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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Do Imperial units make United States children worse at maths?

It is claimed on Cracked.com: There's also some evidence that our jalopy measurement system [imperial, ndr] is part of what's making U.S. students bad at math. In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, he suggests that Asian students may have a built-in…
Sklivvz
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Do 70% of Marijuana users also use while working?

On a talkshow this morning during a discussion of the validity of random drug tests a member of the Illinois State Police stated that 70% of admitted Marijuana users also admit to using while at work. I am not finding any studies or statistics that…
Chad
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Does a Michigan law make it a felony to purposefully use the wrong gender pronouns?

Recently Fox News claimed that Michigan House passed a bill that: [...] could make it a felony to intimidate someone by intentionally using the wrong gender pronouns, according to some legal experts. Under the new bill, offenders are "guilty of a…
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Is participating in a campaign advert a fireable offence for US journalists?

Quoting the left-wing news outlet Vox: In 2016, Hannity appeared in a bananas pro-Trump campaign ad. Sean Hannity: ...and of course he's gonna build that wall. He says he's going to have Mexico pay for it. [comedic insult omitted] If any other…
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Were international travellers kept waiting in densely packed queues at US airports due to COVID-19 screenings?

There are several claims online that international travelers returning from Europe were kept waiting in densely packed queues at JKF and O'Hare airports, due to COVID-19 screenings, on the weekend of March 14 2020. Tweet from @kr3at JFK airport in…
Peter
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Did Mueller indict a Russian company that didn't exist?

Conservative author Dinesh D'Souza just tweeted this: Is Mueller this dumb? Or does he think the press is too dumb to notice he indicted a Russian company that doesn’t even exist? This is a reference to the company Concord Catering, which special…
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Did the Trump administration issue a blackout to the EPA?

According to this article Sean Spicer, White House Spokesperson says: “They haven’t been directed by us to do anything” According to this AP report: The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency…
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Has there been a dramatic expansion of the U.S. federal workforce in recent years?

This claim was used by the White House to justify an executive action that can affect the operations of a wide range of federal government agencies. In his first official White House press briefing on January 23, 2017, U.S. Press Secretary Sean…
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In states where medical marijuana laws are passed, did prescription painkiller sales decrease?

I recently heard that US states where medical marijuana laws are passed have seen a decrease in prescription painkillers sales. For the study, researchers analyzed all deaths caused by opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2010 in the U.S. Then, they…
user18101
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Were the "DNC leak" emails stolen by the Russian government?

The DNC leak refers to the publication of thousands of private emails of the Democratic National Committee by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks has not revealed their source and some outlets have claimed that "according to the intelligence community" the Russian…
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Was there a law ever passed that prevented two trains from proceeding at a crossing?

Dumb Laws states that in the state of Washington When two trains come to a crossing, neither shall go until the other has passed. In Railway and Locomotive Engineering: A Practical Journal of Railway Motive Power and Rolling Stock, Volume 28 it…
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Do most black scientists come from non elite-universities?

According to Vice News, Supreme Court Justice Scalia repeated a claim from one of the briefs: "Most of the black scientists in this country do not come from the most advanced schools," Scalia said, referencing information from a friend-of-the-court…
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Was measles vaccine introduced after the disease was under control

Recently, I have been arguing with people opposing the use of vaccines. One google search query led me to an article claiming that are death cases by measles vaccines. The article goes on claiming that measles vaccines kill over 100 people…
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Do homeschooled kids lack socialization skills?

This article, Socialization: Tackling Homeschooling’s “S” Word on the PBS web site, claims, The mainstream perception of homeschool students is that they are an antisocial bunch, toiling away lonely hours at a kitchen table with only their parents…
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Do small businesses create the majority of the jobs in America?

Do small businesses create the majority of the jobs in the United States? I guess it would depend on one's definition of small business, but stipulating that the definition is the one used by politicians when they make that claim, I wonder if it is…
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