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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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Have only 5% of U.S. inmates received a trial?

According to this article, 95% of inmates in the U.S. have never received a trial, choosing a plea bargain to avoid potentially punitive sentencing if found guilty. The reality is that almost no one who is imprisoned in America has gotten a trial,”…
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Does the amount of land needed to get the USA to zero-carbon electricity correspond to a small area of Texas?

After watching Elon Musk's presentation regarding the Tesla Powerwall, I had a question. On his diagram of the USA, he claims that a "tiny blue square" on the top of Texas that consists of solar farms would be enough energy to power the united…
Outdated Computer Tech
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Are secular/atheist adults less vengeful, nationalistic, militaristic, authoritarian and more tolerant?

From: How secular family values stack up Many psychological studies show that secular grownups tend to be less vengeful, less nationalistic, less militaristic, less authoritarian and more tolerant, on average, than religious adults. Is this…
Brian M. Hunt
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Does the US rank worse than other developed countries in infant mortality mostly because of differences in the definition of "infant mortality"?

Wasn't sure how to phrase that title, but in a comment on this article, someone stated that The US ranks 30th in child birth mortality; 30th, not 5th or even 7th, 30th, behind most of Europe, Israel, Japan, and clearly 20+ other countries. and was…
Michael A
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Does getting married prevent violence against women and children?

The American newspaper the Washington Post's PostEverything Op-Ed One way to end violence against women? Married dads. (previously titled "One way to end violence against women? Stop taking lovers and get married") claims that marriage plays a…
Andrew Grimm
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Does healthcare.gov contain 500 million lines of code?

I just saw an infographic comparing the size of various programs in lines of code, the largest one of those being the healthcare.gov site at 500 million lines of code. The source they used seems to be this NY Times article that states According to…
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List comparing countries attacked by Iran and the USA accurate?

Is the following infographic's comparison of Iran and the USA accurate? I'm not skeptical of the claim that the USA has attacked a lot of countries, but I am skeptical of the claim that, based on the criteria used for including countries on the…
Andrew Grimm
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Is college worth the cost for most Americans?

A recent Pew survey found: A majority of Americans (57%) say the higher education system in the United States fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend. Is a college education a good Return On Investment…
user1873
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Does the US ban high-gas-mileage cars?

A recent YouTube video features a claim that the VW Passat TDI 1.6 and similar cars have been banned by the US government, specifically because their gas mileage is too high. The purported reasoning is that if many people bought these cars, the…
Mark Eichenlaub
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Has Obama or any other US President authorized the assassination of US citizens?

In this interview with RT News, Sean Stone -- the son of Oliver Stone and outspoken critic of US anti-Iran sentiment -- claims that President Barack Obama has "assassinated American citizens" (~4:20 mark). Is this claim true? Is there any proof…
samthebrand
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Did Senator Hillary Clinton introduce only a single bill (an anti-flag burning bill) into the Senate?

In a recent episode of The Michael Brooks Show, they claim that Hillary Clinton introduced only a single bill as senator: Do you guys know the one bill that Hillary Clinton introduced into the senate in her brief time as the senator from New York?…
Evan Carroll
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Did an American kindergarten teach children the alphabet using corporate logos?

On Reddit, Facebook and elsewhere, a picture went mildly viral claiming that in the USA, a kindergarten is using corporate logos to teach the alphabet: The posts or their comments do not include any information about this (only speculation,…
gerrit
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Has the USA used CS gas at the Mexican border since at least 2010?

CS gas is one particular type of tear gas. The Washington Times claims today: Tear gas used once a month at border under Obama The same tear-gas agent that the Trump administration is taking heat for deploying against a border mob this weekend is…
Common Guy
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Do pricey medicines in the USA subsidise R&D for the rest of the world?

A recent (February 2018) report by the US government Council of Economic Advisors makes the following argument (my highlights): The United States both conducts and finances much of the biopharmaceutical innovation that the world depends on,…
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In California, does it cost more to send someone to prison than to send them to Stanford?

According to Bernie Sanders' Facebook page: Is this statement true?
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