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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Is Right to Try Saving a ‘Lot of People’?

Is Right to Try Saving a ‘Lot of People’?

President Donald Trump last year signed a bill — the Right to Try Act — that provided another avenue for terminally ill patients to gain access to unapproved medications still in development. But there’s no evidence that the new law is saving “a lot of people,” as the president claims.

Yang’s Top-Gun Tale

Yang’s Top-Gun Tale

Making a point about Defense Department waste, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang related a secondhand story about a Navy fighter pilot who said that airmen routinely dumped fuel into the Pacific Ocean at the end of the fiscal year as a way to preserve the following year’s fuel budget. But the story doesn’t add up.

Meme Misleads on Walmart Gun Sales

Meme Misleads on Walmart Gun Sales

A social media meme inaccurately claims that Walmart will no longer sell rifles. Walmart stopped selling “military-style rifles such as the AR-15,” in 2015, and has announced it will no longer sell ammunition for “military-style weapons.” It still sells “long guns for hunting and sport shooting.”

Buttigieg Wrong About Climate Change’s Effect on Oceans

Buttigieg Wrong About Climate Change’s Effect on Oceans

In making his case for taking swift action on climate change, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg inaccurately said that “we could lose half the world’s oxygen because of what’s going on in the oceans.” Scientists say that’s a misreading of the evidence.

Deceptive Second Amendment Ads

Deceptive Second Amendment Ads

Ads posted on Facebook from a committee working to reelect President Donald Trump claim that Democrats are calling for the Second Amendment to be repealed. To support the claim, the Trump campaign pointed to statements by a few state lawmakers and one candidate for U.S. Senate.

Baseless Claim of Odessa Shooter’s ‘Beto Sticker’

Baseless Claim of Odessa Shooter’s ‘Beto Sticker’

Viral posts on social media make the baseless claim that the shooter in Odessa, Texas, had a sticker on his car for Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. The Texas Department of Public Safety said there was no sticker on the car he was driving during the attack.

Trump’s False ‘Facts’ on the Environment

Trump’s False ‘Facts’ on the Environment

Just as CNN was beginning its climate town hall event, President Donald Trump tweeted a list of “8 facts” boasting of the nation’s air quality and carbon emissions reductions. Several of his “facts,” however, are inaccurate or misleading.

Trump Doubles Down on Inaccurate Hurricane Forecast

Trump Doubles Down on Inaccurate Hurricane Forecast

President Trump inaccurately stated in his Sept. 1 tweet that Alabama “will most likely be hit” by Hurricane Dorian — a statement that was fact-checked in real time by the National Weather Service. Despite that, Trump has twisted the facts by using an altered forecast map to support his inaccurate tweet.