MsKreed

While I do understand there are people, businesses and organizations that are extremely lax, ultimately, we're all responsible for our own risks, not others' behavior. 

I choose to be cautious because I don't want to unnecessarily expose a high-risk household member and completely support anyone else who wants to be careful.  I shop online and order curbside pickup as much as possible.  I am liberal with hand sanitizer, I use wipes or paper towels for door handles.... and I and carry/use my own stylus for touch screens and keypads. Yes, I also wear a mask in accordance with Executive Order 202.17  ...."when unable to maintain, or when not maintaining, social distance" (which I personally try to set at 8-10 feet). 

But it seems as if too many people have spent the last several months putting way too much emphasis on masks. Only masks. Masks at any distance. 

I have seen many people at a distance (retail employees, customers, medical staff) removing or lowering masks. And unless I have a particular need to interact with them, I have no reason to approach them, and they aren't violating any orders. I have rarely encountered someone who failed to pull it up when they get within 6 feet of someone. 

I will tell you, I am 100% infinitely more comfortable with an unmasked person 10 or more feet away than one wearing a mask and stepping close enough for me to slug them if I swing my arm.

If he isn't removed by impeachment, it seems likely he'll have to have more than Sex and the City as competition for the Democratic ticket....in addition to whoever is running for other parties. 

46 minutes ago, Kevin said:

Sounds like maybe she couldn't get transfer on her own, so she got it anyway she could.  

Quite possibly....she did spend a lot of her short career drafting the "how to" guidelines for filing sexual complaints. 

But even so, pretty incriminating for his legal team to go along with such a "voluntary reassignment" in lieu of following the reporting process that is mandated by law (that AC himself enacted)....unless they had strong reason to suspect that would result in proving misconduct on his part. 

Six...as well as attorney's suggesting a probe into the decision to circumvent the legal requirement of Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER) investigation when #2 first complained last year.

Quote

 

Jessica Westerman, an attorney for the law firm representing Bennett — along with her associate Debra Katz — on Monday told the Times Union that the Executive Chamber's decision last year to handle Bennett's complaint "in-house" and not refer the matter to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER) needs to be a focus of the ongoing probe.

In that case, Jill DeRosiers, fielded the complaint from 25-year-old Bennett, and Garvey, a top member of the governor's legal team, assigned the matter to Judith Mogul, a special counsel for the governor. There was apparently no formal investigation, and it was resolved when Bennett "received the transfer she requested to a position in which she had expressed a long-standing interest, and was thoroughly debriefed on the facts which did not include a claim of physical contact or inappropriate sexual conduct."

 

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Cuomo-faces-new-allegation-of-sexual-harassment-16011424.php

I agree, the invitation that Moss extended to use the Wings of Eagles facility made much more sense. Easy highway access and ample space/parking.

On 3/1/2021 at 1:21 PM, TwinTiersLiving said:

“People are getting sick of it. I’ve been in the Bronx, I’ve been in Harlem, I’ve been inside the inner cities of New York City, I will tell you, they’re saying that the extreme policies of Albany are killing their communities.

Kind of obvious that he must have been considering some statewide office to be hanging out with constituents in AOC's district. 

2 hours ago, Chris said:

He’s not on the ropes just yet, but his legs are getting a little wobbly. Anyone else would have been done by now.

At least Spitzer knew when to quit.

There are 2 points Cuomo's second accuser that scream how narcissistic he is:

1) In is defense (apology?) he said he was "trying to be a mentor to Ms. Bennett".  Really?  Discussing sex lives is part of "mentoring" in his world?

2) For as young as she is...she spent a good portion of her short career working on  "Me Too" Advocacy .

Hint: before you start trying to "mentor" a young adult, maybe read their resume. You know, so you have a general idea of who they are, what they've achieved so far:

• Quote

   

  • From June 2016 to August 2016, she was a state legislative and policy intern at SurvJustive, a non-profit in Washington, D.C., USA that provides legal services to sexual violence survivors. (a) (b)
  • From 2014 to 2016, she was a volunteer at Hope’s Door, a non-profit in Pleasantville, Westchester County that provides counseling and resources to survivors of domestic violence. (a) (b)
  • From 2015 to 2017, she was a volunteer at The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA. (a) (b)
  • From September 2016 to February 2017, she was an education intern at Planned Parenthood in Utica, Oneida County. (a) (b)
  • While in Hamilton College, she founded the Sexual Misconduct and Assault Reform Task-Force (SMART) in October 2016 and the Policy Advisors for Sexual Assault in January 2017. She served as the director of the latter until May 2017 and the policy committee chair of the former until September 2017. (a) (b)

   

Funny how Nipple Ring claims that he didn't mean for some things to be taken as suggestive.....but somehow only made those playful friendly comments when he happened to be alone with them. 

