What happened this week?
Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, Richland One schools have reverted back to full time eLearning. We will no longer be doing hybrid until the numbers drop and it’s safe to return #eLearning #school #covid
Covid-19 Vaccinations
The DHEC COVID-19 vaccine allocation update shows that 11 facilities are reporting vaccine utilization rates higher than 100%
The reports provided mean that these facilities have used up all of their vaccines, and somehow found extra along the way.
“[It’s] very encouraging”, said Michelle O’Quinn, the director of pharmacy services for Colleton Medical Center.
Colleton Medical Center experiences the third-highest utilization rate of the COVID vaccine in the state, at around 127%. The surplus is due to the number of vaccine doses in each vial. It was previously accepted that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine comes with five doses per vial, however, it is commonly being discovered that each vial has six or seven doses.
“The more we can get vaccinated, the better we’ll be for everybody”, O’Quinn later said.
The January 6 report shows 588 extra doses across the 11 facilities statewide. Despite this however, DHEC is still reporting a 33% administration rate. Through January 6, 146,250 vaccines have been received, while only 52,168 first doses and around 1,107 second does have been administered.
Source article: https://www.wistv.com/2021/01/06/despite-slow-vaccine-rollout-state-seeing-more-than-extra-doses-vials/
Sleep Habits during online school
Kids all around the world have had to make adjustments and changes to their life and their sleep. “After the switch to distance learning, many students have taken the liberty to stay up late or sleep in longer,” says the article. With kids being at home they have more accessibility to their bed and other places to lay down if they want to. Many class times have changed due to COVID so many kids are able to sleep in a little later then they normally would if they had to go into school. Doing school from home also means that many students may join class in their bed. Doing school in bed isn’t always the best option because you are very comfy and you are more tempted to take a nap or go to sleep. It is very sad to see that kids are becoming more tired from doing school online then going into school because it’s most kids only option right now. This pandemic has changed our world and many kids sleep habits.
Daily deaths from Covid-19 now exceed yearly homicides in Los Angeles
On January 8, the mayor Eric Garcetti says the number of people dying of Covid-19 in Los Angeles County in a day is now equivalent to the number of homicide deaths the city saw in an entire year. More than 259 death occurred last week in Los angles and that is more than all the homicides that happened in 2019 in L.A. city combined. Eric Garcetti says “in a single day, the death counts equal to a year of homicides”. Los Angeles County had reported that 328 death has occurred on Friday, which is the most ever in a single day. The city of Los Angeles has a population of nearly 4 million people, while the county's population is about 10 million." We are not, nor will we ever, become accustomed to these numbers as normal. Nor will I ever accept them as something we should just live with," the mayor added. "Because every single one of those means everything to somebody out there today." The region has for weeks battled a brutal surge of Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations that have translated into climbing numbers of deaths. Los Angeles County officials now say one person dies of Covid-19 every eight minutes. There were 18,313 new cases reported Friday, bringing the county's total to 889,405. More than 8,000 people are hospitalized with the virus across Los Angeles County, 20% of whom are in intensive care units. Since January 3, the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients jumped by more than 550 people, health officials said Thursday. And infections are running rampant -- accelerating at an "alarming" pace, they added. "Everyone in L.A. County, businesses and residents, needs to follow the rules if there is any chance we can get out of this surge by the end of the month," Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.
violence strikes the capitol
A violent mob made up thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, January 6th, these people wished to overturn the presidential election and undercut our great nation’s democracy. This invasion of the Capitol forced lawmakers hide as the under-staffed US Capitol police attempted to secure the building, a woman was even shot and killed by Capitol police upon her attempted entrance to the congress floor while it was still in session.
These people were fueled by claims that the election was faulty and conspiracy, claims propagated by the president himself, along with the president’s loyal allies.
Immediately prior to the mob violence at the Capitol, just down Pennsylvania Avenue, prominent Trump allies along with Trump himself spoke at an anti-election results rally. "Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent. If we're wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we're right a lot of them will go to jail," said Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s Lawyer. "Let's have trial by combat,” he declared.
While the conspiracies surrounding the US election are nothing new and have been circulating since the Joe Biden was declared President-elect, the statements made at the Washington DC rally are at least partly to blame for the insurrection at the US capital.
Trump himself declared at this rally, “We will never give up, we will never concede. You don't concede when there's theft involved." Then stating, "We won the election and won it by a landslide," although in reality the election was won by Joe Biden by around 7 million votes.
