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1500 questions
39
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4 answers
Why would interracial marriages need legal protection in USA in 2022?
Today it was in the news (for example at the Washington Post) that the U.S. Senate has passed a bill to protect interracial marriages.
Among other things, this bill would require that people are considered married in any state as long as their…
alec
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39
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4 answers
Why are UK Prime Ministers educated at Oxford, not Cambridge?
Undoubtedly, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have both played a major role in educating Britain's elites in politics, business, entertainment etc.
However, when it comes to Prime Ministers, in the last 80 years the UK has had 13…
mikado
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39
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2 answers
Has China ever clearly stated that it would invade Taiwan if it declares independence?
Reading the Western press, the People's Republic of China (from hereon China) regularly threatens military brimstone and hellfire if the Republic of China (Taiwan) dares to declare independence. However, an acquaintance recently pointed out that if…
lambshaanxy
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11 answers
Why does the USA have such a large military?
In terms of protecting their borders the USA have one to the south with Mexico and one to the north (or east if you're Alaska) with Canada, neither of which seem like likely invaders. Contrast this to other large powers and you'll see they've fairly…
Lio Elbammalf
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39
votes
3 answers
What is Russia getting in exchange for their gas and oil now that they've been cut off from the Western financial system?
As far as I can tell both of these things are currently true:
Russia has been cut off from a large chunk of the Western financial system
The EU is still buying Russian gas and oil
But how does this work in practice? When Russia sells their gas to…
JonathanReez
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39
votes
2 answers
Why did Russia have their foreign currency reserves in overseas banks?
According to this BBC article, Russia anticipated that their invasion of Ukraine would lead to sanctions and one of their ways to sanction proof their economy was to build a large foreign currency reserve to prop it up.
However, according to this…
Pollman
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8 answers
Why does the US treat the problems of Russia and Ukraine as its own?
In this question, I do not raise questions about the conflicts themselves. The question is different - how is the fact that the United States recognizes these problems as its own justified from a legal point of view?
Quote from today's executive…
RoyalGoose
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39
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3 answers
Prior to COVID-19, had any country fiscally targeted unvaccinated individuals?
Upon reading that Quebec may impose a health tax on unvaccinated Canadians, I wondered the following: Prior to COVID-19, had any country fiscally targeted unvaccinated individuals?
Franck Dernoncourt
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39
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1 answer
If the US switched to the metric system, what would the net 20-year economic savings be?
If the United States were to adopt the metric system of units, as commonly used in all other advanced industrial economies, there would clearly be switching costs for the economy as a whole, and there would likely be cost savings due to greater…
Jim DeLaHunt
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4 answers
Why does Boris Johnson seek to renegotiate the Brexit deal with the EU?
The UK wants to renegotiate the Brexit deal with the EU, mostly because of Northern Ireland's current (and future) situation. The EU immediately rejected the offer.
My question is: Why does Boris Johnson demand to renegotiate the Brexit deal?
From…
unamourdeswann
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4 answers
What is Critical Race Theory (in the context of the recent flood of news articles that mention it)?
In recent years, I have observed a rapid increase in news articles* about courses in US schools and US enterprises that are allegedly "based on" Critical Race Theory, and these articles usually only contain very brief and sometimes contradictory…
Peter
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39
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9 answers
In what way would invoking martial law have helped Trump overturn the 2020 election?
In the late 2020 news, it was said that then still-president Trump could have invoked martial law in order to help him overturn the 2020 election (CNN, Business Insider)
Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as…
Déjà vu
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39
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5 answers
How does debt-trap diplomacy work?
Debt-Trap Diplomacy
In the micro world of personal loans, a person will go to a bank, and say, for example: "Here's a contract: You give me $1 million, and I'll pay it back to you on XYZ schedule with XYZ interest, and if I fail to do so, you can…
Ertai87
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4 answers
Why are Democrats blocking COVID-19 pandemic relief bills with the objection that it's not enough instead of passing it and then passing another?
I read an article that said that the most recent COVID-19 relief bill was not passed because Democrats didn't think it was enough. The article is here:…
The Movie Man
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39
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7 answers
What could the US federal government do to reform the police?
There is a widespread belief that policing in the USA suffers from systemic racism. Let us suppose that Joe Biden gets elected President and decides that this is a priority. Let us also suppose that he can get legislation passed to support his…
Paul Johnson
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