Tone-Deaf

“Wednesday, tragedy struck the New Orleans community. Our prayers are with the victims and their families. We also need to be stronger together by overcoming an addiction to divisiveness and negativity.” —Allstate Corporation CEO Tom Wilson

Demagogue

“Elon Musk is wrong. The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad. The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.” —Senator Bernie Sanders

Term Limits

“I’m on my way to Washington to proudly represent the people of San Fransisco in Congress. I’m honored to do so to share our San Francisco values.” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, 84 years old

For the Record

“The details emerging about what the rape gangs (why call them ‘grooming’ gangs? It’s like calling those who stab people to death ‘knife owners’) did to girls in Rotherham are downright horrific. The allegations of possible police corruption in the case are almost beyond belief.” —J.K. Rowling

Food for Thought

“Why is the convention to refer to the rape of children in Britain as ‘grooming’? Grooming is what you do to improve the appearance of your horse or dog. We should not use a euphemism to describe the most vile and evil acts because it normalizes them, and allows one to think they are acceptable in society. Words matter. We need to call out evil in the starkest possible terms and take every necessary step to rid the world of it.” —Bill Ackman

Political Futures

“It was Obama who pulled the strings over the past four years. If you recall, he once opined in a 60 Minutes interview about having a ‘front man’ with whom he could speak through an earpiece. Needless to say, Biden did not have that earpiece during that fateful debate performance against now-President-Elect Donald Trump.” —Allen West

Clown World

“The car bomb in Las Vegas killed one person and injured at least seven more. When you detonate a truck made by the company of Elon Musk in front of a hotel with Donald Trump’s name on it, I think the political message of the attack is awfully darn clear. Nonetheless, the New York Times reports that as of [Wednesday], the FBI was still attempting to determine whether placing gas canisters, camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars in a car associated with Musk, and in front of a building associated with Trump, meets their technical definition of ‘terrorism.’” —Jim Geraghty

And Last…

“With all the illegal spying the government does on Americans, you’d think they’d do a better job keeping an eye on would-be terrorists.” —David Harsanyi