Category: Media Watch

* “Nobody should be president for life.”–President Barack Obama, in a speech at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

* “They are borrowing new money to pay old money. That’s the trap they’re in. The Greek tragedy is that there are no winners.”–Ashoka Mody, former IMF economist.

* “The core of the Republican debate is over what Reaganism means today. And the major candidates are giving quite different answers.”–Henry Olsen, Ethics and Public Policy scholar.

* “Politicians who preside over economic booms often develop delusions of competence. You can see this domestically: Jeb Bush imagines that he knows the secrets of economic growth because he happened to be governor when Florida was experiencing a giant housing bubble, and he had the good luck to leave office just before it burst.”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.

* “It’s very time-consuming to be politically correct, and I don’t like wasting a lot of time.”–Donald Trump.

* “Engagement is not a gift to the Castros; it’s a threat to the Castros. An American embassy in Havana isn’t a concession; it’s a beacon. Lifting the embargo doesn’t set back freedom; it advances freedom.”–Hillary Clinton.

* “It’s insulting to many residents of Miami for Hillary Clinton to come here to endorse a retreat in the struggle for democracy in Cuba.”–Jeb Bush.

* “Appeasement only emboldens dictators and repressive governments and weakens America’s global standing in the 21st century.”–Marco Rubio.

* “Campaigns don’t usually end because candidates give up; they end because they run out of money. But now campaigns just need a few wealthy super PAC donors to stay in the game.”–Stuart Stevens, chief campaign strategist for the 2012 Mitt Romney campaign.

* “I have done a lot of research, but this is the first time I’ve been truly freaked out.”–Charlie Miller, a security researcher who found a way to hack into vehicle technology from the Internet.

* “I don’t believe their (University of Cincinnati) officers have the skill set to police Cincinnati with the same philosophy of fairness and cultural competency that my officers display.”–Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell.

* “Mergers typically mean less choice and benefits that never come about. For the consumer, they’re usually about unfulfilled promises.”–David Balto, former policy director for the Federal Trade Commission.

* “Communities of color under the current scoring model aren’t being accurately captured. You don’t have the opportunity to establish your credit.”–Joe Nery, president-elect of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.

* “There is a constitutional right (both state and federal) to own a gun. But the Second Amendment doesn’t trump the First Amendment. The two are not in conflict. This is a conflict contrived by the National Rifle Association. (Doctors) talking (to patients) about gun safety is no threat to the ownership or possession of guns.”–Howard L. Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.

* “There are no plans at this time.”–Florida Lottery spokeswoman Connie Barnes, on the possibility of selling lottery tickets through the Internet.

* “I recognize the need to over-communicate our planning at the department.”–Secretary of State Ken Detzner to the executive committee of the county election supervisors association.

* “I want this settlement to have generational impact.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, in explaining that he wants the city’s BP-settlement funds ($27.4 million) to be used for “legacy projects.”

* “Vacancy rates in downtown Tampa have approached 9 percent… . The lead time is such you can’t wait until vacancy rates get down to 4 or 5 percent–by that time, nine other guys are building. You want to be first. If you’re the last guy to build in Florida, you usually lose your shirt and your underwear.”–Developer Larry Feldman, who has submitted plans for a 52-story, mixed-used tower on the waterfront site where the Trump Tower was once planned.

* “From my perspective, the issue that keeps coming up over and over is transportation. And it’s critical we respond and be able to say, ‘Look: We’re doing something about it.'”–Rick Homans, president and CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

* “That says a lot to somebody from out of town. They think ‘how innovative can you be if you can’t be innovative about transportation.'”–Daniel James Scott, executive director of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum, on a perception of recent failed transit initiatives.

A recently discovered lost story, “What Pet Should I Get?”, by the widow of Dr. Seuss: Yes. It should be published. It needs to be shared. And more to the point, kids will like it and benefit from it.

That recently discovered “To Kill a Mockingbird” prequel: No. It should have remained with other deservedly unpublished DRAFTS. A revered author and classic American morality tale have been compromised. Nobody benefits from “Go Set a Watchman” except Rupert Murdoch’s HarperCollins publishing house.

