There is only one thing that really counts in this world, and that is Truth — with a capital T. Over the last several years, but particularly in the past year, it would appear as if the last dominoes of truth have fallen.

Information has been politicized and censored to the extent that discernment of truth is the biggest challenge I face. We all have problems, and usually one of them at any point in time is pretty big. But, if we know truth the solutions to problems become much easier.

Every institution that I hold dear has been revealed to be seemingly corrupt of truth. That includes our churches, governments, sports, elections and censorship of opposing views in the media.

As an educated retired military person, with a lot of life experiences, I cannot in good conscience encourage any young person to join the service. Social engineering has been given priority over war fighting readiness, and the truth is that one must have warfighting readiness to survive in an environment where someone is trying to kill you. Does anyone really trust the politicians of either party with their son or daughter if truth is absent? But here in this piece, let us focus on the COVID pandemic and engage in a bit of critical thinking.

COVID is a highly contagious disease. It most seriously affects the elderly and those already in poor health, but overall 99.5% of the population survives being infected. A year ago we were rightly concerned and fearful of the emerging COVID virus. We just didn’t know, or have any data points to connect to gage how serious the situation was or could become.

In my family, I was concerned enough to arrange for the evacuation of my daughter out of Madrid, Spain, on what I now refer to as the “last chopper out of Saigon.” She had been there over a year teaching in an elementary school. From my other residence out of state, it was a 800 mile drive to Chicago O’Hare, overnight in the vacant airport hotel across from the terminal, and back for a total of 1600 miles in 36 hours. A parent does anything for their babies regardless of how old they are.

After a year we do now have some data points and numbers. Trust in the “numbers” began to decline by the summer of 2020. Reports emerged that death from any cause for a person who had active COVID in their bodies was classified as a COVID death regardless if COVID was the actual mechanism of death. As it relates to numbers, it must be asked where did the seasonal flu go? According to CDC data, in the 2017-2018 flu season there were 61,000 flu deaths, in the 2019-20 flu season there were only 22,000 deaths. Between 1 October and Jan. 16, there have been only 292 deaths reported from “ordinary” flu. Seems strange.

In November, Dr. Genevieeve Briand, Assistant Program Director of the Applied Economics program at John Hopkins University conducted a study on the total deaths each year from all causes. Incredibly, she concluded that the total from all causes was very nearly equal for 2020 as it was in previous years, and that “the total decrease in deaths by other causes almost exactly equals the increase in deaths by COVID 19.” Subsequently, Dr. Briand was “taken to the woodshed” and the University disavowed the study. Very interesting.

A more recent report based on the death rates per 1 million persons in various states, based on data in the WorldOMeter site, shows that lockdown states had a slightly higher death rate than non-lockdown states. That would seem to indicate that the lives, businesses and economies in the lockdown states suffered needlessly. Oh boy.

To fight the emerging COVID threat the first solution we heard about in the media was the need for testing, and more testing, so we could understand what was in front of us. The lack of testing supplies quickly became a point used to attack the government. Did anyone stop to consider why the government would have unlimited testing resources for a disease that had only emerged in the previous two months?

The next panacea was the big push for “respirators.” The governor of New York, and indeed the president, presented these as the answer to our problems. Big emergency manufacturing initiatives were started to mass produce respirators. We were told that we needed the respirators to save lives and “flatten the curve” so that our hospitals could manage the projected massive increase in cases. The problem is that, apparently, once someone needs a respirator then its more often than not too late. The nurses I spoke to, including my other daughter who is an ER nurse and her respiratory therapist husband, stated that not many people come off of respirators alive. Interesting how the need for respirators faded from the press by late spring 2020.

In New York, somehow, in the rush for another quick fix, COVID infected patients were sent to nursing homes. Over 15,000 unnecessary deaths occurred due to this hubris affected ignorance. It defies logic to send very sick people into a population whose immune systems are already extremely vulnerable. Incredible.

Operation Ward Speed was started early to develop a vaccine to again solve all our problems. Typically, vaccines take years to develop and prove safe. The two injections that are now being administered are not true vaccines at all. A true vaccine takes a portion of the disease and uses that weakened fragment to prompt the body to produce antibodies against the disease. The current treatments use an experimental mRNA technology, that has never been used on humans, to target a protein in the COVID virus. The COVID vaccine will not prevent you from getting the virus, nor prevent you from spreading it to others. You will not test positive for COVID antibodies after the shot. The best that can be said is that it will lessen the COVID symptoms. The use of these shots were granted emergency use authorization by the Food & Drug Administration. Under that designation they are considered to be purely experimental and as such until the law is changed cannot be used to deny anything, including employment.

It is a wonder that persons who normally rail against genetically modified grains fed to livestock due to the possibility that these foods will harm their own body, cant wait to line up to have pure genetically produced mRNA injected directly into their veins. All for a disease that has a 99.5% survival rate.

The US Department of Health and Human Services maintains a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, where the medical community can upload illness and death caused by the use of any vaccine. (www.vaers.hhs.gov). Since the mRNA vaccine started to be used a short 2 months ago a total of 1,095 persons in the United States have died from the shot. 2,297 were hospitalized, and 403 have suffered a permanent disability. Overall there were 15,923 adverse events reported into the database as of 18 February 2021. These are only the events that were voluntarily reported into the system.

As a Catholic, regardless of what the Pope says, I do not see how anyone could take the “vaccine”. The three emergency approved injections were all tested on Human Embryonic cell lines taken from voluntary abortions. Oh you may say, that was from a long time ago. Really? Every batch must be quality controlled and tested on that cell line. I didnt realize that the cell line was so expansive. The reality is that human embryonic cells must be harvested within 20 minutes after the procedure. That would eliminate any happy talk about the cells being from a spontaneous miscarriage. Harvesting teams are part of elective abortions. Well, as as long as its not my child then I guess is OK. No vaccine for me , thankyou.

Money, power, control are the historical motivators that inhibit truth. I am not sure which are in play as it relates to COVID. I do know that if i get “it”, it will be my own fault. Ive lived a very full life over the past year. The only thing I can think of that has affected me is the inability to get wings at the Clarion a couple of times a month. We all need to understand whats in front of us and manage our own risk by engaging in discernment and critical thinking. And don’t get me started on masks.

George H. Burns III is a Fredonia resident.