Fact Check: Collage Showing Burning Vehicles Falsely Shared With Context Of Republic Day Violence In Delhi

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On January 26, 2021, farmers held tractor rally to agitate against the three contentious farm laws. This rally led to a massive scuffle between the protesting farmers and the security forces. In the backdrop to this, a collage of three images of the burning vehicle is being shared on social media claiming it is of mayhem that happened on the roads of Delhi on Republic Day.

A Facebook page, The Frustrated Koshur shared the collage with the caption, " Latest images from Delhi."

Another Facebook user, Dz Pranks also shared the same post.

Latest images from Delhi.. Posted by Dz pranks on Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Claim:

The viral image is of the violence that erupted on Republic Day in Delhi amid the farmers’ tractor rally.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian did a reverse image search of all the three viral images.

Image 1:

The burning vehicle in the photo has the number starting with JK, which stands for Jammu and Kashmir. On doing a reverse image search, we found that the viral image was published by News 18 on February 18, 2019, in an article that spoke about the aftermath of Pulwama attack. The image was captioned, “Vehicles set on fire by protesters against the killing of CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terror attack, during a shutdown call given by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), in Jammu.”

The same image was also published by The Quint on February 15, 2019.

Image 2:

On doing a reverse image search, we saw the same image was published by the Dawn on February 17, 2019, in an article. It reported, “Fear engulfs Muslims living in occupied Kashmir after Pulwama attack.” The image was attributed to Associated Press and was captioned, “A protestor shouts slogans against Thursday’s attack on a paramilitary convoy in Pulwama.”

The same image was also published in The News Lens, Tehran Times and Abc.net.

Image 3:

On doing a reverse image search, we found that the same image was published by Hindustan Times on February 15, 2019, in an article that reported about the death of a basketball player in Pulwama Attack. The image was captioned, “Satpal Attari said on Friday his son Maninder Singh was an outstanding basketball player and had represented his school and college at the national level. He got a job with the CRPF under sports quota about 15 months ago (PTI)”.

Hence, all the three images were not of the recent row that erupted in Delhi but was of Pulwama attack.

Fact check: No, Biden didn’t say that signing lots of executive orders makes you a dictator

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Washington (CNN) President Joe Biden has signed more than 35 executive orders, actions and memorandums in his first week-and-a-half in the Oval Office. And some of Biden’s critics are saying or suggesting that his frequent early use of the presidential pen contradicts a dramatic statement he made on the campaign trail in October.

“Biden signed off on a record number of executive orders during his first week – but just three months ago, according to Biden himself, that’s something only a dictator would do,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said on air Tuesday.

“As recently as October, now-President Biden said you can’t legislate by executive action unless you’re a dictator. Well, in one week, he’s signed more than 30 unilateral actions, and working Americans are getting short shrift,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday in the Senate.

“By his own definition, Biden is already governing like a dictator,” read a headline on an opinion column in The Hill by commentator Joe Concha. Biden signs more executive orders despite claims he once said they were for dictators," read a headline in the conservative Washington Examiner. “Joe Biden admits he is governing like a ‘dictator,’” said a caption posted on Instagram by Charlie Kirk, founder and president of conservative student group Turning Point USA.: These Biden critics are taking his “dictator” remark out of context. Biden explicitly campaigned on signing various executive orders, including those to rescind some of then-President Donald Trump’s own executive orders, and he didn’t say in October that signing a large number of orders means a president is a dictator. Rather, after Biden rejected the idea of using an executive order to raise taxes on corporations and wealthy people, he said there are “things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator.” In other words, Biden was saying what he had said before and has said since – that executive orders are unconstitutional for some particular purposes.

In an email, McConnell spokesman David Popp forcefully rejected CNN’s conclusion that McConnell had inaccurately characterized Biden’s “dictator” remark. Popp said that given the full text of what Biden said in October, and other campaign comments Biden made about his belief in a consensus-seeking philosophy of governing, “your fact check doesn’t check out.”

We respectfully disagree. Let’s go through some relevant history.

Biden’s comments

Biden argued during the campaign that other politicians, including some of his rivals in the Democratic primary, were proposing to use executive orders in situations where orders could not properly be used. He told the New York Times editorial board in December 2019 that it would be unconstitutional to sign an executive order to ban possession of assault weapons or to make substantial changes to the judiciary.

At an ABC News town hall event in Philadelphia in October 2020, Biden was asked by host George Stephanopoulos if it is wise to carry out his proposals to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy at a time when the economy is weak. After Biden defended his plan, Stephanopoulos said, “So there’s not going to be any delay on the tax increases.”

Biden responded: “No, well, I’ve gotta get the votes. I gotta get the votes. That’s why – you know, the one thing that I – I have this strange notion. We are a democracy. Some of my Republican friends and some of my Democratic friends even, occasionally say, ‘Well, if you can’t get the votes, by executive order you’re going to do something.’ Things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”

This was familiar Biden rhetoric. Like his previous comments to the Times, the “dictator” remark was a criticism of proposals to use executive orders for initiatives that require congressional approval, not an assertion that signing a lot of executive orders is inherently tyrannical.

