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Ford Press Release / September 16, 2015 https://social.ford.com/content/campaign/f150-heritage/

Marine told to turn a blind eye to child sex abuse, murdered in Afghanistan Associated Press / September 21, 2015 The father of a Marine shot dead by a teenager and alleged sex slave in Afghanistan has slammed the US military for making him seem like an enemy to abused local children. According to Gregory Buckley Sr, American officers were ordered to turn a blind eye to the sexual abuse of Afghan boys - even on military bases - because that was not the 'priority of the mission'. It was this policy, he believes, that led to his son Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley Jr, 21, being gunned down on Helmland Province in 2012 by 17-year-old Aynoddin, an Afghan 'tea boy' for local police chief Sarwar Jan - who had previously been reprimanded for child abduction. 'As far as the young boys are concerned, the Marines are allowing it to happen and so they’re guilty by association,' Buckley Sr told the New York Times. 'They don’t know our Marines are sick to their stomachs.' His words come as he files a landmark lawsuit against the military, with testimony from US Marines, describing how local boys would be chained to beds and abused daily by America-backed Afghan officers - but they were barred from intervening. One officer, Dan Quinn, was even discharged for beating up an Afghan commander who allegedly chained a boy to a bed, raped him multiple times, then beat up his mother when she tried to save her son. And two other officers, Major Jason Brezler and Charles Martland, claim they are earmarked for forcible retirement because they flagged the issue of child sex abuse. According to Pentagon policy, sexual abuse is deemed a local concern for the Afghan Local Police unless it is deemed to be an act of war. 'My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s their culture,' Buckley Sr told the New York Times. It was the last thing they ever spoke about over the phone before his death. 'At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,' Buckley remembers his son saying. And now he is convinced that his son's killing may have occurred because of the alleged sexual abuse by the Afghan police chief, who was an ally to America. Buckley Jr, from Long Island, New York, was one of three officers gunned down by Aynoddin, armed with an AK-47, while they worked out in the gym at Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Afghanistan's Helmand province on August 10, 2012. It was later revealed that the teen may have been one of the sex slaves that Jan supposedly brought onto the base. He was not vetted and later talked about killing the soldiers in the name of Jihad. Jan had been arrested by Afghan police in 2010 for child abduction and support for the Taliban, according to the New York Times. By 2012, he had been appointed police commander at Forward Operating Base Delhi. It is not clear how or if he was reprimanded and how he came to be appointed. As he was drawing up the lawsuit last year, Buckley said: 'Aynoddin shot my son point blank with an AK-47. Shot him four times in his chest and once in his neck. 'He was in the gym with a pair of shorts and a tank top on. How is that allowed? 'I want them to admit that they were wrong. And I want someone to be held responsible for my son's death.' Before the attack, fellow Marine Major Jason Brezler warned his comrades stationed overseas about Jan's background in an email. He reported that Jan was a noted child abuser and there were allegations he sexually abused minors on U.S. bases in the past. However, Brezler was subsequently honorably discharged for sending the email from his personal, unsecured, Yahoo account. It comes as another decorated soldier who had worked for the U.S. Army Special Forces for 11 years is being discharged after claims he stood up for a young rape victim and his beaten mother in Afghanistan. Sergeant 1st Class Charles Martland, 33, was serving in the country's war-torn Kunduz Province in 2011 when he apparently learned an Afghan police commander he had trained had raped a boy. He and his team leader, Daniel Quinn, confronted Officer Abdul Rahman - who had also allegedly beaten the 12-year-old's mother for reporting the sexual assault - and 'shoved him to the ground'. Despite Rahman walking away only bruised, Martland and Quinn were disciplined. The Army halted their mission, put them in temporary jobs, and then, finally, sent them home. Upon their return, Quinn quit the Army. However, Martland, from Massachusetts, launched a fight to remain a Green Beret. But now, the dedicated soldier has been 'involuntary discharged' from the Army following a 'Qualitative Management Program' that was apparently carried out in February this year. Buckley Sr's lawsuit accuses the Marine Corps, Department of Defense, the Navy, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and former Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos of withholding the full truth surrounding his son's death. Asked about the sexual assault of young Afghan boys, whether the current policy is under review and why US military personnel are being told turn a blind eye, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest read the following statement: ‘The United States is deeply concerned about the safety and welfare of Afghan boys who may be exploited by members of the Afghan national security and defense forces. This form of sexual exploitation violates Afghan law and Afghanistan's international obligations. ‘More broadly, protecting human rights, including by countering the exploitation of children, is a high priority for the US government. We monitor such atrocities closely and continually stood up for those who suffered exploitation and a denial of basic human freedoms. ‘The United States works closely with the Afghan government, civil society and international organizations in Afghanistan to put an end to the exploitation of children, but also to incorporate human rights training into our law enforcement programs to heighten awareness in prosecution of such crimes. ‘We continue to encourage the Afghan government and civil society to protect and support victims and their families, while also strongly encouraging justice and accountability under Afghan law for offenders.' Asked if the president – the nation’s Commander-in-Chief of the armed services - would tell a military leader to intervene if he sexual assault happening, Earnest declined to provide a direct answer. ‘For the policies that sort of govern the relationship between US military personnel serving in Afghanistan and their Afghan counterparts, I'd refer you to the Department of Defense,’ he said, adding that the statement he read aloud ‘indicates just how seriously we take this issue and how this kind of behavior.’ It ‘doesn't just violate Afghan law, and Afghanistan's international obligations, but it certainly violates, I think, pretty much everybody’s notion of what acceptable behavior is,’ he said. Pressed to explain the circumstances in which US military personnel would allow assault to happen on their watch, Earnest again dodged. ‘For the rules of engagement and the kind of structure that's in place,’ contact DOD, he said. Asked point blank later in the briefing if the president is ‘tolerating’ sexual assault of women and children abroad and is ‘acceding’ to the policy that his military advisers at the Pentagon have established - not to intervene in crimes unless they are an act of war – Earnest deflected once again, invoking the Defense Department. He said he would not answer questions ‘about a policy that governs the conduct of US military personnel in a dangerous place.’ He also said the president has not, to his knowledge, asked for a review of DOD’s policies.

