Facts Matter: Photo of airborne dolphin in hurricane has been doctored
A photo circulating on social media purporting to show a dolphin caught up in strong winds caused by Hurricane Dorian was digitally altered, according to Snopes.com.
In the fake image, the dolphin is flying above a house boat, which is crashing into the sea wall surrounded by huge waves and trees being blasted by powerful winds.
The original photo, without the dolphin, was taken in 2004 in the Village of Ocean Breeze in Jensen Beach, Florida, by Associated Press photographer Douglas Clifford, Snopes said.
The manipulated version of the picture was created by the satirical website People of Lancaster and was first shared in October 2016 claiming to be taken during Hurricane Mathew.
Earlier this month, the website republished the 2016 photo and story but changed the hurricane name to Dorian, Snopes said.
According to the satirical story, it's common for dolphins to be swept up in a hurricane and residents reported nearly a dozen impacts of dolphins on area homes.
Clinton not asking for hurricane donations
A fake Twitter post, appearing to be Hillary Clinton asking for donations to help storm victims of Hurricane Dorian, hit social media on Sept. 1, according to Snopes.com.
The tweet, along with a photo of Clinton, states, "Hurricane Dorian has already devastated the Bahamas and is about to devastate the Great State of Florida. Please help us help the victims by giving a huge donation to Clinton Foundation today. We rebuilt Haiti and we'll rebuild Nassau and Orlando."
The post did not come from the former secretary of state's verified Twitter account, Snopes said. The only hurricane-related Twitter post from Clinton, sent Aug. 30, said, "Stay safe, Florida. If you haven't already, make sure to check off these emergency preparedness steps: https://t.co/WTszDxLMAv.
Details mixed up in Biden's account
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden relayed a story of heroism during an Aug. 23 speech at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Biden said during his tenure as vice president, a general asked him to travel to the Kunar province in Afghanistan to recognize a Navy captain's bravery and to honor the serviceman with a Silver Star pin. The captain had rappelled down a 60-foot ravine to retrieve a fellow service member but felt like a failure because his comrade had died, Biden said.
"He said, 'Sir, I don't want the damn thing!'" Biden recalled. "'Do not pin it on me, Sir! Please, Sir. Do not do that! He died. He died!'"
The crowd was silent as he wrapped up the story with, "This is the God's truth," <URL destination="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-he-campaigns-for-president-joe-biden-tells-a-moving-but-false-war-story/2019/08/29/b5159676-c9aa-11e9-a1fe-ca46e8d573c0_story.html">The Washington Post reported.
</URL>However, nearly every detail of Biden's account is inaccurate, according to the Post.
Biden traveled to Kunar in 2008 as a U.S. senator, not when he was vice president, the Post said. The service member who rappelled the ravine was Army specialist Kyle J. White, who was recognized during a 2014 visit to the White House as President Barack Obama placed the Medal of Honor around the soldier's neck.
In 2011, Vice President Biden did pin a medal on reluctant Army Staff Sgt. Chad Workman while in the Afghanistan province Wardak, the Post said. Workman had run into a burning vehicle to save a fellow soldier but by the time he got the door open, his friend had died.
"I tried to get out of going (to the recognition)," Workman told the Post last week. "I didn't want that medal."
Biden talked to the Post following the report of inaccuracies during the New Hampshire campaign stop.
"I was making the point how courageous these people are, how incredible they are, this generation of warriors, these fallen angels we've lost," he said. "I don't know what the problem is. What is it that I said wrong?"
Olive Garden not funding Trump's campaign
A false claim recently circulating on Twitter encourages users to boycott Olive Garden restaurants because the chain is funding President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, <URL destination=" https://www.apnews.com/afs:Content:7039920006">according to The Associated Press.
</URL>The rumor began with a Twitter post last month that listed the restaurant among places supporting Trump's campaign, the AP said. The post received more than 500,000 likes.
Olive Garden took to Twitter to say the information was false and neither the Olive Garden nor its parent company, Darden Restaurants Inc., contributes to presidential campaigns.
"We did send a message to our restaurants to address the inaccurate information in case they got questions from guests," Olive Garden spokeswoman Meagan Bernstein told the AP.
There were no donations by Darden Restaurants listed on OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks political donations, the AP said.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.