SOLIDARITY IS MUTUAL AID 
Tradesmen work for free to complete work for Maidstone family targeted by alleged cowboy builders

WORKING CLASS VALUES

HOLMES ON HOMES WOULD BE PROUD

By Rhys Griffiths

rgriffiths@thekmgroup.co.uk
22 January 2021

A group of kind-hearted tradesmen have come to the rescue of a family targeted by cowboy builders.

The victims of the alleged rip-off - a Maidstone family who do not wish to be identified - were left with nothing more than a half-finished extension and a pile of fly-tipped rubbish when the suspected rogue traders reportedly made off with £20,000.

Kind-hearted tradesmen Ian Clarke, left, and Gary Peters at their 'DIY SOS' mission in Maidstone

So when roofer Ian Clarke heard about their plight when he visited the property to do a smaller job, he quickly rallied a band of fellow construction pros who offered to complete the job free of charge.

"The builder had taken deposits for everything and just disappeared," Mr Clarke, who owns ICC Roofing in the county town, said.

"There was not much I knew about what needed to be done, so I went home and put a post on my Facebook to see if anyone could help.

"By the next morning friends were calling up from every trade. They all phoned up and said 'give me the address and we will go and do it for free'."

The family had sought quotes online for the extension to the property to add space to accommodate their adult disabled son who is autistic and has increasing difficulty with mobility.

Tradesman have been working for free to help a Maidstone family who fell victim to cowboy builders

When they were approached by the builder, who is alleged to have later disappeared with their cash, he told them he also had a disabled family member, a line which the victims believe he spun to win them over to giving him the job.

The father who agreed to give them the work says he was left in ill health through the stress of the ordeal - but the response by Ian and his fellow tradesmen has given the family a huge lift.

He said: "We did not ask Ian or anyone else for help and we tried to say no when they said they were going to work for free, I have tried to pay for materials but no one will accept any money from myself.

"We were in a very low place last year with Covid and then being ripped off, they literally destroyed our home and then refused to put any of the mess right.

"Everything they did was wrong and left in a dangerous state.

Tradesman have been working for free to help a Maidstone family who fell victim to cowboy builders

"They refused to refund any of the money or provide proof of ordering any of the materials and glazing they charged us for, they left our garden inaccessible for our disabled son and dumped the contents of their lorry onto our front lawn, this was the rubbish from previous jobs."

Now thanks to the kindness of strangers, work on the extension is almost complete.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise funds to cover the work, with almost £1,500 donated so far, and anything left over will be put towards fitting a downstairs wet room for their son who has difficulty using the upstairs bathroom.

The firm which carried out the initial work and took payment from the family has been reported to Kent Police and Trading Standards.

Officers investigating the alleged fraud today arrested a 40-year-old man from Folkestone who was later released pending further investigation.

Britain’s electricity use is at its lowest for decades – but will never be this low again

January 22, 2021 


In 2020, Britain’s electrical use was the lowest it had been since 1983. This wasn’t entirely due to COVID – demand for electricity had been falling for more than a decade anyway, thanks to savings from energy-efficient appliances, moving industry offshore and consumers becoming more careful as costs increased.

But demand will bounce back after COVID. And the electrification of transport and heat, both critical to achieving net-zero emissions, will require lots more electricity in future.

We have looked at the data for electricity use in Great Britain (Northern Ireland is part of a single market on the island of Ireland) over the past year and we believe that there will never again be a year when so little electricity is used.

COVID meant less electricity use

Pandemic measures reduced the overall amount of electricity used by 6% in 2020, to the lowest level since 1983. When you look at usage per person the fall in recent years is even more extreme. To find a similar level of electricity use per capita you would have to go back more than 50 years to a time when black and white TVs were still the norm.

Overall, 2020 was not a particularly windy year but wind still managed to generate more than a quarter of Britain’s electrical energy. Broadly speaking, generation from other renewables and coal were all similar to 2019. Reductions in generation came mostly from gas, while nuclear output also dropped to its lowest level since 1982. Net imports were also down on recent years.

From a climate perspective, major power production was coal-free for more than 5,000 hours in 2020 – more than half the year. This meant the electricity that was generated was on average Britain’s cleanest ever.



The chart above and table below show that over the past decade, Britain has switched its electricity generation from coal to gas and renewables. The challenge is to continue to substitute the remaining fossil-fuels while at the same time increasing the total amount generated.

How to power millions of electric cars?

Britain will need to generate more electricity because low-carbon transport and heating rely on it. To get a sense of the scale of the electricity needed for transport, let’s imagine what would happen if all cars and taxis suddenly went electric.

Cars and taxis currently travel nearly 280 billion miles a year in Great Britain. Multiply that by the 24-25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles that the current best electrical vehicles technologies can reach, and you have a total of around 70+ terawatt hours of electricity needed each year (interestingly, a similar value to the total amount of wind generation in 2020).

