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Owner/Driver / October 28, 2016 It was a Kenworth invasion in the NSW Hawkesbury region for this year’s Clarendon Classic. Peter and Di Schlenk checked out the fine machinery on show Despite this year’s Clarendon Classic Machinery, Truck and Hobby Rally theme promoting the theme of ‘all things European’, the event was notable for the inclusion of the Kenworth Klassic featuring 265 historical and working Kenworth trucks. Held at the Hawkesbury Showgrounds in New South Wales on September 17 to 18, the event presented around 500 trucks, plus a large range of antique engines, tractors, motorcycles and cars. Also on show were working steam engines, earthmoving equipment pushing up dirt and chain-sawing. Adding further to the show’s retro feel, double decker buses were used to shuttle patrons to Richmond Station. A steam train kept the mood going, blowing its whistle, with the steam traction engines at the show to whistle back. For those in for the long haul there was on-site camping available with clean toilets and showers. The entire show was a smooth operation, with trucks efficiently signed in, bins regularly emptied and traffic promptly directed. It all went off without a hitch. Early exhibitors were welcomed with a Friday evening barbecue, however trucks continued to arrive the following day. Saturday evening’s highlight was the vintage tractor pull. A 12hp Buffalo Pits steam tractor engine made light work of towing the sled, with the ash and embers pouring out of its exhaust making for a spectacular sight. The proceeds from gate takings at the show were being donated to the Windsor Hospital Ladies Auxiliary. Close to home Bernie Learson’s Kenworth W900B is a regular at truck shows around the country, although the Sydney Historical is easily the closest to his home at Cranebrook, which is around 10 minutes away. "This is actually the closest trip we do on the whole 12-month cycle, so we don’t get much of a road trip," Bernie smiles. He says up until recently there W900Bs in Australia, although he’s heard that on was written off. "It’s fun having something different from what anyone has," Bernie says. He’s owned the truck for the past 10 years. "I retired the truck last December and this is how it looked when it was working. "We worked it pretty hard doing a lot of long distance stuff. "It’s all set up with a built-in stove and gas bottle; one of the lockers under the bunk is the pantry." Bernie loves old school trucks such as Ford LTLs and Road Bosses. "They were the trucks that I grew up with. "Today I still keep driving but at a different pace, doing the same things as before but you don’t have to fill out invoices," laughs Bernie. Legendary Kenworth Damien Radburn was proudly standing alongside a T950 Legend that is operated by Kerdens. "Kerden is a combination of both mum and dad’s names – ‘Ker’ from Kerri and ‘Den’ from Dennis," Damien explains. "We have been operating for around 15 years and now have almost 30 trucks, mainly Kenworths and Western Stars. "We run mainly between Sydney and Melbourne but on occasion to Adelaide and Brisbane as well." Damien was waiting for the company’s 2005 T950 to arrive. It was purchased brand new and has now done three million kilometres. "It was due for a coat of paint and now off it goes again; it doesn’t owe us much, it was a good investment," he says. "I drive the new T950 together with another driver and they are beautiful trucks. "Kenworths are worth the investment when you get that sort of mileage out of them." Weather watchers Cornfoot Bros Earthmoving trucks are a familiar sight in Victoria, but not so much around Sydney – until this year’s Clarendon Classic. "We decided on Wednesday evening to come up and we left the next day," Norm Cornfoot says. "The rain has quietened things right down so it was a good chance to get up here. "We looked up the weather and it was predicted to be sunny so up we came." Norm brought five trucks up, two of their own small trucks, an SAR, a T900 and a T350. "It’s great to give people the opportunity to see our gear; everyone’s got good comments about them which is really pleasing." Norm was impressed with the facilities, the organisation and that there would be no trophies presented. "No one will go home upset that they didn’t win a trophy," Norm remarks. "You come here to show off your trucks and there is such a range from untouched left-out-in-the-paddock jobs right through to the rebuilt custom stuff. "All these trucks have heaps of history and it is great to catch up with like-minded people." Weight’s right Nick Albury’s Kenworth K104 had many of the showgoers taking a closer look. Nick has been in the trucking game for 24 years and an owner-driver for the past 12 months, his K104 dressed up as a Ned Kelly-themed rig. "My mum Marilyn passed away last year and I promised her on her death bed that I would lose weight and stop driving for dickheads and drive for myself," Nick says. "I was 203kg, so I took a chance and lost 100kg and am living the dream with my own truck." Ever since Nick bought the Kenworth he had a Ned Kelly theme in mind. "It’s been wrapped and I’m rapt," he smiles. "Stand up for what you believe in and deliver." Hard worker Just over 51 years ago, Sunny Warby picked up his new B model Mack just over 51 years ago. It was registered on September 7, 1965. "Back when I was a little fellow Anthill Ranger had a display at the showgrounds," Sunny recalls. "I was only a kid and saw these integrated cabs and I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to buy me a Mack one day’." Sunny says he worked hard back in those days, putting down a third deposit on the truck and then paying it off over three years. "I didn’t muck around; I used to work for every bugger," he says. "I always had a job but on the weekends I worked and saved my money. Other blokes would be out having a good time and I would have a good time working. I loved it. "I still enjoy what I do, I drive a truck and dog tipper and I see all these blokes around here that I’ve known for years," he smiles. "Life’s a picnic, you know." Sunny initially subbied to Fridge Mobile and later bought his own trailer in 1967 and, like his B model, it has been restored and refurbished. It was also present at the show. "Look at the equipment around here and stone the crows, it’s terrific," Sunny exclaims. "It’s the appreciation and the excitement of the people as they wander around – and you can’t wish for better." Mountain Macks Bob Miller is a Mack man through and through and he had a couple on show at Clarendon. Bob bought his first Mack, a B model, in 1974 and worked it on interstate with Vaughn Transport. "I sold it to a friend in ’76 and he used it for hauling coal up around Lithgow," Bob says. "He passed away in 2005 and I bought it back from his estate. It had been in a shed for 20 years. "The Flintstone I bought three years ago. It was originally a crane truck and we put a bunk on it, and it’s on its first outing here today. Bob, who lives just up the hill at Valley Heights in the Blue Mountains," had a few tippers on the road during his truck driving years. "The livery on my Macks is from the Valiant S models of the ’60s. "Today, all of my three boys, John, Barry and James drive trucks and now I drive a school bus." Mack in the middle Dallas Fabian is well known around the NSW Central Coast. His business, DJF Haulage is based at Mangrove Mountain near Gosford and is owned by Dallas Fabian, running five semi-tippers. He had a Super-Liner on show at Clarendon. "The Super-Llner is only a spare truck so when one is off the road, it takes up the slack," Dallas says, who brought along his wife Katie and children Lilian and Jackson. "We come down here every year; it’s probably one of the better shows we do," he says. Dallas is so keen on Macks that his children have it incorporated into their middle names. "My daughter is Lilian Mackenzie and my son is Jackson Mackinley," Fabian says. "I wouldn’t have any other truck and it’s great to be able to come and show them off and be appreciated by others." Show on the road One of the rarer trucks on display was Kirby Maxwell’s well-travelled Oshkosh. Kirby bought the Oshkosh in 1976 and put a towing body on its back, traveling the Pacific Highway for years. In 1994, he took the body off and fitted a turntable and began heavy haulage work. "It’s been a fabulous bit of gear, perfect for towing," Kirby says. "As a tow truck it weighed in at 23 tonne and had a 200 tonne winch behind it. "I could load a bent-up prime mover onto its own trailer and tow it all. I never left anything behind." Kirby sold it in 1997 and it had a few different owners. In 2010 a mate showed him a photo of an Oshkosh for sale in Adelaide that he thought was Kirby’s old truck. "I rang the guy and he reckons it belonged to Brambles. I convinced him it was mine and the vendor wanted an arm and a leg for it compared to what I sold it for," Kirby explains. "Anyway, we negotiated with him. I brought it home and it took us 12 months to refurbish it again. "It cost a lot and I actually drove to Alice Springs last year." These days Kirby spends most of his time going to historical shows. He rates Clarendon as one of the best. Making hay Craig Heffer’s cab-over Kenworth hauls hay and straw from Yarrawonga up to Sydney, but it had a day out for the Kenworth Classic. "I’ll cart anything really," Craig says. "I have a B-double drop deck and we’re kept busy with the straw. "I unloaded close to here yesterday so it was a good opportunity to come to the show." Craig bought the Kenworth four years ago, rebuilding and refurbishing it. Unfortunately it was written off soon after completion. "I blew a steer tyre and it just wedged into the fuel tank and went hard left into a tree," he recalls. "It was on the road for three months before the accident. "It took 12 months to rebuild it the first time, but only took four months the second time because I did it full time." Craig found a brand new cab which sped up with the second rebuild. Picture gallery - https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/events-news/1610/clarendon-classic-rally-2016

