(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Even for PolitiFact this is a bit much…

In another year of lament about the lack of truth in politics, the attacks against Parkland’s students stand out because of their sheer vitriol. Together, the lies against the Parkland students in the wake of unspeakable tragedy were the most significant falsehoods of 2018. We name them PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year.

Outright lies morphed into suspicions about the students’ connections. Also on Feb. 20, Donald Trump Jr. liked a tweet by a conservative TV show host Graham Ledger that linked to a story by the Gateway Pundit website stating that David Hogg was “coached on anti-Trump lines.”

Russian-linked Twitter accounts got into the action, too, promoting messages that attacked Parkland students, according to analysts at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy project. (The bipartisan group tracks the efforts of autocratic countries to undermine democracies.)

PolitiFact has debunked multiple false claims of shooters having particular political ideologies. PolitiFact, PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year: Online Smear Machine Tries to Take Down Parkland Students

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

85 COMMENTS

  1. Politifact is a liberal/progressive/democrat stooge organization and spout the party line propaganda. Can’t believe anything they claim. Probably funded by Soros, Steyer, et al.

    • Which is more important to a greater America, the AR15 or mouthy entitled teenagers?

      America’s future is with the gun.

      • “Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source,” Peter Stone and Greg Gordon of McClatchy write. “The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.”

        • I’ll believe that when there is actual, tangible evidence that isn’t sealed or classified and is readily viewable to the public. That means not only indictments, but convictions.

        • In pursuit of their mission, Butina and Torshin spent a lot of time cultivating the National Rifle Association—and NRA officials eagerly welcomed the Russians into their midst. A video recorded in Moscow in 2013, little-noticed until now, shows how a top NRA official enthusiastically cooperated with the Russians to help them build up a new Russian gun-rights group that Butina and Torshin used for their influence operation.

          One NRA leader with whom the pair of Russians developed long-term ties was David Keene, an NRA board member who served as president of the organization from 2011 to 2013. In fall 2013, Keene traveled to Moscow at their invitation for a meeting of about 200 gun-rights advocates hosted by The Right to Bear Arms, a fledgling group Butina had set up in 2011. In a video recorded during the event, Butina introduces Keene, who thanks her by her first name as he takes the podium. Keene then begins an eight-minute speech to the group with comments about his warm ongoing relationship with Torshin, who was sanctioned by the Treasury Department this April and has been accused of mob ties and money laundering by the Spanish government. (Torshin denies those allegations.)

        • Okay, I’ll ask you again: where is the evidence? All that you have presented so far are unsubstantiated assertions and hearsay. Where exactly is this video that you’re alluding to? Where’s the proof that the accused Russian national actually started The Right to Bear Arms? Hell, where’s the evidence of allegations against Torshin, for that matter? Is it a matter of public record? Are these tidbits posted somewhere that you can link to? My interest is certainly piqued now.

        • Are they the same ones who were named in the Russian Collusion investigation? The Oligarchs who were subpoenaed and actually showed-up. The prosecutors were surprised and didn’t know what to do.

      • Overpromising on healthcare especially since the Republicans were able to water down the ACA doesn’t really seem that big a deal when you consider Trump and company’s treason against America.

        And when Trump promised a healthcare system cheaper with better coverage for more people three years ago would we call that lie?

        • As a matter of fact, yes. Yes, they did lie. Thats why we have guns, and thats why you dont trust the .gov until you see it fleshed out as reality. Even then you dont trust them because they have the midas touch for corrupting things.

        • Except that Republicans have literally never even had the ability to water down the ACA in any way, whatsoever, except to get rid of the individual mandate. Let alone make it even more broken than it already was from the outset. No, that’s not really a big deal, either. The UNaffordable Care Act was doomed to failure from the very start, and now everyone — including you, whether you’ll admit it or not — knows this for a fact.

          “Treason.” You very clearly have less than absolutely zero idea at all what that word even means, let alone how it doesn’t so far apply to Drumpf.