Generating enough electricity to cover these cars and taxis – even ignoring other forms of transport – would take Britain’s annual demand back up to its peak year in 2005.
From gas to electricity

Unlike the trend towards much cleaner power generation, more than 80% of the energy used to provide warmth in Britain is still provided by burning fossil fuels, most commonly through a gas boiler. As with transport, decarbonisation will mean shifting a significant portion of this energy demand from fossil fuel to electricity.

Gas boilers are still used to heat most homes in Britain. lovemydesigns / shutterstock
STILL BETTER THAN FURNACES USED IN NORTH AMERICA

Specifically, this will mean replacing gas boilers with a variety of heat pumps. These devices use electricity to extract ambient thermal energy from the surroundings – the air or the ground – and to “pump” this heat into a building. Around 28,000 heat pumps were installed in 2019, though the government’s target is to fit 600,000 a year by 2028. Clearly a massive and sustained increase in deployment will be required.

Just as electric vehicles require less energy than petrol cars, heat pumps require less input energy than their fossil fuel counterparts. Despite this efficiency benefit, the decarbonisation of heat will probably still require Britain to generate hundreds of terawatt hours more electricity every year. The exact amount ultimately depends on the mix of different low-carbon heating technologies and reduction in heat demand from climate change and building improvements.

All this extra electricity will have to be carefully managed to avoid the network being overloaded at peak times. Demand for heat is currently seen as less flexible, and it always will be highly seasonal – people want warm houses in colder weather, during the daytime. This differs markedly from transport, which shows a much more consistent pattern of demand throughout the course of the year (notwithstanding the temporary impacts of COVID).

Managing that extra electricity isn’t impossible: users can be provided with incentives to shift their behaviour (why not charge your car overnight, or on particularly windy days when electricity is clean and cheap?), and longer-term energy storage options are being developed. Innovations such as thermal energy storage and active buildings also aim to provide more flexibility to heating.

For those of us who study energy systems, it’s an exciting time. As demand from transport and heat increases, Great Britain will never again use as little electricity as it did in 2020 – and as this means using less fossil fuels, it’s something to celebrate.

Authors

Grant Wilson
Lecturer, Energy Informatics Group, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham

Grant Wilson receives funding from EPSRC through the Active Building Centre Programme https://abc-rp.com/, and Innovate UK through the Regional Energy Systems Operator project

Joseph Day
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Energy Informatics, University of Birmingham

Joseph Day receives funding from Innovate UK and is a Research Assistant within the West Midlands Regional Energy System Operator project https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/energy/news/2020/decarbonising-coventry.aspx

Noah Godfrey
Energy Data Analyst - PhD in Modelling Flexibility in Future UK Energy Systems, University of Birmingham
Noah Godfrey is a Research Assistant within the Active Building Centre Research Programme https://abc-rp.com/, and a PhD Student with the Energy Informatics Group at the University of Birmingham.
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The Illuminatus! Trilogy - McGill School Of Computer Science

www.cs.mcgill.ca › ~rwest › wikispeedia › wpcd › The...

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson primarily between 1969 and 1971. The trilogy is a satirical, ...

FIA GIRLS ON TRACK - RISING STARS DRIVER BECOMES THE FIRST-EVER FEMALE STUDENT AT THE FERRARI DRIVER ACADEMY AND EMBARKS ON A SEASON IN F4

22.01.21

Maya Weug, the Dutch/Belgian driver born in Spain, has made history not only by becoming the first FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars driver to join the Ferrari Driver Academy, but the first-ever female to do so.

FIA
WOMEN IN MOTORSPORT
GIRLS ON TRACK


Nearly a year since the initial launch of the FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars programme, and after months of intense preparation, training, scrutiny and pressure, Maya Weug has been selected to become the first-ever female student of the world-famous Ferrari Driver Academy.

16-year-old Maya will now embark on the most significant journey in her young racing career with a one-year contract at the Academy and a full season in a Formula 4 championship certified by the FIA.

An emotional and elated Maya said: “I literally have no words to express my feelings right now. It’s been my dream for so long, since I started karting; being with Ferrari is amazing. And now, actually winning is just unreal and I’m super happy and thankful to the whole Ferrari Driver Academy and FIA for all their hard work, thank you very much. It’s been an amazing experience, I’ve learned a lot but definitely COVID made it difficult to travel and to be there on time. But also the other girls have made it very tough to be here right now and it’s been amazing; I’m lost for words still! It’s my first season in F4 so I’m looking to improve myself every single race and it’s a huge honour to be with the Ferrari Driver Academy and to represent them and FIA Women in Motorsport. I’m going to make them proud and give everything I have and I’m going to aim for a top position, of course. You can’t imagine how proudly I will wear this red T-shirt with the logo, it’s amazing and I’ll make them all proud, I’m sure.”

“My warmest congratulations to the Dutch/Belgian driver Maya Weug,” said Jean Todt, President of the FIA. “At just 16 years old she has already had a lot of success in national and international karting. Becoming a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and taking this step up to Formula 4 is the next important stage in her career. I also congratulate the other three finalists for reaching the final selection. The FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars programme is key to our commitment to supporting gender equality in our sport. I would like to thank the Ferrari Driver Academy and all our partners who have joined us in embracing such an innovative and positive initiative.”

