Latest Stories By W. Gardner Selby

Showing 169-180 of 635 items

Report: Texan Rick Perry poised to announce for president

May 15, 2015

The Dallas Morning News advises, here, that Rick Perry plans to declare his second bid for president June 4 in Dallas.

 

Translation: We're about 20 days away from Texans Perry and Ted Cruz facing off for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination--plus a few others, of course.

 

 

Flip-flop: Rick Perry newly opposes Export-Import Bank

May 8, 2015

Rick Perry as governor urged Congress to keep the Export-Import Bank alive.

 

Perry, no longer governor, this week declared the bank should die. That's a FULL FLOP for Perry on the PolitiFact Flip-O-Meter.

Biggest Texas tax cut ever? Not

May 6, 2015

Van Taylor touted tax changes approved by the Texas Senate as the biggest tax cuts in Texas history.

 

They weren't, we found.

Martial law in Texas? Hold that thought

April 29, 2015

Chatter fanned by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones about federal troops imposing martial law in Texas isn't substantiated, news reports indicate.

 

Read a wide-ranging rundown of the situation from reporter Jonathan Tilove of the Austin American-Statesman, here.

 

BONUS: See our 2014 fact check of a claim rooted in a stunt undertaken by a Jones-backed operation that University of Texas students signed a petition supportive of killing babies after birth.

Bernie Sanders says half of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings accounts

April 21, 2015

Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont mulling a run for president, told an Austin crowd a lot of Americans have very little saved for a rainy day.

 

MOSTLY TRUE.

Sid Miller says West Texas towns ‘out of water’

April 14, 2015

A first-year statewide elected official caught our attention by saying West Texas towns are so drought-struck, they're lately trucking in water.

 

But Sid Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner sworn in this January, had no current-day examples.

Jon Hamm, documents say, hazed, hurt UT student in 1990

April 10, 2015

Actor Jon Hamm, who stars in the "Mad Men" TV series, allegedly hazed and physically abused a fellow University of Texas student in fall 1990, according to documents brought to light this week.

 

Prompted by a tabloid’s story, we checked into what officials and records confirm.

Ted Cruz did not say ‘no place for gays, atheists’ in his America

April 8, 2015

A reader asked us to check a Facebook post showing Ted Cruz saying there's no place for gays or atheists in "my America."

 

PANTS ON FIRE!

Texas-reared Rand Paul and the Truth-O-Meter

April 6, 2015

Rand Paul, who just declared for president, has met the Truth-O-Meter--35 times.

 

He's also the second Texan seeking the Republican nomination. Former Gov. Rick Perry has said he'll reveal his desires in May or June.

 

OK, Paul is from Kentucky. And he was born in Pennsylvania. But he grew up in Texas; his father, former presidential hopeful Ron Paul, was a Lake Jackson congressman.

 

As shown below, Sen. Paul has a wide-ranging Truth-O-Meter record. MORE:

 

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Showing 169-180 of 635 items