“All people make mistakes. All of us are sinners. All of us are criminals. All of us violate the law at some point in our lives. In fact, if the worst thing you have ever done is speed ten miles over the speed limit on the freeway, you have put yourself and others at more risk of harm than someone smoking marijuana in the privacy of his or her living room. Yet there are people in the United States serving life sentences for first-time drug offenses, something virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world.” PeopleIfsWorldFirstsStatesDoneFactsLawUnitedRoomsMistakeUnited StatesOur LivesRiskWorstDrugTenLimitsFirst TimeSentencesSpeedHarmCriminalsMilesSmokingPrivacyMaking MistakesSinnerServingMarijuanaOffenseWorst ThingsLiving RoomUnheardFreewaysSpeed LimitsPeople Make Mistakes Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Source: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
“Substantial progress was made in spreading our foreign trade to other areas. Our total trade with Northwest Europe in the first 8 months of last year was 42.3 per cent above the corresponding period the year previous, and our total trade with Asia was up 13.5 per cent. For the first time since 1919, the United States in the first 8 months of 1956 accounted for less than 60 percent of our total trade.” YearsFirstsMadeStatesLastsUnitedUnited StatesProgressMonthsPeriodsPercentFirst TimeEuropeAreasTradeCentsLast YearAsiaCorrespondingForeign Trade Author:Ramon Magsaysay
“What makes this so remarkable is that this is the first time the United States is accountable for its record on torture with regard to some of the practices implemented after 9/11.” FirstsStatesUnitedPracticeUnited StatesRecordsFirst TimeRegardTortureRemarkable Author:Jennifer Daskal
“As time goes by, I'm increasingly impressed by how very special and timely it was that we got the degree of national commitment needed to put people on the Moon. For the first time, this nation was united in trying to develop an interplanetary capability. We've been trying to repeat that situation ever since.” PeopleTryingFirstsNationsUnitedSituationSpecialNeededMoonDegreesCommitmentFirst TimeRepeatsCapabilityImpressedTimelyTime Goes By Author:Buzz Aldrin
“The population of the United Kingdom has, for the first time, reached sixty million. If they stood on each other's shoulders they would reach perhaps twenty feet in the air before toppling over.” IfsFirstsUnitedMillionsAirFeetFirst TimeTwentiesPopulationShouldersKingdomsSixtyUnited Kingdom Author:Eddie Mair
“To be put down in this world, and given only eighty years to get to know it in, is like being let loose in the United States of America for the first time with a high-powered car and unlimited gasoline - but with a visa that is valid for only a week. It's agonizing, that's what it is.” KnowsWorldLifeYearsFirstsStatesAmericaTimeGivenUnitedUnited StatesWeekCarThis WorldFirst TimeUnited States Of AmericaUnlimitedEightyGasolineVisaLife TimeAgonizing Book:A Pocket Full of Pebbles Source: A Pocket Full of Pebbles
“The events in Prague, together with the Berlin blockade, convinced the European recipients of American economic assistance that they needed military protection as well: that led them to request the creation of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which committed the United States for the first time ever to the peacetime defense of Western Europe.” FirstsWellsStatesTogetherUnitedUnited StatesEconomicMilitaryEventsCreationNeededFirst TimeEuropeOrganizationWesternCommittedProtectionDefenseConvincedAssistanceRequestBerlinTreatiesWestern EuropePragueBlockades Author:John Lewis
“If we trace origins of anarchism in the United States, then probably Henry David Thoreau is the closest you can come to an early American anarchist. You do not really encounter anarchism until after the Civil War, when you have European anarchists, especially German anarchists, coming to the United States. They actually begin to organize. The first time that anarchism has an organized force and becomes publicly known in the United States is in Chicago at the time of Haymarket Affair.” IfsFirstsWarStatesForceUnitedKnownUnited StatesFirst TimeAffairCivil WarEncountersOrganizedChicagoClosestOrganizeAnarchismAnarchistDavid Thoreau Author:Howard Zinn
“I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US... But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible.” ThinkingWorldFirstsGovernmentNationsUnitedSecretFirst TimePlotUnited NationsFormationPlausibleWorld Government Author:Gideon Rachman
“For the first time the people of Iraq are united. Today on CNN I saw a Kurd, a Shiite and a member of the Republican Guard coming together to cart off a big screen TV.” PeopleFirstsBigsTodayTogetherUnitedSawsTvsRepublicanMembersFirst TimeIraqScreensCartsCnnComing TogetherBig ScreenKurds Author:Jay Leno
“As Pope Francis visits the United States for the very first time, it is our privilege as Catholics and Americans to welcome His Holiness to our country. Here, he will find people who are uniquely free.” PeopleFirstsCountryStatesUnitedUnited StatesFirst TimeCatholicPrivilegeWelcomeOur CountryHolinessPope Author:Marco Rubio