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.
7
votes
1answer
513 views
Is there a legal video size limit for Super Bowl parties?
Slate claims:
A Baptist congregation in Indiana plans to cancel its Super Bowl party this weekend, after receiving a threatening letter from the National Football League. NFL officials say the ...
14
votes
3answers
9k views
Are more people accidentally killed by doctors than accidentally killed by guns and traffic combined?
The actual claim is something like this
The top five causes of death in the United States, in order, are
tobacco, alcohol, medical malpractice, traffic and firearms. According
to JAMA, doctors ...
2
votes
2answers
379 views
Does Ron Paul get less media coverage than other similarly prominent candidates?
In this clip from The Daily Show show, John Stewart puts forward the argument that Ron Paul is being ignored by the media, showcasing some convincing clips to that effect.
Are the clips referenced in ...
60
votes
3answers
12k views
Is it illegal to refuse US currency for a purchase?
I hear this claim every now and then. That US currency is legal tender and that it is illegal to not accept it.
The most recent example of this was on an old episode of 30 Rock: The head and the ...
4
votes
1answer
160 views
Is it illegal to tie campaign contributions to a specific policy goal?
The petition Investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA for bribery after he publicly admitted to bribing politicans to pass legislation implies that there is something illegal about this threat to withdraw ...
0
votes
0answers
429 views
Can you get out of a traffic ticket if the citing officer fails to show up? [closed]
If you're given a traffic ticket, is it true that requesting that the citing officer show up at the trial will likely result it getting dismissed (e.g. for failure for the officer to appear)?
I've ...
9
votes
1answer
2k views
Was the passport of one of the 9/11 terrorists found, while “nothing else” from the airplane was recovered?
Someone who "believes branches of the U.S government planned 9/11" said that:
The passport of one of the terrorists was "found". How is it that this
passport survived the crash, while nothing ...
7
votes
0answers
153 views
Did the CIA sell illegal drugs in the US in order to fund anti-communist Dictators in South America? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Did the CIA sell drugs in the US?
I've heard this many times from various sources. I've heard it referenced to the crack epidemic in the 80s. I've heard it mentioned in ...
10
votes
0answers
639 views
Is every elected US president related to George Washington?
According to a post on Slashdot:
Every single elected president - INCLUDING Barack Obama, has a
genealogy related to President George Washington.
Note I did say Elected President. Gerald ...
6
votes
1answer
651 views
Does Sallie Mae earn more from defaulted education loans than properly repaid ones?
I was sent an article by Catherine Austin Fitts, the author of the Solari Report, entitled William M. Diefenderfer: The Financial Hit Man of Student Loans. It contained some rather striking claims ...
1
vote
1answer
384 views
Has the internet caused significant job losses since 2008?
"Layoffs too often became permanent, not part of the business cycle. And these changes didn't just affect blue collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you ...
1
vote
0answers
140 views
Do supermarkets keep the deposit surcharge if a recyclable can isn't returned? [closed]
If I purchase a soda in NYC there is an automatic deposit that is included in my purchase. What if I recycle the can, and and don't return it? Who keeps the deposit?
I was told that the supermarket ...
18
votes
2answers
1k views
Is it illegal in the U.S. for legal professionals to answer legal questions on public Internet forums?
A SE moderator said:
[I]n the US, at least, legal professionals are not permitted to answer questions on a site like this.
It seems odd that a law would prohibit someone who has passed a Bar ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Is there any place where you need one form of ID to buy a gun, but two to pay for it by check?
This XKCD comic strip has the following alt text:
I hear in some places, you need one form of ID to buy a gun, but two to pay for it by check. It's interesting who has what incentives to care ...
-1
votes
1answer
656 views
Are there members of Congress who have tried to seize 401k plans?
In February, the White House released its “Annual Report on the Middle
Class” containing new regulations favored by Big Labor including a
bailout of critically underfunded union pension plans ...
12
votes
1answer
628 views
Is non-union labor more productive than union labor?
A claim was made today by an equipment manufacturing industry representative that in the last 10 years Non-Union labor had far out paced Union labor in productivity gains and that Non-Union Shops ...
9
votes
1answer
824 views
Is the U.S. 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures?
The Miss Representation Extended Trailer makes the claim, at 6:03:
The U.S. is the 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures.
The voice-over adds:
If people knew that ...
9
votes
1answer
4k views
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 ...
14
votes
1answer
1k views
Is this photo of Occupy Wall Street authentic?
From Facebook:
This photo is actually getting pulled off Facebook...so, the photographer added a lil text and renamed the file. Pass it on. I'm SURE the media doesn't want this one out there. ...
1
vote
1answer
284 views
Has the federal reserve issued 16 trillion dollars in bailouts?
I've seen this all over the internet, but it never got picked up by larger news websites. There is an article on business insider but I'm rather unsure about the reliability of that site.
Basically ...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
Did the US government spend millions of dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly?
According to this site, "Washington is spending $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job." Is this true, and, if so, what program are they referencing?
8
votes
1answer
771 views
Does any U.S.-sold brand of “100% pure” fruit juice contain added HFCS?
The book Deep Nutrition makes the following claim:
... your "100 percent orange juice" is doped with corn syrup. (Some FDA officials suspect that many fruit juices claiming to be 100 percent ...
17
votes
1answer
1k views
Do the majority of Americans take the Noah's ark story from the Bible literally?
From Most Americans take Bible stories literally:
An ABC News poll released Sunday found that... ...Sixty percent believe in the story of Noah’s ark and a global flood
This claim is often ...
24
votes
3answers
2k views
Are only 700 out of 480,000 life scientists creationists?
I've seen this claim stated in many places, for example the talk.origins FAQ:
Of the scientists and engineers in the United States, only about 5% are creationists, according to a 1991 Gallup poll ...
5
votes
2answers
4k views
Did a plane hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001?
Is it possible that a plane hit the side of the pentagon, but did not even scuff up the grass?
There are some claims of other anomalies that don't quite match the idea of a plane hitting there; like ...
9
votes
2answers
386 views
How is structural unemployment measured?
In light of today's Presidential Speech on jobs, I was reminded of something that I read in Bloomberg Businessweek.
With the jobless rate still above 9 percent, the untapped labor pool is deep. ...
11
votes
2answers
483 views
Is the US Newborn Mortality Rate higher than 40 Countries?
There is a lot that goes into a statistic that can go wrong, between collection, data, etc. This makes me rather skeptical of claims like the following:
US Newborn Mortality Rate Higher than 40 ...
5
votes
2answers
3k views
Did the US win the Vietnam War in any sense?
As far as I know, the Vietnam War was won by the communists. But a colleague of mine, a former US Marine, insists vehemently that US won in some way or, at least, was set to win but they had an early ...
11
votes
0answers
326 views
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 ...
15
votes
2answers
730 views
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. ...
20
votes
1answer
6k views
Does Apple have more cash reserves than the U.S. government?
There are stories like this floating in the internet.
Apple is now more liquid than the United States government, the Financial Post reports.
As the government struggles to resolve the debt ...
7
votes
1answer
443 views
Is Congressional net worth up nearly 3700% since 2004?
A link on the Drudge Report today claimed this:
Report
Many have had the sneaking suspicion that our elected “leaders” in
Congress are not going to Washington D.C. to represent us but for
...
16
votes
1answer
1k views
Do the questions on the US Visa Waiver form have any use at all?
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 ...
12
votes
1answer
516 views
Is Congress's pay protected even if the US defaults?
Today around the watercooler, us active duty military, and civil service employees were discussing the possible effects of the US defaulting. Since we are all paid by the government, this is a very ...
3
votes
1answer
3k views
Is the Ralph Williams angry car salesman clip real?
Someone sent me this video of a car salesman supposedly working for Ralph Williams, a dealership owner in the Bay Shore area. There are lots of references online to this video. See the google results ...
2
votes
1answer
187 views
Do states give local governments the power to ban opposing political groups?
This odd claim is presented in a comment thread at the blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars in comment #6 on the linked post. It refers to a city council banning a community group. Seems to me this ...
13
votes
1answer
416 views
Do wind farms have a significant impact on weather patterns in the US?
On my way in to work today there was a guest on the radio claiming that the "Heat Dome" was the result of the disturbance of natural wind patterns by the windfarms that have proliferated the ...
5
votes
0answers
1k views
Are electric chairs powered by generators connected to the mains in the same building?
There's an episode in The Green Mile movie where the death row servicemen rehearse the upcoming execution that is done using an electric chair. One of them says (quoted from here):
Roll on one.
...
7
votes
2answers
436 views
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 ...
6
votes
1answer
639 views
Homeless population in California - Ronald Reagan's Governorship?
I have heard and read claims suggesting that California passed a law when Ronald Reagan was governor that lead to a surge of homelessness and that explains to a large extent the relative high rate of ...
10
votes
2answers
5k views
Does pornography bring in more money than all US sport franchises combined?
I've been sent chain emails about pornography industry revenues and was quite flabbergasted by some of the figures. The version I recalled hearing was that pornography brings in more revenue than all ...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
Did Lee Harvey Oswald kill John F. Kennedy?
L.H. Oswald claimed he was innocent and didn't kill J.F. Kennedy. There are various theories on what could have happened that day, but I didn't "study" all the evidence and research, so I don't know ...
15
votes
1answer
547 views
How often do law enforcement authorities actually commandeer civilian transportation?
You've seen the movies: the cop-action-hero's car blows up and he is forced to bust out his gun and his badge and commandeer a civilian's vehicle for transportation. How often does this actually ...
14
votes
3answers
3k views
Does the AMA limit the number of doctors to increase current doctors' salaries?
A suggested reason why doctors get paid so much more in the US as opposed to other developed countries is that the American Medical Association (AMA) artificially limits the physician supply in order ...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
Is asking about U.S. citizenship an illegal interview question?
From About.com,
Are you a U.S. citizen?
Every interview I have had has asked this. Even pre-interview screening includes this question. Is it really illegal for them to ask this?
Note: Not ...
33
votes
2answers
2k views
Does the U.S. President have a red phone?
From a 2010 news article:
Obama noted that Medvedev had opened a
Twitter account while visiting the
company's headquarters in California.
"I have one, as well, so we may be
able to ...
6
votes
1answer
4k views
Do (US) Birth Certificate Bonds exist?
This is a slightly unusual request; I look forward to finding out whether it is considered on-topic or not.
I was recently directed to a YouTube video to help value your "Birth Certificate Bond" (or ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Does Audrey Tomason's apocalypse equation thesis exist?
Recently it has been claimed that Audrey Tomason, the US government's Director for Counter-Terrorism has written a master's thesis about an "apocalypse equation":
[Audrey Tomason] wrote a master ...
2
votes
5answers
2k views
Could the USA have a secret colony on mars?
I've read a number of articles suggesting that the USA has a mars colony, including (if I recall correctly, but I can't find the link now) one where an official in China stated that they believed the ...
24
votes
2answers
2k views
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 ...
