Written on Their Arms at the United States Border? Read More »
In November 2018, a scientist from China named He Jankui appeared to have ushered in a new era in humanity — and re-ignited an already heated international conversation about the ethics of editing genes to make “designer babies” — by announcing that he had successfully used gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to modify the DNA of two embryos before birth: …
Has a Scientist Who Claimed He Created the First ‘Gene-Edited Babies’ Disappeared? Read More »
In November 2018, a Grand Rapids, Michigan woman who needed a heart transplant due to complications from chemotherapy was turned down by a Spectrum Health medical committee due to lack of funds: Martin’s son, Alex Britt, said she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and the chemotherapy treatment, while curing her cancer, damaged her …
Did a Medical Committee Recommend Fundraising for a Heart Transplant? Read More »
In November 2018, an odd little article about a leaked internal memo at Leeds Trinity University appeared in the British tabloid the Express. According to the story, the university told professors not to use all capital letters in order to avoid “frightening” students: Staff at Leeds Trinity’s school of journalism have also been told to “write in …
Did Leeds Trinity University Ban Capital Letters to Avoid Frightening Students? Read More »
A bombshell report about Michael Avenatti, a high-profile lawyer turned potential politician, appeared on celebrity news and gossip site TMZ in November 2018: Michael Avenatti, who became famous for representing Stormy Daniels in her battle with President Trump, has been arrested for felony domestic violence … law enforcement sources tell TMZ. Our law enforcement sources say Avenatti was …
Does a Photograph Prove that Michael Avenatti (or Keith Ellison) Badly Beat a Woman? Read More »
An annual caravan of people traveling from Central America to the United States to seek asylum and refuge from extreme violence in their home countries has been beset by falsehoods, lies, and disinformation from start to finish — from baseless claims that they are “invaders” and gang members and the ensuing arrival of American troops to “secure” …
Is a Caravan of Central American Asylum-Seekers Demanding Special Treatment? Read More »
A strange story about Indonesian youths finding a interesting “new” way to get high made the rounds in November 2018: taking sanitary pads, boiling them into a soup, and then drinking the ensuring slurry after it cooled. The pads, the story helpfully assured us, could be either new or used, and that diapers could also do …
Are Young People Boiling Menstrual Pads to Get High? Read More »
On November 3rd, 2018, just days before the United States held hotly-contested midterm elections, rumors appeared of a billboard by the side of a Missouri interstate that featured United States President Donald Trump’s face with a strange, slightly ominous Biblical message: It references John 1:14, which reads in full: The Word became flesh and made his …
Was a Large ‘Make the Gospel Great Again’ Billboard Put Up in Missouri? Read More »
