kscarbel2

Not to rub salt in your wound, but with frequent opportunities to drive the global Ford Ranger in Thailand and South Africa, I can tell you that it's the finest bakkie in the world today........better than the new-for-2015 Toyota Hilux and outdated U.S. market Tacoma.

The Local DE / July 27, 2015 Farmers set up checkpoints on six roads between Germany and France late on Sunday night and said they would continue their action until later Monday. "We've already held back between 200 and 300 lorries transporting products that are distorting competition for us," said Franck Sander, local head of the FNSEA farming union. "For example, we made a lorry carrying Babybel (cheese) turn back. Consumers think this is French but the cheese comes from Slovakia," he said. Sander said there were around 1,000 farmers taking part in the protest and had also turned back several lorries laden with fruit and vegetables on their way from Germany. Farmers' representatives will be holding talks with officials at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT), after which they will decide whether to extend their blockade. Other farmers have carried out similar actions stopping produce getting into France from Spain. Around 100 farmers ransacked dozens of trucks from Spain on a highway in the southwestern Haute-Garonne region, threatening to unload any meat or fruit bound for the French market. They used some 10 tractors to block the motorway not far from the Spanish border, causing traffic jams that stretched up to four kilometres (2.5 miles), Guillaume Darrouy, secretary general of the Young Farmers of Haute-Garonne, told AFP. The action comes after a week that has seen farmers block cities, roads and tourist sites across France in protest at falling food prices, which they blame on foreign competition, as well as supermarkets and distributors. Farmers have dumped manure in cities, blocked access roads and motorways and hindered tourists from reaching Mont St-Michel in northern France, one of the country's most visited sites. Fearful of France's powerful agricultural lobby, the government on Wednesday unveiled an emergency package worth €600 million in tax relief and loan guarantees, but the aid has done little to stop the unrest. "The measures announced by the government ... none of them deal with the distortion of competition" with farmers from other countries, said Sander, saying French farmers face higher labour costs and quality standards. A combination of factors, including changing dietary habits, slowing Chinese demand and a Russian embargo on Western products over Ukraine, has pushed down prices for staples like beef, pork and milk. Paris has estimated that around 10 percent of farms in France – approximately 22,000 operations -- are on the brink of bankruptcy with a combined debt of 1.0 billion euros. Speaking early Monday morning, President Francois Hollande threw his weight behind the farmers, saying: "they should know that, protests or no protests, we are by their side." .

Bloomberg / July 28, 2015 Daimler, BMW and Audi said they separate different vehicle domains -- walling off the radio from the brakes, so to speak -- with firewalls and additional features such as public-key-cryptography and virus scanners. “Absolute, 100 percent safety isn’t possible,” said Benjamin Oberkersch, a spokesman for Mercedes’s Stuttgart, Germany-based parent Daimler AG. “But we develop our systems, tested by internal and external experts, so they’re up to date.” While hacks of German cars have fallen short of the stunt to which the Jeep was exposed, BMW, the maker of the carbon-bodied, electric-engined i8 sports car, had to fix a security flaw in one of its digital-services systems this year. A study by German auto club ADAC found hackers could wirelessly open BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles in minutes. About 2.2 million vehicles equipped with BMW’s ConnectedDrive service were vulnerable. The Munich-based company closed the security gap with an automatic system upgrade that took place when vehicles connected to BMW’s server.

