Fact-checking the News

12/01/2021

“Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the U.S. Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” the bulletin said, according to one official. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Armed protests are expected in all 50 state capitals staring at the end of this week and extending beyond Biden's inauguration, according to an internal FBI report. Just a casual reminder that we're in a civil war.

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-warns-armed-protests-next-week-ec75b26289166b4afd30c15b0dd2ded5

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is warning of plans for armed protests at all 50 state capitals and in Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, stoking fears...

07/01/2021

In case anyone missed it with the chaos earlier today, Democrats Warnock and Ossoff won the Senate seats in Georgia, resulting in a Democratic-led Senate.

https://apnews.com/article/Georgia-election-results-4b82ba7ee3cc74d33e68daadaee2cbf3

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrats won both Georgia Senate seats — and with them, the U.S. Senate majority — as final votes were counted Wednesday, serving President Donald Trump a stunning defeat in his...

07/01/2021

"The House has voted overwhelmingly to reject an objection to President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Arizona, joining the Senate in upholding the results of the election there. The objection failed 303-121 on Wednesday night, with only Republicans voting in support."

Folx, I'm tired, but at least I'm relieved and tired.

https://apnews.com/article/ap-electoral-college-congress-7af85d3c702e070464d7713c42cf25

Thank you for visiting apnews.com. The page you’re looking for has moved or no longer exists. Please use the search feature or the navigation menu to find the information you need.

07/01/2021

Congress returned at 8 P.M. today to finish counting the Electoral College votes. But the quote I'm choosing from Reuters is this:

"The chaotic scenes unfolded after Trump, who before the election refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost... Trump told the supporters they should march on the Capitol to express their anger at the voting process and pressure their elected officials to reject the results, urging them 'to fight.'"

Reminder that Reuters is not a biased source. I'm including a link to NPR's report of the same situation below:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election/congress-resumes-certification-of-bidens-win-after-trump-supporters-storm-u-s-capitol-idUSKBN29B2P

https://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/2021/01/06/954164654/congress-reconvenes-after-violent-rioters-breach-u-s-capitol

Members of Congress returned to the floor after pro-Trump extremists stormed the Capitol and halted certification proceedings.

07/01/2021

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is sending 1,000 members of the state’s National Guard to Washington, D.C., to help 'the peaceful transition of presidential power.' Cuomo, a Democrat, said 1,000 troops would be sent for up to two weeks at the request of U.S. National Guard officials. It comes after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters rampaged through the U.S. Capitol."

The AP News is the only major news station where this story has been reported, however AP is unbiased and usually the first to break such news. New York local news sources have been reporting this as well.

Because of the way this site is set up, you have to scroll down to the second story, as of 9:29 P.M. 1/6/21.
https://apnews.com/article/ap-electoral-college-congress-7af85d3c702e070464d7713c42cf254a"

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress’ tally of the Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden (all times local): 8:55 p.m. Multiple Republican senators have reversed course and now...

06/01/2021

Psychoanalyzing Trump's "Very Special Protestors" speech. (Note: I'm not a psychologist.)

I'm going to be linking the speech below but I need readers to be aware that, while this exists, the statements he makes about election fraud are not real nor verified.

He starts by saying "I know your pain. I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us that was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side."

I want you to be aware first of the sympathizing tactic he's using in the beginning. He's talking about relating to their feelings as a means to not only group himself with them, but to also downplay the rage they're showing. He's saying they're hurting and that's why they're harming, not that they're furious and that's why they're being destructive.

Then he leads into more lies that galvanize these protestors: reminding them that he (incorrectly) believes the vote was a fraud. Every message he says after this doesn't matter because he just confirmed his followers' beliefs: that they are fighting against "oppression." He also refers to them as "we," to add credence to their battle. By grouping himself with them and saying something so action-oriented ("stolen from us"), he's indirectly telling them to fight to get it back.

"especially the other side." Here it is, the "othering" tactic. By making it "us versus them," it makes it easy for his followers to stop seeing the rest of us as people, and start seeing us as the enemy. Anyone who isn't on Trump's side is responsible for this "oppression," this "fraud." He has drawn lines in the sand and pointed at the enemy, and that enemy is anyone who isn't on Trump's side.

"We have to have peace. We have to have law and order..."
He says these things, but he doesn't say how to achieve these things. He already painted a strong picture earlier, so now his followers can connect the path: achieve peace through fighting.

"People in law and order, we don't want anybody hurt." He doesn't say how to not harm them. He doesn't say to stop harming them. He just says the blanket statement that we don't want them hurt.

