“Mexico has many more kidnappings than the United States. The U.S. has very few kidnappings.The reason is, in the United States, we don't pay ransom. We turn it over to the FBI. They catch the person. And then, of course, we used to have the death penalty for it. Now it's life in prison. In Mexico, everybody pays. It's a business.” PersonsStatesReasonUsedTurnsCoursesUnitedPayUnited StatesPrisonMexicoPenaltiesDeath PenaltyFbiKidnappingRansom Author:Rudy Giuliani
“Today the United States has the highest prison population in the world, over 2.1 million people. ... We lock people up at a rate that is seven to ten times that of any other democracy.” PeopleWorldStatesTodayUnitedMillionsUnited StatesDemocracyTenHighestPrisonSevenRatePopulationLocksPrison Population Book:Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World Source: Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World
“I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.” BelieveDifferentWarStatesAmericaFightingI BelieveLosesUnitedUnited StatesSourceStandardsCommitmentIdealsPrisonCompromiseTortureConventionsUnited States Of AmericaGenevaGuantanamoGuantanamo BayGeneva Convention Author:Barack Obama
“There are countries in which public establishments are considered by the government as its own personal affair, so that it admits persons to them only according to its pleasure, just as a proprietor refuses at his pleasure admission into his house; they are a sort of administrative sanctuaries, into which no profane person can penetrate. These establishments, on the contrary, in the United States, are considered as belonging to all. The prisons are open to everyone who chooses to inspect them ad every visiter may inform himself of the order which regulates the interior.” MayPersonsCountryStatesGovernmentOrderHousePleasureUnitedUnited StatesPrisonAffairRefuseContraryBelongingAdsEstablishmentInteriorsPenetrateSanctuaryAdmissionProfaneAdministrative Author:Gustave de Beaumont
“I'm one of those gay people who's constantly reminded of how fortunate I am to live now and not to be Ennis and Jack [from Brokeback Mountain] or whatever - not that I'd mind being Ennis for half an hour. But it's been so much worse recently. It still is terrible. In Iran, they're hanging gay teenagers. I'm grateful for how far the United States, even with its crazy Christians, has come on a lot of issues. And the fact that I get called a faggot occasionally by a crack addict, while annoying, certainly isn't a lobotomy and prison.” PeopleMindStillsStatesFactsChristianHoursUnitedHalfUnited StatesIssuesCrazyTerribleGayMountainGratefulPrisonTeenagerFortunateIranCracksAnnoyingAddictGay PeopleLobotomyBrokeback Mountain Author:Dan Savage
“It's hard to say conversation has become a minimal thing, because look at the rise of mobile communications in the last 10 years. It used to be only the President had a mobile phone. Now everyone on earth, even if they have nothing else, they have a cell phone. It's a larger anthropological shift in my mind than even the tattoo age in the United States.” PeopleIfsMindLooksHardStatesAgeEarthUsedPresidentUnitedUnited StatesCommunicationConversationPrisonPhonesUsed To BeCellsTattooNavyMobileCell PhoneMobile PhonesCarnivals Author:Padgett Powell
“There are areas of official life in the United States that are similar to Russia. For example: disbursement of protest, and the way American prisons are run, which is pretty tough.” WayStatesRunningUnitedUnited StatesExampleToughAreasPrisonRussiaOfficialsProtest Author:Nadezhda Tolokonnikova