* “Truly, there are so many tears this Christmas.”–Pope Francis.
* “The best thing for everybody is to let the most efficient produce.”–Saudi Arabian Petroleum Minister Ali Naimi.
* “It’s only a small simplification to say that Russia doesn’t so much have an economy as it has an oil-exporting business that subsidizes everything else. That’s why the combination of more supply from the United States and less demand from Europe, China and Japan has hit Russia particularly hard.”–Matt O’Brien, Washington Post.
* “Let us not mince words: Vladimir Putin is a delusional thug.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “North Korea suffered a severe Internet outage (last) Monday. The only question is, how could anyone tell?”–Political humor blogger Jim Barach.
* “The general state of relations between North Korea and China is hard. If China presses D.P.R.K (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) too hard it could collapse. But if it doesn’t press hard enough it will become uncontrolled and do more things like nuclear tests.”–Zheng Jiyong, director of the Center for Korean Studies at China’s Fudan University.
* “A lot of what (Cuba’s) survival depends on is Venezuelan oil money, which is drying up.”–Ana Navarro, CNN contributor and Republican strategist.
* “Cuba’s regime, although totalitarian, no longer matters in international politics.”–George Will, Washington Post.
* “The magnitude of the gasoline price drop is profound. It is a significant boost to the spending power of most Americans. And the data shows that when Americans get this spending power, they go out and spend it.”–James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego.
* “Four strikes against him–Common Core, immigration, his name and the big sign on his back that says establishment choice.”–George Will, in his assessment of Jeb Bush’s presidential chances.
* “She wants to ensure that the Democratic nominee makes the plight of the middle class and lack of economic mobility today a fundamental motivating plank of their candidacy.”–Former Obama strategist David Alexrod, on Elizabeth Warren’s presidential agenda.
* “Hip-hop is old enough now to have entered the realm of credible nostalgia.”–Tom Silverman, founder of the hip-hop label Tommy Boy Records.
* “This is one of the most important public health nutrition policies ever to be passed nationally.”–Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, on the Food and Drug Administration’s new rules that will require chain restaurants, movie theaters and pizza parlors to post calorie counts on their menus.
* “All of these protests that are blocking traffic, it’s pulling police officers out of the neighborhoods that need the police the most. … So how do I prevent homicides and shootings and violent crimes and robberies and burglaries right before the holidays if all my cops are directing traffic around 30 guys that want to be out there at 11 o’clock at night laying in the middle of Chinatown?”–D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
* “After four years of rocky recovery, the U.S. economy is now hitting its stride with a notable acceleration in growth. Growth should remain good next year, with lower gasoline prices a big plus for consumers.”–PNC Financial Services Group senior economist Gus Faucher, on the U.S. economy’s 5 percent growth in the third quarter.
* “Housing markets have improved enough around the country that people feel confident they can sell their homes and move on down to Florida.”–Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner on Florida overtaking New York as the third most populous (19.9 million) state in the nation.
* “The bay area is a wonderful place to live and people are realizing that.”–Thomas O’Bryant, CEO of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, on the 18.4 percent year-over-year jump in November Tampa Bay home sales.
* “He’s an incredible assimilator of information. He reads. He retains. He listens.”–Tampa Bay Lightning CEO Tod Leiweke, on team owner Jeff Vinik.
* “We have enough problems with the way it is now. We need to have everybody as consolidated as possible.”–Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank, on her preference that a new county courthouse not be located on Falkenburg Road, 10 mile east of downtown Tampa.
* “I would put it anywhere from 3 to 5 percent lower.”–Scott Paine, University of Tampa government professor, on the turnout difference it would make in March’s municipal elections if (an unopposed) Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s name is not on the ballot.