The announcement of Maya’s contract with the Ferrari Driver Academy comes after the final demanding week of off-track assessments, workshops and training, which then culminated in two days of Formula 4 track time on the Fiorano circuit (January 14-15). This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be immersed in the Ferrari Driver Academy - which has nurtured the careers of a number of Formula One drivers - provided the four youngsters with invaluable data and feedback from the Academy experts as they strive to pursue a professional career in the sport.

“This is an emotional and historic moment for the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission and I am incredibly proud to witness the first edition of the Girls on Track - Rising Stars reach fruition,” said Michèle Mouton, President of the Commission. “Maya is very deserving of her place in the Ferrari Driver Academy and I am sure she will demonstrate even more of the talent and determination to succeed she has shown us throughout the whole selection, training and assessment process. That she is the first female student at the Academy, detected through our programme, is quite an overwhelming feeling.

“My many congratulations also go to Doriane Pin, Antonella Bassani and Julia Ayoub who have also shown real talent, potential and motivation over the past months, and my sincere thanks go to all our partners who have supported us in what I hope will be the first of many such programmes. This initiative is the pinnacle of our various Girls on Track activities and delivers concrete contractual support to a young female racer; I am really looking forward to following Maya’s journey through the Ferrari Driver Academy and this forthcoming Formula 4 season.”

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto, said: “This is an important moment in the history of Scuderia Ferrari and its Academy, the FDA, set up in 2019 to shape the drivers of the future for our Formula 1 team. Now, thanks to the partnership with the FIA and its Women in Motorsport Commission in the “Girls on Track - Rising Stars” programme, for the first time, a female driver will join the Ferrari Driver Academy. She is Maya Weug and over the course of this year, she will progress along with us and also take part in one of the “F4 Championship – Certified by FIA” series, the category seen as the first step in single-seaters on the road to Formula 1. Maya’s arrival is a clear indication of the Scuderia’s commitment to making motorsport increasingly inclusive, in line with the hashtag supported by the entire Formula 1 community, #weraceasone.”

For the other three finalists – Doriane, Antonella and Julia – Ferrari has awarded each a test session in its Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO, the GT racing car eligible for the most renowned single-marque championship, the Ferrari Challenge.

The FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars is a four-year programme and, as such, 2021 will also host a second call for talent among the FIA’s ASNs and the same process will result in a second female driver potentially becoming part of the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2022.

The FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars video series provides a unique insight into the drivers’ journey through this rigorous and exhilarating programme. It is available via the FIA YouTube channel YouTube - FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars

To rewatch the Facebook Live announcement, click here.

You can find the best photos of the FIA Girls on Track - Rising Stars Scouting Camp: here.

Lloyd Austin becomes the first Black US defense secretary

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, is saluted by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley as he arrives at the Pentagon, Jan. 22, 2021. (AP)

Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya EnglishFriday 22 January 2021

History was made Friday after the US Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin as the country's first-ever Black defense secretary.

The retired Army General passed his Senate confirmation with an overwhelming 93-2 in the 100-member chamber, far more than the simple majority needed.

For Austin to take up his new role, a waiver was needed since he has not been out of the military for at least seven years - the mandatory law to ensure civilian control of the armed forces.

President Joe Biden signed the waiver into law, which provided an exception to the restriction.

But there was bipartisan support for Austin's confirmation.

Senator Jack Reed, the incoming Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, noted the wide range of challenges facing the country - including the coronavirus pandemic and competition with China and Russia.

“General Austin is an exceptionally qualified leader with a long and distinguished career in the US military,” Reed said before the vote.

“We’re in the most threatened time that we’re in,” said Senator James Inhofe, the outgoing Republican chairman of the armed services panel, as he also urged support for the nominee.

A statement from the Pentagon said Austin would receive an intelligence briefing shortly after being sworn in. He was also expected to receive a COVID briefing followed by a call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

And in one of his first operational briefings, Austin was set to receive information about China and the Middle East.

Austin was previously the US Central Command chief, which is responsible for the Middle East. He was also the first Black Commander of CENTCOM.

REST IN POWER
Hank Aaron, baseball’s one-time home run king, dies at 86

FILE - In this April 8, 1974, file photo Atlanta Braves'
Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run in Atlanta Stadium to break the all-time record set by the late Babe Ruth. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo/Joe Holloway, Jr., File) Joe Holloway, Jr.


