Follow your curiosity

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A few places to start.

ExplainerHow SNAP works: who qualifies for food stamps and what they getA plain-language guide to SNAP eligibility, the income tests, how benefits are calculated, what you can buy and the most common myths.ExplainerCan the government take away your U.S. citizenship?What the Constitution and the Supreme Court say about losing citizenship, how denaturalization works, and what the proposed Enemy Expatriation Act would have changed.ExplainerSeparation of church and state, explainedWhat the First Amendment’s religion clauses say, where the phrase “wall of separation” comes from, and how the Supreme Court’s approach has changed.ExplainerHow to spot a hyperpartisan headline (using this domain’s own past as the example)Seven checks for a viral political headline, with a real case study: a 2016 headline from the former Addicting Info that BuzzFeed News flagged.ExplainerAstroturfing and paid commenters: how fake grassroots campaigns workWhat astroturfing is, documented examples from fake FCC comments to state troll farms, and the signs of a coordinated campaign.

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Public life, technology and the economy.
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The rules that shape our lives

Public life, explained.

All civic explainers

Church & state / Explainer

Separation of church and state, explained

What the First Amendment’s religion clauses say, where the phrase “wall of separation” comes from, and how the Supreme Court’s approach has changed.

2 min read

Beyond the headline

Ideas. Evidence. Perspective.

All analysis

Economy / Analysis

How tariffs work, and who actually pays them

What a tariff is, who writes the check, what research on recent U.S. tariffs found about who bears the cost, and the laws presidents use to impose them.

2 min read

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Make sense of
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Compare your household’s income with the federal limits shown in our tool.

Open the income check

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We explain how things work, distinguish evidence from interpretation, and show when each piece was last reviewed.

A new chapter for Addicting Info. This is an independent publication under new ownership. The earlier site is no longer published; we have no affiliation with its publishers or writers.

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