Hack attack vs. FCA shows flaws with rush to connectivity Automotive News / July 27, 2015 As a Jeep Cherokee rolled down a highway near St. Louis, a pair of professional computer hackers sat on a couch 10 miles away, slowly taking over some of the SUV's basic functions from a suddenly panicked driver. They set the air conditioning to cold, and the fan to high. They obscured the windshield with a torrent of washer fluid. They set the radio to play ear-splitting hip-hop. Then, in a move that petrified the driver -- a Wired magazine reporter who had agreed to play guinea pig for the demonstration, captured on video -- they abruptly cut power to the engine, letting the vehicle coast to a crawl in traffic on a narrow portion of interstate. The hackers' demonstration did one other thing: It flipped the high beams on an industry still unprepared for its headlong rush toward Internet connectivity. By the time the hackers' exploits were publicized last week, Fiat Chrysler had posted an urgent security patch on its website and was scrambling to further lock down the system. On Friday, July 24, the company issued a formal recall for 1.4 million 2013-15 vehicles to install the protective software. Consumers seeking to protect their vehicles can download the patch on a computer and install it themselves or have a dealer do it. The recall and software patch addressed the security hole, but they didnot allay fears about the prospect of malicious hackers exploiting connectivity technology to gain access to sensitive components and systems. Those fears have been percolating for some time. In Washington, lawmakers have been pressing automakers to spell out their strategies for counteracting cyberattacks, and two senators introduced a bill on the issue last week. But the industry's response is only now ramping up, as automakers come to terms with the implications of building devices that increasingly function as networked computers on wheels. Since last year, the auto industry's two main trade associations have been working to establish an information sharing and analysis center for the industry, a clearinghouse for information about digital threats and vulnerabilities. Such centers are in place in other sensitive industries, such as oil and gas and financial services. Robert Strassburger, vice president of vehicle safety at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said July 14 that the automotive information sharing and analysis center was on track to begin operations by year end. IHS Automotive forecasts that more than 82.5 million vehicles worldwide will be connected to the Internet by 2022, more than triple the current number. Automakers have heavily marketed these connections as a consumer benefit that allows for more entertaining or productive rides, as well as remote improvements. But as last week's report makes clear, there's more to connectivity than streaming movies. "As cars get more connected than ever, they become more exploitable to technology vulnerabilities," said Akshay Anand, an analyst with Kelley Blue Book. Automakers have traditionally sought to keep tight control over the way their vehicles interface with technology, such as cell phones and related applications -- and with good reason, given the safety concerns involved. In practice, that has meant long delays to test products and search for vulnerabilities internally before new technology is released to the public. In that model, hackers are largely viewed as outside nuisances or ne'er-do-wells. Technology companies, by contrast, keep their enemies closer. For example, Google now advertises bounties ranging from $100 to $20,000 for hackers who identify vulnerabilities in the company's many websites and businesses. The auto industry may have to learn to work that way. "We see the value of software and software content in the average car rising to around 60 percent over the next 15 years from less than 10 percent today," said Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas. "Who has greater expertise and experience in protecting connected assets and systems from the perils of hacking? Detroit or Silicon Valley?" Fortunately for FCA, the recent attack came from Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, a pair of so-called benign hackers who use such demonstrations to try to help companies understand their vulnerabilities rather than to make mischief. They're known for a similar hack into a Toyota Prius, but that time, they were in the back seat. The open doorway they used on the Jeep was Uconnect, the infotainment system that's used widely across FCA brands and includes an optional Internet connection through Sprint's cellular data network called Uconnect Access. Uconnect, in turn, offered the hackers a gateway into the vehicle's network that coordinates various electronic functions. Yet, unlike some other automakers, FCA cannot use that connection to "push" important software updates to its vehicles automatically. A source within the company indicated that may soon change. Security experts say that ability to push patches "over the air" is a crucial complement to any system with an open Internet gateway, because it allows automakers to better keep pace with potential hackers. According to a Twitter message from Miller, the patch FCA posted on July 16 blocks the vulnerability he and Valasek exploited. But FCA and Sprint were still scrambling to block the broader network door through which the hackers had gained access to the vehicle. A spokesman for FCA wrote in an email to Automotive News that the companies were working to block remote access to hundreds of thousands of potentially vulnerable 2013-15 Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep vehicles equipped with the newer 8.4-inch Uconnect system. Fiat and Alfa Romeo vehicles are unaffected. A source within FCA said the automaker tried to work with the hackers to close the vulnerabilities before they went public, but was rebuffed.

