References to God didn’t come from founders
House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke during a May 17 religious event, held at the National Mall, to commemorate the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary.
In prayer, Johnson asked God to “hear these solemn petitions, just as we in the beginning dedicated this land to your most holy name today. Here Lord, in this 250th year of American Independence, we hereby rededicate the United States of America as ‘One Nation, Under God.’”
Later, Johnson told a reporter that some critics “want to erase the history of America and pretend as if we're not a nation that was dedicated originally to God.”
But Johnson is off on his historical timeline, according to PolitiFact. The founders didn’t include the references that include God. Those came later.
The First Amendment of The Constitution includes a separation of religion and the government, which was part of the nation at the beginning. Terms such as “One Nation, Under God” and “In God we Trust” were adapted decades later.
The Pledge of Allegiance became popular in 1892 after the words were credited to Baptist minister Francis Bellamy. The wording of the pledge was standardized in 1942 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the U.S. Flag Code. Neither version mentioned God.
It wasn’t until 1954, following a push from religious groups, that President Dwight Eisenhower made the change, adding “under God” to the pledge.
As for “In God We Trust” being added to U.S. currency, that didn’t happen until 1956 when Eisenhower signed legislation making the phrase the official motto of the U.S.
Hantavirus outbreak is real
Three people have died and nearly 150 passengers have been infected during the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
One passenger, Jake Rosmarin, a Boston-based travel content creator, has posted clips about the situation, how he had been infected and was taken into quarantine.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, and that’s the hardest part. All we want right now is to feel safe,” Rosmarin said while sobbing in a May 6 post.
However, some social media users don’t believe him.
“They’re really working it with these crisis actors,” said one X post that shared the video. Another shared X post said, “(He) was certainly handpicked for this Honduis-Hanta-CryBaby role.”
But these claims are false, according to PolitiFact. There is no evidence Rosmarin is a crisis actor.
Rosmarin first posted about the voyage before he got on the ship and shared several videos about the trip, including posts when the outbreak was announced. He then shared on May 9 when he was sent to Nebraska for “quarantine and testing.” He continued to post from the quarantine facility and was interviewed by new outlets reporting about the outbreak.
In an interview, Rosmarin told the Daily Beast that the comments about him are false.
“People are reacting just to react,” he said.
‘Simpsons’ didn’t predict hantavirus
“The Simpsons” TV show has previously been credited with predicting world events, and the hantavirus outbreak is no exception.
“THE SIMPSONS warned us Hantavirus came from a boat cruise in Season 23 Episode 19 back in 2012 It now they saying 23 passengers were sick 19 = DNA IYKYK,” read a May 11 Facebook post showing the character Bart Simpson pointing to a cruise ship, called the “Corona Cruises,” covered in green spots and what appears to be a virus infestation.
But this claim is false, according to Reuters. That scene isn’t real.
Matt Selman, executive producer and showrunner for “The Simpsons,” told Reuters that the scene never appeared in an episode of the show.
The original scene showed Bart pointing at a clean cruise ship named “Royalty Valhalla.” The episode titled “A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again” had the family taking a cruise ship vacation.
Plane video created with AI
A recent X post shows a large metal piece of equipment breaking off a cargo lift and being sucked into a moving airplane engine as the plane is on the ground. Several workers try to put it out.
The post asks, “If a part of the plane goes into the engine even before takeoff, what will happen? Should such a flight be immediately stopped?”
That’s a scary situation and a legitimate question, but the video is fake, according to Lead Stories.
The video was created using artificial intelligence, or AI, and there are several clues to show this.
As the piece of metal breaks off and is sucked into the engine, it changes shape.
An orange cone under the engine suddenly disappears.
One worker trying to pull out the piece of metal appears to go right through another worker’s arm.
And a worker who falls to the ground, based on the angle of his arms and legs, seems to have his body going in two different directions.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.