Biden gas station stop misrepresented on social media
President Joe Biden, while campaigning in Pennsylvania last month, made a stop at a Sheetz gas station and convenience store to pick up sandwiches for construction workers at Pittsburgh International Airport. Biden, accompanied by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, was on his way out of town following a speech at the United Steelworkers’ headquarters in Pittsburgh.
However, some posts on social media make it appear the April 17 stop wasn’t a pleasant one for the president.
“Biden tries copying Trump by visiting a gas station in PA - instead he's ignored by virtually everyone there,” Fox News host Sean Hannity wrote the next day in a Facebook post which included a clip from the event.
But this post is not accurate, according to PolitiFact, and the video shared by Hannity “does not corroborate his own claim about Biden being ignored.”
The clip Hannity posted, which was published by C-SPAN, shows Biden interacting and joking with children as he enters the store. He is then seen being greeted by customers and workers before he is invited behind the counter to take pictures with the crew.
In a different video posted by CBS News, Biden is seen being greeted by a man who gives him a hug and then poses with the president for a photo taken by Gainey. This happened just before the clip posted by Hannity begins.
In another post of the C-SPAN video from Biden’s stop, someone can be heard yelling profanity at the president.
“Wow, yeah, awesome, awesome. Thanks for nothing. (Expletive),” a voice on the five-second clip says as Biden walks through the convenience store.
But this is not part of the audio on the C-SPAN clip, according to Reuters. The video has been altered to add that voice.
A C-SPAN official confirmed the comment was not part of the original audio.
“I can only speak for the video I shared: I did not alter the video, which came from the network TV pool covering the president,” C-SPAN communications director Howard Mortman told Reuters.
TIME didn’t depict Trump as devil
The latest TIME magazine cover, released last week, shows former President Donald Trump in a black-and-white photo, along with the simple headline, “If He Wins.”
A social media post of the cover makes it appear that TIME added a satanic detail.
“They gave President Trump devil horns, they know he is the end of their era,” reads the caption in an April 30 X post showing an image of a TIME magazine cover that has Trump’s head covering most of the “M” in the “TIME” logo. Just two red points from the top of the “M” are jutting out above the former president’s head, looking like he has horns.
But this is not the official TIME magazine cover, according to PolitiFact. It was digitally altered.
In the actual TIME cover, dated May 27, 2024, Trump’s head is blocking just a portion of the “M,” and he is positioned to the side of the points. In the fake version, the image of Trump is blown up to cover most of the “M” and repositioned while the entire photo is increased in size.
De Niro is acting
A video posted on social media claims to show actor Robert De Niro yelling at protesters in New York.
“I’d like to thank the #ProHamas terrorist sympathizers for getting on everyone’s last nerve. Robert De Niro agrees and with his usual ‘flair’ admonishes them that they are marching for more #October7massacres and to ‘Go home!’” read one X post that shared the video.
But this claim is false, according to the Associated Press. De Niro was actually rehearsing a scene for an upcoming Netflix series titled “Zero Day.” His speech in the video has nothing to do with the Israel-Hamas war.
“This is a rehearsal for a scene for a Netflix series that was shot on Saturday, April 27. It was part of a production,” a Netflix representative told the AP.
Netflix also told the AP that the speech De Niro is giving in the posted video is from the show’s script.
Actor Jesse Plemons, who is starring with De Niro in the series, can be seen in the clip.
No law against pit bulls
A social media post last month claimed it’s against the law to own a pit bull.
“The United States prohibited the pit bull breed as a pet. After the approval of a law that prohibits keeping a pit bull as pets, the police in the U.S. continue to capture every pit bull,” reads the caption, in Spanish, over a photo of a pit bull posted to Facebook on April 15.
But this is false, according to USA Today. There is no evidence this is a law and there are no bills in Congress that would ban pit bulls.
Michael San Filippo, a spokesperson for the American Veterinary Medical Association told USA Today there are no federal laws to ban the dogs, but some local ordinances could “limit or prohibit dog ownership based on breed, appearance or temperament.”
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.