MAN Press Release / July 24, 2015 MAN is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of its Munich plant by holding a big family open day for its employees and their families on Saturday 25 July 2015. Approximately 30,000 guests are expected to attend. The anniversary is also being marked with a parade of historic trucks for truckers and vintage vehicle enthusiasts. From 8:00 on Saturday, the sound of vintage engines will fill the air as the parade of ten trucks makes its way from the MAN plant in Dachauer Straße, along Gabelsbergerstraße and the Altstadtring to the Isartorplatz, where the parade is due to arrive around 9:00. The vintage vehicles are testament to the years of the economic miracle in Germany and the early days of long-haul transportation. The oldest truck, a MAN 620 L1 tipper, dates back to 1957 and boasts an 120 hp, 8.3 litre engine – impressive for the time. It will be joined by the 115 hp MAN 415 F, known as the 'Pausbacke' [chubby cheeks], from 1968, which is a nostalgic reminder of long-haul transportation from days gone by. Another impressive sight will be the cement silo semitrailer combination from 1960, featuring a MAN 750 towing vehicle and boasting 145 hp. And finally, the MAN 19.361 cab over engine with 360 hp and 12 litre engine will showcase the latest in low fuel consumption standards from 1985. Opening of the MAN plant in Munich Production of MAN trucks and buses dates back 100 years, but for the first few decades the vehicles were only produced in Nuremberg. In the first half of the 1950s, production and sales of the Nuremberg trucks continually increased until the plant reached capacity. The company management began looking for an alternative production site and ultimately decided on the site of the former BMW aircraft engine plant in Allach, Munich. (The BMW twin-row 801 radial engine was produced at Allach for the legendary Focke-Wulf Fw-190 A, B, C, and F model fighters.........the Fw190D and Ta152 used the in-line Junkers Jumo 213 although they resembled radial engine aircraft.). MAN's senior management, including Otto Meyer, saw the new plant in Munich as a fantastic opportunity to expand the company's commercial vehicle production and set up improved and more independent development facilities for this area. In the space of a few months, the production facilities for trucks, buses and agricultural tractors were relocated from Nuremberg to Munich. The first MAN tractor from Munich, a B18 A, was completed on 6 September 1955, followed by the first truck, a 515 L, which rolled off the production line on 15 November 1955. Just one year later, 3000 vehicles had been produced at the new plant. For the last sixty years, the plant, which today covers around 1 million square metres, has been the headquarters of MAN Truck & Bus. The site employs around 8500 staff, who develop and produce heavy trucks as well as axles and cabs for other MAN plants. From 1955 to today, the Munich plant has produced more than a million trucks, 2.3 million axles and 1.5 million cabs. You can view some past photographs of the Munich plant by clicking the link below: Image Database "60 Years MAN Munich Plant". A special picture of the vintage truck parade will also be available here from 13:00 on Saturday 25. #MAN100Years – Share your own MAN story with us! To immerse yourself in the 100-year history of MAN trucks and buses, go to www.100years.man.eu .

That's an Australia problem that troubles me. Prices are FAR to high there. The Sony flat screen TV that Americans can buy all day long for US$600-$700 costs more than double down under. The high price of......everything......is unfair to Australians. And this is of course is the main reason that Australia's car industry is shutting down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3B4z179rqU

