Sounding off: What I've learned from covid-19

Since March 2020 when this pandemic started, I have learned that this virus is very intelligent. I had expected people to be dropping dead in the streets based on the media hype, but the virus seems to have evolved so much in the past five months that it:

• Understands that it cannot travel any farther than 6 feet between any two people.

• Even though it is three times smaller than a particle of cigarette smoke, it cannot penetrate a mask that a smoke particle has no trouble penetrating.

• It cannot go around such things as face shields or Plexiglas barriers. It somehow knows its boundaries and limits.

• It cannot infect you if you are in a bar and you order an alcoholic beverage and a food item. This is what confuses me. Is it the alcohol or the food item that has the effect?

• It cannot affect you if you go to a car show where over 20,000 people are allowed, but it can if you attend an event where greater that 250 people attend. Somehow it has learned to count.

• The death toll in Westmoreland County from covid-19 as of August 31 was 49. The population of Westmoreland County in 2018 was 348,899. Thus, the mortality rate is 1.4 per 10,000 people. Why the extraordinary measures?

I really wish someone would explain this to me, as I am open to scientific discourse regarding this matter.

George Silowash, Penn Township, Westmoreland County

Vote Republican to preserve freedoms

Who deserves your vote in November? The Republicans are led by a divisive president who is demonized by Democrats and self-proclaimed intellectuals, but supported by many working Americans. He is demeaned for his personal style but admired for his economic and executive accomplishments.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party favors defunding our police and seems to ignore mob violence and destruction and promote socialism and Marxist-directed organizations. Democrats favor eliminating fossil fuels and oppose funding of a border wall that would keep out drug dealers, sex traffickers and illegal aliens.

This all began in 2016 when America rejected Hillary Clinton as president. Left-wing Democrats, government bureaucrats and their counterpart media tried everything possible, lawful or not, including impeachment and the phony Steele dossier, to remove President Trump from office. Their hate seems to stem primarily from Trump’s promise to remove the Washington, D.C., swamp politicians from their positions of power.

I don’t think Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler and Chuck Schumer have any limit to how low they will sink to remove the president. I believe they spied, lied and hid facts, and the left-wing media repeated their lies. They employed unscrupulous government investigators and prosecutors to file bogus charges against the president and his supporters.

If you believe that all this is for the good of our country, vote for Democrats. If you want to preserve this great land of freedom, opportunity, and law and order, vote otherwise. In my view, your choice is between charismatic left-wing socialists or experienced conservatives.

Ron Raymond, Buffalo Township

Not all Democrats are ‘radical left’

I received a pop-up ad on my iPhone: “STOP THE RADICAL LEFT.”

Like the bell-shaped curve that graded your tests in college, the curve can also describe the political spectrum in America.

The radicals are those who favor quick change. Protesters, strikers and revolutionaries are included in this group. They are under the far left edge of the bell-shaped curve. To the right of them are liberals, who do favor change but not to the extent that radicals want.

In the broad middle under the curve are the moderate Democrats and Republicans, who comprise the majority. They prefer to work together to achieve what’s best for America.

To the right of them are the conservatives, who mostly want to keep the status quo with little or no change. At the extreme right are the reactionaries who want to go back to the glory days of yesteryear.

Both radicals and reactionaries shout the loudest because they are fewest in number under the curve. They crave attention, hence my pop-up ad.

Attempts have been made to group all Democrats as the “radical left.” This simply isn’t true.

Richard Patton, Franklin Township, Beaver County

Make your vote count — in person

President Trump is correct when he says mail-in ballots are open to fraud.

A recent report from the Crime Prevention Research Center says 78% of the countries in the OECD (generally representing the developed world) either do not allow mail-in ballots “for people living in the country” or require a photo ID to receive a ballot. The reason they are not allowed is fraud. The report’s author, John Lott, writes, “if concern about vote fraud with mail-in ballots is delusional, it is a delusion shared by most of the world.”

