Facts Matter: Democrats did participate in Charlie Kirk moment of silence
Following the shooting death of conservative activist and suburban native Charlie Kirk, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called for a moment of silence from members of Congress.
Kirk was killed Sept. 10 during a speech at Utah Valley University.
Some social media users claimed Democrats refused to participate in the tribute.
But that’s wrong, according to The Associated Press. Video of the session shows all members of the House standing for nearly a minute after Johnson asked the crowd to rise for a “moment of prayer.”
Following that, there appeared to be some protests from the members in the chamber.
“Silent prayers get silent results,” Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said following the tribute, the AP said.
Someone yelled, “no,” and there was a lot more yelling. Johnson continually banged his gavel and said, “The House will be in order.”
But it wasn’t. And when Johnson said, “We will join for prayer right after this, OK?,” there was more protesting. When the chamber calmed down, Johnson said, “Thank you all,” and moved on.
No ‘staged’ shooting
In another claim related to the Sept. 10 shooting, some social media users appeared to find a discrepancy between the event and the aftermath.
“Can someone honestly explain to me how a book titled ‘The Shooting of Charlie Kirk: A Comprehensive Account of the Utah Valley University Attack, the Aftermath, and America’s Response’ was published on Amazon.com on SEPTEMBER 9TH, when the event took place on SEPTEMBER 10TH??,” read a Sept. 11 post from an X user.
The post showed a screenshot of the Amazon website and a book with that title and a publication date of Sept. 9.
A similar post on X asked, “Who Staged Charlie Kirk’s Assassination?”
But this is nothing nefarious, according to PolitiFact. It was a technical error.
“Due to a technical issue, the date of publication that had been displayed for this title, while it was briefly listed, was incorrect, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused,” Amazon said in a statement to PolitiFact. “The title was published late in the afternoon on September 10th.”
The e-book, which was created using artificial intelligence following the shooting, was sold for $6.99.
The book was later removed from the website because it violated Amazon’s content rules, the statement said.
Post not evidence of sea level shift
A recent post on Facebook claims to show a rise in sea level.
“Absolutely devastating scenes on the Isle of Wight as the Ventnor coast has been ravaged by sea level rise. At this rate the entire Isle of Wight will be submerged in about 16 million years,” read the post which included two photos, one labeled “1908” and the other “2018.”
But this post really doesn’t show anything, according to Reuters.
“Photographs are not a reliable tool for measuring sea level rise, as the visible sea level is influenced by the state of the tide at the time each photo was taken. Since tidal conditions vary, the comparison lacks evidential credibility,” a spokesperson for Isle of Wight Council told Reuters.
According to a 2024 State of the UK Climate report, sea levels around the UK have risen by more than seven inches since 1901.
The “2018” photo in the post has been online since June 2018. The “1908” photo appears to be from a postcard, however the cars in the background don’t appear to be from 1908, Reuters said.
Robot and lion encounter fake
A video posted on TikTok appears to show an encounter between a lion and a robot with the headline “Not just Humans Even the King is scared of AI Robot.”
The clip shows a lion roaring as it walks up to a robot. When the robot says, “Welcome lion,” the animal sheepishly backs away.
But this isn’t real, according to Lead Stories. It was created with artificial intelligence.
The video includes a watermark in the lower right corner which reads, “Veo3.” That is the label for Google’s AI tool.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.