By all accounts, “Go Set a Watchman” has been doing really well. REALLY well. More than a million copies sold in the first week. Prior to “Watchman,” publishing house HarperCollins had never sold a book so fast. And it has ratcheted overnight to the top of the New York Times best-seller list.

But doing well is not the same as doing good. This book is a bad precedent.

To begin with, we all know why it is a sizzling-hot best seller.

Not because serious reading has been rediscovered as acceptable, societal escape. Not because we can never get enough Southern-bigotry chronicles. Not because it is so well written. No, it’s because “Watchman” is by the same author, Harper Lee, who wrote the iconic “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 1960. Because there’s cash in cachet.

For two generations, “Mockingbird” has been revered and even labeled “our national novel” by Oprah Winfrey. It also became that rare sequel: a movie that did justice to a great book. In fact, so much justice that the movie itself has been prominently enshrined in America’s literary parthenon. In 2003 the American Film Institute voted protagonist Atticus Finch, indelibly played by Gregory Peck, the greatest hero in American film.

And for two generations, Atticus has been lionized as an idealized bulwark against racism. A principled attorney, father and role model who courageously defended a black man wrongly accused of rape in the segregated South of the 1930s. A reminder that even if the context is insidious racism, you can never preclude courage and sheer moral force, however unlikely.

Now there’s “Watchman,” a sheer money force that was written before “Mockingbird.” The chronology, the racial dynamics, the point of view and the level of sophistication are different.

Whereas “Mockingbird,” on merit, is a well-written classic, “Watchman,” by all accounts that matter, is not. That’s no Harper Lee slam, but an acknowledgement that work-in-progress drafts, by definition, are neither great nor grist for the publication mill. That’s why her back-in-the-day editor, Tay Hohoff, put her through the rewrite mill.

The critics be damned, however, when what turns up more than half a century later is another book by the one-and-done, famous author who never published another book.

The untimely, unfortunate upshot is that the possibly compromised legacy of Atticus Finch and Harper Lee, now an 89-year-old stroke victim living in nursing home, is in the hands of Rupert Murdoch-owned HarperCollins. Who, candidly, even knows if any of this has her valid consent?

* “So what’s your plan? … Totally go to war?”–Secretary of State John Kerry to Republican lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

* “Supporting this (Iran nuclear) deal doesn’t make you Neville Chamberlain; opposing it doesn’t make you Dr. Strangelove. Both sides have legitimate arguments.”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

* “The Iranian people want to be South Korea, not North Korea.”–Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment.

* “Greece’s debt is so great that everyone understands–it will not pay.”–Andris Berzins, president of Latvia.

* “Africa is on the move.”–President Barack Obama.

* “If we criticize the United States, it’s because we love the States. But we love a certain representation of the States. We love Lincoln. We love Kennedy. We love Roosevelt and the New Deal. We love the Founding Fathers. We love the creativity. We don’t like the rifle association.”–Romain Nadal, French Foreign Ministry spokesman.

* “The xenophobes have always been with us, sometimes in power, usually not. It’s the mother of all ironies that a nation where all but about 2 percent (the Native Americans) of the population can trace its lineage to some distant land is now going through another of its anti-immigrant moments.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times.

* “Today’s immigrants aren’t coming here to breathe free, they are coming to live for free.”–Conservative author and commentator Ann Coulter.

* “Run for president. But don’t be the world’s biggest jackass.”–Sen. Lindsey Graham to Donald Trump.

* “He’s (Donald Trump) saying what (some) people really think but don’t express because their inhibitory neurons are functioning. Inhibition, far from the curse of nudists and comedians, is God’s suggestion that we think first, speak later.”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.

* “You wrestle with pigs, you both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”–J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich, Tallahassee lobbyist and former Jeb Bush political strategist, on the downside of top-tier GOP candidates responding too aggressively to Donald Trump.

* “Winning the nomination isn’t about winning every news cycle against a Trump. It’s about winning 30,000 votes in Iowa and 50,000 votes in New Hampshire.”–Stuart Stevens, GOP strategist and Chris Christie campaign adviser.

* “It’s the ’60s reformist impulse without countercultural baggage. It’s the kind of square that needed time to become hip. It’s a moralistic politics that takes seriously the democratic proposition that elected officials must deliver results. The fact that he wins elections says there’s an alternative to Clinton-style politics.”–Todd Gitlin, author and Columbia University professor of journalism and sociology, on the attraction of Bernie Sanders’ “municipal socialism.”