Owner/Driver / October 26, 2016 Bright weather, Wall of Fame inductions and a rise in truck numbers were the highlights of the 2016 Deniliquin Truck Show and Industry Expo This year’s Deniliquin Truck Show and Industry Expo, only the second running of the event, saw a significant rise in trucks turning up. Local owners, operators and drivers arrived to support the event. Deniliquin is in the middle of a productive agricultural area which relies on the transport industry. This year’s event, held on September 10, took place on the banks of the Edward River. The previous night, close on 200 people attending a dinner, which saw the first two inductees onto the Deni Wall of Fame. Fourteen people were nominated and David ‘Sherbie’ Grimison in addition to Alan and Kate Murphy were inducted. Sadly Kate passed away in March. Deni Truck Show committee president John Creenaune says three independent judges selected the inductees. "Everyone was worthy of winning and the remaining 12 are automatically re-nominated for 2017," John explains. The wall is being constructed in a parking bay east of Deniliquin and will be officially opened in the next couple of weeks. Prominent speakers at the dinner included Maggie Welsh from TransHelp, Paul Fellows winner of the John Murphy Memorial Safety Award from TruckSafe, and Brendan ‘Bumper’ Farrell from Burrumbuttock Hay Runners. John Creenaune says it was a battle to get Bumper to the dinner on time. "He had broken down up the top of Townsville. It took a bus trip and four air flights to get him here, arriving just in time for tea," John smiles. Bumper also opened the truck show on Saturday morning before heading back to Townsville. "Isn’t the transport industry fantastic? Bumper had a bit of a gearbox problem and by the time he gets up there it will be ready to go again." The auction was one of the highlights of Saturday. The public attended in good numbers and were able to get up close and personal with trucks, operators, police with vehicles, the Rural Fire Service and many other industry suppliers with a range of vehicles from new trucks and to bull bars and semi-trailers. Well washed One of the first to line up on Saturday morning was Aaron Hayes in one of Mahoney’s T909s. The previous day Aaron was at a Deniliquin wash bays, removing the road grime and bugs. Aaron had just delivered a load of hay and took the Saturday off to attend the show before heading home the next day. Mahoney’s are based down in Colac in Victoria and their white prime movers with green tippers are a common sight. "I’ve got a couple of mates on the organising committee here and came to support them and get behind a good cause" he says. Aaron has had the T909 for two years, the first of that model he has driven, and loves it. "Generally I’ll be pulling tippers carrying anything that will tip out the back," he explains. "We basically cover Victoria and the lower half of NSW. "All the gear is well looked after so it is great to come and show it off." Helen’s wheels Helen Dann takes a lot of pride in her well-travelled Mercedes-Benz. Helen didn’t have far to travel to the shower, however, being based at Mathoura, about 20km south of town. "It’s a poor woman’s Kenworth," she laughs. "It will do until I get a Kenworth." The Benz is an ex-Shell fuel truck and came with green guards so Helen has kept the green running through the truck. Helen has been driving trucks since she was 17, getting her licence in NSW. "I moved to Victoria and swapped it for a Victorian licence so I could start driving trucks sooner," she explains. "You have to be 21 in NSW. "I was very keen to get behind the wheel; I love trucks and driving them," she adds. Helen was one of the 14 nominees up for induction into the Deni Wall of Fame. She has already been inducted into the Alice Springs Wall of Fame. "I’ve run three trucks, I had a business and today I have the Benz. "I’ve had it for a year. We use it for farm work, carting hay at present." Helen says she has a dream of one day going ice-road trucking. "It’s one of the things on my bucket list." One of the 909s Mitch Grey rolled up to the show in one of Wade Hannasky’s T909s. Not only was it an opportunity to show off the truck, but also to catch up with a few mates. "This is our newest one and identical to three other 909s in the fleet," Mitch explains. "They are traded at 700,000 and are a great truck. You can’t go past it for our work." Hannasky, based at Echuca, hauls livestock, which Mitch enjoys. He says he has known Wade for many years. "Between the family farm and this it keeps me busy but I love it," he says. "The Australian border is pretty much where I go – everywhere." Toy show Lindsay McKenzie drove an old Kenworth SAR up to Deniliquin, also using the occasion to catch up with his daughter Leonie. A former Deniliquin resident of most of his life after a truck driving career of 44 years, Lindsay now lives in Traralgon in Victoria’s Gippsland region. "I retired four years ago and built myself a toy," he says of the SAR. "Leonie’s life is up here and it is a chance to come and say hello to a lot of mates." The SAR is on historical plates and is in immaculate condition, a far cry from when he first laid eyes on it. "It was a bit of a mess but we brought it back up," Lindsay says. "It’s got all the good gear, is B-double rated and has air bag suspension." Despite the SAR, he admits he is a ‘Mack man’. "I always had Superliners but when it came to just having one to play with, I chose an SAR simply because it was affordable in comparison to a Mack." Winning Cat Laura Annette had brought up D&K Walker’s Cat tip truck to the show. After helping out in Walker’s landscaping business in Kilmore, Laura’s love of trucks and passion to drive now sees her driving the Cat. "I first started driving for my uncle, driving his little boom lift and it went from there," Laura says. "Driving the Cat is challenging but I don’t mind a challenge and can handle the manual gear box. "I can’t reverse the dog trailer but I’m learning," she smiles. "You’ve got to start somewhere and I am enjoying it." The truck show was a chance to show the Cat off, which picked up the Best Truck 4-9 Years trophy, and have a weekend away. Laura’s boss, Brad Walker explained that Laura nearly drove him crazy, wanting to have a go in the Cat. "I gave her a go, took her out a few times, teaching her on our little rigid," Brad recalls. "Laura is very good and after a while we tried with the trailers with lighter loads and she is good enough to be going by herself. "She’s competent and a real good steerer!" Purple people meeter Kieran Pascoe has his bright purple Mack Super-Liner on show at Deniliquin. Based in nearby Finley, Kieran’s truck certainly stands out in a crowd. Kieran keeps the Mack busy pulling a tipper road train around NSW, mainly running up to the north of the state. The Mack is four years old with Kieran picking it up in October 2012 and completing 491,000km since. "It has performed really well with plenty of horsepower while being good on fuel," He smiles. "It’s fully automatic, it has got to be with the MP10 and its 685hp. I’m actually extremely impressed with the auto." Due to work commitments Kieran missed last year’s Deni Truck Show. "Everybody should support anything to do with the locals, and this is a really good truck show," he adds. "It’s run very well and it’s good to be here." Along the Murray The Frankling Transport team, based at Koondrook on the Murray, drove the 90km to Deniliquin show off their three Kenworths. Owner and driver Darren Frankling says the company specialises in bulk cartage, especially grain. "Deni and the local area has a lot of trucks and it’s a good indication of the transport in this area by just how many trucks have turned up here," Darren says. He is looking forward to a good season with a favourable harvest predicted. "Everything is positive at this stage as long as the rain knows when to stop," he says. Frankling driver Evan Whitbourne attended the dinner on Friday evening and came away impressed. "They inducted a couple of local transport identities here onto the Wall of Fame and it went off very well." Frankling Transport went on to win the Best Fleet award. Back in numbers The O’Loughlin Excavations’ trucks arrived from Cobram, the team forced to give them a final wipe over after driving through a rain shower along the way. "That’s the joys of trucking," says John Hill. "These get down and dirty but it’s good to have them all cleaned up." John came to the inaugural Deni show, and enjoyed it so much he came back with two trucks from the company’s five-strong fleet for this year’s event. "It’s another great day; a ripper," he adds. "We’ll enjoy it and catching up with other drivers. Deniliquin Truck Show Winners Truck of the Show: Matthew Clarke, Tongala Vic, 2010 Kenworth K108 People’s Choice: Leo Kelly, Edenhope Vic, 1984 Kenworth W Model Muscles Gray Memorial Award: Clinton McKinnon, Narellen NSW, 2006 Kenworth T904 Best Truck Under 3 years: Gray’s Transport, Finley NSW, 2016 Kenworth T950 Best Truck 4-9 years: D&K Walker Transport, Kilmore Vic, 2010 Cat CT630 Best Truck 10-25 years: Clinton McKinnon, Narellen NSW, 2006 Kenworth T904 Best Truck 26-39 years: John Kerr, Bendigo Vic, 1988 Mack Superliner Best Truck 40 years & over: Neil Scott, Deniliquin NSW, 1936 Maple Leaf Tray body Best Rigid: Duanueo Kemp, Cranbourne North Vic, 2003 Kenworth T404ST Best Local Truck: Sam Armytage, Deniliquin NSW, 2011 Kenworth K200 Best Fleet: Frankling Transport, Koondrook Vic Picture gallery - https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/events-news/1610/deniliquin-truck-show-and-industry-expo-2016

