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Opinion

Real world gets lost in internet imagery

Commentary

“We interrupt this program to make an announcement from Jersey City. Jersey City has just fallen.” This was the dire message broadcast to the world on the night before Halloween in 1938. The Martians had invaded earth. It was really a line from the script of Orson Welles’ radio version of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds,” and perhaps the first real fake news in media history. The broadcast, with its state-of-the-art sound effects and compelling voice actors, was so convincing that folks across the country fled from their homes in belief. People in cities ran to the hills. ...

Quippies

Commentary

Nin Privitera, former Fredonia resident, offers some offbeat takes on recent headlines: --- I recently saw a digital picture of the remains of a man thought to be 315,000 years old. I don’t know what he was eating but, to me, he didn’t look a day over 200,000. --- Scientists have found that if your blood pressure is high, you can lower it by listening to Mozart. And if your blood pressure is low, you can raise it by listening to Kamala Harris. --- Barack Obama recently said that we ought to put women in charge for two years because he believes that they would make things better. ...

Finish line in sight for Fredonia water

Commentary

Path is defined as a route, course, or track along which something moves. A course of action, conduct, or procedure. The course or direction in which something moves. Our village of Fredonia is on a path. It is one of direction and purpose. In years past, that was not the case. Today is a new day, and securing our new water source is the path we are on. The way forward is not easy, but it is navigable. Our path has twists, turns, climbs, and drops. The bedrock of this trail is based on vision, planning and partnership. Be assured that we have all of that. Sometimes that mountain peak ...

Misled can change course of U.S. through voting

Commentary

How do I condense all the insanity we are experiencing into a few paragraphs? It is not possible. I guess if you are a MAGA, you have no problem simplifying it all into a catch phrase, your “make America Great Again” slogan. That’s actually what needs to be done, now that your dear leader has messed everything up. It wasn’t perfect before the Trump takeover, that’s a fact. The trend in our national government was very much going in the wrong direction by allowing big money and corporate interests to have ever increasing influence in our politics. The Citizens United ...

Attendance matters with big tax dollars

The OBSERVER’s View

There is a lot of taxpayer dollars that CPL Architecture Engineering Planning receives from Chautauqua County alone. Just this week, the Silver Creek capital project including the new multi-sport athletic field — worth $36.1 million — was hailed as being handled by the firm. From all accounts, it is a job well done. Representatives from the North County Water District are not as jovial. Last month, CPL was criticized for its lack of attendance at the meeting. Rich Lewis, Portland town supervisor, also noted the group is failing to send reports. "This is totally unacceptable, ...

Maintaining republic requires understanding its founding

Commentary

CHAUTAUQUA – Let’s pick up where we left off 23 weeks ago, with a speech by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the University of Texas. Progressivism is a form of statism more commonly known in the United States as liberalism. Thomas explained that “progressivism” — the ...