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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 there only two cars in Ohio in 1895, and they managed to crash into each other?

Currently on Today I Learned, Reddit. TIL [Today I Learned] In the entire state of Ohio in 1895, there were only two cars on the road, and the drivers of these two cars crashed into each other. The source provided is All Fun and Games which itself…
Casebash
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Were a large fraction of US Dollars in existence printed since 2020?

For many months now I have heard claims on the internet and radio that some large fraction of USD "in existence" were printed since 2020. The percentage ranges between 40 and 80%. Is it a big deal that 40% of USD was printed in the last 12 months?…
thechimp
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Are US colleges awarding more A-scores?

On the June 4, 2021, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the host makes the claim: In 1960s colleges awarded A's to 15% of the students. Now it is 45% of the students. Ref: Youtube clip from the show I was able to locate some supporting…
pinegulf
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Did Lee Harvey Oswald kill John F. Kennedy?

L.H. Oswald claimed he was innocent and didn't kill J.F. Kennedy. There are various theories on what could have happened that day, but I didn't "study" all the evidence and research, so I don't know what really happened. The ten-month investigation…
Frantisek
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Are Alabama students throwing COVID parties to intentionally get infected?

It was reported recently in several places that students are throwing COVID parties in Alabama, and betting on getting infected first. As far as I can tell ABC News is the original source for this: Students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who have been…
Mad Scientist
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Did the White House fabricate an Iranian attack on the American Navy?

According to this Anti Media news article, Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, fabricated an attack on a US warship by Iran. At a press briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserted that Iran had attacked a U.S.…
user38505
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Will tuning your TV to a channel that isn't the presidential inauguration lower its ratings?

Plenty of people are posting the claim that if you don't watch the inauguration, or better still tune it to a different channel, this will affect ratings for the event. Will this actually affect the ratings? Claims: A popular message has been…
DJClayworth
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Did 17 U.S. intelligence agencies claim that Russia was behind the DNC hack?

It has been reported repeatedly that 17 U.S intelligence agencies have come out publicly to say that the Russian government was behind the 2016 Democratic National Committee Email Leak For example, from the Washington Post: “We have two choices:…
dan-klasson
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Is this a genuine 1965 literacy test?

According to the Michigan-based Ferris State University's Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, this is an excerpt of the text of the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test: If it were proposed to join Alabama and Mississippi to form one state, what groups…
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Is alcohol for consumption tested for carbon-14 radioactivity to be considered legal?

I just viewed this interesting video about radioactive ethanol from plants as opposed to non-radioactive ethanol from crude oil. In it, the professor says he's heard it's illegal in the USA to sell alcoholic drinks if they are not radioactive from…
Decent Dabbler
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Are there enough unused houses in America for each homeless person to have six?

I can't find a source for this, and that number seems much too high to me (although I don't know much about the subject). Is this true? If not, what is the actual ratio of homeless people to vacant houses?
Orcris
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Is there a gold stockpile at "Fort Knox"?

I heard an interesting conspiracy theory recently with the basic idea that there isn't a gold stockpile at "Fort Knox" (anymore or ever). With the level of security so great there and reportedly few people having seen the gold, it's an interesting…
DuckMaestro
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Are there more people with genius IQs living in China than there are people total in the U.S.?

This claim was made popular by being said in the movie The Social Network. It exactly says: Did you know there are more people with genius IQs living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?
isJustMe
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Has President Obama accepted more debt than all previous US presidents combined?

I've been seeing this claim on Facebook a lot recently, somewhat virally: Debt added by the previous 43 U.S. presidents combined $6.3 trillion dollars (sic) Debt added by the president Obama $6.5 trillion dollars (sic) Is this claim valid? I tend…
anon
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Did Michelle Obama have a staff of 23 people, while Melania has a staff of 4?

According to this picture (shared over 100k times) Text reads, Obama donated none of his salary, Michelle had a staff of 23 Trump donates all of his salary, Melania has a staff of 4 I'm more interested in the claims about comparative staff size.
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