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Terror Attack in Pennsylvania's State Capital?
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Planned obsolescence - Apple Sued After Admitting to Slowing Down Older iPhones
[Breitbart] Apple is being sued after the company admitted to slowing down older iPhone models in a statement this week.
According to CNBC, "Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas brought a class action lawsuit in California ‐ where they are residents ‐ against Apple, an official filing revealed Thursday."

"They claim that Apple never requested consent from them to ’slow down their iPhones.’ Both plaintiffs are owners of an iPhone 7," CNBC explained. "Bogdanovich and Speas claim they ’suffered interferences to their iPhone usage due to the intentional slowdowns.'"

The two Apple customers are also claiming "economic damages and other harm for which they are entitled to compensation" and "are trying to get the case certified to cover all people in the United States who owned an Apple phone older than the iPhone 8."

Apple confirmed they were slowing down older iPhone models on Wednesday, claiming it was in an effort to prevent random shutdowns which were taking place due to old lithium-ion batteries.

Several users on Twitter had claimed their devices were being "throttled" before Apple admitted to the practice, and many alleged the company was slowing down iPhones in an effort to force customers to upgrade.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2017 01:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And didn't that Apple dude (Schmidt?) resign recently? I doubt this is what pushed him over the edge, but I can believe this story.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/23/2017 4:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps Apple could redeem itself by offering free "dieselgate" Volkswagons to the owners of slowed iPhones.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2017 7:28 Comments || Top||

#3  DooDah - Eric Schmidt resigned from ABC, the parent company of Google. Admittedly, it's difficult to tell the fascist monopolies apart these days. Rumor is that he is the next sexual harassment target.
Posted by: Warthog || 12/23/2017 8:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Wife had to upgrade hers because apps she was using were upgraded to where they were no longer compatible with the final OS upgrade available to her phone. Now we use the old one for WiFi access in places like airports.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/23/2017 10:01 Comments || Top||

#5  I noticed battery problems with my otherwise perfectly functional iPhone 5c recently. It would go from 75% battery to shut down, then when attached to a backup battery would within a minute or two be up to 70%. I have held onto the 5c because a) it works fine and I still have plenty of storage space, and b) I have small hands, and the new, bigger phones simply don’t work for me.

I could replace the lithium battery, I suppose. At this point, the warrantee has expired anyway.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/23/2017 10:47 Comments || Top||

#6  At this point, the warrantee has expired anyway.
Posted by: trailing wife


Expired? It appears you got better? :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2017 11:09 Comments || Top||

#7  <3
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/23/2017 12:25 Comments || Top||

#8  I was sold on the Samsung Galaxy S7 when I saw that it was made in Korea instead of China. That was a year or so ago and I never looked back.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/23/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||

#9  They better put it back the way it was.
Posted by: newc || 12/23/2017 13:51 Comments || Top||

#10  OTOH, I have yuge hands and presbyopic eyes, so I really need a larger phone to accommodate my situation. Sometimes I think my smartphone is smarter than me. Using a Moto G5+ now, got it on sale at a big box store, use it on Tracfone network for the few cell calls I make. I really use it more like a laptop in my pocket than as a cell phone.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/23/2017 15:17 Comments || Top||

#11  I had the same problems related by trailing wife. Battery life was all over the place.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/23/2017 22:01 Comments || Top||


Baltimore Now Tied With Venezuela
[ZEROHEDGE] Once again this year, the Brennan Center for Justice has analyzed violent crime stats from the 30 largest cities in America to provide some insight on national trends. Not surprisingly, this year's report is full of more bad news for the residents of cities like Baltimore and Chicago that have experienced devastating spikes in homicides over the past two years.

Looking at homicides per capita in 2017, Baltimore is clearly the most dangerous large city in the U.S. with a murder rate that is more than 4x the average of other large cities and some 40% higher than the second most dangerous city of Detroit. To put things in perspective, the murder rate in Baltimore is now exactly tied with Venezuela at 57.2 murders per 100,000 residents.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But it's Bush, I mean Trump's fault. That's racist, and fascist, and, and, Fox News.
Posted by: anymouse || 12/23/2017 0:54 Comments || Top||

#2  We've got a horserace. Baltimore has worked hard to achieve this distinction; they may soon surpass Venezuela.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/23/2017 8:41 Comments || Top||

#3  We need Midnight Basketball, NAOW!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2017 10:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Are the Baltimore mayoral officials still in office? The prosecuting attorney? Others involved officials?

