Fact Check

Partisan Controversy Over Easter and Transgender Day of Visibility – FactCheck.org

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Quick Take

Both Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility happened to fall on March 31 this year. President Joe Biden recognized both occasions, as he has done every year in office. But some social media posts and conservative politicians characterized his acknowledgement of Transgender Day of Visibility as “mocking” Easter and declaring “war” on Christianity.

Full Story

Every year since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he has issued a proclamation recognizing March 31 as the Transgender Day of Visibility.

Rachel Crandall Crocker, executive director and co-founder of Transgender Michigan, started the day of recognition in 2009. She chose March 31 as the date because it was far enough away from Pride Month in June and the more somber Transgender Day of Remembrance — held every year in November to commemorate those in the community who have been killed out of hate — to have its own presence.

This year, Easter also fell on March 31. Biden issued Easter wishes that day, and the White House held its traditional Easter festivities for children on April 1.

The date for Easter shifts each year, but is always held between March 22 and April 25. The only other year that Easter has fallen on March 31 since the Transgender Day of Visibility began was in 2013.

But the fact that Biden issued his annual recognition of Transgender Visibility Day in a year when it coincided with Easter touched off a firestorm among some conservatives on social media.

One such post claimed Biden was “intentionally and purposely mocking” Easter. Another claimed, “BIDEN DECLARED WAR!!!”

Incidentally, March 31 was also César Chávez Day, honoring the founder of the United Farm Workers. Biden issued a proclamation recognizing that, too, although it didn’t get the same attention as his recognition of a day for transgender people, who have become a focal point in the culture wars.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign, for example, described the recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter as “appalling,” and on March 30 his national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called on the White House “to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Other high-profile Trump allies — including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen. Josh Hawley and House Speaker Mike Johnson — followed suit.

Johnson’s post on X included screen shots of headlines that said “Biden Proclaims Easter Sunday ‘Transgender Day of Visibility,’” and “White House Bans Religious Easter Eggs From Art Contest.” The speaker wrote, “Banning sacred truth and tradition—while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day’—is outrageous and abhorrent.”

But, like the characterization that the administration had chosen to supplant Easter with Transgender Day of Visibility, the claim about the Easter egg ban is misleading, too.

In a statement, the American Egg Board said that it “has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations.”

Here’s what the submission form said (emphasis ours):

The Submission must not contain material that violates or infringes any rights of any other party, including but not limited to copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or any other intellectual property rights;

The Submission must not in any way disparage Sponsor or any other person or party;

The Submission must not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;

The Submission must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;

The Submission must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations of the United States or of any jurisdiction where Submission is created.

The Submission must not promote illegal drugs or firearms (or the use of any of the foregoing), or any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous;

The Submission must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements; and

The Submission must be consistent with the image and values of Sponsor and be consistent with and satisfy the purpose of the submission.

Similarly, first lady Jill Biden’s communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, issued a statement saying, “the American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins—for all WH Easter Egg Rolls —incl previous Administration’s.”

The theme for this year’s Easter egg decoration contest was “Celebrating National Guard Families.”

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.

Sources

Biden, Joe. “A Proclamation on Transgender Day Of Visibility, 2021.” WhiteHouse.gov. 31 Mar 2021.

Biden, Joe. “A Proclamation on Transgender Day Of Visibility, 2022.” WhiteHouse.gov. 30 Mar 2022.

Biden, Joe. “A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility.” WhiteHouse.gov. 30 Mar 2023.

Biden, Joe. “A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024.” WhiteHouse.gov. 29 Mar 2024.

Sosin, Kate. “The history behind International Transgender Day of Visibility.” The 19th. 31 Mar 2021.

Biden, Joe. “Statement from President Joe Biden on Easter.” WhiteHouse.gov. 31 Mar 2024.

U.S. Navy, Astronomical Applications Department. The Date of Easter. Accessed 1 Apr 2024.

U.S. Census Bureau. Date of Easter (2000-2099). Revised 8 Oct 2021.

Biden, Joe. “A Proclamation on Cesar Chavez Day, 2024.” WhiteHouse.gov. 29 Mar 2024.

Boorstein, Michelle (@mboorstein). “The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations…” X. 31 Mar 2024.

Alexander, Elizabeth (@EAlexander46). Spokeswoman, First Lady Jill Biden. “*Fyi on all the misleading swirl re White House and Easter: the American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins—for all WH Easter Egg Rolls —incl previous Administration’s.” X. 30 Mar 2024.

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Blessy’s ‘Aadujeevitham’ Wants to Stay True to Human Suffering But Misses a Mark

Benyamin’s novel Aadujeevitham or Goat Days may be many things. But this particular line is the crux of Blessy’s interpretation of the novel that we see on screen as the movie Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life. The will of a broken shell of a man to somehow survive against all odds.

While Benyamin’s Goat Days traverses into its protagonist Najeeb’s inner turmoil – and his unique spiritual awakening – Blessy’s The Goat Life flushes out his more visible hardships and his great escape from captivity.

A migrant worker from Kerala, Najeeb, like many others from the state, lands in Saudi Arabia in the year 1992, in the hopes of building a better life for himself and his family. An Arab, pretending to be their employer, takes Najeeb and his co-traveller Hakkim from the airport to the rural interiors of the country to work in a goat farm in the middle of the desert.

What awaits Najeeb is the most harrowing experience any human would ever go through – from being enslaved in a desert with hardly any food or water and being tortured at regular intervals by the person in charge of the farm, to having no contact with the outside world, and with nothing but the haunting vastness of the desert surrounding him.

Benyamin’s ‘Goat Days’ goes on to explore the spiritual connect of a helpless man in such a situation, the bond he forges with the goats – the way he calls them the names of his kin from back home – flashes of his Stockholm Syndrome, and his eventual, unbelievable escape from captivity.

The book is difficult to be adapted into a movie. No wonder then that director Blessy saw it to fruition only after 16 years. There were many hurdles – including the world shutting down due to COVID-19 when the crew was shooting in a desert in Jordan.

The Physical Aspect of Survival

The film Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life opens with a stony, lifeless stare of an emaciated Najeeb. He looks up after drinking from the goats’ water trough.

He is one among the goats – and he is unrecognisable. He would be alive for as long as he would serve his purpose for the person who “owns” him, just like the goats. This is one instance in the movie that invokes pathos like no other, where the lines of existence between Najeeb and the goats are blurred.

The first half of the film establishes how Najeeb finds himself in this dire situation with flashbacks of home, his mother, and wife who is in the early stages of her pregnancy. Despite slight clichés, these flashes are seamlessly weaved into the narrative.

From there, one can choose from the varied dimensions that the book holds, but if one is to chase behind all those dimensions, the end product could be all over the place. Perhaps, it is because of this very reason that Blessy seems to have taken the visible, physical aspect of Najeeb’s story and has used it as a tool to narrate a survival drama.

When the story is being told from that narrative, Prithviraj Sukumaran becomes an apt choice to portray Najeeb, for his strength clearly lies in encapsulating the essence of Najeeb’s plight physically, rather than tapping into its psychological core.

The effort and time that Prithviraj has put into this is laudable. It also reflects how big a phenomenon the book Goat Days is in the literary landscape of Kerala – and how the role of Najeeb could be the role of a lifetime for any actor.

This could easily be the career-best performance of Prithviraj, along with his role as Joshua Thomas from the movie Koode.

A shot from the movie ‘Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life’, featuring Prithviraj Sukumaran as Najeeb.

The Escape Sequence

Most of the second half of the film etches out the escape of Najeeb and Hakkim, guided by the latter’s friend Ibrahim, played by the Haitian actor, Jimmy Jean Louis. As Hakkim introduces Ibrahim to Najeeb, he says Ibrahim knows his way around the desert, and that perhaps he is godsent, like how God has sent Musa Nabi to guide people.

This is something that stays with the audience and is emphasised further in the way the director places Ibrahim in the following scenes, with a slightly god-like aura, if one cares to take a closer look. This, combined with the remarkable performance and screen presence of Jimmy Jean Louis, was a great tether to hook the audience to the otherwise tiresome and uncomfortable ordeal of the escape sequence.

The debutant actor, KR Gokul, who played Hakkim, too, has delivered a stunning performance with great restraint, especially when his character spirals into delirium. He has effortlessly held his space against the seasoned actors whom he shares screen space with.

Amala Paul as Sainu – Najeeb’s wife – appears in the flashbacks and in songs but has little to perform. While she fits into the role visually, the dialogue delivery feels quite other-worldly for a woman who has lived in a little village in Kerala.

The music by AR Rahman seems generic at best and has nothing to write home about, maybe except for the track ‘Periyone Rahmane’. Sunil KS’s camera, along with Resuul Pookutty’s sound design has done justice in providing a near-immersive experience for the audience in the desert sequences, which constitute more than three-fourths of film.

The visuals in Kerala were shot by KU Mohanan – and they have been blended in seamlessly. The CGI falters slightly in places but doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. Ranjith Ambady and the makeup department need a special mention for their flawless job of transforming Prithviraj and Hakkim.

Where the Film Falters

In terms of its scale, The Goat Life may be the biggest movie Blessy has done yet as a director; despite that, his former outings such as Thanmathra, Kazhcha, and Pranayam had an emotional core that resonated deep within the audience, which The Goat Life lacks. This might be the case, because Benyamin’s Goat Days is a book that is layered and spiritual, and so widely read and interpreted that nothing would sate the readers as much as their interpretations of this book.

The sequence where the sponsors come to get the workers who have fled from them could easily be one of the most haunting episodes in the book, where a runaway worker’s trauma would trigger him to scream in agony at the sight of his “owner” even before the owner recognises him in the line-up.

The juxtaposition of human cruelty and vulnerability in the same page – and the emotions it evokes in readers – was one of the high points in the book. However, the portrayal of this strong, moving sequence somehow fell flat in the movie.

Protagonist Najeeb, who goes by the name Shukoor, in real life.

Then again, there is the question of how much human suffering one can watch. Or did the scenes preceding this desensitise the viewers so much that they’ve checked out emotionally by then?

Having said that, Blessy’s The Goat Life too has carved its own niche among the blockbusters Malayalam has produced this year, and it is highly appreciated that a small industry like Malayalam is bold enough to take up grand projects like these and execute it far better than most of the industries in sensible, convincing, and palatable ways.

