Biden didn't use teleprompter during Telemundo interview
The president's son, Eric Trump, on Wednesday retweeted a video that makes it appear Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is reading from prepared notes during an interview.
"Biden caught red-handed using a teleprompter," reads a headline on the meme. It also includes the quote, apparently from Biden, "OK, I lost that line," followed by a scrunched-face emoji.
But Biden wasn't reading from a teleprompter during the Sept. 15 interview on Telemundo with anchor Jose Diaz-Balart, <URL destination="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/23/no-joe-biden-is-not-using-teleprompter-an-interview/">according to The Washington Post.
</URL>During the interview, Biden took questions from viewers. He turned his head and looked at an off-camera screen, not a teleprompter, to address a woman asking about immigration.
The line attributed to Biden in the meme is also inaccurate.
When it appeared there was trouble with the connection, Biden said, "OK, I lost that lady." Diaz-Balart began to speak as Biden said "lady," distorting the last word.
Diaz-Balart later told the Post that Biden said, "I lost the lady," when the "monitor went to black."
Post reporter Meg Kelly said the word Eric Trump added to the retweet, "Unreal!," was ironic because the video "was, in fact, not real."
Trump endorsement didn't include award
While honoring veterans of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba during a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump talked about displaying an award he had received.
"I was honored to receive the endorsement of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association in 2016, and they gave me a beautiful award. And I have it very proudly on a wall of great importance to me," the president said.
Trump was endorsed by the group four years ago, but it didn't come with an award, The Associated Press said.
However, Juan Lopez de la Cruz, president of the veteran's association, in a recent news release "sought to recast the endorsement as a 'recognition award' from the group," the AP said.
The group of Florida-based veterans who served during the 1961 invasion has endorsed Trump for a second term.
Wildfires don't stop at Canadian border
Official maps of the wildfires raging across western states showing the blazes up to, but not crossing, the U.S.-Canadian border have recently been circulating on social media.
And people have added comments concerning climate change, according to The Associated Press.
A Canadian Facebook user said he was "gratified to see" climate change stops at the 49th parallel, while Newsmax writer Emerald Robinson said on Twitter, "If the fires in Oregon & Washington are 'climate change' then why do the fires stop at the Canadian border?" That comment was shared nearly 4,000 times.
Scientists point out the maps are made to show only U.S. data and don't include information about Canada, the AP said.
Ernesto Alvarado, a forestry professor at the University of Washington, told the AP that U.S. agencies don't map fire information in Canada or Mexico, although there is firefighting cooperation among the countries.
Canadian fire data shows several wildfires moving through British Columbia.
Lori Daniels, a forestry professor at the University of British Columbia, told the AP that wildfires are less severe as they travel north due to the cooler and wetter conditions in Canada. But she said there have been areas that needed to be evacuated.
"We're all experiencing extreme temperatures, extreme droughts, extreme fires driven by those droughts, and they are the hallmarks of climate change," Daniels said.
Hurricane didn't leave sharks in power lines
A hurricane throwing sharks into power lines sounds like an idea created in Hollywood. In this case it was an idea created for an internet meme, using a real photo.
Shortly after Hurricane Laura slammed into the southern U.S. states late last month, a photo appeared on social media showing workers cleaning up a street littered with debris as fish, tangled in nets and power lines, loomed in the background
"Who has sharks in the power lines on their 2020 bingo card(?)" asked a posting that included a photo of "crews working to remove sharks from power lines after Hurricane Laura came through."
The photo is real, but it isn't related to Hurricane Laura, according to Snopes.com. The image is actual news coverage from a Mobile, Alabama, traffic accident in which a boat, loaded with the day's catch, fell 40 feet off a bridge. The crash left sharks and other sea life, along with bits of the ship, scattered on the ground and hung up in the power lines.
No one was hurt, but the boat was badly damaged and "on the way down it took out some power lines and caused a mess on the road," reported Alabama TV station WKRG. "This is not something you see all the time," a reporter said during the Aug. 31 broadcast.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.