NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

A roundup of among the hottest however utterly unfaithful tales and visuals of the week. None of those are legit, though they have been shared extensively on social media. The Related Press checked them out. Listed below are the details:

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Viral video reveals flamethrower-wielding Missouri state senators burning empty containers, not books

CLAIM: A video reveals Missouri Republican state Sens. Invoice Eigel and Nick Schroer utilizing a flamethrower for a “literal guide burning.”

THE FACTS: The video reveals the 2 lawmakers burning empty cardboard containers, not books, in keeping with each politicians. It was taken final week at a fundraiser hosted by a neighborhood GOP group the place flamethrowers have been being auctioned. Eigel, who can also be operating for Missouri governor, and Schroer have been demonstrating the units on the containers, the occasion’s organizer confirmed. Missouri is considered one of many states throughout the nation the place conservatives have been pushing to ban or prohibit sure books from colleges and libraries. The state handed a brand new regulation final 12 months outlawing books with sexually specific pictures from faculty libraries, which a lawsuit from two state library associations claims has since induced faculty districts to take away lots of of books from their cabinets. Social media customers shared the video of the 2 Republican state senators to assert they’re taking issues even additional by burning books. “Missouri Republicans at a literal guide burning. They suppose flamethrowers must be authorized however historical past books must be destroyed,” reads one submit on X, previously often called Twitter, sharing the video. Each Eigel and Schroer responded on X, saying that there have been no books burned. Eiger additionally posted footage of a distinct angle that extra clearly reveals the containers. “This induced no hurt to any books or literature,” stated Jamey Murphy, a spokesperson for Schroer. The footage was taken at an occasion known as Freedom Fest, a fundraiser for the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee, stated Sophia Shore, the marketing campaign supervisor for Eigel’s gubernatorial marketing campaign. Debbie McFarland, Freedom Fest’s planner and a member of the committee, stated the flamethrowers have been being auctioned off on the occasion and the lawmakers have been demonstrating their capabilities on a pile of containers from the occasion. McFarland known as the declare that books have been concerned “an absolute fabrication.” Nonetheless, in an announcement posted to X on Monday, Eigel did say he would burn “woke” books introduced into Missouri colleges “on the entrance garden of the governor’s mansion.”

— Related Press author Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed this report.

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Nobody has been sentenced to twenty years for filming the Jan. 6 riots, opposite to congressman’s declare

CLAIM: Folks have been sentenced to twenty years in jail for merely filming the riots on the U.S. Capitol constructing on Jan. 6, 2021.

THE FACTS: The one individual to this point to have been sentenced to at the least 20 years in jail in reference to the case is Enrique Tarrio, the previous chief of the extremist group the Proud Boys, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and different crimes. But social media customers are sharing a clip of U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie making the declare whereas calling out U.S. Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland over what he seen as a disparity within the Jan. 6 riot prosecutions. Throughout a Home Judiciary Committee listening to Wednesday, the Kentucky Republican accused Garland and federal prosecutors of going straightforward on a one-time Donald Trump supporter who conspiracy theorists have baselessly accused of secretly working with the federal authorities to incite the riots. Ray Epps pleaded responsible on Wednesday to a misdemeanor cost of partaking in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted constructing or grounds after he was filmed imploring Trump supporters to enter the Capitol. Federal prosecutors have confused he’s by no means been a regulation enforcement asset. “In the meantime, you’re sending grandmas to jail,” Massie stated to Garland. “You’re placing individuals away for 20 years for merely filming.” However few individuals have been given sentences wherever shut to twenty years; an AP assessment reveals that solely 39 of the greater than 650 defendants sentenced to this point have been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment of 5 or extra years. The notable exceptions are the leaders of proper wing extremist teams prosecutors say orchestrated the assault, which was meant to maintain Trump in energy after the Republican misplaced the 2020 election. Earlier this month, Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in jail, the stiffest punishment but. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and one-time Proud Boys chief Ethan Nordean obtained 18-year sentences. All three have been charged with seditious conspiracy and different crimes, not “filming” the riots. Tarrio and Rhodes weren’t even on the Capitol on the time. Each have been accused of plotting the violence from afar. Nordean, in the meantime, was among the many Proud Boy leaders accused of spearheading the harmful breach of the Capitol constructing itself. Massie spokesman John Kennedy stated the congressman had truly been referring to Ryan Scott Zink, a 34-year-old Texas resident who was convicted final week. Citing a neighborhood media report in Texas, Kennedy argued that Zink might stand up to 21 years in jail when he’s sentenced in December on one felony and two misdemeanor counts. Whereas footage Zink took outdoors the Capitol was used as proof within the case, he was convicted of felony “obstruction of an official continuing and aiding and abetting,” in addition to two misdemeanor counts of “coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted constructing or grounds,” in keeping with prosecutors. The U.S. Division of Justice didn’t reply to emails looking for remark Thursday. However Daniel Charles Richman, a professor at Columbia Regulation Faculty and former federal prosecutor, stated that the utmost penalty underneath regulation for any given crime is “virtually all the time irrelevant” to the sentence a defendant truly receives. Certainly a assessment of the company’s database of instances and sentences linked to the riot reveals that nobody going through expenses much like Zink have been sentenced to something near twenty years in federal jail. Zink’s feedback throughout and after the riot additionally counsel he did greater than merely movie, famous Jeffrey Kirchmeier, a professor on the Metropolis College of New York’s Faculty of Regulation. In accordance with prosecutors, Zink says at one level in his movies: “We knocked down the gates! We’re storming the Capitol! You’ll be able to’t cease us!” “If he stood outdoors the Capitol and recorded occasions, I don’t suppose he could possibly be charged,” Kirchmeier defined in an e-mail. Legal professionals for Zink didn’t reply to an e-mail looking for remark, however his father, Jeff Zink, has argued that the duo by no means entered the Capitol and have been merely observers. Kennedy, in the meantime, maintained Massie’s remarks are correct. “Ryan Scott Zink faces over 20 years in jail for the actions described within the DOJ press launch,” he wrote in an e-mail. “In distinction, Mr. Epps obtained a misdemeanor cost.”