Industry applauds QLD roads upgrade investment Australasian Transport News (ATN) / October 31, 2016 Livestock transport body says the project will improve efficiency and combat fatigue The Livestock and Rural Transport Association Queensland (LRTAQ) has welcomed the federal government's $20 million funding commitment to upgrade roads in Rockhampton. Part of the federal government's Beef Roads Programme, the funding involves improving road infrastructure to allow livestock transporters access the meat processors in the region using road trains. LRTAQ president Ian Wild says the upgrade will help reduce the number of trips required to move livestock, which will save time and money, and also reduce fatigue-related issues among drivers. "The Beef Capital of Australia has long suffered from the inability for anything larger than a B-double to access the processing plants in Rockhampton and tragically in 2014 the death of a driver whilst cross loading," Wild tells ATN. "The LRTAQ alongside AgForce have been working for many years towards a solution to this undesirable situation and we, the LRTAQ are extremely happy that funding has finally been announced for this to take place. "As well as much needed funding for other major transport corridors in the north of the state. "Our members sometimes take twice as long to get to our destination because of the state of some of the roads we frequent. "The announcement of this funding to upgrade some of the corridors will go a long way to reducing animal welfare and fatigue management issues that affect our industry."

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Magna EYERIS System used in Ford Super-Duty Trailering System Magna International Press Release / October 26, 2016 Magna International announced today its vision-based driver-assistance technologies are featured in the 2017 Ford Super Duty Trailer Reverse Guidance system. Magna's EYERIS driver-assistance technology supports the Trailer Reverse Guidance system jointly developed by Magna and Ford. Image-processing software determines the angle between truck and trailer and provides the most appropriate view to the driver, depending on the trailer's trajectory. Three high-resolution cameras and a color-coded bird's-eye diagram of the truck help warn the driver of potential jackknife conditions. Additional technology shows the driver the required steering wheel movement for reversing in a straight line. The Magna camera technology helps make the Super-Duty camera and display for Trailer Reverse Guidance exclusive in the pickup truck segment and best-in-class for any mass market vehicle. Magna has multiple patents on the trailer angle detection and guidance technology. Magna's back-up driver assistance systems are already used in the F-Series. When designing the all-new Super-Duty, Ford Motor Company tapped Magna to build an even more sophisticated towing and trailering system to meet Super Duty customer needs. Because Ford Super-Duty drivers tow frequently, Magna worked with the Ford team to develop advanced tools and high-definition cameras to create a 360-degree view for the driver. "Ford approached Magna to develop a solution for Super-Duty customers, for whom trailering and towing is a priority," said Swamy Kotagiri, Chief Technology Officer at Magna. "For two years, dozens of Magna engineers from the U.S., Germany and Canada worked together with Ford engineers to develop technology to enable Trailer Reverse Guidance, which makes trailering safer and more convenient. We are proud to support Ford with this innovation." Trailer Reverse Guidance is the latest driver-assist technology supplied by Magna, which supplies camera systems to more than 60 percent of major OEMs around the world.