FILE - Hall of Famer Hank Aaron waves to the crowd during Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y., in this Sunday, July 28, 2013, file photo. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) Mike Groll


FILE- In this March 29, 2017, file photo, Hank Aaron looks at his new statue in Monument Garden at SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, after the unveiling ceremony in Atlanta. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File) Curtis Compton


FILE - Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron sits for a portrait after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, in this Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, file photo. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File) Ron Harris


FILE - Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron smiles as he is honored with a street named after him outside CoolToday Park, the spring training baseball facility of the Atlanta Braves, in North Port, Fla., in this Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, file photo. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File) Curtis Compton


FILE- In this July 14, 1968, file photo, Atlanta Braves' Hank Aaron smiles as he looks at the trophy presented him by Braves President Bill Bartholomay, after Aaron hit his 500th career home run in Atlanta. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File) Charles Kelly


FILE- In this Jan. 14, 2016, file photo, Hank Aaron, left, looks on with wife Billye during a ceremony presenting him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, by the Consul General of Japan at his official residence in Atlanta. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) David Goldman


FILE - In this April 4, 1974, file photo, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, right, presents Atlanta Braves' Hank Aaron with a trophy after he tied Babe Ruth's all-time home run record in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Bob Johnson, File) Bob Johnson


FILE - Atlanta Braves' Hank Aaron smiles during a press conference at Atlanta Stadium, Ga., after the game in which he hit his 715th career home, in this April 8, 1974, file photo. With him is his wife Billye, partially obscured. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record and gracefully left his mark as one of baseball’s greatest all-around players, died Friday. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves, Aaron's longtime team, said he died peacefully in his sleep. No cause was given. (AP Photo/File) BJ


FILE- In this March 1974 file photo, Atlanta Braves outfielder Hank Aaron swings a bat at home plate during spring training. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo, File)

FILE- In this 1954 file photo, Milwaukee Braves' Hank Aaron poses for a photo at Ebbets Field during an exhibition season in New York. Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth but went on to break the career home run record in the pre-steroids era, died early Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. He was 86. The Atlanta Braves said Aaron died peacefully in his sleep. No cause of death was given. (AP Photo, File)

By PAUL NEWBERRY
Associated Press
Published: 1/22/2021 

ATLANTA — Hank Aaron, who endured racist threats with stoic dignity during his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record and gracefully left his mark as one of baseball’s greatest all-around players, died Friday. He was 86.

The Atlanta Braves, Aaron’s longtime team, said he died peacefully in his sleep. No cause was given.

Aaron made his last public appearance just 2 1/2 weeks ago, when he received the COVID-19 vaccine. He said he wanted to help spread the to Black Americans that the vaccine was safe.

“Hammerin’ Hank” set a wide array of career hitting records during a 23-year career spent mostly with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, including RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases.

But the Hall of Famer will be remembered for one swing above all others, the one that made him baseball’s home-run king.

It was a title he would be hold for more than 33 years, a period in which the Hammer slowly but surely claimed his rightful place as one of America’s most iconic sporting figures, a true national treasure worthy of mention in the same breath with Ruth or Ali or Jordan.

Before a sellout crowd at Atlanta Stadium and a national television audience, Aaron broke Ruth’s home run record with No. 715 off Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Hall of Famer finished his career with 755, a total surpassed by Barry Bonds in 2007 — though many continued to call the Hammer the true home run king because of allegations that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds finished his tarnished career with 762, though Aaron never begrudged someone eclipsing his mark.

His common refrain: More than three decades as the king was long enough. It was time for someone else to hold the record.

No one could take away his legacy.

“I just tried to play the game the way it was supposed to be played,” Aaron said, summing it up better than anyone.

He wasn’t on hand when Bonds hit No. 756, but he did tape a congratulatory message that was shown on the video board in San Francisco shortly after the new record-holder went deep. While saddened by claims of rampant steroid use in baseball in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Aaron never challenged those marks set by players who may have taken pharmaceutical short cuts.

Besides, he always had that April night in 1974.

“Downing was more of a finesse pitcher,” Aaron remembered shortly before the 30th anniversary of the landmark homer. “I guess he was trying to throw me a screwball or something. Whatever it was, I got enough of it.”

Aaron’s journey to that memorable homer was hardly pleasant. He was the target of extensive hate mail as he closed in on Ruth’s cherished record of 714, much of it sparked by the fact Ruth was white and Aaron was black.

“If I was white, all America would be proud of me,” Aaron said almost a year before he passed Ruth. “But I am black.”

Aaron was shadowed constantly by bodyguards and forced to distance himself from teammates. He kept all those hateful letters, a bitter reminder of the abuse he endured and never forgot.

“It’s very offensive,” he once said. “They call me ‘nigger’ and every other bad word you can come up with. You can’t ignore them. They are here. But this is just the way things are for black people in America. It’s something you battle all of your life.”

After retiring in 1976, Aaron became a revered, almost mythical figure, even though he never pursued the spotlight. He was thrilled when the U.S. elected its first African-American president, Barack Obama, in 2008. Former President Bill Clinton credited Aaron with helping carve a path of racial tolerance that made Obama’s victory possible.

“We’re a different country now,” Clinton said at a 75th birthday celebration for Aaron. “You’ve given us far more than we’ll ever give you.”

Aaron spent 21 of his 23 seasons with the Braves, first in Milwaukee, then in Atlanta after the franchise moved to the Deep South in 1966. He finished his career back in Milwaukee, traded to the Brewers after the 1974 season when he refused to take a front-office job that would have required a big pay cut.