        • Under ObamaCare I lost my doctor, my premiums went up. My insurance plan options were reduced. There are 2 insurance companies in Illinois. Now, I hear there’s one, BC/BS. The only thing Trump did was eliminate the penalty for uninsured people. My insurance agent said everything else is the same. I pay what everyone my age pays in my county. That’s the law. You must get insurance from your employee, I wish.

  3. There is no such thing as organic grass roots activism in this day and age. Sure, plenty of malleable minds go along to get along but the spark is always lit and gasoline thrown periodically thrown on the fire by some partisan entity with something to gain.

    • Not 100% true. But you can bet the bank that any ‘grass root movement’ that is attacking our rights and/or pushing products(pharma) is astroturf.

      • Measles is still a killer. Getting better though, thanks to vaccines.

        Measles affects about 20 million people a year,[3] primarily in the developing areas of Africa and Asia.[6] No other vaccine-preventable disease causes as many deaths.[11] In 1980, 2.6 million people died of it,[6] and in 1990, 545,000 died; by 2014, global vaccination programs had reduced the number of deaths from measles to 73,000.[8][12] The risk of death among those infected is usually 0.2%,[5] but may be up to 10% in people with malnutrition.[6] Most of those who die from the infection are less than five years old.[6] Measles is not believed to affect other animals.[6] Before immunization in the United States, between three and four million cases occurred each year.[5] As a result of widespread vaccination, the disease was declared eliminated from the Americas in 2016.[13] It, however, occurred again in 2017 and 2018 in this region.[14]

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles

        • Citing Wikipedia again, and using 3rd world statistics to artificially bolster a false claim? That’s old hat troll material gov.

        • Those who believe vaccination harms more than it helps have not done the research on the subject. There are zero medical studies linking vaccination with autism spectrum disorder. To pretend otherwise is to condemn the gullible to a life of illness and an early death.

        • @miner “Those who believe vaccination harms more than it helps have not done the research on the subject”-OK, then show the conclusive science showing the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks. i’ll grab some popcorn.
          “There are zero medical studies linking vaccination with autism spectrum disorder.”-At least not to your limited knowledge on the subject, but emerging biological studies are showing links with vaccine ingredients and autism. And 2 former government experts have testified under oath in deposition that they have changed their minds, and that they now believe the shots are causing autism in certain children.
          “To pretend otherwise is to condemn the gullible to a life of illness and an early death”-Just an uninformed opinion with zero basis in science.

        • Hmmmm, I don’t see a reply button for PG to post so I’ll just put this right here to answer his assertion that there are no studies showing the effectiveness of vaccination in reducing disease and saving lives.

          “Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide

          FE Andre a, R Booy b, HL Bock c, J Clemens d, SK Datta c, TJ John e, BW Lee f, S Lolekha g, H Peltola h, TA Ruff i, M Santosham j, HJ Schmitt k

          Introduction

          Vaccination has greatly reduced the burden of infectious diseases. Only clean water, also considered to be a basic human right, performs better.1 Paradoxically, a vociferous antivaccine lobby thrives today in spite of the undeniable success of vaccination programmes against formerly fearsome diseases that are now rare in developed countries.”

          pg2, do you also believe the earth is flat?

        • Replying for pg2;

          ‘OK, then show the conclusive science showing the earth is round.’

        • When citing Wikipedia fails, quote the WHO and the CDC, who are both in the vaccine business. Priceless. You predictably failed to cite anything backing your claim that the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks, because the science supporting that bumper sticker opinion doesn’t exist. Agency(CDC, WHO)statements are only proof of your trolling and resorting to appeal to authoritity fallacy because you have no credible science to post. Try JB Handleys book, “How to End the Autism Epidemic”. He has the testimony of government experts testifying under oath that vaccines do cause autism. He also cites a number of biological studies showing links to vaccines and their ingredients and autism.