Transport Topics / July 24, 2015 Navistar said it invited each of its Class 8 competitors to participate in a performance test comparing fuel economy of their best performing truck against its International. The showdown would take place at the company’s new proving grounds in New Carlisle, Indiana during the week of Aug. 31. “We have worked hard to ensure our heavy-duty products lead the way in fuel economy, driver appeal and uptime performance, and we want to prove it,” Navistar Senior Vice President Jeff Sass said in a statement. “The heavy-duty products we are building today are the highest quality, most fuel-efficient trucks we have built in decades,” he added. The company said the testing will follow Society of Automotive Engineers protocols with vehicles driven at typical highway speeds with a gross combination weight of about 65,000 pounds. The test will be for Class 8, on-highway sleeper model-year 2016 trucks. Only factory installed options will be allowed, including hardware, software and fluids. Also, the truck must meet compliance and be capable of delivery. “We’re all proud of our trucks, and I believe that running our vehicles in an open and transparent forum, side by side, will not only raise the watermark but will also benefit each of our customers in this industry,” Sass said. Tires will be standardized and provided by Navistar with sets randomly assigned for each vehicle as well as trailers. To maintain consistent break-in levels, all the trucks will have mileage of 2,500 to 15,000 miles, Navistar said.

Transport Engineer / July 27, 2015 Shetland Transport has taken delivery of two more Gray & Adams curtainsider semi-trailers, with another four on order, after its first two units delivered last year performed “flawlessly”. The 13.6m units are equipped with low-emission Thermo King SLX-e 400 refrigeration units. Heavy-duty insulated curtains ensure temperature integrity, as well as providing side access loading capability that Shetland Transport founder and managing director Hamish Balfour values so highly. "The first two have performed flawlessly in terms of their strength and component reliability, while we've had no issues with regards to temperature control either," confirms Balfour. "Most of our outbound loads are of salmon, and other fish, but we also carry a certain amount of what I call 'ugly' freight, by which I mean products which are particularly long or big and bulky," adds Balfour. "Easy access side-loading capability makes the curtainsider particularly well suited to this type of work." Shetland's trailers have specially strengthened chassis to prevent buckling and bending in rough seas during 12-hour ferry crossings. .

Navistar Trail Magazine

Rather, it indicates that Volvo Group wants to promote/sell Volvo brand on-highway trucks more than Mack brand. Currently, Volvo identifies the Mack brand as having primary value in vocational (though the Mack brand's grip on vocational is far less than decades past). Remember, Volvo and Mack-branded trucks share the same platform and drivetrain. The hood and cab is virtually the only difference.

The short answer is that Scania has earned global respect around the world (not just the EU), because it is successfully brings a lower total cost-of-ownership o the customer. Scania believes in life-time relationships, a partnership between Scania and the customer. Once you have the opportunity to drive a Scania...........you'll understand.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/40823-hackers-give-orders-to-german-patriot-missile-battery/?hl=missile You already know why the vehicle hacking issue is in the news but the hacking of a Patriot missile battery isn't.

Acknowledging the escalating air pollution problem in the United States and around the world, General Motors showcases low emission, alternative fuel powerplants including electric, steam, fuel cell technology and the Stirling engine at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. The Detroit Diesel Allison GT-404 gas turbine-powered GMC Astro 95 is introduced mid-way through the presentation, as well as the gas-turbine powered RTX municipal transit bus. Related reading - http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/31951-the-gmc-astro-95-and-astro-ss-gas-turbine-tractors/?hl=gt-309

HQ, R&D, truck and bus chassis assembly, engine and other component production Södertälje, Sweden Truck assembly Zwolle, The Netherlands Angers, France Sao Paulo, Brazil Truck and Bus assembly Kolar, India Cab production Oskarshamn, Sweden Cab and chassis components Meppel, The Netherlands Transmissions and rear drive axles Tucuman, Argentina Frames and rear drive axles Lulea, Sweden Bus body production Lahti, Finland Slupsk, Poland

About Freightliner and the fantastic Daimler/Detroit Diesel engines, you should talk with Ernie Delli Santi (aka. Bullhusk). I can't speak for the Freightliner dealers in Florida, but ones like Horwith in Northampton (Allentown), Pennsylvania will bend over backward for you. If you go with Cummins, you're getting a superb Scania high pressure fuel injection system (Scania XPI).

Thanks for posting. I'd like the Z50, CT70s and XL250 if good condition (justification for a long distance purchase), but I doubt I can be there.

