And the Award Goes to ... 

In 2022, we viewed a lot of political ads and, as you can imagine, most of them are not exactly Emmy worthy.

But some are worthy of a FactCheck Award -- our biennial tongue-in-cheek recognition of political ads that made us stop and say, "What the heck were they thinking?"  

As Staff Writer D'Angelo Gore writes: "A couple of things that stood out among this year’s honorees: historically bad logic, comically bad rapping and dancing, and a lot of tragically bad acting."

D'Angelo, who heads the FactCheck.org Awards Committee, selected 10 ads to honor this year, including a late submission from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that described him as anointed by God to fight for Florida. DeSantis also won reelection in a landslide, so he was a big winner twice over on Election Day.

For more about this and other ads, see D'Angelo's article "The 2022 FactCheck Awards."

You might be thinking, "But what about the Georgia Senate runoff? Won't there be more hilariously bad ads to come?" Alas, there will be no FactCheck Award for the winner ... but maybe control over the Senate.    

Reader: When seniors get a [Social Security] raise is it just a cost of living raise, and when do we get a Medicare raise? Has President Biden given us a Medicare raise, as I think he said he would?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: Social Security benefits will be going up next year, as Managing Editor Lori Robertson explained earlier this month in her article “Social Security Increase Due to Inflation, Not Presidential Action.” 

In her story, Lori wrote:

Social Security cost-of-living adjustments are tied to inflation, specifically the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index. … This year, since inflation has gone up significantly, the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment also was robust: an 8.7% bump, the largest percentage increase since 1981. The COLA translates into an average increase of more than $140 per month for beneficiaries, starting with the January 2023 payment, the Social Security Administration explains.

Lori also wrote that Medicare Part B premiums will be decreasing next year by $5.20 per month. Lori explains why in her article “Biden’s Misleading Boast on Medicare Premium Drop.” As she writes, the drop next year follows a larger increase this year that was partly due to anticipated Alzheimer’s drug expenses, which ended up not happening.

For more information about Medicare costs, please see a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ fact sheet on the 2023 premiums, deductibles and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs, and the 2023 Medicare Part D income-related monthly adjustment amounts.

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "COVID-19 Vaccines Reduce, Not Increase, Risk of Stillbirth": There is no link between COVID-19 vaccination and an increased risk of stillbirth, despite such claims online. In fact, vaccination has been shown in multiple studies to reduce the risk of stillbirth by protecting pregnant people and their babies from the coronavirus. 
• "‘Harmless Data Error’ to Blame for Glitch at Some Detroit Polling Places, Contrary to Trump’s Post":  A “harmless data error” resulted in a glitch at some Detroit polling precincts that incorrectly registered some in-person voters as having already been issued an absentee ballot, the city elections department said. The issue was resolved, and ballot security safeguards are in place to prevent duplicated votes, it said. 
• "Ballot Printer Delayed Maricopa Voting, Contrary to Unfounded Claims": Tabulating machines at some polling locations in Maricopa County, Arizona, couldn’t process ballots during part of Election Day, though affected voters could leave their ballots in a secure box or go elsewhere to vote. But some conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, made the unfounded claim that the setback indicated an attempt to “steal” the election.
• "Bogus ‘Sharpiegate’ Claim Resurfaces in Pennsylvania Election": Dominion voting machines have had no issues reading ballots filled out with Sharpie pens. But an Instagram video spread the false claim that ballots filled out with Sharpies could not be counted by voting machines in Pennsylvania’s 2022 election. A Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson said the claim is “disinformation.”
• "Legal Battle in Pennsylvania over Undated Mail-in Ballots": Even before the polls opened on Election Day, a potentially significant legal battle erupted in Pennsylvania over whether to count mail-in ballots with an incorrect or missing date on the outside envelope.
• "Counting Mail-In Ballots Delays Results, But Doesn’t Denote Fraud": Mail-in ballots have become a popular way to vote in the U.S. But the unfounded claim persists that mail ballots lead to rampant fraud and, if counted after Election Day, they are suspect. By law, many states don’t start counting mail ballots until after polls close, and some continue to accept them for days after Election Day if they are postmarked by that date. 
• "Major Themes of the Midterms": Voters are about to get a respite from the political attack-ad onslaught: Election Day is tomorrow. That means no more messages from Democrats attacking Republicans over abortion rights or the future of Medicare; no more Republicans blaming Democrats for inflation or crime. At least for a little while. 
• "Posts Misrepresent ‘Not Verified’ Code on Pennsylvania Ballot Applications": Pennsylvania uses a “not verified” code on mail-in ballot applications if a voter’s identity couldn’t be immediately verified; voters have six days after an election to submit a valid ID. But an Instagram post and some Republican leaders — including former President Donald Trump — falsely claim the state has “sent out 249,000 ballots to unverified voters” and misleadingly suggest it will result in widespread fraud. 
• "Buldoc Revives Zombie Claim About Busloads of Illegal Voters in New Hampshire": U.S. Senate candidate Don Buldoc, a Republican, resurrected a zombie claim that has been repeatedly debunked about busloads of people coming from out of state to vote illegally in New Hampshire.

• "Publicaciones distorsionan análisis engañoso de datos de seguridad de las vacunas contra el COVID-19": Un riguroso sistema de seguimiento ha mostrado que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 son seguras. Pero un artículo dice erróneamente que según datos de los CDC más de 18 millones de personas resultaron gravemente heridas y hospitalizadas por su causa.
• "Fisicoculturista murió de COVID-19, no por la vacuna, como afirman en las redes sociales": Un fisicoculturista de 62 años de edad con una enfermedad cardiaca murió luego de contraer COVID-19. Pero opositores a la vacuna sugieren falsamente que murió por la vacuna contra el COVID-19. No fue así. Se había vacunado 18 meses antes de morir.