Crosscheck — latest fact-checks and analysis
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ICE Attacked Two U.S. Citizen Teens on Their Way to Enlist in the Marines
Video confirms ICE agents attacked two U.S. citizen minors in Texas on their way to file Marine enlistment paperwork. The teens filmed an ongoing ICE operation. ICE has not responded.
McConnell drew about $43,858 while absent because Senate pay ignores attendance
Three of the four claims in the viral McConnell graphic hold up on the roll-call record. The fourth fails on one word: the Senate has no paid leave for him to have taken.
The FBI’s relaxed bestiality rule turns on age, not coercion
Patel told the Senate the FBI’s relaxed bestiality rule shields coerced victims. The criterion reported from the June memo turns on whether the applicant was under 18, not on coercion.
Taxpayers fund 40,000 bombs for Israel through the standard military aid program
Rolling Stone is right about the $2.8 billion and the 40,000 bombs. Calling Foreign Military Financing a special program is the error: it is how US aid to Israel has worked for decades.
Trump’s claims that oil was higher under Biden and prices are falling don’t hold
Brent closed at $109.51 on Sept 9. Oil beat that on 72 of Biden’s 1,011 trading days. Core prices, energy already excluded, are up 1.83 percent since January.
Did the CIA’s Instability Model Put the US in the Highest-Risk Category for Civil War, Coup, or Collapse?
The PITF model is CIA-funded and the US met its highest-risk criteria in 2020. But the CIA never scored the US — academics did. The US now ranks 51st globally, below all G7 peers.
A judge stayed one job-application question, not a loyalty oath for employees
A court did stay the Trump administration’s ‘loyalty question’ on September 11. It reached job applicants, not sitting employees, and one essay question of four.
Did a Putin-Connected Russian Official Secretly Pay for Trump Jr.’s Wedding?
ProPublica found a Kremlin-decorated IBA president paid six figures for Trump Jr.’s Bahamas wedding. Both claims are Mostly True, with key caveats on ‘bankrolled’ and ‘oligarch.’
The Denial Thesis: Checking a Popular Argument About Trump’s Voters
The individual facts in the argument mostly hold. The causal story bolted onto them does not, and on the two claims where the data can test a sequence, the arrow runs the other way.
Analysis
The Footnotes Were the New Part
A federal judge found HHS built its teen pregnancy policy on citations that do not exist. The fabrications sit exactly where the law demanded evidence and none was available.
Who Owns America’s Media? A 2026 Ownership Map
The “six companies control 90% of media” shorthand is a rough cut. Here is who actually owns what in 2026, and why the local picture is far worse.
FedEx Paid Out Executive Bonuses the Same Year It Cut Hub Workers’ Hours
FedEx’s board approved a bonus pool of undisclosed size for 1,100 executives, plus richer severance, the same stretch its Indianapolis hub capped full-time hours at 35 a week.
The Text Said “Friends for Peace.” The Paper Trail Says Something Else.
A $9 million foreign-agent contract, a former Trump campaign manager, and a rift inside the Trump administration itself — traced through the government’s own filings.
From MAGA Queen to Party Exile: The Greene–Trump Rupture, Chronicled
Trump’s fiercest loyalist lost his endorsement over the Epstein files, resigned Congress 7 days later, spent 2026 fighting his Iran war, and quit the GOP entirely.
The $1.5 Trillion Rocket: Inside the SpaceX IPO Valuation
SpaceX is not a zero-profit company. It posts a $4.9 billion loss because it absorbed xAI; the rocket-and-Starlink business makes money. The $1.75 trillion price is a bet on the future.