Just wondering if they have resigned or was voted out or what.

Only fair since they caused this FUBAR.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/23/2017 10:41 Comments || Top||

#5  "It's ALL the Police's Fault!!!!1!!!" --Evergreen rationale.
Posted by: magpie || 12/23/2017 12:03 Comments || Top||

#6  40% higher than the second most dangerous city of Detroit.

40% higher than Detroit?? That's bad.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/23/2017 12:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Bone chilling numbers.

City's run by liberals and their criminal offspring. Scary as a female yoga instructor's toy date with Hillary.

Posted by: Woodrow || 12/23/2017 12:49 Comments || Top||

#8  City run by socialists

FIFY - then the connection with Caracas becomes understandable.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/23/2017 12:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Just wondering if they have resigned

Don't have to if you abuse a city.
Only famous-ish individuals.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:48 Comments || Top||


LV shootings: FBI official says motive may take until next October to release
[FOX] Want to finally know why Stephen Paddock gunned down 58 people in Las Vegas in early October?

Be prepared to wait a while – possibly until next October – the chief of the FBI’s Las Vegas office revealed this week during an interview in which he said the agency probably wouldn't brief the public until their report is released sometime before the tragedy’s first anniversary.

“Now that’s a long time for some people, but speaking for the FBI, that’s light speed, all right?” Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday.

Rouse said reports from other agencies investigating the mass shooting will be released at different times, but the FBI’s one is “focusing a large part on the why” which is “what everybody wants to know.”
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somebody wants to hold off announcing another straw buyer gun program until the midterm elections.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 6:34 Comments || Top||

#2  My money is on he's a democrat operative paid to shoot trump vptors...

Anyone else have a theory?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/23/2017 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  It may take a year to establish motive? What a bunch of Clouseaus. Maybe this should be rolled into some of the Congressional investigations. After all, Trump did say in a recent speech; "We have a lot of sick institutions."

democrat operative paid to shoot trump voters. Follow the money to the paymasters.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/23/2017 8:49 Comments || Top||

#4  They're busy manufacturing evidence doing research and following leads. Then there's the matter of you can only destroy so much stuff at one time.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/23/2017 8:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Since Paddock's dead is the long delay because they are still pursuing associated criminal cases? Sounds like.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/23/2017 9:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joe Lombardo has said in the past that Paddock’s mounting gambling losses may have played a role.

Which would have made him an ideal target for nefarious recruitment.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2017 10:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Something tells me other threads lead to places they don’t want revealed, and the only thing that happens about a year from now that might matter is Nov 4th?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/23/2017 10:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Another cover up. The new Whitey Bulger
Posted by: Regular joe || 12/23/2017 10:46 Comments || Top||

#9  Typical AUSA tactic to "seal" any pending indictments to "protect" and investigation...also used by AUSAs and DA's to mute "problematic" known motives of killers. Likely the latter.
Posted by: Tennessee || 12/23/2017 12:12 Comments || Top||

#10  I resign as Devil's Advocate to those with conspiracy theories.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2017 14:17 Comments || Top||

#11  It will take that long to destroy & conceal evidence, warn off any &/or evacuate collaborators & beneficiaries & create a likely cover story. Might as well defer the report of the investigation for a century or two.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/23/2017 15:07 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
WWII Peleliu & North Korea Inchon Landing Veteran Dies at 92

[DallasNews] Melvin Earl Harris was decorated for his combat service in both World War II and the Korean War.

He was 19 when he was wounded by a grenade during the Battle of Peleliu, a Pacific conflict that many Marines consider their most bitter of World War II. During the Korean War, Harris served in two major battles and nearly lost his feet to frostbite.

Harris, 92, died Dec. 16 in his sleep at his Dallas home.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Grove Hill Funeral Home, 3920 Samuell Blvd. in Dallas. Visitation will begin there at noon.

Harris was born in Tyler, where he graduated from high school. He was working for the Cotton Belt Railroad when he was drafted to serve in the Marines during World War II. He became a field artillery gunner, manning a 155 mm Howitzer in the Pacific theater.