Hillary Clinton's lawyers and the Republican-led committee are negotiating over the terms under which she “might” appear before the House committee investigating the deaths of four Americans in the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. A committee spokesman says Hillary Clinton is demanding limitations on the questioning. Can an ordinary American, one of the commoners rather than the governing aristocracy, get away with that? Of course not. “Well, I might come in to be questioned, but gee, you will certainly have to limit the questioning to subject matter that will not implicate me, and not cast me in a worse light than is already on me….what with the upcoming election in mind.” Today’s touch of humor: During a speech in Philadelphia in 2008, Hillary Clinton said that she was “probably the most transparent person in public life”.

Fiat Chrysler Recalls 1.4 Million Vehicles to Defend Against Hacks Bloomberg / July 24, 2015 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is recalling about 1.4 million cars and trucks equipped with radios that are vulnerable to hacking, the first formal safety campaign in response to a cybersecurity threat. The move marks a milestone for the industry, which last year set a record with 64 million autos called back for fixes in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, under fire from Congress for not catching defects more quickly, has been considering punitive action against Fiat Chrysler for failing to protect vehicle owners. Unauthorized remote access to certain vehicle systems was blocked with a network-level improvement on Thursday, the company said in a statement. In addition, affected customers will receive a USB device to upgrade vehicles’ software with internal safety features. Fiat Chrysler was already distributing software to insulate some connected vehicles from illegal remote manipulation after Wired magazine published a story about software programmers who were able to take over a Jeep Cherokee being driven on a Missouri highway. The company led by Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne reiterated that it’s not aware of any real-world unauthorized remote hack into any of its vehicles and stressed that no defect was found and that it’s conducting the campaign out of “an abundance of caution.” NHTSA said it encouraged the action to protect consumers against a vulnerability that could affect a driver’s control. “Launching a recall is the right step to protect Fiat Chrysler’s customers, and it sets an important precedent for how NHTSA and the industry will respond to cybersecurity vulnerabilities,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said in a statement Friday. Expanded Action The recall covers about a million more cars and trucks than those initially identified as needing a software patch. The action includes 2015 versions of Ram pickups, Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee SUVs, Dodge Challenger sports coupes and Viper supercars. “That’s not a small number to go after,” Mark Boyadjis, an analyst with IHS Automotive, said in a telephone interview. “This is a pretty quick response and much of it could be P.R. driven. But I think it will keep consumers comfortable and prevent current ones and future ones from straying away from the brand.” Fiat Chrysler shares fell 2.5 percent, the most in two weeks, to $15.15 Friday at the close in New York. The drop pared the stock’s gain for the year to 31 percent. This isn’t the first time automobiles have been shown to be vulnerable to hacking. What elevates this instance is that researchers were able to find and disable vehicles from miles away over the cellular network that connects to the vehicles’ entertainment and navigation systems. That capability makes the possibility of remote hacking of cars a reality. Earlier hacks have mostly been achieved by jacking the researchers’ laptops into diagnostic ports inside the cars. Fiat Chrysler’s UConnect infotainment system uses Sprint Corp.’s wireless network. “This is not a Sprint issue but we have been working with Chrysler to help them further secure their vehicles,” said Stephanie Vinge Walsh, a spokeswoman. NHTSA said it would open an investigation on the remedy “to ensure that the scope of the recall is correct and that the remedy will be effective,” agency spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said in an e-mailed statement. The agency said its electronics and cybersecurity experts will continue to monitor hacking threats and take action when necessary. Consumer Confidence There’s a possibility the recall could affect consumer confidence in Fiat Chrysler, even though the company isn’t the only one with cybersecurity challenges, said Thilo Koslowski, vice president and automotive practice leader at technology consultant Gartner Inc. “It validates that cyber-hacking with cars is a serious issue that the auto industry must pay attention to,” he said. “The auto industry needs to develop new technology to combat these technological problems.” General Motors Co. has a team working on cybersecurity and has hired Harris Corp.’s Exelis and other firms to develop anti-hacking systems, said Mark Reuss, the Detroit automaker’s executive vice president for global product development. GM seeks to block hackers’ access to its autos, he said, and if they do get in, it tries to prevent them from gaining control. “It’s probably one of the most important things we spend time on,” Reuss said. “Anyone who wants to do something like that will probably get on, so you have to look at what happens when they do.” GM has worked with the U.S. military and with Boeing Co. on its anti-hacking systems, he said. Proposed Legislation Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats, introduced legislation on July 21 that would direct NHTSA and the Federal Trade Commission to establish rules to secure cars and protect consumer privacy. The senators’ bill would also establish a rating system to inform owners about how secure their vehicles are beyond any minimum federal requirements. The lawmakers released a report last year on gaps in car-security systems, concluding only two of 16 automakers had the ability to detect and respond to a hacking attack. Markey questioned why it took nine months after learning about the security gap for Fiat Chrysler to order a recall. “There are no assurances that these vehicles are the only ones that are this unprotected from cyberattack,” he said Friday in an e-mail. “A safe and fully equipped vehicle should be one that is equipped to protect drivers from hackers and thieves.” Representatives Fred Upton and Frank Pallone, leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent letters to 17 manufacturers and NHTSA in May to gather information about how the industry is addressing cybersecurity. “As the underlying technologies seemingly evolve by the day, so too must our manufacturers and regulators keep pace to protect drivers from these growing threats,” the Michigan Republican and New Jersey Democrat said in a statement Friday.

