“I can’t remember what I was doing, but ... I was sick to my stomach ... to see our nation’s Capitol being stormed by hostile forces. And it really disturbed me to the point where I did put out a statement, and I’m still disturbed when I think about it.” — Former President George W. Bush describing his reaction to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Thursday, Texas Tribune)
“These were women. With friends, with families, and jobs, and hopes, and traumas and goals. And then their lives get summed up as ‘several of the victims were women of Asian descent.’” — Christine Liwag Dixon, a Filipino American writer and musician, commenting on the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas that killed eight people, including six Asian women. (Thursday, The Washington Post)
“The security of our nation and our border is first and foremost the responsibility of our president. I came down here because I heard of the crisis. It’s more than a crisis — this is human heartbreak. There’s no other way to claim it than a Biden border crisis.” — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaking about a migrant surge while touring the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso. (Monday, The Dallas Morning News)
“I have rarely seen an issue that is more politicized and used as a political weapon than immigration. There is no contradiction between providing significant security for our borders and treating people humanely.” — U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., about the surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the border with Mexico. (Wednesday, The New York Times)
“We’ve said it a bunch of times: Surely, it can’t get worse. But then we have the snowpocalypse [in February]. It’s almost comical now. But I do think it’s going to be better because people want it to be better. ... I personally think spring and summer will be epic.” — Fort Worth chef Tim Love sharing his restaurant outlook for 2021. (Wednesday, The Dallas Morning News)
“We failed, and a piece of that was weatherization. We failed in the weatherization piece, and so I’m here to support 100% — my companies — that you guys do mandate weatherization and that we meet those mandates; and if we don’t, that you enforce upon us at the PUC. We think that’s what we owe y’all, we owe Texas.” —J.P. Urban, acting chief executive officer of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas, a trade group representing generators, wires companies and retailers, speaking to state lawmakers. (Thursday, The Dallas Morning News)
“For high school students, it looks like they will be available to get vaccinated in the beginning of the fall, very likely for the fall term.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci (Wednesday, CNBC)
“I might have needed to take a little more command on this one.” — Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa reflecting on how his diplomatic approach suppressed school participation in an extended school year to tackle learning loss triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tuesday, The Dallas Morning News)
“I’ll take it week by week, and if it seems like a safe place to shop, I’ll stay. If they let masks slide, I’ll go to another store. I’m 60, I don’t want to play with COVID.” — Houston-area resident Wendy Wright, who is checking her local H-E-B for maskless shoppers after the popular grocer waffled on its mask policy. H-E-B initially said it would recommend that customers wear masks, but then it decided to leave up signs at its stores stating that masks are required. (Thursday, The Wall Street Journal)
