Latest news with #pro-America
The Star
2 days ago
- General
- The Star
Health Ministry debunks fake news on Singapore doing first Covid-19 autopsy and jailing those unvaccinated
MOH urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. - ST SINGAPORE: Two pieces of fake news made about Covid-19 in Singapore have been debunked by the Ministry of Health (MOH), as it urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. On Tuesday (June 3), the ministry said it is aware of 'two pieces of misinformation' currently being spread on social media. The first has to do with a message claiming that Singapore was the first country to conduct an autopsy on a person who had tested positive for Covid-19, which it said was found to exist as a bacterium and not a virus. The claim was first circulated in 2021, and re-emerged recently. 'This is false. As clarified by the ministry then, Singapore has not performed such an autopsy, and it is also not true that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium,' said MOH. It also said social media posts alleging that Singapore had enacted laws to mandate vaccines and jail those unvaccinated after Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited the Republic in early May are not true. The Straits Times found that such claims had been published in articles on two websites – Slay News and The People's Voice – which tout themselves as news sites. Slay News describes itself as 'unapologetically pro-America and pro-free speech', while The People's Voice says it covers 'topics the mainstream media won't touch'. A search online shows that Slay News' website is registered in North Carolina, and a check of its address in Google Maps shows what looks to be a small farmhouse on a highway stretch. The People's Voice, meanwhile, has its website registered in Arizona, although it has no listed company address. Most of the articles published on both sites centre around right-wing ideology, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine rhetoric, with fact-checking website Snopes labelling The People's Voice as a rebrand of disinformation-spreading site NewsPunch. For accurate and up-to-date information, members of the public should visit the MOH website at instead. - The Straits Times/ANN
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
MOH debunks fake news on Singapore doing first Covid-19 autopsy and jailing those unvaccinated
SINGAPORE – Two pieces of fake news made about Covid-19 in Singapore have been debunked by the Ministry of Health (MOH), as it urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. On June 3, the ministry said it is aware of 'two pieces of misinformation' currently being spread on social media. The first has to do with a message claiming that Singapore was the first country to conduct an autopsy on a person who had tested positive for Covid-19, which it said was found to exist as a bacterium and not a virus. The claim was first circulated in 2021, and re-emerged recently. 'This is false. As clarified by the ministry then, Singapore has not performed such an autopsy, and it is also not true that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium,' said MOH. It also said social media posts alleging that Singapore had enacted laws to mandate vaccines and jail those unvaccinated after Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited the Republic in early May are not true. The Straits Times found that such claims had been published in articles on two websites – Slay News and The People's Voice – which tout themselves as news sites. Slay News describes itself as 'unapologetically pro-America and pro-free speech', while The People's Voice says it covers 'topics the mainstream media won't touch'. A search online shows that Slay News' website is registered in North Carolina, and a check of its address in Google Maps shows what looks to be a small farmhouse on a highway stretch. The People's Voice, meanwhile, has its website registered in Arizona, although it has no listed company address. Most of the articles published on both sites centre around right-wing ideology, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine rhetoric, with fact-checking website Snopes labelling The People's Voice as a rebrand of disinformation-spreading site NewsPunch. For accurate and up-to-date information, members of the public should visit the MOH website at instead. Aqil Hamzah is a journalist covering breaking news at The Straits Times, with interests in crime and technology. Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction Discover how to enjoy other premium articles here
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
MOH debunks fake news claiming Covid-19 autopsy and jail for the unvaccinated
MOH urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG SINGAPORE – Two pieces of fake news made about Covid-19 in Singapore have been debunked by the Ministry of Health (MOH), as it urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated claims that may cause public alarm. In a statement on June 3 , the ministry said it is aware of 'two pieces of misinformation' currently being spread on social media . The first has to do with a message claiming that Singapore was the first country to conduct an autopsy on a person who had tested positive for Covid-19, which was found to exist as a bacterium and not a virus. The claim was first circulated in 2021, and re-emerged recently. 'This is false. As clarified by the ministry then, Singapore has not performed such an autopsy, and it is also not true that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium,' said MOH. It also said social media posts alleging that Singapore had enacted laws to mandate vaccines and jail those unvaccinated after Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited the Republic in early May are not true. The Straits Times found that such claims had been published in articles on two sites - Slay News and The People's Voice , which both tout themselves as news sites. Slay News describes itself as 'unapologetically pro-America and pro-free speech', while The People's Voice says it covers 'topics the mainstream media won't touch'. A search online shows that Slay News' website is registered in North Carolina , and a check on its address in Google Maps shows what looks to be a small farmhouse along a highway stretch. The People's Voice meanwhile has its website registered in Arizona , although it has no listed company address. Most of the articles published on both sites centre around right-wing ideology, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine rhetoric, with fact-checking website Snopes labelling The People's Voice as a rebrand of disinformation-spreading site N ewsPunch . For accurate and up-to-date information, members of the public may visit the MOH website at instead. Aqil Hamzah is a journalist covering breaking news at The Straits Times, with interests in crime and technology. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oklahoma Will Require Schools to Teach Disproven Conspiracy Theory That Democrats Stole 2020 Election from Trump
