‘Let facts be submitted to a candid world’: Thoughts on journalism, fact-checking and the US at 250 ^13.8%

PolitiFact - By Rebecca Catalanello - 7/1/2026, 12:00 AM

Negativity Bias 17.1% - Post Hoc (False Cause) 9.7% - Hindsight Bias 9.4%

Over 17 days in June 1776, a 33-year-old man bent over his lap desk, putting ink on paper, scratching out words, revising. His countrymen were at war with their government. His mission was clear: Write a case for separating 13 English colonies from monarchical rule. Thomas Jefferson had advocated a year earlier to take up arms against... more