Then he goes right back into the election fraud statement to further galvanize his base. Then he says "We can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace." He still hasn't stated that this fighting is not okay. He still hasn't spoken against the actions of the protestors. To them, peace comes from a victory, and he's confirming that.

"So go home. We love you. You're very special."
He finally, finally gives them a direction, and then rewards them for the behaviors they've already shown. He doesn't even say when to go home, which is nitpicking on my part possibly.

Then he reminds them that the people on the other side are "so bad and so evil. I know how you feel."

He's just encouraging them. That's the message. Not shocking, but certainly disappointing.

The link will be in the comments so this post doesn't get taken down.

06/01/2021

"The governor of Virginia said Wednesday he was sending additional National Guard troops, as well as hundreds of state troopers, to Washington, DC, as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. The Pentagon also issued a statement announcing that the District of Columbia National Guard was being activated in response to the unrest. Maryland's governor said Wednesday afternoon that he was sending troopers into Washington to support the Metropolitan Police Department and Capitol Police."

Business Insider has a mild left-wing bias, but has an excellent fact-checking record. I have confirmed every source in this article and across a few other publications, but I chose BI because it had the most information about the deployment of the National Guard.

Business Insider report: https://www.businessinsider.com/more-national-guard-to-dc-as-trump-supporters-storm-capitol-2021-1

Here is the statement by the Chief Pentagon Spokesman regarding the deployment of the National Guard: https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2464309/statement-by-jonathan-hoffman-chief-pentagon-spokesman-on-dc-guard-mobilizatio

There are reports that the entire DC National Guard is being activated in response to the protests that turned violent Wednesday afternoon.

06/01/2021

"The U.S. Capitol was engulfed in chaos on Wednesday, as supporters of President Trump, responding to his call to head there, breached the complex, resulting in violence in the seat of America's federal government. Violent protesters were seen smashing windows, and occupying the House and Senate floors and various offices. Police were seen with guns drawn in the House chamber, pointing their fi****ms at windows that were smashed."

I'm coming out of temporary hiatus to verify reports on the current situation. These reports will continue coming from various unbiased sources throughout the day, with my very biased commentary showing up in the second paragraph of every post.

https://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/2021/01/06/954028436/u-s-capitol-locked-down-amid-escalating-far-right-protests"

The Capitol was engulfed in chaos, as supporters of President Trump, responding to his call to head there, breached the complex, resulting in violence in the seat of America's federal government.

16/12/2020

The fight isn't over.

So many people still struggle to trust the news when there are so many conflicting messages. It's still hard to distinguish a real, active, immediate threat from what is essentially a lot of loud noise.

Despite the toll on my mental health, I told myself I would keep fact-checking the news. This process has me reading the same articles over nearly a dozen different outlets, researching the sources of information, checking for biases, etc.

I kept going until I couldn't do it anymore. I'm seeing the results of it now. I sacrificed what I could and now I need time to rebuild.

This isn't goodbye. I'm just officially announcing my hiatus until I feel stable enough to pick up the fight once more. Thank you for reading.

25/10/2020

Reminder: please remember to "like" react to articles even if they make you absolutely furious. Avoid "angry" or "sad" reacting. By "liking" the content I put up, it will continue to show up in your feed.

Facebook algorithms are bizarre.

25/10/2020

I am unable to verify if the US truly set a new one-day record for highest coronavirus cases, despite many trustworthy outlets reporting on it. The reason is because the stats come from "Covidtracking.com," which is an independent, volunteer-run resource, rather than from an official government channel.

I checked the stats on the CDC website and compared them to the ones on Covidtracking.com, and I saw there was a large margin of error between them.

Please take a look for yourself:
https://covidtracking.com/data

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/

View the number of confirmed cases COVID-19 in the United States

25/10/2020

"The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated Thursday after Republican senators threatened the CEOs of the social media companies with subpoenas to force them to address accusations of censorship in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign."

Some of you were wondering why social media didn't do something about the fake accounts, the conspiracy groups, etc. This is your answer.

Verified on Snopes as well.

https://apnews.com/article/business-politics-ap-top-news-media-social-media-f5bd9825cbb24dd859da28e8ccfe94c8

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated Thursday after Republican senators threatened the CEOs of the social media companies with subpoenas to force them to address...

25/10/2020

October 22nd:

"The Trump Administration signed an anti-abortion declaration with 32 member states in the United Nations on Thursday, many of which are authoritarian regimes or seen as flawed democracies, a move which drastically reframes U.S. foreign policy ahead of the presidential election."

