Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions relating to the government or the politics of the United States of America
4,651
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When Fauci called for China to shut down the “wet markets” (on Fox News) was he specific what he meant by that term?
A Politico article from Apr 3 says:
A growing chorus of voices is urging China to shut down the country’s so-called wet markets, which have come under heightened scrutiny for their role as potent ...
5
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2answers
376 views
Why is the Federal Government competing for medical supplies with the US States hit hardest by the COVID-19 Pandemic?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and first responders have struggled with a lack of PPE, ventilators, and other essential medical supplies. The Federal Government has urged individual states to ...
3
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2answers
436 views
Is it uncommon for USA presidential candidates to announce Cabinet picks before Election Day?
On Thursday, Marianna Sotomayor from NBC reported that Joe Biden was planning to potentially announce some of his Cabinet nominations before the November election:
NEW: At his second virtual ...
2
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1answer
182 views
Has Trump detailed which lockdown measures he thought were “too tough”?
The BBC mentions that
At his Friday briefing, [Trump] said some measures imposed by Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia had been "too tough".
Earlier, he wrote in a series of tweets: "...
6
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1answer
702 views
What kind of project[s] did the US finance at the Wuhan BSL-4 lab?
The Daily Mail has their usual kind of unclear/clickbait article headlined "U.S. government gave $3.7million grant to Wuhan lab at center of coronavirus leak scrutiny that was performing ...
0
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2answers
109 views
What is the difference between the CDC and the WHO as it pertains to the USA?
With regards to President Trump's defunding of the WHO, here's my question to get a bit more context: With respect to the stated objectives with regards to US national interests, what is the ...
0
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1answer
139 views
Why did the turnout rise so much in the governor's elections in some states?
I have seen that in the 2018 midterms, the turnout rose from the elections in 2014. Though the increase was across the board, some governor's races had higher increases than the national increase from ...
6
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6answers
2k views
Why are some Americans protesting COVID-19 restrictions? [closed]
I saw on the news some Michiganders are defying and protesting Protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Stay-At-Home Order. Social distancing against COVID19 appears self-explanatory to most Canadians (...
27
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3answers
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Is the President of the United States obliged to answer questions in press conferences?
Each time I see a press conference where President Trump is there, the reporters ask questions and he always answers them. Is he forced to do so by any law or something, or does the President just ...
3
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1answer
88 views
What rate of decline in COVID cases is suggested by presidential guidelines?
So I was able to get the Guidelines for Opening America this afternoon, but was unable to watch the press briefing where they were discussed.
One of the key criteria for a state or region to met ...
2
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1answer
122 views
What explains the large year-to-year variation in US voluntary contributions to the WHO?
The US is usually the largest contributor to the WHO's budget (with some odd year exception when the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation gave a bit more than the US government.)
But nonetheless, there ...
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1answer
224 views
How should the President of the United States handle mass media organizations that discredit him/her?
We are all well aware of how presidential administrations in the past have fought a very public political battle of words with the media in the United States. The media is a very powerful entity with ...
5
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1answer
789 views
Which powers allow the President to adjourn Congress and unilaterally approve nominees to federal positions?
This article describes Trump's Covid-19 press conference on April 15th, in which he stated that:
"I have a very strong power. I'd rather not use that power, but we have
way over a hundred people ...
3
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1answer
83 views
What does the EARN IT act mean for messaging services without E2E encryption? [closed]
Many people have been discussing what the EARN IT act entails for services that offer E2E encryption, but almost nobody has mentioned or asked what this act would entail for the messaging services ...
0
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0answers
89 views
Are liberal voters more solid than conservative voters?
I was reading an article on swing voters. The New York times was doing a survey to learn more about them. I found that swing voters are both older and more conservative than the electorate as a whole. ...
1
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1answer
92 views
What program(s) is the US DoD funding through the WHO just in South Korea?
A lot of the voluntary contributions that the WHO receives are "earmarked" for a specific purpose (by the donor), specification which sometimes include a certain country in which the money is to be ...
34
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3answers
10k views
Why is the United States voluntarily funding the World Health Organization 60 times more than China?
I read on https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-14/trump-says-he-s-halting-payments-to-who-for-data-sharing-failure:
The U.S. has contributed about $893 million to the WHO’s operations ...
