Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions relating to the government or the politics of the United States of America
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How can Marbury v Madison be reconciled with what the Constitution explicitly states?
A key premise in Marbury v Madison is that the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction is clearly defined by the Constitution, and therefore a legislative act that redistributes the jurisdiction must be ...
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How and to what extent did lobbyists contribute to Trump/Pence's "next man and first woman" to the Moon? (via Artemis and Commercial Crew programs)
When I first saw the title to Ars Technica's May 16, 2022 Former NASA leaders praise Boeing’s willingness to risk commercial crew I thought it suggested that Boeing and it's troubled Boeing_Starliner ...
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Has California considered reimbursement for reclaimable water runoff?
California could likely save a lot of water by subsidizing desired water products instead of the water itself. However, this is difficult to implement because transferring water diverts reclaimable ...
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When was the last time a Vice President chose to let a tied Senate vote fail, without using their negative casting vote?
I was reading a recent question on why a Vice President might choose to use a negative casting vote on a tied vote in the Senate rather than just letting the motion fail by withholding their vote, ...
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Why would a Vice President cast a negative vote?
The Constitution allows for the Vice President to vote on an issue if the vote is equally divided. There have been a number of occasions when the Vice President has cast a negative vote, see here.
Why ...
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Counties Democrats and Republicans never won on any statewide level since 2016?
A lot of people talk about blue counties and red states and counties. But I want to know how consistently blue or red different counties are. This is especially relevant given how different governor ...
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When is the US Senate required to pass bills unanimously?
According to the BBC News website, the US senator Rand Paul has managed to delay approving financial aid package to Ukraine:
Paul, who has historically opposed spending on foreign aid, refused to ...
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Has any US state passed a law in a language other than English?
There is an interesting question on the Law stack exchange: "If Congress [of the United States of America] passed a bill written in Spanish, would it be valid?" (the answer appears to be '...
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Why is Joe Manchin a member of the Democratic Party when he consistently votes against them?
From his Wikipedia page, Joe Manchin appears to be a Republican pretending to be a Democrat to get elected in a state that is solidly Republican, but has returned him since 2010. He gets huge ...
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Has California considered replacing water subsidies with direct agricultural subsidies?
In California, farmers get access to cheap water that they have to use for farming or else they lose all rights to it. There appear to be two political reasons for this:
to encourage agriculture, and
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Desalination in Southern California, U.S.A [closed]
California is going through a drought. However, there is a lot of water, salt water, to the west. My understanding is that Santa Catalina Island, west of Southern California, has a desalination plant ...
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Why can water not be transferred within California?
Water transfer requires government approval. And the government does not approve it. For example, in 2022, 337,564 AF1 was requested and 0 AF was granted.
Given that politicians talk about reducing ...
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How many US White House political staff have a "radio which announces the President’s logistical movements"?
From Politico's May 9, 2022 How the Jan. 6 panel broke through Trump allies’ stonewalling:
Aides like Cassidy Hutchinson, a close adviser to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Ken ...
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Legality of NATO countries freezing assets of friends and family of Putin
Ignoring people such as Russian government members and Russian parliament members, I am asking about the legality of the freezing the assets (where susceptible to such freezes) of people who are ...
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Was the recent spate of military coups in Africa done so with either the overt or covert support of the USA? [closed]
The Intercept has reported that since 2008, at least eight successful military coups have occurred in Africa led by US trained soldiers: Guinea, Mauritanea and the Gambia, and also three times each in ...
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Prior to 2021, when was the last New Jersey gubernatorial election where a Democrat did better in Somerset County than the state as a whole?
In the 2021 New Jersey governor election, Phil Murphy, a Democrat and the incumbent, won 51.5% of the vote statewide. However he won 51.7% of the vote in Somerset County a suburban county which has ...
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How did Toomas Hendrik Ilves get US citizenship and where/when/why did he give it up? (former president of Estonia and curious character)
The question Do foreign heads of state or government have to give up a US citizenship if they have it? reminded me of the curious character Toomas Hendrik Ilves, "...an Estonian politician who ...
