COVID Not As Bad As Flu

Dear Editor,

With all the talk about COVID, have you ever wondered if anyone gets the flu anymore?

Looking at the facts can be eye-opening when comparing COVID versus flu. In six months between Oct. 1, 2019 and April 4, 2020, there were about 50 million cases of the flu with  500,000 hospitalizations, 50,000 deaths, and 10 percent of people hospitalized.

Let’s compare this with COVID. Now that we’re 11 months into 2020, we have had a mere 100,000 hospitalizations and this is with the heavy political pressure to call virtually every illness or death COVID. That’s only 20 percent as many hospitalizations as from the flu, yet in half the time, so it’s closer to 10 percent.

What’s more, this year’s flu season were lower than usual for every region in the United States. I wonder why. Could it possibly be because many flu cases were diagnosed as COVID due to the extreme rewards offered to hospitals for subsidies for each COVID case?

Get this. There is no statistical difference in the number of children hospitalized for flu vs. COVID-19, and it only kills one in one thousand children, if that.

So why all the fuss about a virus that is essentially a new version of a common cold?

Had no one made a big deal about COVID-19 and it just made its way through the population, people likely would have viewed it as another version of a cold or flu, people developing herd immunity, and our economy would still be intact.

Let’s drop the fear of dying of COVID and get on with life — but keep washing your hands. That’s always a good habit, especially if you have the habit of picking your nose.

Jerry McGlothin

 

 

Democrats Are Going To Waste Your Taxes

Dear Editor,

Elections have consequences and you are about to find out what they are when you voted for Democrats.  Voters rejected a tax increase but approved a $300 million bond for schools. (Skip Alston wanted $1.6 billion.)  Their first order of business – Alston and other Democrats want to throw away $11 million by giving it to High Point to bail out its failing stadium.

High Point voters overwhelmingly rejected a stadium, but the High Point City Council said they were going to build it anyway.  In 2017, the High Point City Council presented false and bogus financial information while trying to bamboozle the county out of $11 million for the stadium.  Thankfully, the Republican controlled county board rejected wasting taxpayer money.  The High Point council said the project would cost $35 million.  Actual cost is approaching $70 million when you include $15 million in interest and another $15 million for land acquisition, development costs and “other” expenses.  That tells you all you need to know about the honesty of High Point financial numbers.

Each year the Rockers are required to pay High Point so they can pay off the debt.  However, during their first year, attendance was well below council estimates and was next to last according to league officials.  Then the China virus hit.  So-o the Rockers didn’t play this year (no word yet about 2021) and can’t pay their bills and have headed to arbitration with the city.  They are trying to restructure their debt – extend the debt payment time period and pay more money to the banks. 

High Point gleefully wants county money and says their help will not cost the county anything because property values will increase and the county will receive more property taxes as a result.  This is the same argument they presented in 2017.  Why not save the $11 million Skip and the Democrats want to throw at High Point and, when coupled with the increase in property tax revenue (if that happens), use that money to help pay off the $300 million recently approved school bond?

If the county throws away money for the stadium, High Poin ttaxpayers will actually be paying twice.  First through High Point taxes and second through Guilford County taxes.  County tax money for the stadium will not help High Point taxpayers.  It will be an extra burden. Sort of a penalty for the High Point council ignoring voters who said no to a stadium.  Do you think taxpayers in Stokesville or Brown Summit (32 miles from High Point) should pay for the High Point stadium?  Should county tax money be diverted from the schools and the $300 million bond debt to pay for a baseball stadium?   This is especially true since voters rejected a tax hike.  If you live in Greensboro, why would you want your county property tax money wasted on another stadium in another city that may have a baseball team that completes with your team?  Do you really want to support your competition?

Guilford County, why do you want to throw away $11 million of taxpayer money for a failing business venture?  The High Point council built the stadium on their own without county money so let the High Point council figure out a way to pay for it on their own without any county money.  As a resident of HP and Guilford County, please, please, please don’t throw a money anchor to a drowning stadium project and High Point taxpayers.  We are already paying too much and getting far too little in return. 

One last point.  If you disagree with me, that’s fine.  I welcome the opportunity to hear different viewpoints and to have a civil discussion about them.  However please be brave and honest enough to post your actual name and not just your screen name.  I did.  Will you?

Ken Orms

 

 

Mandatory Gun Buy Back

Dear Editor,

Bunker Joe Biden is on record as being for the infringement of American citizens Second Amendment constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Let me pause for a moment while the rabid anti-gun lobby’s flying monkeys and other brainwashed minions go on their usual mindless rants. OK, that’s enough time.

Biden and his soon-to-be-replacement Harris have openly called for a “mandatory buy-back of weapons of war.” Note the key word there – ”mandatory.” Also, would someone on the alt-left (my new description) please tell me what a “weapon of war” is? And before you answer, remember wars have been fought with everything from fists to rocks to spears to knives to swords, so that being said, go ahead and show us your true colors.

“Mandatory” buy-backs, outright bans on selected types of guns, at least for starters, as many roadblocks as possible being thrown up to prevent people from legally purchasing and owning guns. The next and most logical step when these tactics are ultimately shot down by SCOTUS is to go after ammunition. Expect ridiculous taxes being placed on purchases, limits on amounts purchased mandatory registration on purchases.

Another tactic is going to be a mandatory federal registration system of all firearms. Let me rephrase that. A mandatory federal registration system of all legally own firearms. Why go after criminals when you have a whole bunch of low hanging fruit in the form of people who try to play by the rules only to get the hammer dropped on them by a future socialist/fascist government.

Not since the War Between the States has this country been on the brink of open, violent conflict. Regardless of which way the presidential election goes, there are going to be plenty of radical people who are going to use the results as an excuse for violence. And when they start, the other side will use that as their excuse to take their own action. And politicians on both sides will use the unrest as an excuse to exercise and consolidate their power over the American people. Everybody loses except them. What the solution is I don’t know.

Alan Marshall

 

 

When Answers Cause More Troubling Questions

Dear Editor,

A Dominion representative claimed their voting machine could not be manipulated or produce incorrect results since a hard copy result is printed out. If the voter is encouraged to review an accurate printout, this is an extremely reasonable argument. However, during the Pennsylvania State Senate election irregularity hearing, an important detail emerged. An 80-year-old Republican voter reviewed the machine printout.

All of her down ballot selections were recorded. Her vote for President Trump was missing. She claimed the election official said, “most people don’t look at the printout.” So, she was gently encouraged to not check accuracy of the printout. She continued to question the printout. The elections official said the vote wasn’t recorded for “voter privacy.” Since voters are encouraged to not look at their own printouts, you can assume that voters aren’t allowed to look at other voters either. Also, only one race, the presidential race, was hidden for privacy. Other down ballot results that require similar privacy concerns were printed out.

The voter’s daughter confirms the incident occurred as stated. The voter’s daughter and son-in-law both confirmed that their presidential choices were recorded on the printout in another election precinct.

We don’t know if the machines involved were produced by Dominion. However, this points to exactly how a precinct could produce inaccurate vote count despite the check. Remember, Antrim County Michigan used Dominion machines. The Dominion machine produced inaccurate results. In Pennsylvania, the voter was encouraged to not review the printout/evidence. The vote selection was not included for extremely questionable “privacy” reasons. These voter printouts are likely used to perform hand re-counts. By not including the results in the printout, the manual recount will match machine generated falsified results.

This was one of many troubling details that emerged from testimony of eyewitnesses and experts under oath. This will continue to be “unsubstantiated” as long as it is not investigated. This must be investigated now to discourage it from happening again.

Alan Burke