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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Is a kill switch being considered to shut down the internet?

One of my friends has been particularly upset about this. I will try to track down a serious citation of someone making this claim but have been unable to do so. I believe there is a commission or something on cybersecurity that is looking into…
Joseph Weissman
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Are fully automatic firearms very hard for civilians to obtain in the USA?

In the wake of another horrific mass shooting incident in the USA which appears to have involved an automatic weapon I was surprised the read the following in the Weekly Standard: Automatic rifles, on the other hand, are severely restricted and…
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Did President Obama institute immigration restrictions in 2011 that were similar to Trump's Jan 2017 immigration restrictions?

Following Trump's recent executive order restricting movement from seven selected nations, some proponents of Trump's actions point out that in 2011 President Obama instituted similar restrictions on Iraqi nationals for similar reasons (ie1, ie2,…
David says Reinstate Monica
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Are 550 people still losing their jobs at "Trump's" Carrier plant?

Donald Trump made saving the jobs at Carrier a big campaign rallying point. On December 06, 2016 New York Times reported from Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, that 550 people are losing their jobs. 700 other positions…
Evan Carroll
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Did an experiment show none of 680 Air Force cadets were of "average" size?

Various workshops given by Nielsen-Norman Group in the User Experience field, mention a specific experiment that involved Air Force cadets. The experiment is meant to illustrate the point that there's no such thing as an "average user", and it goes…
Vitaly Mijiritsky
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Does the death penalty in California cost more than $300m per execution?

In the talk show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, John Oliver was arguing against the death penalty and showed the following image claiming that the death penalty cost more than $300m per execution in California: Costs of capital punishment in…
George Chalhoub
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How dangerous is thiomersal (thimerosal)?

Some people blame the preservative thiomersal in vaccines for all kinds of illnesses, but mainly for autism. As thiomersal is a mercury compound, there is some plausibility in suspecting it may cause some damage, but is there some hard data on how…
Mad Scientist
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Did the US spend 7 trillion in the Middle East?

In response to the recent train accident in Washington State, the current President of the United States, Donal Trump, made a claim in a tweet that the US has spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Is this true, and if so what's the (rough)…
aross
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Is the total cost of treating the uninsured in emergency rooms more expensive than government-subsidized urgent care would be in the US?

One of the claims I have frequently encountered in support of government intervention in providing health insurance that is more extensive than Medicare and Medicaid in the US, is that it will reduce the need for patients without insurance to use…
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Is Donald Trump forcing the EPA to take down all climate change information?

According to the Independent article Donald Trump orders Environmental Protection Agency to delete all climate change information from its website The Trump administration is forcing the Environmental Protection Agency to delete all of its pages on…
Sklivvz
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Are there 2-3m illegal migrants with criminal records in the USA?

President-Elect Trump has said that he plans to deport or jail between 2 million and 3 million illegal migrants in the USA who have criminal records. US President-elect Donald Trump has said he will deport or jail up to three million illegal…
A E
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Do homeschooled kids perform better academically?

"The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests." Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. source I tried finding a primary source for statements like this and wasn't able to; just…
LCIII
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Did 9/11 lead to many deaths due to car accidents "dwarfing" the attacks themselves?

Well-renowned security expert Bruce Schneier claims that In the months after 9/11, so many people chose to drive instead of fly that the resulting deaths dwarfed the deaths from the terrorist attack itself, because cars are much more dangerous than…
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Did journalist Amber Lyon claim that the US Government paid CNN to control content?

One of my conspiracy theorist friends on Facebook recently linked an article claiming that Amber Lyon was fired from CNN for blowing the whistle on the Obama administration paying CNN to not air certain story. Associated with the article was the…
Beofett
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Do the most popular college books in the US include "The Communist Manifesto" & "The Republic"?

The mainstream media in China have reported several times that the most popular college books in the US include "The Communist Manifesto" & "The Republic". I have always thought that is "fake news" until someone published the quoted source here (it…
Qiulang
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