* “Odds are good that by Election Day the economy will be a full employment, growing strongly. The economic winds will be at the back of incumbents.”–Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.

* “The Cuban tourism industry earns over $2 billion a year. Are they going to put that at risk to drill for oil that has yet to be found?”–Jorge Pinon, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the University of Texas.

* “Positive change in Cuba will take time. But it will come not as a result of stubborn nostalgia by a vociferous few for the Batista years, but by visiting Cuba, listening to the Cuban people, and engaging with them.”–Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

* “It’s hard to understand, with jet fuel prices dropping by 40 percent since last year, why ticket prices haven’t followed.”–Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

* “In the storm I release control, God and his Universe will sail me where he wants me to be, one love.”–Recent Hulk Hogan tweet.

* “We love it when people love marine animals, but we can’t love them to death. We need to keep our distance and continue to enjoy their beauty.”–Rebecca Lent, executive director of the Marine Mammal Commission.

* “The big change coming up in the South, to me, is that in the next couple of decades there will be a new generation coming of age and taking charge, and the region will be more moderate for that reason alone.”–Jack Bass, author of “The Transformation of Southern Politics.”

* “This ($850.2 million 2016) budget is not going to include a lot of glamour, but it gets the job done.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on the proposed budget that is less than this year’s $876 million budget.

* “It’s a bittersweet day.”–Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, in announcing the departure of CEO Tod Leiweke, who will become chief operating officer of the NFL.

* “The local real estate market has returned to normal levels, with annual appreciation rates between 5 and 10 percent. This mirrors the trend we are seeing nationally, which is a solid recovery from the housing bubble and recession of prior years.”–Tim Wilmath, director of valuation for the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser’s Office.

* “We’re very vested in that project and we want it to succeed. We are not getting a return on our dollars like we do in other places. We’re holding their hands.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman on the relationship between the county and MOSI.

* “This idea of seasonality is something that’s going by the wayside for us.”–David Downing, CEO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.

* “We had a very specific choice: a deal we largely disagreed with, or a chaotic default.”–What Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told his Parliament before it voted to approve a harsh austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors.

* “In the coming months, we’ll undoubtedly be hearing a lot more about the risks of this (Iran nuclear) deal than about the potential rewards. That’s both human nature and political-season demagoguery. … We have been taking all sorts of bellicose risks since Sept. 11, 2001. Almost all of our military ventures have failed. So many lives have been lost. It’s time, finally, to take a risk for peace.”–Joe Klein, Time magazine, on the Iran nuclear deal.

* “In the end, this should have been a confrontation between a superpower and an illegitimate, third-rate autocracy (Iran). Instead, the Obama/Clinton team settled for trading carrots and sticks and hoping for elusive signs of moderation from cruel theocrats.”–Marco Rubio.

* “The United States needs a foreign policy that puts steel in the face of our enemies.”–Scott Walker.

* “One thing I won’t do is just say as a candidate: ‘I’m just going to tear up the agreement on the first day.’ That sounds great, but maybe you ought to check in with your allies first.”–Jeb Bush.

* “(Benjamin) Netanyahu is failure-proof. In his world, there are only two possibilities–either he is a winner or he is a victim.”–Nahum Barnea, dean of Israeli newspaper columnists.

* “Trickle-down economics has to be one of the worst ideas of the 1980s. It is right up there with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair. … We are not going back to that.”–Hillary Clinton.

* “You’ll have to ask Hillary Clinton her views on whether we should break up these large financial institutions. I do.”–Bernie Sanders.

* “I will say what I want to say, and maybe that’s why I’m leading in the polls because people are tired of hearing politicians and pollsters telling the politicians exactly what to say.”–Donald Trump.

* “After severing ties with Donald Trump, NBC is reportedly in talks with comedian George Lopez to take over Celebrity Apprentice. So Trump’s greatest nightmare came true. A Hispanic guy took his job.”–Seth Meyers.

* “This is the guy I know. He’s focused on big things, speaking hard truths and damning small politics, and that is why so many of us were attracted to him from the start.”–David Axelrod’s assessment of President Barack Obama.

