Bob Oswald
A recent social media attack on Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz claims the Minnesota governor lied about his dog.
An X user posted side-by-side images of Walz, with a different dog in each photo.
“Yes, this is Tim Walz tweeting about his dog Scout. Only problem is that these are two completely different dogs,” the post read.
Following that post, others piled on, MSNBC reported.
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, said Walz was “an all-time legendary liar” in an X post that was later deleted. And Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle wrote on X, “Wait so Walz is even lying about his dog? Ruff stuff.”
The images in the X post were screenshots of social media posts by Walz. In a June 15, 2022 photo on the left, Walz is with a black dog, and the caption reads, “Sending a special birthday shoutout to our favorite pup, Scout.” The other photo, from Oct. 19, 2022, shows the governor with a brown and white dog, with the caption, “Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than at the dog park. I know Scout enjoyed it.”
But Walz wasn’t lying, according to USA Today. He didn’t claim both dogs are Scout.
In an October 2022 video Walz posted to his Instagram account, he is seen petting the dog in the photo, along with Scout. A reader’s note added to the original post reads, “The photo on the right is from a dog park that Tim Walz was at with Scout and many other dogs. In the video, Scout can be seen playing with these dogs.
One user’s response to the original post included a photo of Walz and Scout with the caption, “Case solved: there (are) other dogs at the dog park besides Scout.”
Harris didn’t meet with Putin
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, claimed his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022.
“Remember when (President Joe) Biden sent Kamala to Europe to stop the war in Ukraine? She met with Putin to tell him, ‘Don’t do it.’ And three days later, he attacked. That’s when the attack started,” Trump told the crowd during an Aug. 21 rally in North Carolina.
The next day Trump repeated the claim during an interview on Fox News, adding, “(it’s) a little known fact that the press doesn’t want to talk about.”
But it’s not a fact and there’s no reason for the press to talk about it because it didn’t happen, according to FactCheck.org.
The former president is referring to the February 2022 annual Munich Security Conference in Germany that Harris attended, along with European leaders, to discuss world topics, which included Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine.
Harris gave a speech during the event and met with several heads of state, but there are no reports she met with anyone from Russia or traveled to Russia during the trip.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked last month if Putin had ever talked to Harris.
“To be honest, I can’t remember a single contact between President Putin and Ms. Harris,” he told reporters.
Players not suspended for kneeling
A recent blog post appeared to contain news about the WNBA.
“BREAKING: WNBA referees disqualify two players under league’s new ‘no anthem kneeling’ rule,” read an Aug. 22 Facebook post.
The “full story in comments” provided more details.
“Iп a significant move that has sparked widespread debate, WNBA referees disqualified two players during a recent game for violating the league’s newly implemented ‘No Aпthem Kneeling’ rule” the story said.
But there is no evidence this happened, according to PolitiFact. There have been no credible reports of players being disqualified for kneeling.
The league has a rule about players standing for the national anthem, but it isn’t new and it predates August 2016 when football player Colin Kaepernick began sitting, then kneeling, during the anthem to protest violence against Black Americans.
The WNBA rule book states, “Players, coaches, and trainers are to stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or on the foul line during the playing of the national anthem.” It doesn’t mention players being suspended or disqualified for not standing.
The league did suspend that rule in August 2017 when WNBA players were allowed to lock arms during the anthem in support of victims of violence in Charlottesville, Va.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.