        • “This paper by several authors, including the anti-vaccine Christopher Exley and Romain K Gherardi, published in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry (which has been a subject of this blog before) has one of the worst introductions I have ever read. The first paragraph is basically copy/pasted from others and then twisted to fulfill the anti-vaccine tone of the paper. From there on in it doesn’t get any better.

          Many of the references don’t say what the authors want you to think they do. Genuinely, the authors introduce papers which conclude that there is a lack of evidence for causality, but the authors act as if they conclude the opposite.

          Many other references are items by the authors – the self reference is rampant. They, apparently and willfully, misrepresent the current state of play regarding the EMA and certain members of the Nordic Cochrane group –it is almost unbelievably poor.”

          Antivaxxers rely on junk science and avoid peer review.

          Belief in conspiracy theory is a mental illness.

        • Miner, my popcorns getting cold waiting for you to produce the studies/science you claim show conclusive evidence that the benefits of vaccines outweighs the risks….guess I’ll make another batch and keep waiting….sometimes it’s fun watching a troll trying to get out of a corner that he lied himself into….

        • pg2,

          You tell us that vaccines are bad. And yet I have not seen and cannot find a single case of a vaccinated person becoming infected with polio in the U.S. since 1960. As far as I can determine, the polio vaccine is good.

          Nevertheless, here are the fun questions:

          (1) If the polio vaccine did not exist, how many people in the United States since 1960 would have contracted polio? And what would be the cost of that disease in medical treatment expenses, lost productivity, and quality of life?

          (2) Of course the polio vaccine does exist and appears to be wildly effective at eliminating new polio cases. How many people in the United States since 1960 have suffered negative side-effects from the polio vaccine? And what was the cost of those negative side-effects in medical treatment expenses, lost productivity, and quality of life?

        • Here are just a few studies addressing the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing disease and suffering, none from WHO and CDC.

          pg2, please share the published, peer reviewed studies that show vaccine harm outweighs benefits.

          The societal value of vaccination in developing countries.
          Shearley AE, et al. Vaccine. 1999

          Vaccines, global health and social equity.
          Review article
          Levine MM, et al. Immunol Cell Biol. 2009

          An extended cost-effectiveness analysis of publicly financed HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer in China.
          Levin CE, et al. Vaccine. 2015

          Global mortality, disability, and the contribution of risk factors: Global Burden of Disease Study.
          Murray CJ, et al. Lancet. 1997

          Impact of influenza vaccination disparities on elderly mortality in the United States.
          Fiscella K, et al. Prev Med. 2007

        • uncommon- ” You tell us that vaccines are bad”-You’re putting words in my mouth. I have stated here repeatedly that adequate vaccine safety studies have not been done, and that the individual right to make informed medical decisions must always be maintained in this country.
          Your questions may be fun, but are you asking the right questions? Do you know polio is an enterovirus? And even by the CDC’s numbers, 95-99% of people with polio fully recover without sequelae? And the vast majority of people with polio show zero symptoms? Polio has been around a very long time, why did it suddenly become a significant problem in the 1940’s and 1950’s ? Did you know the incidence of what was called polio actually increased after the vaccine was introduced? Did you know they then changed the definition and diagnostic criteria for polio which significantly reduced the cases of what was called polio? Do you know what provocation Polio is? Do you know what the numbers are for people suffering from paralytic disorders today that would have been diagnosed as polio prior to the definition change and vaccine? You want to have more fun? Ask the right questions. And this “How many people in the United States since 1960 have suffered negative side-effects from the polio vaccine?”-We have now way of knowing this because the polio vaccine was the fastest vaccine ever approved and to this day it has never, not once. been safety against an inert placebo group. And the iron ling pictures…here’s another fun question, how many people throughout the entire polio epidemic , or what was called polio at that time , were put into iron lungs? Another fun question, why did what was called polio at that time reduce at similar rates in Europe where there was no mass polio vaccine campaign? I wont even mention the pesticide DDT, we have enough fun here already.