* “It used to be fine to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower or Mount Everest, but that’s not good enough anymore. Now tourists have to put themselves in the picture. It’s about ‘me,’ not about the place that I visit.”–Jesse Fox, assistant communications professor at Ohio State University.

* “The editor who rejected (Harper) Lee’s first effort had the right idea.”–Louisa Ermelino, Publisher’s Weekly.

* “The (Florida) economy is getting much better, obviously … but it’s still not fully recovered yet. We thought all along this was going to be a very, very lengthy recovery. Like we said early on: This is not your father’s recession; this is your grandfather’s depression.”–Scott Brown, chief economist with Raymond James Financial.

* “Democrats were in complete control of Florida from the 1880s to the 1990s, a period of 110 years. They never once proposed “fair districts.”–Darryl Paulson, professor emeritus of government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

* “If the new congressional map includes my home, I intend on running to serve the people again.”–Charlie Crist.

* “We know better than anyone that the monopoly utilities will stop at pretty much nothing to slow or eliminate the growth of distributed energy.”–Mike Antheil, executive director of the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association and a member of Floridians for Solar Choice.

* “Whether for economic or quality-of-life reasons, the public recognizes that transportation is our most pressing issue.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.

* “This action is being taken to curb potential litigation expenses.”–Tampa City Attorney Julia Mandell, on the rationale behind the panhandling-ban repeal.

* “This flag to me hurts. It’s going to history, it’s going to a place where people can go there and read about all the Confederate flags and what it means to them.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller, on the relocation of the Confederate flag from the County Center to the Tampa Bay History Center.

* “We really think the attendance problem is a result of the fact that we don’t have a good facility and we may not have a good location, let me say it that way, within the market. Absolutely feel the market is viable.”–Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

* “We managed to avoid the most extreme measures.”–Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

* “This agreement pulls Greece back from the brink of economic chaos but remains far from ensuring its long-term economic viability within the euro zone.”–Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

* “We may never find him again. All the accolades that Mexico has received in their counter-drug efforts will be erased by this one event.”–Michael S. Vigil, retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations, on the escape of infamous Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín”El Chapo” Guzmán.

* “Radical Islam is not going to be compromised with. They are religious Nazis. Somebody better go over there and hit them before they hit us. There is no alternative to going in on the ground and pulling the caliphate up by the roots. If that scares you, don’t vote for me.”–Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

* “If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I’d have to point to Russia. And if you look at their behavior, it’s nothing short of alarming.”–Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

* “I certainly think there could be a basis for a resolution that everybody could ultimately be satisfied with.”–Former Attorney General Eric Holder, on speculation about a deal with Edward Snowden.

* “He has no idea what’s coming. The Hispanic community is really galvanized around this.”–U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Javier Palomarez, referring to Donald Trump backlash from the Hispanic community.

* “It wasn’t a lecturing-type call. He’s going to lecture me? Give me a break.”–Donald Trump, in referring to a phone call from Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

* “They’re on a spectrum of hostility, which I think is really regrettable in a nation of immigrants like ours.”–Hillary Clinton on Republicans in general.

* “Some tentative hints of a pick-up in the pace of wage gains may indicate that the objective of full employment is coming closer into view.”–Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.

* “These are visible icons of American industry. It’s just unnerving.”–Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors, on the technical glitches impacting the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines on the same day.

* “People in the Western democracies tolerate volatility. But the failure of equity markets in China could translate into social unrest, which is a horrifying prospect for the Chinese leadership.”–Tsuyoshi Jin Saito, a founder and managing director of the Observatory Group, a Washington-based, economic and political advisory firm.

* “Patriotism without criticism has no head; criticism without patriotism has no heart.”–Allen C. Guelzo, author and history professor at Gettysburg College.

* “This is the closest thing we have to a national team. … It really was from Maine to California.”–Andrei S. Markovits, author and political science professor at the University of Michigan, on the appeal and following of the victorious Women’s World Cup soccer team.

* “You’re never cool to your kids.”–Comedian/actor Denis Leary.

* “There’s a number of city leaders who are pretty disgusted with the league. It feels like a really parochial organization that’s been co-opted by Florida Power & Light.”–South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, reacting to the Florida League of Cities joining with the Florida Municipal Electric Association in urging the Florida Supreme Court to reject the proposed Solar Choice amendment to the November 2016 ballot.