While knocking the ball over the fence became his signature accomplishment, the Hammer was hardly a one-dimensional star. In fact, he never hit more than 47 homers in a season (though he did have eight years with at least 40 dingers).

But it can be argued that no one was so good, for so long, at so many facets of the national pastime.

The long ball was only part of his arsenal.

Aaron was a true five-tool star.

He posted 14 seasons with a .300 average — the last of them at age 39 — and claimed two National League batting titles. He finished with a career average of .305.

Aaron also was a gifted outfielder with a powerful arm, something often overlooked because of a smooth, effortless stride that his critics — with undoubtedly racist overtones — mistook for nonchalance. He was a three-time Gold Glove winner.

Then there was his work on the base paths. Aaron posted seven seasons with more than 20 stolen bases, including a career-best of 31 in 1963 when became only the third member of the 30-30 club — players who have totaled at least 30 homers and 30 steals in a season.

To that point, the feat had only been accomplished by Ken Williams (1922) and Willie Mays (1956 and ‘57).

Six-feet tall and listed at 180 pounds during the prime of his career, Aaron was hardly an imposing player physically. But he was blessed with powerful wrists that made him one of the game’s most feared hitters.

Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt described Aaron as “an unassuming, easygoing man, a quiet superstar, that a ‘70s player like me emulated.”

“He was one of my heroes as a kid, and will always be an icon of the baby boomer generation,” Schmidt said. “In fact, if you weigh all the elements involved and compare the game fairly, his career will never be topped.”

Aaron hit 733 homers with the Braves, the last in his final plate appearance with the team, a liner down the left field line off Cincinnati’s Rawley Eastwick on Oct. 2, 1974. Exactly one month later, he was dealt to the Brewers for outfielder Dave May and minor league pitcher Roger Alexander.

The Braves made it clear they no longer wanted Aaron, then 40, returning for another season on the field. They offered him a front office job for $50,000 a year, about $150,000 less than his playing salary.

“Titles?” he said at the time. “Can you spend titles at the grocery store? Executive vice president, assistant to the executive vice president, what does it mean if it doesn’t pay good money? I might become a janitor for big money.”

Aaron became a designated hitter with the Brewers, but hardly closed his career with a flourish. He managed just 22 homers over his last two seasons, going out with a .229 average in 1976.

Even so, his career numbers largely stood the test of time.

Aaron still has more RBIs (2,297), extra-base hits (1,477) and total bases (6,856) than anyone in baseball history. He ranks second in at-bats (12,354), third in games played (3,298) and hits (3,771), fourth in runs scored (tied with Ruth at 2,174) and 13th in doubles (624).

“I feel like that home run I hit is just part of what my story is all about,” Aaron said.

While Aaron hit at least 20 homers in 20 consecutive seasons, he was hardly swinging for the fences. He just happened to hit a lot of balls that went over the fence.

Through his career, Aaron averaged just 63 strikeouts a season. He never whiffed even 100 times in a year — commonplace for hitters these days — and posted a career on-base percentage of .374.

He was NL MVP in 1957, when the Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Yankees in seven games to give Aaron the only World Series title of his career. It also was his lone MVP award, though he finished in the top 10 of the balloting 13 times.

Aaron also was selected for the All-Star Game 21 consecutive years — every season but his first and his last.

His only regret was failing to capture the Triple Crown. Aaron led the NL in homers and RBIs four times each, to go with those two batting crowns. But he never put together all three in the same season, coming closest in 1963 when he led the league in homers (44) and RBIs (130) but finished third in hitting (.319) behind Tommy Davis of the Dodgers with a .326 average.

“Other than that,” Aaron said, “everything else was completed.”

 

 

 

Are COVID vaccination programmes working? Scientists seek first clues

Vaccinated people in Israel are less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2, but a population-wide effect will take time to become clear.

Smriti Mallapaty

Vaccines are being rolled out and scientists are looking for signs they are reducing infections.Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

As countries worldwide roll out COVID-19 vaccines, researchers are eagerly watching for early signs that they are having an impact on the pandemic. Last week, researchers in Israel reported preliminary figures suggesting that people vaccinated there were about one-third less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 than people who had not received a shot. But scientists say that population-wide effects of immunization will take time to become clear.

Many factors will determine how soon scientists can detect the impact of vaccines on the pandemic. Among them are the extent of vaccine coverage, the effectiveness of shots at preventing disease and infection, and the rate of viral transmission.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates are leading the world in vaccine coverage. The two nations have vaccinated roughly one-quarter of their populations — more than two million people each. Other nations, such as the United Kingdom and Norway, have targeted their vaccination programmes at high-risk groups. Britain has vaccinated more than 4 million people, mostly health-care workers and older people, including those living in care homes; Norway has immunized all residents living in nursing homes, some 40,000 people.

First signs

The results from Israel are among the first to report the impact of vaccines administered to people outside clinical trials. They provide an early indication that the two-dose RNA-based vaccine developed by Pfizer–BioNTech can prevent infection or limit its duration in some vaccinated people.

