For the Record

‘I think we could do with a little less drama from the White House.’

Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, lamenting in a May 16 interview that White House controversies have distracted Republicans from making meaningful progress on tax reform and health care legislation

37%

Percentage of parents who say they would allow their child age 6 or up to swim unsupervised in a home, hotel or neighborhood pool, according to a national poll from the University of Michigan

15,000

Number of pollen grains a honeybee sheds in two minutes when it cleans itself, according to new research from Georgia Tech

37.6%

Percentage increase in arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of individuals it says were “either known or suspected of being in the country illegally” in the first 100 days of the Trump Administration, compared with the same period last year

‘I will help him, because he needs help.’

Édouard Philippe, recently appointed French Prime Minister, speaking of new President Emmanuel Macron, who unlike Philippe is not a veteran of the nation’s political establishment

Richie

Musician Lionel received an honorary degree from the Berklee College of Music

GOOD WEEK

BAD WEEK

Ritchie

Director Guy’s $300M King Arthur film made only $14.7M in the U.S. in its debut weekend

‘Music is not fireworks. Music is feeling.’

Salvador Sobral, singer from Portugal, after winning the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine

‘I’m definitely going to say it’s a privilege.’

Kara McCullough, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chemist recently crowned Miss USA, answering a competition question about whether health care should be a right or a privilege for U.S. citizens; after her remarks drew criticism, McCullough, a government employee, said she hoped it would eventually be a “right for all worldwide”

‘The people involved in this … are beneath our contempt.’

Mike Signer, mayor of Charlottesville, Va., responding to a May 13 gathering of white nationalists wielding torches in a local park to protest the planned removal of Confederate statues in the city

SOURCES: BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS; BLOOMBERG TV; WASHINGTON POST