The Controversial ‘Goat Days’

While at the topic of human suffering, it would be a massive oversight not to address the controversies surrounding both Benyamin’s work as well as the ‘parading’ of the person on whom the book was based – Najeeb – for the promotional activities of the movie. It has even come to the fore that Najeeb, in real life, primarily goes by the name Shukoor.

Benyamin’s Goat Days, from its early days, has been at the receiving end of the criticism that it has adopted elements from Mohammed Asad’s The Road to Mecca, but the author claims in the book that he has taken bare minimum creative liberties while telling Najeeb’s story because his lived experience itself is stranger than fiction.

While Shukoor alias Najeeb, in his interviews, uncomfortably and squirmingly recount the experiences he has been through, answering the intrusive questions he is asked, he also negates a few of the accounts described in the book.

The author has now come out and defended his book as a work of fiction with only about 30 percent of it being from the experiences of Shukoor. Whatever it may be, the blatant commodification of a man’s suffering and the insensitive manner is almost as hard to watch as a few sequences in the movie.

(Meenakshi Sajeev is a writer, published poet, and corporate communications consultant based out of Bengaluru. She has worked with the UN Environment and is currently with IBM. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)

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#Blessys #Aadujeevitham #Stay #True #Human #Suffering #Misses #Mark

BJP way ahead of others in political ad spending on Meta; proxy pages spent more than official ones – Alt News

Post By Fact Check

With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections barely a few weeks away, political campaigns have reached a fever pitch both on the ground and virtually. With India ranking very high on the list of countries with the largest number of Internet users in the world, parties have recognized the power of social media and are investing significant sums into their digital campaigns. Consequently, social media advertisements have come up as a crucial means for parties to communicate with the electorate.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others provide advertisers with enough information to run targeted advertisements reaching millions of voters. These targeted advertisements are based on factors such as location, demographics, interests, language, and behaviour, to achieve maximum impact.

Methodology

Alt News filtered data from the top 100 pages that spent the most on political advertisements in the last 90 days, as published by the Meta Ad Library on March 19 of this year. Advertisements run by leaders in their personal capacity were excluded from this data. Rahul Gandhi’s page is included in this data because the disclaimer in the advertisements run by him mentions the name of the Congress party.

Political advertisements on Facebook pages are of two types: official party pages, which share posts and propaganda according to party lines, and other pages that support a particular party through all posts and advertisements but do not have any official affiliation with the party. The expenditures on advertisements by these pages are not accounted for by the Election Commission. We have categorized such pages as proxy pages.

Analysis of this data revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has spent the most on political advertisements, but the expenditure on advertisements by BJP’s proxy pages exceeded that on their official advertisements.

Party and Government Advertisement Expenditure

BJP (including official and proxy pages)

The Bharatiya Janata Party has spent Rs. 74,407,939 on 10,884 advertisements through official pages and Rs. 84,175,893 through proxy pages.

Page ID	Page name	Disclaimer	Amount spent (INR)	Number of ads
121439954563203	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	61670515	2710
174425559078659	Ulta Chashma – उल्टा चस्मा	Ulta Chashmaa	20333950	428
574079826086251	Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar	phirekbaarmodisarkar.com	18714772	2498
192548643939288	MemeXpress	Memes Xpress	6835584	183
206212622563937	Political X-Ray	Political X Ray	6107215	161
192548643939288	MemeXpress	Ulta Chashmaa	4705068	105
1987488401557504	Mahathugbandhan – महाठगबंधन	Mahathugbandhan – महाठगबंधन	4031860	1092
206212622563937	Political X-Ray	Ulta Chashmaa	3903094	60
108923581963430	Nirmamata	Nirmamata	3892330	1023
1400615623488784	BJP Odisha	BJP Odisha	3834648	742
113730508499849	Mudde ki Baat – मुद्दे की बात	Mudde Ki Baat	3380826	58
1563310070576778	BJP Andhra Pradesh	BJP Andhra Pradesh	2440155	479
107026039151450	మన మోదీ	manamodi.com	1926026	843
118554107945158	Badlenge Sarkar, Badlenge Bihar	badlengesarkarbadlengebihar.com	1736517	720
162311940465517	BJYM	Bharatiya Janata Party	1563415	335
721713357902229	Mahila Morcha BJP	Bharatiya Janata Party	1429489	567
100198806388306	The Nation Vibes	The Nation Vibes	1307936	717
180161138515248	କେତେଦିନ ସହିବା? / Ketedina Sahibaa?	କେତେଦିନ ସହିବା? / Ketedina Sahibaa?	1248691	660
1464414077034071	BJP ST Morcha	Bharatiya Janata Party	1112712	336
104136199047870	Bharat Todo Gang – भारत तोड़ो गैंग	Bharat Todo Gang – भारत तोड़ो गैंग	1096140	1104
180005665207295	Kannada Sangamam – ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಗಮ	Ulta Chashmaa	1080219	58
179670408573941	Tamilakam – தமிழகம்	Ulta Chashmaa	1035065	60
262572220917547	भाजपा राष्ट्रीय अनुसूचित जाति मोर्चा – BJP SC Morcha	Bharatiya Janata Party	617101	375
1542743585786974	Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar – Gujarat	Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar – Gujarat	613048	54
114233898263244	Indian Compass Videos	theindiancompass.com	578166	824
283350415665978	Ek Akela Sab Par Bhari	Ek Akela Sab Par Bhari	545109	251
244801258708580	Telangana Central – తెలంగాణ సెంట్రల్	Ulta Chashmaa	496639	8
239720143296109	BJP OBC Morcha	Bharatiya Janata Party	491213	42
107848055262209	Paltu Paltan – पलटू पलटन	Paltu Paltan – पलटू पलटन	482186	290
115529624796206	Hokage Modi Sama	Hokage Modi Sama	473771	296
249708958217278	Malabar Central – മലബാർ സെൻട്രൽ	Ulta Chashmaa	461084	36
247944825069932	Amaar Sonar Bangla – অমর সোনার বাংলা	Ulta Chashmaa	439288	15
		Total	158583832	17130

Congress:

The Congress party has spent Rs. 4,298,268 on 614 advertisements.

Page ID	Page name	Disclaimer	Amount spent (INR)	Number of ads
294493857651676	Rahul Gandhi	Indian National Congress	3585788	158
351616078284404	Indian National Congress	Indian National Congress	712480	456
		Total	4298268	614

TMC:

The Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, has spent Rs. 6,373,293 on 423 advertisements.

Page ID	Page name	Disclaimer	Amount spent (INR)	Number of ads
218904931482352	All India Trinamool Congress	All India Trinamool Congress	4758354	310
108777655527686	Trinamoole Nabo Jowar	Trinamoole Nabo Jowar	1614939	113
		Total	6373293	423

YSRCP:

The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has spent Rs. 16,999,080 on 566 advertisements.

Page ID	Page name	Disclaimer	Amount spent (INR)	Number of ads
104211439033799	Jagane Kavali	Jagane Kavali	4185707	200
111986798594822	Jagananna Suraksha	Jagane Kavali	4017803	95
327120054405346	Jagananna ki Thoduga	Jagan Anna ki Thoduga	3087881	139
213811765155120	Memu Siddham Maa Booth Siddham	Jaganna Tho Siddham	1857632	24
175139949013002	Jagan: The Juggernaut	Team Jagananna	1319338	40
229008700302978	Praja Theerpu	Jagananna Tho Siddham	736761	17
105209472211637	Voice of Andhra	Voice of Andhra	696989	18
204792022725505	Memantha Siddham	Jaganannatho Siddham	657413	21
205049862700772	Jagananna Kosam Siddham	Jagananna Tho Siddham	439556	12
		Total	16999080	566

Government Advertisements:

During these 90 days, the central government and various state governments collectively spent Rs. 46,140,328 on 1,223 advertisements.

Page ID	Page name	Disclaimer	Amount spent (INR)	Number of ads
192856493908290	Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha	Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha	18670367	357
775974615850063	MyGovIndia	MyGovIndia	14202725	67
418662318473847	Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Odisha	Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Odisha	3255261	35
138622632667217	Laxmi/ଲକ୍ଷ୍ମୀ	Laxmi/ଲକ୍ଷ୍ମୀ	2196960	19
114035533329593	Mo Sarkar 5T	MoSarkar 5T	1603172	37
106966414891832	DIPR TN	DIPR TN	1275814	93
220329711159719	Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department, Maharashtra	Olio Global AdTech	787092	172
319693278479184	Finance Department, Government of Odisha	Finance Department, Government of Odisha	781383	20
179243868596011	ନୂଆ-ଓ	ନୂଆ-ଓ	742899	157
1195267553857448	Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department, Government of Odisha	Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department, Government of Odisha	684839	7
113373710385095	कृषी विभाग महाराष्ट्र शासन	कृषी विभाग महाराष्ट्र शासन	511328	78
269612676227090	सामान्य प्रशासन विभाग – सामाजिक विकास समन्वय, महाराष्ट्र शासन	Olio Global AdTech	504179	24
314832518976952	Fisheries & ARD Department	Fisheries & ARD Department	478860	16
102379519139483	जल जीवन मिशन महाराष्ट्र	जल जीवन मिशन महाराष्ट्र	445449	141
		Total	46140328	1223

Proxy Pages:

Apart from official pages of political parties, a whole bunch of controversial proxy and meme pages have emerged as key players as far as running divisive advertisements is concerned. These pages not only target opposition parties but often amplify contentious narratives. By concealing their true identities, they work on behalf of political parties and publish ads that cannot be run through official channels. These advertisements often use humour, satire, and sarcasm to mock opposition parties and their leaders, and frequently allude to communal angles.

Several pages in this list attack the Opposition and bolster the BJP’s propaganda, with higher expenditures on advertisements compared to BJP’s official pages. Alt News had previously exposed some of these pages in an investigation in April 2023, revealing their direct connections with the BJP.