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Pentagon: "The intelligence that we provide to Ukraine is legal, is lawful." Is there even a recognized concept of legal and/or lawful intelligence?
CNN's May 6, 2022 White House walks a fine line with intelligence sharing in Ukraine
"I wouldn't describe any line as thin or imaginary," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told CNN's ...
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Does the US Senate need a majority of total members or members present to pass a vote? [duplicate]
Just curious. If the US Senate has a vote that's 48-47 with 5 absentees, does that pass, or what?
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If Roe is overturned, what is the legality of laws prohibiting crossing state lines for abortion?
States such as Missouri are planning to make it illegal for a citizen of Missouri to go to a different state to get an abortion if Roe is ultimately overturned. It attempts to evade legal challenge by ...
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Are there critics against supporting Ukraine based on an economical viewpoint?
I understand that there are several reasons politicians consider when they decide about sending military or financial aid to Ukraine. But in the end, these aids are financed by US/UK tax payers. The ...
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On what basis could the US federal government codify Roe v. Wade?
There are proposals to pass a federal law allowing abortion in all states, in case Roe v. Wade is overturned. Ignoring the political feasibility of passing such a law, on what constitutional basis can ...
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From when & where is Kevin McCarthy quoted as saying "...there's two people I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump."?
The April 28, 2022 Lincoln Project video Laughing includes an audio clip of someone quoting the current US House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as follows:
"There's... there's two people, I ...
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Do self identified independents in the United States tilt conservative compared to non independents?
I have read polls that appear to say that those who don't explicitly back either party are more conservative ideologically than those who do.
A poll by Gallup shows that independents had a 35% ...
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What do Republicans criticizing the withdrawal from Afghanistan say they would have done differently, given Trump's agreement w Taliban?
Yes, it's time for another Trump explanation on how things would be better with him. And, as usual, it is time to take a swipe at the bumbling withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump claimed Putin had ...
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Statements on reasons to vote against US H. R. 6930, a bill to confiscate assets from sanctioned Russian oligarchs & use the funds to support Ukraine
What are the reasons that 8 US Representatives holding very different political views voted against US H. R. 6930, a bill to confiscate assets from sanctioned Russian oligarchs and use the funds to ...
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Why doesn't the USCIS offer premium processing for all its immigration forms?
Premium processing is available on only certain USCIS immigration forms and not all USCIS immigration forms. Why doesn't the USCIS offer premium processing for all its immigration forms?
Since the ...
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Debate-related statement GOP says every US Republican presidential candidate must sign; what does it say & what happens if they don't sign or comply?
The Guardian's April 14 2022 Republican party withdraws from US Commission on Presidential Debates begins:
The Republican National Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to withdraw from the ...
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Why do many Republicans seem to minimize Russian invasion of Ukraine? [closed]
After Russia invaded Ukraine 2 months ago it has become increasingly clear how horrendous the invasion is, with bombing of civilian targets, executions of civilians (including children), rapes, ...
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When Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, why didn't they include the time limit in the amendment itself?
The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972 and submitted to the states for ratification. Congress imposed (or tried to impose?) a 7-year time limit on ratification.
There was precedent ...
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American Companies against Russia [closed]
One of the things that happened with the Ukraine-Russia war was the exodus of American companies from Russia. Standard oil of New Jersey kept supplying Hitler oil till the very end during his Russian ...
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When and in which context did Henry Kissinger say "the policy is better than the arguments"? Are there notable examples?
In the February 5, 2022 American Purpose video "The Right, Russia, and Ukraine" with David Frum after about 03:00, Frum discusses the US Republican Party's general support for the US' ...
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Study to confirm that lying on the international level is less frequent than lying to own population
I have recently watched this presentation held by John Mearsheimer, professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and he argues that political leaders lie way more frequent to their own ...
