Use of Force

It seems in recent months the NFTA has escalated from your garden variety thuggery and tazings. An NFTA officer involved in a fight with an alleged car thief on July 28 earned the dubious honor of being the first to fire his weapon at a suspect, hitting the man in the buttocks. What’s next, drone strikes?

Propaganda Machines

In what can only be regarded as a liberal conspiracy against America, local PBS station WNED bought NPR affiliate WBFO for $4 million on July 28—thus consolidating a nefarious left wing news machine that is godlessly brainwashing our children to be less selfish and more informed individuals.

Equal Playing Fields

In a move pushed by several nervous restaurant competitors, the Buffalo Common Council tabled a proposal on July 28 that would allow food trucks to sling their wares for up to two hours at any metered spot. Who wants to bet these are the same types constantly bitching about government interveneing in the free market?

International Finance

Holy shit the bank changed...again. HSBC announced on July 31 it will sell all 195 Upstate branches and their $15 billion in deposits to Buffalo-based First Niagara in a $1 billion deal. Totally shocking, by the way, that a mega bank would abandon a strong, loyal, small market in pursuit of foreign riches.

Bullying

Props to congresswoman Louise Slaughter, who on Aug. 2 was the only local pol to stand up to the Tea Party—which held the prospect of default like a gun to the govt’s head—and vote no on a heavily slanted deal to extend the debt ceiling. Rule number one: you don’t negotiate with terrorists.

Net loss in millions of residents to domestic migration in New York State between 2000 and 2010 according to a report released Aug. 2 by the Empire Center for New York Policy. For a second conseuctive decade, New York’s state-to-state migration as a percentage of the total population was the highest of any state. County-wise only Westchester (-76,028) and Nassau (-71,907) registered more outmigrants than Erie County (-46,514).