Oklahoma is making more controversial changes to its public school curriculum, including teaching debunked information about the 2020 presidential election. Several additions to the newly updated Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies are facing public scrutiny, including a directive for high school students to learn disproven conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being 'stolen' from Donald Trump by the Democratic Party — a theory the president himself has frequently promoted. According to the guidelines, high school students should be able to 'identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of 'bellwether county' trends.' Trump's claims of election fraud have been refuted multiple times by election officials, cybersecurity experts and even members of his own administration. Then-Attorney General William Barr said in December 2020 that U.S. attorneys and the F.B.I. had investigated, but had 'not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.' The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency echoed that sentiment in their November 2020 statement: "The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history… There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised." To revise Oklahoma's curriculum, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters — a strong Trump supporter — sought help from other MAGA devotees like Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts and PragerU co-founder Dennis Prager. The Heritage Foundation was behind Project 2025, and PragerU is a right-wing media organization accused of publishing false or misleading information about climate change, slavery, racism, immigration, LGBTQ+ issues and more. Related: Christopher Columbus Says Slavery Was 'Better than Getting Killed' in PragerU Videos Approved for Florida Students "After months of Democrats and the teachers unions lying and attacking, the most unapologetically conservative, pro-America social studies standards in the nation are moving forward," Walters wrote in a post on X on April 29. "For nearly a year, we engaged in a thoughtful, transparent process to deliver standards that teach students factual history, including the realities of the 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the threat posed by Communist China," he continued, referencing conspiracy theories that are not supported by facts. Walters' admitted conservative bias is evident in other areas of the high school curriculum. In the section about Trump's first administration, the president is praised for the 'successful avoidance of new wars.' President George W. Bush's curriculum includes the study of 'examples of heroism and efforts to combat terrorism' in the wake of 9/11. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama's section begins with a focus on the conservative Tea Party movement. In the section about the Affordable Care Act, the standards merely ask students to spotlight 'challenges to its enactment.' The new standards also say that students must 'identify the source of the COVID-19 pandemic from a Chinese lab.' The 'lab leak' is part of many popular conspiracy theories about the pandemic, however, most scientists believe that the virus originated in humans through contact with an infected animal, like SARS, MERS, and other pandemics throughout history. The revised guidelines are the latest attempt by Walters to make conservative values and Christianity the standard in Oklahoma's public schools. In June 2024, he ordered that the Bible, including the 'Ten Commandments,' be taught in classrooms from grades 5 through 12. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In 2025, he's declared that the state's public schools will soon have a Bible in every classroom — despite Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt dismissing his $3 million request to pay for the religious texts. 'The Legislature can put the money there or not. We're going to have a Bible in every classroom this fall. So that's going to happen. So we're doing that. We've been very straightforward on how we're doing that,' he said in a May 16 press conference, without providing specifics. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Oklahoma will teach high school students debunked 2020 election-fraud theories as fact
Claim: Oklahoma instituted updated academic standards in 2025 requiring schools to teach high school students that widespread fraud impacted the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Rating: In late April and early May 2025, a rumor spread online that Oklahoma would soon require schools to teach students that widespread voter fraud occurred during the 2020 presidential election, echoing baseless conspiracy theories promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump to explain why he lost that election to former President Joe Biden. "Next school year, thousands of high school students in Oklahoma will be required to learn about Trump's debunked claims that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud," said one X post by independent reporter Judd Legum. "The lesson will not be part of a course on conspiracy theories, but an official component of the new social studies curriculum." Similar claims spread on platforms like Facebook, Reddit and Bluesky; many posts alleged the state's Department of Education head, Republican Superintendent Ryan Walters, was responsible for the new curriculum requirements. Oklahoma's new social studies standards for high school students, which take effect in the 2025-2026 school year, do, in fact, require students to learn about so-called "discrepancies" in the 2020 election. The updated guidelines list examples