Marine commanders expected to seize the island of Peleliu in as little as four days, but the fight against fierce Japanese resistance continued for more than two months.

After recovering from the grenade wounds he suffered there, Harris returned to combat during the Battle of Okinawa.

He received a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars for his World War II service. He was discharged in 1946, but he remained in the Marine Corps Reserves, becoming a sergeant.

It was while working for Magnolia Petroleum in Dallas that Harris was again called to active duty, this time during the Korean War. He took part in the Inchon landing in September 1950 and the liberation of Seoul the next month.

By 1951, the months of the frigid Korean winter had taken their toll on Harris' feet. He was sent to Osaka, Japan, for treatment for severe frostbite.

"They were going to amputate his feet ... and he told them 'hell no,'" Jackson said.

The frost damage to his feet earned Harris a second Purple Heart. His grandfather never recovered from the injury, Jackson said.

"He could walk," he said. "He was just one of those people who wasn't going to be told no. He had pain the rest of his life. His feet were always cold, especially when he was older."

Harris was discharged from the Marines in 1952.

He was an accounting supervisor at Mobil when he retired in 1984. In retirement, he volunteered as a tax consultant for the AARP.

Harris loved to fish. He also enjoyed woodworking, painting and spending time with family at his ranch in Pecan Gap.

"He was one of a kind," Jackson said. "He was always there for everybody. He definitely set the example."

In addition to his grandson, survivors include a daughter, Mary Ann Hopp of Quinlan; a brother, Gene Harris of Tyler; another grandchild; six great-grandchildren; and eight great-great-grandchildren.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks for the post about a brave Marine, and for the photo of Nikki Haley.
Posted by: Matt || 12/23/2017 11:29 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Photos of the car to Mars.
See photos of the car in the rocket Musk is sending into a forever orbit between Mars and Earth.
Instagram link

follow arrows on sides of each photo to more views.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/23/2017 11:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Funny if it falls on mecca.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Are they getting the proper paperwork together for sending a contaminated piece of junk that might hit the Earth?
Best use of a Tesla, as dead weight.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/23/2017 19:06 Comments || Top||

#3  And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head

And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subarus
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2017 19:41 Comments || Top||


Escaped inmate with a skull tattooed on his face arrested
[LATIMES] Authorities say an inmate with a skull tattooed on his face who escaped last month from a work crew in central Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, is back in jug.

The Modesto Bee reports police tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
27-year-old Corey Hughes on Thursday at a home in Stockton.

Officers set up a perimeter and knocked on the door, but no one answered. Stockton police sent a police dog into the home, and Hughes was apprehended. He was taken to a hospital before being booked into San Joaquin County Jail.
Another victim of profiling. Doggie bites anyone?
Hughes was reported missing from a work crew near Interstate 5 in Stockton on Nov. 27.

He had been serving time on a weapons charge and was due to be released in February.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Real Men of Genius™
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2017 11:28 Comments || Top||

#2  He was taken to a hospital

"Well, he looked dead!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:46 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Gibson's Bakery responds to Oberlin College's court request
[CHRONICLET] Oberlin College has engaged in "victim-shaming" of Gibson’s Bakery, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The filing was made on behalf of Gibson’s in response to Oberlin College’s request to throw out part of a lawsuit filed by the bakery in November. Gibson’s sued the college and Meredith Raimondo, vice president and dean of students, for libel, slander, interference with business relationships, interference with contracts, deceptive trade practices, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and trespass.

Oberlin College has asked a county judge to dismiss two counts, the negligent hiring of Raimondo and trespass.

Gibson’s response said the college offered commentary on the remainder of the case, as well.

"In doing so, the Defendants double down on their victim-shaming," the filing said. "There is no dispute that three Oberlin College students pleaded guilty to attempted theft and aggravated trespassing at Gibson’s Bakery. Following the arrests of those students, an orchestrated defamation campaign was waged against Plaintiffs, which damaged Plaintiffs’ reputation and financially devastated their business."

The rift between the bakery and the college began last year when a student tried to buy alcohol with a fake ID from Allyn Gibson, who is the son of the bakery’s owner, David Gibson.