Did I miss the response agreeing to the terms of that bet?

51 minutes ago, Chris said:

Who is this nefarious "they" and what is "their" motivation?

Right. 

It's not like any multinational corporations have seen any increased profits in the past year.

It's been as devastating to big tech and pharma as it has to small business. Like how Netflix and Disney+ are bankrupt while the Heights Theater's profits soared, right?

It seems obtuse to me for anyone to think very rich and influential corporations are somehow too altruistic to exploit a crisis or use their influence to promote whatever soap they've got for sale.

Do you honestly believe that the folks at Pfizer and Moderna are heartbroken to have a product that everyone on the planet is being compelled to get...at a "money is no object" price paid for by taxpayers all over the world? Or wouldn't try to persuade politicians to make this a repeating event if they can?

1 hour ago, MsKreed said:

county legislative body is required by law to submit to a referendum the question of whether a charter commission should be established and appointed

From the way I read that, in the event that the threshold of signatures is met, the "if" part of holding a referendum would be out of the Chair's hands (even with the unjustified authority the Legislature has given him).  

I've no doubt that several would try their best to make any commission (and any subsequent proposals) as self-serving as possible ....and it's possible that just being compelled by citizens to submit the referendum at all (or do anything that wasn't their idea) would sting enough to start considering public interest more. 

In addition to contacting their own legislators, members of the public have spoken out on social media, written letters to the Star Gazette, responded to online polls, spoken at Legislature meetings and submitted public comments to the clerk on many topics that the Legislature has still refused to act on....term limits, legislator compensation/benefits, public participation ....and even live streaming was refused until the governor forced them to offer it. 

Clearly, most of them have no inclination to to voluntarily accommodate the will of the citizens.

Quote

A proposed charter or proposed revision of an existing charter may be prepared by or under the auspices of the county’s governing body directly or by a specifically appointed charter commission. The charter drafting process may be initiated by the governing body itself or by voter petition and referendum.

Quote

Voter initiative. Under a procedure set forth in section 33 of the Municipal Home Rule Law, the voters of a county may petition the county legislative body to establish and appoint a charter commission. The petition calling for the creation of the charter commission must be signed by qualified voters equal in number to at least 10 percent of the votes cast in the county for Governor in the last gubernatorial election. In response to such a petition, the legislative body may create and appoint a charter commission on its own motion. Otherwise, the county legislative body is required by law to submit to a referendum the question of whether a charter commission should be established and appointed. If a majority of the votes cast on the question are in favor of the proposition, the legislative body must create a commission and appoint its members within two months following voter approval.

https://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/publications/Adopting_and_Amending_County_Charters.pdf

Chemung County cast 30,464 gubernatorial votes in 2018...

So 3,047 signatures on a petition to form a Charter Commission and offer a referendum to amend the charter with "X, Y or Z" would trigger a mandatory action from the Legislature. The resulting referendum may or may not pass, but it would at least remind them that the body exists for the citizens - not for themselves. 

Unfortunately, that would take at least 30 people gathering 100 signatures each, and I just don't see that happening without solid support from a few people with community reach and influence (media, business leaders, activists or former elected officials, etc etc)....and a little experience with law or local government. 

Seems like the USS Comfort and the Army Corps hospital built at the Javits Center could have been used as a "buffer" to send NH residents in downstate (the vast majority) that didn't need to stay in hospital beds that were desperately short in the NYC area. 

Did he ever offer an explanation why they weren't used for much of anything?

9 hours ago, Adam said:

2. but those that do become their constituents will be in the minority, so will be essentially irrelevant

I wonder how many of them live on or near district borders.....and could possibly face the karma of them being displaced to a whole new district. 😄

I will say that the 2 legislators who have  public web pages and "public figure" FB profiles that I follow are open and receptive to everyone who engages on their page.

The rest do seem to rely on the strategy of having an uninformed and/or apathetic public. And sadly, they are probably correct. Even people who are eager to rant, protest, like/react, complain, sermonize, question and otherwise "engage" in local politics on social media don't seem compelled to take action that could effect change. It was proven that even hundreds supporting a (non-binding) online petition for live streaming was ignored....until the Governor mandated it by executive order.

