“I mean, if you go back to 1960 on major pieces of legislation, the filibuster was used about eight percent of the time.” IfsMeanUsedPiecesMajorsPercentEightLegislation1960sFilibuster Author:Tom Udall
“The I-95 bridges were built in the early 1960s and are now more than 50 years old. The same vintage as the I-35 bridge that collapsed in Minnesota back in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The antiquated Skagit River Bridge in Washington state that collapsed last May after a truck hit one of the trusses was even older. And it's not just bridges. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 32 percent of the major roads in America are now in poor condition and in need of major repairs.” PeopleNeedsYearsMayStatesLastsAmericaPoorConditionsMajorsPercentBuiltRiversKillingBridgesEngineersTruck1960sVintageAmerican SocietyMinnesotaCivil EngineerWashington State Author:Ed Rendell
“Ninety percent of our police are fighting terrorists, so we don't have enough oriented towards their key duty, which is enforcement of the law. But these are precisely the inheritance that we want to overcome. Particularly the mark for success for us would be that a woman can not only walk in the streets of every major city, but can go from one province to another without any hindrance.” WantEnoughWould BeLawFightingWalksCitiesStreetsDutyKeysMajorsPercentOvercomingMarkPoliceTerroristCan NotEnforcementNinetyInheritanceProvincesHindrance Author:Ashraf Ghani
“While we were never able to provide 100 percent certainty regarding the disposition of Iraq's proscribed weaponry, we did ascertain a 90-95 percent level of verified disarmament. This figure takes into account the destruction or dismantling of every major factory associated with prohibited weapons manufacture, all significant items of production equipment, and the majority of the weapons and agent produced by Iraq.” AbleLevelsFiguresMajorsWeaponsPercentDestructionAccountsMajorityIraqProductionsSignificantAgentsCertaintyFactoriesDispositionEquipmentItemsDisarmamentWeaponry Author:Scott Ritter
“Antigun advocates have always faced an uphill battle in this country. Americans have, to begin with, a constitutional right to gun ownership. Today, half of American households exercise this right, owning a total of about 250 million guns; and over 99 percent of those households do so in a responsible manner. To fight for major restrictions on an item that plays such a valued part in the lives of so many people looks like a nearly impossible task. So if you're really committed to the effort, and you want to win, what do you do? Simple: You lie.” PeopleIfsWantLooksCountryPlayTodayLyingFightingWinningSimpleEffortHalfMillionsImpossibleExerciseBattleMajorsPercentGunTasksResponsibleCommittedHouseholdOwnershipItemsRestrictionUphill BattlesGun Ownership Author:Dave Kopel
“A lot of times, kids go to college and take a major because they do what they think they're supposed to do. I told them I believe 90 percent of America gets up in the morning and drives to a job they hate. That could have happened to me in the hotel industry.” ThinkingBelieveKidsJobsAmericaHateI BelieveMorningHappenedCollegeIndustryMajorsPercentGet UpHotel Author:Dana White
“When two working people decide to marry, their federal income tax is usually increased. As soon as one spouse earns at least 20 percent of a married couple's total income, the couple pays a 'marriage tax.' ... The United States is the only major industrialized nation in the free world in which the tax cost of the second [married] earner's entry into the work force is higher than that of the first. On one hand, our government's social policy is to help working women earn equal salaries to those of men, but on the other we have a tax structure that penalizes them when they do so.” PeopleMenWorldFirstsTwoStatesHelpingHandsGovernmentForceNationsSocialUnitedPayUnited StatesPolicyCoupleHigherCostTaxesEqualMarriedMajorsPercentStructureIncomeSexismSpouseSalaryEntryIncome TaxFree WorldMarried CouplesWorking WomenSocial Policy Author:Millicent Fenwick
“You know, 97 percent of the time, if you come into a hospital, everything goes well. But three percent of the time, we have major complications.” IfsKnowsWellsThreeMajorsPercentHospitalsComplication Author:Atul Gawande
“The people who run the major banks have MBAs and wear suits. And when those people in suits come to the homes of people who don't have a high school diploma, don't even speak English, and offer them a home at zero percent down, that doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense.” PeopleHomeRunningSchoolSpeakHellOffersMajorsPercentHigh SchoolSuitsZeroSpeak EnglishDiplomaMbaHigh School Diploma Author:Ramin Bahrani
“I had interest in acting. I started as a drama major in college. I got to school and said, "What am I going to do with this?" But I didn't know anybody in the business, and it seemed like - I don't know. I had a teacher who said "Less than 1 percent of you will ever make a living being an actor." That was how we opened the semester.” KnowsSaidSchoolActorsInterestActingTeacherCollegeDramaMajorsPercentSemester Author:Greg Kinnear
