* “The South and North shared an understanding that they should continue the positive mood for peace and reconciliation created by the Pyeongchang Olympics and should promote inter-Korean dialogue, exchanges and cooperation.”–Statement from the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
* “Why not move the United Nations to Haiti, Libya or Uganda? The transference would do wonders for any underdeveloped country, financially, culturally or psychologically. UN officials without easy access to Westernized media and the high life might instead have more time to concentrate on global problems such as hunger, disease and violence–and be personally enmeshed in the dangers they address.”–Historian Victor Davis Hanson, National Review.
* “The reason I’m here tonight is to put people on the spot. … I want them to have to answer people at home who said, ‘How come you were against President Obama’s deficits and then how come you’re for Republican deficits.”–Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, on his motivation for his floor speech bemoaning out-of-control government spending.
* “The right’s war on the FBI is a sign of how far some are willing to go to subvert any checks on Trump’s power to create his own reality.”–Michelle Goldberg, New York Times.
* “Republicans desperately wanted tax cuts. Now that they got them, they desperately need to back away from Trumpian chauvinism and win a little good will from black, Hispanic and Asian voters.”–Will Wilkinson, vice president for policy at the Niskanen Center.
* “The president is and can continue to be a non-player so long as the Senate operates on consensus. The House faces a choice, or rather (Paul) Ryan does: Will he govern for the House and country or will he spend his likely last months as speaker carrying water for a failing president?”–Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
* “We don’t want a president who bends over backward to give the benefit of the doubt to neo-Nazis, wife-beaters, pedophiles and sexual predators–or who is a sexual predator himself.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “Truth leads to democracy, lies lead to dictatorship and this is where I think people, whether it’s the president or people around him, are not fully aware of the real impact of what they’re saying.”–Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN.
* “If we’re going to understand how our planet really works, we need everybody on deck to understand how to respond to it. The planet’s going to survive–the question is, will we?”–Columbia University geophysicist Robin Bell.
* “In high schools and colleges, there is mounting evidence that the growth of on-line education is hurting a critical group: the less proficient students who are precisely those most in need of skilled classroom teachers.”–Susan Dynarski, University of Michigan professor of education, public policy and economics.
* “I worked in college athletics for years and many ‘graduated’ without requisite skills and many could barely read–but they stayed eligible. Eligibility is not education.”–B. David Ridpath, professor of sports business at Ohio University and a member of the Drake Group, an NCAA watchdog.
* “(Trump is) about as popular in my district as oxygen.”–Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz of Fort Walton Beach.
* “This isn’t about winning the mayor’s race. This is about winning the vision.”–Tampa mayoral candidate Ed Turanchik.
* “I think it will be the equivalent of Tampa’s Central Park.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s reference to Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, scheduled to open in May.
* “Ybor City is authentically Tampa Bay. It represents the finest opportunity for Major League Baseball to thrive in this region for generations to come. This is where we want to be playing baseball.”–Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg on the franchise’s preference for a stadium site.
* “I think it’s a huge mistake to be thinking about this, which really isn’t a BRT system. It’s an express bus system.”–How Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp characterizes the Bus Rapid Transit proposal.
* “Because the (rail) system is fixed, it sends a signal to the investment community about where they can build. It spurs transit-oriented development in ways other transportation modes cannot.”–Gary Sasso, president and CEO of Carlton Fields and former chairman of the Tampa Bay Partnership.
* “As much as I want to fix everything today, we have been trying to build a sustainable model, not a quick fix-it model.”–Hillsborough County School Superintendent Jeff Eakins.