MsKreed

Possibly, to some extent. But I'm more alarmed at the lack of culpability for trained mental health professionals who "evaluate" dangerous nut jobs and then declare them mentally fit to go on about their delusional lives walking amongst us with weapons. Like the Buffalo shooter, this guy had already been identified as a threat. We will likely not ever know if the "professionals" simply let him go without reporting the danger -- or if they additionally prescribed him meds that exacerbated his violent thoughts. If untrained minimum wage bartenders can be held criminally responsible for not recognizing impairment and 'contributing' to DWI fatalities, why aren't those doctors accountable?

I'm not familiar with what you're referencing here. Can you share it? Without it, my reply below may be completely off-point from what you're talking about. My peripheral understanding has been that disputes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians have been sporadic for years......but the Israel government has built walls and implemented (extremely sophisticated) security to maintain a delineated "border", particularly since the 2006 election of Hamas to govern Gaza. Meanwhile Hamas (the elected government that openly states it does want to conquer all Israeli held land) is the entity that's been relentlessly trying to dig under and climb over the wall into Israel. If intrusion from settlers was the primary problem for Palestinians, then why would their government (Hamas) be doing everything possible to breach the border instead of trying to secure it to protect from settlers? And conversely, if the Israeli government wanted to facilitate settlers’ expansion into Gaza, they’d not likely have been the ones obstructing any and all crossings outside the points of entry (where Palestinians were reportedly welcomed to enter for work to the tune of 20k per day, or seek refuge from brutal punishment if they’re gay).

Looks like there wasn't a third location. One mentally ill suspect still at large:

Yes, there could be some land opened up "if" the Gaza strip was completely vacated of Palestinians. However, I don’t think that’s a likely possibility....or a goal for Israel. First, because, Gaza’s 140.9 sq mi really doesn’t represent much “real estate”. In relation to Israel’s landscape, adding less than 2% doesn’t seem like a priority at this point. Their priority is to remove the terrorist Hamas zealots who constitute a continual threat to safety (whose Charter is built on the aspiration to remove all the Jews from “the river to the sea). Even now, after the October 7th massacre, Israel hasn’t expressed plans to drive non-combatant Palestinians out of Gaza -- just to eliminate Hamas. Source

Agreed...It’s highly unlikely that Israel had any plans to “flatten” Hamas (or Gaza) as of October 6th. They had entered into the Abraham Accords with multiple Arab nations that finally agreed to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation....and were actively working with the Saudi government to achieve more normalized relations in the region (including consideration of a “two state solution”).

If you're now supporting charging the property owners to fix their own neglected property, then we agree now. Nice to see you come around from your earlier nonsense:

I did notice on his campaign site that he encourages transparency and raises concerns of “secrecy”. When you say that “Elmira” is keeping quiet, can we surmise that your council member, the mayor, Mr. McCracken and/or the City Manager have been asked about these things directly and failed to respond? We’ll have to agree to disagree on this. If a property owner refuses to responsibly maintain their property themselves, and the result is that they get “free” services that may improve their capital value (at the expense of other taxpayers), then they are indeed being rewarded for neglecting their property.

Expanding on this point.....I'm curious if the City of Elmira already has some such ordinance on the books that is not being fully enforced. I don't live or own property in the City, so haven't researched it. But I assume your candidate, as a concerned, erudite voter and taxpayer with active involvement in City governance and Council meetings must have already looked into the existing laws of the City he seeks to represent.

It doesn’t seem fair or rational to hold other taxpayers responsible for a Landlord’s offenses. The property owner should be held responsible rather than forcing their neighbors to shoulder the costs through a “budget line” that rewards the landlord for neglecting their property. Other municipalities have local laws/ordinances that give them the authority to have violations remediated by a designated governmental agency or a contractor and the expense charged to the violator and impose a special assessment (lien) on the property if the owner fails to pay.

On FB, I’d imagine you’re probably right about more negativity for Elmira than Corning. Here, most people look at stuff in more nuanced ways.....like Karen’s point that we’re seeing more stories about violence among young women. As for me, which school isn’t as noteworthy as the overall trend of rising youth violence and lack of civility....(humanity, respect for human life?). And the fact that all school systems have a problem with criminal behavior that is ignored and proactively concealed from the public eye. It really shouldn’t surprise me that, as some of these students reach adulthood, we are seeing them commit crimes outside the school hallways. Whether it’s drugs or theft, or the endless list of assaults and batteries that quietly get swept under a rug called “bullying” (that school administrators hardly acknowledge, even when they’re streamed on social media). I can't recall hearing about any SRO in the area making an actual arrest since Jeremy Getman in 2001.

