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Florida man executes his 5-month-old twin babies Associated Press / November 18, 2015 On Friday, police say, 28-year old Gawain Rushane Wilson shot Megan Hiatt, 22, their five-month-old twins, Hayden Rose and Kayden Reese Hiatt, and Hiatt’s father, Travis James Hiatt, before turning the gun on himself at his home in Jacksonville, Florida. Wilson forced Hiatt to hold their twin babies while he shot them. Megan Hiatt, who is currently in critical but stable condition, was the only survivor. Hiatt was shot and lost part of a breast. Police were called about 4 p.m. Friday and said they found bodies throughout the home on Shirley Oaks Drive in Oceanway. On Saturday, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office identified those killed as twin babies Hayden and Kayden Hiatt, 49-year-old Travis James Hiatt (pictured below), and the gunman, 28-year-old Gawain Rushane Wilson. Wilson had a criminal history of domestic violence. He pleaded no contest to domestic battery charges in 2013 and was sentenced to one year of probation and was ordered to take a batterer’s intervention program. The victim in that case said Wilson choked her and threw her on a bed. Last year, Wilson was accused of domestic violence in another incident with a different woman. He was served with a domestic violence injunction ordering him to keep away from that victim.

Texas man murders 6 people Reuters / November 19, 2015 A Texas man was charged on Thursday with killing six people, including a child, at an east Texas campsite over the weekend, prosecutors said. William Hudson, 33, was charged with six counts of capital murder. No motive has been released for the killings. Carl Johnson, 76, and his daughter Hannah Johnson, 40, were found shot to death in a travel trailer on private property in Palestine, 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Dallas. Police said the land belonged to Hannah's boyfriend Thomas Kamp, 46, whose body was found submerged in a pond behind Hudson's residence along with Hannah's 6-year-old son, Kade, and Kamp's two sons, Austin, 21, and Nathan, 23. Hudson, whose family owns the property adjacent to the campsite, befriended the group during the weekend and helped pull a vehicle out of the mud with his tractor, according to police. The tractor was later found with blood stains on it. Johnson's wife, Cynthia, survived the killings by hiding in the woods for several hours before she was able to call for help and describe the suspect to officers, police said. Hudson's bond is currently set at $2.5 million, according to jail records. .

Houston mother stabs 2-month-old baby to death Associated Press / November 17, 2015 Police have charged Rochelle Brown, 28, with capital murder in the stabbing death of her 2-month-old son Levi Thornton-Smith. She is being held without bond. Brown threw the baby on the bed and returned with a knife. The baby was stabbed several times in the torso. According to court documents, Brown's sister tried to stop her from stabbing the child but was overpowered. Houston police arrived at her apartment in the 10100 block of Windmill Lakes Blvd around 2 a.m. Tuesday. Police say they found knives and the infant boy in the living room with multiple stab wounds. Brown is the mother of two other children aged 5 and 8 years old. .

Missouri 8th-graders stab woman to death at car wash, prop her body up for joyride Associated Press / November 13, 2015 Two Missouri teenagers fatally stabbed a woman while she was vacuuming her car and then went on a joyride with her dead body propped up in the front seat. The two boys, 13 and 14, stabbed 43-year-old Tanya Chamberlain in the face, neck, chest and hands on November 1 while she was at a local car wash vacuuming her vehicle. The teens then took off in the vehicle with Chamberlain's dead body propped up in the front seat with her feet on the dashboard. Police pulled over the swerving vehicle about 20 minutes later for what seemed like intoxicated driving. The boys fled from the vehicle and police lost sight of both of them after a brief foot pursuit. Inside the car, cops found a blood-covered pocket knife, possibly wrapped in Chamberlain's hair, in the backseat. Surveillance video shows the eighth-graders exiting Quick Clean Car Wash wearing distinct hoodies that would later help police identify them as suspects. After police released the surveillance footage, neighbors and parents of classmates were able to identify the boys as students at Bernard C. Campbell Middle School in Lee's Summit, a suburb of Kansas City. It has not been determined if the boys will be charged as adults or juveniles. .

