View this email in your browser ([link removed])
An update from FactCheck.org


** The Year's Biggest Whoppers
------------------------------------------------------------

Before we bring in 2023, we're taking a not-so-fond look back this week at what our staff decided are the worst political and viral deceptions of 2022.

With control of Congress up for grabs, politicians used fear as a way to turn out the vote.

Republicans repeatedly made false claims of an IRS empowered by Democrats to hire 87,000 "agents" to make sure that the "middle class" pays more in taxes, and Democrats regularly -- and wrongly -- branded many Republicans as supporters of a "plan" to "end" Medicare and Social Security.

President Joe Biden made our annual list for falsely insisting that his policies were responsible for a huge drop in the federal deficit and for reviving a U.S. economy "in decline."

Meanwhile, his predecessor, former President Donald "King of Whoppers ([link removed]) " Trump, was cited for making an unsupported claim about stopping "ballot theft" in Florida's 2018 election for governor, as well as for mischaracterizing how other presidents handled White House documents upon leaving office.

For the third consecutive year, we found ourselves correcting an onslaught of misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines that have protected millions from severe illness and death caused by the disease. One of the wildest claims we debunked this year was a TV-inspired theory that the government and the Catholic Church conspired to create COVID-19 by using snake venom and the public water supply.

And those are just some of the lowlights from our roundup. To see all of the falsehoods that were recognized as the worst of the year, read "The Whoppers of 2022 ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
We use two government sources when we write about people without health insurance. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey ([link removed]) estimates the number of people who did not have health insurance at any point in the previous year. We also use the National Health Interview Survey ([link removed]) , which measures the number of uninsured at the time people were interviewed. Both estimate the uninsured at slightly more than 27 million. Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services reached a record $845 billion in 2021 — up $285.4 billion from the 2019 deficit and over $191 billion above the 2020 deficit, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. And the U.S. is on pace to set a new record this year. Through the first 10 months of 2022, the goods and services deficit stood at $825.1 billion, which is $136.9 billion higher than the same 10-month period in 2021. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
In her latest episode for the public radio show "Conversations on Health Care," FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson talked about the spike of respiratory syncytial virus infections among children.

RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild flu-like symptoms, but can be dangerous for some people, especially older people, infants and young children. Experts say the spike is most likely caused by an immunity gap created by the lack of exposure to the virus over the past couple of years.

Lori's segment is based on a story ([link removed]) by Staff Writer Catalina Jaramillo. You can listen to Lori ([link removed]) talk about Catalina's story beginning at about 21:48 of the show.
REPLY ALL

Reader: Is Biden selling strategic oil to China?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We received a similar question in July and answered it on our website in a feature we call Ask FactCheck ([link removed]) .

As we wrote at that time, the president announced in March that the administration would release 1 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve every day for six months. The goal is to increase the global supply of crude oil and reduce gasoline prices by tapping the strategic reserve. The oil is sold to eligible companies that make the highest offers. Some of the companies are U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, and some that purchased oil have then exported a portion to buyers overseas, including China. U.S. subsidiaries of foreign energy companies have long been eligible to place bids on SPR oil.

You can read the full answer in our story "U.S. Selling Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the Highest Bidding Companies ([link removed]) ."

In a post-script to our story, the Department of Energy announced ([link removed]) last month that it had awarded the final contracts as part of the president's March directive. The oil deliveries are taking place this month. In all, the U.S. sold 180 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic reserve from May through December.


** Wrapping Up
------------------------------------------------------------

Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Blood Transfusion Doesn’t Transfer COVID-19 Vaccine ([link removed]) ": A blood transfusion from a vaccinated person doesn’t transfer the inoculation to an unvaccinated person. But high-profile purveyors of misinformation have been promoting the long-standing false claim that it does.
* "Biden’s Claims About an Increase in Exports Ignore Larger Growth in Imports ([link removed]) ": Under President Joe Biden, U.S. exports of goods and services have increased, but U.S. imports have grown even faster. However, on multiple occasions, Biden has given the false impression that rising exports means declining imports and fewer U.S. jobs being outsourced to foreign countries.
* "Bernie Sanders Overstates Number of Americans Without Health Insurance ([link removed]) ": Explaining why he is likely to vote against an $858 billion defense spending bill, Sen. Bernie Sanders wrongly said there are “85 million Americans who have no health insurance.”
* "FactChecking GOP’s Censorship Claim in Arizona Over Deleted Tweets ([link removed]) ": Republicans claim Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs — who was recently elected to become the state’s next governor — used her government office to censor free speech on Twitter to benefit her election effort. But there’s less here than meets the eye.
* "Human Error, Not Fraud, Shown in Fox Election Coverage of Georgia Runoff ([link removed]) ": In a clip from Fox News' coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff, the vote tallies for both candidates briefly drop by thousands of votes. Social media posts use the clip to falsely claim election fraud. The Associated Press, which provided the data to Fox, said the clip shows a brief overestimate of votes caused by human error.

Do you like FactCheck.Weekly? Share it with a friend! They can subscribe here ([link removed]) .
Donate to Support Our Work ([link removed])

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
We'll show up in your inbox every Friday with this fact-focused rundown. But you can message us any day of the week with questions or comments: [email protected].
Copyright © 2022 FactCheck.org, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
FactCheck.org
Annenberg Public Policy Center
202 S. 36th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3806

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed][UNIQID]&c=ff9a7620f9&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=0bebbcccf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_12_13_10_33&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-0bebbcccf9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D)
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed][UNIQID]&c=ff9a7620f9&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=0bebbcccf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_12_13_10_33&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-0bebbcccf9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D)
.

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
FactCheck.org: A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania . 202 S 36th St. . Philadelphia, Pa 19104 . USA