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The morning after the 2018 U.S. midterm elections on 6 November 2018, the Facebook page Flyover Culture posted a meme that supposedly showed some of the horrible Democratic Party candidates who had just won their elections: From left to right, this image graphic shows Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bob Menendez, Ilhan Omar, and Keith Ellison. While it's true that all four of these individuals won election during the 2018 midterms, most of the criticisms of them expressed in this meme are subjective or unsubstantiated. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is dumber than a salamander? While the other three claims in this meme were at least rooted in something from conspiracy theory to news reports, the description of Ocasio-Cortez was nothing more than an ad hominem insult. Out of curiosity, however, we attempted to find the average IQ of a salamander but were unable to unearth any credible studies relating to IQ tests for amphibians. IQ tests for humans do exist, but it should be noted that they aren't the best method for measuring intelligence. We weren't able to find any credible reports about Ocasio-Crotez' IQ, but it's reasonable to assume that the youngest woman ever to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives is more intelligent than your average salamander (and possibly most meme makers to boot). Bob Menendez preys on underage prostitutes? A few weeks before the midterm elections, Menendez' Republican opponent Bob Hugin released an attack ad that resurrected old and unsubstantiated allegations that Menendez had hired underage prostitutes while on a trip to the Dominican Republic: This allegation stemmed from an anonymous tip sent to the left-leaning legal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in 2012. The matter was referred to the FBI, but the ensuing investigation found that the allegations lacked credibility: Did Ilhan Omar marry her brother?/strong> This claim has been circulating on far-right blogs since 2016 and stems from an article (which has since been deleted) published on the Somalispot website. This rumor is typically accompanied by the accusation that the Minnesota politician committed fraud by marrying her brother in order to speed up his immigration process. No hard evidence has ever been presented to show that Ilhan Omar was ever married to her brother, and she has repeatedly denounced this allegation a lie. Omar detailed her marital history to the Minnesota Post in an email and said that the accusation she married her brother was absurd and offensive: Claims that Omar is anti-semitic stem primarily from a tweet she made in 2012 that was critical of Israel, and her description of that country as an apartheid regime: Omar has denied that her criticisms of Israel are rooted in anti-semitism: Keith Ellison beats women? In August 2018, the son of Keith Ellison's ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan, took to Facebook and claimed that he had a video of the Democratic politician verbally and physically abusing his mother. Ellison denied the allegations, and an investigation into the matter found no evidence to substantiate the claim: A similar allegation was levied against Ellison in 2006. But again, substantiating evidence was lacking: The claim that Ellison is anti-semitic primarily stems from his earlier association with the Nation of Islam. Ellison maintained he was never a member of that organization, and he denounced the group in 2006: However, Ellison's assertions that he has had no additional involvement with Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan since cutting ties with the group in 2006 have been challenged.
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