Crosscheck — latest fact-checks and analysis
5 of 10 Mostly True Latest fact-check · 10 claims
Public Citizen’s count of Trump’s canceled corporate cases holds up; its math and $3.1B figure do not
Trump’s agencies did drop cases and pardon companies, as Public Citizen says. But its totals don’t add up, and most of its $3.1 billion figure was cut by a judge under Biden.
Photo: Gregory Varnum / CC BY-SA 3.0
NRC plan drops ALARA and raises emissions benchmark; public dose limit unchanged
A proposed NRC rule would scrap ALARA and lift a reactor emissions benchmark from 10 to 25 mrem a year. The 100 mrem public dose limit stays, and nothing is final yet.
DOJ complained about seven Minnesota judges; it is not investigating them
The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint and asked the Eighth Circuit to investigate seven Minnesota judges. It is not running an investigation itself.
More fact-checks
The Arendt quote is real; her test for totalitarianism does not fit the US
Arendt wrote the crackpots-and-fools sentence, and the record shows loyalty-driven hiring under Trump. By her own criteria, the United States is not totalitarian.
Fraternity men self-report more sexual aggression, but proof of cause is thin
Fraternity men report more sexual aggression than other college men in most studies. Whether fraternities cause that gap, or draw higher-risk men, is still unproven.
Jack Smith never gave the meme’s toll-records answer to Sen. John Kennedy
Kennedy did ask Smith about Democrats’ phone records on Sept. 29. Smith’s real answer differs from the meme, and records show Democrats’ texts were swept in.
Tesla’s lawyer did not claim a right to call Black workers the N-word
Tesla is on trial over racism at Fremont. Its lawyer argued that some uses of the N-word among Black workers are not slurs, not that the company may call workers it. No source counts his uses.
Project 2025 urged farm subsidy cuts, but Republicans enacted increases
Project 2025 never proposed bankrupting family farms. Republicans raised the farm subsidies it wanted cut, and the largest farms collect the biggest share.
Benny Johnson’s Border Claims: Real Data, False Conclusions
Johnson’s border chart cites real CBP numbers — but ‘open the border’ misrepresents Democratic policy, and the ‘replacement’ framing invokes a debunked white nationalist conspiracy theory.
A Belgian diplomats’ memo doubted the US alliance; the government disowned it
The leaked memo is real and says what the FT reports. It is an unapproved October 2025 draft by diplomats, and Belgium’s government has disowned it as policy.
Courts ruled against 18 of Cohen’s 26 charges and settled two
Rep. Steve Cohen filed 26 impeachment articles. Courts have ruled against 18 at some stage, the Supreme Court has settled two, and eight have no court ruling at all.
Lahn’s $7,500 tax claim about Sand cites two sources with no such figure
Zach Lahn says Rob Sand wants to raise Iowans’ taxes $7,500 a year. The ad’s cited sources hold no such figure, and the cuts it points to total about $3,540. False.
Chicago to NYC in 2.5 hours would outpace any maglev built or being built
A 2.5-hour Chicago-NYC trip needs a faster average than any maglev in service or under construction. The highway-over-rail spending shift the post describes is real.
El-Sayed’s $5,619 tariff figure measures Michigan importers, not households
The $5,619 is Michigan importers’ $23.2 billion tariff bill split across the state’s households. The group behind the figure says it is not what each household paid.
No-claims was one of four tests Oz cited, and those enrollees paid no premium
The administration cut 760,000 ACA enrollees and is reviewing about 419,000 more. Never filing a claim was one test among four, and all four applied to fully subsidized plans.
Analysis
The Footnotes Were the New Part
A federal judge found HHS built its teen pregnancy policy on citations that do not exist. The fabrications sit exactly where the law demanded evidence and none was available.
Who Owns America’s Media? A 2026 Ownership Map
The “six companies control 90% of media” shorthand is a rough cut. Here is who actually owns what in 2026, and why the local picture is far worse.
FedEx Paid Out Executive Bonuses the Same Year It Cut Hub Workers’ Hours
FedEx’s board approved a bonus pool of undisclosed size for 1,100 executives, plus richer severance, the same stretch its Indianapolis hub capped full-time hours at 35 a week.
The Text Said “Friends for Peace.” The Paper Trail Says Something Else.
A $9 million foreign-agent contract, a former Trump campaign manager, and a rift inside the Trump administration itself — traced through the government’s own filings.
From MAGA Queen to Party Exile: The Greene–Trump Rupture, Chronicled
Trump’s fiercest loyalist lost his endorsement over the Epstein files, resigned Congress 7 days later, spent 2026 fighting his Iran war, and quit the GOP entirely.
The $1.5 Trillion Rocket: Inside the SpaceX IPO Valuation
SpaceX is not a zero-profit company. It posts a $4.9 billion loss because it absorbed xAI; the rocket-and-Starlink business makes money. The $1.75 trillion price is a bet on the future.
The Sign Was Right: What the Data Actually Says About Predators
Peer-reviewed research consistently shows clergy and religious authority figures are documented sex offenders at rates of 4-7%, while no credible study has ever linked LGBTQ+ identity to child…
Trump’s Approval Craters to 38.6% as Democrats Lead by 7 Points
Models predict a 28 to 46 House seat loss this cycle, and recent midterm polling has been historically accurate. This is the data behind the collapse.