98 votes
Accepted

Were World War II scrap drives in the United States truly necessary for the procurement of raw materials?

No. For the "procurement of raw materials" the United States could have continued just like before and still win. Effectively it might have been useful still –– for quite some other reasons. Just ...
LangLаngС's user avatar
49 votes
Accepted

Did North Korean missiles reach space in early 2022?

They did, but that's not a big deal North Korea’s Latest Missile Test Appears to Be Its Boldest in Years (New York Times): The missile launched on [Jan 28th] was fired at a steep angle, reaching an ...
Rob Watts's user avatar
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36 votes

Were World War II scrap drives in the United States truly necessary for the procurement of raw materials?

The answer is specific to each metal; I will limit my answer to just tin. Quoting from the 1953 thesis Bolivia's tin economy and the United States (note that this reference uses the original 1942 ...
DavePhD's user avatar
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14 votes
Accepted

Did the North Korean government ever say that Kim Jong-il never defecated?

The 2011 Guardian article seems to be based very closely on an article on Matador Network, which itself is copied from an undated infographic, which lists its sources in the form of a bunch of ...
Avery's user avatar
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11 votes
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Is China placing advertisements seeking to influence the upcoming American mid-term elections?

The Des Moines Register admits that it published a four-page advertisement of the (mainland) Chinese government. The Des Moines Register, in the follow up article, says: "I think it's trying to ...
DavePhD's user avatar
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10 votes

Is this a genuine New York Times job ad for Russia Correspondent?

This is genuine. A google search for "new york times jobs" results in the New York Times Career page which includes the advert under "Explore International Opportunities".
laughingforeigner's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Did the myth of carrots improving eye sight begin as WWII propaganda?

Please suggest improvements for the answer in the comments. From the Smithsonian article cited in the question: But to keep [British radar] under wraps, according to Stolarczyk’s research pulled ...
Barry Harrison's user avatar
7 votes
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Did fake news on Facebook influence US elections in 2016?

According to Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook Science Advances 09 Jan 2019: Vol. 5, no. 1: Some have gone so far as to assert that such content ...
DavePhD's user avatar
  • 105k
6 votes

Is this a genuine New York Times job ad for Russia Correspondent?

The New York Times jobs section links through to the their international opportunities. There, when filtering on "Russian Federation" you can find a direct link to this job advert which ...
Jamiec's user avatar
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5 votes

Did the North Korean government ever say that Kim Jong-il never defecated?

Kang Chol-hwan, a North Korean defector, confirms this in his biography 'The Aquariums of Pyongyang' The specific quote is To my childish eyes and to those of all my friends, Kim Il-sung and Kim ...
Hitch-22's user avatar
  • 183
4 votes

Was there a secret plot by the US government to stage a false flag attack in Syria to blame Assad?

No, there is no evidence to support this conclusion. What Hersch's article actually suggests is that Al-Nusra may have produced sarin in Syria. It had support from Turkey and possibly Saudi Arabia, ...
Brian Z's user avatar
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