CAT Trucks Australia / Navistar Auspac Press Release / September 17, 2015 Cat CT630SC Mixes Mettle with Metal He’s polite and quick with a smile but Bob Brereton doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to likes and dislikes in matters of the mechanical kind. “Whatever the equipment is, it either does the job well or it doesn’t, and I’m just not interested in anything that promises one thing and delivers something less,” says the sharp-minded founder and proprietor of West Australian scrap metal and used machinery company Millennium Metals. High on the list of likes is the venerable Cat® C15 engine under the snout of a Cat CT630SC. Delivered earlier this year, the versatile SC hauls ‘pocket’ roadtrain loads of scrap metal from stockpile sites at Kalgoorlie, Geraldton, Esperance and Albany to the company’s processing facility in the industrial outskirts of Kwinana south of Perth. As Bob Brereton emphasises, there were several significant factors that led to the purchase of his first Cat CT630SC model; the third Cat truck bought by the company in the past three years. “The C15 is certainly the preferred engine,” he explains, “but I’ve also been very impressed with the service from WesTrac (Western Australia Cat Trucks distributor). There’s no doubt in my mind Cat has the best service and to me, that’s probably the greatest asset. “The Cat brand is just so strong.” Still, he insists the scrap business is tough on equipment of all types. “Our trailers are high capacity and heavy, simply because they need to be,” Bob continues, citing tare weight of around 35 tonnes for a relatively standard ‘pocket’ roadtrain combination. Gross weights generally range from 70 to 80 tonnes. However, apart from the model’s enviable durability, the capacity of the CT630SC to be approved for gross combination weights up to 110 tonnes and a compact bumper to back-of-cab dimension to enhance the 27.5 metre overall length limit of two-trailer ‘pocket’ roadtrains are vitally important considerations for Bob Brereton. “It’s a truck that suits what we do. It fits our business in many ways,” he confirms, adding that driver acceptance of the Cats and specifically the space in the well-appointed sleeper cab of the SC have been extremely positive. “We have some good drivers and we like to look after them. “The driver of the SC loves the truck. The way he tells it, it just drives so well.” Yet despite his obvious satisfaction with the CT630SC, it is an adamant Bob Brereton who attests that the scrap industry is not for the frivolous or weak, in men or machines. As he explains though, he certainly wasn’t born to the scrap business. In fact, working life started as a diesel fitter in the UK in the late 1960s before a stint in the Merchant Navy saw an eager young Brereton step ashore at Fremantle in 1974 and quickly decide, “This’ll do me!” With an inherent appreciation for all things mechanical, he subsequently applied his diesel fitter’s trade with various high profile equipment brands and their dealerships. “Later on I even tried sales for a while but I’d soon had enough of that,” he quips. Finally, with a sharp eye for opportunity and a natural willingness to embrace new endeavours, he bought a small scrap metal business. “That was 1992 and seriously, I knew nothing about the scrap business. “It was a company with three employees and one truck but I had a couple of good friends in the machinery business and I figured most equipment ends up as scrap eventually, so I decided to give it a go. I had to learn fast,” he recalls with a shrewd grin. And learn, he did! Today, Millennium Metals employs 20 people, runs an extensive fleet of trucks and trailers, and handles around 35,000 tonnes of scrap a year, retrieved from stockpiles up to 600 km from Perth, sorted and processed before being exported primarily to South-East Asia and India. “In many ways, the scrap business defines the state of the economy,” Bob suggests. “When equipment that’s still serviceable, whether it’s infrastructure like steel beams or different types of machinery, finds its way into the scrap business then that’s usually a sign of a downturn in industry and the economy generally. “That’s where it’s at right now,” he comments. Consequently, Millennium Metals is a business which has purposefully diversified. “Today, there are basically three parts to how we operate,” Bob continues. “First and foremost, we deal in scrap metal. That’s the foundation of the business but we also buy and sell all sorts of machinery and equipment, and the third part is the transport side where we haul for ourselves and also a major scrap company, Sims Metal Management. “We’ve worked closely with Sims for 20 years and it’s a very good working relationship. “It all comes down to the fact that we need to be flexible in this business.” In a mixed fleet of makes and models ranging from around-town rigids to single and tandem-drive prime movers mainly on local delivery work, and a mix of cab-overs and conventionals for heavy-duty roadtrain runs, Bob insists his first priorities in truck choice are durable performance and suitability for a given task. “For the longer distance work, all the prime movers are roadtrain-rated but when it comes to the make and model, I’ve always been something of an opportunist and that applies to trucks whether they’re bought new or second-hand. “You take your opportunities when they come and with Cat it has been the right new truck at the right time and of course, the right price. No one wants to pay more than they need to and everyone wants value-for-money, but you still have to end up with a truck that’ll do the job and keep doing it. In that respect, Cat is a good thing. Definitely! “Even so, I’m a big believer in the value of relationships and that’s certainly been the case with the people at WesTrac. “When it’s all boiled down, it’s not all about metal and machinery,” a smiling Bob Brereton concludes. Photos - http://www.cattrucks.com.au/tough-cat-thrives-on-a-good-scrap/

