WEDNESDAY EDITION Snopes Debunker 31 March 2021 Did Marjorie Taylor Greene Call Vaccine Passport ‘Biden’s Mark of the Beast’? On March 30, 2021, a video that featured a freshman member of Congress was republished by the Right Wing Watch Twitter account. In the video, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgian who had been no stranger to controversy, purportedly referred to the idea of a vaccine passport as “Biden’s mark of the beast.” Snopes' Jordan Liles has more. Read More Update: Investigating George Floyd's Criminal Record  In light of the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, many of our readers are reviewing our updated coverage of facts related to the case. Read More Fact Checks Did Matt Gaetz Retweet ‘There’s No Age That You Can’t Be Sexy’? Some of the congressman's old tweets resurfaced amid a March 2021 sex trafficking scandal. ✅  True   Did Ben Shapiro Say His ‘Red Pill Moment’ Was Sharing Cupcakes With Poor Kids? The viral screenshot came from a subreddit called ToiletPaperUSA that satirizes the right-wing group Turning Point USA. 🎭  Labeled Satire   Did 17,000 Ford Plant Jobs in Ohio Go to Mexico? Facebook users copied and pasted the same claim about Ford, Ohio, and Mexico, across an unknown number of accounts, pages, and groups. ❌  False   Will Billions of Brood X Cicadas Emerge in Spring 2021? As if there wasn't enough to bug us this year. ✅  True   Did Guess Stop Bag Sales After Being Accused of Ripping Off the Telfar Bag? There were a lot of visual similarities between the two bag designs. ✅  True   Is This an International Signal for Help? The hand signal, also known as the "violence at home signal for help," gained new attention in March 2021. ✅  True   Does Calif. Ethnic Studies Curriculum Call for Chants to Aztec Gods, ‘Countergenocide’ Against White Christians? Though adoption by schools is voluntary, the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum has generated intense controversy in the state. ❌  Mostly False View Latest Fact Checks Building Snopes' Future, Together We have big plans for 2021 that will enhance and enrich Snopes for you, our community. Help us continue to maintain and improve Snopes with a contribution today. $5 $10 $20.21 $50 $100 Other News Some Capitol Riot Suspects Apologize as Consequences Sink In Dozens of rioters have apologized and expressed regret as the consequences of their actions have started to sink in. Read More   New York State Legalizes Recreational Marijuana New York could become the largest legal marijuana market on the East Coast — generating a potential $2.3 billion in annual sales by its fourth year. Read More   Suspect in Attack on Asian American Woman in NYC is Arrested The victim was walking to church in midtown Manhattan when police said a man kicked her in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, stomped on her face, shouted anti-Asian slurs before calmly walking away. Read More   Eager to Build Infrastructure, Biden Plans to Tax Business White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the plan is “about making an investment in America — not just modernizing our roads or railways or bridges but building an infrastructure of the future.” Read More   Pfizer Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Protects Younger Teens Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla expressed “the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year" in the United States. Read More   G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate Mastermind, Dead at 90 Liddy, a former FBI agent and Army veteran, was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate burglary. Read More   TikTok Star Was on Cellphone with Fiancee as Tree Limb Killed Her A motorist was talking on her cellphone to her future wife when powerful winds blew a tree limb onto her car and killed her, authorities said. Read More GOP Rep. Gaetz Investigated Over Sexual Relationship The New York Times reported that Gaetz was under investigation by the Justice Department to determine if he violated federal sex trafficking laws and had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old. Read More   ‘Major’ Pain: Biden’s Dog Involved in 2nd Biting Incident The dog "nipped someone while on a walk," said Michael LaRosa, press secretary to first lady Jill Biden. Read More   Volkswagen Hoaxes Media with Fake Statement on Name Change Volkswagen of America issued false statements saying it would change its brand name to “Voltswagen,” to stress its commitment to electric vehicles, only to reverse course and admit that the supposed name change was a joke. Read More   Biden Wants Infrastructure Plan Approved over Summer President Joe Biden is aiming for summer passage of an infrastructure plan that is expected to cost more than $3 trillion, and the White House hopes to take a more deliberate and collaborative approach with the contentious Congress than it did on the COVID-19 rescue package, officials said. Read More   2 Members of Salt Lake City’s ‘Real Housewives’ Arrested Two members of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” reality television show have been arrested on federal fraud charges alleging that they used a business to cheat hundreds of people in a telemarketing scheme. Read More   Over 4,000 Migrants, Many Kids, Crowded into Texas Facility The Biden administration for the first time allowed journalists inside its main border detention facility for migrant children, revealing a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 people, including children and families, were crammed into a space intended for 250 and the youngest were kept in a large play pen with mats on the floor for sleeping. Read More   Virgin Galactic Rolls out Latest Generation of Spaceship Virgin Galactic rolled out its newest spaceship as the company looks to resume test flights in the coming months at its headquarters in the New Mexico desert. Read More   Justice Department to Review How Best to Fight Hate Crimes Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered a review of how the Justice Department can best deploy its resources to combat hate crimes during a surge in incidents targeting Asian Americans. Read More   Court Lets Woman’s Defamation Suit vs. Trump Proceed Again Former President Donald Trump could face questioning under oath about a former "Apprentice" contestant's sexual assault allegations against him. Read More   Human Parents Feel for Mama Bear Trying to Corral Her Cubs A mother bear caught on video trying to coax four rambunctious cubs across a busy Connecticut road has parents across the internet nodding in sympathy. Read More   Blinken Ends Trump Rights Plan Promoting Conservative Agenda Blinken said a report prepared for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that sought to pare down the number of freedoms prioritized in U.S. foreign policy was “unbalanced,” did not reflect Biden administration policies and would not guide them. Read More

View Latest News Staff Pick Were 2 Episodes of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ Removed For Being Too Problematic? “Mid-Life Crustacean” and “Kwarantined Krab” may have had some kontroversial kontent. Read More