Popp argued that Biden’s subsequent sentence about the need for “consensus” shows that he was making a broad statement about his philosophy of governing, not just speaking narrowly about executive orders for a change to tax policy. And Popp noted that Biden had repeatedly spoken, including in the Times interview, about the importance of bringing people together and working through Congress.

That’s fair enough. But McConnell still went too far when he implied that Biden signing a bunch of executive orders means he contradicted the “dictator” comment in particular.

There’s also some additional important context.

Biden’s campaign promises

Multiple Biden executive orders simply rescind policies Trump had imposed through his own executive orders without public complaint from McConnell and other Biden critics. And, critically, Biden promised during the campaign that he would sign significant executive orders. In fact, many of Biden’s early-presidency executive orders fulfil explicit campaign pledges.

For example, Biden signed a series of orders aimed at combating climate change – just as his campaign climate plan, which is still on his website , said he would: “On day one, Biden will sign a series of new executive orders with unprecedented reach that go well beyond the Obama-Biden Administration platform and put us on the right track.”

AP FACT CHECK: Biden’s fuzzy math on 1 million new auto jobs

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DETROIT (AP) — Casting his climate policy as a jobs plan, President Joe Biden left out important context and used fuzzy math when he announced sweeping new green initiatives that he says will boost the U.S. economy with the creation of 1 million new auto jobs.

That’s actually far from certain, if not unlikely.

A look at Biden’s statements at his signing of executive orders Wednesday that will replace the U.S. government’s fleet of roughly 650,000 vehicles with electric models and encourage a broader national shift to electric cars:

BIDEN: “Today is ‘Climate Day’ at the White House, which means that today is ‘Jobs Day’ at the White House. … We see these workers building new buildings, installing 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations across the country as we modernize our highway systems to adapt to the changes that have already taken place. … We’re going to harness the purchasing power of the federal government to buy clean, zero-emission vehicles that are made and sourced by union workers right here in America. … This will mean 1 million new jobs in the American automobile industry. One million.”

THE FACTS: There’s plenty of skepticism about this claim. At least some of those new auto-related jobs would come at the expense of current ones. Auto industry analysts don’t see how a net gain of 1 million jobs in that sector can come from Biden’s plan.

One million new jobs in the auto industry is a highly ambitious goal that would mean more than doubling the number of workers now employed in motor vehicle and parts manufacturing.

Many analysts and the United Auto Workers union, in fact, have warned that electric vehicle manufacturing probably will mean fewer net auto-making jobs.

If more Americans drive electric vehicles, then it stands that fewer will drive gas-powered ones. And because electric vehicles generally have 30% to 40% fewer parts and are simpler to build, fewer workers will be needed to assemble them. That will require a reshuffling of jobs, as workers who once made engines, transmissions and other components for gas-powered cars have to switch to electric motors and batteries.

“Because they are simpler, you’re probably going to have far fewer people working in vehicle manufacturing than you have today,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst for Guidehouse Insights. He noted that it’s far easier to automate manufacturing of battery cells and packs, which could reduce job levels even more.

More than 100,000 workers are engaged in building gas-powered engines alone.

Abuelsamid added that creating a million new auto jobs will be difficult in future years because U.S. new vehicle sales are projected to be flat at around pre-pandemic levels for the next decade. “If nothing changed, you’re not going to have a whole lot more employment,” he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked for a breakdown of the 1 million new auto jobs that shows an accounting for lost jobs.

Nor would a shift of jobs from one sector to another necessarily mean that workers losing their jobs could easily make the jump to green jobs in the new economy. Part of Biden’s campaign promise has been to promote economic equity, such as bringing fuller opportunity for people without college degrees. In the short run, though, those workers may be hurt the most by initial job layoffs.

Kristin Dziczek, a vice president at the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank, said Biden’s goal isn’t well defined and will be “a heavy lift.” For example, the administration hasn’t said in what time frame the 1 million jobs would be added.

The move toward electric vehicles already is happening, even though fully electric vehicles accounted for less than 2% of U.S. new vehicle sales last year. On Thursday, General Motors announced a goal of making most of its vehicles electric by 2035, the same year California plans to ban sales of new gas-powered vehicles.

Currently, automakers pay workers who assemble batteries less than they pay those who manufacture vehicles. Also, much of the battery work is done by other companies that pay less than what members of the United Auto Workers union make at vehicle assembly plants.

Biden’s campaign has said the additional jobs also would include those building and installing the half-million new charging stations, and construction workers who would retool factories to build electric vehicles. Many electric vehicle components are now made in other countries, and part of Biden’s plan is to build a U.S. supply chain to create additional factory jobs, the campaign has said.

“Anybody who tells you it’s all positive for jobs — you can’t say one way or the other at this point,” Dziczek said.

Rugaber and Yen reported from Washington. AP Economics Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

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