I'm going to include the press release and declarations page, but I recommend reading this article that helps break down the reality of this move. Though Forbes has a heavy conservative lean, the manner by which they describe this event is very sympathetic towards the pro-choice crowd.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielcassady/2020/10/22/us-signs-anti-abortion-declaration-with-32-countries/

Here is the declaration:
https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/oga/global-health-diplomacy/protecting-life-global-health-policy/geneva-declaration.html

Here is the press release: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/10/22/trump-administration-marks-signing-geneva-consensus-declaration.html

On Thursday, October 22, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and HHS Secretary Alex Azar participated in the virtual signing of the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a historic document that further strengthens an ongoing coalition to achieve better health for women, the preservation of human life, sup...

16/10/2020

"The official Trump campaign Twitter account was locked on Thursday after it posted clips relating to the recent New York Post story about Hunter Biden, according to its communications director Tim Murtaugh. As Business Insider's Sonam Sheth has reported, the New York Post story has numerous question marks over its accuracy and sourcing."

In a lighthearted bit of news, Trump's official campaign Twitter got put in "jail" for retweeting an inaccurate and questionable New York Post article about Hunter Biden. (This is just a reminder that what the New York Post considers to be "fact checking" essentially amounts to listening to a stranger rant into a cell phone for thirty minutes without ever listening to the other side of that conversation.)

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-account-locked-twitter-ny-post-biden-2020-10

was blocked from sharing new posts after referring to a New York Post story on Joe Biden's son which Twitter had taken action against.

16/10/2020

This comes in two parts: one from NPR, and one from Forbes.

From NPR: "This is probably not about persuading each other unless something really dramatic happens. All Republicans will vote yes and all Democrats will vote no and that will be the way the breakout of the vote," Graham said. But he added that the hearings give the American people the chance to "find out about Judge Barrett."

This piece offered a breakdown of the hearings to help us understand the subjects broached. Sadly, Barrett avoided answering most of the questions posed by the Democrats:
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/15/923637375/takeaways-from-amy-coney-barretts-judiciary-confirmation-hearings

Forbes: Importantly, Barrett neglected the right to protest when listing the 5 freedoms protected by the First Amendment: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/10/14/amy-coney-barrett-forgets-right-to-protest-is-a-first-amendment-freedom/

President Trump's nominee deflected answering most questions, citing precedent that she can't weigh in on issues she may rule on. Weeks before the election, Democrats largely honed in on health care.

16/10/2020

Late to the party, I know, but yes, the White House really did release a historical revisionist and harmful statement on Columbus Day about the kind of "hero" Columbus was. The entire piece is an outright threat to those who value education, truth, and acts of protest.

I'd like to point out a few of the most egregious statements:

"Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions. Rather than learn from our history, this radical ideology and its adherents seek to revise it, deprive it of any splendor, and mark it as inherently sinister. They seek to squash any dissent from their orthodoxy. We must not give in to these tactics or consent to such a bleak view of our history. We must teach future generations about our storied heritage, starting with the protection of monuments to our intrepid heroes like Columbus. This June, I signed an Executive Order to ensure that any person or group destroying or vandalizing a Federal monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-columbus-day-2020/

After reading such awfulness, I want to share something brilliant, uplifting and insightful. Ally Henny is an educator on race issues and I highly recommend reading the statement she provided on Columbus Day:
https://m.facebook.com/951485691668408/posts/1678351742315129/?sfnsn=mo

16/10/2020

"One man in India pointed out that his country handles more election ballots than any other democracy in the world. In a country with a higher level of illiteracy than the US, no such long queues have been seen in previous elections."

Just a friendly reminder that other countries don't have people waiting in line for 10 hours just to vote.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54532189

From India to Ireland, people have been surprised by the long waits US voters are facing.

16/10/2020

Not an article because I trust Snopes' fact-checking record above anything I can perform:

"California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, during an Oct. 12 news conference, said multiple fake drop-boxes had been installed in Fresno, Los Angeles, and Orange counties. Padilla’s office and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued cease-and-desist letters to state and county Republican parties."

Yes, California's Republican Party really did set up fake or "misleading" ballot boxes around certain counties in California. These boxes contained the misleading words "Official Ballot Drop-Off."

This is egregious voter suppression and has been deemed unlawful, but how many votes have been thrown away because of this?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ca-gop-ballot-drop-boxes/

Here's the official statement about it:https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/pdf/2020/october/20240jl.pdf

16/10/2020

"Reproductive health care nonprofit Planned Parenthood corrected comments made by Senator Ted Cruz during Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, where he referred to birth control pills as 'abortion inducing drugs.'"