FBI in Internal Feud Over Hillary Clinton Probe The Wall Street Journal / October 30, 2016 The surprise disclosure that FBI agents are taking a new look at Hillary Clinton’s email use lays bare, just days before the election, tensions inside the bureau and the Justice Department over how to investigate the Democratic presidential nominee. Investigators found 650,000 emails on a laptop that they believe was used by former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide, and underlying metadata suggests thousands of those messages could have been sent to or from the private server that Mrs. Clinton used while she was secretary of state. It will take weeks to determine whether those messages are work-related from the time Ms. Abedin served with Mrs. Clinton at the State Department; how many are duplicates of emails already reviewed by the FBI; and whether they include either classified information or important new evidence in the Clinton email probe. Officials had to await a court order to begin reviewing the emails, which they received over the weekend, because they were uncovered in an unrelated probe of Mr. Weiner. The new investigative effort, disclosed by FBI Director James Comey on Friday, shows a bureau at times in sharp internal disagreement over matters related to the Clintons, and how to handle those matters fairly and carefully in the middle of a national election campaign. Even as the probe of Mrs. Clinton’s email use wound down in July, internal disagreements within the bureau and the Justice Department surrounding the Clintons’ family philanthropy heated up. The latest development began in early October when New York-based FBI officials notified Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s second-in-command, that while investigating Mr. Weiner for sending sexually charged messages to a teenage minor, they had recovered a laptop. Many of the 650,000 emails on the computer were from the accounts of Ms. Abedin. Those emails stretched back years and were on a laptop that hadn’t previously come up in the Clinton email probe. Ms. Abedin said in late August that the couple were separating. The FBI had searched the computer while looking for child pornography, but the warrant they used didn’t give them authority to search for matters related to Mrs. Clinton’s email arrangement at the State Department. In their initial review of the laptop, the metadata showed thousands of messages that were either sent to or from the private email server at Mrs. Clinton’s home that had been the focus of so much investigative effort for the FBI. Senior FBI officials decided to let the Weiner investigators proceed with a closer examination of the metadata on the computer, and report back to them. At a meeting early last week of senior Justice Department and FBI officials, a member of the department’s senior national-security staff asked for an update on the Weiner laptop. At that point, officials realized that no one had acted to obtain a warrant [professionals making such a careless mistake?]. Mr. McCabe then instructed the email investigators to talk to the Weiner investigators and see whether the laptop’s contents could be relevant to the Clinton email probe. After the investigators spoke, the agents agreed it was potentially relevant. Mr. Comey was given an update, decided to go forward with the case and notified Congress on Friday, with explosive results. Senior Justice Department officials had warned the FBI that telling Congress would violate policies against overt actions that could affect an election, and some within the FBI have been unhappy at Mr. Comey’s repeated public statements on the probe, going back to his press conference on the subject in July. The back-and-forth reflects how the bureau is probing several matters related, directly or indirectly, to Mrs. Clinton and her inner circle. Senior law-enforcement officials repeatedly voiced skepticism of the strength of the evidence in a FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation, sought to condense what was at times a sprawling cross-country effort, and told agents to limit their pursuit of the case. The probe of the foundation began more than a year ago to determine whether financial crimes or influence peddling occurred related to the charity. Some investigators grew frustrated, viewing FBI leadership as uninterested in probing the charity. Others involved disagreed sharply, defending FBI bosses and saying Mr. McCabe in particular was caught between an increasingly acrimonious fight for control between the Justice Department and FBI agents pursuing the Clinton Foundation case. It isn’t unusual for field agents to favor a more aggressive approach than supervisors and prosecutors think is merited. But the internal debates about the Clinton Foundation show the high stakes when such disagreements occur surrounding someone who is running for president. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Mr. McCabe’s wife, Jill McCabe, received $467,500 in campaign funds in late 2015 from the political-action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime ally of the Clintons and, until he was elected governor in November 2013, a Clinton Foundation board member. Mr. McAuliffe had supported Dr. McCabe in the hopes she and a handful of other Democrats might help win a majority in the state Senate. Dr. McCabe lost her race last November, and Democrats failed to win their majority. A spokesman for the governor has said that “any insinuation that his support was tied to anything other than his desire to elect candidates who would help pass his agenda is ridiculous.” Dr. McCabe told the Journal, “Once I decided to run, my husband had no formal role in my campaign other than to be” supportive. In February of this year, Mr. McCabe ascended from the No. 3 position at the FBI to the deputy director post. When he assumed that role, officials say, he started overseeing the probe into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server for government work when she was secretary of state. FBI officials have said Mr. McCabe had no role in the Clinton email probe until he became deputy director, and by then his wife’s campaign was over. But other Clinton-related investigations were under way within the FBI, and they have been the subject of internal debate for months. Early this year, four FBI field offices—New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Little Rock, Ark.—were collecting information about the Clinton Foundation to see if there was evidence of financial crimes or influence-peddling. Los Angeles agents had picked up information about the Clinton Foundation from an unrelated public-corruption case and had issued some subpoenas for bank records related to the foundation. The Washington field office was probing financial relationships involving Mr. McAuliffe before he became a Clinton Foundation board member. Mr. McAuliffe has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has said the probe is focused on whether he failed to register as an agent of a foreign entity. Clinton Foundation officials have long denied any wrongdoing, saying it is a well-run charity that has done immense good. The FBI field office in New York had done the most work on the Clinton Foundation case and received help from the FBI field office in Little Rock. In February, FBI officials made a presentation to the Justice Department. By all accounts, the meeting didn’t go well. Some said that is because the FBI didn’t present compelling evidence to justify more aggressive pursuit of the Clinton Foundation, and that the career anticorruption prosecutors in the room simply believed it wasn’t a very strong case. Others said that from the start, the Justice Department officials were stern, icy and dismissive of the case. “That was one of the weirdest meetings I’ve ever been to,” said one participant. Anticorruption prosecutors at the Justice Department told the FBI at the meeting they wouldn’t authorize more aggressive investigative techniques, such as subpoenas, formal witness interviews, or grand-jury activity. But the FBI officials believed they were well within their authority to pursue the leads and methods already under way. About a week after Mr. Comey’s July announcement that he was recommending against any prosecution in the Clinton email case, the FBI sought to refocus the Clinton Foundation probe, with Mr. McCabe deciding the FBI’s New York office would take the lead, with assistance from Little Rock. The Washington field office, FBI officials decided, would focus on a separate matter involving Mr. McAuliffe. Mr. McCabe had decided earlier in the spring that he would continue to recuse himself from that probe, given the governor’s contributions to his wife’s former political campaign. Within the FBI, the decision was viewed with skepticism by some, who felt the probe would be stronger if the foundation and McAuliffe matters were combined. Others, particularly Justice Department anticorruption prosecutors, felt that both probes were weak, based largely on publicly available information, and had found little that would merit expanded investigative authority. On August 12, a senior Justice Department official called Mr. McCabe to voice his displeasure at finding that New York FBI agents were still openly pursuing the Clinton Foundation probe during the election season. Mr. McCabe said agents still had the authority to pursue the issue as long as they didn’t use overt methods requiring Justice Department approvals. The Justice Department official was “very pissed off,” according to one person close to Mr. McCabe, and pressed him to explain why the FBI was still chasing a matter the department considered dormant. Others said the Justice Department was simply trying to make sure FBI agents were following longstanding policy not to make overt investigative moves that could be seen as trying to influence an election. Those rules discourage investigators from making any such moves before a primary or general election, and, at a minimum, checking with anticorruption prosecutors before doing so. “Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation?” Mr. McCabe asked. After a pause, the official replied, “Of course not.” For Mr. McCabe’s defenders, the exchange showed how he was stuck between an FBI office eager to pour more resources into a case and Justice Department prosecutors who didn’t think much of the case. Following the call, Mr. McCabe reiterated past instructions to FBI agents that they were to keep pursuing the work within the authority they had. Others further down the FBI chain of command, however, said agents were given a much starker instruction on the case: “Stand down.” When agents questioned why they weren’t allowed to take more aggressive steps, they said they were told the order had come from the deputy director—Mr. McCabe. Others familiar with the matter deny Mr. McCabe or any other senior FBI official gave such a stand-down instruction. For agents who already felt uneasy about FBI leadership’s handling of the Clinton Foundation case, the moment only deepened their concerns. For those who felt the probe hadn’t yet found significant evidence of criminal conduct, the leadership’s approach was the right response. In September, agents on the foundation case asked to see the emails contained on nongovernment laptops that had been searched as part of the Clinton email case, but that request was rejected by prosecutors at the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn. Those emails were given to the FBI based on grants of partial immunity and limited-use agreements, meaning agents could only use them for the purpose of investigating possible mishandling of classified information. Some FBI agents were dissatisfied with that answer, and asked for permission to make a similar request to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Mr. McCabe told them no and added that they couldn’t “go prosecutor-shopping.” Not long after that discussion, FBI agents informed the bureau’s leaders about the Weiner laptop, prompting Mr. Comey’s disclosure to Congress and setting off the furor that promises to consume the final days of a tumultuous campaign.