I tried a year ago to get people on board with finding (or forming) a group to look into and identify "actions" that could be taken by citizens...like drafting true petitions that could require a legislative response, etc.

If such a citizens "action" organization exists in Chemung County, they are a secretive bunch...and I found maybe 3-4 people that display any interest in that sort of thing before the pandemic hit. 

OK…I finished the audio from the advisory committee meeting (2/22). The participation from CGR representatives and the members’ questions to them were worth listening to.

As Exec Moss pointed out, these consultations historically result in “nicely packaged study of what the legislature, who commissioned the study wants outlined in the report”.  With that in mind, the discussion in yesterday’s meeting certainly did not contradict Moss’s hypothesis….

It’s perhaps worth noting that the backgrounds of half the members of the CGR team are in journalism and sociology. That fact does seem to insinuate that “messaging to the public” is a significant priority for the $48k service.

It is also a bit concerning that the CGR lead noted [at around the 50 minute mark] that the committee will receive a Draft Report that is not subject to FOIL until…. “we make sure that it’s an accurate reflection of the work you’re expecting from us”.

In other words,  “the committee can withhold any data that doesn’t support their agenda” from the final report and public hearing presented by CGR...and the public will never be given access to that, even if they try to request it via FOIL.

If a redacted version of the report can be offered, then all the oozing about “ensuring transparency” by an independent study is nothing more than posturing….no matter how professionally prepared and expertly messaged the report CGR presents is.  

The last 10-15 minutes sounded like a lot of lip-service for the tape recording. While I’m sure some of it was sincere….the assertions that ‘it’s all for the good of everyone in the county’ and ‘no politics are involved’ fall flat in contrast to the earlier declarations that some have zero interest in any concerns that aren’t from “their” voters.   

And speaking of committee members only feeling compelled to consider “their own” constituents.... They may claim not to have been contacted directly by “their constituents”, but at least one of the letters read aloud at the full Legislature meeting on 2/8 and listed in the minutes looked like it might be from a citizen in one of the districts represented on the committee. Even if the public comment has been from outside their respective districts.....it still raises a few points for me:

1)  The excuse that “I have not been contacted by constituents expressing XYZ position” is hollow unless they can argue that they have been contacted by constituents supporting the opposite position. Otherwise, they’re really just speaking on their own behalf – not for any of their constituents.

2) Since part of the conversation included them all acknowledging that their districts will likely change, “no one from my district has contacted me” is pretty short-sighted anyway. Someone who may not be “their constituent” today…could very well become part of "their" district once this project is complete. During a campaign can be an awkward time to suddenly "care" about someone whose concerns you contemptuously dismissed in the past.

I haven't finished listening yet, but I think the audio recording link I posted above for the meeting is interesting.

I think anyone interested in this matter would find it very informative and recommend checking it out. I have another 30 minutes to go and will share some of my own thoughts when I'm done. 

31 minutes ago, Chris said:

And yet didn't one of legislators just have something posted in the Star Gazette? ( I know one of them shared it on social media yesterday and now I can't find it anywhere, the share or the actual web page

 

That may have been what they were referring to....but I couldn't find it in SG without knowing a date and/or keyword to search.

http://www.chemungcountyny.gov/departments/a_-_f_departments/county_legislature/audio_recordings.php?fbclid=IwAR3CMwNlB4i-t_0NtnO6vN0NnsZPVd4WS1Ajakvh5LUDUBYbK-AT62lFcZI

The repeated insistence from committee members that they're only interested in concerns of "their" constituents is appalling. There seems to be open contempt for anyone who isn't able to vote them back into office.

11 hours ago, KarenK said:

They are not hearing complaints because their constituents are not even aware.  Not everyone has social media and believe it or not alot of people still get the actual paper.  This info needs to get out to everyone.

They don't identify themselves in the audio clearly....but at least one committee member was pissy about the fact that people can write letters to the editor and get their views published without  legislators offering a rebuttal.

Gasp.... Eeek... how dare they?

Just to be clear….is “Efficiency” of County Government Operations supposed to be a dog whistle for concentrated power and doing away with those tedious and “inefficient” checks and balances?

He won't go gracefully. His arrogance is....well it's beyond mere arrogance. I think its narcissism that is on the same pathological level as Trump's. Maybe higher, because the "critics" keep fueling his delusion of grandeur with praise and awards and book reviews.