The police report said Allyn Gibson told Jonathan Aladin he was calling the police and not to leave. Gibson said he then took out his phone to take a photo of Aladin, and Aladin slapped the phone from his hand and the device hit Gibson in the face. Police have said Aladin then ran from the store, dropping the two bottles of wine to the floor.

Allyn Gibson chased after Aladin, and the two men got into a physical confrontation outside. When police arrived, they reported seeing Allyn Gibson on the ground with Aladin and the two other students charged, Endia Lawrence and Cecelia Whettstone, hitting him.

The incident became racially charged because Allyn Gibson is white and the students are black. All three students pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor charges and read statements into the record acknowledging that Allyn Gibson was within his right to detain the shoplifter and that his actions were not racially motivated.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The incident became racially charged because Allyn Gibson is white and the students are black

Apparently Social Justice requires he take his economic loss and beating without complaint, because White
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2017 11:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Meanwhile, Apu sneaks in and grabs some bear claws.

And just what kind of business are these under aged college kids involved in?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2017 20:13 Comments || Top||

#3  It's scary and black in that attic
Where snowflakes wax melodramatic,
As slave-kings and queens
Scream their wearisome scenes
And the static is axiomatic.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/23/2017 21:22 Comments || Top||


-War on Police-
Border patrol agents tricked into providing security for ‘cartel wedding'
[FoxNews] A U.S. citizen banned from Mexico, who wed his Mexican fiancée during a special event at the border last month, was reportedly revealed as a convicted drug smuggler, leaving border patrol agents furious over providing “armed security for a cartel wedding.”

Brian Houston was cleared to marry the love of his life, Evelia Reyes, during the “Door of Hope” event last month after passing a federal background check. He requested the ceremony because he claimed he could not cross into Tijuana.

But it has been revealed that the groom is barred from Mexico because he is a convicted drug smuggler, currently awaiting his sentencing in San Diego federal court after he was caught smuggling 43 pounds of heroin, 47 pounds of methamphetamine and 43 pounds of cocaine back in February, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Africa Subsaharan
South Sudan leaders sign ceasefire agreement
[Al Jazeera] Warring parties in South Sudan have signed a ceasefire deal that will allow humanitarian access to civilians caught in the fighting.

Thursday's agreement, which is expected to go into force on December 24, calls for an unconditional end to the violence and unhindered access for aid workers to all areas throughout the country.

Signed in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa, the ceasefire aims to revive a 2015 peace deal that collapsed last year after heavy fighting broke out in Juba, Rooters news agency reported.

Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Peru's president survives bribery impeachment
[Al Jazeera] Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has survived an impeachment vote in Congress over corruption allegations.

The motion required 87 votes to pass; however, at the end of a 10-hour debate, only 79 members voted in favour.

Eventually, 19 voted against, and there were 21 abstentions. A further 10 politicians failed to appear.

Kuczynski is accused of receiving illegal payments from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht while he was serving as Peru's finance minister.

Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korean soldier defects to South
[DAWN] A North Korean soldier escaped to the South on Thursday across the heavily-guarded Demilita­rised Zone that divides the peninsula, triggering gunfire on both sides of the tense border, in the second defection in successive months.

The "low-ranking" soldier was spotted by South Korean soldiers using surveillance equipment as he crossed the midwestern part of the land border in thick fog and made his way to a guard post, a front man for Seoul’s defence ministry said.

There were no shots at the time, he said, but about 90 minutes later South Korean troops fired around 20 rounds from a K-3 machine gun to warn off Northern guards who approached the border apparently looking for their comrade.

Two bursts of gunfire were later heard in the North, the front man said, but there were no indications of any bullets crossing the border.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Is it me, or are there more defections across the DMZ and at sea, lately?
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/23/2017 15:24 Comments || Top||


U.S. Military Training for Ground Invasion to Capture North Korean Nukes
[BREITBART] U.S. military forces reportedly began training for a mission involving a ground invasion of North Korea, with the objective of deactivating all their nuclear weapons.

According to military sources who spoke to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, hundreds of U.S. and South Korean soldiers conducted an exercise dubbed "Warrior Strike," preparing them to "infiltrate North Korea and remove weapons of mass destruction in case of conflict."

Photos published on the unit’s Facebook page show armed soldiers training with night vision equipment, gas masks, helicopters and expensive weaponry.

