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An update from FactCheck.org
ABC News interview


** Biden's Post-Debate Interview
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About a week after his admittedly “bad” presidential debate, President Joe Biden sat for an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on July 5. FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely and Staff Writer D'Angelo Gore reviewed the 22-minute, primetime interview ([link removed]) and found that Biden made a few exaggerated and misleading statements.

For instance, when talking about the global semiconductor industry, Biden exaggerated the decline in U.S. computer chip production, saying it had dropped to "virtually nothing." The U.S. used to account for about 40% of semiconductor fabrication capacity in 1990, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in 2020. The capacity share in North America — primarily the U.S. — had declined to 11% in 2019.

Biden also denied that he had fallen further behind former President Donald Trump in post-debate polling, saying “nothing’s changed substantially since the debate in the New York Times poll.” The Times post-debate poll showed Trump ahead by 6 percentage points — an increase of 3 points.

For more, read our full story, "FactChecking Biden’s Post-Debate TV Interview ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
When we are fact-checking claims made about wages and earnings, we turn to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for data on average hourly earnings ([link removed]) for private sector employees or median weekly earnings ([link removed]) for full-time workers, adjusted for inflation. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also has data on per-capita disposable personal income ([link removed]*1sk0g0t*_ga*MjAxNzI5OTM1LjE3MTg2MzA5NjA.*_ga_J4698JNNFT*MTcxODg5MzgwMC4yLjEuMTcxODg5NDgwMS41NC4wLjA.&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=a04869ef78-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_07_09_09_35&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a04869ef78-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D#eyJhcHBpZCI6MTksInN0ZXBzIjpbMSwyLDMsM10sImRhdGEiOltbImNhdGVnb3JpZXMiLCJTdXJ2ZXkiXSxbIk5JUEFfVGFibGVfTGlzdCIsIjU4Il0sWyJGaXJzdF9ZZWFyIiwiMjAxOCJdLFsiTGFzdF9ZZWFyIiwiMjAyNCJdLFsiU2NhbGUiLCItOSJdLFsiU2VyaWVzIiwiUSJdXX0=) , which includes income from sources beyond only wages, such as Social Security benefits, dividends and income from owning a
business. Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
In addition to nearly 4,000 pledged delegates who were elected in state primaries and caucuses, the Democratic Party has up to 744 so-called superdelegates — officially known as “automatic delegates.” Superdelegates include members of the Democratic National Committee and all Democratic Senate and House members, among others. They are not pledged to any candidates but cannot vote in the first round if the nomination is contested. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
We have won the 2023 Sigma Delta Chi award for fact-checking from the Society of Professional Journalists.

This is our third win in the fact-checking category in five years, and our fourth award from SPJ overall.

This year’s awards were announced ([link removed]) on July 9. Our winning entry ([link removed]) was Deputy Managing Editor Robert Farley’s work fact-checking claims about the House investigation and impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.

Rob vetted Republican claims that Biden benefited from or assisted with his son Hunter’s business dealings in other countries while Biden was vice president. In three articles in 2023, Rob found that, so far, Republicans haven’t been able to establish that Biden was involved in these business dealings, that he directly benefited from them or that he used his position as vice president to assist his family’s companies.

For more, read "FactCheck.org Wins Fourth Sigma Delta Chi Award ([link removed]) ."
REPLY ALL

Reader: I recently read a research paper from China that said they found that ivermectin can be used to fight cancer, epilepsy, and a number of other illnesses including Covid-19. The paper was hard to read as I’m not a scientist. There was another paper that quoted research from Brazil that said over 300 people with Covid were given ivermectin with no discernible improvement. What is true?

FactCheck.org Science Editor Jessica McDonald: Thanks for asking! Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug. It works wonderfully against a variety of roundworms and has been particularly useful ([link removed]) in treating several tropical diseases caused by parasitic worms, including river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that it works against every disease. I’m not sure which papers you read, but as we’ve detailed before ([link removed]) , ivermectin is not effective in treating COVID-19. Multiple high-quality randomized controlled trials, which are the gold standard for evaluating whether a treatment works, have failed to find any benefits of the drug for COVID-19 patients. This includes a trial from Brazil, published ([link removed]) in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2022, that included more than 3,500 patients, 679 of whom took ivermectin.

There isn’t good evidence that ivermectin is effective for cancer or epilepsy, either. As Science Feedback has explained ([link removed]) , some preliminary research in cell cultures or lab animals suggests ivermectin might have some anti-cancer properties, perhaps especially when combined with other chemotherapies. But no human studies have shown a benefit.

With respect to epilepsy, ivermectin doesn’t readily cross the blood brain barrier and much of the research has been done either in animals using very high, toxic doses ([link removed]) , or in people who have seizures related to river blindness. In the latter case, ivermectin seems to help, but that’s likely because the drug is killing the worms. It remains to be seen if the drug can help with epilepsy more broadly.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Flawed Autopsy ‘Review’ Revives Unsupported Claims of COVID-19 Vaccine Harm, Censorship ([link removed]) ": COVID-19 vaccination is generally very safe, and except for extremely rare cases, there is no evidence that it contributes to death. Social media posts about a now-published, but faulty review of autopsy reports, however, are repeating an unfounded claim from last summer that “74% of sudden deaths are shown to be due to the COVID-19 vaccine.”
* "Tucker Carlson Post Makes Unsupported Claim About Trump Jurors ([link removed]) ": The judge in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump denied a defense request to ask jurors about their party registration, so their political affiliation is not known. But conservative commentator Tucker Carlson made the unsupported claim in a Facebook post that the jury was “stacked with Biden voters.” Both sides had the opportunity to reject jurors.
* "Posts Misrepresent Photo of RFK Jr. With Animal Carcass in Vanity Fair ([link removed]) ": A photo of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely shows him holding the carcass of a goat, lamb or other ruminant animal in Patagonia. Social media posts, citing a Vanity Fair article, make the unsupported claim the photo shows a dog carcass in South Korea. The magazine deleted remarks by a veterinarian who said it was a dog.
* Players Guide 2024: "Unite the Country" ([link removed]) : A single-candidate super PAC that supports the reelection of President Joe Biden.
* Players Guide 2024: "Senate Leadership Fund" ([link removed]) : A super PAC established by allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “to build a Republican Senate majority.”

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Trump difunde desinformación electoral en estados clave ([link removed]) ": En discursos en Nevada y Arizona en junio, el expresidente Donald Trump continuó difundiendo desinformación que socava la confianza pública en las elecciones estatales y federales.
* "Verificación del debate Biden-Trump ([link removed]) ": En el primer debate de la campaña 2024, los dos candidatos soltaron una ráfaga de declaraciones falsas y engañosas.
* "‘Revisión’ defectuosa de autopsias revive afirmaciones infundadas sobre los daños de la vacuna contra el COVID-19 y supuesta censura ([link removed]) ": La vacuna contra el COVID-19 es generalmente muy segura y, excepto en casos extremadamente raros, no hay evidencia de que contribuya a la muerte. Sin embargo, publicaciones en las redes sociales sobre una revisión de informes de autopsias publicada, pero fallida, repiten la afirmación infundada que circulaba el verano pasado que “se ha demostrado que el 74% de las muertes súbitas se deben a la vacuna contra el COVID-19”.
* "Verificación del debate rival de Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ([link removed]) ": Tras ser excluido del debate presidencial de CNN entre el presidente Joe Biden y el expresidente Donald Trump el 27 de junio, el candidato independiente Robert F. Kennedy Jr. transmitió en vivo un debate paralelo en las redes sociales, respondiendo las mismas preguntas que se les hicieron a los candidatos de los principales partidos.


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