Questions tagged [government]
Use this tag for questions regarding "government" as a concept. DO NOT USE in lieu of "United States".
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Entire GOP voted against letting senators read the new tax bill?
Following the passing of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the U.S. Senate on December 2nd 2017, this photo has been making the rounds on social media (facebook in my case). The tweet by Jesse Lehrich claims
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Is it possible to fly 4 helicopters anywhere in a country without official knowledge?
According to reports, there were 4 helicopters used in the raid on Osama Bin Laden.
Is it conceivable that even one helicopter could be flown so close to the capital of another country without raising ...
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Is the US federal government still paying Civil War survivor benefits?
I read an article claiming that the US federal government is still paying out a Civil War survivor pension today, over 150 years after the Civil War ended. Is this accurate?
In 1924, Mose Triplett,...
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Is this pie graph describing US government spending accurate?
This graphic is doing the circuit on Facebook. Is the pie chart an accurate depiction of US government spending?
Look closely at this chart of federal spending.
Military 57%
Education 6%
...
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Does Shell get $2 billion a year in subsidies from the US government?
While browsing reddit, I saw the following graphic from the Late Stage Capitalism subreddit:
(Two stick figures are shown, the second one with Shell's logo for a head)
This is Bob.
Bob gets $...
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Has Trump's administration been making more human trafficking arrests than the Obama administration?
I come across this image below circulation on the internet.
The image is comparing the human trafficking arrests during Trump's and Obama's administrations. Are these figures true?
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Did Scotland spend $250,000 for the slogan "Welcome to Scotland"?
A 2007 Digital Journal article claims
Scotland spent six months of research and $250,000 to create a new slogan to boost tourism. What did they come up with? “Welcome to Scotland” is the new slogan,...
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Are US workers legally required to pay income taxes?
In the 2006 film America: Freedom to Fascism, several interviews are shown which claim that American workers do not need to pay income tax. Specifically, this clip claims that
There is no law which ...
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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 finally throw ...
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Did the French government print posters explaining COVID-19 vaccination passport policy already in January 2020?
We see this poster, for example from the official site of the city of Toulon:
(Explaining that citizens now either need to show a certificate for having 1. covid-vaccination 2. covid-test negative ...
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Is the Japanese government encouraging the young to consume more alcohol?
In many western countries governments have been issuing advice on how much alcohol should be consumed as medical opinion about safe consumption levels has become more stringent (see NHS advice here). ...
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Did the Mexican Government publish a manual for how to illegally enter the US?
On donaldjtrump.com, Trump writes
For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (...
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Was the wild west less violent than the current west?
Matt Ridley's The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge has a chapter on the evolution of government, in which he starts by making the startling statement:
The truth is that the [American] ...
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Have communist governments killed more than 80 million people?
It's May Day, while Communist regimes celebrated this day, others mourn. Specifically there are claims that communist governments have killed 80 to 100 million people in the last 100 years. Are ...
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Did 60% of polled South Africans say the country was better run during apartheid?
I have found several sites claiming that a study shows that over 60% of polled South Africans said the country was better run under apartheid - most notably, a 2002 Guardian article:
In a rebuke to ...
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Do secret societies that wish to bring about a new world order still exist?
Do secret societies that wish to bring about a new world order still exist? Who are they, what evidence points to their existence today, and what are their overall goals? Also, who are the foremost ...
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Was there a large, illegal CIA project called "MKULTRA"?
Was there an illegal CIA project called MKULTRA, and if-so what did it involve and when did it end? Did it involve, as suggested in a quote from Ted Kennedy, a massive conspiracy involving dozens of ...
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Does Texas have the right to secede from the United States?
There's a common folklore among Texans that Texas was the only state to specifically have it written that Texas may secede, although I've heard that other states have that right as well.
In 2009, Gov ...
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Was there a Soviet anti-motorcycle-helmet campaign in the late 1950s and early 1960s?
Lessig (1995, pp. 964–965) writes:
Before the 1960s, motorcyclists in Soviet Russia did not wear helmets. In part this was because of a lack of any perceived need to wear helmets; in part it was ...
user17967
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Are generic drugs equivalent to the "name-brand" alternatives?
I can buy 300 10-mg tablets of Loratadine for about $15, and 90 10-mg tablets of Claritin™ costs about $35. These days my health insurance charges me $50 for the name-brand, and as little as $2.91 (...
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Does the UK government have only 300 staff investigating tax evasion of £70bn+ vs 3250 staff investigating benefits (welfare) fraud of £1.2bn?
The following graphic is doing the rounds on Facebook:
Is it true?
Does the graphic give an accurate representation of the comparative headcount/effort/resources that the UK government (as a whole) ...
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Do lower speed limits reduce gasoline usage?
There are three parts to this question:
Does speed have an effect on miles-per-gallon? Is there a more accurate causal effect than speed that would also cause a connection at varying speeds? (perhaps ...
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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?
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Has any government been farming human organs?
Is there any solid evidence that any country's government has been engaged in and has been proven to have farmed human organs for sale on the black market?
