* “Given the shrinking populations inside Europe and the waves of immigrants rolling in from Africa and the Middle and Near East, an Islamic Europe seems to be in the cards before the end of the century.”–Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.
* “It is really crucial for the United States government to withdraw its hostile policy against the DPRK and as an expression of this stop the military exercises, war exercises in the Korean Peninsula. Then we will respond likewise.”–North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong.
* “As long as we have a viable path to victory, we are campaigning until the end.”–Ted Cruz.
* “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life. Lucifer in the flesh.”–Former House Speaker John Boehner, on Ted Cruz.
* “On the Republican side … foreign policy has been the subject of furious debate. To which Donald Trump has contributed significantly, much of it off-the-cuff, contradictory and confused.”–Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post.
* “If you have a football team and you are winning and then you get to the Super Bowl, you don’t change your quarterback, right? So I’m not changing.”–Donald Trump.
* “Next year someone else will be standing in this very spot, and it’s anyone’s guess who she will be …”–President Barack Obama in his final address at the White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD).
* “It may not be over yet, but the fat lady is running the scales. Now, how to break that to Bernie Nation?”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.
* “You want to know what would shut Ann Coulter right up? Defeat Trump. Unless we elect Trump and do something about immigration, America will disappear. And I’ll disappear with it.”–Ann Coulter.
* “Trump would be the most unpopular nominee ever, unable to even come close to Mitt Romney’s insufficient support among women, minorities and young people. In losing disastrously, Trump probably would create down-ballot carnage sufficient to end even Republican control of the House.”–George Will, Washington Post.
* “(Republican Party leaders) seem blithely unaware that this is a Joe McCarthy moment. People will be judged by where they stood at this time. Those who walked with Trump will be tainted forever after for the degradation of standards and the general election slaughter.”–David Brooks, New York Times.
* “I’m impressed with her. Picking a candidate that is talented, tough–she takes on Trump really well, I think, and she takes on Hillary Clinton very well, as well.”–Jeb Bush, on Ted Cruz’s selection of Carly Fiorina as a potential running mate.
* “Since his swearing in as House Speaker, Paul Ryan has maintained his sunny, gung-ho disposition, hobnobbing with his party’s guerrillas while gently trying to lure them back to the comforts of civilization.”–Francis Wilkinson, Bloomberg View.
* “Republicans, Democrats and Independents can all agree on one thing–the public did not elect member of Congress to go to Washington and spend their time raising money for their re-election.”–U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, who is pushing his “Stop Act” bill that would bar members of Congress from directly asking for campaign contributions.
* “If this (WHCD) material works well, I’m going to use it at Goldman Sachs next year. Earn me some serious Tubmans.”–President Barack Obama.
* “We’re not making the academic progress that we need to so that there’s greater preparation for post-secondary, for work, for military participation. These numbers aren’t going the way we want.”–Bill Bushaw, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board, on results of the Nation’s Report Card that show a lack of progress in high school seniors’ math and reading scores.
* “Many gun injuries and deaths are the result of legal guns that were stolen, misused or discharged accidentally. As long as we’ve got the technology to prevent a criminal from stealing and using your smartphone, then we should be able to prevent the wrong person from pulling a trigger on a gun.”–President Barack Obama.
* “The fundamental questions that faced Jack in 1947 are abounding today. We’ve got to go beyond celebrating the past and use our emotions, sentiments, ideas and analysis to move forward. This would be the greatest tribute to Jackie Robinson.”–Rachel Robinson.
* “A camera does not capture the full story. But it does capture part of that story. It captures evidence where evidence did not exist before.”–Juan Perez, Miami-Dade police director, in explaining why the Miami-Dade Police Department is outfitting 1,000 of its officers with pager-sized body cameras.
* “The single best reason to show that building a new stadium is the right thing to do is to show that (businesses) value live baseball. We’ve got to make a big leap and make that leap before any of us can feel really good about what’s going to be a very large public-private partnership.”–Brian Auld, president of the Tampa Bay Rays.
* “Frankly, the decision I made tonight was not based on data, it was not based on one thing I heard. It was just old-fashioned intuition.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist, explaining his tie-breaking no vote on Go Hillsborough.
* “I’m not blackmailing anybody. Facts are facts. Each pot of money comes with rules.”–DOT District Secretary Paul Steinman, in noting that if Tampa Bay Express plans are not implemented then the hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for toll lane construction will be diverted to other metropolitan areas.
* “Since 2010, we’ve experienced declining revenues and we started losing money at this location. We are a family restaurant and Ybor City is not family-friendly at this moment, and we made a business decision to close.”–Doug Pak, president of BLD Brands, the parent company of the Spaghetti Warehouse that recently announced its closure next year.