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Other voices: Democracy doesn't require truth police

Commentary

It became fashionable a few years ago for people to blame “misinformation” for others holding views they find wrongheaded. Social media platforms, sometimes jawboned by the federal government, invoked this supposed crisis to justify censorship, especially during the pandemic. This insulted the intelligence of the American people, who can make up their own minds without being told what to think. A new study explores how exposure to “misinformation” on social media affected voters in 2020. The answer, drawn from a three-month experiment on nearly 16,000 users, is very ...

Reagan movie superbly made, worth seeing

Commentary

CHAUTAUQUA — After seven decades of tyranny, the Soviet Union and its empire collapsed due in no small measure to the efforts of two former actors and a grocer’s daughter. One actor—named Karol Wojtyla—grew up in Wadowice, Poland, and later moved to Krakow, where he eventually became a Roman Catholic priest, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal. The other actor—nicknamed Dutch—was born in Tampico, Illinois, grew up in nearby Dixon, and became a sports announcer at WOC in Davenport, Iowa, and WHO in Des Moines before moving on to acting. The two, of course, are John Paul II, ...

Taking on a crisis is unpopular, lonely at top

Editor's corner

At the conclusion of Dunkirk’s Common Council meeting, department heads and elected officials gathered around to congratulate newly approved Police Chief Doug Switzer. Since the retirement of Chris Witkowski in February, Switzer had been handling the duties before being officially approved ...

Busy weekend a draw for county

The OBSERVER’s View

It is Chautauqua County’s time to shine. Besides the regular staples that include Music on the Pier in Dunkirk and area Farmers’ Markets, there’s reason to believe this could be one of the biggest tourism weekends of the year. Other major events taking place include: — The 81st annual rodeo will be through Saturday. Shows at 8 p.m. Thrill to PRCA events, with bareback bronc, saddle bronc, bull riding, tie down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, and breakaway roping. Rain or Shine! 20 vendors at midway. — The National Comedy Center’s Lucille Ball Comedy ...

The marauding creatures of the night

Commentary

They are thieves. The bigger ones are bandits. What’s more surprising is that they are assisting our housekeeping efforts. I’m talking about the fact that we seem to be hosting a mini traffic jam on our deck in the middle of the night. They are eaters, but so far, the good kind. Two nights ago, as darkness set, Dear Richard was heading inside from our dinner on the deck. Since we had chomped down two luscious cobs of corn each, he was carrying the butter dish along with his dishes. Somehow, between the table and the living room door, he tipped the butter dish and the ...

Strong trio put nation, not party first

Commentary

The passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham got me wondering about political alliances he made with two other senators. They were John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, and the 2008 presidential nominee and Joe Lieberman, an Independent senator from Connecticut and former Democratic 2000 vice presidential nominee. McCain was a Naval hero, and a two-time presidential contender. He was born into a military family where both his father and grandfather were four-star Navy admirals. McCain became a Navy attack pilot. In 1967, during the Vietnam War his plane was shot down over Hanoi. He ...