New inquiry into Clinton emails fuels political questions Associated Press / July 24, 2015 A new letter by intelligence investigators to the Justice Department says secret government information may have been compromised in Hillary Rodham Clinton's private server, underscoring an inescapable reality for her presidential campaign: Email is forever. Clinton, the former secretary of state and now the leading Democratic presidential candidate, wants to focus on the economic issues she and her team believe will drive the next election. But they remain unable to fully escape the swirling questions surrounding her decision to run her State Department correspondence through an unsecured system set up at her New York home. The inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community recently alerted the Justice Department to the potential compromise of classified information arising from Clinton's server. The inspector general also sent a memo to members of Congress that he had identified "potentially hundreds of classified emails" among the 30,000 that Clinton had provided to the State Department — a concern the office said it raised with FBI counterintelligence officials. Though the referral to the Justice Department does not seek a criminal probe and does not specifically target Clinton, the latest steps by government investigators will further fuel the partisan furor surrounding the 55,000 pages of emails already under review by the State Department. A statement from the intelligence inspector general, I. Charles McCullough, and his counterpart at the State Department, Steve Linick, said that McCullough's office found four emails containing classified information in a limited sample of 40 emails. "This classified information should have never been transmitted via an unclassified personal system," they said. For Clinton, the news amounted to a major distraction on a day when she'd hoped to focus on unveiling a new set of economic policies. Instead, she opened her New York City speech by addressing the controversy, decrying some reports as inaccurate. Some media initially reported that Justice Department had been asked to consider a criminal investigation into whether she mishandled her emails. "We are all accountable to the American people to get the facts right, and I will do my part but I'm also going to stay focused on the issues," she said. It was not immediately clear whether the Justice Department would investigate the potential compromise highlighted by the intelligence inspector general. The Justice Department has not suggested any wrongdoing by Clinton, according to U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the referral publicly. (WHY ???) But the inspector general's office said in its letter to Congressional oversight committees that it was concerned that "these emails exist on at least one private server and thumb drive with classified information and those are not in the government's possession," said Andrea Williams, a spokeswoman for McCullough. None of the emails were marked as classified at the time they were sent or received, but some should have been handled as such and sent on a secure computer network, said the letter sent to congressional oversight committees. Clinton has maintained that she never sent classified information on her personal email account, which she said in March she used as a matter of convenience to limit her number of electronic devices. The State Department has made public some of the emails involving Clinton, and is under court order to make regular further releases of such correspondence. The aim is for the department to unveil all of 55,000 pages of the emails she turned over by Jan. 29, 2016. But a federal judge this month chastised the department for moving too slowly in providing The Associated Press with thousands of emails submitted through the Freedom of Information Act. Republicans are pushing Clinton to turn over her server to a third party for a forensic evaluation. "Her poor judgment has undermined our national security, and it is time for her to finally do the right thing," said House Speaker John Boehner. (And an arrogant individual with such poor judgement, that would throw state dept. policy to the curb, wants to be president………..unbelievable) Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said she had followed "appropriate practices in dealing with classified materials." But there's little dispute among intelligence officials that Clinton should have been more careful with her information — though her behavior was likely not criminal. (Sure, why would running her State Department correspondence through an unsecured server in her New York home be irresponsible and criminal? Though our government’s impenetrable systems and those of corporate America including defense contractors that are designing our critical next generation weaponry were successfully hacked, I’m certain that Hillary’s home server is impregnable………sarcasm on my part.) Current and former U.S. intelligence officials say they assume that all of the email that transited Clinton's home server is in the possession of Russian or Chinese intelligence services, who would have easily bypassed whatever security measures she took. They, too, spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the Clinton email situation publicly. Whether a security violation or not, the risk for Democrats is that questions about her email harden into an early narrative about Clinton's honesty and management skills. Already, Republicans have spent months depicting Clinton as a creature of Washington who flouts the rules for personal gain. Clinton's people say questions about her correspondence won't sway voters, who they argue are more focused on economic and family issues. But, there are signs that the issue may have already affected views of their candidate. An Associated Press-GfK poll released last week found that voters view her as less decisive and inspiring than when she launched her presidential campaign just three months ago. Just 3 in 10 said the word "honest" describes her very or somewhat well.