In a preliminary analysis of 200,000 people older than 60 who received the vaccine, compared with a matched group of 200,000 who did not, researchers found that the chances of testing positive for the virus were 33% lower two weeks after the first injection.

“We were happy to see this preliminary result that suggests a real-world impact in the approximate timing and direction we would have expected,” says Ran Balicer, an epidemiologist at Israel’s largest health-care provider, Clalit Health Services, in Tel Aviv. He expects to get more conclusive results several weeks after people receive their second shot.

Another analysis, by Maccabi Healthcare Services, found a similar trend, although neither study has been peer-reviewed.

Clinical trials of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine show it to be around 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, and the preliminary data suggest it can also provide some protection from infection. But it will take longer to establish whether vaccinated people no longer spread the virus to unvaccinated people, says Balicer.

As more than 75% of older people in Israel have been vaccinated, Balicer says he expects to see a drop in hospitalizations among vaccinated older people over the coming weeks.

Most countries are prioritizing COVID-19 vaccinations for people who have a high risk of getting severe disease and dying. So, the first evidence that shots are working in those countries will probably be reductions in hospitalizations, and then in deaths, says Alexandra Hogan, an infectious-disease modeller at Imperial College London.

Indirect effects

If vaccines are effective at preventing infections, then their indirect benefit — protecting unvaccinated people — will be visible only once enough people have been immunized, says Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Israel will probably be the first country to see this kind of population-wide impact, say researchers. This is because it is using a high-efficacy vaccine and aiming for wide coverage with the explicit goal of achieving herd immunity, when enough people are immune to a virus for its spread to be controlled.

In some places, the first signs of indirect protection might emerge in specific groups who have been widely vaccinated, such as health-care and long-term-care workers and their families, says Dean.

But teasing apart the population-level effects of vaccines on a drop in COVID-19 cases from the impacts of other public-health interventions, such as social distancing and lockdowns, will be tricky. “Infectious diseases are very unpredictable — so you end up needing a lot of data to smooth out a lot of unpredictability,” says Dean.

Challenges ahead

The effect of vaccines on reducing overall COVID-19 infections will be more difficult to ascertain in regions such as Norway, which have largely brought the virus under control, says Hogan.

Yet rampant transmission also complicates such investigations, until countries reach high vaccine coverage, adds Dean. Vaccinated health-care workers, for example, might be able to protect their families from infection, but when the virus is everywhere, there will be lots of opportunities for it to enter a household, she says.

Israel aside, vaccines will not have an impact on viral spread any time soon, says Raina MacIntyre, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “Many other countries are using much lower-efficacy vaccines, which are unlikely to control infection,” she says.

Modelling work by Hogan shows that vaccines that are less effective at preventing infection will have a smaller impact on transmission in the population. “But even with an imperfect vaccine, that population-level impact on deaths could still be quite substantial,” she says.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00140-w

UK

Herd immunity to Covid-19 may not be achievable even with high vaccine uptake

By Mike Broad - January 22nd, 2021

The government vaccination programme may not be sufficient to achieve herd immunity – even if everyone in the UK is vaccinated, according to research from the University of East Anglia.  

Researchers modelled the effectiveness of UK-wide immunisation programmes using the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines, taking into account the highly transmissible new Covid-19 variant. 

They found that the only way to reach herd immunity for the UK would be to vaccinate almost everyone – including children – with the more effective Pfizer vaccine. 

They say data for the recently licenced Moderna vaccine would be similar to the Pfizer results. 

And the study recommends that all health and social care professionals should receive the 95% effective Pfizer/Moderna vaccines to prevent asymptomatic spread to patients and vulnerable people.

Due to the rapid response nature of this research it has not yet been peer reviewed.

Covid-19 expert Prof Paul Hunter, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Getting vaccinated has a huge benefit to you personally. It greatly reduces the risk of serious illness and reduces your risk of symptomatic disease by an estimated 70% for the Oxford vaccine, or 95% for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. 

“But we wanted to find out whether ‘herd immunity’ is a realistic outcome of any immunisation programme with the main vaccines licenced in the UK given that immunisation, even though it can reduce illness, may not prevent all infections. 

“And importantly, can these vaccines achieve a sufficient level of population immunity to reduce the reproductive R number to below one in the absence of any non-pharmaceutical interventions?”

The research team used mathematical models of Covid-19 transmission and vaccine efficacy to predict how well the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines will work to bring the R number down and achieve herd immunity.

They initially found that 69% of the population would need to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, or 93% of the population with the Oxford vaccine, to bring the R number below one.

However, when they took into account the new more transmissible Covid-19 variant, they found that vaccinating the entire population with the Oxford vaccine would only reduce the R value to 1.325.

Meanwhile the Pfizer vaccine would require 82% of the population to be vaccinated to control the spread of the new variant. 

Asymptomatic transmission

Modeller Prof Alastair Grant, form UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, said: “The Oxford vaccine reduces the incidence of serious illness to a greater extent than it reduces symptomatic illness, which is still common in those who have had this vaccine. 