for these discrepancies, all of which are theories not based in evidence — and many of which Snopes has independently debunked. Thus, we rate this claim true. Walters did not immediately return a request for comment left for the agency's spokesperson. In an April 29 statement on X, Walters called the new benchmarks a "major victory" for the state. "The most unapologetically conservative, pro-America social studies standards in the nation are moving forward," Walters' post said. "These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination." Oklahoma's 2025 social studies standards are available here. See Page 118 for the academic benchmarks outlined under "United States History" for 9th through 12th grade, which clearly require students to study debunked claims of election fraud, but with the perspective that these theories are legitimate, rather than misinformation. Here is the relevant language from the document: Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of "bellwether county" trends. Oklahoma's new academic benchmarks are available for download on the Oklahoma State Board of Education's webpage under the "Handouts" section for the Feb. 27, 2025, meeting in a document titled "22725 Final SS OAS 2-27" (which presumably stands for "Feb. 27, 2025, Final Social Studies Oklahoma Academic Standards Feb. 27"). Snopes has repeatedly debunked many of these supposed 2020 election "discrepancies" listed in Oklahoma's new learning targets, including supposed mail-in ballot security issues and the idea that "sudden batch dumps" of voting ballots or an "unforeseen record number of voters" indicates fraud. We have also previously explained that delayed ballot counting doesn't mean voter fraud is happening. Peer-reviewed research published in the National Academy of Sciences' journal shows that trends for so-called "bellwether counties" — areas in the United States which often choose the winning presidential candidate — were not unusual during the 2020 election. In Oklahoma, the state Department of Education releases proposed updated social studies standards every six years, which the Oklahoma State Board of Education and the Oklahoma Legislature are, in theory, supposed to approve in order for them to go into effect. But if the Legislature takes no action, then the draft rules will go into effect by default 30 days after they are proposed, per state law on academic standards and their review: If the Legislature fails to adopt a joint resolution within thirty (30) legislative days following submission of the standards, the standards shall be deemed approved. That is what happened in this case: Oklahoma's Republican-controlled Legislature did not take action by the May 1 deadline, allowing the new language to go into effect. Attempts by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to block Walters' effort failed to pass. Initial draft language available for public comment differs; that document, dated Dec. 14, 2024, and available on the official Oklahoma State Department of Education website, simply directs students to "examine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome" (see Page 118 here). According to Oklahoma Voice, a news outlet focused on the state's government, several State Board of Education officials said they were unaware of last-minute changes in the document when they voted, including the added 2020 election-fraud language. The new learning targets also call for teaching the controversial theory that COVID-19 began in a Chinese laboratory as undisputed fact, as well as describing the "challenges and accomplishments" of Biden's administration (see Page 118.) " Bill Information for HJR 1030 ." Accessed 5 May 2025. " Bill Information for SJR 20 ." Accessed 5 May 2025. "2024 Oklahoma Statutes :: Title 70. Schools :: §70-11-103.6a-1. Legislative Review of Standards – Final Approval." Justia Law, Accessed 5 May 2025. Echter, Brandon. "The 2020 Election Collection: Mail-in Voting." Snopes, 25 Sept. 2020, Accessed 5 May 2025. Eggers, Andrew C., et al. "No Evidence for Systematic Voter Fraud: A Guide to Statistical Claims about the 2020 Election." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118, no. 45, Nov. 2021, Izzo, Jack. "There's Still No Evidence of Systematic Voter Fraud in the 2020 Election." Snopes, 27 June 2024, Accessed 5 May 2025. Mikkelson, David. "Debunking Trump Tweets: Biden's 143K Vote 'Dump' in Wisconsin." Snopes, 18 Nov. 2020, Accessed 5 May 2025. ---. "Debunking Trump Tweets: Popular Vote Totals Indicative of 'Rigged Election'?" Snopes, 16 Dec. 2020, Accessed 5 May 2025. "New Standards Review and Revision Process." Oklahoma State Department of Education (265), Accessed 5 May 2025. Nuria Martinez-Keel. "Oklahoma Board Members Say They Had 'No Idea' of Changes to Social Studies Standards before Vote • Oklahoma Voice." Oklahoma Voice, States Newsroom, 24 Apr. 2025, Accessed 5 May 2025. Oklahoma State Department of Education. "OAS-SS Public Comment - Google Drive." Google Drive, Dec. 2024, Accessed 5 May 2025. ---. "Oklahoma Academic Standards SOCIAL STUDIES." 27 Feb. 2025, Accessed 5 May 2025. Rascouët-Paz, Anna. "Delayed Vote Totals Don't Mean Voter Fraud Is Happening." Snopes, 29 Oct. 2024, Accessed 5 May 2025. "Senate Democrats Urge Rejection of OSDE Social Studies Standards before Clock Runs out | Oklahoma Senate." 21 Apr. 2025, Accessed 5 May 2025. "State Board of Education." Oklahoma State Department of Education (265), Accessed 5 May 2025. Walters, Ryan. "Today Is a Major Victory for Oklahoma Families and for the Truth. After Months of Democrats and the Teachers Unions Lying and Attacking, the Most Unapologetically Conservative, Pro-America Social Studies Standards in the Nation Are Moving Forward. For Nearly a Year, We Engaged in a Thoughtful, Transparent Process to Deliver Standards That Teach Students Factual History, Including the Realities of the 2020 Election, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Threat Posed by Communist China. These Reforms Will Reset Our Classrooms back to Educating Our Children without Liberal Indoctrination. As Part of These Standards, the Bible Will Now Be Recognized as a Foundational Text, Helping Students Understand Its Undeniable Influence on Our Nation's History and Values. We're Proud to Defend These Standards, and We Will Continue to Stand up for Honest, Pr…." X (Formerly Twitter), 29 Apr. 2025, Accessed 5 May 2025.