Louisiana theater gunman kills two and injures seven before turning gun on himself Daily Mail / July 23, 2015 A gunman opened fire Thursday evening at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana killing two people and finally himself. The 58-years-old white male was in the audience at the Grand Theatre prior to opening fire. Seven additional victims were shot and taken to three hospitals. Layfayette Police Chief Jim Craft said the killer stood up 20 minutes into the show and shot two people sitting in the row in front of him. As soon as people started fleeing the auditorium, the killer tried to lose himself in the crowd when he saw two police officers. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said one teacher managed to clear the cinema of patrons, while shielding her friend from the gunman. He said the teacher 'jumped in front of a bullet to save her friend's life', before pulling the fire alarm to clear the theatre. The two teachers have been named as Jena Meaux and Ali Martin of New Iberia in Louisiana. According to eyewitnesses Ms Meaux threw herself between the gunman and her friend Ms Martin taking a bullet. Despite being wounded, Ms Meaux dragged herself to the fire alarm to evacuate the building. Officers have identified the criminal, who had a 'pretty old' criminal history, but have not released his name. The injuries of these victims range from critical to non-life threatening, and their ages from late teens to 60s. President Obama meanwhile had just given an interview on gun control to the BBC hours earlier expressing how 'frustrated' he was that the country does not have 'common-sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings.' (American society is “regressing”, moving away from the signature morals and values that for decades defined America. This massively negative change is able to occur and gain momentum because our government refuses to acknowledge and confront it. I feel that our government, inherently, bears a significant responsibility in guiding the positive forward development of American society. Our government, by design, is the steward of our great country. We all know that gun safety laws do not keep guns out of the hands of most people intent on committing harm unto others. Such talk avoids the actual problem, dare I say crisis, we now face in America) The shooting has drawn comparisons to the 2012 Aurora shooting in Colorado in which James Holmes walked into a theater and killed 12 and injured 70 after opening fire. He was recently convicted on 24 counts of first-degree murder in that rampage, which occurred shortly after midnight on July 20 - almost three years ago to the day of Thursday's shooting. Holmes is currently in the sentencing phase of his trial. (Why was James Holmes not executed for this horrendous crime within 48 hours? In cases where there is indisputable evidence (over 100 witnesses in the Holmes case) where a human being deliberately took the life of another human being(s), the only rational response is for the murderer to promptly pay the ultimate penalty for his action of abruptly bringing the life(lives) of others to a premature end and causing irreparable damage to their families including spouses and children. Why would U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for over three years of court processing and prisoner confinement when the individual in question is indisputably guilty of murdering 12 Americans in cold blood? Only when the government sends out a firm message that such behavior is unacceptable in the United States of America, and will be immediately responded to in kind, can society get back on a healthy course that allows American citizens to live their lives in peace)