* “In Silicon Valley, they make technology. In South Florida, we make condos.”–Peter Zalewski, who runs the building-boom information service CraneSpotters.com.

* “My argument isn’t that a progressive can’t win in Florida. My argument is THAT progressive can’t win in Florida.”–Democratic consultant Steve Schale, in assessing the 2016 senatorial chances of U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the controversial, liberal firebrand.

* “Recent events have shown the Legislature is uniquely unfit to draw these (redistricting) maps.”–State Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg.

* “Port Tampa Bay has the facilities and key partnerships in place for the cruise and ferry business to grow and thrive and is ‘Cuba-ready.'”–Port Tampa Bay statement in response to the announcement that Carnival Corp. had received approval from the U.S. government to operate cruises to Cuba as a provider of cultural exchange programs.

* “Honored to be among @TravelLeisure’s World’s Best Airports!”–TIA on Twitter, in response to Travel + Leisure magazine’s ranking of TIA as second in the nation.

* “I think the timing is right for headquarters in Tampa.”–Gray Swoope, former head of Enterprise Florida.

* “More than ever, top talent from across the U.S. wants to make Tampa their home. We couldn’t be more excited to further our investment in expanding in this market.”–Bobby Harris, CEO of BlueGrace Logistics, a transportation management company that will add 100 jobs at its Hillsborough County headquarters.

* “I’m a firm believer in the fact that we can’t arrest our way out of crime.”–Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward.

* “… A historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas. … We don’t have to be imprisoned by the past.”–President Barack Obama, on the announcement that the U.S. and Cuba would open embassies this month in each other’s capitals.

* “Just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping.”–The take of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, on the same announcement of U.S. Cuban rapprochement.

* “The world is paying attention to the improving relationship of the United States and Cuba. Tampa could become a focal point of it.”–Tampa City Councilwoman Yoli Capín, who wrote the resolution to bring the Cuban consulate to Tampa.

* “You’re going to get what I think whether you like it or not, or whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or not. I am now ready to fight for the people of the United States of America.”–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in announcing his Republican presidential bid.

* “Today Donald Trump reaffirmed his stance against gay marriage. Trump said marriage is between a rich guy and his much younger third wife.”–Conan O’Brien.

* “The Democrats appear to be yearning for an emotional connection with their candidate, which could explain the flurry of excitement surrounding the Bernie Sanders campaign. … But whatever Bernie can do, can’t Biden do it better? In a lot of ways, Joe Biden would be the true anti-Hillary. He is completely uninhibited, he is impossible to script–which makes him seem authentic–and he has a human appeal that everyone can relate to.”–Ed Rogers, Republican political consultant.

* “If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”–Bernie Sanders.

* “I understand the odds, particularly in today’s political climate, where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money. I know that more than one candidate in this process intends to raise at least a billion dollars.”–Former  Navy Secretary and Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who has joined the Democratic field of presidential candidates.

* “Every once in a while, we bring down the curtain on the politics of a prior era. The stage is now cleared for the next generation of issues.”–Conservative writer David Frum.

* “We are making it clear that we should not expend our limited resources on deporting those who have been here for years, have committed no serious crimes and have, in effect, become integrated members of our society.”–Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

* “The most interesting thing about this (U.S. Supreme Court) term is the acceleration of a long-term trend of disagreement among the Republican-appointed judges, while the Democratic-appointed judges continue to march in lockstep. … . Kennedy, Roberts and Alito’s pragmatism contrasts with the formalism of Scalia and Thomas, for example.”–University of Chicago law Professor Eric Posner.

* “Sometimes we talk on the record. Sometimes we talk on background. There’s just such a variety, it depends on the context.”–New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

* “We see male athletes as athletes first. We see female athletes as women first.”–Cheryl Cooky, associate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Purdue University.

* “Although the Internet could be making all of us smarter, it makes many of us stupider, because it’s not just a magnet for the curious. It’s a sinkhole for the gullible.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.

* “We are heading towards an epidemic again.”–Priya Rajkumar, vice president of Metro Wellness and Community Centers, on news that Florida now has the highest number of new HIV diagnoses in the nation.

