* “Right now, we’re not in the second wave. We’re right in the middle of the first wave globally.”–WHO Executive Director Dr. Mike Ryan.
* “Severing ties with the World Health Organization serves no logical purpose and makes finding a way out of this public health crisis dramatically more challenging.”–Dr. Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association.
* “Dereliction of duty.”–How House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy characterized the House allowing the first-ever remote Congressional floor votes. Republican leaders filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the vote-by-proxy arrangement.
* “It has become increasingly clear that money intended to rescue small businesses has often gone not to those with the greatest need but rather to those with the most shameless lawyers. They are part of the national equation: Power creates money creates more power creates more money.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.
* “(Trump) doesn’t read the bible and he doesn’t live as a Christian and love thy neighbor. But he is demanding that the churches be re-opened because his evangelical base will love that. Everything he’s doing right now is to stave off a loss in November.”–Trump biographer Tim O’Brien.
* “The most critical question for American democracy: Will President Trump concede if he is defeated by Joe Biden in the November election? Or put another way, can a liar accept a truth incompatible with his devouring ego? The need to pose these questions reflects the depth of the national nightmare.”–Roger Cohen, New York Times.
* “Partisanship seems to continue to escalate in spite of the crisis. It is the worst I have seen in my lifetime. And there is no end in sight.”–Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
* “Far from being an odd couple, Trump and Mitch McConnell are a perfectly paired duo. They work well together as a grifter team. Trump is the clown who grabs all the attention, while McConnell picks the pockets of the distracted crowd.”–Jeet Heer, The Nation.
* “The entire GOP, which just nominated a QAnon believer as its Senate candidate in Oregon, is becoming a modern day Know Nothing Party, a cesspool of prejudice and irrationality.”–Max Boot, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and CNN global affairs analyst.
* “Wearing a red (MAGA) hat doesn’t inoculate you from the transmission of diseases.”–Former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, on speculation that the GOP could relocate its Charlotte convention over disputes about social-distance guidelines.
* “North Carolina is relying on data and science to protect our state’s public health and safety.”–North Carolina’s (Democratic) Gov. Roy Cooper.
* “In Florida, the Republicans have pretty much dominated (voting by mail) in the last two decades.”–Republican Party of Florida chairman Joe Grutas.
* “It’s richly ironic that a Republican president is now screaming about a growing vote-by-mail option.”–Christian Ulvert, Miami-based Democratic strategist.
* “In the critical months of this pandemic, the cabinet has been left in the dark.”–Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.
* “They’re not anti-cop; they’re anti-police brutality, as we all should be.”–Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan’s message to those protesting the killing of George Floyd.
* “We will help the churches. We will help the synagogues. We believe that everybody needs to worship. This is the time to worship.”–Mohamed Aqad, Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area mosque administrator.