Criminal Inquiry Is Sought in Clinton Email Account The New York Times / July 23, 2015 Two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state, senior government officials said Thursday. The request follows an assessment in a June 29 memo by the inspectors general for the State Department and the intelligence agencies that Mrs. Clinton’s private account contained “hundreds of potentially classified emails.” The memo was written to Patrick F. Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management. It is not clear if any of the information in the emails was marked as classified by the State Department when Mrs. Clinton sent or received them. But since her use of a private email account for official State Department business was revealed in March, she has repeatedly said that she had no classified information on the account. At issue are thousands of pages of State Department emails from Mrs. Clinton’s private account. Mrs. Clinton has said she used the account because it was more convenient, but it also shielded her correspondence from congressional and Freedom of Information Act requests. She faced sharp criticism after her use of the account became public, and subsequently said she would ask the State Department to release her emails. The department is now reviewing some 55,000 pages of emails. A first batch of 3,000 pages was made public on June 30. In the course of the email review, State Department officials determined that some information in the messages should be retroactively classified. In the 3,000 pages that were released, for example, portions of two dozen emails were redacted because they were upgraded to “classified status.” But none of those were marked as classified at the time Mrs. Clinton handled them. In a second memo to Mr. Kennedy, sent on July 17, the inspectors general said that at least one email made public by the State Department contained classified information.. The memos were provided to The New York Times by a senior government official. The inspectors general also criticized the State Department for its handling of sensitive information, particularly its reliance on retired senior Foreign Service officers to decide if information should be classified, and for not consulting with the intelligence agencies about its determinations. In March, Mrs. Clinton insisted that she was careful in her handling of information on her private account. “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email,” she said. “There is no classified material. So I’m certainly well aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.” In May, the F.B.I. asked the State Department to classify a section of Mrs. Clinton’s emails that related to suspects who may have been arrested in connection with the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The information was not classified at the time Mrs. Clinton received it. The revelations about how Mrs. Clinton handled her email have been an embarrassment for the State Department, which has been repeatedly criticized over its handling of documents related to Mrs. Clinton and her advisers. On Monday, a federal judge sharply questioned State Department lawyers at a hearing in Washington about why they had not responded to Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press, some of which were four years old. “I want to find out what’s been going on over there — I should say, what’s not been going on over there,” said Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court, according to a transcript obtained by Politico. The judge said that “for reasons known only to itself,” the State Department “has been, to say the least, recalcitrant in responding.” Two days later, lawmakers on the Republican-led House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks said they planned to summon Secretary of State John Kerry’s chief of staff to Capitol Hill to answer questions about why the department has not produced documents that the panel subpoenaed. That hearing is set for next Wednesday. “The State Department has used every excuse to avoid complying with fundamental requests for documents,” said the chairman of the House committee, Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina. Mr. Gowdy said that while the committee has used an array of measures to try to get the State Department to hand over documents, the results have been the same. “Our committee is not in possession of all documents needed to do the work assigned to us,” he said. The State Department has sought to delay the hearing, citing continuing efforts to brief members of Congress on the details of the nuclear accord with Iran. It is not clear why the State Department has struggled with the classification issues and document production. Republicans have said the State department is trying to use those processes to protect Mrs. Clinton.