“Its efficacy against the incidence of asymptomatic infections is lower, reducing its efficacy against all infection from 70.4% to 52.5% for the pooled data. This means that its overall protection against infection is only partial – around 50%.

“Although asymptomatic cases are less infectious, including this in our calculations still raises R values by 20% or more, from 1.33 to 1.6 for the new variant with a 100% vaccination.

“This combination of relatively low headline efficacy and limited effect on asymptomatic infections means that the Oxford vaccine can’t take us to herd immunity, even if the whole population is immunised. 

“Vaccinating 82% of the population with the Pfizer vaccine would control the spread of the virus – but it isn’t licenced for use on under 16s, who make up 19% of the population. 

“Also, some people will refuse the vaccine, so achieving an 82% vaccination rate will likely be impossible. In the absence of vaccination, ‘herd immunity’ would only occur when 89% of the population has had the virus.”

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.16.21249946v1

• Posted in Hospital Dr News • Tags: Covid-19, Vaccination

 The Truth About Judge Jeanine Pirro And Donald Trump's Relationship

BY ELIZABETH S. MITCHELL/JAN. 22, 2021 

Perhaps the very last act Donald Trump made as president was to pardon Albert Pirro, who was convicted of tax evasion and conspiracy nearly 20 years ago for deducting more than $1 million in personal expenses as "business expenses." Why would Trump use the last hour of his presidency to forgive a white-collar criminal whose greed for money, according to ABC News, has been likened to Richard Nixon's lust for power? While Pirro did donate about $2,000 to the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign in 2020, the pardon likely had less to do with this relatively small donation and a whole lot more to do with who his ex-wife is. 

The businessman's former wife is Fox News' Jeanine Pirro, who has spent Trump's presidency singing his praises and continually supporting him via the TV network, even when other reporters and programs questioned or criticized the president. In fact, her weekly broadcast on Saturday evenings, Justice with Judge Jeanine, frequently quoted Trump's now-banned Twitter account, and commenters and viewers found her show a safe place to voice their undying support of the president and repeat conspiracy theories and unfounded claims about election fraud (via ABC News).

Trump's history with Jeanine Pirro

Donald Trump first became acquainted with the Pirros over 30 years ago when he hired Albert Pirro to serve as a real estate lawyer. At the time, Jeanine Pirro was serving as a Westchester County Court judge, and the couple ran in the same New York City social scene as Trump. Trump remained friends with Judge Pirro over the intervening decades, and long before his own political ambitions, Pirro ran for the Republican senate nomination to oppose Hilary Clinton in 2005. She dropped out of the race, but Trump showed his friendship and support by donating to her campaign at the time, and when she ran the next year to oppose Andrew Cuomo for the New York attorney general seat, he donated to that campaign as well (via Vanity Fair). 

She gave up her ambitions of pursuing political office for a TV career, landing a headlining role in CW's reality courtroom show Judge Jeanine Pirro, which was canceled in 2011 just before Pirro signed on with Fox. And in 2016, she wrote a book called Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy, which The Washington Post called "the most gushing" of the "sycophantic" books that had come out at the time about the then-new president. Throughout his presidency, Pirro took the president's side and made sometimes-controversial assertions that landed her in hot water even with her network, but nothing deterred her loyalty and her drive to express it on her show (via Vanity Fair).

Read More: https://www.thelist.com/317939/the-truth-about-judge-jeanine-pirro-and-donald-trumps-relationship/?utm_campaign=clip

REVEALED: Fox News' Judge Jeanine lobbied Donald Trump to pardon her ex-husband in dying hours of presidency after she saw he was missing from clemency list

President Donald Trump announced another pardon with less than an hour left in his term 

Trump pardoned Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro's fraudster ex-husband Albert Pirro, who used to represent Trump in real estate deals 

The White House released Pirro's name as the president was landing in West Palm Beach, as he's skipping President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration 

Now CNN reports that 'Judge' Jeanine lobbied Trump directly

Albert Pirro said he was 'surprised' to get the pardon having gone to bed assuming he was not on the list 

By NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 21 January 2021 

Fox News star Jeanine Pirro lobbied Donald Trump on his last morning in office to pardon her fraudster ex-husband, it was reported Thursday.

CNN said that the host was in touch with the president after her ex-husband Albert Pirro - a lawyer who had once represented Trump - was missing from the dozens of pardons issued in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 

Among those who received clemency were Steve Bannon, Trump's former adviser who was indicted on charges of taking $1m from the privately-funded border wall campaign for his own use.

Albert Pirro had been among those expected to be on the list issued in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

But when he was not, his ex-wife lobbied Trump directly, CNN reported.

He ordered aides to their 'total surprise' to have Pirro pardoned, which left them 'scrambling.'