Navistar Trail Magazine

New Zealand Intelligence Uncovers U.S. Spy Operation The Associated Press / September 20, 2015 In a starting revelation that is rocking the capitals of two countries as well as the global intelligence community, The Guardian is reporting that the Obama Administration’s refusal to extradite an American to New Zealand for questioning on industrial espionage charges is related to a National Security Agency covert operation that was taking place in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean country. Sources now say that the male suspect, operating under the alias Timothy Maikshilo, was in fact a United States National Security Agency (NSA) operative who had successfully penetrated the deepest levels of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS). United States overseas surveillance revelations made public over the past twelve months by former NSA contactor Edward Snowden include detailed accounts of American surveillance on the leaders and governments of Brazil, France, Germany and the UK. New NSA documents released by Snowden in August indicated not only a decline of trust and numerous strategic disagreements between the intelligence agencies of New Zealand and the United States, but also the possible existence of NSA undercover operatives conducting surveillance on New Zealand’s government. According to The Guardian, fearing that the leaks would reveal Maikshilo, NSA management abruptly pulled him out of New Zealand. Simultaneously seeking to avoid a national embarrassment, the NZSIS created an industrial espionage cover story which accused Maikshilo of stealing insider information on the production of Marmite brand food spread from Auckland-based Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest refused to discuss Maikshilo or possible NSA activities in New Zealand. Earnest would only say that the United States and New Zealand were discussing the matter at the highest diplomatic levels, and the talks were “pretty blunt.”

FYI, while the 6x2s in Brazil have the 10.8-liter Cummins ISM, the 6x4 variants sold in South Africa were fitted with the 14.9-liter Cummins ISX.

Heavy Duty Trucking / September 18, 2015 Industry is finally hearing some frank discussion about Phase 2 of the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction proposal. At the FTR Conference in Indianapolis Wednesday, a Daimler Trucks North America regulatory expert told attendees the standards are likely to be much more difficult to meet than originally believed. Amy Kopin, regulatory and compliance program manager, said because of the variations that are inherent in some of the testing procedures, and the lack of reasonable compliance margins, truck and engine makers may need to design products to exceed the rule's requirements just to come in under the compliance margins. "There are all kinds of technical provisions and problems with compliance that EPA has built into Phase 2 that make the rule almost twice as stringent as it should be," Kopin said. "They have made incorrect assumptions with many of their baselines, and they have over-estimated the rate of customer uptake on many technologies as well. These all affect the way equipment makers earn their credits, and because of that, we will have to compensate for those shortfalls in other ways." Take engine idle shutdown timers, for example. Kopin said they are very unpopular with customers because they can't change the programming of the timer for the life of the vehicle, even if the vehicle's application changes. "EPA assumes we will equip 30% of the trucks we sell with these regulatory idle shutdown timers in 2017," she said. "That's nowhere near realistic, and that's going to cost us 1.5%." When it comes to aerodynamics, she said, EPA is taking away compliance margins and at the same time assuming the best-performing aerodynamic truck for their baseline rather than an average truck. That, she said, makes the rule about 2.5% more stringent than it appears. In another example, Kopin pointed to 6x2 tractors. "EPA has said it expects 6x2 tractors will have adoption rates in the 60% range," she said. "It's far more likely that we might see 5%. You can't use them in all states at the moment and they are illegal in Canada. There are issues with 6x2 that are beyond our control and beyond the EPA's control. Our customers need a truck they can travel with all through the country, not just select states." Some of the real problems arise with the testing. Kopin said EPA uses coastdown testing, but that's subject to variability from weather, wind, track conditions and even the driver. She pointed to a test EPA did with a Daimler vehicle and found a 5% variation in two tests of the same truck on the same track. "That's another 5% we now have to account for, and we'll have to be 5% more aggressive so that we can meet the standard, she said. "In other words, we have to eat the compliance margin." She said it's the same with the fuel map tests. "In phase 1 there's a test that measures 13 points, and we are given a 3% compliance margin because engine-to-engine comparisons can vary by as much as 1%, and even lab-to-lab comparisons can be a little different," she noted. "Now we have a test with over 100 points and EPA says no, you can't have any compliance margin." In essence, engine makers have to do about 3% better on the test results than they really have to just to provide a margin to cover the variables. That's something the consumer will wind up paying for. "As this rule stands today, it's really not feasible," Kopin stressed. "These are technical issues we hope the agency will modify. We would much prefer to work toward the 24% improvement they want rather than the 47% that the rule actually shows." To put this into perspective, Kopin said Daimler's Freightliner SuperTruck – a project developed at a cost of $30 million – would not meet the Phase 2 proposal as it stands today. The SuperTruck featured technology such as waste heat recovery and a hybrid electric drive for energy recovery. Not all vehicles can take advantage of such technology, yet EPA insists on forcing it on the industry to meet an arbitrary standard. Daimler and others who have experimented with such technology have said publicly that it's not presently commercially viable. "EPA was okay with off-the-shelf technologies in Phase 1," she said. "This time around they want to force technologies onto trucks that are in a prototype stage today or maybe do not even exist yet. This is what they want to see brought to the market." If time and money were of less concern than they are, Phase 2 would be great. But with customers demanding 18-month ROI on new technologies and trucks that will stay running for more than a week or two at a time, all of what EPA is asking for is looking increasingly difficult. Nobody wants a repeat of what happened when EPA forced emissions technology onto market in 2007 that had not had enough time for testing. "We don't believe there's enough time to successfully develop all that EPA is asking for," Kopin said in her closing remarks. "We would support all this in some future time frame, but right now, there's just too much to do; too much to fix." .