Page ID	Page name	Disclaimer	Amount spent (INR)	Number of ads
174425559078659	Ulta Chashma – उल्टा चस्मा	Ulta Chashmaa	20333950	428
574079826086251	Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar	phirekbaarmodisarkar.com	18714772	2498
192548643939288	MemeXpress	Memes Xpress	6835584	183
206212622563937	Political X-Ray	Political X Ray	6107215	161
192548643939288	MemeXpress	Ulta Chashmaa	4705068	105
1987488401557500	Mahathugbandhan – महाठगबंधन	Mahathugbandhan – महाठगबंधन	4031860	1092
206212622563937	Political X-Ray	Ulta Chashmaa	3903094	60
108923581963430	Nirmamata	Nirmamata	3892330	1023
113730508499849	Mudde ki Baat – मुद्दे की बात	Mudde Ki Baat	3380826	58
107026039151450	మన మోదీ	manamodi.com	1926026	843
118554107945158	Badlenge Sarkar, Badlenge Bihar	badlengesarkarbadlengebihar.com	1736517	720
100198806388306	The Nation Vibes	The Nation Vibes	1307936	717
104136199047870	Bharat Todo Gang – भारत तोड़ो गैंग	Bharat Todo Gang – भारत तोड़ो गैंग	1096140	1104
180005665207295	Kannada Sangamam – ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಗಮ	Ulta Chashmaa	1080219	58
179670408573941	Tamilakam – தமிழகம்	Ulta Chashmaa	1035065	60
1542743585786970	Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar – Gujarat	Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar – Gujarat	613048	54
114233898263244	Indian Compass Videos	theindiancompass.com	578166	824
283350415665978	Ek Akela Sab Par Bhari	Ek Akela Sab Par Bhari	545109	251
244801258708580	Telangana Central – తెలంగాణ సెంట్రల్	Ulta Chashmaa	496639	8
107848055262209	Paltu Paltan – पलटू पलटन	Paltu Paltan – पलटू पलटन	482186	290
115529624796206	Hokage Modi Sama	Hokage Modi Sama	473771	296
249708958217278	Malabar Central – മലബാർ സെൻട്രൽ	Ulta Chashmaa	461084	36
247944825069932	Amaar Sonar Bangla – অমর সোনার বাংলা	Ulta Chashmaa	439288	15
		Total	84175893	10884

Sensitive Advertisements:

Some advertisements run by these pages are so inflammatory and sensitive that political parties refrain from posting them on their official pages. Advertisements run through proxy pages often touch upon divisive issues and exploit prejudices. Alt News reported last month about a political advertisement depicting live murder, which had been viewed more than 30 million times. Upon informing Meta, they acknowledged the violation of their standards and took action against it.

Several advertisements have displayed violence and targeted political adversaries. Examples of some such advertisements are provided below. Meta took action against many of these advertisements later, although by then they had already garnered lakhs of views collectively.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pages with similar disclaimers:

Here we have listed pages with identical disclaimers. The disclaimer on all of these pages reads “Ulta Chashmaa.” Upon checking the details of these disclaimers, it is evident that these pages, which target the Opposition and propagate BJP’s agenda, are operated by the same admin. All these pages are included in the list of BJP’s proxy pages. One such page is ‘सीधा चश्मा’ (Straight Glasses), which was created on March 5 and has spent over Rs. 15 Lakh on advertisements so far.

The disclaimer of this page also contains details associated with ‘उल्टा चश्मा’ (Ulta Chashma), meaning this page is also a part of BJP’s proxy pages. One page, ‘Sonar Bangla – সোনার বাংলা,’ has now been deleted. Between March 5 and 7, this page spent Rs. 3,27,000 running nine advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. However, it is noteworthy that when the data of this page is searched in the Meta Ad Library according to date range, only four advertisements are shown. However, upon further inspection, it is revealed that nine advertisements were indeed run by this page. This raises questions about the data released by Meta.

Page name	Disclaimer
Ulta Chashma – उल्टा चस्मा	Ulta Chashmaa
Political X-Ray	Ulta Chashmaa
MemeXpress	Ulta Chashmaa
Tamilakam – தமிழகம்	Ulta Chashmaa
Sidha Chashma – सीधा चश्मा	Sidha Chashma – सीधा चश्मा
Amaar Sonar Bangla – অমর সোনার বাংলা	Ulta Chashmaa
Kannada Sangamam – ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಗಮ	Ulta Chashmaa
Telangana Central – తెలంగాణ సెంట్రల్	Ulta Chashmaa
Malabar Central – മലബാർ സെൻട്രൽ	Ulta Chashmaa
Sonar Bangla – সোনার বাংলা (This Page has been deleted.)	Ulta Chashmaa

Political parties are spending large sums on online advertisements, including via proxy pages. This also raises the question of whether parties maintain accounts for advertisements run through proxy pages. This expenditure raises questions about electoral transparency. As the general elections in India draw closer, all parties are increasingly focusing on digital advertisements, with the role of proxy pages also gaining prominence. The lack of transparency and accountability regarding expenditure and content of political advertisements on social media will continue to be a subject of scrutiny in the near future.

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In UP, Gujarat, Holi revelry triggers rowdyism, intimidation and harassment – Alt News

Post By Fact Check

The festival of Holi is often marred by allegations of molestation and harassment. While the catchphrase associated with the festival of colours, “Bura na mano, Holi Hai” (Don’t feel bad, it is Holi) is allegedly used to justify such acts, more often than not, women and people from non-Hindu communities become the victim of such nuisance. In extreme cases, what some see as ‘fun’ becomes a nightmare for those not participating in the festival.

Around March 25 (the day of the festival this year), several incidents came to the fore, thanks to social media platforms, where people from the Muslim community were targeted by Holi revellers. Some of the incidents allegedly involved intimidation, harassment and rowdyism, leading to FIRs and arrests.

Anticipating communal disturbance on Holi, the administration in Uttar Pradesh took preemptive measures in Shahjahanpur and Bareilly asking mosques to be covered in tarpaulin. “….they (the clerics) have been told that the mosques will be properly covered so that no mischievous element does anything to disturb communal harmony,” said senior superintendent of police (Bareilly) Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan. This goes to show how a sense of premonition and foreboding among non-participating communities ahead of the festival has perhaps become the ‘new normal’.

Patients Headed to Hospital, Men Going to Funeral — None Spared in Bijnor, UP

In a video that emerged on Sunday, March 24, a group of men can be seen stopping a bike and harassing three travellers – a man and two women, one of whom is wearing a hijab. It can be gauged from the video that the group comprised more than 10 men. They proceed to physically intimidate the trio, drenching them with water and colours despite their protestations. Towards the end of the video, the mob lets the bike pass, but not before breaking into a barrage of religious slogans like ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Jai Sri Ram.’

In UP’s Bijnor, a purported video of a family of three on motorcycle being harassed by people playing Holi on the street has surfaced. The family could be seen objecting to people forcefully applying colors and pouring water on them. pic.twitter.com/adjB4EADnH

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) March 24, 2024

The Muslim man seen in the video, identified as Dilshad, was reportedly taking his sister Sophia to a doctor. His mother also had to accompany them since his sister was too unwell to walk properly. The men stopped their vehicle and forcefully smeared them with Holi colours. Dilshad was physically assaulted once he tried to resist the harassment. “Bura na mano, Holi hai (Don’t feel bad, it’s Holi)”, they jeered while doing so. Dilshad alleges that the mob tried to inappropriately touch his mother and sister while raising religious slogans.

Bijnor Police arrested three people and detained two minors in connection with the incident. As pointed out earlier, the video shows a group of more than 10 people involved in the incident.

In another case from Dhampur, Bijnor, City News journalist Nidhi Sharma was harassed on the street. She alleged that the perpetrators held her collar and poured water on her from glasses they were drinking from. She was further seen accusing policemen standing in the vicinity of not taking cognizance of such cases of harassment that were occurring just a few steps away in broad daylight.

धामपुर में हुई शर्मनाक हरकत

Posted by City News – Nidhi Sharma on Sunday 24 March 2024

In another live stream from the Dhampur police station on the same day, Nidhi reveals that the perpetrators’ mothers also misbehaved with her, but they later apologised. Sharma’s husband, who was recording, also commented that Muslims who were returning after prayers were also being forcefully smeared with colours.

As her livestream continued, the couple got into their car and started driving. On their way, they came across a group of around six individuals, some of whom were minors, throwing water at passers-by. As their car stopped, they observed three Muslim men who were clearly asking the perpetrators to stop. However, one of them from the group proceeded to smear one of the Muslim men, who was wearing a white kurta, with colours and poured water over him. The victim, who later identified himself as Mohammad Iqbal, said the three of them were going to attend a funeral.

Barely two minutes later, Sharma observed two more burqa-clad women being harassed by the same group at the same spot. One of the women had a cannula inserted in her hand and had a high fever. The duo were headed to the hospital.

मेरे थाने से निकलते ही मुस्लिम बिमार महिला के साथ कि बत्तमीज़ी

Posted by City News – Nidhi Sharma on Sunday 24 March 2024

Last year, a viral video from Dhampur showed two burqa-clad women being harassed by a group of youths. The men are seen violently throwing water balloons at the women. They did the same with other unsuspecting passers-by as well.

वीडियो बिजनौर के कस्बा धामपुर के भगत सिंह चौराहे की है जहां होली खेलने के दौरान बुर्के में जा रही माँ- बेटी को ज़बरन परेशान किया गया,उनके ऊपर लगातार रंग भरे गुब्बारे फेंके गये तो चप्पल हाथ मे उठा जल्दी निकलने की कोशिश की,भरोसा कर निकली पर अफ़सोस भरोसे का तो ज़माना ही चला गया है! pic.twitter.com/bYZX7CYq69

— Zakir Ali Tyagi (@ZakirAliTyagi) March 9, 2023

Muslim Man’s Rickshaw Torched in Gujarat, 2 Arrested

In Ahmedabad, a mob brutally beat up a Muslim rickshaw driver and set his rickshaw on fire.

The driver, Nawab Vora, is a resident of Nawab Chawl in Ramol. According to the complaint filed by Nawab, he had dropped off passengers near Champaner Society in Usmanpura on Monday afternoon, March 25, when one of the accused touched the hood of his vehicle with his colour-stained hands. The victim had asked them to stop dirtying his rickshaw, which angered the men. They consequently abused Vora and beat him up when he objected to the foul language. Vora pleaded with them not to hit him since he was observing Roza (the Muslim practice of observing a fast during the holy month of Ramadan). This allegedly riled them up more and the accused beat him up again. Upon the advice of some passers-by, Vora left the spot immediately. According to the complaint, as he was leaving, he could see the accused damaging his vehicle. When he returned to the spot after some time, he said that he only found the burnt frame of his rickshaw.

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Two individuals — Vijay Suryavanshi, 26, and Natwar Solanki, 39, — have been arrested in the case. Another accused, Sanjay Vyas, is on the run. Vadaj police booked them for causing hurt, using abusive words, causing damage and abatement.

YouTuber Records Unrestrained Harassment of Women in Mathura

A YouTuber who runs a channel named Ghumakkad Laali filmed her ordeal while visiting Mathura on Holi. At the beginning of the video itself, she can be seen facing her camera and pointing out how she feels unsafe. “They are asking me for my number, saying that their uncles are at home”, she is heard saying as men flock around her camera. “They specifically target women, intentionally spray water on their breasts and hips..When I protested, they asked me if I had come here to die,” she says. The visuals show hordes of men standing along either side of a staircase, throwing water and harassing women as they pass by.

In what remains one of the most harrowing first-person accounts of harassment faced in the midst of a crowd of Holi revellers, writer Meghana Sanka and independent photographer Deepti Asthana had in 2017 recorded the dark sides of the famed ‘Lath Mar Holi’,celebrated in the towns of Barsana and Nandgaon in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh. As part of the festival, people try to recreate the legend of the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna, where Radha and her consorts take offence at Krishna’s advances and drive him out with sticks. The ‘festivity’, as witnessed by Meghana Sanka and Deepti Asthana, led to mass harassment of women, which involved making vulgar gestures, lewd comments, and physical harassment.

This year, in a video purportedly from Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi, a woman accompanied by a man is seen harassed by a group of men, in the presence of approximately 80-100 onlookers. The mob threw water at her, and justified their actions saying ‘Holi Hai’. When her male companion protested, he was also harassed. According to a Lallantop report on the incident, the couple had not lodged a formal complaint with the police and a probe was underway.

Mosque Defaced with ‘Jai Sri Ram’ Slogans

In Beed, Maharashtra, ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans were inscribed using Holi colours and pichkari at the Markaz Masjid. The inscription was found at around 5 pm on the day of Holi, March 25. Police have registered an FIR. SDPO Dheeraj Kumar released a video saying the accused would be arrested soon.

#WATCH | ‘Shri Ram’ slogan was found written on the wall of a mosque in Maharashtra’s Beed on 25th March

SDPO Dheeraj Kumar yesterday said, “A notorious man wrote ‘Shri Ram’ on the wall of Markaz masjid. FIR was lodged in the incident. The accused will be arrested soon.” pic.twitter.com/3y2NHtNWo2

— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2024

Instances like these are no aberration. Last year, a Japanese traveller was molested during Holi celebrations on the streets of Paharganj in New Delhi. Police took cognizance of the issue after a video had gone viral on social media, showing the 22-year-old woman being groped on camera by several men, including minors, under the pretext of applying colours as part of the celebration. In the video, someone also smashes an egg on her head, despite her clear objections and discomfort.

In a report on March 9, 2023, the Citizens for Justice and Peace documented several similar incidents on Holi, last year. On March 6, 2023, i.e., on the eve of the festival, Right Wing propaganda outlet Sudarshan News tweeted about a programme that evening titled, “मुल्ले होली मिलन में आएंगे लेकिन रंग नहीं लगाएंगे” (Mullas will come for Holi festivities, but will not allow you to apply colours.) Over a year later, the tweet is still live on the platform.

Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.

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‘Crew’ Review: Tabu, Kareena Kapoor & Kriti Sanon’s Fun Film Sticks the Landing

Post By Fact Check crew, crew movie, crew movie review, crew review, diljit dosanjh, diljit dosanjh movie, Kapil Sharma, kareena kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Tabu

Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon might seem like an unlikely trio on paper but on screen it fits perfectly. Rajesh A Krishnan’s Crew gives us some of the most delightfully funny versions of these actors – and it’s all neatly packaged in a buddy comedy/ heist film.

Tabu, Kareena Kapoor, Kriti Sanon in a still from Crew.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

Tabu plays Geeta Sethi, a former beauty queen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Goa with her husband Arun (Kapil Sharma). While Arun runs a cloud kitchen from their house, Geeta is waiting for her PF to be handed to her. Kareena Kapoor plays Jasmine Kohli. Jasmine wants to become a successful CEO but she is struggling to find sponsors. However, her real expertise is in sleight of hand.

Then there’s Kriti Sanon’s character, often referred to as ‘Divya Rana from Haryana’ who dreams of becoming a pilot but, like Geeta and Jasmine, is a flight attendant with Kohinoor Airlines. The ‘inspiration’ is clear – the chairman is Vijay Wallya (Saswata Chatterjee).

'Crew' hit theatres on 29 March. — Kriti Sanon in a still from Crew.

For the first quarter, the primary conflict in the film is that none of them have received their salaries in 6 months and rumours about the airline going bankrupt have been flying around. Management, naturally, is no help. In their crew is also a woman trying to save money for a wedding in the family and a single mother whose son’s admission hangs in the balance.

A freak accident presents an opportunity. Geeta, Divya, and Jasmine enter the world of crime – they have to use their access to the skies to smuggle gold. In this world, they run into two new characters – Trupti Khamkar’s sub-inspector Mala who is hot on their tail and Diljit Dosanjh’s Jay. Jay has personal stakes in the operation – he is attempting to rekindle his romance with Divya.

To their credit, the chemistry between Diljit Dosanjh and Kriti Sanon is sizzling, for lack of a better word. The chemistry itself is enough to sell the romance (one could say Jay has impeccable rizz). But speaking of chemistry, the real chemistry someone needs to capitalise on (and soon) is that between Tabu and Kareena Kapoor. They’d be perfect for a I Care a Lot (dir. J Blakeson) spin-off (only better and funnier).

In Crew, the performances, writing (Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri), and casting go hand-in-hand – all three characters seem tailor-made for the actors. Kareena Kapoor is back with her 2000s sass and effortless comic timing; the screen seems to actually light up when she’s in the frame. Even a bothersome gag like a character constantly breaking into the same song is salvaged. And there is no hiding the fact that I’m a massive Tabu fan (honesty and integrity are cornerstones of my profession) and she doesn’t disappoint.

Geeta Sethi does come across feeling a little superficially written – for instance, the fact that she lives with (I’m assuming) anxiety is touched upon but isn’t adequately explored. Yet, Tabu plays the character with such expertise that Geeta is elevated beyond her writing. A resilient, caring woman who just wants to give her and her husband the life they deserve, Geeta could’ve been Crew’s most powerful character and she almost gets there, in Tabu’s hands.

Kriti Sanon’s Divya also grapples with a similar fate but is, again, saved by the actor’s performance. She’s the feisty one – the one who frequently puts people in headlocks – and also the one who freaks out easily because she is, after all, a junior dealing with monumental stakes. Her adorable evolving love story with Jay aside, Kriti plays Divya with the gusto the character needs. Geeta and Divya’s interactions might be some of my favourite moments from the movie.

It is, however, a pity that Saswata Chatterjee feels rather underutilised especially in a role he would’ve excelled in. Diljit Dosanjh and Kapil Sharma both give decent performances – they primarily exist to be green flag men supporting the women they love and I am here for it! Crew would also not be the film that it is without its supporting cast.

Crew is fun. And I’d missed fun. It feels like our movies have been oversaturated with the same kind of movies, some boring, some harmful. So, in that crowd, a film like Crew feels like a breath of fresh air. Most of the comedy lands (and lands well) and it’s refreshing to see women get to do the more ‘raunchy’ brand of comedy that was usually viewed through a male gaze.

That being said, the male gaze does tend to seep in in places but rarely. Also, some of the more crass jokes don’t work – not because they’re crass but mostly because they aren’t written well enough for that genre.

By the time the film reaches its interval, you’re still hooked but that’s when the movie runs into some turbulence. In the middle, the film almost feels a little dull and perhaps that is because the heist is so basic. A heist as basic (and convenient as this) needed much more punches to land but that didn’t happen. While I like the way everything ends, the middle being lackluster takes away from some of the movie-watching fun.

The film is also often loud for the sake of being loud and that isn’t always necessary, even with slapstick comedy. One of the most well-written comic bits is actually one where little to nothing is said – Jasmine simply can’t drug someone because they’re a picky eater (I don’t condone their behaviour though if that isn’t obvious). But the cast’s physical comedy plays off the set up so well.

And then there are the brand placements that truly prove that subtlety is an art form – they feel way too fake. The camerawork, too, was a bit of a letdown. For a film that’s dabbling with the heist genre, the camerawork needs to complement the scale. Some of the shots, however, feel too basic to justify their place in the second half. The music isn’t exactly memorable though I will admit that I absolutely loved ‘Ghagra’ and I didn’t hate the ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ remix like I thought I would. But the trio seems to be having the time of their lives so it takes away the sting a bit.

Crew isn’t by any measures a bad film though – the performances alone are enough to seal the deal. It just feels like a plane that takes off well but struggles to stick the landing because of the turbulence mid-flight.

Published: 29 Mar 2024, 3:57 PM IST

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Elon Musk Overstates Partisan Impact of Illegal Immigration on House Apportionment – FactCheck.org

Post By Fact Check

Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate.

In claiming that illegal immigration benefits Democrats, entrepreneur Elon Musk vastly overstated its impact on the apportionment of House seats and Electoral College votes.

“The math, as I understand it, you can research this obviously very easily on the internet, it’s pretty straightforward to research this, but my understanding is that the Democrats would lose approximately 20 seats in the House if illegals were not counted in the census and that’s also 20 less electoral votes for president,” Musk said in an interview with journalist Don Lemon on March 19. “So illegals absolutely do affect who controls the House and who controls the presidency. It does not affect the Senate.”

That’s inaccurate.

In December 2019, the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates lower immigration, released an analysis of the impact of legal and illegal immigration on the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House in 2020.

Looking only at immigrants in the country illegally — the yardstick Musk employed — CIS estimated they were responsible for the redistribution of three seats in 2020. Looking at it in partisan terms, two states with a Republican-controlled legislature and a Republican governor (Alabama and Ohio) and one state with a divided legislature and a Democratic governor (Minnesota) each had one fewer House seat in 2020 due to the inclusion of immigrants living in the country illegally in population counts. Gaining one extra seat were two blue states (New York and California) and one red state (Texas). In other words, the estimated net impact was that one Democratic state picked up a seat from a Republican state.

And, since electoral votes are apportioned based on the number of House and Senate members from each state, in that scenario, one Republican electoral vote was swung to a Democratic vote.

CIS also analyzed the impact of all immigration, both legal and illegal, and concluded it was responsible for a shift of 26 House seats. But that includes immigrants who became U.S. citizens, the U.S.-born children of immigrants living in the U.S. legally or illegally, as well as other immigrants living legally in the country.

