Letters to the Editor

A Feb. 2010 Reuter’s News report on the 2009 “Swine Flu” (H1N1) virus noted that in the USA 300,000 were infected, 60,000 hospitalized and 18,000 died. There were no runs on toilet paper, no school closings, no travel bans, nobody too scared to go to church and no media-induced hysteria.

The CDC government website states that during the six-month period from Oct. 1, 2019, to March 7, 2020, there have been between 36 million to 51 million persons ill from the flu we deal with each year, resulting in 22,000 to 55,000 deaths in the USA. There has been no panic, financial crisis or event cancellations.

The same CDC government website reports that in the past 60 days (Jan. 12 to March 12, 2020), there have been 1,629 COVID-19 (corona) virus cases in the USA with 41 deaths, all unfortunate individuals being over 50 years old, mostly with pre-existing health conditions.

This is another virus in a long line of bird flu, swine flu, west-Nile flu, measles, etc. In two years, there will be a new virus. Some may again yield to panic.

At 70 years old, I vote “No” and decline to participate in this media-induced hysteria. I will not surrender control of my life to fearmongers, and if I get sick, I’ll deal with it. The one true God remains in control, and I know I will not die one day sooner than He ordains.

Allen S. Brown Jr.

Tyler

BRILLIANT

Your March 16 blank sports page was brilliant. I sent a picture of it to family and friends and everyone I sent it to loved it.

Michael Pangburn

Tyler

EVOLVING TRUMP

Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump were fit to be president. My opinion of Donald Trump, however, has evolved. I do not like Trump’s manners, his name calling, his distortions of the truth and his need to applaud himself, but I recognize he is addressing problems that have been long ignored. Maybe the greatest issue is that China (PRC) is not our friend, and cheating and stealing is in the PRC leadership’s DNA.

Not Obama, Bush, Clinton nor H.W. Bush were willing to confront the PRC. Trump recognized the problems and was willing to take them on. In doing so, Americans have been educated to their growing menace. China’s military and economic growth is mostly the result of cheating on free trade rules and on stealing civilian and military intellectual property. I applaud President Trump for his recognition of the problem and willingness to fight back.

The current coronavirus started in Wuhan China, yet the official Chinese media is stating the virus was developed in the U.S. and launched in China by our military. The PRC is hinting they may withhold vital drugs from being shipped to the U.S., which could inhibit our ability to heal those infected.

As we approach the 2020 election, does Biden or Sanders have the strength, backbone and motivation to continue to take this battle to the Chinese? I don’t think so. Biden is tired, compromised and probably senile, and Berny has dubious other priorities.

Francis Franck

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