* “He must be looking down the road at what his next job will be.”–Darryl Paulson, professor emeritus of political science at USF St. Petersburg, on a possible rationale for Gov. Rick Scott’s political fundraising committee (Let’s Get To Work) spending nearly $300,000 on political consulting firms since April.

* “It presents the possibility of conflict and controversy. If I were still chief of staff, I’d rather have him down the hall taking care of our business than being on TV taking care of his own business.”–Mac Stipanovich, lobbyist, Republican strategist and former chief-of-staff to Gov. Bob Martinez, on the reality of having Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera running for the U.S. Senate.

* “It’s absolutely something we should consider. Misdemeanor possession of marijuana is a minor offense. We don’t need that clogging up the judicial system.”–Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger.

* “We as law enforcement see every single day the consequences of a society that has an addiction problem. Why in the world are we going to make it easier for people to recreationally use something else?”–Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

* “In general, we’re all for civil citations (fines but no resultant criminal record) for that purpose.”–Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward.

* “Do you care yet? When you care enough, give us a call.”–Tampa Police Captain Ron McMullen, asking for community help in combating a surge in violence this year.

* “In order for us to do our jobs better, metrics matter. What gets measured gets done.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, in unveiling his administration’s new website, tampagov.net/metrics, that provides performance measures for city services.

* “Eventually, we’re going to have to change. This county is getting too big and you’re going to need to increase the size of the board eventually to keep up with it.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller.

* The Times (and Tribune), they are a-changin’. Call it a cost-cutting and asset-liquidation update.

There’s real estate buzz over plans by the Miami-based Related Group to ultimately build a mid-rise rental community on prime, riverfront land now occupied by the Tampa Tribune headquarters and printing plant.

Across Tampa Bay, the downtown St. Petersburg headquarters of the Tampa Bay Times has been for sale since January.

* Now that the Supreme Court has again upheld a key part of the Affordable Care Act, maybe the media can distance itself from “Obamacare” shorthand, which began, as we know, as a partisan pejorative.

* “Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth.”–Pope Francis.

* “No one country in a currency union can endlessly spend money at the cost of the others.”–German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble.

* “The goal of some of Greece’s partners is the humiliation of an entire nation.”–Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

* “I believe that it is now time for Republicans and the wider American business community to stop fixating on the past and embrace a new approach to Cuba.”–Carlos Gutierrez, former secretary of commerce under President George W. Bush.

* “Their model was, ‘Nobody gets Internet.’ Now their model is, ‘We’re going to bring prices down and expand access, but we are going to do it as a sovereign decision and at our own speed.'”–Ted Henken, author and chairman of Baruch College’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, on changes in Cuban Internet access.

* “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”–President Barack Obama.

* “I remain committed to repealing this bad law … . We need Consumer Care, not Obamacare.”–Sen. Marco Rubio.

* “This decision is not the end of the fight against Obamacare. … As president of the United States, I would make fixing our broken health care system one of my top priorities.”–Former Gov. Jeb Bush.

* “The right to personal choice regarding marriage is inherent in the concept of individual autonomy.”–U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion ruling that the Constitution protects same-sex marriage.

* “Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it gorgeous? It just restores your faith in humanity, doesn’t it?”–Nadine Smith, co founder and CEO of Equality Florida.

* “The fact is, she (Hillary Clinton) was there (Trans-Pacific Partnership) when this thing was launched and she was extolling it when she left. She’s in an obvious vise, between the work that she endorsed and was part of and the exigencies of a campaign. Obviously, her comments plainly weren’t helpful to moving this forward.”–Former Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod.

* “It’s time for a doer. I’m not running for president to be somebody. I’m running for president to do something.”–Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal.

* “Our (race) problem is not all kooks and Klansmen. It’s also the cruel joke that goes unchallenged. It’s the offhand comment about not wanting those people in the neighborhood. Let’s be honest, for a lot of well meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear.”–Hillary Clinton.

* “Everyone loves to talk about blackness, a fascinating thing. But bring up whiteness and fewer people want to talk about it. Whiteness is on a toggle switch between ‘bland nothingness’ and ‘racist hatred.'”–Nell Irvin Painter, Princeton University professor emerita of history and the author of “The History of White People.”