A July 2020 analysis by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, based on government data, similarly found: “If unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. were removed from the 2020 census apportionment count … three states could each lose a seat they otherwise would have had and three others each could gain one.” Its analysis concurred with CIS on five of the six states affected, but instead of New York gaining a seat because of the impact of illegal immigration, Pew found that Florida gained a seat.

In other words, in 2020, if immigrants lacking permanent legal status hadn’t been included in population counts, two red states and one blue state would have gained a seat, and two red states and one blue state would have lost a seat. A wash, politically speaking, when it comes to balance in the House or electoral votes.

To add some perspective, over the last 10 elections, presidents have won by an average of about 176 electoral votes over the runner-up — though in 2000, Republican George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore by just five Electoral College votes. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 74 electoral votes. In other words, there is no evidence that the inclusion of immigrants living in the country illegally in census counts and apportionment calculations has swung a presidential election to one party or another. And in 2020, it did not affect the partisan majority in the House.

How Seats Are Apportioned

Reapportionment for the House of Representatives is done every 10 years based on the decennial census. A state’s electoral votes are determined by the number of senators and representatives it has. So if a state gains or loses a House seat, it also gains or loses an electoral vote.

As required by the 14th Amendment, the apportionment of seats in Congress for each state is calculated “according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.” There is no indication in the Constitution that immigrants without permanent legal status should not be included in reapportionment.

Numerous efforts have been made over the years to challenge the legality of including those immigrants in the apportionment process, but none has been successful. In March 2018, the Commerce Department under President Donald Trump attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. (The mandatory decennial census doesn’t ask whether someone is a citizen.)

But Trump’s efforts were quickly challenged in the courts, and in July 2019, Trump abandoned his effort to include the question, though he tried to use other government sources to obtain a count of immigrants living in the country illegally.

Trump later attempted via a memorandum in July 2020 to “exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status.”

“Excluding these illegal aliens from the apportionment base is more consonant with the principles of representative democracy underpinning our system of Government,” the memo said. “Affording congressional representation, and therefore formal political influence, to States on account of the presence within their borders of aliens who have not followed the steps to secure a lawful immigration status under our laws undermines those principles.”

Allowing immigrants in the country to be included in the counts used for apportionment “would also create perverse incentives encouraging violations of Federal law,” the memo stated. “States adopting policies that encourage illegal aliens to enter this country and that hobble Federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws passed by the Congress should not be rewarded with greater representation in the House of Representatives.”

Late in 2020, the Supreme Court delayed a ruling on a court challenge to Trump’s memo, and on his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order revoking Trump’s memo and stating that census counts in each state are done “without regard to whether its residents are in lawful immigration status.”

“While it is true that Census includes this population and that they are counted in Congressional districts, it is important to note that this population is routinely undercounted … for multiple reasons and therefore the effect is likely minimal on district appropriations,” Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told us via email. “But also, many of these immigrants are part of mixed-status households that include many US citizens who have critical needs and must be counted to receive funding and services (for example, in schools). And yes … many ‘red’ states also have notable unauthorized immigrant populations.”

The U.S. Census is used in many federal funding formulas. In fiscal year 2021, it informed the distribution of more than $2.8 trillion in federal funding.

Recent Legislative Efforts

Although the next reapportionment won’t happen until 2030, a surge in illegal immigration during the Biden presidency has brought the issue back to the legislative forefront.

On Jan. 25, 21 senators introduced the Equal Representation Act, which seeks to require a citizenship question on the decennial census, and prohibit the inclusion of noncitizens in counts used for apportionment of representatives. Four days later, a companion bill was introduced in the House. To date, the bill has 89 Republican co-sponsors.

A press release from Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama said, “The current census method of counting illegal aliens for purposes of representation incentivizes open borders by boosting the relative political power of the respective states and voters that court mass illegal migration. For example, at least two million illegal aliens reside in California, currently resulting in this sanctuary state being apportioned several more congressional seats and Electoral College votes than the states’ population of citizens would justify.”

As we noted earlier, CIS and Pew Research Center both concluded that California would have had one less representative, and one less electoral vote, if immigrants living in the country illegally were excluded from the census apportionment count.

In press releases, other Republicans also portrayed illegal immigration as a boost only to Democratic states, though that is not the case.

“What we’re seeing is the Democrats abusing the system by creating sanctuary cities in blue states that are literally losing citizens every day to states like mine,” Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said in a press conference at the Capitol on Jan. 25. “What’s happening is cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, are acting as magnets to attract illegal immigrants. Those immigrants are then being counted in the populations of California, Illinois, New York, and other cities for the purposes of allocating congressional districts and electoral votes.”

“Blue states may be losing citizens over their liberal policies, but they’re making up for it by welcoming illegal immigrants,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said in a press release.

But immigrants don’t just settle in blue states, and there is some evidence that immigrants without permanent legal status have been settling more often in red states in recent years. While California (2.2 million) had more immigrants living in the U.S. illegally than any other state in 2022, the No. 2 and 3 states were the red states of Texas (1.85 million) and Florida (935,000), the Center for Migration Studies estimates.

When it comes to apportionment power, however, “it’s not whether they have any unauthorized immigrants in their state, it’s whether they have a higher than average share,” Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer for the Pew Research Center, explained in a phone interview.

“It’s not simply Democratic states,” Passel said. “There’s a mix of states with higher than average shares.”

The apportionment formula allocates sequentially, so it also matters how close a state is to the population threshold needed to get another representative, Passel said. The average number of people per congressional district is 761,169, although some states such as Delaware (990,837) and Idaho (920,689) have far more than the average, while others have far less, including Montana (542,704) and Rhode Island (549,082).

Republicans also claimed that a surge in illegal immigration since Biden took office will cause an increase in partisan disparity in apportionment.

Surge in Illegal Immigration under Biden

Hagerty misleadingly talked about the “8 to 10 million people that have entered America just since Joe Biden took office.” As we’ve written, government statistics show that in the initial processing of millions of encounters at the southern border during the Biden administration, 2.5 million people have been released into the U.S. with notices to appear in immigration court or other classifications, as of October. There also could have been about 1.6 million “gotaways,” or people crossing the border illegally who evaded apprehension.

Ruiz Soto, of the Migration Policy Institute, noted that most of the immigrants released into the country are still being processed at immigration courts, and many of them may ultimately be issued removal orders if courts determine they do not to qualify for asylum protection.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, each House member represents an average of 761,169 people, based on the 2020 census. But immigrants disperse around the country, and while some states wind up with a disproportionate share, that’s true of red and blue states.

In fact, there is reason to believe Republican states may be benefiting more from illegal immigration than Democratic ones in recent years, according to an analysis released in January by David J. Bier of the libertarian Cato Institute.

According to Bier, “recent immigration trends are benefiting Republicans in states where they control the legislature and manage redistricting. About 62 percent of the three‐million increase in the total immigrant population from March 2019 to March 2023 has occurred in GOP states, according to the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.”

That includes all immigrants. Looking only at noncitizens, Bier wrote, “an overwhelming 95 percent of the increase in the noncitizen population has been in GOP states from March 2019 to March 2023.”

The noncitizen population includes noncitizens in the country both illegally and legally, though Bier told us, “I don’t believe that there would be a substantial difference in locational choice” between the two groups.

“The claim is that Democrats are right now letting more noncitizens come because these new entrants will increase their congressional representation,” Bier told us via email. “But while [that] may have been true for immigrants who entered decades ago, it hasn’t been true for recent arrivals.”

According to Bier’s analysis, seven of the top 10 states where noncitizens settled between 2019 and 2023 are states with Republican legislatures, with Texas topping the list.

“It is certainly likely that these states are attracting immigrants because of their strong job growth,” Bier wrote.

From 2021 to 2023, during the Biden administration, five of the top 10 states in which noncitizens settled were Republican-controlled, four were Democratic-controlled, and one has a divided legislature. However, California — a blue state — gained the most noncitizen arrivals, according to CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplements. The 2.7 million noncitizens estimated to have settled in the U.S. in that time period by the Census Bureau included those living in the U.S. legally and illegally.

Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, looked at the monthly Current Population Survey — a smaller survey but with up-to-date data — over the three years of the Biden presidency, from January 2021 to February 2024, and concluded that there were slightly more blue states than red where the immigrant population grew the most, suggesting that “when the next Census happens that the recent surge will benefit Democratic states more than the Republican states somewhat.”

All of these current analyses may ultimately be irrelevant. What really matters is where the noncitizens, specifically those in the country illegally, disproportionately reside at the time of the decennial census and which party controls those states’ legislatures (and can influence redistricting maps) at that time.

But overall, while illegal immigration affects apportionment at the margins, Passel said, immigrants in the country illegally disperse to many states and make up a fairly small percentage of people in the U.S. overall. “The inclusion of unauthorized immigrants in apportionment counts is not a major factor in determining who controls the House of Representatives,” he said.

“If you’re one of the states that loses a seat, it makes a big difference,” Passel allowed.

That “immigration redistributes house seats is not in dispute,” Camarota told us via email. “In a country of 330 million people however, it is generally hard to move seats around because each seat now has about 760,000 people, though if a state is on the margin of getting or losing a seat, then it can lose or gain relatively easily.”

However, Camarota said he has analyzed population surveys during the Trump presidency and found certain House districts, with a high density of noncitizens, are more likely to elect Democrats.

“The key group that wins politically from the growth in illegal immigrants and non-citizens in general are those that live around them,” Camarota said, pointing to a CIS report that looked at districts with relatively few voters because many of the people in the district are noncitizens who can’t vote.

“It takes so many fewer votes to win an election in a district with a lot of non-citizens,” Camarota said. “This means that voters in such places have significantly more political power. That is, their votes count much more. In general the low citizen districts are almost all represented by Democrats.”

Camarota argues there are other long-term advantages to immigration — both legal and illegal — for Democrats.

“There is good evidence immigrants and their children [who ultimately become citizens] may vote Democratic 2 to 1 on average,” Camarota said. “So in the long run immigration has partisan implications, which I think is part of the complaint.”

Whether that’s true, or remains true in 2030, is a matter for speculation, but regardless, that’s not what Musk was arguing. He said there’s currently an advantage to Democrats of 20 House seats and an equal number of electoral votes due to immigrants in the country illegally being included in apportionment calculations — and that’s not accurate.

