* “This (ISIS) is a group that knows no boundaries of human decency. The head of the snake is in Syria, and if you want to kill the snake, you need to cut off its head.”–U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
* “If Russia continues to escalate the crisis, it will come with a high cost. It’s time for everyone to get down to the business of peace-making. It is not too late, but time is quickly running out.”–European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
* “A Russian soldier who chooses to fight in Ukraine on summer break is still a Russian soldier.”–Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to United Nations.
* “China behaves like it’s on another planet, content to be a free-rider on the international system.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “If we can’t do the hard work of building alliances at home, we are never going to have the strength or ability to build them around the world.”–David Rothkopf, author of National Insecurity: American Leadership in an Age of Fear.
* “The oceans control the planet’s temperature: 90 percent of the heat is stored in the oceans, and its heat content continues to rise at a rapid rate. … So although global air temperatures haven’t changed over the past 15 years, warming of the deep oceans has been unprecedented over the past 50 years and is accelerating. Warming of the oceans causes them to expand and, along with melting ice, causes sea level to rise. And that matters to Floridians. … This is a leadership moment for (Gov.) Scott, since Florida is ground zero for the impacts of climate change.”–David Hastings, professor of marine science and chemistry at Eckerd College.
* “Consumers should be in the driver’s seat when it comes to their data.”–Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission.
* “It has a lot of the key ingredients that often make people want to share things. It gives people lots of social currency to be part of it. It makes you look good. It makes you look smart and in the know; you know what’s going on. And it’s always hard to back down from a challenge.”–Jonah Berger, University of Pennsylvania marketing professor and author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, on the success of the ALS “ice bucket challenge.”
* “They’re trying to take over every night of TV. It’s all football. At some point, the people get sick of it.”–Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks (of the National Basketball Association), on the further expansion of the NFL’s television package.
* “The last thing we want them to do is delink themselves from the United States and then not pay their debtors.”–U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla., in calling for the Obama Administration to block Venezuela’s sale of U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum Corp.
* “I was treated like an unwanted stepchild.”–Former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll on how she felt during Rick Scott’s inaugural celebration.
* “It is strange to me that he (Charlie Crist) would go and lean so far to the left and so publicly when what he needs to do is win independents and take some part of the Republican Party with him.”–Veteran Republican campaign adviser J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich.
* “His (Charlie Crist) biggest drawback is that he was governor once and could have been easily re-elected–everybody concedes that. But he gave that up to try to be the junior-most member of the U.S. Senate, a body with a high negative image.”–Retired USF political scientist Darryl Paulson.
* “This is probably one of the earliest stages ever to unite the party. We stand here with the primary goal of making Rick Scott a one-term governor.”–State Sen. Nan Rich, in introducing Charlie Crist last week at a unity rally in Orlando.
* “We know the universe we have to turn out, and if we turn it out, we win the election.”–Omar Khan, Crist campaign manager.
* “Our waterways and natural spaces are not just objects of beauty but foundational to the health of our two ecos–Florida’s ecosystem and Florida’s economy.”–State Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt and speaker of the House in 2015-16.
* “The command is at its absolute zenith. And it is, indeed, a golden age for special operations. And you are the officer most responsible for this.”–Army Gen. Joseph Votel III, in taking over command of SOCom from Adm. William McRaven.
* “I tried to fight this a year ago. … I’m done talking. Let’s have action. That’s what the people want.”–Lee County School Board member Don Armstrong, after Lee voted to opt out of all state-mandated exams for its students.
* “It’s not the equipment that’s wrong. It’s the manner in which you use it.”–Larry McKinnon, spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, on the issue of the availability of military-grade equipment and weaponry for local law enforcement.
* “Anything we can do to keep young kids from becoming our customers is a good thing, in my view.”–Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor.
* “I think office (development) has always been contemplated as part of the mix. You don’t want everything to be the same. You want people to live, work and play in the same environment.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on eclectic plans for downtown real estate acreage around the Forum.
* “We are becoming a tougher, meaner, coarser culture. ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is now a video game. Think about that, what it says about our culture.”–Donald Eastman, president of Eckerd College.