Category: Media Watch

* After the outing of, among other notables, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, CBS’s Charlie Rose, political journalist Mark Halperin and now NBC’s Matt Lauer, Brian Williams doesn’t look too bad. Imagine, exaggerating and fabricating some news-coverage experiences. What an age of innocence.

To his credit, Williams has forged on from the embarrassment and demotion from NBC anchor. He now hosts the best political talk show on the air, CNBC’s “The 11th Hour.”

* There’s something else we’ve also come to realize–as outed predators range from news, entertainment and political personalities to opera icons. Sexual harassment and worse–and let’s not kid ourselves, we know it when we see it and experience it–is embedded in the culture, if not the human condition. It’s not entirely impossible that there weren’t Fondling Fathers back in the day. It’s as much a bottom-up as it is a top-down issue. It’s as likely in a faculty lounge as it is in a corporate suite.

We need a society-wide, come-to-Jesus conversation about sexual-harassment–and worse. It must underscore this reality: It’s not just sleazy predators, who will, alas, always be with us. No, it must also be about conscience-avoiding enablers who help make it happen. Without them and their unconscionable code of workplace silence, this wouldn’t be so pervasive an issue.

This isn’t about political correctness. Just common-sense, common-good correctness. “If you see something, say something” has myriad applications.

* “It is a situation that we will handle.”–President Donald Trump’s response to North Korea’s ICBM launch.

* “America’s diplomatic power is being weakened internally as complex global crises are growing externally.”–Excerpt from a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

* “It’s time to stop tweeting and start leading.”–Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

* “Of all the ways Donald Trump has damaged this country, arguably the most subtle yet insidious is that he’s taught us not to expect the chief executive to say anything of value. It is not just that he is ineloquent, though he is. … No, Trump’s problem is that he has nothing to say. And the more he says, the more obvious that becomes.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.

* “A year after his election, Trump continues to lie about his commitment to saving jobs at Carrier or anywhere else. And workers are taking note.”–Chuck Jones, former president of Indiana-based United Steel Workers Local 1999.

* “If we’ve learned anything in the past few decades (and it’s not clear that we have), it’s that major economic and social legislation should have at least some bipartisan support. Otherwise, we get caught in a game of ceaseless interruption.”–Robert Samuelson, Washington Post.

* “I don’t think our message should be any different than it was when F.D.R. was president or J.F.K. was president. If you work hard and play by the rules, we’ve got your back.”–California Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

* “Democrats have to get back in the habit of talking about freedom. Your freedom very much depends on whether you can start a business and know you have access to health care, whether you can marry someone you love or sue a bank that is cheating you.”–Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind.

* “The message here is clear: Republicans aren’t going to defy their mad king over anything as mushy and amorphous as democratic norms, rationality or national honor.”–Michele Goldberg, New York Times.

* “Outside of highly-educated suburbs and racially-diverse cities, Democrats still do not have an effective response to Trumpism. … Democrats  have to do better in whiter, more rural areas. … Without the white working class, Democrats will need everything else to go spectacularly well to retake the House of Representatives next year.”–David Leonhardt, New York Times.

* “It is imperative that we become much better in educating students not just to take good jobs but to create good jobs.”–Florida International University President Mark Rosenberg.

 

* “We wake up every morning to a new tweet (from Trump) and as long as that keeps going, I think the electorate will wake up.”–Ione Townsend, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Hillsborough County.

* “As critical as economic growth is, conservation will not happen in a free-market society.”–Lindsay Cross, executive director of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, in underscoring the need to keep pushing for the implementation of Amendment 1 that set aside money to preserve wild Florida.

* “With the inventory available, we’re all kind of captive in our homes right now. … The demand for apartments is just as high.”–David Bennett, president of the Pinellas Realtor Organization.

* “I assure you, this is the man who did this.”–TPD Chief Brian Dugan on the arrest of Seminole Heights serial-killer suspect Howell Donaldson III.