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Social Media Posts Misinterpret Biden on mRNA Cancer Vaccines – FactCheck.org

Post By Fact Check

SciCheck Digest

COVID-19 vaccines are not “being used to cure cancer,” as social media posts falsely claim, misinterpreting President Joe Biden’s reference to mRNA cancer vaccines during his State of the Union address. Biden was referring to the mRNA technology used to make the COVID-19 vaccines and being studied by researchers to treat cancer.

Full Story

The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are the first vaccines using the messenger RNA technology to be approved for use, but they’re not the first ever developed. The history of mRNA vaccines started decades before the pandemic, and included research on mRNA cancer vaccines.

Unlike platforms used in other vaccines, the mRNA technology doesn’t directly introduce an antigen, such as a protein, into the body to trigger an immune response. Instead, mRNA encapsuled in a fatty envelope delivers instructions for cells to make proteins. The immune system responds by producing antibodies and immune cells, preparing the body to respond if it encounters these proteins again.

The research on cancer mRNA vaccines both enabled the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and was accelerated by it. Now, several clinical trials are testing mRNA vaccines to fight different kinds of cancers — and some have shown promising early results.

President Joe Biden referred to this success in his State of the Union address on March 7.

“The pandemic no longer controls our lives,” he said. “The vaccine that saved us from COVID is — are now being used to beat cancer. Turning setback into comeback. That’s what America does.”

The president’s message wasn’t entirely clear. He was referring to the technology used to create the COVID-19 vaccines, not the COVID-19 vaccines themselves. Biden’s imprecise wording allowed opponents of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to twist his message on social media, where users misinterpreted Biden’s statement to claim the president was announcing the same vaccines used for COVID-19 were now being used to fight cancer.

“BREAKING: Biden announces that the COVID vaccine is now being used to cure cancer,” an Instagram user wrote on March 8. Similarly, comedian and conservative commentator Terrence K. Williams posted a Rumble video on Facebook titled, “JESUS!! Biden said the Covid Vaccine is being used to cure CANCER!!”

Comments on the social media posts repeated the unsupported claim that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer. As we’ve explained extensively, there’s no evidence to support that theory.

Philip Santangelo, a professor and cancer researcher at Emory University, told us he didn’t “think President Biden meant that literally” since COVID-19 vaccines “won’t help with cancer.” But Santangelo, who is leading a $24 million mRNA collaborative project funded by the federal government, said some of “the parts and pieces” of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine — the mRNA platform — is being used in cancer vaccines to train the immune system to fight the disease.

“He wasn’t wrong,” Santangelo told us in a phone interview in reference to Biden’s words. “I mean, you are still using that technology, but you’re not using it in exactly the same way.”

In fact, in August, when announcing the funding for Santangelo’s project, called Curing the Uncurable via RNA-Encoded Immunogene Tuning, as part of the White House Cancer Moonshot initiative, Biden used similar, but more detailed, language.

“Over the past few years, COVID-19 vaccines developed using mRNA technology have saved millions of lives around the world,” Biden said at the time. “Now, a skilled team at Emory University in Atlanta will work to adapt these technologies to turn more cancers into curable diseases. This is a bold endeavor that has the potential to transform the fight against cancer and other difficult diagnoses.”

mRNA Cancer Vaccines

Although no mRNA cancer vaccine has been authorized or approved for use yet, many are being studied to treat different kinds of cancers.

“There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ideas of how the platform could be used for cancer,” Dr. James A. Hoxie, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of the Penn Institute of RNA Innovation, told us, referring to the potential of mRNA.

Illustration of a lipid nanoparticle containing mRNA. By Dr. Microbe / stock.adobe.com

Therapies using mRNA rely on decades of research, in which scientists have learned how to modify RNA and package it in vesicles of fat, or lipid nanoparticles, to protect the RNA from premature degradation.

COVID-19 took the mRNA platform to “the next level,” Santangelo told us, by accelerating the manufacturing process and its scalability. The COVID-19 pandemic also created the opportunity to test the platform’s safety and efficacy in large clinical trials and evaluate the vaccines’ performance in real life.

“The production of mRNA vaccines today is easy, fast, and can be scaled up as needed,” Norbert Pardi, assistant professor of microbiology at Penn Medicine and lead of the vaccine group at the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation, told Cancer Currents, the National Cancer Institute’s blog.

Investigational cancer vaccines use the same mRNA tool as their COVID-19 predecessors — a lipid nanoparticle with RNA inside. What changes is the information the mRNA is delivering to cells. (The cancer vaccines also differ from the COVID-19 vaccines in that they’re therapeutic, meaning they’re intended to treat people who have already been diagnosed with cancer.)

Hoxie compared it to looking at two different pills that look the same, but treat different diseases. “Under a microscope, a lipid nanoparticle for COVID would look like a lipid nanoparticle to treat pancreatic cancer,” he said. “It looks the same, but they’re different.”

COVID-19 vaccines instruct cells to make spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. For the cancer vaccines, scientists are using this technology to instruct cells to produce proteins that are unique to cancer cells and not present in normal cells – specifically, tumor-specific antigens and neoantigens, new proteins that occur in cancer cells when they have mutated. Both can serve as good targets for vaccines and other immunotherapy because when the immune system sees these unfamiliar antigens, the body mounts a response and produces cytotoxic T cells that destroy tumor cells.

“Essentially, you can direct your immune system — that’s why it’s called a vaccine — to kill tumor cells,” Santangelo, who is working on different vaccine models for different kinds of tumors, told us.

“mRNA is just a relatively simple way to get cells to make proteins you want them to make, that’s it,” he said. “It’s a convenient platform that can be used to either, again, introduce cancer antigen to the immune system or express things like cytokines,” which are small proteins “that can help wake the immune system and get it revved up to go kill tumor cells.”

But the development of these cancer vaccines is challenging.

The diversity of tumors and antigens is one issue. Each cancer is different, and people’s cancers have unique combinations of mutations. To address this, researchers have been trying to use mRNA that can instruct cells to produce personalized neoantigens. The mRNA is manufactured after identifying mutations in samples from a patient’s cancerous cells. The process for making a personalized mRNA vaccine usually takes between one and two months, and the vaccine can include the genetic code for up to 34 different neoantigens, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Vaccines in Clinical Trials

One of the promising vaccine candidates in the pipeline is Merck and Moderna’s personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, known as mRNA-4157 or V940, which targets melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.

In a phase 2 clinical trial that involved 157 high-risk patients who had undergone surgery, 50 received the standard treatment (pembrolizumab) and 107 received standard treatment and the vaccine. Results published in January show that recurrence-free survival, which the trial was primarily intended to measure, was longer with the combination of both therapies. The rate of recurrence or death over around two years of follow-up was 22% for those who received the vaccine versus 40% for those who did not. The most common side effects from the vaccine were fatigue, chills and pain at the injection site.

In July, the companies announced a phase 3 trial, which plans to enroll “1,089 patients at more than 165 sites in over 25 countries around the world.”

“I have every confidence that this strategy will be expanded to … non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell cancer, hepatocellular cancer, gastroesophageal cancer, et cetera,” Dr. Jeffrey S. Weber, deputy director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone and a trial researcher, said at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, according to Medscape.

A second promising personalized mRNA vaccine, developed by BioNTech and Genentech, targets one of the most common and deadliest types of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In a phase 1 trial, of patients who have had surgery, 15 patients were treated with a drug called atezolizumab, nine doses of a vaccine with up to 20 personalized neoantigens and standard chemotherapy drugs for pancreatic cancer.

According to the results, the vaccine activated a strong T cell response against the neoantigens in half of the patients. These patients had a longer recurrence-free survival compared with those who didn’t show a T cell expansion. A phase 2 trial of the vaccine, called autogene cevumeran, started in October 2023 and hopes to enroll 260 participants in nearly 80 sites around the world.

“The evidence from the phase 1 trial showed that we are on the right track: An mRNA vaccine can trigger T cells to recognize pancreatic cancers as foreign,” Dr. Vinod Balachandran, who led a team from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said in a report from the center. “Moreover, the vaccines stimulated many such T cells, and we continued to detect T cells stimulated by such vaccines in patients up to two years later.”

Hoxie told us the results of these trials were impressive.

“In each case, it was an RNA vaccine platform that was generating an immune response that was capable of blunting, of decreasing the chance for relapse. So, what’s going to happen over time? Is that just delaying it, or is it really, totally preventing it? And, that’s what’s going to have to be seen,” he said. “But it gives you an idea why there’s excitement in the field — because you’ve done something with a vaccine that is changing the standard of care.”

Editor’s note: SciCheck’s articles providing accurate health information and correcting health misinformation are made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.org’s editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.

Sources

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Dolgin, Elie. “The tangled history of mRNA vaccines.” Nature. 14 Sep 2021.

Beyrer, Chris. “The Long History of mRNA Vaccines.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 6 Oct 2021.

Graff, Steve. “How mRNA Vaccines Help Fight Cancer Tumors, Too.” Penn Medicine News. 15 Jun 2021.

Winstead, Edward. “Can mRNA Vaccines Help Treat Cancer?” Cancer Currents Blog. 20 Jan 2022.

Barbier, Ann J., et al. “The clinical progress of mRNA vaccines and immunotherapies.” Nature Biotechnology. 9 May 2022.

“Search Results: cancer, mRNA, vaccines”. ClincalTrials.gov. Accessed 22 Mar 2024.

“Moderna says personalized mRNA cancer vaccine is effective for advanced melanoma.” The Associated Press. 13 Dec 2022.

Reynolds, Sharon. “An mRNA vaccine to treat pancreatic cancer.” NIH Research Matters. 23 May 2023.

“Remarks by President Biden in State of the Union Address.” The White House. 7 Mar 2024.

Yandell, Kate. “Posts Spread False Claim About Moderna Patent Application.” FactCheck.org. 22 Nov 2023.

Yandell, Kate. “COVID-19 Vaccines Have Not Been Shown to Alter DNA, Cause Cancer.” FactCheck.org. 26 Oct 2023.

Yandell, Kate. “COVID-19 Vaccines Have Not Been Shown to Cause ‘Turbo Cancer’.” FactCheck.org. 26 Oct 2023.

Santangelo, Philip. Phone interview with FactCheck.org. 15 Mar 2024.

Van Witsen, Tony. “Curing The Uncurable.” Emory Magazine. 12 Dec 2023.

