Forced masks is all about control | Letters
It is wrong to force people to wear a mask to protect the vulnerable few.
Those who feel at-risk should be the ones taking greater caution.
The symptoms of this virus are overwhelmingly mild and the deaths are few compared to the flu for the past several years, and the many “asymptomatic” people are not even sick, which is defined as “feeling ill.” People who do not feel ill are not sick and the idea that they can transmit the virus to others is insubstantial.
The PCR test used was never approved by the FDA because it doesn’t actually test for a virus. It tests one’s own genetic material and has up to an 80% error rate. That’s 4 out of 5 false positives. This is all documented in the literature about the test.
Mask-wearing should be a choice and I am appalled that not adhering to an ordinance is a misdemeanor offense. This overstretching of authority turns people who care about our constitutional rights into criminals?
There should be more people questioning the truth: the hospitals are not overwhelmed, people dying are perishing from illnesses negatively affecting their health long before COVID-19, and their death causes are being reassigned to COVID-19 because the hospitals get more money this way. The numbers are being manipulated to look much worse. It’s time for people to wake up to the lies being perpetuated and stop giving away your freedoms. We often don’t get them back.
Donna Monroe
Hilton Head Island
Don’t fall for propaganda
The Fox News propaganda machine thinks if they say over and over that Joe Biden is getting senile everyone will believe it.
Being a stutterer in his youth, he sometimes hesitates or switches to words that are easier for him to use. All you need to do is watch Biden in his town halls, as I have, answering all the questions in an intelligent and transparent way.
In contrast, watch President Donald Trump as he campaigns daily on his way out of Washington, berating reporters to deflect from the fact that he can’t answer their simplest questions.
Biden remembers more than Trump ever knew.
Remember the horrible doctored photos of Hillary Clinton, who Fox News and The Enquirer accused of having serious health problems? She looks a lot better than Trump right now.
If you fell for their untrue propaganda before, I hope you don’t do so again, and are ready to vote for Joe Biden, an honest and qualified leader.
Gail Chirichetti
Bluffton
Trump and his base are killing democracy
I have always believed that supporters of President Donald Trump were generally good people who were motivated by their individual concerns: right to own a gun, anti-abortion convictions, fervor for the appointment of conservative judges, etc. Trump was the villain with his many character flaws: pathological lying and blatant narcissism. The list could go on. Why these good people could choose Trump, the man, to represent their values I never could see.
But now further into Trump’s horrible tenure as president, I see I was wrong.
Trump does nothing without the approval of his base. He lives for them.
They yell “lock her up” and “build the wall. They are gleeful when he smears members of Congress with uncalled-for denigrating names. They approve of snatching children from their parents.
Many won’t wear masks to protect others in the height of the virus pandemic. They are elated when he praises white supremacists carrying Nazi flags, and root him on when he destroys truth, and brings down freedom of the press to suppress the truth.
This is their agenda, the agenda of Trump’s army. Trump, the fearful, will not disobey his masters.
As a retired military person, I have never been political, hopefully addressing only policy. Although I did serve two tours in the Vietnam War, and did oppose the Iraq war, I have never endorsed any party for office. This is different. Trump and his supporters, intentional or not, are destroying democracy in America. It must stop.
Joseph J. Ohnstad
Hilton Head Island
Many seem to hope for doom
The COVID-19 pandemic will likely be the worst catastrophe since World War II but given the initial estimates of U.S. deaths, we should be pleased on how well our nation has weathered this crisis.
The principal goal was to flatten the curve and prevent our health care system from collapsing. Thousands of makeshift beds and surplus ventilators were unused.
Once we learned to protect the most vulnerable (aged with underlying health problems), the number of hospitalizations peaked in early May and death rates steadily declined. As the economy reopened and millions were tested, the cases increased. The good news is most of these cases are younger people with fewer health issues. This helped reduce hospitalization and death rates and greatly improved the herd immunity we will need to control the contagion.
Despite this, our nation is in a real foul mood. There is anger, fear, blame and false accusations. In a time to come together, the media and some politicians continue on a path of tearing this country apart.
The president, governors, mayors and public health experts have all made mistakes. But the media, once again, promote their nonstop storyline that a certain political party and certain parts of the country have grossly mishandled the virus and needlessly let thousands of Americans die as cases skyrocket out of control.
With the November election looming, it seems that many are hoping for a huge second wave and a failing economy. With God’s help, pray that we do better.
Brian Thoreson
Moss Creek
Trump worse than imagined
Since November, I have had five letters to the editor published. Titles include “Republicans threaten nation,” “GOP, reevaluate principles,” “Trumpism worsens, POTUS leadership a failure,” and “Trump and GOP completely finished.”
My opinions of President Donald Trump and Republican leadership have been rather harsh. However, America is in an even worse situation than I imagined.
Steve Schmidt, founder of Lincoln Project and Republican turned independent political strategist, says, “The analogy would be in the same way that fire purifies the forest, they (all Republican senators with exception of Mitt Romney) need to be fundamentally repudiated. Every one of them should be voted out of office.”
GOP senators failed to put a check in any way on the incompetent, corrupt-minded Trump. Therefore, they have failed catastrophically for the country as a whole in fulfilling their duties and their oath to office. Additionally, virtually all Republican House members have demonstrated consistently that they support Trump’s conduct and ineptitude.
Now, we have Trump siding once again with Putin rather than U.S. intelligence officials on the Russian bounty on our troops. This alone should be grounds for immediate removal from office and shows that he is a traitor. Along with the administration’s complete bungling of the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump’s fanning of racism, he cements himself as our country’s greatest national security risk.
Ideally, we need Trump to be humiliated with a 20 million popular-vote defeat, which will effectively end “Trumpism.” Democratic leadership is a must to handle America’s greatest challenges.
Mike Bartholomew
Hilton Head Island
Finally, he’ll be doing his own laundry
I’ve never met David Lauderdale, yet I feel like I’m having breakfast with my favorite neighbor each time I read his column. And one of my biggest fears about The Packet has happened. No, not that it would stop production, but that he would.
His columns are always fair, honest and enlightening, with a gentle dose of humor to entertain us. He always seem to know what we’re feeling and how he can help us handle whatever it is. From hurricanes to local politics, he has narrated but never preached – a rare commodity in today’s media.
So best wishes to the greatest “Lint trap of the Lowcountry,” and may he enjoy every day now “doing his own laundry and not worrying about ours.”
Lee Stearns
Bluffton