The U.S. After Two Years of President Biden 

As of Jan. 20, President Joe Biden had been in office a full two years. How is the country doing under the Democratic president?

We provide some answers to that question in "Biden's Numbers, January 2023 Update," which includes data from when Biden took the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2021, through Jan. 20 of this year. 

The article -- which is the latest in our quarterly reports -- is always chock-full of information. Some of it confirms what you know or suspect, but some of it runs counter to partisan narratives.

Republicans frequently complain that Biden has "shut down" U.S. oil production. But under Biden, crude oil production in the United States has increased by 4%. 

On the other hand, Biden has failed to live up to his promise to substantially increase the number of refugees the U.S. admits every year. The U.S. has admitted 42,223 refugees in Biden’s first full 23 months in office, or 1,836 refugees per month. That’s slightly less than the 1,845 monthly average during the four years under former President Donald Trump. 

Among other things, our reporters also look at carbon emissions, the trade deficit, corporate profits, health insurance, food stamps, judiciary appointments, gun sales and border security.

Reader: Why do you spell "black" with a capital B, but spell "white" with a lowercase W? 

FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson: Like many news organizations, we follow the Associated Press Stylebook, which made the decision to start capitalizing “Black” when used as an adjective “in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense” in June 2020. The AP Stylebook says: “Use of the capitalized Black recognizes that language has evolved, along with the common understanding that especially in the United States, the term reflects a shared identity and culture rather than a skin color alone.” 

Many other news organizations, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN and Fox News, also made the decision around the same time to capitalize “Black.” The New York Times noted in a June 2020 article that there had been a campaign for years by Black scholars and writers for the capitalization. In the summer of 2020, nationwide protests against racial injustice – sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer – led some media organizations to examine whether they should make this style change.  

Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Associate Managing Editor for Standards Phil Corbett said in a staff memo: “We believe this style best conveys elements of shared history and identity, and reflects our goal to be respectful of all the people and communities we cover.” 

While the capitalized “Black” in the context of race has gained wide acceptance in the media, news outlets have differed on whether to also capitalize “white.” The AP decided not to do so, and we are following its guidance – though the AP could revisit the issue.  

“We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems,” John Daniszewski, the AP’s vice president for standards, said in announcing the AP’s decision. “But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.” 

The Times similarly said that “white doesn’t represent a shared culture and history in the way Black does, and also has long been capitalized by hate groups.” 

But Fox News, Washington Post, CNN and others did conclude that “white” should be capitalized. In an article on its decision, Fox News said: “This noteworthy style change ensures terms such as ‘Black’ and ‘White’ are consistent with FOX News Media style for other words used to describe racial and ethnic groups, such as Asian, African American, Latino, Hispanic and Native American – which are also capitalized.” 

In its announcement, the Post noted it would not always capitalize these words: “Separately, political terms used to promote racist ideologies or to advocate ethnic superiority or separation should remain lowercase (i.e. white supremacist, black nationalist).” 

The AP said it “checked with a variety of experts and sources in making its decision.” Daniszewski also said the AP “will closely watch how usage and thought evolves, and will periodically review our decision.” 

Wrapping Up

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

• "Viral Tweet Misrepresents NOAA Report on Rising Global Temperature": The warming trend in global temperature continued in 2022, which was the sixth-warmest year on record, according to a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But a viral tweet — using just a small segment of a NOAA graph — wrongly claimed the agency had announced a “global cooling” trend.
• "Magic Johnson Did Not Contract HIV from a Vaccine, Contrary to Online Claim": Since his diagnosis in 1991, NBA player Magic Johnson has repeatedly said he contracted HIV through sexual transmission. But a viral social media post by a spreader of vaccine misinformation falsely claims that Johnson was exposed to the virus from a hepatitis B vaccine.
• "Social Media Posts Twist Meaning of CDC, FDA Disclosure on Bivalent Booster": Government health agencies disclosed a potential safety concern for strokes in those 65 and older with one of the COVID-19 vaccines, but the agencies haven’t found any causal relationship and the concern was flagged by just one of several monitoring systems. Anti-vaccine campaigners, however, have wrongly claimed the agencies have found a link between the boosters and strokes.
• "Posts Misinterpret NYC Health Tweet About Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5": An unclear tweet from New York City health officials was meant to caution residents that the latest omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, might be more likely than previous variants to infect vaccinated or previously infected people. Social media posts misinterpreted the tweet to mean that vaccinated people were at higher risk than unvaccinated people. 
• "Posts Mislead on Illinois SAFE-T Act and Elimination of Cash Bail": Illinois’ new criminal justice law, known as the SAFE-T Act, would eliminate cash bail but allow a judge to detain anyone who is deemed a danger to others or a flight risk. Social media posts misleadingly claim that anyone arrested for serious crimes, including second-degree murder, “will be let out free.” 
• "Polio Elimination Due to Vaccination, Not End of Pesticide Use": Polio, a paralytic disease caused by a virus, has been eliminated in the U.S. — and nearly wiped out globally — thanks to vaccines. But social media posts are reviving old, false claims that polio is instead caused by pesticides and outbreaks of the disease ended when people stopped using DDT.

• "Las muertes de atletas no han aumentado, contrariamente a lo que afirman activistas antivacunas": Expertos en medicina deportiva afirman que las muertes súbitas o lesiones cardíacas entre atletas en EE. UU. no han aumentado desde que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 están disponibles. Sin embargo, activistas antivacunas que comparan cifras poco fiables con un estudio no relacionado, vuelven a difundir un relato falso sobre la seguridad de las vacunas tras el paro cardíaco del jugador de la NFL, Damar Hamlin.
• "Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 se probaron en ensayos clínicos, a pesar de las afirmaciones falsas en las redes sociales": Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 se probaron en amplios ensayos controlados y aleatorizados realizados antes de que la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de EE. UU. las autorizara para uso de emergencia. Pero un popular video en YouTube inventa una teoría conspirativa que distorsiona los códigos legales para afirmar falsamente lo contrario. 
• "Mensajes malinterpretan tuit de las autoridades sanitarias de la ciudad de Nueva York sobre la subvariante XBB.1.5 de ómicron": Un confuso tuit de las autoridades sanitarias de la ciudad de Nueva York buscaba notificar a la población que la más reciente subvariante de ómicron, XBB.1.5, podría probablemente infectar a más personas vacunadas o previamente infectadas que las variantes anteriores. Mensajes publicados en las redes sociales malinterpretaron el tuit al decir que las personas vacunadas tenían un riesgo mayor que las personas no vacunadas.