During a recent AARP “tele-town hall” event on voting options, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar spoke about how safe mail-in ballots are. However, she discussed a change that is being presented to our lawmakers to help speed the counting along, since now mail-in ballots cannot be opened until Election Day. They are suggesting that ballots can be opened as they are received. The staff would not look at actual votes but simply unfold and stack them. Immediately someone asked, how do we know that someone isn’t going to give information about the numbers or even change the vote? Boockvar said that will not happen, they will be safe. Her answer is the delusion that the Lott report is talking about.

During the spring election, I went to the polls and felt perfectly safe. In fact, it was safer than going to the store. Vote in person to be assured your vote counts.

Dorothy Shock, Springdale

Joe Biden’s ‘goodness’

Erstwhile conservative S.E. Cupp’s take on the Biden family album displayed at the DNC convention inspired her to pronounce them “good people” (“I’m voting for Biden because he’s a good person — and why that matters”). She may have to revise her sentiment upon learning that the supposed blind-date-to-bliss romance story being peddled by the couple is in reality the result of an adulterous affair, according to Jill’s ex-husband.

Ozzie & Harriet they ain’t. Moreover, in his early days in politics in the ’70s and ’80s, Joe would often recount his days as an active civil rights activist, participating in marches, sit-ins and desegregation efforts that we now know are embellished or imaginary.

Additional examples of his “goodness” can be found when he asserted his intellect to be higher than that of an audience member at a campaign stop, while proclaiming higher academic achievement than law school records show. Another time, he snapped at and called an event attendee fat (something he denied), and challenged him to a push-up contest. He is especially kind to children, as, during his days as a lifeguard, he found joy by having children rub the hair on his legs; he also said he loved having children climb on his lap.

And speaking of children, I believe he used his office to ensure that his own son, Hunter, will succeed as a multi-national business executive despite no qualifying experience.

Cupp closes by saying, “Goodness matters more than ever before.” Maybe November will get his just reward for all of his.

Bill McMaster, Delmont

Destroying signs is destroying freedom of speech

Traveling from Latrobe to my house in Norvelt, I counted 26 Trump yard signs and three Biden signs, including mine. I had proudly pounded my Biden sign in my yard so all could see who I was supporting for president this year.

The next morning I woke up to find that someone had run their car into my yard and mowed down my Biden sign. As I passed all those Trump signs the day before, it never occurred to me to destroy even one of those signs, and I don’t know anyone who would.

This is not the first campaign in which I have had my yard signs destroyed. During the last presidential election, people ran through my yard and tore up and stole my Clinton yard signs several times. When Al Gore ran for president, my husband and I attended a rally at the Latrobe airport with a sign “Former NRA Member for Gore.” We came home to find a deer head in our yard with a note that said, “We know where you live.”

It saddens me that so many in my area are so taken in by what I see as rhetoric and misinformation that the Trump campaign is putting out. But I feel that everyone has a right to their opinion and that yard signs are a part of our freedom of speech.

What makes people do such things? Are the supporters for President Trump so insecure, so juvenile, so hateful that they must destroy our right of freedom of speech?

Harriet Ellenberger, Mt. Pleasant Township

Gov. Wolf’s pot plot to control guns

Gov. Tom Wolf wants to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes to help small business make up for covid-19 losses (“Gov. Tom Wolf wants Pa. to legalize marijuana, provide more covid-19 relief this fall”). Nice, but no cigar. In my opinion, this is just a backdoor plot to control gun possession in our state.

Title 18, section 922 of the United States Code prohibits anyone “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act)” — including anyone who uses recreational marijuana or has a medical marijuana card — from owning, possessing or buying firearms. It is also illegal to sell guns or ammunition to a person who uses marijuana, either recreationally or for medical purposes.

I see this as simply a way for the state to take away our gun rights, which means less power to the people and more for the state. Do not lose your right to bear firearms. Drugs are not worth it, even if they are legalized by Wolf.

James Illinsky, Springdale