* How is it that Dick Cheney, a man without a shred of credibility or conscience when it comes to U.S. involvement in the Middle East, is still making the inside-the-Beltway rounds? Not just pep-talking House Republicans on hawkish national defense priorities, but getting face time on media in addition to Fox? Seemingly, there is no limit to show-business “punditry”–or poor taste.
* Imagine, ISIL and Jill Kelley showing up in the same wire-service story. It happened when Retired Marine Gen. John Allen was named to coordinate the international coalition to battle ISIL. It was inevitably noted that Gen. Allen once exchanged emails with Tampa’s most notorious socialite.
* Remember when the “Miss America” contest was a big deal? Now, it’s as relevant as Bert Parks’ legacy and its economically-blindsided venue, Atlantic City, N.J.
Well, in case you missed it, there’s been another crowning, and it warranted a 1-sentence “Elsewhere” round-up item in Monday’s Tampa Bay Times. For the record, Miss New York, Kira Kazantsev, is Miss America 2015.
* Conventions are good for Tampa and are newsworthy enough to note. But anybody else not need to be privy to up-close-and-personal encounters with tattoo artists?
* Both local dailies prominently played the fall TV preview. It’s what you (still) do in mid-September. For the most part, skimming the list will be as close as I come to this season’s debuts. But there may be an exception.
How do you not watch Jane The Virgin? A young Mexican-American virgin is accidentally inseminated–ok, stuff happens–and it sure enough has major ripple effects with her family, boyfriend and others. No, you can’t make this up. But it’s what you get when you adapt Venezuelan TV novellas.
* Time magazine ran a full-page, color listing of America’s 12 most dangerous intersections, as determined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that tracks fatal accidents. Five of the deadly dozen were in Florida: Astor, Orlando, Kissimmee, Frostproof and Hialeah Gardens. FYI: The Orlando intersection is North Semoran Boulevard and Old Cheney Highway.