Not even a 60/40 split. Israel's share is only 14% of the $106.7 Billion. HERE is the breakdown and details. In summary:

Congress:

Ben Shapiro’s friend made much more rational arguments. Basam is off his rocker, beyond sarcasm to the POS to poke fun at the deaths on both sides. And whatever “statistics” he claims are on his chart (that we can’t see) can’t be trusted when his other numbers are wildly – whether intentional or for dramatic effect. Straight out of the gate, before he waved his chart around, with its alleged historical data......he (falsely) stated that 5,000 innocent Palestinians were killed in the hospital explosion (which, apparently at the time of this interview, the origin had not yet been determined and still trusted Hamas’s claim that it was IDF). Even if it had turned out to be an IDK missile.... Hamas says 500, not 5,000, and US and other intelligence has indicated that 500 is overstated and more like 150-200 casualties.

The disparate "rankings" (published within days of one another) is pretty amazing. Source

This is 100% true. Once upon a time, Democratic candidates such as Jim Hare, John Tonello and the likes regularly won Mayoral elections. Although the County BOE website does not list results before 2013.....I know Sue Skidmore won the seat at least once (in 2011). But it appears that since her term.....the City seems to have lost confidence in Democrats. In 2015, the Dem/Working Party, etc candidate received 801 votes to 2880 for the Rep/Con candidate. In 2019, the Dem/Working Party, etc candidates received 884 votes to 2257 for the Rep/Con candidate. As I noted in the "Worst Small Cities" topic, I don't think Elmira is perfect....but I have to admit that it has seen some improvement in the time Mandell has been in office.

Whenever I see lists and rankings like this.....I question the authors' perception and perspective on the "criteria" that they consider relevant. While I agree with @LocalSportsGuy that Elmira is not close to perfect.....I also find it far more tolerable than Ithaca, which this "study" ranked much higher than Elmira. I can't see what they used to measure for vague categories like "Quality of Life"....and it's hard to fathom how "Affordability" somehow has an inverse relationship to "Economic Health".

Despite the US and Israeli goal to prevent a full WW3 from spreading across the region, I fear that this conflict has hardly begun. Protests have broken out at consulates and embassies in several Arab nations, and there are now reports of US bases being targeted by armed drones in Iraq. Source

I had a Journalism professor who used to say, "All News is Local News" emphasizing that a good reporter can always find a local connection to every national or international story. As an institution, Cornell is facing the same problem as many organizations.....tip-toeing around, trying to placate everyone. Having to repeatedly "clarify" and issue new statements so as not to offend anyone at all. Unable to decide which “victims” deserve more pandering. (Jewish students and staff? Muslims who identify as Palestinian? Or how about the Student Assembly’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and some of the LGBTQIA+ liaisons who don’t support the the Palestinians stance that would impose the death penalty on them?). Source: President Pollack Releases Third Statement on Israel-Hamas War, Condemns Cornellians’ Glorification of Hamas Attacks

Source

This point has been twisting my brain. It makes the skeptic in me wonder if their motive is to keep innocent Palestinians in Gaza for the very purpose of creating some self-fulfilling prophesy that ensures IDF’s reaction causes more civilian deaths that “prove” how evil Israel is.

This is what bothers me more than anything..... For all the public incidents we have seen with all three (McConnell, Feinstein and Biden), one has to assume there are many more happening that aren't reported.

Yes, heritage and historical preservation are important. But not at the sacrifice of practical utilization and providing services that benefit the public. The historic purpose of the original pool (which, as Rod points out, was replaced in the 1940’s) was a community resource, open to the public for use as an aquatic recreation. As middle and upper income families (homeowners and gated condo/apartment complexes) increasingly have the means to invest in private pools, while lower income and urban residents have far fewer options. Why would the City waste funds and resources creating what is essentially a shrine to a past (replaced) recreational facility....instead of repurposing the property into a modernized aquatic recreational facility (splash park) that fulfills the historic purpose??? “Hey kids! We know the summer months are long and hot and your parents can’t afford to transport you to Harris Hill or someplace else outside the city to safely cool off and play in the water. But we have put a lot of effort into sprucing up the shell of this concrete behemoth. So you can stand around admiring it and be reminded of how your grandparents actually had a public facility where they could enjoy water-play when they were your age!!”

I'm pretty sure the students at Southside High in 2001 were very happy to have an armed School Resource Officer that they could report concerns to. And he calmly approached and disarmed the would-be killer....instead of "shooting first and asking questions later". Source CNN

You're not kidding. Here are some shots of the area by Lattabrook Park (Coca Cola, Scwanns) Can't seem to get the embed to work. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fandrew.stamp.3%2Fvideos%2F232745049755363%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>

There’s a local group that holds a car show every Friday (4-8pm) outside the vacant Sears and HL Stephens end of the mall. I attended on recently and went inside the mall to take a look while I was there. It was very disheartening. There were more people in the parking lot for the informal little car show than all of the shoppers and employees inside the mall combined. Not only the number of empty stores....but many that were still operating were closed by 5pm on a Friday night. It was relayed to me that one of the vendors from the Food Court often operates a sandwich truck for car show attendees....and has expressed that he makes more money on those Fridays than the entire rest of the week inside the mall.