          Here’s a fun link with citations you can peruse.

          https://vactruth.com/2015/07/05/cdc-made-polio-disappear/

        • If you’re pregnant when you get measles, your kid may be deaf (family history here). Many people survive measles. I’d be more concerned about MERSA. It’s everywhere in nursing homes. You can smell it, if you’ve seen it before.

  4. If it was an unspeakable tragedy, how come these people can’t stop talking about it?

    Surviving a tragedy makes you neither a saint nor a sinner … nor an instant expert. It makes you a survivor. The parkland survivors (David Hogg not among them as he was in a different building) have my sympathy but for the most part have lost my respect. So have those who attempt to place them above question or reproach.

  5. another treasonous Anti -American Organization controlled by the Illuminati, they can’t stop dancing in the blood of these students because they have nothing relevant too say!

    • Here’s some information about a treasonous organization undermining American democracy. Where is the gun communities outrage? Are there no patriots on this form are there no patriots on this forum?

      It’s interesting to see Russian agents at the NRA convention in Louisville, and watch Trump’s sons fawning devotion to agents of Reagan’s Evil Empire.

      • “Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source,” Peter Stone and Greg Gordon of McClatchy write. “The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.”

        • I’ll believe that when there is actual, tangible evidence that isn’t sealed or classified and is readily viewable to the public. That means not only indictments, but convictions based squarely on that evidence that is out there for everyone to see.

        • You are aware that you do not have to be an American citizen to belong to the NRA? There are a number of foreign nationals that are members of the NRA! Now the idea that a Russian member was giving money to the NRA to channel to the Trump election campaign is utter nonsense. I am sure that this story came from Chucks’ or Nancys’ drug fueled fantasies.

      • I’m so happy blatant paid trolls like yourself predictably take the “vaccines are safe and effective” bumper sticker position. Maybe some of these people here who have been duped their entire life in the false vaccine narrative will begin to understand the people trying to disarm them are the very same people pushing mandatory medical/pharmaceutical procedures.

        • pg2, I wouldn’t say that I am in favor of any mandatory vaccination, unless you plan on having your self or your kids mingle with other citizens here in my country. In that case, I would think a mandatory vaccination program would be good. My mother like many of her generation had a wizard leg from polio, this was very common in America, FDR himself had been crippled by polio. But an intensive program of vaccination has virtually eradicated polio. So tell me do you know anyone with polio? I guess it works then, right?

          Here’s some published, peer reviewed studies showing how important vaccinations are to the health of humans. Are they perfect, no. Are there risk associated with vaccination? Yes, but the benefits far outweigh the risks.

          The societal value of vaccination in developing countries.
          Shearley AE, et al. Vaccine. 1999

          Vaccines, global health and social equity.
          Review article
          Levine MM, et al. Immunol Cell Biol. 2009

          An extended cost-effectiveness analysis of publicly financed HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer in China.
          Levin CE, et al. Vaccine. 2015

          Global mortality, disability, and the contribution of risk factors: Global Burden of Disease Study.
          Murray CJ, et al. Lancet. 1997

          Impact of influenza vaccination disparities on elderly mortality in the United States.
          Fiscella K, et al. Prev Med. 2007

        • Guess I’ll make a 3rd batch of popcorn waiting for you cite the conclusive evidence of your claim that ‘the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks’. Luckily I have lots of popcorn.

        • OK, let’s just look at the last steady as site regarding the elderly in America from 2007.

          The conclusions clearly shows influenza vaccination’s save lives.

          If we were talking about the flat earth theory this would be funny. But we’re discussing peoples lives so it’s a bit more serious and worthy of our attention.

          “RESULTS: Parity in influenza vaccination would reduce elderly minority deaths by 1880 annually. Achievement of 90% vaccination coverage would reduce minority and White deaths by 3750 and 11,840 annually. Parity in vaccination beginning at age 65 and continuing through out life would save more than 33,000 minority years of life.

          CONCLUSIONS: Based on conservative estimates, elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in influenza vaccination would significantly reduce elderly minority mortality and save substantial years of minority life.”

