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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Did John Bolton hold a notepad with the text "5000 troops to Colombia" written on it when he announced new sanctions against Venezuela?

A lot of news outlets across the entire political spectrum had a major news item about John Bolton today. An example from the CBS News Twitter account: https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1090241906519494657 Colombia's foreign minister says his…
Nzall
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Was this Jet Blue airplane snowed in?

This image has been making the rounds of Twitter, which shows a Jet Blue as airplane completely snowed in, with just its tail sticking out. The image is said to have been taken at New York's JFK airport during the January 2016 snow storm. This…
Devdatta Tengshe
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In the USA, are there more African American men in prison than in college?

I read in a book that "as the next millennium begins, there are more young black men in prison than in college." Jury Nullification by Clay S Conrad (Kindle edition, Dec 2013 loc: 343). (First Published 1998) Thinking "That's awful and really?" I…
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Is more than 30% of US healthcare spending waste?

National healthcare spending in the USA consumes more than 18% of GDP and is growing rapidly. Europeans criticise the expense and relatively poor quality of the US system (for example, see this question: Is the US Newborn Mortality Rate higher than…
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What is the use of the questions on the US Visa Waiver form?

Whenever I enter the US, I need to fill out a little green form. The front page asks all sorts of reasonable questions: Name, passport number, date of birth, address I plan to be in the US etc. The backside, however, asks questions such as whether…
Lagerbaer
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Did Republicans mock Biden for showing grief over the loss of his dog?

In June, George Takei tweeted: Republicans are mocking Biden for showing grief over the loss of his dog. If you lose your dog but feel nothing, you might be a Republican. As of today, this tweet has 14K retweets and 100K likes. Did Republicans…
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Is this picture from an abortion clinic dumpster?

I found this picture from a reply to Kamala Harris' tweet. Warning, graphic and possibly disturbing image of a man handling what appear to be human fetuses: Click to view. It has the following text: This man went behind an abortion clinic dumpster…
user45588
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Are 2 million non-citizen Hispanics illegally registered to vote in the United States?

A large number of non-citizen Hispanics, as many as 2 million, were illegally registered to vote in the U.S., according to a nationwide poll. The National Hispanic Survey provides additional evidence for use by anti-voter fraud conservatives and…
James G.
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Are atheists strongly underrepresented in US prison communities?

This popularly referenced survey gives statistics about the number of atheists in US prisons. It suggests just 0.21% of the prison population is atheist. There are more scientologists! This is surprising because atheists represent about 15% of the…
Thomas O
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Was the wild west less violent than the current west?

Matt Ridley's The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge has a chapter on the evolution of government, in which he starts by making the startling statement: The truth is that the [American] Wild West was without much government, but it was…
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Did the Mexican Government publish a manual for how to illegally enter the US?

On donaldjtrump.com, Trump writes For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries).…
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Did two Native Americans shipwreck in Holland in 60 B.C.?

According to the book "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong", by James W. Loewen, or at least the online sources (Cracked.com and some sites that I Googled) that cite it, two (native, obviously) Americans…
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Did Greg Abbott send a busload of migrants to Kamala Harris' house on Christmas Eve?

I can't square this one. Greg Abbott is a Republican governor who espouses conservative Christian values, so when I read that he deliberately redirected a busload of migrant families to a political opponent's house, on Christmas Eve of all days, it…
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Has the United States only ratified 5 of 18 international treaties on human rights?

A recent opinion piece in the English edition of Le Monde Diplomatique makes passing reference to the idea that the United States "has ratified only five of the 18 international human rights treaties." That seems a little low, and possibly outdated.…
Mayor of the Plattenbaus
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Did about 150 die from gun violence in the US during the 4th of July weekend 2021?

CNN reports At least 150 people were killed by gun violence in more than 400 shootings across the country during the Fourth of July weekend Ref: CNN.com In the article this data is based on data from 'Gun Violence Archive'.…
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