He made the statement during Barrett's confirmation hearing. Here is the actual Tweet Planned Parenthood sent out in response to Cruz' statement: https://twitter.com/PPact/status/659544292113956864

https://khn.org/morning-breakout/high-court-refuses-to-block-medicaid-funds-for-planned-parenthood-in-s-c/

“ of the night goes to who thinks is an inducing drug. ”

12/10/2020

That last series took me a few days to pull all the information together. My next series is going to try to tackle Trump's erratic behavior and the 25th Amendment. I'll try to get to that tomorrow.

12/10/2020

Does President Trump Still Have COVID?

This is another special edition post where I have a timeline and several sources listed. Short answer: despite resuming public speaking engagements with little in the way of social distancing, there is no confirmation that Trump has tested negative for Coronavirus.

(Also, many of the sources here are from Politico because they are the least biased source, with the best fact-checking record, that kept on top of all of this reporting.)

Let's take a look at the good old timeline:
October 8:
Dr. Conley, Trump's personal doctor and not one of the doctors that treated him at Walter-Reed, said that Trump could begin public speaking engagements as soon as Saturday, 10/10/20. Among the cocktail of medications Trump was given, steroids was listed as one of them, which can cause mood swings, overly positive feelings, and erratic behavior.

Quote from Trump: “I think I'm going to try doing a rally on Saturday night if we have enough time to put it together, but we want to do a rally probably in Florida on Saturday night,” he said. “I might come back and do one in Pennsylvania the following night, and it's incredible what's going on. I feel so good.“

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/08/trump-public-events-coronavirus-428199

October 9:
President Trump went on Fox News and claimed he only had some "congestion" in his lungs during his stay at Walter-Reed, despite the COVID diagnosis. His physician went on to say the scans picked up the "expected findings," but never elaborated on what that meant.

Trump said he had been tested again for Coronavirus but never said if he got the results.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-coronavirus-condition-had-congestion-in-lungs-2020-10

Though Dr. Conley said Trump received supplemental oxygen during the course of his treatment, Trump denied ever having problems breathing during the course of his illness.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/10/09/trump-says-scans-found-congestion-in-his-lungs-doesnt-know-if-hes-virus-free-yet/

October 10:

With no word as to whether the president tested negative for Coronavirus, Trump held a "protest for law and order" at the White House that was billed as "non-partisan," which was false. According to Politico.com, the 2,000 attendees were affiliated with right-wing activist Candace Owens' group Blexit. Attendees were not administered COVID-19 tests and did not stick to social distancing practices

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/10/trump-white-house-speech-coronavirus-428516

Later that day, Dr. Conley said in a memo that Trump "meets CDC criteria to no longer be considered an infection risk." There remains no answer if Trump tested negative for the virus.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/10/trump-infection-risk-conley-428538

October 11:

Trump Tweeted that he is now immune to the virus, and TWITTER FLAGGED IT for violating its rules on "misleading information."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-twitter/twitter-flags-trump-tweet-for-violating-its-rules-on-covid-19-information-idUSKBN26W0TI

Here's the Tweet in all its illegal glory:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1315316071243476997

What does this mean?
It means the same thing as everything else for the administration: lies, cover-ups, false information, obfuscation. We don't know if Trump still has the disease, we don't know exactly what criteria Trump has met, we just don't know what's happening. But I suspect that if he was virus-free, he'd be announcing it in those exact words all over Twitter.

Trump's physician Dr. Sean Conley, who has given conflicting reports on Trump's health, previously said that scans resulted in "expected findings."

08/10/2020

There had better not be any news tomorrow, because I am so freaking tired. 20+ articles fact-checked, videos watched, reports read. Trump had better spend tomorrow sleeping because I know I want to.

08/10/2020

"Four top US officials released a video Tuesday reassuring US voters about the integrity of the election process and countering many of the claims President Donald Trump has made about foreign interference, voter fraud, and mail-in ballots."

If you're going to believe anybody about the state of our election process, please at least believe the FBI. Besides being instrumental in ensuring the process is not tampered with, they all seem unexpectedly polite? Maybe I'm so used to President Typhoid's rantings, but I found this video reassuring.

https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-chris-wray-intelligence-officials-video-election-security-trump-2020-10

Link to the video: https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/interagency-election-security-psa-100520.mp4/file_view

The directors of the FBI, National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and National Counterintelligence and Security Center discuss their agencies’ commitment to protect the integrity of the 2020 election. More at fbi.gov/elections.