Boy, 8, beat baby to death to stop her crying AFP / November 11, 2015 An eight-year-old boy beat a baby girl to death to stop her crying while her mother was out partying at a nightclub, US police said Wednesday, charging him with murder. The boy was one of several children left alone for hours in a Birmingham, Alabama home last month, in what experts said was a rare case of a child so young being prosecuted. "Since becoming a police officer over 22 years ago, this is by far one of the saddest cases I have witnessed in my career," said Birmingham police spokesman Lieutenant Sean Edwards. The incident happened at the home of a friend of the baby's mother, whom police have identified as 26-year-old Katerra Lewis. She has been charged with manslaughter over what Edwards called "reckless" actions. Police said Lewis left her one-year-old, Kelci, together with several children aged two to eight, while she and her friend went out to a nightclub. The children -- six in total, were left unsupervised while Lewis and the friend were gone from roughly 11:00 pm until 2:00 am. "It is believed that while the mother and friend were at the club, the eight-year-old viciously attacked the one-year-old because the one-year-old would not stop crying," police said. "The one-year-old suffered from severe head trauma as well as major internal organ damage which ultimately led to her death." The mother told police on the morning of October 11, a Sunday, that she found the baby unresponsive in her crib. The girl was treated at the scene by first responders and was later pronounced dead at a children's hospital. "This type of behavior, this type of irresponsibility on behalf of a parent is totally unacceptable," Edwards said of Lewis. "No education, no school, no degree, no training can really prepare you for an eight-year-old committing a heinous crime like this." The mother was released on $15,000 bail.. .

7-year-old girl raped and murdered at Kentucky football game Associated Press / November 21, 2015 Police in Kentucky arrested on Friday a married father of five in the death of 7-year-old Gabriella Doolin whose body was found in a creek during a football game. Doolin was reported missing around 7.40pm Saturday by her mother while they were at a football game at Allen County-Scottsville High School in south-central Kentucky. A search began, and Gabriella's lifeless body was found about 25 minutes later in a creek in a wooded area behind the high school. Timothy Madden, a 38-year-old construction worker, was arrested by Kentucky State Police Friday morning. He was charged with kidnapping resulting in the victim’s death, rape, sodomy and murder of Gabriella "Gabbi" Doolin, and is being held in lieu of a $1 million bond. The Associated Press reported that Gabriella Doolin became separated from her mother in a crowd at a football game on Saturday evening (November 14). Her mother immediately reported the 7-year-old child missing. After calling the child's name over the facility loudspeakers several times without results, the football game was suspended and a search was conducted by everyone in attendance. The child's body was found within 25 minutes. A police report lists Gabriella Doolin's cause of death was strangulation and drowning. Timothy Madden's DNA collected during the investigation matched that recovered from the child during the autopsy. Update: The oldest son of child murderer Timothy Madden has been arrested for making threats to police after his father was taken into custody. Bradley Madden, 20, warned Scottsville, Kentucky, police that he was "coming for you" — among the private messages he sent to the department's Facebook page, Scottsville Police Chief Jeff Pearson said Tuesday. The messages started last Saturday, the day after his father, Timothy Madden, 38, of Scottsville, was arrested by Kentucky State Police on murder, kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy charges in the death of Gabriella Doolin. The messages with obscene comments and threats continued until Monday, Pearson said. Another message from Bradley Madden said: "If u book my dad in and he does life u will do life watching ur back." .

California man crushes baby to death Associated Press / November 21, 2015 A California man has been found guilty of murdering a baby girl by stepping on her. He told prosecutors that he felt a sense of relief after murdering the baby. Daniel Ruiz of Hesperia killed one-year-old Scarlett by placing his foot on her chest and crushing her with the force of his 230-pound bulk while the baby's mother was out buying milk. After crushing the baby, Ruiz flipped through channels on the television while Scarlett struggled desperately to breathe. “The defendant stated that he actually felt better after stepping on the victim, as he sat there watching television,” Lead Deputy District Attorney Kathleen DiDonato said in a statement. “The whole time, Scarlett was behind him, lying on the floor trying to catch her breath. Fighting for her life.” Ruiz had just gotten home from work on Aug. 28, 2013 when Scarlett's mother and Ruiz's girlfriend asked him to watch the baby. Scarlett was propped up on a pillow on the floor when Ruiz committed the act that would end her life. “Scarlett began gasping for breath," the statement reads. She then had what appeared to be a seizure. When the mother returned home, Ruiz told her the child was having a seizure but that he didn't know why. The women were gone no longer than 45 minutes. Ruiz later told police what he'd done. The 25-year-old was convicted Thursday on one count each of Second Degree Murder and Assault on a Child Causing Death. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2016 in Victorville Superior Court. He faces 25 years to life in prison. .

Pregnant New York woman murdered, baby cut from womb Associated Press / November 21, 2015 A baby was cut from the womb of a 22-year-old woman who was nearly nine months pregnant by a childhood friend with a knife, and the suspect was arrested on a murder charge. Angelikque Sutton was found in a pool of blood on Friday at an apartment in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The suspect, 22-year-old Ashleigh Wade, was taken into custody while screaming that the baby was hers. She was being held on murder, manslaughter and weapons charges. The bloody crime scene baffled investigators, who ordered blood tests to confirm that the baby girl, named Genesis, belonged to Sutton, not the suspect. Detectives discovered a knife and placenta in the blood-spattered apartment building when they responded to an emergency call from the Wade's boyfriend, who had been called to the scene. The newborn was in good condition Saturday at a hospital, however Sutton died Friday evening. Her boyfriend said the couple was supposed to be married on Friday and had been together for eight years, according to the Daily News of New York. Briefed on the case by investigators, City Councilman Andy King said the victim had been strangled then stabbed.