In his speech, Trump encouraged his supporters to march down the street to the US Capitol saying they would, “…cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women…you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” Congress was in session certifying the electoral vote, a usually insignificant event given significance by objectors to the election.
Trump went as far as to claim Vice-President Pence could unilaterally reverse the election results, a claim Pence responded to by stating, “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
In response to Pence’s statement, after scaling the Capitol, directly outside Capitol doors, insurrectionists chanted “Hang Mike Pence” repeatedly.
After the riot, “Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” according to the FBI.
What happened at the US Capitol has only energized many extremists; according to an organization that tracks online extremism the events in Washington fueled a, “…month-long frenzy of incitements, strategizing, and embrace of violence against lawmakers. As a result authorities across the nation are on high alert, while over 6,000 national guardsmen are mobilized in the District of Columbia, with 15,000 authorized for Biden’s inauguration.
Hopefully though, Trump’s new promise that there “will be an orderly transition on January 20th.” Will prevent any further violence.
Six days ago on Wednesday, January 6th , the capitol was broken in to by a riot of Trump supporters.
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Capitol building symbolism and impact
The Capitol Building has been described as the most recognized symbol of democratic government in the world, which has housed Congress since 1800. The Capitol is where Congress meets to write laws, and where presidents are inaugurated. There is also a ceremonial centre, called the Rotunda, where state funerals have been held for many presidents, distinguished members of Congress, military heroes, and honourable citizens. The building itself is around 200 years old and has had to be rebuilt many times. In addition to being used by Congress, the Capitol can be considered a museum of American art and history. It has only been breached by enemy forces once, on August 24th, 1814, British troops set fire to the building during the War of 1812.
While this building has been described as important and a symbol, in reality, it is just a building. The true symbol of democracy and importance should be among the people who deem this building with such symbolism. People are more important than buildings, and the focus should be on the people who have chosen to make an indirect statement on what they think of democracy. The breaching of the building should not be the issue, but more on the kind of people that live in this country that have chosen to do it.
Capitol raid
Last Wednesday, on the 6th of January, hundreds of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol building in protest to the election results, and also to try and disrupt the electoral vote counting process. The mob, which have been labeled as domestic terrorists, extremists, and many other terms, arrived at the Capitol building after having departed from a Trump rally close by. Although he claims to have nothing to do with the events after his rally, he had said in twitter posts that they need to “take back the country” and “stop the steal”, and once again at his rally, said “we will walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, and I’ll be with you”, implying that it was totally his intention for at least a protest to occur. After sitting outside the Capitol building for a little while, rioters ended up breaking their way in, overpowering police resistance. Once inside, they spread throughout the building looting and destroying property. Some even tried to break their way into the Senate chamber, and everyone inside had to be evacuated. As a result of this, every person who entered the building and could be recognized may potentially be charged with a federal crime, and have been put on no fly lists. President Trump, due to some of his tweets potentially inciting the riot, has gotten his Twitter account banned permanently. After the building had been cleared, Senators and Reps were able to reenter the building and certify Joe Biden as the winner of the election. He will be inaugurated on January 20th.
A student's perspective: How dreher feels about the capitol riots
For this week I will be talking about the capital riot that happened Wednesday, January 6th. I will be asking student to give me their perspective on how they feel about what went down or if the riot was in the wrong or right. In my own opinion I feel as if the riot was out rages and unnecessary especially how the crowd actually went into the capital and broke stuff and much wasn’t done like how the BLM movement was handled.
“How do you feel about what happened last week Wednesday at the US Capitol?”
Iyanna: I feel like more needed to be done. People who support Donald Trump are getting out of hand. If black people were to do something like that there would have been a lot more deaths and anyone who tried to get in the state capital like the Trump supporters did they would have been shot but now that it’s the other way around there was a free pass.
Ausha: I feel like it was unacceptable, it could’ve been stopped before it even started. Security, police, and secret services didn’t try to keep it from happening. The individuals that were involved with the mass vandalism of the capital need to be held accountable simple!
Tyrese: I thought it was hypocritical and unfair because if it was a group of Black Lives Matter protesters they would’ve started shooting at us and arresting people, we were only peacefully protesting but yet we are still called the violent ones or “animals.” Those people destroyed the state capital and only a few were arrested. Society needs to stop going off of race and humanism everyone should have the same rules and consequences.
Most of the students feel that this riot was very unfair. For my second question, I had students answer, “In your own perspective, how do you feel the protest at the capitol should have been handled?”
