Welcome to Tuesday, which will rarely be worse than Monday — of course, that's not saying much, and is usually the best thing one can possibly say about Tuesday, so there you go.
Yesterday's top international news centered on how everybody's least offensive German automotive concern, Volkswagen, has allegedly been cheating diesel emissions certification tests for its cars for, like, years. Insiders think the company may have purposely done so to keep the prices of a few of its models at the level of "barely attainable hipster status symbol," rather than "are you fucking kidding me it's a car not a U-boat."
On the local front, Mayor Buckhorn's Citizens Review Board has just about everybody riled — except people who actually want to be on it. More than 70 people have applied for positions on the board in just over a week. Some of these applicants even have knowledge and experience related to the fields of law enforcement, corrections or community service; those folks were, we assume, disqualified immediately.
Mayor Kriseman has moved to placate those in pretty St. Pete neighborhoods who hate their giant, unsightly Earth-saving front-of-the-house recycling bins, announcing that alley recycling will begin in January. OK, but spending money on new trucks that fit in the alleys means residents of Historic Kenwood and Old Northeast are gonna have to wait a little longer for those virtual laser walls that scan the cars coming into the area, and vaporize the ones that are all dent-y or riding on donut tires…
And finally, two multiplexes in northern Pinellas County have abruptly canceled their scheduled showings of the Scientology-critical documentary Going Clear. This one is, according to the parlance of the industry, "too easy."
(Image by Spanish Coches via Wikimedia Commons in accordance with Creative Commons licensing.)
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2015.