* “I trust our teachers are doing right by kids today.”–Hillsborough School Superintendent Jeff Eakins.

* “We’re seeing a resurgence of cocaine, a resurgence of heroin.”–Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

* “It’s part of it, but it’s not what they’ll need.”–Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill, saying it will take more than $150 million from the Rays to build a ballpark in Ybor City.

* These are, to say the least, challenging times for print journalism and its business model. Internet scenarios, generational taste, the recruiting of investors, etc. Another sign of the times, most prominently the New York Times, is having high-profile wordsmiths pitch their employers’ product with more than their writing acumen. Exhibit A: Nicholas Kristof, the well-regarded, NYT Op-Ed columnist.

Subscribers recently received an unsolicited letter from Kristof, acknowledging the business challenges and the continued need for serious societal watchdogs. It had a good, if spoiler-alert, lede. “Look, I’m not a marketer” … .

* Last Wednesday the Lightning hosted the Chicago Blackhawks in a big, raucous game at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. The Bolts won 3-2 in overtime. But for various reasons the results of a home game were not available for publication in the following morning’s Tampa Bay Times. It was a special edition, the game went to overtime, etc.

Holidays and the new normal notwithstanding, it seemed weird to see work-around features because final results were not available at press time. Only online. Hardly helps the print media’s credibility at its darkest hour.

Speaking of the TBT, those half pages are annoying and distracting, and what’s up with regularly going from the front page to 4A. No 2A or 3A. Is that to delude readers into thinking that it’s a bigger paper than it is?

* Doesn’t it speak volumes when one of the private sessions at this month’s Republican Governor’s Association meeting was “Disrupting the Mainstream Media”?

* We know the ultimate motivation for Big Tobacco to run anti-smoking, prime-time TV ads was something other than pure public health concern. A court order–after too many years of misleading the public–had everything to do with it. But it can still take you aback to hear these Big Tobacco ads about the dangers of smoking.

While the ads are not as hard-hitting as public health advocates preferred, they don’t exactly pull punches. Among the messages: “There is no safe cigarette.” That should say it all. There’s also: “More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes and alcohol, combined.” The only thing missing is the ultimate peer-pressure put down. Perhaps: “If you’re still smoking, man are you a dumb ass.”

* “The role of France is to talk to everyone.”–French President Emmanuel Macron.

* “Russia can do to us only what we allow it to do. Putin is exploiting fissures and tensions that already existed, not creating them. If Americans decide that our country is better than Putin’s vision of it, we can make it so.”–Fred Hiatt, Washington Post.

* “I have an objective that Mitch McConnell will not be majority leader, and I believe will be done before this time next year.”–Stephen Bannon.

* “It’s not a question of left vs. center–it’s forward vs. backward.”–Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s perspective on the Democratic Party divide over ideological purity.

* “It’s almost going to take a historic wave to overcome the gerrymandered map in a handful of states. … (But) the House of Representatives is certainly in play.”–Eric Holder, former attorney general during the Obama administration.

* “If we don’t convey the right tone, we might energize a small percent of our base, but we still need to have independents. … You don’t want to turn those voters off.”–Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, advising the GOP to moderate its tone for the 2018 elections.

* “At the end of the day, ‘America First’ may devolve into the U.S. being home alone.”–Tang Siew Mun, head of Asean studies center at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

* “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet.”–FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, in indicating his plan to scrap rules around open internet access.

* “It’s an intense, painful memory, but the generation of my parents has died. … I think there is a bit of Cuban fatigue now in the Cuban-American community.”–Andy Gomez, interim director of the University of Miami Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, on the anniversary of last year’s death of Fidel Castro.

* “While it’s amazing to be leading the polls for governor without being a candidate, I can’t muster the enthusiasm to run for the nomination.”–John Morgan.

* “Sea-level rise has become a mobilizing factor for a lot of voters.”–Sean Foreman, political scientist at Barry University in Miami Shores.

* “Put simply, we need a federal investment to sustain our industry.”–Michael Sparks, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual.

