Latest Stories By W. Gardner Selby

Showing 205-216 of 635 items

Rick Perry gets a laugh out of Texas Truth-O-Meter

Outgoing Gov. Rick Perry recently got a laugh out of PolitiFact.

 

Appreciated -- and here's his Truth-O-Meter report card.

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Missed signs, fatal consequences; new facts on child abuse in Texas

With Texas legislators just embarking on the 140-day 2015 regular legislative session, we suspect there will be ample down time for everyone to soak up facts gathered over six months by the Austin American-Statesman about how the state investigates child abuse and neglect.

 

Dig in: "Missed signs, fatal consequences: How Texas missed deadly patterns and key pieces of information that could have helped protect vulnerable children"

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Ted Cruz claim about ISIS nailing Christians to trees led to a most-read fact check of 2014

Ted Cruz, critical of ISIS, said the group had gone so far as to nail Christians to trees.

 

Truth-O-Meter said: False.

 

Our check of Cruz on this front was our No. 2-most-viewed story of 2014. (The No. 1 story, coming soon, arose from Bob Cole's mail.)

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Debunked claim about Texas prisoner ordering a child for last meal among 2014 reader hits

Ridiculously, a website got traction with stories suggesting a Texas inmate had requested a child for his last meal.

 

Our recap of this "order" getting debunked (by Snopes.com) was our third-most-viewed story of 2014. Our countdown to No. 1 continues.

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Our look into Obama ordering deaths of Americans among our popular fact checks

A U.S. Senate aspirant charged President Obama will killing four Americans with drone strikes.

 

We concluded three were not intended targets. And this fact check proved our fifth-most viewed story of 2014.

 

Our countdown to No. 1 continues.

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Lesson of 2014: Check the facts behind Mexico border claims

A trio of fact checks of flawed claims about activities near the Texas-Mexico border drew reader interest, each one landing among our 10 most-read stories of 2014:

 

* Ted Cruz incorrectly said Barack Obama has promised amnesty to illegal immigrants

 

* Pants on Fire: Duncan Hunter makes unconfirmed claim Border Patrol caught at least 10 ISIS fighters

 

* Rick Perry claim about 3,000 homicides by illegal immigrants not supported by stat

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Wendy Davis needed to clarify claim about Greg Abbott siding with company that hired rapist

Only one claim by a gubernatorial candidate landed among our top 10 most-read fact checks of 2014.

 

We found Mostly True the statement by Democrat Wendy Davis that as a Supreme Court justice, Greg Abbott found that a company whose vacuum cleaners were sold door to door "had no responsibility" in the hiring of a salesman who raped a customer.

 

Read the original fact check here.

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Showing 205-216 of 635 items