2
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2answers
183 views
Who is responisble for physically removing a President from the White House if they refuse to leave? [duplicate]
In the United States of America, if the sitting President refuses to leave office after losing an election or getting impeached and convicted, who is responsible for physically removing them from the ...
0
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1answer
68 views
Is there a correlation between a President's approval rating on Election day and their share of the Popular Vote during re-election?
I was looking 538's historical approval ratings and I noticed that on the last day of a two-term president's last term, the approval rating was about twice the popular vote margin nationwide. This ...
1
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3answers
380 views
Why is there widespread support for suspending Freedom of Assembly during the pandemic, but not for suppressing privacy? [closed]
Pretty much every news outlet in the US these days supports the lockdowns despite them violating the First Amendment - from CNN to Fox News. Everyone seems to agree that lockdowns are inevitable, even ...
0
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0answers
60 views
What are the prospects of suing with China over COVID-19? [duplicate]
Recently, some group of US jurists started suing (original probably here) with China over COVID-19 outbreak, blaming PRC for incorrect actions during pandemia, caused harm for the US.
Does this ...
10
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1answer
330 views
Is the Trump administration taking action against Trump's forecasted suicides?
US President Donald Trump is quoted as follows:
“You’re going to have suicides by the thousands” Trump said at a Fox News town hall. “People get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have ...
3
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1answer
278 views
How do the conservative media commentators skeptical of Covid-19 explain [away] the freezer truck rows in NYC?
It's been reported that a certain part of the conservative media in the US is highly skeptical of the Covid-19 death figures, suggesting they are probably overcounted e.g.
Fox News’s Brit Hume, who ...
2
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1answer
74 views
What is the difference between war powers and emergency powers?
What is the difference between war powers and emergency powers?
I have been hearing about both war powers and emergency powers in the context of COVID-19, but I have not been able to find a clear ...
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0answers
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Griswold v. Connecticut and the selling of contraceptives
During his confirmation hearing (video, at minute 10:20), Robert Bork talked about a case called Griswold, which eventually ended up in the Supreme Court.
The Connectcut law apparently "prohibited ...
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3answers
365 views
Why did communism not succeed in the USA?
Did the Communist Party in the USA, or any other ideological party other than capitalism, ever gain considerable power in the USA, and why is capitalism still the leading ideology in America?
3
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1answer
75 views
Rand Paul coronavirus vote record
I've seen mentioned in an article from March that:
Earlier this month, [Rand] Paul, a licensed physician, voted against a bipartisan $8 billion emergency coronavirus funding bill. He was the sole ...
25
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11answers
5k views
Why did some US institutions not migrate their very old software systems to use somewhat newer ones?
This article shows us that some US institutions rely on very old systems (written decades ago, which is very long in IT time perspective):
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says that the state is looking ...
-4
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1answer
79 views
Why is the CARES Act necessary, when the Federal Reserve has spent way more than $2T? [closed]
On Mar 12 2020, US Federal Reserve injected "$1.5T of liquidity into the markets, rather than that amount of money".
On Mar 18, CARES Act came into force and will pay out $2 trillion USD.
...
2
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2answers
156 views
How do I change my city's ordinance to allow more chickens on my residential land?
I am asking this based on a state or local level, i.e. zoning and health. I assume that in Oregon, which is where I live, and Hillsboro, the city of which I reside to be specific, is primarily ...
0
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1answer
227 views
How has India become the primary source for Hydroxychloroquine?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, suddenly India seems to have become relied upon as the world's primary producer of the drug Hydroxychloroquine, promoted by Donald Trump as a potential means of ...
7
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2answers
349 views
What did the US CDC say about COVID-19 human-to-human transmission between Jan 14 and 21?
From (answers to) a related question, the WHO had mostly changed their public stance on the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 after Jan 22, while giving mostly "negative signals" on this matter ...
-4
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1answer
324 views
What was WHO's defence from US Republican attacks that the WHO “really blew” their response to the pandemic by being “slow” and “deceptive”?
As reported on the BBC today:
The [US] president accused the WHO of being "very China-centric" and said they "really blew" their pandemic response.
Dr Tedros has now dismissed the ...
5
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1answer
137 views
In Massachusetts, if a US Senator resigns midterm, how is their replacement selected?
Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, is generally considered a top contender to be Joe Biden's running mate. If she was elected Vice President, she would have to resign her ...
13
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2answers
1k views
Why did the Senate use an existing bill that passed the House in July 2019 to create the CARES Act?
I was looking at H.R.748 - CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act on the Congress website. I was surprised to find that the bill originally passed the House on July 17, 2019. I ...
0
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0answers
27 views
Who do the US political parties back if something happens to their nominated presidential candidate? [duplicate]
Currently Trump will presumably be running for president as the republican candidate, and at the time it looks likely that Biden will be the democratic candidate. Both are elderly and thus highly ...
3
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0answers
61 views
How does the quality of HUMINT produced by the CIA and the State Department compare?
In a recent essay published on The American Mind, Professor Angelo Codevilla claimed the following:
Cables show agents’ intelligence takes are inferior to diplomats’. Agent networks are unprotected ...
4
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0answers
144 views
Is there any new evidence that mail-in balloting is “fraudulent in many cases”?
Donald Trump (4/7/2020):"Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they're cheaters. They're fraudulent in many cases."NPR and others
I'm looking for actual numbers, How many ...
1
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1answer
110 views
Which US agency is responsible for pandemic response?
Which agency is responsible for American pandemic response? For example, who is responsible for:
developing a plan or playbook for pandemic response?
planning & execution of pandemic testing at ...
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2answers
142 views
Is re-buying others states trade shipments illegal? [closed]
There were some cases (and that one, for example), when US put it hands over medicine masks packages.
But is it really illegal? At least, people who've done it do not rob it, they've payed with money....
35
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5answers
7k views
Why did Wisconsin Republicans oppose postponing the April 7th election despite COVID-19 shutting down nearly all polling places?
After last minute, party-line decisions by the US and Wisconsin Supreme Courts, Wisconsin will hold their presidential primary and a hotly-contested Supreme Court election tomorrow (April 7th) despite ...
5
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4answers
168 views
Is the correlation between the economy and US political outcomes weakening?
I have heard about the saying “It’s the economy stupid”, but I’m not sure about how true it is now.
Let’s use Trump’s approval as an example. Even though there is a “rally around the flag effect” ...
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9answers
9k views
What, if any, are the benefits of tying health insurance to employment (as in the US) over other systems?
Over the last 2 weeks, over 10 million US workers lost their jobs. For many of them the loss of their job means the loss of their health insurance as well.
More than 3 million Americans just lost ...
2
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1answer
117 views
How overcrowded are NY parks? Have they been deemed dangerously so from a public health perspective during this Covid-19 outbreak? [closed]
According to a NY Post article, parks in New York have become so overcrowded during this Covid-19 outbreak (supposedly because residents can't find anywhere else to go, e.g. restaurants are closed), ...
6
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2answers
621 views
Is there data comparing between US regions the degree of social distancing as a function of the outbreak severity?
In Europe, such comparisons have been published based on data by Google, so I suspect it might available for the US too. E.g.
An analysis here of smartphone location data by the U.S. search engine ...
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7answers
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In most U.S. states, female genital mutilation is illegal. So why is male circumcision legal?
Hello new users from around the Stack Exchange Network
We are aware that this question is about a very emotionally laden topic. So we would like to make sure you are aware of the purpose of ...
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1answer
102 views
Which dictators has Trump had meetings with during his presidency?
Donald Trump claims he has to meet with "presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens – I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it [referring to wearing a face mask] for myself." Besides the safe ...
1
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1answer
113 views
How does Italy compare to NY in terms of COVID-19 testing, per capita?
It's been reported today (April 4) that
New York state has recorded 630 more coronavirus deaths, another daily record that takes its [death] toll to 3,565.
Most deaths have been in New York City. The ...
3
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1answer
784 views
Where exactly was this mask shipment intercepted (by the US), which a German official described as a “modern act of piracy”?
Somewhat hazy news on DW
Officials in Berlin on Friday accused the US of intercepting a shipment of 200,000 protective face masks en-route from a Chinese manufacturer to Germany.
Berlin Interior ...
3
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1answer
79 views
Has the CDC (already) published these mask recommendations that Trump has just revealed?
The BBC had this on their live feed:
0:34
BREAKING: Health officials advise masks, Trump won't wear one
President Donald Trump has announced the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now recommends that ...