* “If we do economic development really well, hopefully, we’ll also do poverty eradication really well.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.

Ernest Hemingway is often quoted. Understandably so. Nothing tops: “Courage is grace under fire” and “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” But a close third has recently come to my attention. “Write drunk, edit sober.”

* “(Putin’s) not a Marxist. In fact, it’s been speculated that he may be the world’s richest man. But he is the man the KGB made him.”–Jonah Goldberg, National Review.

* “The Pacific Ocean is big enough to accommodate both China and the United States.”–Chinese President Xi Jinping.

* “The (President Trump) Asia trip left me feeling that we’re watching an American retreat, accompanied by a shiny brass band.”–David Ignatius, Washington Post.

* “In national security this administration is an empty suit. It doesn’t make decisions. It doesn’t set priorities.”–Sen. John McCain.

* “I think the fruits of our labor are going to be incredible, whether it’s the security of the world or whether it’s trade.”–President Donald Trump’s assessment of his first Asian tour.

* “We will put on hold all our communications with this American administration.”–Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, in response to announced plans by the Trump administration to close the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington.

* “In all of my testimony, I can only do my best to answer all of your questions as I understand them and to the best of my memory. But I will not accept, and reject, accusations that I have ever lied. That is a lie.”–Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

* “Trump is immune to the laws of political physics because it’s not his job to be a politician. It’s his job to burn down the system.”–Washington crisis management expert Eric Dezenhall.

* “We have tremendous natural resources, from coal to natural gas to oil, to generate electricity in a very cost-effective way. We should celebrate that and be good stewards.”–EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

* “I did not support (Trump for president) in part because of the way that all of these reports about how he was treating women. … But those allegations remain very disturbing.”–Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

* “The legalities of the Alabama race may be at an impasse, but it would be good to see Republican women in the state lead a charge and insist on someone else. Find another conservative. There are plenty in Alabama. I put it on the women because Republican men there right now are lost. They are busy playing to every stereotype every bigot ever held about them.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

* “Unless the risk of clearing cryptocurrency is isolated and segregated from other products, a catastrophe in the cryptocurrency market that destabilizes a clearing organization will destabilize the real economy.”–Thomas Peterffy, founder and chairman of Interactive Brokers LLC.

* “More and more, innovation that happens from the top down tends to be orderly but dumb. Innovation that happens from the bottom up tends to be chaotic but smart.”–Curtis Carlson, CEO of SRI International.

* “We’ve been very, very busy. What’s great is the word is getting out, and people aren’t waiting until the last minute to sign up.”–Melanie Hall, executive director of the Family Healthcare Foundation in Tampa, on reports that Floridians are signing up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act at record rates this year.

* “I’m pleading to my brothers. You know this guy. Brothers, don’t let this happen again. It could be your family next.”–Tampa city councilman Frank Reddick, the only black member, appealing for help in solving the murders in the racially-mixed neighborhood of Southeast Seminole Heights.

* “We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do, except we’re going to restore it.”–Carolyn Wilson, president of the Wilson Co., which bought downtown Tampa’s historic Kress block for $9 million.

* “That is a pivotal block in our urban transformation.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on the significance of the Kress block sale.

* “Went down fighting. Fascinating man…servant-scientist-artist.”–Retired sports broadcaster Dick Enberg on the passing of Dr. Ferdie Pacheco.

* “I know that’s the solution that everyone in baseball would like to see–a new stadium for the Rays in that (Tampa Bay) market. That would be a win-win for everybody.”–Stan Kasten, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

* “It’s very sad, but Brexit is a controlled suicide.”–Jan Techau, former director of Carnegie Europe, the European Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

* “All responsible nations must join forces to isolate the brutal regime of North Korea. You cannot support, you cannot supply, you cannot accept.”–President Donald Trump.

“I believe we can solve almost all of them, and probably all of them.”–Donald Trump in suggesting what would occur if the U.S. and China jointly took on the world’s problems.