        • Miner, for shits and giggles I reviewed the papers you cited trying to bluff your way through this conversation. And lets not forget the entire premise is that you are trying to convince me, and other readers, that the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks.

          1) The societal value of vaccination in developing countries.
          Shearley AE, et al. Vaccine. 1999……Nowhere in this paper does it discuss, study, or compare the health of vaccinated individuals against non-vaccinated individuals. Not a relevant link for this conversation.
          2)Vaccines, global health and social equity. Review article Levine MM, et al. Immunol Cell Biol. 2009….The paper states this “The fact that in New York City infant mortality fell from approximately 140 deaths per 1000 live births in 1900 to <60 per 1000 by 1930 indicates what can be achieved through improvements in public health, such as the provision of clean piped water, sewage disposal and fresh refrigeration"…guess you didn't read your own link because it supports my position.
          3) An extended cost-effectiveness analysis of publicly financed HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer in China.
          Levin CE, et al. Vaccine. 2015…..its a cost analysis paper, has nothing to say about the risks vs benefits of the HPV. And we are seeing an increase in cervical cancer despite the vaccine, not a decrease.
          4) Global mortality, disability, and the contribution of risk factors: Global Burden of Disease Study. Murray CJ, et al. Lancet. 1997….Not even a vaccine paper, guess you didn't read that one either.
          5) Impact of influenza vaccination disparities on elderly mortality in the United States.
          Fiscella K, et al. Prev Med. 2007……Absolute junk science paper, I dare you to try to explain the methodology used and how they arrived at the results they used in the paper.

          Miner, you are spamming this forum with BS links you haven't even read, pushing anti-gun, anti-informed consent, anti-liberty agendas. Very amateur and transparent.

        • pg2, it is interesting to note that you attack the peer reviewed studies I provided, yet you do not provide any peer reviewed studies to support your position.

          Again, let’s focus on the last study, where are you attack the methodology. The study clearly shows that more vaccinations in the elderly population will save lives by decreasing mortality. You are denying reality by ignoring this finding.

          “METHODS: We model racial and ethnic parity in influenza vaccination on reduction in annual minority deaths among the elderly using age-, sex-, race-, and ethnicity-specific influenza vaccination data from the 2002 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, national mortality data and a relative risk (0.89; 95% confidence interval 0.80-0.98) for all-cause mortality during influenza season associated with vaccination. We also estimate the impact of 90% influenza coverage (Healthy People 2010 objective) on annual minority and white deaths. Lastly, we estimate years of minority lives saved from parity in annual vaccination beginning at age 65.

          RESULTS: Parity in influenza vaccination would reduce elderly minority deaths by 1880 annually. Achievement of 90% vaccination coverage would reduce minority and White deaths by 3750 and 11,840 annually. Parity in vaccination beginning at age 65 and continuing through out life would save more than 33,000 minority years of life.

          CONCLUSIONS: Based on conservative estimates, elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in influenza vaccination would significantly reduce elderly minority mortality and save substantial years of minority life.”

        • Miner, taking quotes from the study is NOT explaining the methodology or explaining how the authors came to their conclusions. You haven’t read the paper, and you don’t even understand the paper. Funny as 💩. I’ve read the paper, and so haven’t the authors of this paper: https://vaccinepapers.org/wp-content/uploads/Mortality-Reduction-with-Influenza-Vaccine-in-Patients-with-Pneumonia-Outside-Flu’-Season.pdf

          And : http://vaccinepapers.org/healthy-user-bias-why-most-vaccine-safety-studies-are-wrong/

          And: http://vaccinepapers.org/al-adjuvant-causes-brain-inflammation-behavioral-disorders/

          And: https://vaccinepapers.org/wp-content/uploads/Flu-vaccine-opinion-Dr-Doshi.pdf

          To name a few. And if you get bored check the (formerly independent, now Bill Gates owned)Cochrane Database which has 2 separate studies which conclude The data for flu shots does not support the efficacy of the flu shots in kids under 2, or in ADULTS.

