Facts Matter: Volunteer door knockers not looking for guns, Bibles
President Joe Biden, earlier this month, outlined the effort his administration planned to get out information about COVID-19 vaccinations.
"Now we need to go community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes, door-to-door - literally knocking on doors - to get help to the remaining (unvaccinated) people," he said.
The Associated Press reported that some Republican lawmakers didn't see it that way.
"The Biden Administration wants to knock on your door to see if you're vaccinated. What's next? Knocking on your door to see if you own a gun?" Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted.
"They could then go door to door and take your guns. They could go door to door and take your Bibles," North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn said.
But the people knocking on doors are not federal employees. The groups will be made up of local officials and volunteers distributing information about the availability of the vaccine.
"This is grass-roots volunteers, this is members of the clergy, these are volunteers who believe that people across the country, especially in low-vaccinated areas, should have accurate information," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a July 9 news conference.
The grass-roots campaign began in April and is part of the $1.9 trillion relief bill Congress passed in March, according to the AP.
Biden overstates vaccine's effectiveness
President Joe Biden gave some guarantees during a July 21 town hall hosted by CNN journalist Don Lemon in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"If you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in the IC unit, and you're not going to die," he said. "You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations."
But the vaccine is not absolute protection from the virus, according to The Associated Press. Although Biden is correct in saying the inoculation provides a strong defense against COVID-19, there are always exceptions.
Of the 159 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated, 5,492 have tested positive for coronavirus and have been hospitalized or died, the AP reported. However, federal health officials said when these breakthrough infections happen, the cases are usually milder than those experienced by unvaccinated people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said, "99.5% of all deaths from COVID-19 are in the unvaccinated."
Bezos' rocket didn't release carbon
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and three others rode his Blue Origin rocket on a 10-minute trip about 60 miles above Earth on Monday. The journey included three minutes of weightlessness.
Social media users immediately claimed his rocket could do damage to the environment.
"Today Jeff Bezos will put 300 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere for 180 seconds in space," one post read.
"Bezos trip today = more carbon pollution than avg person's whole life but oddly most in media refuse to punch up when it comes to climate," another user tweeted.
But Bezos' rocket launch didn't release any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to PolitiFact.com. Unlike conventional rockets that use carbon-based fuel, the Blue Origin engine burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
"Carbon dioxide isn't emitted from the Blue Origin rocket that was used for today's launch," University College London air pollution researcher Eloise Marais told PolitiFact.
But all rockets pose a threat to the planet, PolitiFact said. Water vapor and nitrogen oxides from the Blue Origin degrade the ozone layer, and it takes a lot of energy to produce most of the hydrogen used today.
Still, after landing his ship, Bezos touted his choice of fuel.
"(The Blue Origin rocket used) the most environmentally benign propellant you can choose," he said during a news conference.
Virus not predicted in 1930s cartoon
A black-and-white cartoon purported to be from the 1930s, broadcasting a warning about a planned pandemic that would be used to take over the world, has recently been making the rounds on social media.
This video, however, was produced on a computer, more recently than in the 1930s, according to Snopes.com. The cartoon is part of debunked conspiracy theories that claim the COVID-19 pandemic was planned to control the world's population.
"This is NOT an old cartoon," California Institute of the Arts animation historian Jerry Beck told Snopes.
One giveaway is the use of the term "weaponized influenza." The word "weaponize" was first used in the 1950s as technical jargon by the military at the onset of the Cold War, Snopes said.
The cartoon uses a technique called mesh warping, which requires a computer, according to HoaxEye.com. The technique quickly and repeatedly changes an image.
The video is also a low-quality production, recorded at an angle, to make it appear old.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com