Here you go................. When a white adult goes on a shooting rampage in a black church, every media outlet and government mouthpiece CNN go into overdrive. However, when a black adult goes on a shooting rampage in a black church, it's a non-event that CNN doesn't even mention. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-shoots-3-including-baby-alabama-church-cops-article-1.2367416

I suspect the step sides are the most difficult to find, the long bed step side being the rarest, and the 4x4 short bed stepside being the looker. I'm partial to the 77 vintage grille (http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/crop/201208/dodge-ram-d-series-8_800x0w.jpg). Of course a good condition WM300 is the real treasure (http://image.fourwheeler.com/f/28369218+w600+cr1/129_0207_18_z%2Btop_10_classic_4x4%2Bbig_classic_truck.jpg).

How can a school have a policy that violates the first amendment of the United States Constitution, a document that outranks all else? http://news.yahoo.com/virginia-high-school-suspends-20-over-confederate-logos-174329598.html The massacre of nine Americans in South Carolina had nothing to do with the Confederate battle flag. Speaking of the murderer, it can be blamed on bad parenting, a bad egg, or both. The 21-year-old adult murderer should have been executed by now.......his guilt is indisputable. That clearest of messages should have already been sent to copycats and other twisted individuals. Kill.....and you will be likewise summarily killed for your murderous actions. Murder is not tolerated in these United States of America. I don't need to tell everyone that there is a shocking new thought process in society today amongst the younger generation in which a growing number hold little regard for human life. This trend which threatens the very fabric of our country must end, before it gets further out of control.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/39995-filters/?hl=affinia#entry291618 http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/41395-germanys-mann-hummel-buys-wix-filter-maker-affinia-group/?hl=wix

If your husband is cheating, you have the right to murder two toddler children? Why hasn’t this murderer been summarily executed? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wisconsin mother charged with drugging, killing son, daughter Reuters / September 17, 2015 A Wisconsin woman was charged with murder on Thursday for drugging and suffocating her 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter before trying to kill herself over a failing marriage, a criminal complaint said. Lucia Hernandez-Alvarez, 34, is charged with first-degree homicide and other felonies after police found her two children dead in their Kenosha home on Saturday, said the complaint filed in Kenosha County Circuit Court. The complaint said Hernandez-Alvarez fed Tylenol to her children, Alicia and Javier, and then suffocated her son with a plastic grocery bag and her daughter with a jacket. Hernandez-Alvarez took pills, drank alcohol and cut herself while her husband was out but survived, the complaint said. Her husband told authorities that after he found his children dead, she told him, "Now we won't disturb you. Now you're free. You don't have to feel bad for us," the complaint said. She wrote several messages in blood on a wall including "Mi Amor Javier," and told investigators she believed her husband had cheated on her and was not in love with her anymore, the complaint said. Hernandez-Alvarez is being held on a $5 million bond. She could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. No lawyer was listed for the defendant. .