The U.S. media is now shining a big spotlight on the Syrian refugee debate. Supposedly, U.S.-bound Syrians are actual refugees, and not economic migrants the likes of what’s showing up on Europe’s door from countries other than Syria (4 out of 5 are not from Syria). Much of the debate is over why the U.S. should take refugees when Middle East countries for the most part are not. Arab League (and Gulf Cooperation Council) members Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the UAE have reportedly not taken in any refugees. These Gulf States elected not to sign the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_relating_to_the_Status_of_Refugees). Per Amnesty International, the six Gulf countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain - have offered zero resettlement facilities for Syrian refugees. The fact is that Gulf countries don't accept refugees for resettlement because none of their governments officially recognize the legal concept. Even in Jordan, Syrians fleeing the civil war are called "guests," the expectation being that they won't stay. (http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/20/441457924/gulf-states-fend-off-criticism-about-doing-little-for-syrian-refugees) “I’m most indignant over the Arab countries who are rolling in money and who only take very few refugees,” Danish Finance Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said in an interview this week at his office in Copenhagen. “Countries like Saudi Arabia. It’s completely scandalous. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-refugees-feel-more-welcome-in-europe-than-in-the-gulf) However, Saudi Arabia last week offered to pay for the construction of 200 new Mosques in Germany (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/fluechtlingskrise/die-golfstaaten-schotten-sich-gegenueber-fluechtlingen-ab-13789932.html). The United Nations expects one million “refugees” to arrive in Europe by the end of 2015, The European Commission expects 3 million to arrive in Europe by the end of 2016. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has 100,000 (air-conditioned) tents, sitting empty and available, that could perfectly house some 3 million Syrian refugees. Located in the city of Mina, they’re only used a few days a year for pilgrims heading to Mecca (http://www.sbs.com.au/news/gallery/which-arab-country-has-room-three-million-refugees-and-has-so-far-taken-zero-according-un). There are millions of people around the world who have been waiting in line to legally immigrate into the United States. Should any Syrian refugees wish to immigrate to the United States as well, they can apply through the normal process at the U.S. embassy of their Arab League host country. With the highest GDP Arab countries unwilling to take in refugees, fellow Muslims in distress, why should the U.S. accept any? The U.S. is by a wide margin the highest financial contributor to Syrian relief efforts at $4.5 billion - http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-boost-contribution-for-humanitarian-aid-to-syrian-war-refugees-1442858302 (so don’t expect our crumbling interstate system rebuilt anytime soon) The U.S. already contributes FAR more to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) than any other country. (http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-countries-that-contribute-the-most-to-the-uns-refugee-agency--by90QvX64l) This on top of the White House’s decision to increase the cap on [alleged] refugees to 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017. (http://www.wsj.com/articles/john-kerry-says-u-s-to-admit-30-000-more-refugees-in-next-2-years-1442768498?tesla=y) In the minds of many Americans, refugees are people that would return home after the conflict in their homeland has ended. However these people have no intention of returning home, and that makes them immigrants rather than refugees. With millions of people around the world already waiting in line to legally immigrate into the U.S., the only proper course is for these Syrian (and other) immigrants to apply via the normal process at U.S. embassies abroad and wait their turn in line. On top of free U.S. money ($4.5 billion) for Syrian relief efforts alone, the other issues are the costs to U.S. taxpayers to support incoming “refugees” for an unknown number of years (welfare), and the loss of U.S. citizen jobs. .