“[A] major source of wealth for many families is financial assets, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and private pensions. ...the wealthiest 5 percent of households held nearly two-thirds of all such assets in 2013” TwoWealthSourceMajorsPercentThirdsIncludingFinancialFundMutualAssetsHouseholdPensionMutual Fund Author:Janet Yellen
“If the churches don't move, much of the community won't move. We've got a situation in which a black church is still a major institution in the black community where 55 percent of the black folk attend and over 75 pass through its doors.” IfsStillsMovingBlackCommunityChurchSituationDoorsMajorsPercentInstitutionsFolksBlack CommunityBlack Church Author:Cornel West
“There's a huge misconception that it's all about the oil, and the truth is there's actually not much oil left in Abyei. The misperception arose because when the peace agreement was signed in 2005, Abyei accounted for a quarter of Sudan's oil production. Since then, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague defined major oil fields to lie outside Abyei. They're in the north now, not even up for grabs, and they account for one percent of the oil in Sudan. The idea that it's "oil-rich Abyei" is out of date.” IdeasLyingLeftRichFieldsHugeTruth IsMajorsPercentAccountsCourtProductionsOilDefinedPermanentAgreementQuartersMisconceptionSudanMisperceptionArbitrationOil ProductionOil Field Author:Rebecca Hamilton
“The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent.” PeopleYearsHas BeensCountryRealityEarthLastsPoliticalGivenProcessWealthClassMiddleMajorsPercentDollarsMiddle ClassVotersLowestGiven UpVoter Turnout Author:Bernie Sanders
“The technology is available to us today to begin the transition to 100 percent renewable energy. What is keeping us from making that transition is nothing more than misinformation, a lack of knowledge by most people of what is available, and an unwillingness on the part of many of our politicians for either ideological slavishness or something more self-serving, like major campaign contributions from the oil and gas corporations or from utilities who enjoy the monopoly they have on our energy systems.” PeopleSelfTodayEnergyEnjoyTechnologyPoliticianMajorsPercentAvailableOilCampaignsCorporationsContributionGasServingTransitionMonopolyUtilityIdeologicalRenewable EnergyMisinformationSelf ServingOil And GasLack Of KnowledgeCampaign Contributions Author:Mark Ruffalo
“My undergraduate work was in computer science and economics. It just happened to be at that time when 34 percent of computer-science majors were women. We didn't realize it was at the peak at the time.” RealizingHappenedComputerMajorsPercentEconomicsComputer ScienceUndergraduate Author:Melinda Gates
“Most actors don't understand acting. I think it's an art form that craft is out the window. I don't think people get it at all, most of the time. Or they get some of it, not all of it. If you get an Academy Award nomination, you think 95 percent of the profession is unemployed at any given time, most people will never even find work as an actor, and the ones who do will probably make $50,000 a year at the most if they're lucky. Some will never do Broadway. Some will never do a major role. And a really, really, really small percentage of them maybe will be nominated for a major award.” PeopleIfsThinkingYearsArtFormActorsGivenActingRolesLuckyMajorsPercentWindowProfessionCraftsAwardsBroadwayPercentagesAcademyUnemployedNominationsAcademy Awards Author:Viola Davis
“There's a reason why at most major universities and colleges the female-male enrollment is so out of whack. Thirty-five percent male versus 65% female. It used to be just the exact opposite. There's a reason.” ReasonUsedFiveCollegeMajorsPercentFemaleOppositesMalesUniversityUsed To BeReason WhyThirtyVersusEnrollment Author:Rush Limbaugh
“What democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent - almost - own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States.” PeopleWorldLooksCountryStatesCareTodayWealthUnitedUnited StatesEconomyMajorsPercentDemocraticBottomIncomeSocialismAround The WorldHealth CareProvidingImmoralRiggedDemocratic Socialism Author:Bernie Sanders
“Britain is a textbook case of how growing inequality leads to economic crisis. The years before the crash were marked by a sharp rise in remortgaging and the growth of 0% balance transfer credit cards. By 2008 the UK had the highest ratio of household debt to GDP of any major economy.” YearsGrowthCasesEconomyGrowingEconomicBalanceMajorsHighestPercentCrisisCreditDebtCardsInequalityBritainHouseholdCrashTransfersCredit CardTextbooksRatiosGdpEconomic Crisis Author:Frances O'Grady
“On that walk around the building, two sets of cops coming out stopped to tell our guys to hustle us inside so they could head back out on the road. Accidents everywhere. A pileup on each of two major roads. “Welcome to winter,” one said. “When fifty percent of drivers should have their licenses temporarily suspended.” ShouldSaidTwoGuyWalksBuildingMajorsPercentShould HaveWinterAccidentsWelcomeFiftyDriversComing OutCopLicenseHustleSuspendedLicenses Author:Kelley Armstrong