Father convicted of hurling child off cliff gets life term Associated Press / September 18, 2015 She would be a young woman now, but instead Lauren Sarene Key is forever the 4-year-old child who never returned from a visit to the coast with her father. Nearly 15 years after the girl plunged to her death from a 120-foot seaside cliff, her father was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for her murder. Jurors found Cameron Brown, 53, a former airline baggage handler, guilty of hurling her from Inspiration Point in Rancho Palos Verdes in November 2000 amid an ugly custody battle with her mother. Sarah Key-Marer told the court that the bitter dispute had begun to steal the joy from her beautiful daughter. "We watched her sparkle fade in the last months of her life," Key-Marer said as Brown stared stoically straight ahead. "Her smiles diminished more quickly every time she witnessed the conflict. ... The funny, happy girl we all knew was fading." Brown and Key-Marer had a short-lived romance that soured when she got pregnant. Brown wanted Key-Marer to get an abortion, and he even tried to get her deported to her British homeland, Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said. Initially, Brown wasn't involved in Lauren's life, but he eventually sought custody that would help trim hefty child support. A witness came forward at the third trial who testified that Brown said it would be "nice to get rid of Lauren" to avoid $1,000-a-month payments, Hum said. The girl was reluctant to leave school to join her father for his scheduled visit the day of her death, a teacher testified. Her step-brother, Josh Marer, said in court Friday for the first time that he vividly recalls playing Lauren's favorite board game the night before her death. She became upset, kicked the pieces and ran into her room crying. "'I think I'm going to die tomorrow,'" she said when he asked what was wrong. Brown's first-degree murder conviction in May came about a dozen years after he was arrested and followed two previous trials when jurors decided the death was a crime, but couldn't agree if it was murder or manslaughter. Hum, who prosecuted each trial, became choked up reading a letter from one of Key-Marer's relatives. He said he felt fortunate not to have known such a loss in his life and he praised Key-Marer's family for their strength, dignity and faith. Then he addressed Brown, who was handcuffed and wearing orange jail garb. "She was 4 years old," Hum shouted, noting Lauren would now be 19. "Justice will never bring back this little 4-year-old girl, this 19-year-old woman. But justice is all we have in this courtroom. Now after 15 long years it's time for justice to be served." .

Having politely stood to the side for the most part to give us the chance we demanded to deal with the situation in Syria, Putin is now going to grab the bull by the horns and get the job done. The Obama Administration is now in massive "loss-of-face for the U.S." damage control mode, not unlike two years ago. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- President Putin said on Tuesday: "We support the government of Syria… in countering the terrorist aggression (ISIS, and the Syrian rebel forces which compared to Assad are the worse of two evils). "We provide and will continue to provide it with the necessary military technical assistance. And we urge other countries to join us." Mr Putin also said the situation in Syria would have been "worse than in Libya" had Russia not been supporting its leadership.

