* “Our Human Rights Report is very clear about the concerns that we have not just about North Korea but many countries, frankly, around the world and countries that can do a lot better. Our priority in North Korea, though, right now is denuclearization.”–State Department spokeswomen Heather Nauert.
* “Optimization.”–The preferred Russian euphemism for budget cuts.
* “If Republicans truly want to walk the walk on reducing ‘excessive government regulation,’ there’s plenty for them to do. There are tons of regulations and subsidies that ENCOURAGE use of fossil fuels–and slow down innovation in greener technologies. There are, for instance, the enormous tax breaks and other subsidies for oil and coal. Or Trump’s proposed bailouts for failing coal plants. Or his tariffs on solar panels.”–Catherine Campbell, Washington Post.
* “As to whether or not (climate change) is man-made and whether or not the effects that you’re (media) talking about are there, I don’t see it.”–Donald Trump.
* “Why would I take it off the table?”–Donald Trump on the possibility of a presidential pardon to Paul Manafort.
* “Never have corporate profits outgrown employee compensation so clearly and for so long.”–St. Louis Federal Reserve.
* “The world changed in 2016, and it changed in 2018, and I think the world is going to change again in 2020.”–Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
* “People respond to candidates who speak to the moment.”–Former President Barack Obama.
* “I am not a (2020 presidential) candidate at THIS POINT.”–Former Vice President Joe Biden.
* “It will ultimately be a family decision. And over the holiday, I will make that decision with my family.”–Sen. Kamala Harris.
* “I am very likely to run for president.”–Julian Castro, former HUD secretary and San Antonio mayor.
* “If it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run.”–Sen. Bernie Sanders.
* “Bill Clinton was radioactive in the midterms and Hillary was the Ghost of Christmas Past.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “We’re in undeniably divisive times right now. We’re all searching for something that everyone can agree on, and dogs are probably about as close to that as we get.”–Filmmaker Glen Zipper, the producer of the six-part Netflix docu-series “Dogs.”
* “Tariffs are not a state-of-the-art smart bomb but an antiquated scatter shot whose collateral damage consists almost exclusively of consumers. Tariffs are a tax on Americans who buy goods, not on the countries that send them here.”–Dave Pearce, president and CEO of Tampa Maid Foods.
* “The 24-hour cable freak-show coverage of campaigns is a totally post-Gary Hart phenomenon.”–John Dickerson, co-host of “CBS This Morning.”
* “In Silicon Valley, ethics, if present at all, tend to be like a vestigial tail, dropped when a company grows past the embryonic stage.”–Christine Rosen, The Weekly Standard.
* “When you’re the chief of police, everybody looks to you for the answers. It’s probably the most emotionally challenging job, the loneliest job and the best job you’ve ever had, all wrapped into one.”–Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan.
* “We’re a building products company. We’re a design company. Being at the heart of a community that was built on historic architecture and design just felt like it was the right place to be.”–Fred Lynch, CEO of Masonite International, which is building its headquarters in Ybor City.
* “I don’t support teachers carrying guns, just as I don’t support security officers teaching students.”–Tamara Shamburger, chairwoman of the Hillsborough County School Board.
* “There is potential for archeological discovery anywhere in downtown.”–Tampa Bay History Center curator Rodney Kite-Powell.
* “Psychologically, we’d take a hit, but economically the city will be fine. That’s a transformative property (Tropicana Field’s 86 acres) with or without a stadium.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.