Skeptics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [united-states]

Use this tag for questions about claims based in the United States, or limited to the United States.

The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, the States, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district.

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Were many former American slaves put back into virtual slavery after the civil war?

The ACLU has been a critic of the 13th amendment to the US constitution for some time, claiming that the clause that reads that slavery shall not exist "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" is a loophole…
user11643
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Did NASA director Charles Bolden claim that an alien invasion will happen soon?

Russian news site "Federal News Agency" (FAN) today published "Директор NASA заявил, что до вторжения инопланетян осталось несколько месяцев": Директора NASA Чарльза Болдена отправили в отпуск по болезни, после того, как он публично заявил, что…
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Are there more women in government in Afghanistan than America?

I'm skeptical of this claim: And did he even say that?
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Are environmentalists largely responsible for Californian forest fires?

An article on Reason, and the associated video, claim that the severity of the recent forest fires are largely due to environmental regulations that prevent good forest management, along with an insistence on putting out small fires that would have…
Paul Johnson
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Are deaths of patients with, but not because of, COVID-19 recorded as COVID-19 deaths in the USA?

A long Mises Institute article questions the US COVID-19 metrics. It ends with this claim, quoted from a Daily Caller reporter's Twitter feed: Here is Dr. Birx saying that the government is recording anyone who dies with coronavirus in the United…
Fizz
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Has the number of pneumonia deaths in the US dramatically dropped in 2020?

A widely-commented upon post on reddit claims that pneumonia deaths in the US have "fallen off a cliff this year": In the conversation I saw several links to CDC data, but they are unclear overviews. The diagram includes a link to the raw data…
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Can a US President's declaration of emergency be overridden by simple majorities of both chambers of Congress?

Jennifer Rubin writes in the Washington Post that: [the US President's] declaration of an emergency can be overridden by a simple majority of both houses Is it true that a presidential declaration of emergency in the US can be overridden by simple…
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Did Donald Trump get America's GDP growth to 4.2%?

In a recent tweet, Donald Trump wrote: “President Trump would need a magic wand to get to 4% GDP,” stated President Obama. I guess I have a magic wand, 4.2%, and we will do MUCH better than this! We have just begun. Did Trump get the GDP growth of…
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Was JFK's 1960 election win due to fraud?

I found via politics.SE that MRC-owned site Newsbusters claims that: In a discussion of modern electoral fraud, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Monday offered a journalistic admission: She conceded that the 1960 presidential election was “obviously”…
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Was a massive case of voter fraud uncovered in Florida?

Dennis Michel Lynch's website has a report that election officials for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) in Florida were seen fraudulently filling in absentee votes. An affidavit of the witness (Chelsey Marie Smith) was…
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Was there no tax before 1913 in the United States?

This image claims that "Up until 1913 Americans kept all of their earnings". Up until 1913 Americans kept all of their earnings Despite this, America still had schools, roads, colleges, vast railroads, subways and an army & navy (Tell me…
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Do 26% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the Earth?

According to a 2014 NPR poll 26% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the Earth. The survey of 2,200 people in the United States was conducted by the NSF in 2012 and released on Friday at an annual meeting of the American Association for…
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Did the town of Woodland, North Carolina, USA reject a solar plant because of cancer and photosynthesis concerns?

The Raonoke Chowan News Herald reported on 8 December 2015 reports that the town of Woodland, North Carolina, USA rejected a solar farm, citing concerns on photosynthesis and cancer: Jane Mann said she is a local native and is concerned about the…
gerrit
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Is it against the law to mispronounce Arkansas?

There are many sources that claim that it is illegal to pronounce Arkansas incorrectly and you can be fined for doing so. My favorite law is one designed to get Northerners into trouble. That's right folks, if you mispronounce Arkansas (Ar-kan-saw)…
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Are atheists barred from holding public office in Texas?

I saw the following claim in B3ta newsletter #574 (possibly NSFW), under "US Postal Service hates Atheists". Awful, but then Atheists are not allowed to hold public office in six US states, including Texas. Is it true that Atheists can't…
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