SoTier

Sounds like a plan to me ... but why limit arming school kids to just school hours? IMO, requiring every American to have combat training and to carry a semi-automatic gun whenever they leave their homes would undoubtedly make the country infinitely safer. // sarcasm off

I live in a city with about 30,000 people -- almost twice the size of Uvalde -- and there are times when there are only 3 police officers on patrol in the entire city. Crime in this town -- in this entire county with a population of around 120-130k -- mostly involves drug use, drug sales, DUI, and low level property crimes like burglary, vandalism, car theft etc. I can't remember the last time any police officer in my city actually fired his/her revolver while on duty. Training in active shooter response for LEOs in places like this is very abstract because police officers have virtually no experience in dealing with active gun violence. Their experience with gun violence is almost always after the fact.

I didn't mention "gun violence" in general, but the distinctly American form domestic terrorism of mass shootings. Statistics can be found to "prove" whatever some advocate wants to prove just by picking the right dataset, and you are being disingenuous by deflecting my argument. Gun violence is so rampant in the US in 2021 that about 53 Americans die because of it every single day, so dismissing instances of mass murder as "a tiny sliver" of "gun violence" is a deliberate attempt to whitewash the recurring problem of heavily armed gunmen murdering random strangers, including school children, because the gunmen are dissatisfied with some aspect of their lives. Moreover, most instances of mass murder of random individuals who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time are committed by 1 or 2 heavily armed angry white males who easily and legally acquire rapid fire semiautomatic military style guns, not by criminals wielding illegal weapons. Making it more difficult for guns with the sole purpose of killing the most people in the shortest time to get into the hands of angry, disturbed and/or distraught individuals would most definitely reduce the number people killed by mass killers. It's hard to kill 10 people in a supermarket or 19 students and teachers in just a few minutes without a gun capable of rapidly firing 15 or 30 or more bullets without reloading.

This doesn't even happen regularly in supposedly "backward" countries that are beset by conditions we "civilized" Americans consider hallmarks of countries on the brink of anarchy like extreme poverty, political unrest, criminal cartels, local warlords, civil war, etc. It's time for Americans to have an "attitude adjustment" towards organizations and politicians who promote and support the idea that every nut has an absolute right to own as big and as deadly a firearms arsenal as they can afford.

Not in my "backyard" but as I was driving to the family camp in Gowanda on Tuesday, I flushed a bald eagle from the side of the road where it was likely breakfasting on a road killed critter. It was a back road, and obviously that eagle wasn't expecting to be disturbed. If he/she had flushed left towards the road instead away from it, I might have hit him/her. It's the closest I've ever been to a non-captive bald eagle, probably less than 50 feet, since it was just off the road and just in front of my bumper. I would have been crushed if I had actually hit him/her.

I did not address how Buffalo became segregated, which was the topic of the article above. Nothing in that article contradicts what I wrote previously. I described where Blacks were living when the Kensington Expressway was conceived and designed. The map from 1937 in the article showed that most Blacks lived in the old Ellicott District which was just east of Downtown, which is exactly where I said they were living until the later 1950s and 1960s.

Main Street has been a dividing line between the "good side" and the "poor side" of town going back to the Buffalo's days as a booming canal town in the1830s. The wealthy and middle class people lived west of Main Street and the working class and poor people lived east of Main Street all through the 19th and 20th centuries. The poor were concentrated in what was the old Ellicott District which was began on the east side of Main and spread east along North and South Divisions streets as well as in the Canal Street area and along the waterfront into the Old First Ward. Many of these neighborhoods were peopled by immigrants, first Irish and Germans, and were later joined or replaced by Italians, Poles, and Russian Jews. Buffalo's small population of pre-Civil War Blacks lived around Michigan Avenue in the Ellicott District, and it remained relatively small until the 20th century when the Great Migration brought a modest influx of Blacks from the South into Buffalo between the world wars. Buffalo didn't experience a significant influx of black newcomers until WW II and afterward. When the Kensington Expressway was planned, which would have been in the late 1940s or early 1950s, the Black population of Buffalo was much smaller and located much closer to downtown than it was by the time the expressway was completed in the 1960s, so it's not factual to claim that it was racially motivated. It was economically motivated, targeting poorer working class neighborhoods that city leaders believed should be leveled and used for something "better", ie, an expressway. The neighborhoods along the Kensington Expressway route generally were white, mostly ethnically German but were already changing because people with good paying industrial jobs looked for better housing than the crowded working class cottages and mutlifamilies that filled much of the East Stide. IOW, most of the whites who moved out of the Near East Side in the 1950s would have moved out to Kaisertown or Cheektowaga even without the Kensington because they wanted better housing. The Kensington expressway project accelerated that move. Blacks were the latest group of newcomers (along with Puerto Ricans) to come to Buffalo, and probably would have filled in the near East Side anyways, but perhaps not so quickly.

