* “The time has come for our European partners to stop undermining U.S. sanctions against this murderous (Iranian) revolutionary regime. … The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”–Vice President Mike Pence, at the Munich Security Conference.
* “(Retreating from democracy and human rights) will have a dramatic impact on the trans-Atlantic alliance. Countries like Hungary that are backsliding are much more vulnerable to malign influences like Russia.”–Jonathan D. Katz, former State Department official and current senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
* “If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed.”–President Donald Trump.
* “President Obama was never on the verge of starting any war with North Korea, large or small.”–Former Obama CIA Director John Brennan.
* “Responsible leaders don’t fabricate fear to motivate their followers.”–Martin Dempsey, retired four-star Army general who was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under President Barack Obama.
* “It’s an invasion. We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.”–President Donald Trump, in declaring a national emergency on the border with Mexico.
* “Legal briefs arguing against Trump’s action practically write themselves.”–Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.
* “The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.”–Conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
* “This is a real institutional threat to the separation of powers to use emergency powers to enable the president to bypass Congress to build a wall on his own initiative that our elected representatives have chosen not to fund.”–William C. Banks, Syracuse University law professor and co-author of “National Security Law and the Power of the Purse.”
* “No crisis justifies violating the Constitution.”–Sen. Marco Rubio.
* “No man will make a good leader who wants to do it all himself or to take all the credit for doing it.”–Andrew Carnegie.
* “My record as mayor (of Newark), my record as a senator is fighting those interests that are trying to screw people. And when it comes to defending folk, I will be ferocious.”–New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, a 2020 presidential candidate.
* “We’re a capitalist country, let’s face it. Capitalism needs a lot of mending. … The slavish devotion to shareholders has gotten out of control.”–Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
* “Democrats used to talk about the poor more than they do today. … Democrats today talk about the middle class because that’s where the votes are. Republicans talk about…how many flat-screen televisions poor people have, mostly.”–Kevin D. Williamson, National Review.
* “A small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community.”–New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in response to Amazon’s announcement that it was dropping plans for a big new headquarters in New York. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, had lobbied intensely to land the Amazon project.
* “In the 21st century, environmental policy is economic policy. Keeping the two separate isn’t a feat of intellectual discipline. It’s an anachronism.”–Jedediah Britton-Purdy, Columbia law professor and author of “After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene.”
* “Blackface, particularly in white sororities and fraternities, is as common as cheerleaders on a football field.”–Lawrence Ross, author of “Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses.”
* “Both Donald Trump and Rick Scott are fond of branding and using short, catchy phrases–perhaps because neither has even a rudimentary understanding of the issues and neither shows an interest in learning about them. … Can’t wait to see how Sen. Scott is going to ‘Make Washington Work.'”–Former Florida Republican legislator Paula Dockery.
* “Let’s make vaccines about science and not politics or personal ideology.”–Dr. Mona V. Mangat, St. Petersburg immunologist and allergist and past board chair of Doctors for America.
* “Adults whose symptoms are relieved, and whose lives are made possible, by smoking medical marijuana in its whole plant form should be able to do just that–just as 6.5 million Floridians intended.”–Nikki Fried, Florida commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
* “Our local Tampa team is committed to successfully transforming the property from a traditional enclosed mall into a mixed-use, urban neighborhood development incorporating science and tech research and innovation.”–Chris Bowen, management strategist for RD Management, which is planning to turn University Mall into a research village. Demolition began this week,
* “I’ve been an architect here for 38 years, and I’ve never been more excited than I am right now with this community and where we are at. The possibilities we have to transform this city are just amazing.”–Mickey Jacob, principal of the Design Studio at BDG Architects in Tampa.
* “The vote for mayor is such a personal, intimate decision. It’s almost like the Iowa or New Hampshire primary. … It’s retail politics at its finest.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn.