Talking Points: Did You See What They Said?

"The legacy that I think [lynching] created is this indifference to how we treat people who look different than us. And I think that's tragic. I don't even think that white people in our country are free. I think we're all burdened by this history of racial inequality." -- Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which documented the lynchings of thousands of black people and built the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in their honor. (Sunday, CBS News)"These forces will not involve themselves with the migrants themselves or have any law enforcement duties." -- Secretary of Defense James Mattis on the role of U.S. troops on the Mexican border. (Thursday, Washington Post)"Taking down Backpage and obtaining a criminal conviction for the company and its CEO represents a significant victory in the fight against human trafficking in Texas and around the world." -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. (Thursday, The Hill)"I don't subscribe to hyphenated Americanism ... I find hyphenated Americanism to be divisive." -- Texas State Board of Education member David Bradley, who proposed changing the name of a suggested high school Mexican-American studies course to "Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent." (Wednesday, Texas Tribune)"I don't know if that would be the smartest move." -- Gov. Greg Abbott on whether President Donald Trump should fire special counsel Robert Mueller. (Tuesday, Twitter)"This whole trade thing has exploded. There's no deadline. We'll pull a team together, but we haven't even done -- I mean, it just happened a couple hours ago." -- Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump's economic adviser about Trump's willingness to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (Friday, The New York Times)"I'm thinking of starting a petition drive to bring a Major League baseball team to Arlington, TX." -- Terry Maxon, former Dallas Morning News aviation reporter. (Thursday, Facebook)"According to reports, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sat on a 4-inch-thick cushion to boost his height during his Senate testimony yesterday. Zuckerberg was like, 'Oh, no, that's my wallet.'" -- Late Night host Seth Meyers on Facebook CEO Zuckerberg's congressional testimony. (Wednesday, Newsmax)"I never was a big horror guy, because I was just too scared. That's the truth. Then these producers called me one day and said: "Would you ever act in a horror movie?" I said: "I don't know, I'm kind of a scaredy-cat, but if it's a cool idea maybe." -- Actor John Krasinski on starring in the horror film, "A Quiet Place." (Sunday, The Guardian)What's your view?Got an opinion about this issue? Send a letter to the editor, and you just might get published.  Continue reading...