I can only speak about Buffalo's housing market west of Main Street because that's the area I know best. In that area, Buffalo's real estate market has been booming for more than a decade, especially west of Main Street. The prices in the most desirable West Side neighborhoods -- Allentown, Richmond Ave, Elmwood Village, Delaware District -- have skyrocketed, and that's meant an overflow of gentrification into parts of the Lower West Side, Black Rock, Connecticut Street, etc. North Buffalo has also been a desirable area going back to the 1980s, and its become even more so. Most of single family homes in these neighborhoods as well as many of the two family homes are owned by people who live in them. All these neighborhoods have lots of single family homes with some decent/interest architecture that appeal to modern buyers. Many of the grand old mansions and classic Victorians in the Delaware District have also been condos into pricey condos. Even lower end neighborhoods west of Main Street filled utilitarian two families like Grant Amherst and Grant Ferry have seen significant price increases. These homes are being bought up by younger buyers looking to build nest eggs with fixer uppers or as well as by investors.

That's just the nature of upscale urban living, in Buffalo or Boston or Chicago or Omaha or anywhere in the US. If this condo was in Allentown or the Delaware District or within walking distance of the Elmwood Strip, it would probably bring more than list price because of bidding wars. Those neighborhoods have "urban ambiance" that attract wealthy people who reject the suburban life-style found in Clarence or Orchard Park. Waterfront Village is more like a suburban condo/townhouse development close to downtown.

The problem I have with the general recommendation to remove feeders at this time of year is that food sources for all wild birds, especially migrants, are limited because so many have been depleted over the winter. The recommendation to plant native plants is great for the future but for this spring, it's nonsensical. Furthermore, since poultry and waterfowl are the types of birds impacted by this flu, the recommendation ought to be targeted to people living in proximity to poultry flocks, wetlands, rivers, lakes, etc. On a better note, today I took my dog to a local park that is mostly woods with a creek running through it. While sitting in a chair by the shelter house, I saw a pileated woodpecker fly past (I could see the white bars on his/her black wings). Later I heard their distinctive call and heard drumming. As New York developed and forests were replaced with cities, towns, and farms, pileateds became very rare outside of the State Forest Preserves in the Adirondaks and Catskills, but as upstate New York's rural areas, especially in the Southern Tier, reverted from mostly agricultural land to forest land since WW II, pileated populations in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties have grown significantly. While not common in back yards or at feeders, pileateds are frequently seen or heard in state forests, other forested public lands, and private woodlots.

Absolutely true. Many kids who come from money can't handle their wealth when they do get their share of the family wealth and run through millions. I think that recently the NFLPA has taken some steps to provide young players with financial mentoring because many players come from poor backgrounds, but even kids from middle class families can be overwhelmed by NFL salaries. Marshawn Lynch has really been outspoken about younger players taking care of their financial situations as have other current and former players recently.

Maybe the reason that Hughes is gone is because the Bills feel that Basham and/or AJE are capable of replacing him. Totally agree. QB isn't the only position where young players frequently step up big in their second or third seasons. A lot of college players made their draft slots based on their superior physical talent. In the pros, they not only have to learn new/better techniques and get their bodies into NFL playing shape, but they have to learn the way their opponents play the game to figure out how to be really effective, and they only gain that knowledge with experience, not only on the field but also in analyzing film. It takes a while.

I think that a lot of posters have unrealistic expectations of the Bills recent young DLers. These aren't top ten or top fifteen draft picks who realistically can replace entrenched starters but late first or late second round picks. They have some flaws that need to be fixed or overcome. It's not realistic to expect these young players to dislodge established starters as rookies or even as sophomores, especially because NFL defenses are much more sophisticated than most college defenses. There's a learning curve for all NFL newcomers, and some youngsters have more to learn than others. For the Bills and other outstanding teams' young defenders, it's even harder for them to break into starting lineups because the guys in front of them are better than the starters on many other teams. It's a lot easier for a young defender to have an impact on a 3 win team with a poor defense than on a 11 or 12 win team with a highly rated defense. IOW, show these young guys some patience. Did you do your best your job/career in your first couple of years on the job or after you've mastered all the nuances?

They planned on heading to Canada, but the woman who was supposed to help them chickened out at the last minute. Most believe that decision saved her life since the two cons she was going to help were both murderers.