If the Massachusetts State Police truly intend to give this child justice, they will summarily execute the mother and boyfriend, sending a strong and clear message to others like them in these United States of America -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mother, boyfriend charged in murder of toddler found on Boston Harbor beach Associated Press / September 18, 2015 A mother was arrested and her boyfriend was charged with murder in the death of a little girl whose body was found inside a trash bag on a Boston Harbor island this summer and who became known as Baby Doe, a prosecutor said Friday after a months long campaign to learn the girl's identity. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said that he authorized the murder charge for the boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, and that the mother, Rachelle Bond, was under arrest for accessory to murder after the fact. The murdered toddler has been identified as two-year-old Bella Neveah Amoroso Bond, the daughter of 40-year-old Rachelle Bond of the Boston neighborhood Mattapan. The mother and her boyfriend, 35-year-old Michael McCarthy, have been arrested in connection with the Bella's death. McCarthy is not the girl's biological father. McCarthy faces a murder charge while Bond faces a charge of accessory after the fact of murder. They are expected to be arraigned on Monday. Rachelle Bond told investigators her boyfriend Michael McCarthy punched the girl in the stomach until she died, claiming the man thought the two-year-old was 'possessed by demons'. Officials say after she was killed, her body was placed in a refrigerator for around a month before it was dumped into the sea. 'There is confidence that what he did to her stomach area resulted in her loss of life,' officials say. 'The men and women who investigated this case have given her her name back. Now we will give her justice,' Massachusetts State Police Col Richard McKeon said. DeLeo said Bond and McCarthy, who are in custody, are blaming each other for Bella's death. He also added that McCarthy has drug issues. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker says Bond had other children who were older. Earlier, an official said police searched a Dorchester apartment on Thursday and they have been in contact with family members. The girl's 44-year-old aunt has confirmed Baby Doe was her niece. Tamera Bond said the last time she saw Bella was nine months ago, in January. Bella's grandmother, who did not want to be identified, said that she didn't know her granddaughter existed - she hadn't spoke to her daughter Bond in 14 years. A tip-off from neighbors brought the nearly three-month long search to determine the girl's identity to an end on Thursday. Siomy Torres, who had lived in the Maxwell Street building on the Dorchester-Mattapan line since June 2014, said state police showed up at her home and started questioning her about her neighbor's daughter. 'They told me they were looking for the little girl, and asked me if I'd seen her,' Torres said. She said state police showed her the composite picture of Baby Doe and she recognized it. 'I haven't seen her in months. I usually hear her because her room is against the backside of my apartment. I usually hear her crying or running around the house and I haven't heard that,' Torres said. 'I used to see her every day. Running around.' A DCF spokeswoman said it had contact with Bella twice between August and December 2012 and June and September 2013 on allegations of neglect. 'Since June, the Department has been working closely with law enforcement on exploring dozens of leads in hopes to identify the little girl found on Deer Island,' DCF spokeswoman Rhonda Mann said. 'Now that we know her name, the story is no less tragic. DCF has not had an open case with this family for over two years, but did have brief involvement with Baby Bella as an infant. Authorities were able to match Bella's identity with the clothes she was found wearing when her body was found on Deer Island in Winthrop on June 25. She was wrapped in a zebra-print blanket and was wearing black-and-white polka-dot leggings. A spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office said the investigation remains 'very active.' Bella was named Baby Doe by investigators and was estimated to be four years old. Based on photos on social media, however, Bella was just shy of three years old when she died. She was believed to have had brown eyes, brown hair, weighed about 30 pounds and stood at about three-and-a-half-feet tall. Her body was found in June by a woman walking a dog. Bella's case has since sparked a massive social media campaign to try and find out what happened to her. A computer-generated image of her brought about an estimated 60million views in two weeks and a search spanned across at least 36 states. A tip line also brought in hundreds of leads, with investigators ruling out more than 200 [missing] girls. Police had originally believed she had washed ashore when her body was discovered. However, in July they announced they believed she was already dead when she was left on the rocks, wrapped in a zebra print blanket, as her body was not waterlogged enough to have been in the ocean for an extended period of time. Authorities had also said that they believed it was likely she lived in the area and that whoever disposed of her body picked the site because of convenience and proximity. An analysis of pollen samples of items recovered from the trash bag have also led authorities to believe that Baby Doe spent time in several of the New England states, and not solely the Greater Boston area as it was originally believed. The girl's biological father, Joseph Amoroso, says Bella was conceived in a tent at Occupy Boston. Amoroso left Bond, his ex-girlfriend, after learning that she had been arrested for prostitution. He has been living in Florida for two years and returned to Massachusetts in August. The father, who never met his daughter, is now criticizing neighbors and anyone that knew his daughter for failing to step in a protect her. A man who had previously lived with the couple - and who helped lead police to McCarthy and Bond - said they were very harsh with the child Deakin told the judge. He said that on multiple occasions he saw McCarthy lock Bella in a closet for more than 30 minutes while she screamed to be let out. The friend also claimed that both Bond and McCarthy had claimed the girl was a 'demon,' and that McCarthy 'had become very interested in the occult and purported to see demons, purported to see ghosts, and purported to be able to exorcise demons, and exorcise ghosts.' A search of the home turned up books on demonology and the occult according to Deakin. That friend also told authorities that Bond told him what happened in a conversation last week after saying she had stopped doing drugs, and after claiming for months that Bella had been taken away by the Department of Children and Families. When the friend told Bond that given the fact that she was off drugs she may be able to get Bella back, she allegedly responded by telling him; 'Michael McCarthy killed her, and I’m accessory after the fact because I helped him get rid of the body.' .

The only reason that Volvo's August sales figures aren't embarrassing is because Renault saved the day, with a 60% increase in sales over last year. Volvo brand overall global sales were down 6%, and UD brand (aka. NIssan Diesel) sales were down 15%. Volvo brand North America sales were up 22%, but Mack brand sales only rose 2%.

Trailer/Body Builders / September 17, 2015 Peterbilt is offering day-long classes to help upfitters integrate Peterbilt electrical systems with the power requirements of truck bodies and equipment. Announced at the NTEA Truck Product Conference September 16, two one-day classes will be held at Peterbilt headquarters in Denton, Texas. The first will be October 6, followed by another on October 7. Peterbilt personnel will cover a variety of topics, including electrical architecture, software updates, chassis information, and the support Peterbilt offers upfitters. Classes begin at 8 a.m. and conclude by 5 p.m. Peterbilt will offer the class, materials, and lunch at no charge. Hotel and travel expenses will be the responsibility of the individual attending. To register for the class, visit www.cvent.com/d/xrqb8n/4w.

The Wall Street Journal / September 17, 2015 Oshkosh Corp. said Thursday that Chief Executive Charles L. Szews will retire at the end of the year, and the specialty-truck maker tapped operations chief Wilson Jones to replace him. Mr. Szews, who has held the CEO role for five years, will retire on Dec. 31. Mr. Jones, a 10-year veteran of the company, will also take Mr. Szews place on the board. Oshkosh said the company has been preparing for the transition for several years. In 2012, Mr. Jones took over the president role from Mr. Szews, who was 58 years old as of Oshkosh’s December proxy statement. Wisconsin-based Oshkosh makes specialty vehicles for military, fire and emergency, and commercial uses. In August, the company won a $6.75 billion contract to build almost 17,000 new light trucks to replace aging Humvees for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, cementing the future of its defense business. Oshkosh’s defense unit has struggled in recent years in the face of shrinking Pentagon spending on military trucks. Shares of Oshkosh, inactive premarket, are up 3.6% in the past month. Oshkosh Press Release - http://investor.oshkoshcorporation.com/news/news-releases/news-releases/2015/Oshkosh-Corporation-Announces-Retirement-of-CEO-Charles-Szews-President-Wilson-Jones-Named-as-Successor/default.aspx