The Wall Street Journal / October 29, 2016 Reports this week will shine a light on the trucking industry at a critical point in the fourth quarter Big trucking companies have spent the second half of the year shrinking their fleets in hopes of changing an imbalance between the supply of rigs on the road and tepid shipping demand that has flattened industry earnings. They will learn in the coming weeks, as retailers stock up at stores and distribution centers for the holidays, whether efforts to slim down capacity have produced the rate increases that trucking companies say they need to increase profitability and to expand fleets next year. Trucking-industry reports in the coming week will take the pulse of a market at a critical point in the fourth quarter, when companies look to build off momentum in the consumer and manufacturing arenas to set business plans for 2017. Industry data groups ACT Research and FTR are due to report this week on new heavy-duty truck orders for companies in October, a critical month for setting fleet plans for the coming year after several months in which orders have plummeted to historically low levels. DAT Solutions LLC, which measures freight rates in the industrial-trucking market, will report the next week on whether carrier efforts to rein in capacity amid tepid demand are pushing up prices as hoped. DAT says prices for spot-market freight hauls and shipments moving under long-term contracts have been slipping for most of the year, and that rates in September were down 6.4% from the same month a year earlier. “We haven’t seen any difficulty in finding trucks,” said Ken Forster, chief executive of logistics company Sunteck Transport Group, a broker based in Jacksonville, Fla., that finds and books trucks for freight shippers. “It’s clear that overcapacity has driven down pricing.” In quarterly earnings reports this month, Swift Transportation Co., Werner Enterprises Inc. and Covenant Transportation Group Inc. said they have pulled a combined hundreds of trucks from service since the second quarter. Idling trucks is a way large fleets can quickly reduce capacity to match demand, which has stagnated this year amid uneven retail imports and sluggish growth for manufacturers. Swift, the country’s largest truckload carrier, counted 581 fewer trucks in the third quarter than it did this time last year, and plans to cut an additional 200 trucks in the fourth quarter. The company’s fleet tops 19,000 big rigs. Werner, the fifth-largest U.S. truckload carrier, according to SJ Consulting Group, said it cut its fleet by 240 trucks in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier. The company posted a 41% drop in third-quarter net profit, to $18.9 million, and said in its earnings statement that it won’t add trucks “until we see meaningful improvement in the freight and rate markets.” Phoenix-based Knight Transportation Inc., whose net profit fell 23% year-over-year in the third quarter to $23.4 million, says the average age of its trucks has grown as the carrier delayed buying new equipment and focused instead on getting more use out of the trucks already in its fleet. Trucking companies have struggled with weak demand this year, with volumes and shipping prices falling while retailers and other businesses work down excessive inventory levels. U.S. domestic truck and rail shipments fell in September for the 19th straight month, according to research firm Cass Information Systems Inc. Still, several companies said they see signs that the downturn in freight demand might have bottomed out. Covenant and Heartland Express Inc. reported year-over-year declines in third-quarter net profit that were smaller than the second-quarter declines. Swift’s net profit improved 4.7% year-over-year in the third quarter, largely because of what the company said were cost cuts and improved efficiency.

Scania Group Press Release / October 28, 2016 Scania’s sales reached US$8.3 billion (SEK 75.2 billion) in the first nine months of 2016 and the company’s underlying operational performance was strong. Higher vehicle volume in Europe and increased service revenue was partly offset by negative currency rate effects and lower deliveries in Latin America. Summary of the first nine months of 2016 Operating income amounted to US$413,794 (SEK 3,733 million), and was negatively impacted by a provision of US$421.2 million (SEK 3.8 billion) related to the European Commission’s competition investigation Operating income excluding items affecting comparability rose by 7 percent to US$835,015 (SEK 7,533 million) , resulting in an operating margin of 10.0 percent Net sales rose by 8 percent to US$8.3 million (SEK 75,209 million) Cash flow amounted to US$ -21.3 million (SEK -192 million) in Vehicles and Services Comments by Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO “Scania’s sales reached US$8.3 billion in the first nine months of 2016 and the company’s underlying operational performance was strong. Higher vehicle volume in Europe and increased service revenue was partly offset by negative currency rate effects and lower deliveries in Latin America. Earnings were impacted negatively by the high investment level related to Scania’s new truck generation. Scania’s position in the European market remained strong with a market share of around 17 percent. The replacement need and economic situation in Europe continues to have a positive impact on demand for trucks. Order bookings in Latin America continued at a low level, and Brazil is still uncertain. In Eurasia, order bookings increased somewhat and Russia appears to have bottomed out. Scania increased its market share in Buses and Coaches in Europe to 7.6 percent, compared to 6.9 percent in 2015. Demand for buses and coaches is high in Europe, Latin America and Asia. In Engines, demand remains at a relatively low level. Service revenue amounted to a record US$1.8 billion (SEK 15.8 billion) during the first nine months of 2016, an increase of 3 percent and of 7 percent in local currency. Financial Services showed a strong performance and customer payment capacity is good. Scania launched its new truck generation during the third quarter of 2016. It has been very positively received and the S series has been elected the prestigious “International Truck of the year 2017”. The jury’s motivation emphasised driver comfort, safety aspects and fuel savings for hauliers of 5 percent. Together with Scania’s recently introduced option to service vehicles based on flexible maintenance plans − a service made possible by continual monitoring of connected vehicles’ operating data − Scania Maintenance is reaching an entirely new level. Through a great deal of precision, the vehicle can receive exactly the maintenance it needs to spend more time generating revenue and less time at the workshop.” 2016 Q3 Report - https://www.scania.com/group/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/Scania-Interim-Report-January-September-2016.pdf

That is the typical air reservoir paired with an optional Ingersoll Rand air starter.

Heavy Duty Trucking / October 28, 2016 A redesigned automatic lighting system for fifth wheels will soon be available from SAF-Holland, which says its ELI-te electronic lock indicator will help drivers ensure a proper coupling when they hook onto trailers. (The system was introduced in 2012 in Europe where it is call RECOSS - http://ww1.safholland.de/sites/germany/en/products/fifthwheels/accessories/Pages/RECOSS.aspx) The ELI-te Fifth Wheel Coupling Indicator includes white LED lights for the jaws-king pin area of the fifth wheel, red LED warning lights, and a long-life, application-specific electronic control module, said Bryon Redecker, product manager. The system is self-contained except for a power cord that must be fitted to a tractor’s electrical system. It is replacing a version introduced about 15 years ago that has links to an in-cab indicator system. For various reasons that product has not been popular, Redecker said. Miscouplings sometimes cause kingpins to slip loose from fifth wheels and trailer noses to fall onto the ground as a tractor pulls away. Major fleets have told SAF-Holland that hundreds of instances of dropped trailers occur each year. Drivers working with the ELI-te receive simple, immediate, and actionable feedback after each coupling. When a trailer kingpin is properly coupled to an ELI-te equipped fifth wheel, four high-intensity white LED lights mounted within the fifth wheel automatically illuminate the lock jaws. Drivers can then verify that jaws have locked onto the kingpin. If the coupling is not successful, the white lights stay dark and outward-facing red lights begin flashing. A driver can then find out why the coupling is not complete. A successful retry will turn off the red lights and illuminate the white lights. After a recheck, the driver can hook up air and electrical lines, finish a pre-trip inspection of tractor and trailer, and be on his way. The enhanced ELI-te is an integrated option on Holland’s FW series fifth wheels, including the FW31, 33 and 35. It will be available installed at the Holland factory or in retrofit kits. Price has not been set. “The lights make it easy for drivers to positively confirm that they have coupled correctly, and warn them if they have not. It’s a new generation of safety,” said Mark Molitor, vice president of engineering, Americas. “It’s an engineered, all-in-one system that will be spec’d by on-highway fleets that are looking to empower drivers to accomplish correct coupling consistently.” .