“Statement from President Joe Biden on Cancer Moonshot Announcement.” The White House. 23 Aug 2023.
Hoxie, James A. Phone interview with FactCheck.org. 18 Mar 2024.

Xie, N., Shen, G., Gao, W. et al. “Neoantigens: promising targets for cancer therapy.” Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy. 6 Jan 2023.

“Neoantigen-Based Therapy.” Understanding Cancer Immunotherapy Research. Undated.

“Moderna and Merck Announce mRNA-4157/V940, an Investigational Personalized mRNA Cancer Vaccine, in Combination With KEYTRUDA(R) (pembrolizumab), was Granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA for Adjuvant Treatment of Patients With High-Risk Melanoma Following Complete Resection.” Press release. Moderna. 22 Feb 2023.

Weber, Jeffrey S. et al. “Individualised neoantigen therapy mRNA-4157 (V940) plus pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab monotherapy in resected melanoma (KEYNOTE-942): a randomised, phase 2b study.” The Lancet. 17-23 Feb 2024.

Osterweil, Neil. “‘Exciting’ Results for Cancer Vaccine Plus Pembro in Melanoma.” Medscape. 17 Apr 2023.

Sarantis, Panagiotis et al. “Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: Treatment hurdles, tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy.” World J Gastrointest Oncology. 15 Feb 2020.

Mueller, Benjamin. “Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise in Small Trial.” New York Times. 10 May 2023.

Rojas, Luis et al. “Personalized RNA neoantigen vaccines stimulate T cells in pancreatic cancer.” Nature. 10 May 2023.

“A Phase 2 Study of an mRNA Vaccine plus Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy Versus Chemotherapy Alone for People with Operable Pancreatic Cancer.” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Undated.

“A Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Adjuvant Autogene Cevumeran Plus Atezolizumab and mFOLFIRINOX Versus mFOLFIRINOX Alone in Participants With Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.” ClinicalTrials.gov. 1 Aug 2023. Last updated, 15 Mar 2024.

Stallard, Jim. “New mRNA Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Trial Starts Next Phase.” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. 20 Oct 2023.

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Trump’s ‘Bloodbath’ Comment – FactCheck.org

Post By Fact Check

Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate.

While speaking about the potential loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, former President Donald Trump said if he isn’t elected, “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”

President Joe Biden’s campaign quickly accused Trump of fomenting “political violence.” The Trump campaign said Trump was clearly using the term in the context of an economic bloodbath.

“If you actually watch and listen to the section, he was talking about the auto industry and tariffs,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, told the Washington Post, adding that “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers.”

That explanation seems the most plausible, given the context of Trump’s comments.

Speaking at a rally on the grounds of the Dayton International Airport in Ohio, Trump said that over the last three decades, Mexico has siphoned off U.S. auto manufacturing jobs, and he accused China of building car manufacturing plants in Mexico that will cost U.S. autoworkers their jobs.

Trump, March 16: China now is building a couple of massive plants where they’re going to build the cars in Mexico and think, they think, that they’re going to sell those cars into the United States with no tax at the border. Let me tell you something to China, if you’re listening President Xi, and you and I are friends, but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now, and you think you’re going to get that, you’re going to not hire Americans, and you’re going to sell the cars to us? No. We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars.

The Chinese electric vehicle company BYD says it is planning to build an EV plant in Mexico. But the company says it intends to sell the cars locally to consumers in Mexico and has no plans to sell any across the border in the U.S.

On Truth Social on March 18, Trump wrote that his words were being purposely misconstrued.

“The Fake News Media, and their Democrat Partners in the destruction of our Nation, pretended to be shocked at my use of the word BLOODBATH, even though they fully understood that I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden, which are killing the automobile industry,” Trump wrote, promising that if elected U.S. auto manufacturing “WILL THRIVE LIKE NEVER BEFORE.”

(An aside: When Trump was president, auto manufacturing jobs rose about 5.8% to 1,012,500 in his first two years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but dipped in his third year, and then again sharply during the pandemic. There were 949,300 auto manufacturing jobs in the U.S. when Trump left office. Under Biden, the number of auto manufacturing jobs has increased about 12.2% to 1,065,100 in February, the most recent data available.)

The Trump campaign also noted — rightly — that one of the definitions of “bloodbath,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “a major economic disaster.” We did a Nexis search of TV news transcripts and found numerous instances of bloodbath being used in that way.

Another definition provided by Merriam-Webster is “a notably fierce, violent, or destructive contest or struggle,” which is how Biden, his campaign and others viewed the former president’s “bloodbath” comment.

In a post on X, Biden posted a clip of Trump saying, “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it.” Biden commented, “It’s clear this guy wants another January 6.”

At the start of his speech in Ohio, Trump saluted as the sound system played a recording of the so-called J6 Prison Choir singing its song “Justice for All.” The song is a mashup of the choir — featuring people incarcerated for their role in the attack on the Capitol — singing the “Star Spangled Banner” as Trump recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

After the song finished, Trump praised the “spirit” of the “hostages,” a word he has repeatedly used to describe those convicted of various crimes for their roles in the Jan. 6 riot.

“They’ve been treated terribly and very unfairly, and you know that and everybody knows that,” Trump said, vowing that once elected, he would work on their behalf to free them.

“And we’re going to be working on that, soon as — the first day we get into office,” Trump said. “We’re going to save our country, and we’re going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable patriots, and they were unbelievable patriots, and are. You see the spirit, this cheering. They’re cheering while they’re doing that, and they did that in prison. And it’s a disgrace, in my opinion.”

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on March 17 about Trump’s “bloodbath” comments, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said Trump’s rhetoric often “walks up to the edge,” allowing people on both sides of the political aisle to interpret his meaning.

“That kind of rhetoric, it’s always on the edge, maybe doesn’t cross, maybe does, depending upon your perspective,” Cassidy said. “I also think, though, that the mainstream media contributes to it. If you take the one about the bloodbath, which arguably could be about an economic bloodbath not about kind of street violence related to the election, then it gives his defenders something to focus on, something – which was distorted. So, yes, he always walks up to the edge on that rhetoric. And again, that’s why people are concerned. But sometimes the mainstream media, whether they want to or not, can’t resist, and they go just a little bit too far, which distracts from what could be the impact.”

Cassidy noted that the definition of bloodbath includes an economic disaster.

“And so if he’s speaking about the auto industry in particular in Ohio, then you can take it with a little bit more context,” Cassidy said. “That’s why I say you walk up to the line. Depending upon the perspective, somebody is going to interpret it. He’s running against Biden, so Biden’s going to say it’s about political violence. His defenders want to defend him, and so they’re going to say it’s about economic disaster. There’s always just that little bit of tension there, which allows the dispute about the interpretation as opposed to the kind of general sort of, ‘Is this a person we want to have in office?’”

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Amit Malviya shares two clipped videos of Rahul Gandhi on subsequent days with false claims – Alt News

Post By Fact Check

BJP leader and in-charge of its national information & technology department Amit Malviya recently shared two videos featuring Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, both of which subsequently went viral on social media.

One of the videos is of Rahul Gandhi at an I.N.D.I.A alliance event in Maharashtra, where others present on the stage can be seen garlanding him with one of them holding an idol of the Hindu deity Vitthala. (Video I)

In the other, a seven-second clip from the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, Rahul Gandhi can be heard saying, “ये वाला डंडा देना, झंडा उतर दो इससे” (Translation: “Remove the flag and give me the stick”). Following this, some people in the crowd remove the national flag from the stick. (Video II)

Video I:

Malviya (@amitmalviya) shared the viral clip on X on March 14 with the caption, “Rahul Gandhi refuses to accept idol of Bhagwan Vitthal on stage. This is an insult of not just the Warkaris but millions of Hindu devotees, who revere the Lord. From DMK to the Congress, Hindu hate is what binds the I.N.D.I Alliance. Rahul Gandhi suffers from Hindumisia.” The tweet received 370,600 views, 7,700 likes and 4,000 retweets. (Archive)

Rahul Gandhi refuses to accept idol of Bhagwan Vitthal on stage. This is an insult of not just the Warkaris but millions of Hindu devotees, who revere the Lord.
From DMK to the Congress, Hindu hate is what binds the I.N.D.I Alliance.
Rahul Gandhi suffers from Hindumisia. pic.twitter.com/ONLXxD9Pal

— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 14, 2024

The official page of BJP Maharashtra (@BJP4Maharashtra) also shared the video claiming that Gandhi insulted the Hindu God by not agreeing to hold the idol. (Archive)

Republic Bharat also amplified Malviya’s claim in a report titled, ‘Rahul Gandhi again insulted Sanatan, refused to take the idol of Lord Vitthal, BJP alleged’.

After running a keyword search on X, we came across the extended version of the viral clip which was posted by @INCMaharashtra on social media. The 0:18 mark of the extended version of the clip depicts Rahul Gandhi accepting the idol.

धरीला पंढरीचा चोर | गळा बांधुनिया दोर ||
हृदय बंदिखाना केला | आंत विठ्ठल कोंडीला
शब्दे केली जडाजुडी | विठ्ठल पायी घातली बेडी
सोहम शब्दाचा मारा केला | विठ्ठल काकुळती आला

आम्ही रामाचे पुजारी, हे तर रामाचे व्यापारी… ही संत जनाबाई ह्यांच्या अभंगाची ओळ या भाजपावाल्यांसाठी… https://t.co/nAKX6XNXT2 pic.twitter.com/cSN5XLmUfu

— Maharashtra Congress (@INCMaharashtra) March 14, 2024

We noticed that the official YouTube channel of Congress also posted an extended video titled, ‘Farmers Meeting l Nashik I Maharashtra I Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ on March 14, 2024. At the 17:28 mark of the video, Gandhi can be seen accepting the idol of Lord Vitthala on stage. He accepted the idol during ‘Krushi Utpanna Bazaar Samiti‘ in Nashik, Maharashtra. Other political leaders including, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders were also present at the farmers’ meet.

Hence, it is clear that Amit Malviya and others shared a clipped video of the event and made the false claim that Rahul Gandhi had refused to accept an idol of the Hindu deity Vitthala.