Why hasn’t this murderer been executed ??? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mother Who Killed Son By Injecting Hand Sanitizer Into His Feeding Tube Gets 40 Years Associated Press / September 17, 2015 A Louisiana mother who confessed to putting hand sanitizer and perfume in her toddler's feeding tube - ultimately killing him - has been sentenced to 40 years behind bars. Erika Wigstrom, 22, was handed the maximum sentence after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2014 death of 17-month-old Lucas Ruiz, Plaquemines Parish District Attorney Charles Ballay said on Tuesday. She does not have the possibility of probation. Her toddler son had Down's syndrome and a heart condition, which left him needing surgery and a feeding tube. Prosecutors say Wigstrom first tried to kill Lucas in October 2012 by injecting perfume into his feeding tube while he was in the hospital for heart surgery, but he survived. In January 2014, she put hand sanitizer in his feeding tube and he died of alcohol poisoning. He had a blood-alcohol level of .280 - which is more than three times the state's legal driving limit - when he passed away, according to reports. Lucas' dad, Cesar Ruiz, told authorities that he also fed the baby rum - but police found he was giving false information, and he was given the reduced charge of criminal mischief. Ruiz was found guilty of that charge in August. Ruiz, who spent more than a year in jail before his family posted his bond, was ordered to pay $850 in fines and fees following his release. .

Fed gets harder to read Reuters / September 17, 2015 The Federal Reserve held interest rates near zero on Thursday, raising questions over how it will ever manage to lift them off the floor and how effectively it will communicate plans to do so. Only just over half economists polled have predicted such an outcome, a rare occurrence, and a sign of just how hard it has become to read the Fed these days. Prior to the rate decision, Fed Chair Janet Yellen had not spoken in almost two months. Two of her closest allies had spoken late last month but delivered seemingly contradictory messages just days apart. After the decision, Yellen said while it was an "unfortunate state of affairs" that every comment by a Fed official is parsed for hints about the Fed's next move, "uncertainty in financial markets" is natural when a policy shift is near, as it is today. Policymakers do not, she said, try to make up their minds on a daily basis based on the economic release of the moment, but use their regular meetings to take stock of the accumulated information and make a decision from there. "We do our darndest to pull together the best analysis we can," Yellen told a news conference. The issue appears to be how Yellen manages the rate setting body. Like her predecessor Ben Bernanke she listens to others before speaking at the open markets committee and she appears to value forming consensus, shown by the fact that there was just one dissent in Thursday's vote. The language used by the Fed is aimed at giving it a high degree of flexibility when it comes to rate decisions. That may now be a weakness when it comes to communicating where the Fed is in situations in which it might need to pivot in response to developments such as the recent market turmoil in China and beyond, possibly leading to continued volatility in financial markets. For months the Fed has said it will only raise rates once it is "reasonably confident" that inflation will rise back to its 2-percent target. At the same time, it has said it "expects" it will rise toward that rate, despite continued misses, and without spelling out what more information would be needed. "I think the Fed has muffed the communication going into this meeting," said Lou Brien, analyst for Chicago trading firm DRW Holdings. "They could have offered more clarity." Markets were pricing in a one-in-four chance of a 25 basis point rate rise ahead of Thursday's meeting, according to the CME Fedwatch tool. TOWER OF BABEL The mixed messages in recent months mark a departure from Yellen's pledge in an April 2013 speech to end the days of "never explain, never excuse", when she said the Fed would "reap the benefits of clearly explaining its actions to the public". Yellen earlier this year became a convert to so-called data-dependent policy-making. The idea was that the Fed would say what the economic data should look like before it tightens policy allowing the public to try to figure out if incoming data met that bar. In August, the New York Fed president William Dudley suggested that turmoil in global financial markets meant the chances of a September rate hike were receding. Just days later Fed Vice President Stanley Fischer left the door to a rate rise open. That made the Fed look like a "Tower of Babel," said Wells Fargo economist John Silvia. Still, not all investors were thrown by the Fed's lack of clarity. In their view, Fed policy-setters simply cannot make the kind of guarantees on rates that they used during the depths of the recession. And with data - and global financial turmoil - pushing the Fed is different directions, Yellen may have made the right choice in staying silent, rather than risk appearing to be overly swayed by one economic data or another.

