* “It is always possible to begin anew.”–Pope Francis, during an Easter Vigil service.
* “Too many Americans are acting as if this (pandemic) fight is over. It is not.”–President Joe Biden.
* “It is important to remember that from 1965 to 2008, conservative Republicans in Congress supported the Voting Rights Act and its extensions. Today with their increasing dependency on a core base of white voters, they are relying on the filibuster to derail the democratic political process and threaten the rights of marginalized minorities.”--Steven F. Lawson, professor emeritus of history, Rutgers University.
* “Ghost guns (which avoid regulation and serial numbers because they are sold unfinished or as kits) have taken off, and they’re untraceable.”–Dr. Garen Wintemute, gun violence expert at the University of California at Davis, on the threat of white nationalists building secret arsenals through ghost guns.
* “A small minority of sociopaths with outsized power in our politics” stand in the way whenever the rest of us try to do something about “the plague of gun violence.”–“Late Night” host Seth Meyers.
* “There are systemic issues. … We keep using ‘just a few bad apples.’ But, I mean, at some point in time, you have to take a look at the tree.”–Charles Ramsey, former police chief of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
* “Matt Gaetz is everything the Republicans were looking for in Hunter Biden.”–Twitter wise guy.
* “…Beavis to Donald Trump’s Butt-Head.”–How Matt Gaetz was characterized by Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “It’s not comforting to know that for the last 30-something years, there’s still disparity, even at the University of Connecticut, and we’re about as close as you can get to equity as any place in the world.”–University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma on the notably unequal NCAA status still accorded men’s and women’s basketball.
* “The sad fact is that, here in Tampa, we have a public safety funding deficit with a corresponding looming crisis. … We have areas exploding in growth without corresponding public safety investments.”–Tampa City Council member Luis Viera.
* “They have been slow as molasses in coming up with the criteria and process. A lot of these organizations, and especially a lot of these theaters, they’re hanging on by their fingernails.”–Judy Lisi, president and CEO of the Straz Center, on the long wait for the roll-out of the pandemic relief aid—Shuttered Venue Operations Grants—passed in December.
* “Please be advised that the Rays have informed me that they are declining the opportunity to provide their thoughts and insights at this time.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, on the Rays’ current non-involvement in the redevelopment of the 86-acre Tropicana Field site.