If a day is indeed like a week in miniature, then Thursday is the week’s equivalent of, like 4 p.m. on a Monday — it sucks, but it sucks less than two hours ago (Wednesday).
Mayor Rick Kriseman spoke in more detail about his wish list of uses for the $6.5 million settlement St. Pete received from BP’s Deepwater Horizon fuckaroo, a wish list that’s heavy on sustainability and arts funding and, some would say, woefully light ($1 million) on stormwater infrastructure repair. So now we get to have an overlong process in which residents get to argue about exactly how the money should be spent, right? Isn’t that “our thing” in St. Pete now? I want some of this money spent on smaller recycling bins custom-painted to match each house!
The conviction of a man sentenced to life without parole in 2013 for the shooting death of a clerk during a Seminole convenience store robbery was overturned by an appellate court that determined cops acted inappropriately by coercing a confession from the man after he’d invoked his right to remain silent. Reason 247 why “doing it just like Stabler on the TV set” isn’t appropriate law-enforcement technique.
As the 17-year-old cretin who was one of four cretins who shot that dog and tied it to the railroad tracks back in March was sentenced to 7 months in jail (and soon to be released, with time served), Lakeland cops were looking for a man whose neighbors witnessed him hitting his girlfriend’s two dogs in the head with a sledgehammer. Again, we can’t really advocate beating either one of these people in public on sight, but we don’t really have to tell you NOT to do that, either.
A Washington Post reporter did some research and determined that U.S. toddlers have been involved in roughly one shooting per week so far this year. Tell me again how nationwide open-carry prevents a curious kid from getting her hands on an idiot’s firearm?
News spread yesterday about the death of beloved Tampa music store owner Don Banks Tuesday at the age of 86. Banks helped get musical instruments into the hands of two generations’ worth of kids, and doubtless enriched their lives, and the culture of our community, by doing so; he will be sorely missed.
And finally, serial presidential candidate Rand Paul suggested during an appearance at Drake University that LGBT folks could avoid being persecuted in or fired from the workplace by saving all their gayness for when they’re at home. I know, right? And what’s with all these people being black and Latino on the job?! AND THE UTERUSES, OH MY GOD…
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2015.
