billmccarthy.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Amid dropping vaccination rates, 25 children in New York State died from influenza during the 2024-25 flu season — more than in any recent flu season, state health authorities said on Wednesday.

submitted 10 hours ago • 180 comments

#Thread India launched an attack on several sites in Pakistan as retaliation for the killings of 26 civilians in Kashmir last month, Pakistan claims to be responding to these attacks. However, #misinformation is being shared on SM with old content #FactCheck #OperationSindoor

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

Misinformation about India and Pakistan is rampant online. That includes posts claiming this video shows US President Donald Trump insisting the United States "let them fight." The footage is from 2019. Trump was referring to the Islamic State group and Taliban forces fighting in Afghanistan.

submitted 15 hours ago • 1 comment

Exclusive: Bellingcat in partnership with @tjekdet.dk , @politiken.dk and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) can reveal the identity of a key administrator behind MrDeepFakes, one of the world’s largest providers of non-consensual deepfake pornography. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/05...

submitted 1 day ago • 14 comments

Misinformation about India and Pakistan is rampant online. That includes posts claiming this video shows US President Donald Trump insisting the United States "let them fight." The footage is from 2019. Trump was referring to the Islamic State group and Taliban forces fighting in Afghanistan.

submitted 15 hours ago • 1 comment

NEW: A DOGE staffer who is helping carry out the downsizing of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau owns stock in companies that could benefit from the agency’s dismantling, ProPublica has found.

submitted 8 days ago • 110 comments

France Says Dozens Of Disinformation Attacks Came From Russia www.barrons.com/news/france-...

submitted 21 hours ago • 0 comments

Trump has appointed Siggy Flicker — who has previously tweeted in support of QAnon and written, "Q Rocks!!!" — to the Board of the Holocaust Memorial Council.

submitted 21 hours ago • 30 comments

US President Donald Trump: "I have a lot of respect for the Canadians ... we happen to have a very, very good hockey player right here on the Capitals who I have a lot of -- he is a big tough cookie too, just broke the record." He is referring to NHL legend Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin is Russian.

submitted 1 day ago • 13 comments

THREAD: As India launches strikes against Pakistan tonight, misinformation is rapidly spreading online. I'll fact-check viral falsehoods in this thread. This video, viewed over 660,000 times, shows Israeli air strikes on Gaza in October 2023. It's unrelated to Indian strikes tonight.

submitted 1 day ago • 22 comments

This video, claimed across platforms to show the wildfires that have scorched Israel, is misrepresented. In reality, the footage shows an abandoned college campus that caught fire due to suspected arson in Coventry, United Kingdom. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

US President Donald Trump: "I have a lot of respect for the Canadians ... we happen to have a very, very good hockey player right here on the Capitals who I have a lot of -- he is a big tough cookie too, just broke the record." He is referring to NHL legend Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin is Russian.

submitted 1 day ago • 13 comments

NEW: She Called a 5-Year-Old the N-Word.... ... And the online right rallied to her side. www.thebulwark.com/p/she-called...

submitted 1 day ago • 24 comments

New: In yet another supplemental letter to Senate Judiciary, DC US attorney nominee Ed Martin disclosed roughly 60 more appearances on Russian state media he had omitted previously — as well as a podcast he recorded with defunct right-wing site VDARE in 2021.

submitted 2 days ago • 43 comments

Social media posts claiming this video shows people waving Palestinian flags at Pope Francis's funeral have been spreading nonstop since the service. But the clip is from Christmas in 2023. Near-identical footage from that day shows the same individuals. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Social media posts claiming this video shows people waving Palestinian flags at Pope Francis's funeral have been spreading nonstop since the service. But the clip is from Christmas in 2023. Near-identical footage from that day shows the same individuals. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

False narratives alleging that there were more ballots cast than eligible voters -- a staple of US election misinformation -- are now spreading about the Carleton riding where Pierre Poilievre lost his seat in Canada. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

Dom Lucre, who has promoted QAnon and was once banned from X for posting what Elon Musk called "child exploitation pictures," asked Karoline Leavitt at the White House's "new media" briefing if "Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton" will ever "possibly get investigated."

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

US Attorney General Pam Bondi claims the Trump administration's work to stop fentanyl has "saved... 258 million lives" -- more than 75 percent of the US population -- in its first 100 days.

submitted 7 days ago • 45 comments

In an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, President Donald Trump doubled and tripled down on whether deportee Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia has MS13, representing the MS-13 gang, tattooed on his knuckles. Trump cited an altered image as evidence. www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...

submitted 8 days ago • 4 comments

Dom Lucre, who has promoted QAnon and was once banned from X for posting what Elon Musk called "child exploitation pictures," asked Karoline Leavitt at the White House's "new media" briefing if "Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton" will ever "possibly get investigated."