That Yellen feels the need to keep the federal funds rate rates just a hair above zero reflects just how bad the economy continues to be. Pegging the federal funds rate at rock bottom, realistically, reflects an utterly desolate economic picture. Truth be told, the US economy has never been more fragile. And, as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard has stated, keeping interest rates low for an extended period of time could lead to a Japanese-style deflationary economy........which we do NOT want. This could occur in the event of a shock that pushes inflation down to extremely low levels, perhaps below zero. With the Fed unable to lower rates below zero, actual and expected deflation could persist, which, all else equal, would increase the real cost of servicing debt (ie. incomes fall relative to debt). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Financial Times / September 17, 2015 The Federal Reserve held interest rates at historic lows as concerns about an increasingly brittle global economy overshadowed evidence of a resilient US recovery. The US central bank maintained its 0 to 0.25 per cent target range for the federal funds rate, ending weeks of feverish speculation over whether it would raise rates for the first time since before the financial crisis. Janet Yellen, the Fed chair, warned that developments in the global economy and markets, which have been rattled by China’s slowdown, may “restrain US economic activity somewhat” as well as pushing down inflation — adding that the Fed was watching for risks of an unexpectedly “abrupt” slowdown in the People’s Republic. Interest rate forecasts from policymakers suggested that most still expect that the first increase in short-term rates since 2006 will happen this year, but three officials now expect the Fed to hold fire until 2016, and one predicts no move before 2017. The decision to hold rates at zero to a quarter of a point suggests Fed policymakers remain fearful of crushing a recovery that they have gone to huge lengths to nurture, as they assess fierce headwinds from overseas. These include a 15 per cent rise in the trade weighted dollar in the past year, volatile financial markets, weakening emerging market growth, and signs of the sharp slowdown in China’s economy. This week’s vote by the Federal Open Market Committee perpetuates an extended period of uncertainty in markets surrounding the timing of the Fed’s first rise, as policymakers take more time to digest the economic impact of August’s violent moves in markets. Ms Yellen went out of her way to keep the prospect of a 2015 increase on the table, telling a press conference that a rise had been discussed at Thursday’s meeting. But unexpectedly dovish signals from the statement spurred some investors to bet that the central bank could stay on hold for another four months. Interest rate futures indicated an almost even chance that policymakers move for the first time at their January meeting, according to Bloomberg data. The dollar dropped and Treasury yields fell after the announcement. “The wait for Godot goes on,” said Luke Bartholomew, a fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management. “Janet Yellen’s caution won out over some of her more trigger-happy colleagues. There’s good reason for that caution. Inflation is almost non-existent and wage growth is lacklustre.” The decision to hold comes despite calls from central banks in some emerging markets for the Fed to bring an end to the endless speculation about its first increase in almost a decade. On the other side of the argument, both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been calling for the Fed to hold fire, in part because of fears over the impact a rise could have on fragile emerging markets. The Fed only has two more meetings left this year — in October and December — if it is to meet Ms Yellen’s previous guidance that an increase is likely in 2015, and Ms Yellen underscored the importance of continued improvements in labour market data in driving deliberations. One voting member — Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker — voted for a quarter-point rise at Thursday’s meeting. The Treasury market had rallied strongly ahead of the Fed’s announcement, anticipating the decision to refrain from tightening monetary policy. The two-year Treasury yield fell from 0.81 per cent earlier on Thursday to 0.68 per cent, and the 10-year government bond yield dipped by 10 basis points to 2.19 per cent. The main dollar currency index plunged by 0.9 per cent, the most in almost a month, while the S&P 500 index of US equities gave up initial gains to close down 0.3 per cent. Ms Yellen stressed slowing growth in emerging markets as an important factor in Thursday’s discussions, adding that market volatility had been heightened in part by worries about the adeptness of the Chinese authorities’ response. While, as in previous meetings, the Fed said risks to the outlook were “nearly balanced”, it added on Thursday that it was “monitoring developments abroad”. Projections released with the statement showed that some 13 of Fed policymakers expect a rate rise in 2015, down from 15 previously. Three others are looking for firming to occur in 2016, and one further out in 2017. Officials’ median estimate for the federal funds rate was lowered this year to 0.375 per cent, indicating policymakers still expect one rise this year. The estimate for 2016 was 1.375 per cent, down from 1.625 per cent previously, while the 2017 estimate was 2.625 per cent, down from 2.875 per cent. The longer-run estimate for the funds rate was lowered a quarter point to 3.5 per cent, as many analysts expected, reflecting the continued headwinds facing the US economy. One policymaker advocated negative interest rates, projecting a range from zero to -0.25 per cent. Reflecting America’s resilient domestic economy, projected unemployment numbers were stronger across the forecast, with the median forecast rate tipped to fall below 5 per cent to 4.8 per cent in 2016 and 2017. Policymakers’ median estimate for the longer-run jobless rate was 4.9 per cent, down from 5 per cent previously. Fed policymakers lifted their economic forecast for 2015 on the back of this year’s steady activity numbers, pencilling in a median 2.1 per cent growth, up from 1.9 per cent previously. However growth estimates were pared back in 2016 to 2.3 per cent from 2.5 per cent — probably in part due to a stronger dollar. Inflation stripping out energy and food was also trimmed slightly to 1.7 per cent in 2016 and 1.9 per cent in 2017.