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / November 20, 2015

Detroit ‘completes the hat trick’ with DT12 production brought to Michigan Truck News / November 21, 2015 In a hockey-themed plant inauguration, Daimler Trucks’ Detroit brand celebrated the start of production of its DT12 automated manual transmission and announced the launch of its mid-range engine line here Friday. The hot-selling DT12 was previously built in Gagenau, Germany and shipped to North America for installation in Freightliner and Western Star trucks. Daimler pumped US$100 million into its Redford, Mich. plant to bring production to these shores. “More than 40% of our Freightliner Cascadia and Western Star trucks are sold with an automated transmission and the take rate is still climbing,” said Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler trucks globally. “It is a huge success and it makes us really proud. It is now time to make the next step; it’s my pleasure today to announce the start of production of our DT12 right here in the US, right here in Detroit, right here in Redford.” Production at the plant was momentarily halted to celebrate the milestone and about 2,000 employees, media and dignitaries gathered to hear Bernhard’s remarks. The plant inauguration was emceed by former Detroit Red Wing Micky Redmond. It was also attended by a beaming Roger Penske, who bought the company in 1988, saved it from potential bankruptcy, turned it around on the success of the Series 60 and then sold it to Daimler. “I didn’t know what I was getting into but it was an opportunity,” Penske said, noting at the time the company had lost $600 million in three years, languished with 3% market share and was suffering strained relations with employees. “I’m proud to see what is taking place today.” Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, said the company has “completed the hat trick” by bringing DT12 production to Redford, where it also builds its heavy-duty engines and axles. “We now manufacture the entire powertrain lineup – engines, axles and transmission – right here in Detroit and that means we can integrate, synchronize, make it perfect,” said Bernhard. “We can offer the most powerful powertrain in the country and it gives our customers more reason to demand Detroit.” Daimler also announced the launch of its medium-duty DD5 and DD8 engines, which will also be built in Redford, eventually. Configuring the plant for the mid-range engines represents another US$375-million investment into the facility. “Today, we complete our lineup,” said Bernhard. “We launch our new medium-duty engines, the DD5 and DD8 into the US market and what’s more, we’re not only going to sell them in the US, but by 2018 we will also build them right here in Detroit, right here in Redford.” With the new engine launch, Daimler says it will bring the benefits of vertical integration seen on the heavy-duty side to the medium-duty market. “Detroit medium-duty engines will provide what no other manufacturer in North America can offer – a total vehicle solution that matches Daimler’s global engineering prowess with the most complete lineup bar none in the industry,” said Daum. “I am pleased to announce that select Daimler Truck North America vehicles will be available with medium-duty power by the end of 2016, and full production will take place in Detroit by the end of 2018.” In a press conference following the plant inauguration, Daum said Daimler will continue with its two-supplier strategy, offering Cummins engines as well in its medium-duty trucks. “This won’t change our business with Cummins because we have in every segment a two-supplier strategy. We want to give our customers choice and ultimately it’s the customers that are going to decide,” Daum said. When medium-duty engine production is brought to Michigan in 2018, it will add about 160 new jobs. Until then, they’ll be produced in Mannheim, Germany. The new engines will be available for order in 2016 in the Freightliner M2. Details regarding engine ratings and other specific features of the new mid-range engines were not yet revealed. Daimler Trucks North America has in recent years become a stronger player in the medium-duty market, capturing about 40% of the US Classes 6/7 segments in each of the past few years. Daimler also announced its entire lineup will comply with impending 2017 greenhouse gas emissions requirements early. Daum said he expects the truck market to remain strong in 2016, though orders will likely land somewhere between an excellent 2015 and a very good 2014. “We will finish the year strong and the start of the year will be strong through the first quarter,” Daum said. “We’ll see how the rest of the year unfolds. We don’t have that security we had a year ago where we were sold out at the beginning of the year but this is not normal for business, you should every day worry for your business and fight for it.”

