Bob Oswald
A plane that left June 12 from Ahmedabad, India, crashed shortly after takeoff. The aircraft, bound for London, went down and crashed into a medical college hostel. Of the 242 people aboard the plane, 241 were killed, and on the ground, 19 people were killed.
The one survivor aboard the plane, a man named Viswashkumar Ramesh, was seated near the emergency exit and told authorities he walked out of the plane following the crash.
Some social media posts made it appear Ramesh has other problems now.
“Only survivor arrested,” read the headline on a June 18 TikTok post that included a video that begins, “Viswashkumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the plane crash, has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the incident.”
The narrator on the video says Ramesh was seen placing something beneath the aircraft before takeoff, and after the crash, was immediately arrested at his home and is being held in a detention center in Ahmedabad.
But there is no evidence that this happened, according to Reuters. Neither the group leading the crash investigation, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, nor India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, made any statements to support this claim.
The false post appears to have originated on a website which declares “EVERYTHING is FAKE” at the top and contains a variety of stories about celebrities and famous people.
Following the incident, Ramesh gave interviews about his survival and he also attended the funeral of his brother, who was among the victims of the crash.
Trump wrong on gas prices
President Donald Trump, during a July 1 stop at a new immigration detention center in Florida, claimed gas prices are coming down.
“Gasoline just hit $1.99 today in five states — $1.99, isn’t that a nice sound?” Trump said. “ … We just hit, in five states, $1.99, $1.98.”
But that’s false, according to CNN. There are no reports that any states have gas prices under $2.
A July 1 report of gasoline prices across U.S. states, compiled by AAA, showed the price of a gallon of diesel was more than $5 in California and Hawaii, but no states for regular, mid-grade, premium or diesel were less than $2. The lowest reported price was $2.72 for a gallon of regular in Mississippi.
GasBuddy, which collects data from thousands of U.S. stations, and offers discounts, reported on July 1 the lowest price it found was $2.26 per gallon.
Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, told CNN the most recent time a gallon of gas dipped below $2 was in January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICE vehicles not being towed
Recent protests have been happening in Los Angeles, Calif., as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents have been taking into custody those who are in the country illegally.
According to some social media posts, tow truck operators are staging their own protests.
“BREAKING: A growing group of tow truck drivers in LA are reportedly stalking ICE convoys so they can tow away all the unmarked ICE vans and SUVs that get parked incorrectly the moment the agents get out to start looking for people to abduct and deport,” read a June 20 X post.
This is not accurate, according to PolitiFact. This post was meant as satire.
Tow truck drivers in California cannot tow vehicles without the participation of law enforcement.
Eric Rose, executive director of the Official Police Garage Association of Los Angeles, told PolitiFact that the towing can’t happen without filling out the proper paperwork.
“The idea that a private towing operator could act independently — let alone target federal law enforcement vehicles — is not only implausible, it is illegal,” Rose said.
The original false post came from Dash MacIntyre, a comedian who operates the satirical website The Halfway Post.
MacIntyre told PolitiFact that he labels his posts as satire, “but imitators, thieves, and viewers with low digital literacy often repost my work without such context.”
Parton supports LGBTQ+ community
Singer Dolly Parton has long been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. Recent Facebook posts made it appear she has changed her tune.
“BREAKING NEWS: Dolly Parton announces her refusal to celebrate Pride Month in June — she says ‘WOKE’ doesn’t deserve to be commemorated,” read a June 12 post.
But this is fake, according to PolitiFact.
The false posts have a link to articles, without bylines, purportedly in “The Tennessee Voice,” in which Parton said Pride month has “become political, divisive and performative.” But “The Tennessee Voice” is not an actual outlet. A podcast called “Tennessee Voices” ran through 2024 but there is no record there were any interviews with Parton.
In a 2023 Hollywood Reporter interview about transgender rights, Parton said, “I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. I’ve got transgender people. I’ve got gays. I’ve got lesbians. I’ve got drunks. I’ve got drug addicts — all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge.”
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at [email protected].