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Are big corporations the biggest beneficiaries from farming subsidies?
I've heard that big companies are the biggest beneficiaries of agricultural subsidies (in the US and other western countries). This would to me seem to be the opposite of the intention of those ...
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Does the Australian government spend more on welfare than on defense?
Is it true that the Australian people spend more on welfare than they do on defense?
This was claimed by Joe Hockey:
Each year, the Government spends more on welfare than we spend on the education ...
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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 ...
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Did the FBI not require assistance from Apple to unlock the San Bernadino terrorist's phone?
Edward Snowden's official Twitter account posted the following tweet:
The first 4 points are not in contention, but the 5th point states that the FBI does not require Apple's assistance to unlock the ...
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Did a doctor Helen Zhu warn about a mounting epidemic in the US and receive a gag order?
A press release from the Chinese Embassy criticizes the state of free speech in the US, and claims that
Helen Zhu, a female doctor of Chinese descent who warned about the epidemic in the United ...
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Do the "Presidential Alerts" give the government full access to all phone functionality?
John McAfee, libertarian politician and former computer programmer, tweeted this:
The "Presidential alerts": they are capable of accessing the E911 chip
in your phones - giving them full access ...
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Are people with a high IQ not allowed to become police officers in New London?
This 2000 ABC News report says:
A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.
[.....
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Was the U.S. government responsible for Popeye's dependance on spinach?
Whenever the cartoon sailor is on the verge of a fight, he squeezes open a can of spinach, pours the greens down his throat, and uses his muscles to pummel his opponent.
Some sources claim that this ...
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Does addressing the issues focused on by the Broken Windows theory have a measurable impact on crime?
These are excerpts from what could be considered the source for the Broken Windows theory (emphasis added):
[A]t the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind ...
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Does the fossil fuel industry benefit from trillions of dollars of subsidy from governments every year?
This IMF working paper claims that the fossil fuel industry benefits from trillions of dollars of government subsidies every year. It is a working paper intended to "promote discussion" and not the ...
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Was fluoride grandfathered in by the FDA because it was sold as rat poison prior to 1938?
This site makes the claim that the reason the FDA never tested fluoride for human consumption was because it was on the market prior to 1938, when the FDA was formed. This claim is pretty well ...
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Did witchcraft testing inevitably result in death by either drowning or execution?
From a speech by Australian politician David Leyonhjelm, but I've heard it elsewhere many times:
The senator borrowed other stories from history in the speech, opening
with details of the old ...
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Were these 'Communist Rules for Revolution' written in 1919?
Please disregard the website on which this is found. Were these "rules" actually found in 1919?
From: http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/newspaper-clipping-from-oct-13-1975/104739
A ...
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Is the Chinese government responsible for hacking U.S businesses and government?
Over the past 18 months there have been several news articles pointing the finger at the Chinese government over hacks on U.S government and businesses.
Most recently: China Suspected of Hacking US ...
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Are there around S$800 billion unaccounted for in Singapore's public finances?
Christopher Balding, an associate professor at Peking University, claims in this note that
Given publicly available economic data on Singaporean finances, there is an expected asset gap of more ...
user17967
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Is the Chinese “Sesame Credit” system a government propaganda tool?
The Sesame Credit system recently announced in China is making the rounds on social media, being touted as a tool of gamified government thought control.
For example, this privateinternetaccess.com's ...
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Did Obama tell people to ignore those warning against tyranny?
Did Barack Obama say the following?
"They'll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner.
You should reject those voices."
This is contrasted to Jefferson saying "When the people ...
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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 really ...
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How many people have lost their health insurance as a result of the ACA (Obamacare)?
The ACA changed health insurance regulations, placing new requirements on most or all health insurance plans in the United States. These changes have resulted in the obsolescence of many existing ...
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Does the USDA burn food every week?
In this recent Big Think video, The colossal problem with universal basic income, the presenter, Douglas Rushkoff, made a claim, at about the 40 second mark, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture ...
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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 ...
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Are there any secret scientific researches?
Many times in movies we see a people doing scientific research secretly and have achieved some amazing technologies.
Is there any evidence of any such scientific work done very secretly anytime (...
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Did Brock Chisolm, the first director of the United Nations WHO, say this anti-individualism quote about a "world government"?
Did Brock Chisolm, first Director General of the United Nations World Health Organization, say this quote?
To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their ...
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Is the US government preparing to remove religiosity in the population with a virus, using vaccines as a vector?
This Vimeo video "
DOD VIRUS 'FUNVAX' Vaccine for RELIGIOUS Peoples!!!!!!!" purports to show a government presentation about the deliberate introduction of a virus.
Leaked April 13, 2005 ...
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Does US Congress cost $30m per day to run?
What does it cost for The United States Congress to be in session for a single day? I recently heard a quote of $30 million, but did not see any supporting facts to back it up.
What would the total ...
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Did a broadcast of the US National Anthem in the 60's use subliminal messaging?
This video, by "Truthstream Media" tells us the following:
As we watch Television, we become susceptible to subliminal messaging because we stop emitting alpha waves and start emitting beta waves
In ...
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