CFI Name Returns With TransForce Acquisition Heavy Duty Trucking / October 28, 2016 Longtime employees of TransForce’s new acquisition in Joplin, Mo., are proudly digging out their old CFI shirts, as the company founded in 1951 as Contract Freighters Inc. goes back to its roots and its name under its new ownership. Late Thursday, the Canadian-based trucking giant TransForce announced it had bought the former Con-way Truckload business from XPO Logistics for $558 million. It’s the third acquisition for CFI in the past decade. In 2007, CFI was purchased by Con-way and became Con-way Truckload. A little over a year ago, XPO bought Con-way. It looked into selling off the truckload operation, which didn’t fit well into its global logistics business, but decided earlier this year after looking at several offers that it would keep it. Then TransForce, as part of its strategy to expand further into the U.S., approached XPO about an acquisition. Katlin Owens, communications coordinator senior, told HDT that CFI will operate as a stand-alone company, and that longtime employees are thrilled. “We have a lot of CFI employees who have been here a long time; we have an extremely long tenure for our employees,” she said. “The building is full of people who have brought out their CFI shirts from before 2007 when we were bought by Con-way.” Owens notes that through both the Con-way and XPO acquisition, the Joplin-based operations maintained their own IT, communication, HR departments, etc. “They’re basically going to wind us up and let us go,” she says. “There’s going to be a bit of untangling, but we are in a fantastic position as far as our employee base. We’ve got the skills and experience to be successful.” Publicly traded, TransForce operates across Canada and the United States through its various subsidiaries. With approximately $3 billion in revenue in truckload, package and courier, LTL, and logistics, TransForce has grown rapidly through a number of acquisitions. Truckload is now its largest segment, representing nearly 50% of its total revenue. CFI will be its largest truckload company in the U.S. In a letter to customers, CFI President Tim Staroba said, “TransForce’s acquisition strategy of acquiring standalone entities that operate independently has proven to be extremely successful and we are honored to be part of the TransForce group of companies going forward.” While being part of a global company such as XPO gave CFI employees a new global perspective, an appreciation for the world of publicly traded companies and for business measures such as EBITDA, Owens noted that CFI employees are looking forward to being able to focus more on the communities where it is located, both in its headquarters city of Joplin, as well as at terminals in Michigan, Arkansas, Texas and Mexico. (CFI has a long-established cross-border operation with Mexico and that will continue.) “Charity is a huge part of who we are,” Owens said. Employees just raised nearly $40,000 to distribute to its local communities to make the holidays brighter for children and elderly in need, but some programs had been put on hold after the XPO acquisition. “We have charitable programs we have put on for 20 years that were put on hiatus when XPO came. We’re going to be able to return to being more involved.” Will CFI go full retro and bring back the old font for the logo? Too early to say, Owens said -- after all, they've only known about this for less than a day. .

They look like 1RY312 series torque rods. When you contacted Watts Mack at 1-888-304-6225 with your model and serial number about new studs, seats, springs and 95RU32 rubber boots, what did they say? Using your model and serial number, Watts can reference your truck's 3QK rear suspension arrangement and see the torque rod's component break down.

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The Washington Post / October 30, 2016 The FBI has obtained a warrant to search the emails found on a computer used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that may contain evidence relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. The total number of emails recovered in the Weiner investigation is close to 650,000. Though many of the emails that are not relevant to the Clinton investigation, the emails include a significant amount of correspondence associated with Clinton and her top aide Huma Abedin, Weiner’s estranged wife. The agents investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state knew early this month that messages recovered in a separate probe might be germane to their case, but waited weeks before briefing the FBI director. FBI Director James B. Comey has written that he was informed of the development Thursday, and he sent a letter to legislators the next day letting them know that he thought the team should take “appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails.”

Age 77 in December, and looking older, the honorable Mr. Reid should be retired enjoying his favorite fishing hole. Remaining in office until he falls does his country a disservice [term limits ?]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Guardian / October 30, 2016 Senior Senate Democrats made an extraordinary attack on the head of the FBI on Sunday over a new investigation of emails linked to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, wrote a scathing letter to James Comey on Sunday, warning that the FBI director may have broken the law by making public the review of the new emails and accusing him of partisan interference in an election. “Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another,” Reid wrote. “My office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election. Through your partisan action, you may have broken the law.” The Hatch Act limits the political activity of federal employees, for instance barring them from seeking public office or using their authority “or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election”. .

U.S. airlines lose bid to dismiss price-fixing lawsuit Reuters / October 30, 2016 A federal judge rejected a bid by the four largest U.S. airlines to dismiss nationwide antitrust litigation by passengers who accused them of conspiring to raise fares by keeping seating capacity artificially low. In a decision late Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she could "reasonably infer the existence of a conspiracy" among American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Continental Holdings to fix prices. Kollar-Kotelly, who sits in Washington, D.C., did not rule on the merits of the proposed class-action case, which combines 105 lawsuits filed around the country and seeks triple damages. The U.S. Department of Justice last year began its own probe into a possible conspiracy among the airlines, which, according to government data, command a roughly 69-percent domestic market share. Passengers claimed that the conspiracy began in early 2009, and has resulted in higher fares and reduced flight choices. They said the conspiracy, together with low fuel prices and higher fees for checking bags and other services, helped the airlines post a record $21.7 billion combined profit in 2015. The airlines said the litigation should be dismissed because there was no proof of an agreement to collude, or that they reduced capacity in tandem. But in her 41-page decision, Kollar-Kotelly pointed to statements by several airline executives about the need for "discipline" in seating capacity. "Starting in 2009, the industry experienced limited capacity growth," the judge wrote. "Notably, as defendants' executives acknowledged, this restriction on growing capacity was a marked change within the industry. The court is satisfied that at this stage, plaintiffs sufficiently pled parallel conduct." Kollar-Kotelly said this was true even for Southwest, though its use of a single aircraft type and other factors gave it a "limited ability" to reduce capacity. American spokesman Matt Miller called the plaintiffs' claims "plainly deficient," and said the carrier is confident they will be found meritless. Delta refused to comment. Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins refused to comment. United refused to respond to requests for comment. Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the decision a "substantial victory" for passengers. "We look forward to moving forward aggressively to secure the relief the public deserves," he added. The case is In re: Domestic Airline Travel Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 15-mc-01404.

This is all very interesting. An Obama appointee taking an action that could sink Clinton. Add to that, tones of J. Edgar Hoover. The plot to the show has thickened indeed with significantly more mystery and suspense. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Guardian / October 29, 2016 Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair on Saturday led a chorus of Democratic party fury over the FBI’s decision to review a new batch of her staff’s emails, which was announced just 11 days before the presidential election in a striking break with law enforcement tradition. The Clinton campaign launched an extraordinary criticism of James Comey, the director of the FBI, who faced anger for his dramatic and late intervention in the race, which deviated from FBI protocol. Comey stood accused of betraying the bureau’s political neutrality, and came under growing pressure to make public everything he knows. The latest twist in a topsy turvy election arrived on Friday afternoon, when Comey said in a letter to Congress the FBI would review whether there was any classified information in new “emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation”. In a carefully worded letter, the director said he wanted to “supplement my previous testimony” about the original Clinton email investigation, which he told Congress had closed this summer, and said: “The FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant.” On Saturday, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta said: “By providing selective information, he’s allowed partisans to distort and exaggerate in order to inflict maximum political damage and no one can separate what is true from what is not because Comey has not been forthcoming with the facts. “What little Comey has told us makes it hard to understand why this step was warranted at all.” It is “entirely possible” that the emails are duplicates of those already studied by the FBI in its earlier investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server while secretary of state, Podesta told reporters on a conference call, adding that Clinton would not be distracted in the final days of the campaign. In July, the FBI closed that investigation. Comey said at the time that Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless” but not criminal with their email practices. “Director Comey was the one who decided to take this unprecedented step,” Podesta said, “we now learn, against the advice of senior justice department officials who told him it was against longstanding department policy of both Democratic and Republican administrations. “Director Comey was the one that wrote a letter that was light on facts, heavy on innuendo, knowing full well what Republicans in Congress would do with it. “It’s now up to him, who owes the public answers to the questions that are now on the table, and we’re calling on him to come forward and give those answers to the American public.” Law enforcement sources speaking anonymously told news outlets the new emails came from devices belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman and estranged husband of Huma Abedin, one of Clinton’s closest aides. Agents uncovered the emails during an investigation into whether Weiner sent sexually explicit text messages to a teenage girl. Podesta said Abedin had fully cooperated with the FBI investigation from the start. “She’s been fully cooperative. We of course stand behind her.” Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, said: “The more information that comes out, the more overblown this entire situation seems to be. That in turn has raised more questions about director Comey from his colleagues in law enforcement circles, to take this extraordinary step just 11 days out from a presidential election.” Mook highlighted a “startling” Washington Post report that senior officials in the justice department had warned Comey not to go public but he ignored their advice [???]. He also claimed that, based on anecdotes from the ground, Clinton’s supporters were intensifying their efforts to get out the vote. “Our volunteers are rallying behind Hillary,” he said. “They know what a fighter she is … They’re as upset and concerned as we are here … This has only increased the momentum that we’re feeling among our activists on the ground.” A jubilant Donald Trump, meanwhile, seized on a potential lifeline for his faltering campaign – on Friday describing Clinton’s handling of classified information as a scandal “bigger than Watergate”. With barely disguised anger, Clinton herself demanded the FBI explain itself on Friday. “The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,” she told reporters in Des Moines, Iowa. “The director himself has said he doesn’t know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not.” The content of the messages is unknown – and may well remain so beyond election day. “Right now, your guess is as good as mine, and I don’t think that’s good enough,” Clinton said. Comey is a Barack Obama appointee who was deputy attorney general for George W Bush. As well as the Washington Post, the New Yorker reported officials speaking on condition of anonymity saying that Comey was warned by the justice department before sending his letter to Congress. “He is operating independently of the justice department. And he knows it,” one official told the Post. “It violates decades of practice,” another told the New Yorker. “It’s aberrational.” Matthew Miller, who served at the department under attorney general Eric Holder, told the Guardian: “I think it was an unacceptable breach of years of department of justice practice and precedent. “The department goes out of its way not to take any action close to an election that could influence the outcome of that election. The FBI’s reputation for independence and integrity is really at the core to their ability to do their job effectively.” Miller described Comey’s decision to provide an unprecedented televised statement at the end of the Clinton investigation in July as “the original sin here”. The director then felt able to answer questions from Congress in more detail than usual, but this is “by far the most serious breach of all”, Miller added. The former justice department staffer said J Edgar Hoover, the original and controversial FBI director, had done worse than Comey, “but not even Hoover did anything publicly in the closing day of an election that could be seen as tipping the scales.” Republicans and Democrats alike expressed bafflement at Comey’s timing and ambiguous letter. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a senior Democrat with a history of support for the security agencies, condemned Comey’s conduct. “The FBI has a history of extreme caution near election day so as not to influence the results,” she said. “Today’s break from that tradition is appalling.” Charles Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, said Comey’s letter to Congress “was unsolicited and, quite honestly, surprising”. He too said it created more questions than answers. “Congress and the public deserve more context to properly assess what evidence the FBI has discovered and what it plans to do with it,” Grassley said. Some analysts speculated that Comey felt caught in a bind: if he waited until after the election, or if the new review leaked through back channels, he would have been accused of a cover-up. In an internal email sent to FBI employees, he said he was concerned about balance: the need to inform Congress and the American people versus the danger of a misleading impression about emails. “In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it,” he wrote. Early voting is under way in 37 states, nearly 17m votes have been cast, and Clinton has a healthy lead in most polls. “I think people a long time ago made up their minds about the emails,” she said at her press conference. “And now they are choosing a president.” Though his own campaign has been plagued by one scandal after another, Trump has regularly berated Clinton over the emails, and his supporters at rallies frequently chant: “Lock her up! Lock her up!” On Friday he accused Clinton of corruption “on a scale we have never seen before”. “We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the oval office,” he told a rally in New Hampshire. “Perhaps, finally, justice will be done.” On Saturday, campaigning in Colorado, Trump made an about-face from his months of criticising the FBI and justice department. “You have amazing people at the Department of Justice, and you have amazing people at the FBI,” he said. “I’ll bet you, without any knowledge, that there was a revolt in the FBI.” The FBI began investigating Weiner in September, after a Daily Mail report that a 15-year-old girl had exchanged explicit messages with him. By then, Abedin had already announced a separation from her husband. Trump himself has been accused by several women of sexual assault or inappropriate conduct. He has argued that Clinton “enabled” her husband’s infidelities, and brought three women who accused the former president of wrongdoing to a presidential debate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FBI Director James Comey’s internal memo to FBI staff explaining his decision to reopen the Clinton email investigation. To all: This morning I sent a letter to Congress in connection with the Secretary Clinton email investigation. Yesterday, the investigative team briefed me on their recommendation with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case. Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them. Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression. In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those who missed the beginning of this mini-series, the story of Hillary Clinton private server: June 2008: An Apple Power Mac server, purchased by Bill Clinton's aide Justin Cooper in 2007, is installed in the basement of the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, New York. It initially handles traffic for Bill Clinton but soon is used by Clinton and her staff as well Fall: Computer equipment from Clinton's presidential campaign is tapped as a replacement - a Dell PowerEdge 2900 Windows Server and Microsoft Exchange and a 1950 running a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Clinton aide Bryan Pagliano starts work on building the system, believing it will be used by Bill Clinton's staff January 2009: It is decided that the Apple server must be replaced as it is having problems with the volume of traffic March: Pagliano installs the server he has built in a rack in the Chappaqua house basement, with the help of Cooper. Pagliano, who is administrator for the new device, transfers the Apple server emails onto the new device. The new server is backed up once a week onto a Seagate external hard drive. The FBI has never obtained the Apple server for examination January 2013: Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryll Mills, recommends Denver, Colorado-based IT firm Platte River Networks (PRN) to manage the server to help with user limitations and reliability concerns June 23: A Platte employee removes the server from the Chappaqua home to a data center in Secaucus, New Jersey, run by Equinix, to migrate it to a new server June 30: The Clintons' email accounts are migrated to the Platte server July 18: Platte signs an agreement to manage the new, third server, a Dell PowerEdge R620. Platte subsequently configure a backup device from Datto, Inc, a Connecticut-based company, to take multiple snapshots of the system daily and to store the information for 60 days. The device also takes copies of the Pagliano server between June 24-December 23 December 2013: The Pagliano server is fully decommissioned December 2014: Clinton and Abedin begin using the domain hrcoffice and stop using clintonemail.com October 3, 2015: The Pagliano server is voluntarily handed over to the FBI ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Clinton Email Timeline January 13 2009: Hillary Clinton's aide Justin Cooper sets up clintonemail.com domain. Huma Abedin signs off on it January 21: Clinton is sworn in as Secretary of State 18 March: Clinton stops using her BlackBerry email account and switches to the newly created hdr22@clintonemail.com account. The domain is hosted on her own private email server, set up by her aide Bryan Pagliano September 11, 2012: Four Americans are killed in attack on a U.S. base in Benghazi, Libya including Ambassador Chris Stevens February 1, 2013: Clinton steps down as secretary of state October 28, 2014: State Department demands Clinton's work-related correspondence as part of a congressional investigation into Benghazi Fall 2014: Clinton's lawyers deletes 33,000 emails which they claim are 'personal' December 5, 2014: Clinton's legal team provide roughly 30,000 emails to the State Department when they are demanded by a congressional investigation into Benghazi. March 2 2015: The New York Times breaks the news that Clinton used a personal email account to conduct government business while secretary of state July 25: Clinton says she is confident none of the emails on her private email server were classified at the time of sending and receiving August 4: The Washington Post reveals the FBI has begun looking into the security of Clinton's private email set-up September 10: Bryan Pagliano formally asserts his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer questions from a Republican-led House committee on her email arrangements July 6, 2016: The Justice Department closes Clinton email probe and FBI Director James Comey announces the FBI won't prosecute. The decision was made by Comey because Attorney General Loretta Lynch had to recuse herself after a secret meeting with Bill Clinton October 7: WikiLeaks begins release of thousands of emails hacked from the Gmail account of John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chair October 28: FBI reopens its investigation into Clinton's server .

