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Facts Matter: Fake Santos mugshot appears immediately after arraignment

U.S. Rep. George Santos on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to charges laid out in a 13-count indictment: wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress.

The New York politician has been under fire since taking office earlier this year, when it was reported he had lied on his resume.

Immediately following the arraignment, in which Santos was released on $500,000 bond, a purported mug shot of the representative appeared on social media.

"Whatever you do, please don't retweet this brand new mug shot of Trumper Congressman George Santos," read a tweet that was shared more than 5,500 times.

But that mug shot is fake - it's a "cropped and edited" version of a news photo taken earlier this year, according to The Associated Press. No mug shot of Santos was released.

Danielle Hass, spokesperson for the U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of New York, told the AP that "it's against DOJ policy" to release mug shots. An exception, according to the agency's website, is "when there is a law enforcement purpose for doing so, like in a fugitive situation."

The original photo used to create the fake mug shot, taken Jan. 10 by a staff photographer for a congressional news outlet, shows Santos at a Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol. The image was later manipulated to make it appear Santos was frowning.

The clothing in the created mug shot, Santos in a gray sweater and blue tie, matches the photo taken in January. When Santos appeared in court on Wednesday, he was wearing a brown sweater and no tie.

Biden didn't misspell 'billion'

President Joe Biden met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders last week to talk about the debt limit. Afterward, Biden spoke with reporters and, at one point, spelled out the word "billion," for emphasis.

It was reported on social media that the president had trouble with the spelling.

"Braindead Biden stands at the podium in front of the entire country & spells 'billion' B-I-L-O-I-O-N. But no worries, he's totally mentally fit to destroy the country & lead us into WW3," read a May 10 Facebook post.

That post included a screenshot of a May 9 tweet that read, "According to the official White House transcript, Biden misspelled "billion" when he was talking about his debt limit meeting." That tweet includes a portion of the transcript.

But Biden spelled "billion" correctly, according to Reuters. It was the transcript that got it wrong.

The official White House transcript of the president's remarks has Biden saying, "I - we cut the deficit by $160 billion - billion - B-I-L-O-I-O-N - dollars on the Medicare deal."

However, video from the event shows Biden correctly spelled billion.

Following a question about McCarthy's idea to cut the federal budget, Biden claims the deficit has been cut and spells "B-I-L-L-I-O-N" to stress his point.

Bible is not a banned book in Florida

Books deemed inappropriate for children have recently been banned in Florida schools, and a May 8 Twitter post claims there has been further reach.

"BREAKING: A Florida judge has ruled that the Bible must be banned along with other books Ron DeSantis has banned because of how much murder, incest, rape, genocide, and violence is featured in the Old Testament," the May 8 post read.

Some people appeared to be upset by this news.

"Where are all of the Florida Persons of Faith who support DeSantis, and what are they now saying? DeSantis did this!!," one commenter wrote.

But there is no credible evidence to support this claim, according to Reuters. This post is a joke.

The comment was posted on an account that previously has posted satire and is described as "Dada news. Halfway true comedy and satire by @DashMacIntyre. I don't report the facts, I improve them"

Robot attack isn't real

Footage of what appears to be a security film, showing an assembly-line robot attacking a person, has been circulating on social media recently.

"It looked really real and I got a bit scared I gotta admit it," a user wrote in the comments.

But it's not really real, according to PolitiFact. The video is an animation created by Georgia-based film company Sozo Bear Films.

In the clip, two robots are working on an assembly line when one appears to botch its duties. Text on the screen says the other robot gets "angry." The angry robot smashes the conveyor belt as a man tries to intervene.

"Worker tries to calm it down like a wild animal?" the text reads. Then, that robot picks up a box and throws it at the man, knocking him over.

"Robot attacks worker!" the text reads.

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.

President Joe Biden didn't misspell "billion" while speaking to reporters after meeting with congressional leaders about the debt limit. The White House transcript was wrong, however, video shows Biden spelled the word correctly, Reuters says. Associated Press
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