* “I see a change in posture. I am extremely worried that we’ve moved beyond ‘Let’s prevent war’ to ‘It’s acceptable to do a first strike.'”–Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former military pilot.

* “(Putin) said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did. … Having a good relationship with Russia’s a great, great thing. And this artificial Democratic hit job gets in the way.”–Donald Trump.

* “I think he’s giving Putin a pass, and I think it demonstrates to Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and play upon his securities.”–Former CIA Director John Brennan.

* “(Putin and Trump) have an interest in casting doubt on whether Russia attacked our elections. Putin wants to be seen as innocent, and Trump wants to be seen as legitimate.”–Charles M. Blow, New York Times.

* “Believe it or not, I do not follow the (president’s) tweets. I find out about them.”–White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

* “As a conservative, I do not seek conflict with the president of the United States. But the experiences of this year … have made me realize that to stand up and speak out is sometimes the most conservative thing a citizen can do. … To have a vital democracy, there can be no bystanders.”–Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.

* “As Homer Simpson might say, as badly as it’s turning out, 2017 may not be the worst year of our lives–just the worst year of our lives so far.”– Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post.

* “The door is certainly open for us. That means we get fresh recruits, and they get the retirements.”–House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s response to Democratic wins in Virginia and New Jersey.

* “The Democrats had a big night Tuesday, and the president of the United States took it right in the kisser. And it was all about him. … Donald Trump has not built support in the middle; he’s alienated it.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

* “We gotta turn this ship around. And I’d much prefer to be helping someone turn it around than being the guy trying to turn it around. … I’m not talking to anybody, but something’s got to happen.”–Former Vice President Joe Biden.

* “We must harness the widespread disapproval of Trump and make it the fuel to get rid of those who enable him–starting with Paul Ryan, who faces the most serious electoral challenge of his career. We cannot be distracted by the fantasy that Trump’s style is the problem.”–John Nichols, the Nation.

* “If (Donald Trump) remains this unpopular or becomes even more unpopular…I would expect Republicans to suffer major losses in the midterm elections.”–Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz.

* “Opposition motivates people more than proposition.”–John Avlon, editor of the Daily Beast.

* “We believe this is a responsible budget and a responsible tax reform. We’re confident that the $1.5 trillion gap would be filled (by economic growth).”–Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in stressing that cutting taxes by $1.5 trillion over the next decade will not add to the national debt.

* “It’s such a depressing idea, that we don’t get (federal appeals court) appointments unless we have unified government, and the appointments we ultimately get are as polarized as the rest of the country. What does that mean for the legitimacy of the courts in the United States? It’s not a pretty world.”–Lee Epstein, law professor and political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

* “When Christians cite the Bible to defend child molestation, Jesus should sue for defamation.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, on certain Roy Moore defenders.

* “There’s an old maxim in politics: You either run unopposed, or you run scared. If I were a Republican, I’d be running scared.”–Darryl Paulson, USFSP government professor emeritus.

* “It is heartbreaking.”–Congresswoman Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, on Cubans now cut off from visas to the U.S.

* “I was with him almost every day through the hurricane. I saw the preparation, saw the execution, saw how the troops reacted to him and was impressed. And then the homicides in southeast Seminole Heights–that is where he sealed the deal for me.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on his “battlefield promotion” of Brian Dugan to Tampa police chief.

* “It took a year and a half just to identify the preferred (Rays stadium) location and get site control. And determining a financial plan is going to get even more challenging.”–County Commissioner Ken Hagan.

I miss postcards. Especially getting them. And not just because I collect them.

It meant that you had a friend or family member who was visiting someplace special and thought of you to share a sense of being there. It was, of course, a picture-perfect photo. No need for the sender to be in it. The accompanying note added personal context.

It’s not the same as photo-posting on Facebook, which seems to say: “Look at me.” As in, that might be the Sphinx or Niagara Falls or the Eiffel Tower, but that’s me in the foreground sharing the billing. “I’m here. You’re not. Don’t be jealous. Oh, go ahead. I don’t blame you.”

