Podcast · podcasts.voxmedia.com
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Vox Media Podcast Network
Raging against the extremes. Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov are in the middle — and they’re mad, because being a moderate in America these days does NOT mean staying silent. New episodes every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
83 claims
False90% confidence4 sourcesOct 27, 2026Susan Collins has been reelected to the Senate 57 times.Said by CThe claim that Collins has been reelected to the Senate 57 times is contradicted by the sources, which show she has won reelection four times (2002, 2008, 2014, 2020) and is seeking a sixth term in 2026. The post's 'just reelected' wording also doesn't match the record, since the 2026 vote had not yet occurred when the claim was checked.False50% confidence4 sourcesOct 27, 202620 to 30 percent of the cost of every item in the grocery store is the cost of transportation.Said by AThe claim that transportation is 20 to 30 percent of the cost of every grocery item is not supported by the sources. The CRS report puts transportation at about 3.3% of the marketing bill, and a grocery-operations paper puts transportation at 10-15% of store operating costs, both well below the claimed range, though neither measures the same share exactly. The passage also attributes the figure to 'supposedly', and no source confirms it.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.False60% confidence3 sourcesOct 27, 202675% of older Americans think Israel is a good actor.Said by AThe 75% figure is not supported by the sources. The most recent age breakdowns show about 49% of Americans 50+ with a favorable view of Israel (Pew, spring 2026) and 50% of voters 65+ sympathizing more with Israel (Algemeiner, September 2026), well below 75%. The sources measure favorability or sympathy rather than whether Israel is a 'good actor,' and the extraction's 'older Americans' reading of 'my people, my age' is an interpretation, but the figure itself is contradicted.False80% confidence5 sourcesOct 27, 2026The head of the UN Humanitarian Commission is from Iran.Said by AThe UN's humanitarian chief is Tom Fletcher, a British diplomat, per AP's 2024 report and a 2025 UN News story, and the UN OCHA page dated 2026-10-19 still lists him as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. The claim that the head is from Iran is therefore contradicted, and the post's rhetorical question does not match the sources.Raised in the post as a question.False75% confidence7 sourcesOct 27, 2026Medicaid cuts are scheduled to take effect toward the end of 2026.Said by 3CThe claim's timing is contradicted: the major Medicaid cuts from the 2025 reconciliation law are scheduled for 2027, mainly January 1, 2027, not toward the end of 2026. The only 2026 cut in the sources is the October 1, 2026 removal of coverage for certain legal immigrants, which took effect before the "end of the year" the post described.False60% confidence8 sourcesOct 27, 2026Military families were turned away in Bahrain while trying to leave the country due to attacks on military bases.Said by 3CThe claim that military families were turned away in Bahrain while trying to leave is contradicted by the authoritative sources, which show the Navy evacuated roughly 1,250 to 1,500 people from NSA Bahrain, with some families waiting about a week to get out. Snopes rated the closely related 'abandoned' rumor unproven and found the administration authorized the departures; the only accounts of refused evacuation come from low-credibility reposts of anonymous family accounts. The extraction also drops the post's 'by this administration' attribution, which the summary notes but does not change the grade.False75% confidence5 sourcesSep 30, 2026ICE fired approximately 5,000 agents two months ago.Said by BThe claim that ICE fired about 5,000 agents two months ago is contradicted by the sources. The 5,000 figure is a planned hiring push reported by the NYT and Washington Post, while federal workforce data show about 2,900 total departures in the first half of 2026, with firings only about 18% of separations, and no source reports a 5,000-person firing.False88% confidence8 sourcesSep 30, 2026Iran's crude oil exports have returned to pre-war levels.Said by AThe claim that Iran's crude exports returned to pre-war levels is contradicted by multiple sources: Iranian exports were at or near zero in September 2026 under a US naval blockade, while the recovery to pre-war levels reported by Kpler, Vortexa and others applied to Gulf or Middle East exports excluding Iran. The post's sentence is ambiguous about whose exports it means, but the claim as extracted refers to Iran and is contradicted as of 2026-09-30.Mixed60% confidence12 sourcesOct 27, 2026Lula lost a finger while working at a metalworking factory at age 17.Said by CThe sources consistently support that Lula lost his left little finger in a workplace accident at a metalworking factory in 1964. They conflict on his age: Wikipedia, the 2024 RTL recap, and Korea Times give 19, while Forbes India, Common Dreams, and Newsminimalist say 17. The claimed age is therefore disputed by the more authoritative sources.Mixed70% confidence9 sourcesOct 27, 2026Mississippi has the largest Black voting population in the United States.Said by CRead as a share of the electorate, the claim is supported: Pew's 2026 data puts Black eligible voters at about 36% of Mississippi's electorate, the highest of any state, and NPR and Forbes say the same. Read as an absolute count, it is contradicted: Texas Tribune and Pew (2022) report Texas has the largest Black eligible-voter population of any state, about 2.9 million, versus roughly 0.7 million in Mississippi. The claim is faithfully extracted from the post, and the sources were current as of 2026-10-27.Mixed55% confidence9 sourcesOct 27, 2026French retirees on average have greater incomes than people who are working in France.Said by AThe claim holds on the FT analysis of the Luxembourg Income Study, which finds French pensioners over 65 out-earn working-age adults by about 2% after taxes, so the claim is accurate under that measure. Official French data (COR, Cour des comptes) show retiree standard of living at near parity with workers rather than clearly higher, and gross pensions alone are below working incomes, so the answer depends on the income measure. As of 2026-10-27, the sources do not show a change in this picture.Mixed55% confidence4 sourcesOct 27, 2026One third of the French education budget is spent on teachers who no longer teach.Said by AThe claim reads the passage's 'one third of the education budget' as spending on retired teachers, which matches teacher pensions. Sources agree that pensions are a large share of the budget, but they give different measures: AFP and News.com.au report 'nearly a third' of the 2027 education ministry budget going to pensions, while Reuters puts teacher pensions at 28% on top of a €64bn budget, and a statistics site implies about 28% of a broader total. The claim is partly supported, and the exact share depends on the measure used.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.