"On December 15, 2017, Bravo Company, 1-5 CAV converged on a subterranean tunnel for training," a description of the post reads. "Check out these photos and stay tuned for more coverage of BlackJack soldiers in action."

The exercises concur with a recent analysis by the Pentagon that determined a ground invasion of North Korea would be the "only way" to fully disarm the country of its nuclear arsenal.

"The only way to ’locate and destroy‐with complete certainty‐all components of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs’ is through a ground invasion," wrote Rear Admiral Michael Dumont on behalf of the Pentagon Chiefs of Staff.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Disinformation? Designed to spook them into reinforcing and thereby revealing the actual location of their nukes?
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/23/2017 4:26 Comments || Top||

#2  From the looks of it, this is either A) COMPLETELY fictional and the product of a reporter with a big deadline and little time, or B) a reasonably well-executed effort to mess with the Kims a little.

Mike



Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/23/2017 5:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Mike, hoping it's the latter but guessing it's the former.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/23/2017 8:17 Comments || Top||

#4  "The only way to ’locate and destroy‐with complete certainty‐all components of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs’ is through a ground invasion,"
Maybe not the ONLY way. See 'Aliens' (1986
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/23/2017 9:58 Comments || Top||

#5  No ground game wins in DPRK.

Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:52 Comments || Top||

#6  A world message of US tolerance at Christmas.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:52 Comments || Top||

#7  We're a coming after you're nukes! You'd better be moving tens of thousands of troops (don't forget the tanks, you'll need lots of tanks) into security positions around those sites if you know what's good for you, Ya HEAR ?

We're coming after them! You'll see.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2017 15:58 Comments || Top||

#8  If you conquer N. Korea, you'll have to feed them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2017 16:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Send refugees into China.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 12/23/2017 20:03 Comments || Top||

#10  What about the trans-racial appreciation classes?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2017 20:07 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Scott Morrison says Australia needs tax cuts to offset hit from US cuts
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, has claimed Australia’s economy will be deprived of 1% growth in GDP if parliament does not follow the lead of the US president, Donald Trump, and slash Australia’s headline corporate tax rate.

He has seized on Trump’s tax cuts, overhauling his justification for his proposed $65bn tax cuts to say they are now necessary not because they will add 1% Australia’s GDP growth, but because they will offset a damaging 1% hit to GDP that will supposedly flow from the huge tax cuts in the US without Australia responding.

He said Treasury analysis, which was handed to the government this week but not released publicly, has pointed out that Australia may experience a significant recessionary impact and a potential downgrade in revenues if it does not lower its corporate tax rate from 30% to 25% in coming years, in response to Trump’s cuts.

The Treasury analysis, which was given to Morrison’s office, was also given to the Australian, which wrote a story warning that Australia could be "marooned" with one of the highest company tax rates in the world.

Morrison is quoted in the story as saying: "The Trump tax cuts are coming. If we fail to respond, they will take Australian jobs, investment and wages with them.
Continues.

Fair dinkum, mates!
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/23/2017 13:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tax cuts for everyone!!!
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/23/2017 14:24 Comments || Top||

#2  "Only preferred trading partners, please!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:15 Comments || Top||


Economy
GE gets largest order for locomotives order in 3 years, work to be done in Fort Worth
[Dallas Business Journal] General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) will manufacture 200 locomotives for the Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI), with work beginning in Fort Worth next year.
Everyone loves Christmas train stories.
A Class I railroad hasn't placed an order this big in three years, the companies said.

It comes at a time when railroads have seen a downturn in business because of factors like decreased coal consumption, and manufacturers like GE are feeling the effects. GE sold 354 locomotives in the first three quarters of 2017, according to financial filings, a 39-percent decrease year-over-year.

"CN's steadfast commitment to serving the expanding needs of its customers across Canada and the United States is helping to turn around the North American locomotive market," said Rafael Santana, CEO of GE Transportation, in a prepared statement. "We are proud to partner with CN on this agreement to meet the needs of their future growth, and optimize and further digitize their freight rail operations."

