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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Were Love Bugs "Engineered" at the University of Florida?

Today while discussing cleaning cars with a co-worker, he mentioned how much he hated driving in Florida because of "Love Bugs" and stated that the "University of Florida researchers genetically engineered lovebugs." Yes, it is a common claim, and…
Larian LeQuella
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Is a photo of Rick Perry's college transcript authentic?

Various major US news outlets are echoing a Huffington Post article titled "Rick Perry's College Transcript: A Lot Of Cs And Ds" including NPR, Fox, and the Des Moines Register. Because if you ever enter politics, you may one day think about…
Mike Samuel
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Did the US government claim that it has the right to control "cognitive infrastructure", i.e. thoughts?

A 8 July 2023 tweet contained a snippet of an America This Week vodcast, with author Walter Kirn: Kirn: The thing that stunned me the most was the Government's contention repeated in the ruling that your thoughts, your comments on social media…
fgysin
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Did Coke pay the NAACP to paint their opponents as racist?

Several news outlets recently reported Coca-Cola tried to minimize health issues associated with their sugary beverages by paying NAACP to paint their opponents as racist. Why Coke went woke Whistleblower Exposes Coke's Efforts to Paint Opponents of…
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Are secret U.S. army tests to blame for TV presenters speaking gibberish?

I've seen this suggestion made in several places; here's one. Around the time of April 2011, several US news presenters or personalities descended into speaking gibberish on national TV. Some have "cited an on-air experiment broadcast some years…
Jez
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Were the vast majority of people on the National Sex Offender Registry children when they committed their crime?

In "Planet America extra podcast (PEP)" 25 Sep (At 1 hour 27 minutes) Dr David Smith made the following claim: "The national sex offender registry is a disaster in all kinds of respects, the biggest disaster being the vast majority of people on it…
Ash
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Are private contractors being used by Federal Agencies in the response to the ongoing George Floyd protests?

I've been referred to this medium article, which makes a series of claims about the roll of private contractors in providing crowd control services for Federal Agencies. Specifically, I am interested in whether the Federal Protection Service is…
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Are police officer's families 2-4 times more likely to experience domestic violence?

I was wondering the accuracy of this claim: Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, ... in contrast to 10% of families in the general population... A third study of older and more…
MrHappyAsthma
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Do the Republican tax cuts cost more than forgiving student debt?

In today's US political climate, a big talking point for some of the Democratic Party candidates is the forgiveness of student loans. Whenever I hear this discussed among my peers, the consensus is that it can't happen because there would be no way…
roger21
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Have textbook prices in the US more than doubled in the last 15 years?

The above chart was recently published on Reddit. ( Source: r/dataisbeautiful ) The author of the reddit thread cites the following data sources: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Recreational books Consumer Price Index for All Urban…
BmyGuest
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Has Dr. Christine Blasey Ford written over 65 peer-reviewed articles?

During the Senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh on September 27, 2018, Senator Feinstein said in her introduction, to, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford: You are a professor affiliated with both Stanford University and Palo Alto University. You…
elliot svensson
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Have ATMs across the US "spat out money" in the second half of January 2018?

In a response to the DDoS attacks on several Dutch banks and other institutions, "cybersecurity specialist" Rian van Rijbroek claimed on 29 January 2018 on the Dutch news programme Nieuwsuur that banks in the USA had been hit with DDoS attacks,…
SQB
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Does the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights consider Christians a hate group "threat"?

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) called in to Glenn Beck's radio show, and made this claim, among others: [T]he U.S Commission on Civil Rights says that Christians are the biggest hate group threat in America, in essence... Video via Right Wing…
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Was corporate personhood invented by a court reporter?

Years ago I remember hearing or reading that a reporter or stenographer for a Supreme Court case editorialized something in to the court record that wasn't intended by the presiding Justices, and that created the precedent upon which the concept of…
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Did the same Mexican citizen vote illegally in the United States 5 times between 2012-2014?

A Fox News story says: Rosa Maria Ortega, 37, was found guilty Wednesday on two counts of illegal voting after she falsely claimed to be a United States citizen and voted at least five times between 2012 and 2014. I'm not skeptical that she voted…
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