* “The United States is fully lifting the ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam that’s been in place for some 50 years.”–President Barack Obama.
* “Life here has become a misery. You walk around always stressed, always scared, and lynching offers a collective catharsis. You can’t do anything about the lines or inflation, but for one moment, at least, the mob feels like it’s making a difference.”–Violence Observatory director Roberto Briceno-Leon, on life in Venezuela.
* “Facts, evidence, reason, logic, an understanding of science–these are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy. In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.”–President Barack Obama, in a commencement address at Rutgers University.
* “This is how fascism comes to America, not with jackboots and salutes (although there have been salutes and a whiff of violence) but with a television huckster, a phony billionaire, a textbook egomaniac “tapping into” popular resentments and insecurities, and with an entire political party–out of ambition or blind loyalty, or simply out of fear–falling into line behind him.”–Robert Kagan, Brookings Institution senior fellow.
* “The chairwoman (Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz) of the Democratic National Committee, it is clear almost from the get-go she has been working against Bernie Sanders–there’s no doubt about it, for personal reasons. She has been the divider and not really provided leadership that the Democratic Party needs.”–Jeff Weaver, Sanders campaign manager.
* “Plenty of good people support Bernie Sanders, but his bullies are out of control.”–Connie Schultz, Creators Syndicate.
* “The question in November is not whether Republicans will lose, but how badly will they lose. Right now it looks like everything: House, Senate, presidency.”–Lowell Weicker, former Connecticut senator who sought the GOP presidential nomination in 1980.
* “Crooked Hillary Clinton is the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office. … She wants to take away your guns.”–Donald Trump.
* “This is someone running to be president of the United States of America–a country facing a gun violence epidemic–and he’s talking about more guns in our schools, he’s talking about more hatred and division in our streets. That’s no way to keep us safe.”–Hillary Clinton.
* “The decline of neighborhood party machines turning out the vote has resulted in declining participation by lower income and less educated voters. The Americans who do vote are disproportionately affluent.”–Michael Lind, author of “Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States.”
* “I don’t think it’s very good for the society to have billionaires. It creates envy. And envy destroys republics.”–Conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.
* “I’d like to have more focus on finding ways to get people to move up over time out of minimum-wage jobs, no matter how high the minimum wage ends up being.”–Tara Sinclair, George Washington University economist.
* “There’s a myth out there that you have to genuflect at the altar of quarterly earnings. But it’s a false choice that you can either be a good fiduciary or promote values such as environmental sustainability.”–Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez.
* “During much of the 19th and 20th centuries, government at multiple levels played an essential role in shaping the nation’s transition from farms and small towns to cities and factories. It could do so again. What has stopped it is not the lack of practical ideas but the encrusted ideological opposition to government activism of any kind. … There is so much the government could do–starting with investment in the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.”–Eduardo Porter, New York Times.
* “Never believe anyone who says, ‘Believe me.'”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.
* “We do not issue legal opinions on federal law.”–Florida Deputy Attorney General Kent J. Perez, in response to the Obama Administration’s new guidelines to public schools over transgender students’ bathroom access.
* “A leader has to set the example. You’ve got to be the things that you say you want.”–Auto dealership entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Morsani.
* “People need to move to the urban core to make great cities. … Tampa has always had a very diversified base. We’re hoping to become an integral part of growth.”–Miami developer Jorge Perez, in his keynote address to the Latinos Unidos Luncheon in Tampa.
* “Ybor City in the next five to 10 years is going to be a new world.”–Ariel Quintela, who is developing multiple residential projects in Ybor.
* “The more development, the better. What we’re doing is going to be completely different than what Vinik or anyone else is doing downtown. We’re talking about million-dollar-plus condos with to-die-for views and luxury finishes.”–Developer Larry Feldman, who plans to break ground this fall on the 52-story Riverwalk Tower that will feature 200 condos.
* “I can’t help but get excited about joining a team all rowing in the same direction.”–Craig J. Richard, the newly-named president and CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. He had previously been the CEO of the Invest Atlanta development authority.