Ally: Jeanine Pirro has been a vocal defender of Donald Trump, who promoted her book in the Oval Office

President Donald Trump gave a last-minute pardon to Albert Pirro (left) who was previously married to Fox News personality Judge Jeanine Pirro (right). Here the couple is captured leaving court in 2000 

Close: Trump's relationship with Jeanine Pirro and her former husband goes back decades. Albert Pirro represented Trump in the 1990s

The outgoing deputy press secretary, Judd Deere, announced the pardon when Air Force One touched down in Florida saying: 'Today, President Donald J. Trump granted a full pardon to Albert J. Pirro, Jr.'

Pirro spent 17 months in federal prison after being convicted in 2000 of $1m in tax frau

Trump ally Matt Schlapp got $750k in unsuccessful pardon push

Lachlan Markay

Matt Schlapp. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The lobbying firm run by Trump ally Matt Schlapp brought in $750,000 in the final two weeks of 2020 from a former top Trump fundraiser and convicted fraudster who retained Schlapp to lobby — unsuccessfully — for a presidential pardon.

Why it matters: The substantial sum that the former fundraiser, Georgia's Parker "Pete" Petit, paid to Schlapp's Cove Strategies shows how valuable connections to Donald Trump were in his final days in office for wealthy felons seeking clemency from the outgoing president.

What's new: Lobbying disclosure records filed on Thursday said Schlapp, a close informal Trump adviser, worked on a "request for a pardon and other public policy issues relating to criminal justice."

The disclosure filing, which covered the last two weeks of 2020, said that Schlapp had contacted just one government office on Petit's behalf: the Executive Office of the President.
Petit was not on the list of the nearly 150 pardons and commutations that the White House released during Trump's final days in office.

Schlapp didn't respond to inquiries about the other policy work he reported performing on the account.

The backstory: Petit, a former Atlanta health care executive, co-chaired the Trump campaign's 2016 fundraising operation in Georgia.

A federal court convicted him of securities fraud in November. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Be smart: A host of federal convicts retained lobbyists to try to win clemency from Trump in his final days. But even the most lucrative lobbying contracts didn't guarantee success.

WHATEVER GOES UP MUST COME DOWN

Nightmare on Wall Street: Bank of America Warns Record Stock Prices are Sign Bubble is Ready to Pop

© AP Photo / Michael Probst

BUSINESS SPUTNIK
22.01.2021
by Ilya Tsukanov

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new all-time high on Wednesday following Joe Biden’s inauguration. The value of stocks has grown steadily since 2009, with the Dow alone tripling in value, notwithstanding economic factors such as high unemployment, stagnant wages, and high debt levels among ordinary Americans.

Bank of America, the US’s second largest bank with assets worth well over $2 trillion, has warned its customers that the “extreme rally” witnessed on Wall Street is the result of Federal Reserve policy, and that it's fuelling the blowup of a massive bubble that could soon burst.

“D.C.’s policy bubble is fuelling Wall Street’s asset price bubble,” a note said to have been sent to investors Friday and seen by Bloomberg reads, referring to the Federal Reserve’s support for risk assets, i.e. those assets which are not risk-free.

“When those who want to stay rich start acting like those who want to get rich, it suggests a late-stage speculative blow-off,” the note adds, referring to the high levels of high-risk speculation among wealthy investors. The letter, penned by BofA eggheads led by chief investment strategists Michael Hartnett, warns that a ‘market correction’, i.e. a drop in stock prices, is expected sometime later this year, with the bank’s so-called Bull & Bear Indicator already coming close to a “sell signal.”

The bank warns its clients of the coming "volatility events" and compares it to past bubbles, including the 2007-08 housing market collapse and the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s that proceeded it, amid ballooning Central Bank balance sheets in the US and Europe. Bank of America expects the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet to reach the equivalent of 42 percent of GDP in 2021 amid an expected budget deficit of 33 percent of GDP.

The US budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in 2020, more than doubling the previously-set record. Before that, the deficit, or the difference between government spending and the amount of money the state collects from taxes and by other means, grew consistently under both Barack Obama and Donald Trump from a post-2008 crisis low of $439 billion in 2015.



© REUTERS / BRENDAN MCDERMID

US Stocks Hit Record Highs as Biden Presidency Begins

Trump repeatedly criticised Obama over his deficit spending, and even promised to eliminate America’s whopping $20 trillion in debt over two terms during his 2016 campaign. The president appeared to have given up on the campaign promise during his tenure, with federal debt exploding to over $27.8 trillion, i.e. about a third of the total value of the global economy, but the time he left the White House.

Despite the gargantuan amounts of debt, the US remains in a unique position relative to other nations, with the S dollar’s status as the de facto world currency allowing the Fed to continue printing and exchanging money for physical goods at rates that would send most other nations into Weimar Republic-style inflation and financial ruin. So long as the US is deemed able to continue paying off its debts by creditors, Washington can continue to pursue its deficit spending without large-scale effects beyond manageable inflationary pressures.

Last week, Joe Biden announced a new $1.9 trillion coronavirus economic recovery plan including $1,400 direct payments to ordinary Americans, as well as billions in new assistance to businesses and banks. Washington already spent about $4 trillion on coronavirus stimulus in 2020.