Video II:

Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) shared this clip on X on March 13 with the caption, “Rahul Gandhi asks India’s flag to be taken down…This is straight out of George Soros’s rule book, where he asks his protégée to insult and demean everything Indian.” Malviya suggested that the opposition leader works at the behest of Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, where the latter has previously criticised PM Modi and his connection with Gautam Adani. Malviya’s tweet received over 129,700 views, 5,600 likes and 2,700 retweets. He has also disseminated misleading claims and misinformation in the past. (Archive)

Rahul Gandhi asks India’s flag to be taken down…
This is straight out of George Soros’s rule book, where he asks his protégée to insult and demean everything Indian. pic.twitter.com/wDYAiDCQCY

— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 13, 2024

A YouTube channel called Indian Compass posted the viral clip, titled ‘This Is The Respect Rahul Gandhi Has For The National Flag‘. The video has received over 57,233 views.

Among others who made the same claim @iAnkurSingh and vice-president of BJP Delhi Visshnu Mittal (@visshnumittal).

Fact Check

We broke down the viral video using Invid software and reverse-searched one of the key frames on Google. This led us to a video titled, ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra resumes from Dondaicha, Maharashtra‘ that was posted by the Congress’ official YouTube channel on March 13, 2024.

At the 9:58 mark, Rahul Gandhi asks a man in the crowd named Santosh Patil to come and sit beside him. Following this, Gandhi tries to dramatically demonstrate how, according to him, the Modi government allegedly distracted the public’s attention from important national issues thereby helping Indian billionaire Gautam Adani to rob common people. He says, “इसका ध्यान पहले इधर उधर करेगा। कौन करेगा? नरेंद्र मोदी करेगा, उसके बाद पीछेसे अडानी आएगा और जेब कटेगा।”

The viral clip was taken from the 11:11 mark of the extended video, where Rahul Gandhi asks for a stick to symbolically demonstrate how the BJP government allegedly misuses central agencies like ED, CBI and the Income Tax Department. Gandhi says, “अच्छा मुझे ये डंडा देना, झंडा उतरदो इससे… ये देदो छोटा वाला (डंडा) देदो..तोह मोदी ध्यान इधर उधर करेगा, right? अडानी पीछे से जेब कटेगा और अमित शाह यु डंडा पकड़के ED, CBI, Income Tax Department लेके मारेगा। किसको मारेगा? इसको (जनताको ) मरेगा।”

We noticed that Rahul Gandhi used similar dramatic demonstrations using a stick in his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra rally in Vyara Gujarat on March 13, 2024. At the 16:01 mark of the video titled, ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra I Vyara Gujarat’, Rahul Gandhi tells the crowd to remove the (Congress) flag and give him the stick. He goes on to demonstrate how the Modi government is allegedly misusing central agencies and distracting the public from more poignant socio-economic issues.

Hence, the claim that Rahul Gandhi wanted an Indian flag taken down is entirely false. He needed a stick and asked someone present in the rally to hand him over a stick by removing the Indian flag. The clipped video that Amit Malviya shared does not present the whole context.

Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.

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Trump’s Comments About ‘Cutting’ Entitlements in Context – FactCheck.org

Post By Fact Check

Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate.

President Joe Biden said he has caught former President Donald Trump admitting that he wants to cut Social Security and Medicare. The Trump campaign said, in context, Trump was talking about cutting waste and fraud in those programs – not benefits.

There’s some room for disagreement about what Trump may have meant. But Trump has consistently said at other times — not only in this campaign but also as president — that he would not make any cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits.

However, even assuming Trump meant to say that he planned to solve the financial predicament faced by Social Security and Medicare by combating waste, fraud and abuse, experts say that wouldn’t do much to fix the long-term finances of those programs.

First, here is what Trump said in an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen. We bolded the part that Biden and his campaign have highlighted.

Kernen, March 11: There are stark policy differences, obviously, Mr. President, but one thing that I think that at least the perception is that there’s not a whole lot of difference between what you think we should do with entitlements or non-discretionary spending and what President Biden is proposing. It’s almost a third rail of politics. And we’ve got to what a $33, $34 trillion total debt built up and very little we can do in terms of cutting spending. Discretionary is not going to help. Have you changed your, your outlook on how to handle entitlements Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Mr. President? Seems like something has to be done, or else we’re going to be stuck at 120% of debt-to-GDP forever.

Trump: So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements. There’s tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do. So I don’t necessarily agree with the statement. I know that they’re going to end up weakening Social Security because the country is weak.

Later that day, on X, Biden posted a clip of the interview, ending with Trump saying, “So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting.” Biden commented, “Not on my watch.”

And on March 12, Biden again posted that audio clip. The tweet from Biden said, “I watched the clip of Trump proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare. I won’t let Trump take seniors’ hard-earned benefits to give tax breaks to his wealthy friends.”

The following day, during a speech in Wisconsin, Biden promised not to cut Social Security and Medicare, and criticized Trump for his recent remarks. “You know, just this week Donald Trump said cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table,” Biden said. “When asked if he’d change his position, he said, quote, ‘There’s a lot we can do in terms of cutting. Tremendous amount of things we can do,’ end of quote.”

But it wasn’t “end of quote,” as Trump’s full response above shows.

The Trump campaign responded with a post on X that said, “If you losers didn’t cut his answer short, you would know President Trump was talking about cutting waste.” The post includes a clip of the Trump interview that extends all the way to him saying, “So I don’t necessarily agree with the statement.”

The Washington Post noted that the Trump campaign also sent out an email blast headlined “President Trump Reiterates Protecting Entitlements Like Social Security and Medicare; Would Get Rid of Waste and Fraud.” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told MarketWatch, “The transcript of his answer … clearly states he did not say anything about cutting entitlements.”

In an interview with Breitbart on March 13, Trump said, “I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare. We’ll have to do it elsewhere. But we’re not going to do anything to hurt them.”

“There’s so many things we can do,” Trump said. “There’s so much cutting and so much waste in so many other areas, but I’ll never do anything to hurt Social Security.”

There are aspects of Trump’s comments that support the interpretations of both campaigns.

Trump said there is “a lot to do” with entitlements “in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.” The word “also” suggests he was talking about “theft and bad management” in addition to cutting entitlement programs.

However, it’s also true that Trump frequently says on the campaign trail that he would protect the programs, as he did at an event in Georgia on March 9 two days before the CNBC interview. “As I said, for many years, I will always protect Medicare and Social Security,” Trump said.

Back when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley were still in the Republican primary, Trump would often criticize them for saying they would raise the eligibility age for Social Security — and as we have written, Trump sometimes got his facts wrong when doing so.

During Biden’s State of the Union address, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Republicans have no plan to cut Social Security, a made up story by Crooked Joe!” As we wrote, some Republicans — though not Trump — have proposed raising the retirement age for some future beneficiaries. That would reduce scheduled benefits for those affected, and therefore is considered by budget experts to be a cut of the program.

When House Republicans in early 2023 began to debate among themselves how to reduce government spending, Trump warned them not to include any cuts to Social Security or Medicare.

“Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security to help pay for Joe Biden’s reckless spending spree,” Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social on Jan. 20. Trump listed “waste fraud and abuse” as one potential area to cut the budget. He added, “But do not cut the benefits our seniors worked for and paid for their entire lives. Save Social Security. Don’t destroy it.”

Waste, Fraud and Abuse

Kernen was correct that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid finances are problematic.

Unless the program is changed or new revenues are raised, the reserves of the Social Security trust fund related to the retirement portion of the program are projected to become depleted in 2033. At that time the program would only have enough income to pay 77% of scheduled retirement benefits, according to the latest report from the trustees overseeing the program.

Likewise, trustees of the Medicare trust funds warn that future expenditures will increasingly outpace workers’ earnings or the projected growth in the economy, such that the trust fund reserves for Part A, which covers hospital expenses, will be deleted in 2031. At that time, revenues would cover just 89% of program costs.

The trustees estimate that under current policies, the Social Security retirement and disability programs will amass a $22.4 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years. The Medicare trustees estimate a $4.4 trillion shortfall over that same time.

Trump has been saying all the way back to when he first became a candidate for president that he would solve Social Security and Medicare funding gaps by tackling waste, fraud and abuse in the programs. “Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it,” Trump said at the June 2015 announcement of his presidential candidacy. “Get rid of the fraud. Get rid of the waste and abuse, but save it.”

But experts told us there’s simply not enough waste, fraud and abuse in the programs to solve their financial challenges.

“First: you can’t fix Social Security’s finances simply by attacking waste, fraud and abuse,” Charles Blahous, a senior research strategist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told us via email. “Social Security is an extraordinarily efficient program, with extremely low administrative costs. Social Security faces a massive funding shortfall, not because of improper payments or administrative waste, but because its scheduled benefits far exceed the amount that worker tax contributions can actually fund.

“For perspective, consider that Social Security’s financing shortfall equates to more than 21% of scheduled benefits over the next 75 years, while its administrative cost rate is roughly 0.5% of expenses.

“Medicaid is a different story,” Blahous said, where “improper payments” are “a significant problem.”

“Medicare is somewhere in the middle,” he said. “Improper payments are a serious concern in Medicare as well, perhaps one-third to one-half as bad as they are in Medicaid. But Medicare’s financing challenges are so large that they can’t be solved purely by attacking waste and fraud. For perspective, consider my finding that nearly half of the long-term federal fiscal imbalance is due to excess Medicare cost growth alone. That can’t be fixed without taxpayers, healthcare providers and beneficiaries (at least high-income beneficiaries) all contributing to the solution.”

In 2016, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget wrote that all improper payments from Social Security, including payments to the deceased and the very old, were estimated to be about $3 billion per year. Given that Social Security benefits that year exceeded $900 billion, eliminating all improper payments would have reduced costs “by at most 0.4 percent, extending the program’s solvency by about 3 months.”

“Social Security cannot be meaningfully fixed with waste, fraud and abuse, as per our post,” Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told us in an email.

“Medicare is a different story,” Goldwein said. “There are a tremendous amount of overpayments to providers and insurance companies that one could regard as ‘waste’ and are sometimes connected to fraud and abuse. We could save a tremendous amount of money by reducing these excessive payments.”

As president, of course, Trump had four years to try to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. And his proposed budgets sought to make some headway. But again, just addressing waste, fraud and abuse will not solve the long-term finances of Social Security and Medicare.

As president, Trump proposed budgets that included significant reductions in future Medicare spending. But as we wrote, experts told us the proposals included bipartisan ideas also supported by former President Barack Obama. CRFB said the Medicare proposals “represent reductions in costs not cuts to benefits.”

Trump did not propose cuts to Social Security retirement benefits — including the age of eligibility for benefits — but, as we wrote, his budgets did call for changes to disability benefits that would translate to cuts for some beneficiaries.

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