Truck OEMs Aim for New Breed of ‘Low-Cost’ Models Trailer/Body Builders / January 18, 2011 Research firm Frost & Sullivan has unveiled a detailed analysis of what it calls the “low cost truck” movement, a strategic initiative by truck manufacturers either individually or through joint ventures that will completely reshape the types of commercial vehicles used around the world. “What we’re seeing is a determined effort to build trucks that cost 20% to 25% less in any given global market – from North America to Brazil, Russia, and Europe,” Sandeep Kar, global program manager--commercial vehicle research for Frost & Sullivan, told Fleet Owner. “And this effort will cover the entire commercial vehicle spectrum, from light- to medium- and heavy-duty models.” For the study – titled Strategic Analysis of the Global Low Cost Truck Market – Frost & Sullivan interviewed OEMs and suppliers from around the world, conducted its own research, and then made near-term projections for the low-cost strategy spanning 2010 to 2016. Kar said the firm’s research indicates new low-cost price ranges will develop as follows: $4,000 to $20,000 for a light commercial vehicle (LCV); $15,000 to $40,000 for a medium commercial vehicle (MCV); and $30,000 to $70,000 for a heavy commercial vehicle (HCV). According to Kar, the impetus for this strategy on the part of truck builders is that commercial fleets are simply under far too much bottom-line pressure today – paying for higher fuel prices, the cost of regulatory compliance, higher pay to compete for workers – to afford ever-higher sticker prices on new equipment. Dahlman Rose transportation economist Jason Siedl noted at FTR Associates’ annual freight outlook conference last September that the average cost for a new Class 8 tractor is up to $120,000 in the U.S. One fleet at that meeting said that its Class 8 tractor costs increased $25,000 per unit from 2002 to 2010. It’s the financial pressure those high prices put on U.S. fleet owners that in turn is driving the effort to create low cost trucks, said Frost & Sullivan’s Kar. “We expect to see phenomenal growth in the North American market for low cost trucks,” Kar pointed out. “Our research indicates the average base price point for a heavy-duty truck in North America is about $104,000. Now say some $10,000 to $15,000 worth of emission control and safety systems need to be added to the low-cost truck platform to bring it into regulatory compliance. You’d still be looking at a truck that is $80,000 to $95,000-- still cheaper than current prices today.” Of course, such low- cost trucks would not contain the same amenities found on many of today’s commercial vehicles – especially in terms of driver-comfort specs. For that reason, Frost & Sullivan contends the North American truck market will become two-tiered, having a low-cost and a premium segment, with mid-priced models disappearing. We would also not see the low-cost model challenge the long-haul Class 8 sleeper segment,” he noted. “Rather, we’d see the low-cost Class 8 model dominate the short-haul daycab segment.” The key to making these low-cost trucks a reality, however, will rest on creating a far larger global manufacturing scale than exists now-- along with a global supplier network. “Making a low-cost truck means cutting costs throughout the vehicle,” Kar observed. Per Frost & Sullivan, areas where costs will be cut include: 5% to 8% from powertrains 3% to 4% from chassis 3% to 4% from driver comfort and amenities 3% to 4% from engines 1% to 2% from marketing efforts Overall, total production costs for a low- cost truck platform should fall anywhere from 19% to 29%, Kar said. Yet can the low-cost trucks find willing fleet buyers in the U.S.? Kar definitely thinks so. “Total cost of ownership or ‘TCO’ is now the most critical metric within most fleets,” he explained. “Access to financing is still limited and after the recent economic downturn, fleets still have little cash to spend,” Kar added. “In a way, fleets will almost be forced to look at low-cost truck models due to the operating conditions they will continue to face.”

Trailer/Body Builders / November 20, 2015 The convergence of premium and low-cost trucks has led to the evolution of a mid-market segment, referred to as value trucks. Medium- and heavy-duty value trucks will emerge as the fastest-growing segment globally, with sales volumes of over a million units by 2022, with approximately 80 percent of these sales expected from China, India, Africa and Indonesia. Of this, 70 percent will be from China and India, prompting original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to focus on developing platforms for these two markets in the short-medium term. Additionally, OEMs to ensure the platforms feature attributes enabling global scalability in the long-term. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Executive Analysis of Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty Value Truck Market in Select Emerging Economies (http://bit.ly/1QeghNx), finds mid-market value trucks represent the most attractive sub-segment for platform development. By 2020, 75 percent of all value trucks built globally will be attributed to platform-based development and manufacturing. “Global value truck OEMs and suppliers should realign product and service strategies to cater to the expanding mid-market,” said Frost & Sullivan Commercial Vehicles Program Manager Bharani Lakshminarasimhan. “Multi-pronged market strategies will fetch desirable results, as both the premium and value truck segments offer substantial opportunities for growth.” MD-HD value truck OEMs are targeting the premium truck market through value re-positioning of products to lower the loss of market share to low-cost trucks. Additionally, MD-HD value truck OEMs must cater to fleet requirements for a low cost of ownership, strong safety features and high reliability to prosper in emerging markets. “Creating value clusters through incremental technology advancements or enhanced sophistication of base platforms are key for optimal positioning in the MD-HD value truck market,” noted Lakshminarasimhan. “Therefore, MD-HD value truck OEMs should look at developing global platforms for low cost-centric markets and offer plug-in value solutions and services for market entry and growth.”

Paul, you couldn't be more right.

Daimler Kicks Off Production of AMTs in North America for First Time Transport Topics / November 20, 2015 Daimler Trucks North America officially launched production of its Detroit-branded DT12 automated manual transmission on Nov. 20, while simultaneously announcing a $375 million investment to produce medium-duty engines here in 2018. “Our investment is a tangible example of how we maximize the use of our global platforms optimized for regional markets,” said Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler’s global truck and bus unit. Daimler officials, including President Martin Daum, were joined by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and nearly 2,000 UAW workers at the plant located just outside Detroit for a celebration that came 35 months after President Obama toured the same facility. It was during that visit by Obama that DTNA originally announced its intention to make transmissions outside of Germany for the first time. The company invested $100 million and created 170 new jobs to make it a reality. Earlier this year, Daum said demand for AMTs was outpacing the company’s ability to produce them. The AMT is available on the Freightliner Cascadia and Western Star 5700XE models. In recent years, several truck manufacturers have been pushing a vertical integration strategy. In Daimler’s case, the powertrain brings together a Detroit engine, transmission and axles. The company said the powertrain is part of its effort to have uniform global production standards. Daimler actually began making the DT12s about four weeks ago and is producing about 120 per day. Meanwhile, DTNA initially announced its intention to produce the DD5 and DD8 medium-duty engines in October 2014. At the time, Daum said the engines would be exported from Germany starting in 2016, with North American development expected in 2018. “Michigan has long been the world’s automotive leader, and we are proud that Daimler will continue to play a big role in our state’s reinvention moving forward. This is an investment in Detroit and the hard-working people of Michigan,” Snyder said. DTNA said the DD5 and DD8 lines will add about 160 new jobs to the Detroit facility. The engines will meet 2017 greenhouse-gas standards.

