Our first quarterly update of various economic and social indicators under Trump’s second term as president.
We Won a Webby People’s Voice Award
Elon Musk Amplifies Baseless Claim About COVID-19 Vaccine
Elon Musk this week amplified an unfounded claim, based on a distortion of vaccine safety monitoring data, that COVID-19 vaccines killed tens of thousands of people in Germany. The vaccines saved millions of lives worldwide during a deadly pandemic, and serious side effects or deaths from vaccination are rare.
An Attack Over ICE in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate Race
An online ad attacks Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, for not being sufficiently progressive because of past policy positions. But it also misleadingly claims that Moulton, a critic of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “thanked ICE as they were terrorizing our communities and then killed citizens.”
Politicians Say Glyphosate Weedkiller Causes Cancer But Evidence Not Clear-Cut
Following an executive order from the Trump administration that promotes production of glyphosate, some Democrats have claimed that the herbicide causes cancer. The science, however, is nuanced. While there is some evidence linking glyphosate to cancers in lab animals or to the blood cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma in agricultural workers, the findings have been inconsistent.
The U.S. Treasury Didn’t Declare the Country ‘Insolvent’
Q: I read this on FB. Is it true? The U.S. Treasury just declared the U.S government is insolvent.
A: No. That’s the conclusion of an opinion piece that cited a Treasury report showing the government’s liabilities outweigh its assets. But that’s been the case for decades, and unlike an insolvent business, the government can levy taxes.
Trump Fumbles the Facts with Farmers
FactChecking Trump’s Prime-Time Address on Iran
A month after the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, President Donald Trump addressed the nation in a prime-time speech on April 1, saying the military operation was “getting very close” to completing its mission. Trump repeated some false and questionable claims we’ve written about before.