My favorite postcard line: “Having a great time. Wish you were her.”

* “The era of strategic patience is over. Some people say my rhetoric is very strong, but look what has happened with very weak rhetoric in the last 25 years.”–President Donald Trump.

* “It’s a lot different than being CEO of Exxon, because I was the ultimate decision maker.”–Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

* “North Korea is no longer a communist country. Every state entity has been deputized to make money.”–Justin Hastings, author of “A Most Enterprising Country.”

* “Drug trafficking is not this violent in other countries. It makes me desperate, because this violence, it’s increasing.”–Guillermo Valdes, former leader of Mexico’s civil national security intelligence service (CISEN). Last year there were more than 20,000 killings in Mexico; this year looms worse.

* “Mexico is one of the riskiest cities in the world to do journalism.”– Paul F. Lagunes, assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.

* “They had pretty good R.O.I.”–Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, using an acronym for return on investment regarding Moscow’s role in last year’s presidential election.

* “Whether we’re talking about unprecedented heat waves, increasingly destructive hurricanes, epic drought and inundation of our coastal cities, the impacts of climate change are no longer subtle. They are upon us. That’s the consensus of our best scientists, as laid bare by this latest report. … (It) confirms what we already knew.”–Michael E. Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, referencing the congressionally mandated, quadrennial National Climate Assessment.

* “For 40 years after the fall of Richard Nixon, it was easy to proclaim that character mattered and still pull the lever for a Republican. In 2016, however, a commitment to virtue became costly. In the battle between virtue and politics, virtue lost, and it’s still losing.”–David French, National Review.

* “I don’t think you get it. … What we’re talking about is the beginning of cyberwarfare.”–Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in addressing technology companies’ lawyers for not doing more to thwart Russian disinformation.

* “Mr. Trump has ushered in a fresh era of noxious manhood wherein bullying is conflated with toughness and self-interest is more important than self-respect.”–Jill Filipovic, author of “The H Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.”

* “Facebook needs to replace its focus on engagement quantity with interaction quality.”–Ellen Pao, former chief executive of Reddit.

* “As a nonprofit or public benefit corporation, Facebook could be a much better institution. It could shed its ‘two masters’ dilemma, truly pursue its lofty goals and become a firm of which its users and the world could actually be proud.”–Tim Wu, Columbia Law School and author of “The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads.”

* “I think the term ‘fake news’ has done a lot of damage to the media. I don’t like to use the term myself because it’s not true.”–Judy Woodruff, “PBS NewsHour” anchor.

* It’s kind of like one of those hangovers you get in college that lasts for a few days. Unfortunately, for us, it’s going to last for a few years, at least.”–Matt Hirschy, interim executive director of Equality North Carolina, on the lingering effects of the since-repealed state law that had restricted restroom access for transgender people.

* “I’m pro people and pro business.”–Phillip Levine, Democratic mayor of Miami Beach, in announcing his candidacy for governor.

* “The bottom line is, you can legislate till the cows come in, but you can’t legislate ethics and morality in people.”–Republican state Sen. Jack Latvala of Clearwater.

* She left a lasting legacy. She could always be counted on to be that voice for honest and open government. She will always be known for her love of the outdoors and for protecting Tampa Bay.”–Former Mayor Pam Iorio, on the death of former Hillsborough County Commissioner Jan Platt.

* “Ultimately, what I would like to see happen if this occurs is that this becomes a place where people come early and stay late. It becomes more and more of a destination as opposed to the desolate area it is now.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on the proposed Rays ballpark site on the southern edge of Ybor City.

* “This wasn’t the 15 minutes of fame I was looking for. Nobody wants this on their resume.”–Interim Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, on how the impact of his handling of the Seminole Heights murders and engagement with the community will affect his chances to become permanent chief.

* “We are not a feature film market. We are a commercial market, and it is a reality we need to accept.”–Tyler Martinolich, interim director of the Tampa Hillsborough Film and Digital Media Commission.