Daimler Trucks to Bring New Detroit Medium-Duty Engine Line to U.S. Heavy Duty Trucking / November 20, 2015 Daimler Trucks Friday announced a $375 million investment to enable production of the new DD5 and DD8 medium-duty engines at Detroit’s Redford, Mich., plant. Joined by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and nearly 2,000 UAW workers, Daimler Trucks celebrated the announcement of the new lines of DD5 and DD8 medium-duty engines and officially launched production of the company’s Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission. The new engines, first announced at the 2014 American Trucking Associations annual conference, will be available in select Daimler Truck North America vehicles by the end of 2016. Full production will take place in Detroit by the end of 2018, according to Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America. The engines will be initially built and shipped from Daimler’s powertrain facility in Mannheim, Germany, with industrialization at the Detroit facility in 2018. DTNA’s entire product line-up, including vehicles equipped with the DD5 and DD8, will meet federal 2017 greenhouse gas/fuel economy standards early. The theme of the day was “Built in Detroit,” and celebrated the long successful history of Detroit powertrain manufacturing at the Detroit brand Headquarters. “Our investment is a tangible example of how we maximize the use of our global platforms optimized for regional markets,” said Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for trucks and buses. “'Built in Detroit' is not just a marketing slogan; it is our commitment to strengthen the industrial base in Detroit and to deliver the most fuel-efficient engines to our customers. I am convinced: With our medium-duty engines we will repeat the success story of our best-selling heavy-duty engines.” The new Detroit DD5 and DD8 engine development is another example of Daimler’s international development effort, with global testing and validation being undertaken in both Europe and the United States, and series production in Europe since 2012. For sale in limited quantities, the Detroit DD5 medium-duty engine will be available in 2016 on the Freightliner M2 product line, with extensive availability in 2018 across DTNA’s product portfolio including Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, and Freightliner Custom Chassis vehicles. The “Built in Detroit” event also celebrated the production commencement of Detroit’s DT12 automated manual transmissions. With the launch Friday, the company is delivering on the commitment made during President Obama’s visit to the Redford facility in December 2012.

I noted and respect the opinions (thoughts) expressed by you and David Wild. (facts?) Given that you've never met me, and know nothing about me..........I'm surprised that you nonetheless can say that you have zero respect for me (your right, of course). Left views? Sorry, you lost me there. My posts were only about presenting a more detailed picture of the significant situation unfolding (what CNN does not present). David Wild's first post includes numerous derogatory remarks. I'm confident that he could have expressed his views on a higher plane than that.

Most Americans, through no fault of their own, are unaware of the the full extent of what's actually occurring around the world. The international news is but one side of one page in their local newspaper. CNN, ABC and NBC kowtow to the government line. So far as facts go, as I have already said, at any one time, the common people are only privy to around 15 to 20 percent of the facts on what's occurring in the world, who'd doing it, and why. The rest is hidden from view. I'm confident you're in agreement with that. I did include a couple of op-eds from Reuters, Time and The Financial Times (excellent reporting) that I felt provided excellent insight. The op-ed above from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guardian is an excellent read (my opinion). The Guardian tends to report the truth, rather than sing the party line. Of course, I also posted several key news articles.

