Friday 12 April 2019

Fact Checker: The full story behind Omar’s ‘some people did something’ quote

 
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The full story behind Omar's 'some people did something' quote

We often warn readers when the "outrage machine" stirs up emotions on social media, as a snippet of a quote may leave a misleading impression. A good example is a statement made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) back in March during a speech to a Muslim civil liberties organization. A self-described "iman of peace" based in Australia on April 8 tweeted about one line in the speech -- "Some people did something"—and claimed "Omar mentions 9/11 and does not consider it a terrorist attack on the USA by terrorists." That was then retweeted by a Republican member of Congress, Dan Crenshaw (Texas) with this comment: "First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something.'"

We watched the whole 20-minute speech so we could place her remarks in context. The speech took place about a week after the March 15 shootings by a white-nationalist-inspired gunman at two New Zealand mosques that left 50 people dead. Omar used the opportunity to make the case for Muslim activism. She argued that even a "good Muslim" may find roadblocks in the United States — and that that was the moment to stand up for one's rights. "Once you are willing to stand up for yourself … then others will show up for you," she said. "For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it." She made the controversial statement in the context of Muslims losing access to civil liberties in the aftermath of the attacks.

We will leave it to readers to determine whether Omar should have referred to "terrorists" or if the context for "some people" is clear from the speech. But it's important to remember that full context is not always apparent from the snippets of quotes in your social-media feed.

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Devos's tale of public schools, private scholarships and tax breaks

Education Freedom Scholarships are a big part of DeVos's plans to expand school choice because they would fund private or religious education for students who otherwise might be going to public schools. On April 2, she tweeted they "are privately funded and do not take any money from public schools." So, what's going on here?

Individuals and businesses privately funding these scholarships would get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit under DeVos's proposal. President Trump's 2020 budget plan includes a $5 billion tax expenditure for these credits. That means, even though private actors may be fronting this money with their donations, but they would get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in return. And that is money that could have been put to another use, such as public schools or the military.

We were on the fence between Two and Three Pinocchios. But as we looked through the Education Department's budget request, we found unequivocal statements that some programs were being cut as a matter of "fiscal discipline" or to meet "the President's overall goal of increasing support for national security and public safety without adding to the Federal budget deficit." Given the mavgyvering in Devos's proposal and the budget — opening that door pushed us to Three Pinocchios.

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You can also reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @mmkelly22, @rizzoTK or use #FactCheckThis), or Facebook (Fact Checker). Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup.

— Meg Kelly & Glenn Kessler

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