RIP, Bob. I was a senior in HS when the Bonnies (they were the Brown Indians back then) went to the Final Four. It made me a college basketball fan for life, especially the NCAA Tournament.

That's a possibility. Sarcasm doesn't always come across via the printed word.

Your claim isn't supported by actual facts. Ralph Wilson was the reason the Bills sucked for most of years that he owned the team between 1970 and 2013, a total of 44 years. Between 1970 and 1987, the Bills had 12 losing seasons, 5 winning seasons, and 1 8-8 season. They made the playoffs 3 times and had 0 playoff wins. Between 1988 and 1999 the Bills reeled off 10 winning seasons and 2 losing seasons, made playoffs 10 times and went to the Super Bowl 4 times. From 2000 through 2013, the Bills had 11 losing seasons, 1 winning season, and 2 8-8 tied seasons. That's 25 losses, 16 winning seasons, and 3 tie seasons. Russ Brandon was hired by the Bills in 2004 or 2005 IIRC during which time he became Ralph Wilson's right-had man. He was promoted to GM in 2006. Ralph Wilson effectively stop actively participating in running the team during the 2009 season, so Brandon was effectively in total charge of the team until after the 2013 season. Brandon remained Bills president under Pegula until May, 2018. Under Brandon, 2006-2018, the Bills had 10 losing seasons, 2 winning seasons, and 1 8-8 seasons. Doug Whaley was Bills assistant GM between 2010 and 2013. He was named GM after the 2013 draft, and was fired after the 2017 draft. You might try to make a case for Brandon being responsible for much of losing between 2000 and 2018, but Whaley's tenure was simply too short. He essentially ran 3 drafts -- 2014, 2015, and 2016. The buck always stops at the top, and Wilson was the man in charge for 44 years since 1970 and hired/promoted Brandon. Since Pegula purchased the team, 2014-2021, the Bills have 5 winning seasons, 2 losing seasons, and 1 8-8 season, making the playoffs 4 times.

I think that all three of the above posts are valid observations, but keep in mind that Whaley didn't have as much power as most GMs have since Russ Brandon ran the Bills with the aim of maximizing profits. Consequently, not only were player personnel decisions made primarily to improve the bottom line, but this also applied to support staff like scouts and player evaluators. IIRC, Tom Modrak was still running player evaluations remotely from Philly when Beane was hired and cleaned out the administration. I think Whaley did a decent job within the limitations put on him by the Bills. I think he might be a good pick for the Stillers GM.

I'm not surprised. IIRC, Whaley was in the Steelers' organization before he came to the Bills.

Brees is an excellent example, especially because he shares some physical limitations with Mayfield, primarily height and arm strength. I think that the Yankees are the favorite baseball team of the majority baseball fans in every county in New York State from Queens to Erie.

When I had season tix, I got to be friends with the couple sitting next to me (I had sesats on the aisle). I sold the tix to them a couple of times when none of the family wanted to go.

I bolded the biggest problem with Mayfield that I see. Essentially, he made the same mistakes in 2021 that he was making in 2019 and 2020. Cleveland didn't decide to move on from Mayfield because his physical play suffered from his injury but he was still making the same kind of stupid decisions as a fourth year QB he was making as a sophomore. I'm not sure that he's put in enough time/effort into understanding the mental nuances of playing QB in the NFL. He obviously doesn't learn from his mistakes because he keeps making the same ones again and again. Mayfield also doesn't take responsibility for his own mistakes but blames others, which is simply unacceptable in an NFL QB. He's done it repeatedly, and it's likely why he's doesn't get support from his teammates. IOW, he not only has progressed enough to become a top QB, he doesn't seem to have the personality to be one, either.

The market for $1million+ condos in downtown Buffalo is probably much smaller than the market for $250K condos, and certainly much smaller than $1 million+ single family homes in the city and suburbs.

Neither Cleveland nor the Browns fans deserve this plague. Maybe Pats fans deserve Brandon but not Browns fans. Hell, even Jests fans don't deserve him.

You sound like one of those fools who don't wear seat belts because he/she doesn't personally know anybody who was saved from serious injury or death because he/she was wearing one. You do realize that a week out from landfall, the exact path of any hurricane is still too subject to a variety of atmospheric steering forces for anyone to predict with high accuracy for any specific location, right? It's hardly "bad faith" to warn people of the possibility of dangerous weather. Prior to Katrina, Louisianans and other Gulf Coast residents held "hurricane parties" as they waited for big storms to come ashore rather than evacuate. They don't do that much any more.