Reuters / November 20, 2015 The head of Daimler AG's commercial truck operation said the company will invest $375 million at a complex near Detroit to build diesel engines for medium trucks, expanding a strategy of building and selling trucks, engines, transmissions and axles as a package. The 5-liter DD5 and 8-liter DD8 are Daimler’s new generation medium-duty diesels introduced in Europe three years ago. The proprietary diesels will be available in the Freightliner M2 starting next year with initial engines built in Daimler’s Mannheim, Germany plant. Full U.S. production of the MD engines is scheduled for the end of 2018 and availability will then be expanded to DTNA’s Western Star, Freightliner, Custom Chassis and Thomas Built Bus brands. Currently Cummins supplies all of DTNA’s medium-duty engines. Once the Detroit engines are introduced, the company will continue to offer Cummins engines as an option, according to Martin Daum, president and CEO of DTNA. “The success of our integrated powertrain for heavy-duty vehicles in the US is phenomenal, said Wolfgang Bernhard, head of the Daimler Trucks and Bus business during the inauguration ceremonies. “Already, over 40% of the Freightliner Cascadia models are supplied with the DT12 automated manual transmission. So, naturally, it makes sense to now also produce this bestseller locally. … And I am really excited, that in the future we will also produce our medium duty engines DD5 and DD8 here. This is a major step in executing our global platform strategy.” Daimler had previously expanded its Detroit operations to produce automated manual transmissions for heavy trucks, which have been "a runaway success," said Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler's global commercial truck operations. Bernhard said he expects demand for medium and heavy trucks will be "slightly softer" in North America next year, but should still be above relatively strong 2014 levels. European demand will be flat and Brazil will "continue to be very difficult," he said. Earlier this week, rival truck maker AB Volvo said it planned to idle its North American factories for a total of 2.5 weeks in December and January to reduce swelling inventories. Bernhard said Daimler, which controls about 40 percent of the U.S. heavy truck market, is not cutting back. Production at its Detroit engine and transmission factories is still running around the clock, seven days a week, he said. Daimler's latest investment in Detroit builds on a strategy Bernhard has pursued to bring engineering and manufacturing of the company's commercial trucks under one roof. Traditionally, especially in North America, heavy truck makers such as Paccar and Navistar have purchased engines, transmissions, axles and other major components from suppliers such as Cummins, Eaton, Caterpillar and Dana. Government demands to cut carbon dioxide emissions are putting more pressure on commercial vehicle makers. Bernhard said Daimler's response will be to design and engineer itself more of the technology in its vehicles. "We can perfectly optimize those components to each other to get the best fuel economy and reliability," he said. Bernhard said Daimler is also using its own technology to develop autonomous driving systems for future commercial vehicles. He said trucks that could drive themselves on open freeways could be available by 2020. Daimler is testing autonomous driving technology on heavy trucks in Germany and the United States. Press Release - http://media.daimler.com/dcmedia/0-921-656186-1-1867081-1-0-0-0-0-1-0-1549054-0-1-0-0-0-0-0.html?TS=1448246422942

$3 billion over 41 years: How the Clintons methodically cultivated donors https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/clinton-money/