          I Could do this all day, the science is not on your side despite how much junk science you try to bluff your way through with.

  7. “Outright lies morphed into suspicions about the students’ connections.”

    Here is a picture of former Parkland student and current gun grabber David Hogg taking a payment personally from Gun Grabber Supreme Michael Bloomberg:

    https://www.dailywire.com/sites/default/files/gettyimages-961977166.jpg

    Then there is the fact that mere high school students can not afford to travel around the country protesting and speaking, and yet there they were, traveling from city to city. The Parkland students certainly had connections; Michael Bloomberg, Gucci, Steven Spielberg and his wife, George Clooney, and many more rich individuals and corporations gave money to their organization.

    • Never read an explanation of why Mr. [attention] Hogg deserved a check, but Ms. Gonzalez did not.

      • The March For Our Lives students undoubtedly all got money from Bloomberg for pushing gun grabbing(like Shannon Watts, the Monsanto Mom), but I always remember that picture for being nakedly mercenary.

        They are all getting paid somehow.

  8. ” David Hogg was “coached on anti-Trump lines.” ”

    Hogg-boyy is so damned dumb he needs to be coached on how to take a crap in the morning.

    According to Hogg-boyy logic— I was alive on September 10, 2001. I was still alive on September 12. Therefor, I am a 9-11 survivor.

    Never mind that I was in North Carolina when the planes hit the towers.

    • Hogg was too dumb to get into the universities tovwhich he applied. That is an accomplishment these days. It is a reflection on his hubris that he only picked schools that he was not qualified for. He reminds me of another Nazi — Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels hung out with the bright set, many of them Jews, who treated him poorly. He chose to focus his resentment and hatred on the Jews.

      • Another reason Hogg is not going to a university is because he has a career already like Shannon Watts: professional gun grab agitator.

        Michael Bloomberg puts a lot of money into this endeavor, and he not the only rich individual pushing gun grabbing.

  9. over 3000 students at marjory stoneman douglas high school
    the fbi has about 14000 agents
    there are about 26000 public high schools in america
    what are the chances that in the aftermath of the shooting the one person at that school that achieves superhero status in the eyes of the left just so happens to be the son of an fbi agent:
    essentially one hundred thousand trillion to one
    oh yeah and 8 days after the shooting on feb 22 2018 barack obama tweets words of encouragement to the parkland shooting survivors-turned-activists: “weve been waiting for you”
    so either theyre really really good at putting things together very quickly that have the outward appearance of being highly highly organized or somebody knew this was coming in advance
    like…the broward county sheriffs office
    whos top man was bffs with…hillary clinton
    not suspicious
    not suspicious at all
    move along
    nothing to see here

  10. Well hell, not to seem callous. But wouldn’t it help world hunger if the powers that be ground up all the dead from all the mass shootings( include wars and road kill) and made hamburger or sausage out of it? I’m sure the starving kid in China would rather have that then the cold broccoli.

  11. So Hogg can run his cocky little mouth all day long, but if anyone dishes it right back, it’s “vitriol”.

    “Also on Feb. 20, Donald Trump Jr. liked a tweet by a conservative TV show host Graham Ledger that linked to a story by the Gateway Pundit website stating that David Hogg was “coached on anti-Trump lines.”
    MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS, HOW VULGAR

  12. It is amazing that if one tries to argue with an anti-gunner then one must be trying to bully them. The anti-gun mafia can say anything it wants about the motives of POG, but we are not allowed to refute their statements or point out unpleasant facts about the paranoid anti-gun arguments.

  13. Not allowed to “smear” David Hogg but he can smear other people? That is what he did to Stephen Willeford, the hero who put two rounds into the P.O.S. who conducted the Sutherland Springs church massacre back in 2017. The P.O.S. called his father while fleeing and told him he was injured and probably would not survive.

    https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1074787784764899329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    The P.O.S. murderer called his father while fleeing and told him he was injured and probably would not survive.

Comments are closed.