Smarther News Quick Quotes December 4, 2018

"It was in his blood to be a soldier. He wanted to be a true American and fight for his country."

Linda Collins on the death of her nephew Sgt. Jason Mitchell McClary (24). The Army soldier died Sunday at a military hospital in Germany as a result of injuries from a roadside bomb attack last week in Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack – the deadliest on U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year.

“We have to avoid a shutdown. If we haven’t learned our lessons in the past, I don’t think we’ll ever learn them.”

Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) as Congress seeks a 2-week extension to avoid a gov't shutdown as business in D.C. comes to a standstill following the death of Pres. George H.W. Bush. Lawmakers will extend temporary funding for several agencies through Dec. 21st. Pres. Trump has required $5B in border wall funding as part of negotiations.

“We are not saying we are going to get out of the oil business but it is controlled by an organization managed by a country.”


Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, in a jab at Saudi Arabia, on why it’s choosing to leave OPEC. The nation is one of OPEC’s smallest oil producers, but one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas producers, and says it will instead focus on that. Qatar’s last OPEC meeting will be this Thursday.

“…it appears that the number of persons under investigation for AFM has peaked and will continue to decline.”

CDC after confirming 134 cases of a polio-like illness Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) in 33 states. While 18 new cases have been confirmed in the past week, most were from September & October. 90% of the patients are children. The CDC does not yet know what causes it.

"She is the true original. She not only marched to the beat of her own drum a honey, she is a one-woman band!"

Whoopi Goldberg, paying tribute to Cher, at the Kennedy Center Honors Sunday evening. The 41st annual awards show began with a standing ovation tribute for President George H.W. Bush & then honored singers Cher, Reba McEntire, jazz great Wayne Shorter, composer Philip Glass, & a special award for the co-creators of Hamilton.