* “The United States will do our part. But understand that ultimately it’s up to the Iraqis, as a sovereign nation, to solve their problems.”–President Barack Obama.
* “It’s now a jihadist wonderland in Iraq, precisely because we got over-involved.”–Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
* “It was relatively easy to be a hero on foreign policy when the main project was deterrence of another superpower.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.
* “An ISIS-controlled state will not expand indefinitely, and it may prove even more fragile than what it has already toppled. … It can loot and terrorize, but the patient work of providing services or otherwise running a country are beyond it. … What follows after a jihadist state collapses? That may be a chaos we can’t imagine.”–Daniel Byman, Brookings Institution.
* “If there’s one thing I would like to see, it’d be for us to be able to price the cost of carbon emissions. … You can’t keep dumping it out in the atmosphere and making everybody else pay for it.”–President Barack Obama.
* “Those who cross our border today illegally, even children, are not eligible for an earned path to citizenship. Those apprehended at our borders are priorities for removal … regardless of age.”–Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
* “Let’s be clear. The eloquent men who wrote ‘we the people’ and the First Amendment did us no favors in the drafting of the Second Amendment.”–Michael Waldman, author of The Second Amendment: A Biography.
* “The defeat of the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, terrified many of the party establishment’s supporters, particularly since Cantor’s opponent ran against Wall Street, big business and bank bailouts.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.
* “Republicans have essentially backed themselves into a corner. They have whitewashed their districts to such an extent that there is little incentive to reach out on immigration.”–David Wasserman, Cook Political Report.
* “In many cities and even suburbs, it’s becoming much easier to organize your life car-free or car-lite.”–David A. King, assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University.
* “Not even two years after the delivery of the first Model S, Tesla Motors has transformed from fledgling startup to arguably the most important car company in the world. We are not joking.”–Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley Research analyst.
* “‘Equality of outcomes’ fails to resonate with many mainstream women because it gives no consideration to personal strengths and choices and the underlying differences between the sexes that drives them.”–Cynthia M. Allen, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
* “We have to stop the madness. Too many people have died, and too many lobbyists have lied.”–U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., on the need for tougher gun control laws.
* “USDA is committed to the fight against citrus greening, including making major research investments to counter this destructive disease. The citrus industry and the thousands of jobs it supports are depending on ground-breaking research to neutralize this threat.”–Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, on the federal government’s allocation of $25 million in research on the citrus greening bacteria that threatens Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry.
* “I’m definitely getting out to share the Florida turnaround story.”–Florida First Lady Ann Scott.
* “Tampa has an impressive roster of life sciences companies, and Quest will add even more to the region.”–Gray Swoope, president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, on the announcement that Quest Diagnostics pledged to create up to 350 jobs at a newly opened national logistics hub in Tampa.
* “With the Riverwalk and all the changes the city has made, it’s vibrant. It’s a living, breathing city now.”–Anne-Marie Ayers, leasing specialist for commercial real estate broker CB Richard Ellis, on the growth in downtown Tampa.
* “The simple lesson that I’ve learned from the events of the last two weeks is nothing beats face-to-face communication. I want to expand our lines of communication and keep them flowing.”–Rick Homans, president of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., in a presentation before Hillsborough County commissioners.
* “The single biggest deterrent for students going into primary care is their level of debt.”–Dr. Charles Lockwood, dean of USF’s Morsani College of Medicine.
* “Throwing a bunch of students into a large lecture hall for the sake of tuition dollars is what we’re trying to avoid here.”–USF St. Petersburg Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska.
* “I won’t use the word ‘potential’ anymore. The expectation here at this school is we’ve got to win … so you’re not going to hear me use that word again.”–New USF Athletic Director Mark Harlan.