This is a must-read, to better understand how the Middle East arrived at its latest dire situation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How the US fueled the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq The Guardian / June 3, 2015 The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday, the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting. The prosecution abandoned the case, apparently to avoid embarrassing the intelligence services. The defence argued that going ahead with the trial would have been an “affront to justice” when there was plenty of evidence the British state was itself providing “extensive support” to the armed Syrian opposition. That didn’t only include the “non-lethal assistance” boasted of by the government (including body armour and military vehicles), but training, logistical support and the secret supply of “arms on a massive scale”. Reports were cited that MI6 had cooperated with the CIA on a “rat line” of arms transfers from Libyan stockpiles to the Syrian rebels in 2012 after the fall of the Gaddafi regime. Clearly, the absurdity of sending someone to prison for doing what ministers and their security officials were up to themselves became too much. But it’s only the latest of a string of such cases. Less fortunate was a London cab driver Anis Sardar, who was given a life sentence a fortnight earlier for taking part in 2007 in resistance to the occupation of Iraq by US and British forces. Armed opposition to illegal invasion and occupation clearly doesn’t constitute terrorism or murder on most definitions, including the Geneva Convention. But terrorism is now squarely in the eye of the beholder. And nowhere is that more so than in the Middle East, where today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s fighters against tyranny – and allies are enemies – often at the bewildering whim of a western policymaker’s conference call. For the past year, US, British and other western forces have been back in Iraq, supposedly in the cause of destroying the hyper-sectarian terror group Islamic State (formerly known as al-Qaida in Iraq). This was after ISIS overran huge chunks of Iraqi and Syrian territory and proclaimed a self-styled Islamic caliphate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate). The campaign isn’t going well. Last month, ISIS rolled into the Iraqi city of Ramadi, while on the other side of the now nonexistent border its forces conquered the Syrian town of Palmyra. Al-Qaida’s official franchise, the Nusra Front, has also been making gains in Syria. Some Iraqis complain that the US sat on its hands while all this was going on. The Americans insist they are trying to avoid civilian casualties, and claim significant successes. Privately, U.S. officials say they don’t want to be seen hammering Sunni strongholds in a sectarian war and risk upsetting their Sunni allies in the Gulf. A revealing light on how we got here has now been shone by a recently declassified secret US intelligence report, written in August 2012, which uncannily predicts – and effectively welcomes – the prospect of a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria and an al-Qaida-controlled Islamic state in Syria and Iraq. In stark contrast to western claims at the time, the Defense Intelligence Agency document identifies al-Qaida in Iraq (which became ISIS) and fellow Salafists as the “major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” – and states that “western countries, the Gulf states and Turkey” were supporting the opposition’s efforts to take control of eastern Syria. Raising the “possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality”, the Pentagon report goes on, “this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran)”. American forces bomb one set of rebels while backing another in Syria Which is pretty well exactly what happened two years later. The report isn’t a policy document. It’s heavily redacted and there are ambiguities in the language. But the implications are clear enough. A year into the Syrian rebellion, the US and its allies weren’t only supporting and arming an opposition they knew to be dominated by extreme sectarian groups; they were prepared to countenance the creation of some sort of “Islamic state” – despite the “grave danger” to Iraq’s unity – as a Sunni buffer to weaken Syria. That doesn’t mean the US created ISIS, of course, though some of its Gulf allies certainly played a role in it – as the US vice-president, Joe Biden, acknowledged last year. But there was no al-Qaida in Iraq until the US and Britain invaded. And the US has certainly exploited the existence of ISIS against other forces in the region as part of a wider drive to maintain western control. The calculus changed when ISIS started beheading westerners and posting atrocities online, and the Gulf states are now backing other groups in the Syrian war, such as the Nusra Front. But this US and western habit of playing with jihadi groups, which then come back to bite them, goes back at least to the 1980s war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, which fostered the original al-Qaida under CIA tutelage. It was recalibrated during the occupation of Iraq, when US forces led by General Petraeus sponsored an El Salvador-style dirty war of sectarian death squads to weaken the Iraqi resistance. And it was reprised in 2011 in the Nato-orchestrated war in Libya, where ISIS last week took control of Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte. In reality, US and western policy in the conflagration that is now the Middle East is in the classic mould of imperial divide-and-rule. American forces bomb one set of rebels while backing another in Syria, and mount what are effectively joint military operations with Iran against ISIS in Iraq while supporting Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. However confused US policy may often be, a weak, partitioned Iraq and Syria fit such an approach perfectly. What’s clear is that ISIS and its monstrosities won’t be defeated by the same powers that brought it to Iraq and Syria in the first place, or whose open and covert war-making has fostered it in the years since. Endless western military interventions in the Middle East have brought only destruction and division. It’s the people of the region who can cure this disease – not those who incubated the virus.

Volvo's truck deliveries increased Sydsvenskan / November 19, 2015 Volvo Group's truck deliveries rose to 20,193 vehicles in October, an increase of 2 percent compared with the same month in 2014. The increase was unexpected. Analysts had expected an unchanged delivery volume. For the year to date, October figures show a rise of 3 percent to 171,470 trucks delivered. In Europe, October sales rose 15 percent to 8,688 vehicles. Sales in North America rose 6 percent to 6,246 vehicles. In South America, there was also a sharp incline, with a reduction in deliveries of 31 percent to 1,293 vehicles. In Asia, there was also a decline of 3 percent to 2,818 vehicles. Deliveries of heavy trucks over 16 tons rose 3 percent to 17,248 vehicles. Medium-duty truck sales (7-16 tons) fell 13 percent to 1,295 vehicles. Light truck sales (under 7 tons) rose 11 percent to 1,650 vehicles. The monthly figures include truck sales for the Volvo, UD Trucks, Renault Trucks, Mack, Dongfeng and Eicher brands.

AB Volvo Press Release / November 19, 2015 In October 2015 deliveries from the Volvo Group’s truck operations amounted to 20,193 vehicles. In October, Volvo Group truck deliveries rose by 15% in Europe and by 6% in North America. On the other hand, deliveries decreased by 31% in South America and by 3% in Asia. In total, Volvo Group’s wholly-owned operations* delivered 20,193 trucks, which was 2% more than in October 2014. Volvo brand global sales reached 11,368 units, including 3,738 deliveries in North America, down 1 percent globally but up 5 percent in North America compared to October 2014. Mack brand global sales reached 2,673 units, including 2,486 deliveries in North America, up 10 percent globally and 9 percent in North America compared to October 2014. Renault brand global sales reached 4,533 units, up 16 percent globally and 34 percent in Europe compared to October 2014. Production in North America will be adjusted [decreased] as a consequence of lower demand and high inventories in the distribution channel. * Excluding Eicher, Dongvo and Dongfeng .

Kenworth Truck Company Press Release / November 19, 2015

Kenworth Truck Company Press Release / November 19, 2015