Hillary Clinton - Undone by a Weiner ? .

Associated Press / October 28, 2016 Hillary Clinton's email controversy roared back to the forefront of the presidential campaign Friday when FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers the bureau is reviewing new emails related to her personal server. The revelation -- 11 days before the election and nearly four months after Comey said he wouldn't recommend criminal charges because of Clinton's use of the server -- shook the Democratic nominee's campaign. Hillary Clinton She forcefully called on the FBI to release the "full and complete facts" about its review [She’s up to something]. "Voting is underway, so the American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," Clinton said at a brief news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, adding it was "imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay." In a letter to eight congressional committee chairmen Friday, Comey said investigators are examining newly discovered emails that "appear to be pertinent" to the email probe. "In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation," Comey wrote the chairmen. "I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation." The newly discovered emails are part of an investigation into Anthony Weiner. Weiner, the disgraced former congressman, recently separated from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin after he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with an underage girl. The emails in question were sent or received by Abedin. There were a "considerable number" of emails being reviewed from at least one device shared by Abedin and Weiner. One FBI official said there were thousands of messages. The FBI is looking at whether any of the newly discovered emails will have an impact on the now-closed investigation into Clinton's server. In his letter to lawmakers, Comey said he was not sure how long the additional review would take and said the FBI "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant." Comey is under criticism from the Clinton campaign and congressional Democrats for releasing the letter so close to the election. Earlier Friday, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said "it's extraordinary that we would see something like this just 11 days out from a presidential election." Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said she was "shocked" to read Comey's letter. The FBI chief felt he had no choice but to tell Congress now or risk being accused of hiding relevant information before the election, law enforcement officials said in explaining the timing. House speaker Paul Ryan condemned Clinton’s behavior. “Yet again, Hillary Clinton has nobody but herself to blame. She was entrusted with some of our nation’s most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information.” "This decision, long overdue, is the result of her reckless use of a private email server, and her refusal to be forthcoming with federal investigators," speaker Paul Ryan said. "I renew my call for the Director of National Intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved." “The FBI’s decision to reopen their criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s secret email server just 11 days before the election shows how serious this discovery must be,” said RNC chairman Reince Priebus. “This stunning development raises serious questions about what records may not have been turned over and why, and whether they show intent to violate the law. “What’s indisputable is that Hillary Clinton jeopardized classified information on thousands of occasions in her reckless attempt to hide pay-to-play corruption at her State Department,” he added. “This alone should be disqualifying for anyone seeking the presidency, a job that is supposed to begin each morning with a top secret intelligence briefing.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Associated Press / October 29, 2016 Huma Abedin, who served as Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and held a top-secret security clearance, disclosed she had access to four email accounts while working at the State Department. These accounts, Abedin said, included an official State Department email account, but also an account on Clinton’s private email server that Abedin used to communicate with Clinton and her top aides, as well as a personal Yahoo account. She used both the Clinton email account and the Yahoo account to “routinely” forward State Department emails and documents so she could more easily print them, she said [good luck with that]. In addition, she told the agents, she had a separate email account that she had previously used “to support her husband’s political activities.” Abedin’s interview — conducted by agents at the FBI’s Washington field office last April 5 — was the first tip-off that the longtime Clinton aide might have circulated official State Department material among her multiple accounts. At one point, agents even confronted Abedin on one apparently sensitive email about U.S. policy towards Pakistan that had been forwarded to her State Department account from an aide to the late Richard Holbrooke, then a special State Department envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Abedin had forwarded the email to her Yahoo account in order to print it, but told agents she was “unaware of the classification of the document and stated that she did not make judgments on the classification of material she received. Instead, she relied on the sender to make that assessment and to properly make and transmit the document.”

And you'll note that it's NOT the people of the world pushing for this. Rather, it's the governments of the world, including the U.S. and European Union, who are backing this whole absurd rush to autonomous vehicles. No consumer ever said, "Boy, I wish that I could buy a self-driving car". Thus the question is............why? Is this another idea hatched by the Bilderberg Group to enhance big business profitability?

Any first-hand sightings of new 2016 U.S.-built (Avon, Ohio) F-750 straight trucks (rigids) and/or tractors ?

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/31209-when-the-dodge-boys-sold-trucks-down-under/ The Dodge variant was a beast of a truck.

Alabama woman took heroin 12 hours before giving birth to dead baby WALB ABC News / October 27, 2016 Jefferson County authorities have filed a motion to revoke bond after they say a woman gave birth to a stillborn child in Oct. 2016 after ingesting multiple types of drugs, including heroin, while out on bond for a 2015 charge of chemical endangerment of a child. The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office for the Bessemer Cutoff wants Raven Lynn West's bond revoked because she violated her release by using drugs and they feel she is a danger to herself and others. They hope a judge will hear the case next week. "She admitted to going and getting a bag of heroin and snorting it in the bathroom, the same day she said she could feel the child kicking. About 12 hours later she delivered a dead child," said Pleasant Grove Police Lt. Daniel Reid. West was charged last year after her newborn tested positive for heroin and codeine. "It's not a happy situation," said Bill Veitch, Jefferson County District Attorney for the Bessemer Cutoff. "If they have access to it [heroin], they're going to do it. If they're going to do it, they are going to hurt the children." West was jailed in 2016 due to failure to appear and bonded out on Oct. 6, 2016. She was 37 weeks pregnant at this time and taken to the Alethia House for rehabilitation the same day she bonded out. West left the Alethia House Oct. 7 and took Xanax and Loritab. On Oct. 8, investigators say West bought and snorted a bag of heroin. She said she felt the baby kicking inside of her that night. "I'm not just frustrated. I'm mad. I'm sickened. I'm heartbroken. I mean, what do you do in a case like this?" said Reid. West gave birth Oct. 9 to a stillborn child and on Oct. 10 she left the hospital. Reid and Veitch say the infant's official cause of death has not yet been determined. They are waiting for the coroner to complete the final report. "You know, I believe that evidence is going to show there is a direct causal relationship between her snorting heroin and 12 hours later delivering a dead child," said Reid. If that's the case, Reid says West will likely be charged with chemical endangerment death of child. .