— Related Press author Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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Widespread video of a dad or mum ripping down a Delight flag in classroom is a skit, not actual

CLAIM: Video reveals an offended dad or mum tearing down a Delight flag draped over a U.S. map in a classroom.

THE FACTS: The clip reveals actors performing a skit, as an extended model makes clear. It was posted by a social media character who has beforehand shared related movies, together with with among the similar actors, and who clarified that it was “overtly pretend.” The video was amplified by high-profile figures on X, the platform previously often called Twitter. Operating 1 minute and 22 seconds, the clip reveals a supposed mom sporting a hat bursting right into a classroom and tearing down the flag, revealing a U.S. map. “I’m not paying my tax cash to assist one of these —” the mom says, throwing the flag in a trash bin. “We’re paying you to show historical past, and that’s what you have to be instructing.” The flustered trainer tells the mom to go away the room earlier than calling safety. “GOD BLESS THIS MAMA!!!!!” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote in an X submit sharing the clip. “I stand along with her!!!” In a follow-up submit, the congresswoman acknowledged it might not be actual, writing: “If this can be a pretend or a skit, it’s an excellent illustration of precisely how individuals really feel.” However it’s certainly a skit, opposite to many feedback suggesting it’s genuine. The clip was taken from an extended model of the video posted Sept. 16 on the Fb web page of Jibrizy, a self-identified comic who has uploaded related movies; he has additionally carried out as a magician. Jibrizy tells viewers on the finish of the parent-teacher video that “this was all a skit” earlier than soliciting opinions on the situation. Different movies on his web page present the identical actors in the identical classroom performing different skits. He additionally took to X to once more acknowledge it wasn’t actual. “This video is initially my video individuals steal it achieve a following off it and by no means credit score me. I’m the director,” he wrote. “I create video to start out dialogue. It’s overtly pretend. However I would like you to debate your perspective.”

— Related Press author Angelo Fichera in New Jersey contributed this report.

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False declare that Navy SEALs rescued lacking Maui youngsters from cages comes from a parody website

CLAIM: U.S. Navy SEALs saved 15 lacking Maui youngsters who have been locked in cages at a warehouse in Honolulu.

THE FACTS: This declare originated as a narrative on a web site that claims it publishes “humor, parody, and satire.” The chief of police in Maui confirmed the knowledge is unfaithful. However greater than a month after the lethal August wildfires in Maui, some on social media are sharing the declare as truth. “I hope they discover extra and might discover most of their dad and mom,” wrote one Fb consumer who linked to the story. “If not loving households for them. My coronary heart aches pondering of those treasured ones in cages.” The false info was printed by Actual Uncooked Information, a website identified for operating fabricated tales. Lots of its posts contain made-up tales concerning the U.S. army, and cite solely nameless sources. The location didn’t return a request for remark. The story concerning the youngsters supplied no credible proof to assist its claims. It cited just one alleged nameless supply from the workplace of a Marine Corps common, as Actual Uncooked Information has completed in quite a few prior inaccurate posts. The story weaves a suspect narrative a couple of Sept. 14 rescue by Navy SEALs of kids who have been supposedly kidnapped in Maui and flown to Oahu. It begins with a SEAL crew subduing three guards armed with automated rifles to enter a warehouse in Honolulu, the place they discover 15 sedated youngsters locked in cages, coated in urine and feces. The SEALs then carry the kids, in addition to an unconscious prisoner, aboard a airplane and fly them to a close-by Marine Corps base for therapy. John Pelletier, Maui’s police chief, instructed the AP that the occasions described within the story should not actual. An inventory of people that have been unaccounted for after the wildfires launched by the Maui Police Division and the FBI on Sept. 8, days earlier than the alleged rescue, named 66 individuals, solely considered one of whom was a minor. An up to date record launched every week later named 31 individuals, together with that very same little one. The Navy didn’t reply to a request for remark.

— Related Press author Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

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Discover AP Reality Checks right here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck