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Japan throws stones at Ghosn from a glass house Commentary – Philip Nussel, Automotive News / January 11, 2020 As the Carlos Ghosn scandal unfolds with Hollywood-level kinds of drama and intrigue, it's refreshing to see the Japanese government launch its resources to rein in this fugitive from justice with all the righteous indignation of a nation that truly values international business ethics. It's quite an about-face for a business culture that allowed the Takata exploding-airbag scandal that has claimed at least 24 lives, injured some 300 people and generated the largest safety recall in the history of the global auto industry. Another 10 million airbags were recalled in the U.S. last week, in fact. But even more enlightening is how the prosecution and post-escape pursuit of Ghosn runs contrary to the Japanese practice of protecting its own business fugitives from justice, particularly when they stand accused by other countries of crimes that might not be considered serious in Japan. Supply chain corruption In the Takata scandal, the company in January 2017 agreed to pay a $1 billion U.S. criminal fine for its fraudulent conduct stemming from the lethal airbag defect. Three of its executives were charged with crimes in the U.S., but they stayed in Japan and never faced justice here. "Warrants were issued at the time of the indictment and are still active," a U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman said in an email to Automotive News, declining further comment when asked about extradition efforts. Perhaps more troubling is that for many years, dozens of Japanese auto suppliers systematically ripped off their customers — including their own affiliated Japanese automakers — in the U.S. and other countries. These suppliers allowed their sales executives to collude with competitors on the price of everything from ball bearings to wire harnesses. This institutional corruption resulted in countless billions of dollars in costs built into the price of light vehicles. The antitrust arm of the Justice Department spent much of the past decade, during the Obama and Trump administrations, prosecuting these crimes. As of 2018, U.S. antitrust regulators said their work yielded $2.9 billion in fines and convictions of 46 suppliers and 32 executives. The vast majority of them are Japanese. And while the companies themselves pleaded guilty and ponied up massive U.S. fines, as many as 20 individuals charged with crimes stayed in Japan, where they were protected from extradition. Some even kept their jobs. It's unclear whether the U.S. even attempted extradition — and very unlikely that it did. Japanese officials would have to cooperate in such a process. To this day, these Japanese executives carry the same international fugitive status as Carlos Ghosn. Ultimate irony The ultimate irony here is that Ghosn was blamed, in part, for creating this culture of corruption in the Japanese supply chain when he saved Nissan in 1999. Back then, Ghosn helped cut Nissan's costs by dismantling the automaker's insular supplier "keiretsu". He had the audacity to demand competitive bidding. As my former Automotive News colleague Dave Guilford suggested during an interview with Ghosn in 2014, suppliers responded to Ghosn's demands by fixing prices. "So it's my fault?" Ghosn responded, laughing. "That's a most original explanation." "I had nothing against keiretsu," Ghosn added. "It was working for our competitors. But it wasn't working for us." For the past year, Ghosn has been accused of a variety of economic crimes that, if true, might have cost Nissan tens of millions of dollars. If true. Yet Japan harbors fugitives who cost the entire auto industry far more, not to mention the loss of 24 lives, most of them in Hondas. Japanese authorities may have very good reasons for their bitter, relentless pursuit of Ghosn and his family, but they might be wise to take a look in the mirror and stop protecting their own business fugitives from justice.

Navistar MaxxForce engine class-action settlement finalized at $135 million Matt Cole, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / January 8, 2020 A federal judge has approved Navistar’s proposed $135 million settlement that will be paid out to owners of certain International trucks equipped with defective model year 2011-2014 MaxxForce 11- or 13-liter engines. Judge Joan Gottschall of a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted the final approval on Jan. 3. The judge concluded that the class action settlement is a “fair, reasonable and adequate resolution” of the truck owners’ claims. The approval follows an objection filed in October by four large fleets. As part of the settlement, those who purchased or leased International trucks with the defective engines can choose from three forms of relief for each affected truck they owned or leased. They can choose to receive up to $2,500 in cash, up to a $10,000 rebate on a new Navistar truck with proof of ownership/lease, or up to $15,000 in repayment for repair costs. The order states that Navistar will contribute $85 million to fund claims for the cash payout and repair repayment options. The remaining $50 million will be used for rebates. Owners and lessees of affected trucks have until May 11 to file their claims for any of the three options, according to the law firm Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein, which represented the class in the settlement. More information on the settlement and filing a claim can be found here.

Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune / January 9, 2020 A Chicago federal judge has given initial approval to Navistar’s agreement to pay truck owners and lessees $135 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over allegedly defective engine emission systems. The settlement, pending final court approval, ends a lengthy court battle for the Lisle-based manufacturer, which built thousands of 2011 to 2014 model year commercial trucks with an alleged emissions design flaw that resulted in breakdowns and engine damage. More than 66,500 International trucks equipped with certain MaxxForce 11- or 13-liter diesel engines are included in the class. Truck owners and lessees can choose from three payout options, either up to $2,500 cash per truck, a rebate of up to $10,000 toward a new truck or up to $15,000 in covered damages per truck. “We’re very happy with the result we reached for the class of Navistar truck owners and lessees,” Adam Levitt, a Chicago attorney representing the plaintiffs, said Thursday. “We believe the settlement provides true and meaningful relief and we look forward to the ongoing claims process and being able to distribute money to class members.” All owners and lessees of affected vehicles must file their claims by May 11, with payouts expected to begin in the summer, Levitt said. Navistar has been grappling with the fallout of the allegedly defective emissions systems for years. Built to comply with U.S. emissions rules that took effect in 2010, the company chose exhaust gas recirculation over selective catalytic reduction, a decision that led to alleged engine problems. In 2016, Navistar paid investors $9.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit and a $7.5 million penalty to settle Security and Exchange Commission charges it misled investors about developing an advanced technology truck engine that could be certified to meet U.S. emission standards. Navistar spent more than $700 million developing the engine before abandoning the project. The emissions failure led to the resignation of CEO Daniel Ustian in August 2012. The lawsuit on behalf of truck owners and lessees was initially filed in 2014. The proposed settlement was reached in May. Navistar took a charge of $159 million in the second quarter of 2019 to cover costs associated with the settlement. On Thursday, Navistar spokeswoman Lyndi McMillan emailed a statement issued last year saying the proposed settlement accelerated the company’s efforts to “move past” the emissions issue, but had no comment on the court’s approval.

Scania Group Press Release / January 10, 2020 Safety has always been a part of Scania’s DNA. The current generation of trucks underwent five years of advanced crash testing, with technologies and equipment never before used for heavy vehicles. .

The #Autocar #ACX features the tightest turning radius in its class--that means fewer backing incidents & a safer experience for McPherson Area Solid Waste Utility drivers & customers throughout #McPherson County. #AlwaysUp #MASWU #uptime #itsallabouttheuptime #safety .

"The Customer Is Our Boss." It is the #1 operating principle at #Autocar & it is this commitment that drives us to engineer severe-duty trucks that meet the unique needs of each #customer in every vocation. #AlwaysUp #uptime #itsallabouttheuptime #AutocarSolutions .

You all should e-mail Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy, at roy.horton@volvo.com and ask him what his Mack brand "product strategy" is. Some discussion topics might include "Super-Liner", "big engine" and "ranks 6th".

Volvo shows off electric Mack garbage truck, due to hit New York City streets later this year Jon Harris, The Morning Call / January 9, 2020 Born and raised in Queens, Rocky DiRico is a self-described old-timer, someone with a thick growl of a New York accent who started turning wrenches as a truck mechanic with the New York City Department of Sanitation in 1978. He became a procurement supervisor shortly after, rising through the ranks to deputy commissioner in 2001, a post he still holds today. DiRico found himself 90 miles west on Thursday, laying his eyes on what he considers “the most exciting” product development he’s seen during his career with the department. Then he got to drive it, taking the first lap in a fully electric version of Mack’s LR refuse model at the test track at the Mack Customer Center in Allentown. While the truck was first unveiled last May, Thursday was the first public demonstration of the electric vehicle, which is quiet like a Tesla but still features two motors that deliver a combined 496 horsepower — all while spitting out zero emissions. “It’s unbelievable,” DiRico said as he exited the vehicle, repeating the word, “unbelievable” one more time. “It’s so quiet.” While DiRico said the electric truck should make its way to the city by Monday, the long-anticipated vehicle will begin testing in the second quarter. There, DiRico said, his workers plan on “beating the hell” out of it, a tough proving ground in a department that — each day — collects 10,500 tons of residential and institutional garbage along with 1,700 tons of recyclables. The truck also will help the department, which has a fleet of 6,000 trucks, many of them Macks, as it aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2035. “To have a pure electric truck like this, I never thought it would ever happen in my career,” DiRico said. For Mack Trucks, which employs more than 2,000 in the Lehigh Valley, its first electric truck shows how the manufacturer is trying to remain ahead of the curve, staying on top of advances in technology as the transportation industry changes, said Jonathan Randall, Mack’s senior vice president of North American sales and marketing. “I can’t even tell you in 10 or 15 years what the business model may look like,” Randall said. “All we know is people are going to need equipment to get the daily work done. We believe strongly that electric is one of those solutions that’s going to have longevity and is going to stick, and so we need to be prepared for that.” The first electric truck, Randall said, was put together at the Mack Customer Center in conjunction with the company’s engineers in North Carolina. The New York City Department of Sanitation will be Mack’s first customer to test the electric truck. Randall said a second truck will go into service later this year with waste giant Republic Services. Once Mack and its customers are comfortable with the product, following some likely adjustments and tweaks, that’s when the company would look at producing the truck at the assembly plant in Lower Macungie Township, he said. “At some point, a portion of what we build is going to be combustion-diesel and a portion is going to be electric,” Randall said. “That grows over time as the technology becomes more and more commercially viable.” Steve Tam, vice president of Americas Commercial Transportation Research Co., said about 60% of the vehicles in the refuse industry are powered by natural gas, though electric could make sense, too. Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy, went over several of those reasons Thursday. For one, Horton said, garbage trucks are constantly starting and stopping during their run. The Mack electric truck has two-stage regenerative braking, in which the operator lifts their foot off the gas pedal to stop the vehicle while the kinetic energy lost during deceleration is converted to stored energy in the battery. That also leads to less wear and tear on the brakes, which could help reduce operating costs for customers, Horton said. In the refuse industry, he added, the trucks also return to the garage every night, making it easy to recharge. Tam said virtually all truck manufacturers in the domestic market are developing at least one electric model, cutting their teeth on the technology and learning the existing capabilities. A larger challenge, Tam said, will be in long-haul trucks, which could be one of the last segments to see battery electric vehicles because of the battery requirements for lengthy journeys. Based on current technology, Tam said, a battery would weigh around 20,000 pounds to be capable of long-haul application, which would sacrifice payload. As for DiRico, he said he can’t wait to get the Mack electric truck — with a copper-colored Bulldog hood ornament on the front — back to the city to show it off, already envisioning an event featuring the truck on Earth Day in April. The department plans to base the Mack LR Electric at its Brooklyn North 1 garage and test it on a local collection route, evaluating operating range, payload capacity and braking performance. While DiRico has long since left his first job in the department turning wrenches, his two sons now work there — one as a warehouse manager, the other as a mechanic. Who knows what technology Mack and others will be rolling out by the time they become old-timers. .

Volvo Demonstrates Mack LR Electric for New York City Jim Park, Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / January 9, 2020 Mack Trucks pulled back the curtain Jan. 9 on the first working Mack LR Electric, a fully electric version of the LR refuse model first revealed in May 2019. The truck will be delivered to the New York City Department of Sanitation's Brooklyn North 1 garage before the end of January, where it will undergo real-world testing and evaluation on several selected collection routes. Validation testing is scheduled to begin in in the second quarter. "The Mack LR Electric demonstrates Mack’s leadership in powertrain innovation, bringing clean, quiet propulsion to the refuse application, which is one of the toughest in heavy-duty trucking due to the harsh operating environments and number of starts and stops during a shift," said Jonathan Randall, Mack Trucks senior vice president, North American sales and marketing. DSNY is the world’s largest sanitation department, collecting more than 12,000 tons of refuse and recyclables each day throughout five boroughs with 6,300 miles of streets and a population of about 8.6 million people. Roughly 99% of DSNY's heavy-duty collection fleet is Mack equipment. “New York City has a goal to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 80% by the year 2035," said Rocky DiRico, DSNY deputy commissioner. "DSNY along with our more than 6,000 vehicles will play a major role as we push toward that goal." The department is looking at a variety of technologies and will be the first Mack customer to test the LR Electric model. DSNY will evaluate several vehicle performance metrics, including operating range, payload capacity, regenerative braking performance, and the overall functionality of a fully electric refuse vehicle in its operation. Randall told reporters a second Mack LR Electric vehicle is in development and will be delivered to Republic Systems in North Carolina later this year. During the demonstration at the Mack Customer Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Mack LR Electric was piloted around a test course set up on Mack’s test track and skid-pad, which simulated the real-world stop-and-go driving found in refuse applications. The test course also featured tight turns and an area to reverse the vehicle, highlighting the truck’s maneuverability. Powered by Mack’s integrated electric powertrain, the Mack LR Electric features two 130-kW motors that deliver a combined 496 peak horsepower and 4,051 lb.-ft. of torque available from zero rpm. A two-speed Mack Powershift transmission harnesses that power and puts it to the ground through Mack’s proprietary S522R 52,000-lb. rear axles. The truck features four NMC lithium-ion batteries (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) that are charged via a 50-kW, SAE J1772-compliant charging system. All accessories on the Mack LR Electric model are electrically driven through 12-, 24- and 600-volt circuits. .

Now, who wants to visit........Japan?

Ghosn details 'plot' to oust him, condemns Nissan executives, Japan Hans Greimel, Automotive News / January 8, 2019 BEIRUT -- Indicted former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, now an international fugitive on the loose in Lebanon after bolting bail in Japan, lashed out at the carmaker and the Japanese justice system in his first press conference since his wild legal odyssey began in 2018. Facing some 100 reporters at Wednesday’s invitation-only event, an animated Ghosn – looking businesslike in a dark suit and red tie – spoke for nearly two-and-a-half hours, unleashing a point-by-point attack on the validity of the investigation that culminated in his shocking arrest in Japan. Ghosn named names of those behind what he alleged was a plot to oust him, singling out former CEO Hiroto Saikawa, and said he had evidence backing his claims of innocence. “I am here to clear my name," Ghosn said at the conference, held here in the Lebanese capital. "These allegations are untrue, and I should never have been arrested in the first place." Ghosn also said he would be willing to stand trial in any country, except Japan, where he spent nearly 130 days in solitary confinement as prosecutors repeatedly arrested him on different counts. He blasted Japanese justice, with its 99 percent conviction rate, as a rigged system in which guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant and basic human rights are denied. The former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, now sporting thinner, grayer hair than before his Nov. 19, 2018, arrest, also said he was interrogated for as long as eight hours a day without a clear explanation of the charges against him. Prosecutors, the 65-year-old father of four grown children said, pressured him to confess, partly by threatening to go after his family. “I was brutally taken from my world as I knew it,” Ghosn said. “I was ripped from my family, my friends, from my communities, and from Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.” Jumping bail and fleeing to his childhood home of Lebanon just before New Year, he said, was the only way he could escape what he called the injustice of the Japanese system. “You’re going to die in Japan or you’re going to have to get out,” he said. “I felt that I was a hostage in a country that I had served for 17 years... All of a sudden a few prosecutors and a bunch of executives at Nissan said you know what, this guy is a cold, greedy dictator.” The Tokyo prosecutor, in a statement released after Ghosn's press conference, said the indicted former executive’s comments “failed to justify his acts.” “Defendant Ghosn has only himself to blame for being arrested and detained,” it said. During his press conference, Ghosn said he was ready to retire before June 2018 but was asked to continue. “I, unfortunately, accepted this offer.” He said he was working to integrate Renault and Nissan while respecting the autonomy of both. But he said there was mistrust. “Some of my Japanese friends thought that the only way to get rid of the influence of Renault on Nissan was to get rid of me,” he said. “Which, unfortunately, they were right.” He also said he was in the process of negotiating a merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles before his arrest, but said he was unable to complete it after prosecutors took him in. Today, FCA is merging with France’s PSA Group instead, and Ghosn blasted the alliance for botching a deal. “The alliance missed the unmissable, which is Fiat Chrysler,” Ghosn said. "That is unbelievable, they go with PSA. How can you miss that huge opportunity to become the dominant player in the industry?” Ghosn also acknowledged that he was asked in 2009 by Steve Rattner, President Barack Obama's car czar, to run General Motors during the automaker's reorganization amid the Great Recession. He said he turned down the offer out of allegiance to Renault and Nissan -- even though Rattner offered to double his pay. “I made a mistake. I should have accepted the offer,” Ghosn said in response to criticisms in Japan that he was greedy. He declined to say how he would address Nissan’s current ills, which include falling revenue and plunging profits. Nissan has countered with aggressive cost control and job cuts. “What I would do is completely different from what is being done,” Ghosn said. Regarding his audacious escape from the clutches of Japanese prosecutors, Ghosn said refused to disclose details saying he needed to protect those who assisted his escape. Japan's humiliation The vanishing act humiliated Japan, which has indicted Ghosn, 65, on four counts of financial misconduct during his time at Nissan. Ghosn’s trial was to begin as early as this spring. Accounts of his escape come straight from a Hollywood thriller. Japanese media, citing security camera footage pieced together by local authorities, say Ghosn left his court-approved home in central Tokyo around 2:30 p.m. Dec. 29 wearing a hat and face mask commonly worn in Japan as protection from germs, pollen and pollution. He then met two American private security experts, including a former Green Beret, at a nearby five-star hotel before absconding to Osaka on Japan’s ultrafast bullet train. Once 300 miles away in that western Japanese metropolis, Ghosn was reportedly loaded into an oversized shipping case for audio equipment and spirited onto a private jet at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that holes were drilled in the bottom of the box so Ghosn could breathe and that airport security didn’t screen it because the box was too big to fit through the X-ray machine. The plane then reportedly flew to Turkey, where Ghosn transferred to another jet bound for Beirut. Unmuzzled In Lebanon, where Ghosn is a citizen, he is unmuzzled to tell his side of the story without the threat of Japanese authorities rearresting him and sending him back to jail. Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan, and officials here have said they have no plans to send him back. From his base in Beirut, Ghosn is free to fully weave his own narrative. Ahead of his news conference, Nissan went on the offensive, issuing a statement saying it found “incontrovertible evidence” of misconduct by Ghosn, including misstatement of his compensation and misappropriation of the company’s assets for his personal benefit. “The company will continue to take appropriate legal action to hold Ghosn accountable for the harm that his misconduct has caused to Nissan,” the automaker said. In September, Ghosn agreed to pay $1 million to settle, without admitting guilt, a separate U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint that he hid some $140 million in future payouts. Yet, Japanese prosecutors have yet to disclose any evidence backing their indictments. And without an open trial to air it, the dispute risks becoming a he-said-she-said battle. Indeed, Ghosn’s defense team immediately punched back with its own statement, calling Nissan’s claim of having conducted a robust, thorough investigation a “gross perversion of the truth." “It was initiated and carried out for the specific, predetermined purpose of taking down Carlos Ghosn to prevent him from further integrating Nissan and Renault, which threatened the independence of Nissan, one of Japan’s iconic, flagship companies,” the statement said. Conflicts of interest The investigation was rife with conflicts of interest that undercut its legitimacy, Ghosn’s team said. Hari Nada, the Nissan executive running the internal investigation, is himself a plea bargainer who had a hand in the alleged crimes Ghosn is accused of, the team said. Nada, once expected to serve as a key witness against Ghosn at trial, was only relieved of his duties as head of Nissan legal affairs this past October, nearly a year after Ghosn’s arrest. Furthermore, Ghosn’s defense maintains Nissan’s audit was not truly independent because it was conducted with the law firm Latham & Watkins, one of Nissan’s longtime outside legal counsels. Latham & Watkins gave legal advice on the very matters subject to investigation, it said. Ghosn’s team also claims that the Nissan probe also never asked to interview Ghosn or share its full results with Ghosn or the public. Central to Ghosn’s defense is the argument that [Japanese] prosecutors illegally conspired with certain Nissan executives and government officials to frame Ghosn in a coup aimed at removing him from power and preventing further integration of Nissan with its French alliance partner Renault. Ghosn’s lawyers also say that prosecutors illegally handed prosecutorial and investigative powers to Nissan employees, who then assembled evidence against Ghosn at their behest. Ghosn's attorneys say Nissan unlawfully dispatched employees to invade Ghosn's residences and illegally seize personal property and attorney-client privileged files, while prosecutors did the same with attorney-client privileged notes and legal documents from Ghosn's wife, Carole Ghosn. Moreover, prosecutors engaged in unfair bias by charging Ghosn, who is non-Japanese, while ignoring admitted wrongdoing by other Nissan executives who are Japanese, the filings allege. Ghosn’s defense team has accused Nissan of not sharing some 6,000 pieces of digital evidence. Additionally, Ghosn's counsel had argued, his right to a speedy trial was violated because even more than a year after his arrest, he still has no confirmed start date for a trial. Indeed, Ghosn’s lawyers have said, the prospect of spending another year or two under strict bail conditions in Japan during a protracted trial is one reason he decided to flee. The bail restrictions not only prohibited him from leaving Japan but restricted his Internet and phone access, subjected him to video surveillance and forbade him contact with his wife. Japan's defense Japanese authorities have defended the country’s legal system as fair [??????] and said Ghosn bolted from Japan to escape punishment. “Prosecutors indict defendants only when prosecutors conclude that they can establish their case in courts beyond any reasonable doubt,” the Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a release. “As a result, Japan has had a history of high conviction rates.” Ghosn faces four indictments in Japan. The first two are charges of failing to disclose more than $80 million in deferred compensation. The two other counts are breach-of-trust charges that accuse Ghosn of diverting company money for personal gain. Ghosn, who denies the entire slate of charges, faced up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 150 million yen ($1.4 million) if convicted on all four counts. On the first two charges of millions of dollars in unreported compensation, Ghosn’s lawyers have said Nissan's securities filings accurately disclosed Ghosn's actual compensation. They say Nissan never committed to paying deferred pay and Ghosn never received it. Regarding the first breach-of-trust allegation, they argue that the financial transactions in question never caused financial loss to Nissan and that Ghosn paid the money back per contract. Meanwhile, Ghosn’s team has tried to undermine the other accusation, that he siphoned money from Nissan and fed it through business associates in the Middle East in a scheme that allegedly circulated millions of dollars back into the pockets of Ghosn or family members. Ghosn's defense counters that Nissan paid the parties in question because they were legitimate payments for business services, such as reimbursement for expenses. Additionally, the disbursements were fully vetted and approved by multiple senior Nissan executives, including former CEO Hiroto Saikawa, in one case, they say. Finally, defense filings say, none of those Nissan funds were transferred for the benefit of Ghosn or his family. .

The original kit number was 57GC294.

Thank you to Velvac Inc. our valued partner & #January 2020 calendar sponsor. #Velvac has been a leading mirror manufacturer for the trucking & RV markets since 1934! www.velvac.com #Autocar #AlwaysUp #uptime #itsallabouttheuptime #Milwaukee .

US Marine brigadier generals don’t send unsigned letters.

The Guardian / January 6, 2019 The future of the US military presence in Iraq is in question amid scenes of confusion in Washington, as the Trump administration scrambled to respond to Iraqi demands for the troops to leave after last week’s assassination in Baghdad of Iran’s top general, Qassem Suleimani. The US-led coalition taskforce fighting Isis in Iraq delivered a letter to the Iraqi defence ministry on Monday saying preparations would begin right away “to ensure that movement out of Iraq is conducted in a safe and efficient manner”. But soon afterwards, the defence secretary, Mark Esper, told journalists in the Pentagon: “That letter is inconsistent with where we are right now” and insisted that no decision had been taken to evacuate Iraq. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, said the letter had been sent in error. “That letter is a draft, it was a mistake [damage control lie], it was unsigned, it should not have been released,” Milley said, adding that it was “poorly worded, implies withdrawal, that is not what’s happening”.

The New York Times / January 6, 2019 Borden, the 163-year-old dairy producer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest victim of an industry battered by declining prices, rising costs and changing tastes. The company, which is based in Dallas and reported $1.18 billion in sales in 2018, has been trying to adjust to those unfavorable trends but was hampered by debt, Borden’s chief executive, Tony Sarsam, said on Monday. “The biggest cause, if you dial it back, is a circumstance where we have debt that is inappropriately sized for the company,” he said. Executives at Borden, which employs 3,300 people, had been trying to renegotiate its debt agreements for months, Mr. Sarsam said, but filed for bankruptcy on Sunday after talks with lenders fell through. Just two months ago, Dean Foods, the largest milk company in the United States and one of Borden’s biggest competitors, also said it was seeking bankruptcy protection. Borden’s financial troubles extend to 2017. After arranging for about $275 million in loans that year, the company, known for its “spokescow,” Elsie, suffered net income losses in each of the next two years. The company, whose business is largely focused on the Southeast, attributes that misfortune to dairy industry trends, including shifting consumer preferences and increased competition. Consumption of fluid milk, which accounts for the vast majority of Borden’s revenue, has been declining for decades, with per capita consumption down about 40 percent since 1975, according to Agriculture Department data. Meanwhile, dairy alternatives like milks from soy, oats, almonds and other sources have been on the rise. More recently, raw milk prices have spiked, with the cost of milk up 27 percent since last January, according to Borden, which expects inflation to continue this year, too. “We’re at a high point, and that’s been one of the more significant market challenges that we’ve been enduring this past year,” Mr. Sarsam said. In filing documents, Borden also highlighted eroding profit margins caused by industry consolidation and rising costs for fuel and the resin used in its bottles. A truck driver shortage has propped up transportation costs, too, it said. Borden also said the cost of various pension and retirement obligations had contributed to its bankruptcy filing, including a $33 million pension settlement. This isn’t the first time that Borden has suffered financial distress. After making a number of acquisitions in the late 1980s, the company entered a turbulent period resulting in its 1995 sale, for $2 billion, to the private-equity giant KKR. Over the next decade, the company was slowly whittled down, with many of its divisions and brands sold off, Borden said in the filing. While following Dean’s path into bankruptcy, Borden sought to distance itself from its competitor, arguing that it was in a better position to recover from a reorganization. “Our operations are running in a way that gives us confidence that when we come out of this we’ll be in better shape,” Mr. Sarsam said. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / January 6, 2020 Paccar is recalling certain 2020 model-year Kenworth T800, T880, and W990 and Peterbilt 348, 367, 389, 520, and 567 vehicles for a problem that could lead to rear output shafts fracturing. The forward rear axle output shafts may have been improperly heat treated during manufacturing, possibly resulting in the shafts fracturing. Paccar will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the output shafts, as necessary, free of charge. Owners may contact Kenworth customer service at (425) 828-5888 or Peterbilt customer service at (940) 591-4220. The recall is expected to begin Feb. 19, 2020. Paccar's numbers for this recall are 19KWE and 19PBG.

Matt Cole, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / January 2, 2020 Four recalls announced in December by Navistar and Volvo Group affect more than 14,500 International and Mack brand trucks, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) documents. The largest of the recalls was announced by Navistar and includes approximately 12,539 International medium- and severe-duty trucks. Affected models include: 2018-2019 International DuraStar 2019-2020 International HV 2019-2020 International MV 2018-2020 International WorkStar The affected trucks are equipped with feature cords 12VXT and 12VXU. With the parking brake applied and the automatic transmission in the “Drive” or “Reverse” position, when the stationary PTO switch is engaged by the driver, the affected trucks’ engine RPM could ramp up and may overcome the parking brake’s ability to hold the vehicle, Navistar says. Navistar will notify owners, and dealers will update the Engine Control Module to enable the PTO neutral interlock for free. Owners can contact Navistar customer service at 1-800-448-7825 with recall number 19518. NHTSA’s recall number is 19V-841. Navistar is also recalling approximately three model year 2020 International HV 6×4 trucks. The company says these trucks were built with a non-Quick Release Modulator Valve instead of a Quick Release Modulator Valve, which could affect the brake release time. Navistar will notify affected owners, and dealers will replace the NQRMV with a QRMV for free. Owners can contact Navistar customer service at 1-800-448-7825 with recall number 19519. NHTSA’s recall number is 19V-838. A recall announced by Volvo Group affects approximately 1,879 model year 2019-2020 Mack TerraPro vocational-duty trucks. The headlights in these trucks may not be properly aimed, possibly reducing the driver’s visibility. Volvo will notify Mack owners, and dealers will inspect and adjust the lights for free. Owners can contact Volvo's Mack brand customer service at 1-800-866-1177 with recall number SC0421. NHTSA’s recall number is 19V-895. Another recall issued by Volvo affects approximately 80 model year 2020 Mack Anthem, Granite and Pinnacle trucks. In these trucks, the castle nuts and cotter pins used to connect the steering drag link to the pitman arm and steering arm may not have been installed correctly, potentially causing separation of the drag link. This could cause a loss of steering control. Volvo will notify Mack owners, and dealers will inspect and adjust the lights for free. Owners can contact Volvo's Mack brand customer service at 1-800-866-1177 with recall number SC0420. NHTSA’s recall number is 19V-896.

The US military just announced they’re leaving Iraq, complying with the government’s desire. i have a very bad feeling about all this. https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1Z520A

When it comes to secretly developed capabilities, they both possess them. That’s the unknown quantity.

This Bloomberg article is also accurate, but from a different angle. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-06/soleimani-killing-leaves-trump-s-middle-east-strategy-in-tatters?srnd=markets-vp

I’m very concerned about the expected upcoming reprisals. Chevron is bugging out of Iraq, unable to ensure the safety of its expats and families. The other US companies will follow.

This article, written by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, touches on many aspects of the big picture relatively unknown to many. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/iran-general-soleimani.amp.html

The Atlantic / December 6, 2019 For some kids, the weekly trash pickup is a must-see spectacle. Parents, children, waste-management professionals, and experts on childhood all offer theories as to why. For Ryan Rucker, a dad in Vacaville, California, the weekly summons comes on Wednesday mornings, usually around seven. For Rosanne Sweeting on Grand Bahama island, in the Bahamas, it’s twice a week—Mondays and Thursdays, anytime from 6 to 8:30 a.m.—and for Whitney Schlander in Scottsdale, Arizona, it’s every Tuesday morning at half-past seven. At these times, the quiet of the morning is broken by the beep beep beeping of an approaching garbage truck—and broken further when their kids start hollering, begging to be escorted outside to wave or just watch in awe as the truck collects and majestically hauls away the household trash. Rucker’s daughter Raegan, 3, takes her stuffed animals outside with her to watch the pickup. Cassidy Sweeting, 4, enlists her mom’s help to deliver granola bars and water bottles to the three trash collectors. Finn Schlander, 3, invited the neighborhood garbage-truck driver to his birthday party. (Ultimately, he was unable to attend, but the party had garbage-truck decorations nonetheless.) For decades, children have been fascinated by the garbage-collection vehicles that visit their home (as a kid, Finn’s dad wanted to grow up to be a garbage-truck driver himself, according to Finn’s mom), and their widespread fascination has been commemorated in a surprising variety of ways. The nationwide waste-disposal company Waste Management, for example, sells a branded WM garbage-truck toy on its online shop, and a representative for Waste Management told me that the company frequently receives requests from customers for things such as costumes and party kits for kids. Some city governments and waste-disposal companies have released safety guidelines for parents whose kids are especially curious about their garbage trucks. (“Wave from your window or doorway, keeping at least 20 feet of safe distance. Our drivers will wave back if they see you!”) Meanwhile, the children’s-web-series host Blippi, who has some 6.5 million YouTube subscribers, wrote a life-ruiningly catchy song about garbage trucks (“Some are blue, some are brown, and some are green / And wouldn’t you know it, there are some that can pick up recycling!”) that has been listened to a staggering 31.8 million times as of this writing. I, too, had a more-than-passing interest in the garbage truck as a kid; with palpable residual excitement, I can remember peeking through the window shutters of my parents’ front room to watch the vaguely menacing robotic arm jut out, snatch our garbage can, and dangle the can upside down over its back while the trash tumbled out. Why generations of kids have been so transfixed by the trash pickup, though, remains something of a mystery. So I asked parents, kids, child-development experts, waste-management professionals, and even the creator of a kids’ show about an anthropomorphized garbage truck for their insights. Together, we made our way—more aptly, lurched and rumbled our way—toward a unifying theory of why kids are so wild about garbage trucks. The garbage truck I remember watching out our window as a child—big lumbering hulk, single hungry grabber claw—is known in the waste-management industry as an “automated side loader.” (When I excitedly mentioned to Whitney Schlander that the automated side loader was introduced 50 years ago on the streets of Scottsdale, I discovered this was old news to her and Finn: “We went to the trash-transfer facility last year. Of course,” she said with a laugh. “They have the original one.”) Other varieties in the United States have automated forks on their front to pick up larger trash receptacles such as Dumpsters, while still others depend on human workers to manually pick up, empty, and replace the garbage cans. When I asked Sheila Williams Ridge, who teaches early-childhood education at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, for any insights she could give me on why kids love garbage trucks so much, she thought of her own daughter, now 21. When her daughter was little, Williams Ridge remembered, the weekly arrival of the garbage truck was both dazzling and, in a way, reassuring. “Humans have always thrived with routine,” she told me. “But children, their memories aren’t long enough. Sometimes, when we’re getting our 3-year-olds dressed for winter, they’re like, ‘I can’t do it!’ And we’re like, ‘You’ve put on snow pants before. You’ve put on boots.’ But for them, it’s so long ago. They don’t remember snow from when they’re 2; it’s new again for them.” So having something happen every week at the same time—and especially something that “seems a little bit magical”—can boost kids’ sense of familiarity with the world, not to mention give them something to look forward to. Plus, what the truck is actually doing when it arrives has an air of the forbidden. Despite the fact that kids are frequently discouraged from making messes at home or at school (or perhaps because of that fact), “children love dumping things. They just do,” Williams Ridge said. “So the fact that a truck is coming to do this on purpose, and everyone is happy about it? It’s like, ‘Yes! This is my dream! I just want to dump stuff out, and you let this person do it!’” (The same goes for being noisy: “I think that’s the other thing with a lot of big trucks, and with police cars, fire trucks, snowplows,” she added. “They’re loud, and no one’s complaining about it.”) Next I turned to Guy Toubes, the creator of the animated Amazon children’s series The Stinky & Dirty Show, whose eponymous protagonists are a backhoe loader (Dirty) and a garbage truck (Stinky). I reasoned that he surely must have some insights into what makes garbage trucks so fascinating. He did. For starters, “kids think smelly stuff is really funny,” Toubes told me. There’s a sort of naughty appeal to talking about gross stuff and calling things “stinky,” he said, and in the run-up to the premiere of The Stinky & Dirty Show, he saw it in action: Two little girls in a focus group cracked up every time a character on the show said the name “Stinky.” “They just kept saying the word over and over again,” he remembered, “every time.” Toubes also noted that the particular movement patterns of vehicles such as garbage trucks and backhoes—and snowplows, fire trucks, street sweepers, and the like—are entirely unique. Even if a child is familiar with how buses and cars move through space, the movements of a garbage truck’s grabber arm or a backhoe’s inward-curling shovel appendage can be mesmerizing because they’re so unusual. Add that to the fact that children frequently conceive of a vehicle as an enormous living creature—“It has lights and those look like eyes, so suddenly it’s got a face,” Toubes pointed out—and it’s almost no wonder that some kids look at garbage trucks like gigantic zoo animals visiting their home. That said, Toubes and I immediately agreed that garbage trucks can also be pretty mesmerizing to adults because what they do is so visually unusual. Toubes is himself the father of a onetime garbage-truck aficionado: “My second son was sort of obsessed, and when we asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a garbage truck,” he told me. “We were like, ‘You want to drive a garbage truck?’ And he was like, ‘No, I want to be the truck.’” And when his son ran to the picture window to watch the garbage pickup, “I’d go to the window and watch along with him,” Toubes remembered. “Like, Actually, that is interesting.” At this point, I’d heard the experts’ theories. But I would be remiss not to consult the two foremost authorities—kids and garbage-truck drivers. So first I went to Rene Vesi, a Waste Management truck driver based near Portland, Oregon. Vesi’s friendship with a boy with autism was the subject of a local-news segment earlier this year. I asked Vesi whether that was common, whether he was accustomed to having young friends and admirers. Garbage-truck enthusiasts are common enough that he considers “making kids happy” to be part of the job, he said, but he’d never take their enthusiasm for granted. “We have kids on almost every route. Moms hold babies at the door, toddlers wait at the window and sometimes a whole family will come out to watch and wave,” Vesi wrote to me in an email. “It makes you feel like a rock star.” As for why those kids are so excited, Vesi largely agreed with Toubes. “They love the lights and all the moving parts,” he wrote. “For a toddler, it probably feels like a Transformer has come to visit.” When I asked an actual child, however, why she loved garbage trucks so much, her answer surprised me. Was it the recurring excitement? The anticipation? The dumping? The gross-out factor, or perhaps the anthropomorphic factor? The fact that, as Toubes and I—and for that matter, pretty much every adult in this story—agreed, garbage trucks are objectively awesome, no matter how old you are? No, Raegan Rucker told me. Her favorite part of the whole greeting-the-garbage-truck ritual is when a friendly, familiar face shows up at her house. She loves “walking outside with socks on,” pointing at the truck as it approaches, and “drinking milk outside,” she told me—sometimes with her stuffed animals alongside her, sometimes on the swing her parents installed out front pretty much expressly for the purpose of garbage-truck watching. But most of all, she loves waiting for the truck driver to stop and say hi. .

For #January the 2020 #Autocar calendar features McPherson Area Solid Waste Utility & their burly #ACX. McPherson Area Solid Waste Utility has been faithfully serving the residents of Kansas' McPherson County since 1991. #AlwaysUp #MASWU #uptime #itsallabouttheuptime .