* “It kind of inspires you. … You just think, you want that to happen to you.”–Lightning coach Jon Cooper, on seeing the 2004 Stanley Cup championship team being honored at Amalie Arena.

* “If they (North Korea) continue to have nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons must spread in the rest of Asia.”–Henry Kissinger.

* “The reason North Korea is developing a hydrogen bomb and intercontinental ballistic missiles is not to go to war with the United States. It’s to stop the Americans from intervening in armed skirmishes or full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula.”–Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the Sejong Institute near Seoul.

* “Our way is our way, and we cannot change it because of the Catalan situation.”–Basque nationalist leader Andoni Ortuzar, reflecting on an area of Spain where separatist tensions have ebbed. The Basque region already has greater autonomy than Catalonia.

* “We’ve ended the EPA intrusion into your jobs and into your lives. And we’re refocusing the EPA on its core mission: clean air and clean water.”–President Donald Trump.

* “As much as the country needs a conservatism with some idea of what it’s doing, some theory of the common good, it needs a liberalism that stops marinating in its own self-righteousness long enough to compete effectively for rural, Southern and Midwestern voters.”–Ross Douthat, New York Times.

 

* “Ideological fantasies notwithstanding, there never was a time when the invisible hand of the free market was left to its own devices, even in the golden era of laissez-faire capitalism in the 19th century. Even back then the government was relied on to build the infrastructure of a market economy–its roads, canals, wharves, waterworks, and the like–and to provide infant industry with tax exemptions, land grants, subsidies and protection from foreign competition.”–Steve Fraser, author of “The Limousine Liberal.”

* We voted for Sanders.”–Jimmy Carter, in acknowledging that he and Rosalynn voted for Bernie Sanders in last year’s Democratic primary.

* “Left to scrounge for the crumbs of an ever-shrinking piece of the advertising revenue pie, online publishers, deprived of paid subscribers, are increasingly forced to compromise their editorial convictions in the dogged pursuit of internet traffic. … Prioritizing these ends has nurtured an editorial mindset that is quickly diminishing the quality of our nation’s public square.”–Daniel Kishi, the American Conservative.

* “If China and Russia are able to advance their A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) further than ours, they’re going to kick our ass.”–Mark Cuban.

* “We are in a new era to which I do not belong.”–Former President Calvin Coolidge, 1932.

* “O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior was false. I know because I complained.”–NBC News host–and former Fox News host–Megyn Kelly.

* “People need to be afraid not just of doing these things, but also of not doing anything when someone around them does it.”–Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, on changing the culture of sexual harassment in the workplace.

* “The toughest interviews are with somebody funny. Interviewing Al Franken is hard, because if you’re not careful, you can catch yourself wanting to try to make him funny.”–Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

* “You should have a balanced happiness portfolio the same way you’d have a balanced financial portfolio.”–Dan Buettner, author of “The Blue Zones of Happiness.”

* “I may be a hugger, but in a moment, in a second, just like that, it can turn into a headlock.”–Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham.

* “I believe we need good relations with Cuba. They are our neighbor.”–David Straz, member of the recent Tampa delegation to Cuba and likely mayoral candidate.

* “The mission that was given to us is make Florida the leading state in cybersecurity.”–Sri Sridharan, executive director of the USF-affiliated Florida Center for Cybersecurity.

* “We need to stop doing things that attract cars.”–Tom Hall, chairman of the Tampa-based Tucker/Hall marketing and consulting firm.

* “I am humbled by it. They usually do such things for people when they die. So it’s an eerie experience. But it’s nice that they have given me the opportunity to say thank you in life.”–Retired Judge E.J. Salcines, who what it’s like to have a statue of yourself.”

* “If you don’t want to go to prison, don’t commit the crime. I’m sorry, but it’s got to stop with the individual.”–Pinellas juvenile court Judge James Pierce, in addressing the alarming incidence of juvenile car thieves.