08/10/2020

Rather than posting articles about the Department of Homeland Security's first annual homeland threat assessment and how it exposed white supremacy as the biggest threat to our democracy, I'm posting the actual report below and highlighting sections:

1) "Domestic violent extremism is a threat
to the Homeland. As Americans, we all
have the right to believe whatever we
want, but we don’t have a right to carry
out acts of violence to further those
beliefs. The Department works with
other Government, non-Government,
and private sector partners to prevent
individuals from making this transition
from protected speech to domestic
terrorism reflected by violence. As
Secretary, I am concerned about any
form of violent extremism. That is
why we design our programs to be
threat agnostic – ensuring that we can
combat a broad range of domestic
threats. However, I am particularly
concerned about white supremacist
violent extremists who have been
exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent,
targeted attacks in recent years. I am
proud of our work to prevent terrorizing
tactics by domestic terrorists and violent
extremists who seek to force ideological
change in the United States through
violence, death, and destruction."

2) "Among DVEs, racially and ethnically motivated
violent extremists—specifically white supremacist
extremists—will remain the most persistent
and lethal threat in the Homeland. Spikes in
other DVE threats probably will depend on
political or social issues that often mobilize other
ideological actors to violence, such as immigration,
environmental, and police-related policy issues."

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2020_10_06_homeland-threat-assessment.pdf

08/10/2020

"Though Mr. Sessions sought to distance himself from the policy, allowing Mr. Trump and Homeland Security Department officials to largely be blamed, he and other top law enforcement officials understood that “zero tolerance” meant that migrant families would be separated and wanted that to happen because they believed it would deter future illegal immigration, Mr. Horowitz wrote."

In case anyone was still confused that the family separation policy was intentionally barbaric.

The New York Times broke this news:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/family-separation-border-immigration-jeff-sessions-rod-rosenstein.html

But if it's expecting a subscription from you, you can read more here: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/lawyers-call-for-congressional-investigations-of-rod-rosenstein-and-jeff-sessionss-cold-blooded-mass-human-rights-violation/

Attorneys—including several DOJ alumni—were shocked and appalled by the revelations. Many of them called for an immediate congressional investigation.

08/10/2020

08/10/2020

Breaking from a 200-year tradition of staying nonpartisan, The New England Journal of Medicine wrote a scathing piece about the White House's horrific mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are so many articles on this piece, but I highly recommend you give the original a read. So instead, here is the piece directly from the source:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812?query=featured_home

Editorial from The New England Journal of Medicine — Dying in a Leadership Vacuum

08/10/2020

This is a multifaceted piece about the stock market's response to Trump's refusal to negotiate further coronavirus relief bills. There are so many interconnected pieces with this one that I recommend you read this whole thing through.

To start, as a result of Trump's refusal to further discuss coronavirus relief negotiations and after catching the virus himself, major stocks took an enormous downward swing. Insider trading is suspected to be a major culprit.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-healthcare-coronavirus-usa-congress/u-s-financial-markets-sour-as-trump-ends-coronavirus-relief-negotiations-idUSKBN26R3BR

But hours after making this statement, he demanded Congress approve $1,200 relief payment to small business, and direct assistance to airlines help prevent layoffs. He demanded these payments OVER TWITTER. Our president is far too good to negotiate in the office and apparently must do so over social media.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-congress-direct-payments-republicans-democrats-stimulus-negotiations-2020-10

So then the Dow began recovering in response to Nancy Pelosi saying there was hope for negotiating additional relief.

"If nothing else, the stock market is at some risk of heightened volatility in the coming days and weeks. We were already expecting that with the approach of Election Day. No doubt this may exacerbate that risk, amid no shortage of other sources of uncertainty and volatility," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate.

https://www.npr.org/sections/latest-updates-trump-covid-19-results/2020/10/02/919411749/markets-react-cautiously-to-news-of-trump-testing-positive-for-covid-19

So all of this sounds like it's working towards some kind of resolution, even if that means everything is wildly unstable thanks to President Caligula, but when researching for this piece, I found this SHADE. Apparently Trump, who loves the stock market so much, doesn't actually have much in the way of stocks.

If you read nothing else, at least read this quote:

"Trump’s relentless cheerleading for the stock market, taking full credit for its gains, has been a hallmark of his presidency, through more than 150 tweets and exuberant rhetoric at his rallies. Yet behind the bluster is a simple fact of which most voters are unaware: Trump barely has any of his own money in the stock market."

https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-financial-markets-archive-stock-markets-f4ba366005aa2ad395a64d4b6dd71850

NEW YORK (AP) — Even from the hospital, as his doctors were administering a mixture of drugs to battle the coronavirus, President Donald Trump couldn’t quite help himself. “STOCK MARKET UP...