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Georgia Secretary of State's power to enforce the 14th amendment of the US constitution re. deny Marjorie Taylor Green's right to run for re-election?
In CNN's Attorney grills Marjorie Taylor Greene about her false stolen election remarks at about 03:35 reporter Amara Walker says:
Now the judge is expected to make a decision early next month on ...
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"Some other race vote" in the United States?
Many polls break national election polling down into White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and none of those. However Hispanic is treated as an ethnicity on the Census.
In order to get data on the "some ...
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Unusual for a US Secret Service official to also be "a political adviser at the White House"? (Washington Post)
The Washington Post's April 23, 2022 Meadows was warned of violence ahead of Jan. 6, new court filings show includes:
One of Meadows’s top aides, Cassidy Hutchinson, told congressional investigators ...
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How much the US have spent for Ukraine after Russian invasion (as of the 3rd week of April)?
Based on this article of New York times, US has spent about 13.6 billion dollars since start of the war. But the article was published in 18th of the previous month (march). What is this number at ...
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Why is abortion such a central issue in US politics, but not in the UK?
In Britain (excl Northern Ireland) a country close in many respects to the US - in terms of religious history, society, status of women, medical ethics etc abortion is rarely a political issue.
The ...
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Prosecutorial powers of Florida's office of election security; Can it try individuals, or subpoena/coerce testimony? Can it elicit punishments?
Politico's April 16, 2022 The One Way History Shows Trump’s Personality Cult Will End is an interview with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Wikipedia says:
She is a scholar on fascism and authoritarian ...
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Why is China so hostile to the western world? [closed]
Through domestic education or propaganda, Chinese government is consistently educating its everyone who listens to the CCP mouthpiece that they should be careful of the western threat.
An example ...
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How does Florida's Governor DeSantis explain that Common Core is bad for Florida & why are Math textbooks referencing it rejected for use there?
The titles of CBS Miami's April 16, 2022 Florida Department Of Education Rejects Nearly Half Of Textbooks Submitted For Next School Year and Click Orlando's Florida education officials reject 54 math ...
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Why is US reluctant to consider Russia a state sponsor of terrorism?
CNN mentions that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a request to US President Joe Biden to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a ...
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Any (legal or otherwise) reasons why the US did not expect to be targeted by foreign propaganda over Internet? [closed]
When the Internet came to be and brought people from different parts of the world together, two things were apparent. That people will be exposed to propaganda/opinions prevalent in other countries, ...
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Did the USA meet its goals for leading Ethiopia to invade Somalia in 2006? [closed]
It lead to the rise of Al Shabaab and the return of anarchy in Somalia. What was the USA aiming to achieve, and did they achieve it?
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Are "Don't talk about X in classrooms" state laws a relatively recent phenomenon in the US?
Two examples of recent Don't talk about X in classrooms" state laws/legislation:
Florida: Wikipedia's LGBT rights in Florida; HB 1557/Parental Rights in Education/"Don't Say Gay" bill (...
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Why didn't the US administrations before Trump bring China topic to the front? [closed]
President Donald J. Trump Is Protecting America From China’s Efforts To Steal Technology And Intellectual Property
When exactly did China start to reverse engineer, make copies of, and hack into US ...
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"motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table" & "Madam president... I note the absence of a quorum" What do these mean? Why funny?
In CNN's April 8, 2022 Applause erupts in Senate chamber after Brown Jackson is confirmed there is this little vignette between US Vice President Kamala Harris and the Senate Majority Leader Chuck ...
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Fact-check: Has the US increased imports of Russian oil?
There have been reports that the US has increased imports of Russian oil over the past week:
US ramps up oil imports from Russia, pursues own interests at expense of European allies amid Ukraine ...
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Is the "One Country, Two Systems" approach a viable option for Taiwan? [closed]
Why would Taiwan avoid this arrangement? Obviously, Taiwan would like to preserve its democracy, but at some point Taipei will have to reckon with the economic realities of the region and relative ...
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