* “One way of dealing with bad times is to pretend that they are normal.”—Ian Buruma, author of “Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945.”
* “The tone in Tokyo has clearly shifted. … Caught between a more aggressive China and a less predictable United States, many in Japan are coming to the realization that caution is no longer enough to guarantee their security.”—Joshua Walker, president of the Japan Society and author of “Alliance at a Crossroads.”
* “The private sector in Cuba is quite small. But if the Cuban economy were a functioning economy, it would have a much larger private sector.”—Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
* “It takes money to kill bad guys.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
* “I think democracy versus oligarchy is going to be the battle of the 21st century.”—University of California Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman.
* “I just get up every day and go to work. I don’t do a lot of that counting stuff.”—SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas, 77, the current oldest justice. If he stays on the bench through the spring of 2028, he would surpass the 36-year record for longest-serving associate justice.
* “The Epstein scandal is one of the most potently seismic reverberations from America to be felt in British politics since 1776, and it’s not done yet.”—Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times.
* “(ICE officers) are facing a serious and escalating threat as a result of deliberate mischaracterizations of their heroic work and rhetoric that demonizes our law enforcement.”—Recently fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
* “The state of Florida is completely ready for that (Cuban) regime to fall.”—Cuban-American Republican Rep. Juan Carlos Porras.
* “They put (Ashley) Moody in the Senate to be a ‘yes’ vote for Trump and billionaires. She’s not Florida’s senator. She’s theirs.”—Retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, a Democrat and the whistleblower who triggered Donald Trump’s first impeachment. He is now challenging Moody for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Marco Rubio.
* “Foreign policy in South Florida is a daily issue.”—U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
* “I do not want to see one more American soldier lose their life in a conflict that Congress never debated and never approved.”—Congresswoman Kathy Castor.
* “Let’s go from being that rising star to being the star.”—USF’s new president, Moez Limayem.
* “It’s not about being bigger; it’s about being bolder.”—Hank Hine, executive director of the Salvador Dali Museum, on the museum’s plans for a $65 million expansion.
* “This is Tampa’s deal. We are only talking to Tampa.”—Rays’ CEO Ken Babby.