* “It (Confederate flag) was resurrected in the 1940s and 1950s as part of a massive resistance campaign against the civil rights movement. It wouldn’t exist in our national popular culture without this movement, when African-Americans fought for their equality, and the battle flag was recovered and redeployed as a symbol of opposition to it.”–Matthew Guterl, professor of Africana and American studies at Brown University.

* “The Confederate flag is one of those symbols that should really only be seen on T-shirts, belt buckles and bumper stickers to help the rest of us identify the worst people in the world.”–John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight.”

* “The risk of failures of surveys to reflect the facts increases with falling response rates. The risk is not always realized, but with the very low response rates now common, we should expect more failed predictions based on surveys.”–Robert M. Groves, Georgetown University provost and former director of the Census Bureau.

* “This was ‘Cool Hand Luke’ meets ‘Shawshank Redemption.'”–New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on the daring prisoner escape from Clinton Correctional Facility.

* “It’s not about retreating to our corners and scoring political points. We deserve better. As a state, we deserve better.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, speaking to the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee.

* “He (Rick Scott) promised that he would punish the constituents of those legislators who disagreed with him, and he kept his promise.”–Okaloosa County Republican Sen. Don Gaetz, on Gov. Scott’s veto motivation.

* “We strive to provide a great experience for the entire family, and unfortunately selfie sticks have become a growing safety concern for both our guests and cast.”–Walt Disney World spokeswoman Kim Prunty, in explaining why Disney has now banned selfie sticks.

* “We love Tampa as a rental market. There’s a strong rental demand there, like in Atlanta.”–Jorge Perez, founder and CEO of the Related Group, which has mid-rise residential project plans for the Tampa Tribune’s riverfront headquarters.

* “It reflects our approach to research and entrepreneurship at this university and how we really encourage helping economic development in the region.”–Paul Sanberg, USF’s senior vice president for research, innovation and economic development, on USF being ranked first in the state and 10th in the nation among universities granted patents last year.

* “(It) will anchor the new development set to transform our southern downtown waterfront. For years to come, USF and our urban core will continue to grow and flourish together.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, after Gov. Scott had left intact the $17 million state lawmakers had set aside to move USF’s Morsani College of Medicine to downtown Tampa.

* “Multifamily and hotels are very popular right now, but they are complicated. I would not be at all surprised to see it go back under contract with the same group or someone else.”–Bob McDonaugh, Tampa’s Economic Opportunity administrator, on news that the contract to sell the S.H. Kress & Co. property downtown had expired.

* “We need to exercise more in a safe environment. This does that. This also gives you an opportunity to get away without leaving home.”–Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos, on the completion of the Courtney Campbell Causeway Trail.

* Kudos to the Tampa Bay Times for sending columnist John Romano to Charleston in the aftermath of that hate-crime mass murder in the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Just like the old days when a major newspaper of record would send one of its own to assess a major news scene and report back. This was before budgets were trumped by news services, partnerships and technology.

And the Times sent the right guy. It was well chronicled, and it was poignant.

* It’s now official. NBC News has finished its marathon effort at damage control and Brian Williams, after a tortured mea culpa, will be taking on the new, decidedly downgraded job of reporting on breaking news for MSNBC. The partisan-opinion-driven cable network has a fraction of the audience that the “NBC Nightly News” has and has been in a ratings dive for a while. Williams starts in August.

Maybe Williams’ erstwhile star power–he has hosted “Saturday Night Live,” slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon and periodically dropped in on “30 Rock”–will gin up the chemistry of, and consequent interest in, MSNBC. But it would have augured better for credibility had he not tried to nuance his way through that Matt Lauer interview on the “Today” show.

At some point, the equivocal talk about “misleading” himself, whatever that means, should have yielded to something like this:

“Matt, I appreciate the forum to formalize my comeback. It’s incumbent upon me–for me as well as MSNBC–to make the most of it. Here goes. I lied. I didn’t ‘misremember.’ I lied. I was a major player in the news-celebrity business, but I would periodically transpose which came first. I made up stuff that added more drama to the ‘Brian Williams brand.’ It’s ego. It’s hubris. And it’s also lying.

“The last four months have been humbling and humiliating. I am not more important than the news I report on. And viewers will be the ultimate judge on whether I’m keeping my word.”