Kyerra: I believe they shouldn’t have even been able to step foot into the capital people should’ve been stopped while they were outside of the gates. It wouldn’t have even been that outrages if they were “protesting” for what they want but instead they rioted. There’s a huge difference between a riot and a protest and they definitely had a riot.
Janiya: I think they should been stopped while they were outside because if it was us the gates wouldn’t have been opened for blacks and more would have happened.
Where do we go from here? Invoking the 25th: Opinion
In recent times the U.S government has made a mockery of the constitution with a constant abuse of power in attempt for political gain. The third section of the 25th amendment, in simple terms, states that if the president is unfit and cannot/will not preform his duties the vice president shall have the ability to implement it (the amendment) and discharge the sitting president from office. The Topic of discussion comes up in the article due to the Democratic Party attempt to flex their political muscles and force the sitting president out of office within the last weeks of his “reign”. In the short 243 year old life span of America, the bill has never been implemented once before and will not place Trump out of office.
It is my belief that the 25th will come up again in the more recent future dealing with the aging president Biden and the relatively young, hungry, and virtually lifelong politician Harris. This may seem like a call to conspiracy; however, questioning is not conspiracy when the recent majority of government has consistently proven that they are a corrupt system willing to lie, cheat, and invoke their way to power. It is my belief that it is necessary that we need to question all sources.
Sports
Ohio State's road to the championship
August 11th: Big 10 cancels college football season for 2020 with ambitions with playing in the spring.
However; the Big 10 changed their minds after seeing most of the other Power 5 conferences were playing, and some of the student athletes posting #wewanttoplay on social media. Once they got to the season, they had three games cancelled due to COVID-19 but still had an undefeated record of 5-0. The big ten said that you had to play six games to make it to the conference championship so people thought the buckeyes weren’t going to make it. Until the big ten amended the rule to where you had to play five games to make the championship because they say that Ohio State had the chance of making the conference a lot of money in the college football championship. They went on and won that game and go on to beat Clemson 49-28 in the sugar bowl. Before the college football championship game some of the players tested positive there were rumors of the game getting canceled or postponed but that wasn’t an option. They played on Monday without some of their key starters but that ended up costing them, they ended up losing 24-52 against Alabama.
Clemson football: Analysis
It’s been a sad start of the month for Clemson fans around South Carolina after Clemson’s hard loss to Ohio State but I know that leaves you wondering how Clemson will bounce back.
Some good but sad news for Clemson is that Quarterback Trevor Lawrence has declared for the NFL Draft after the season ending and finishing second in the Heisman Trophy race the most prestigious award. Trevor Lawrence had some words on the decision.
Trevor Lawrence: I hope my legacy at Clemson is that I was a great teammate and a great person overall more that football, more that how I played each game- just how I treated people I want that to be the main thing that I’m known for”
Lawrence is projected to be the No.1 Overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft he finished his junior season 34-2 (.944) for his career starting which is the third best winning by a starting quarterback with at least 30 career starting games.
He also made a statement about his coach Dabo Swinney and teammates
Trevor Lawrence: I have learned a lot from Coach Swinney and all my coaches to all my teammates over the past three years it’s been the most fun ride I’ve been on. I’ll look back on these three years and have the best memories.
Following the Last game of the season where Clemson Loss to Ohio state in the sugar bowl Lawrence posted his third career 400 yard passing game to tie Tajh Boyd for the second most in school history.
Series: Skating in columbia
Skate parks
Columbia SC has one skate park, it is located in the rosewood neighborhood at Owens field skate park there are soccer fields, baseball fields, disc golf course and more. The Owens field skate park was built in 2010. There when no skate parks until then so people resorted to street skating or building their own DIY skate park. Owens field Skate Park consists of a street run 3 bowls 2 handrails and 5 stair sets, Owens is seen as more of a bowl skate park not much in the street department. If you are looking for a more street oriented park then low block is the place it isn’t in Columbia but it is close it is a about 20 minutes out from Columbia. Low block has everything when it comes to street; rails, boxes, hips and more. Low block is a DIY skate park that the community has been working on for a few years and they are still currently adding new stuff. These parks are everything you need to learn or practice skateboarding in Columbia.
Opinion: Gaming time is personal time!
Women who have a boyfriend that’s always on the game nonstop might be annoyed, but what they don’t realize is that playing games is COMPLETELY FINE.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is a limit to playing games. You obviously can’t turn down your responsibilities because of video games.
What these complaining partners don’t understand is that the game is their partner's happy place. It's where they can let their emotions lose and run wild.
Yeah, some women will say “he can just rest with me and talk to me”, but there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes, you just need a little time to yourself in a different world.