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

False narratives alleging that there were more ballots cast than eligible voters -- a staple of US election misinformation -- are now spreading about the Carleton riding where Pierre Poilievre lost his seat in Canada. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

US Attorney General Pam Bondi claims the Trump administration's work to stop fentanyl has "saved... 258 million lives" -- more than 75 percent of the US population -- in its first 100 days.

submitted 7 days ago • 45 comments

This is, again, false. The video is from days ago, and the ballot boxes did not contain marked votes. The boxes were being used to transport signs, forms and other supplies needed to set up polling stations for yesterday's voting, Elections Canada said. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

This is, again, false. The video is from days ago, and the ballot boxes did not contain marked votes. The boxes were being used to transport signs, forms and other supplies needed to set up polling stations for yesterday's voting, Elections Canada said. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Elections Canada says this viral video claiming to expose workers taking ballot boxes home is inaccurate. The boxes did not contain marked votes but were being used to transport signs, forms and other supplies needed to set up polling stations on election day. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

Elections Canada says this viral video claiming to expose workers taking ballot boxes home is inaccurate. The boxes did not contain marked votes but were being used to transport signs, forms and other supplies needed to set up polling stations on election day. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

Pope Francis spoke fiercely against disinformation, likening it to the serpent’s tricks in the Bible. He was also targeted by it, from a hoax claiming he endorsed Trump to the AI puffer coat picture. Now, after his death, disinformation about him is surging again. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Right-wing US personalities who helped propel President Donald Trump's 2024 electoral win have been weighing in on Canada ahead of today's election, with at-times misleading warnings about a range of political issues such as immigration. www.barrons.com/news/canada-...

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: The death of Pope Francis drew tributes from around the world -- and a wave of disinformation. It seemed par for the course for the 12-year head of the Catholic Church, who spoke out fiercely against disinformation but was also a frequent subject of it. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Pope Francis spoke fiercely against disinformation, likening it to the serpent’s tricks in the Bible. He was also targeted by it, from a hoax claiming he endorsed Trump to the AI puffer coat picture. Now, after his death, disinformation about him is surging again. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: The death of Pope Francis drew tributes from around the world -- and a wave of disinformation. It seemed par for the course for the 12-year head of the Catholic Church, who spoke out fiercely against disinformation but was also a frequent subject of it. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

This image making the rounds after Pope Francis's death does not show the late pontiff kissing the hand of a member of the wealthy Rothschild family, as claimed. It is an AFP photo of the pope with Holocaust survivor Eliezer Grynfeld in Israel in 2014. factcheck.afp.com/image-shows-...

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Our latest poll gauges whether the public has heard, and whether they believe, three false statements related to measles circulating amid the outbreak. At least half of people express some uncertainty about whether to believe each claim. Learn more: on.kff.org/3YeXLNf

submitted 14 days ago • 2 comments

We spent a couple of days with MAGA media at the White House. www.cnn.com/2025/04/23/p...

submitted 14 days ago • 10 comments

I have seen a lot of posts sharing this video that appears to show Pope Francis swatting away Donald Trump's hand during the US president's first term. The clip is altered and originally aired as a joke on Jimmy Kimmel's late night TV show in 2017. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

After the Florida State shooting, right-wing accounts rushed to frame the suspect as anti-Trump by claiming this was a picture of him. But the person in the photo is another student, who told me their family feared they could be killed over the misidentification. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 15 days ago • 2 comments

After the Florida State shooting, right-wing accounts rushed to frame the suspect as anti-Trump by claiming this was a picture of him. But the person in the photo is another student, who told me their family feared they could be killed over the misidentification. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 15 days ago • 2 comments

Canada's Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did congratulate Donald Trump on his election victory, and he has frequently railed against ideology he describes as "woke," but this quote spreading online is a fake. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Re-upping this introduction for the new folks who have joined this site in the past few days and weeks. Welcome!

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Bluesky announces the rollout of an account verification feature.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

The White House repeated the old lie that Joe Biden had proclaimed Easter "Transgender Day of Visibility." Easter is not a fixed-date holiday. Last year, it fell on March 31. Coincidentally, March 31 has been used to celebrate trans people every year since 2009. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 16 days ago • 5 comments

During his 12 years as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis was a voice for compassion and peace, reformed the Vatican government and took action against clerical child abuse. Some of his main achievements -- and what he left undone ➡️ u.afp.com/SShz

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

Pope Francis, an energetic reformer who inspired widespread devotion from Catholics but riled traditionalists, died on Monday aged 88, the Vatican said in a statement ➡️ u.afp.com/SSh8

submitted 17 days ago • 3 comments

Re-upping this introduction for the new folks who have joined this site in the past few days and weeks. Welcome!

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

This alleged BBC News chryon, spread in various languages across social media and purporting to show a segment labeling Valery Zaluzhny "the next President of Ukraine," is a fake, the British broadcaster told me. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

This is not a real post from Cody Balmer, the suspect charged with attempted murder in last weekend's arson attack at the official residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. The original April 2020 post on Facebook does not include the red text saying "Fuck Trump."

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

A lot of posts are attributing this quote about Trump voters causing "generations-long damage" in exchange for "essentially nothing of value" to Mark Carney. Except, the Canadian prime minister never said this. The social media account "southpaw" did. factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: A grant to research farm-grown feminine hygiene products was axed after US officials falsely labeled it a study on transgender menstrual cycles. @anujchopra.bsky.social and I spoke to 5 people close to the project about the impact of its lie-driven cancelation. www.yahoo.com/news/real-lo...

submitted 31 days ago • 4 comments