GE's new CEO John Flannery announced plans to shed $20 billion worth of assets earlier this year as he tries to make the Boston conglomerate leaner and more focused on core competencies. Locomotive manufacturing is one of the assets the company plans on shedding, according to an investor presentation from November.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Big pro-union state. Wait...
Posted by: anymouse || 12/23/2017 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  GE, I thought long line lumber shipping was stalled at the western ports. Must be a Boeing compromise.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 6:30 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Iridium 4 over LA. video
Posted by: 3dc || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was outside last night just after sunset and had a clear, unobstructed view of this event. It was truly spectacular.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/23/2017 13:34 Comments || Top||

#2  The appearance of a second rocket breaking away from the primary was very curious and I have yet to hear an explanation of it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/23/2017 13:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Was that a booster rocket falling back to earth?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/23/2017 13:39 Comments || Top||

#4  It was intentionally left vague by SpaceX with no answers to questions. The booster did not have landing legs and no intention to land it. The booster did have it's big transonic steering paddles.
The booster was relit to everybody's surprise but no video or explaination. It did do all sorts of strange movements. It did crash into the sea.

Anything else is guesswork.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/23/2017 14:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Some experiment important to SpaceX that the rest of us have no clue about.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/23/2017 14:35 Comments || Top||

#6  There was a time when that technique released a secondary covert payload.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Some experiment important to SpaceX that the rest of us have no clue about. Posted by 3dc

SpaceX, the gov't contracting answer to a costly NASA. It would be very interesting to examine their financials.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2017 15:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Since they are not a publicly traded corporation Besoeker, good luck with that examination...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/23/2017 19:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran detains 230 boys and girls for drinking, dancing
[YAHOO] Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency is reporting that police have detained 230 boys and girls at separate parties in the capital Tehran in which alcohol was involved.

The Friday report says Tehran police nabbed
Please don't kill me!
140 of the young partygoers in a garden on the outskirts of Tehran and 90 in the city's uptown while dancing and drinking alcohol Thursday night.

Drinking alcohol and mixed parties of unrelated men and women are illegal and considered a sin under Islamic law in Iran.

The report said some participants posted an invitation to others to join on Instagram and police arrested them.

ISNA also said some alcoholic beverages and psychotropic drugs were confiscated.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Sure, it's all a party until the virginity checking starts.
Ah, wait...
Oh...
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/23/2017 15:44 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Ravens acknowledge that London protest has resulted in no-shows at home games
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2017 12:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya think? I realize no one studies history any more, but the all that business about "rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air" was about the British bombarding Fort McHenry in the Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812.

Are you surprised people are offended that the Baltimore football team would go to a foreign country, who we happened to be at war with way back when, and kneel for our national anthem but stand for the British one? Good luck fixing that!
Posted by: SteveS || 12/23/2017 12:23 Comments || Top||

#2  No shows? No kidding these Sherlocks.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/23/2017 12:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Fuck you and your players. You all can go broke and actually work for a fucking living.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/23/2017 14:25 Comments || Top||

#4  On one hand here are rude college educated grown-ups with no grasp of the history, even just recent, of Britain.

On another, kneeling for SJW creds but standing for the King of Colonialism.

Embarrassing, really.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2017 17:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Ima watching the Ravens right now - granted it's raining with a driving wind, but there are a lot of empty seats; very noticeable / empty chunks in the lower sections.
Posted by: Raj || 12/23/2017 18:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Who's their new PR man, Captain Obvious?
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/23/2017 19:02 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
8Islamic State
5Hamas
3Moslem Colonists
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2Palestinian Authority
2Taliban
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1Govt of Iran
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1Baloch Liberation Army
1Muslim Brotherhood
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1TTP
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1Govt of Syria
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2017-12-23
  Terror Attack in Pennsylvania's State Capital?
Fri 2017-12-22
  US drone strike kills Qaeda propaganda chief in Yemen
Thu 2017-12-21
  ISIS shadow judge among 5 killed in Afghan forces operations
Wed 2017-12-20
  US drone targets compound in Kurram
Tue 2017-12-19
  Ballistic missile intercepted over Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh just seconds before it slammed into royal palace
Mon 2017-12-18
  Senior Al-Shabaab Militants Killed In Somalia Drone Strike
Sun 2017-12-17
  Suicide bombers attack Pakistan church, killing at least 9, officials say
Sat 2017-12-16
  Judge Lori Walkley hands down death penalty to convicted Islamic murderer
Fri 2017-12-15
  Yemen Islah party sever ties with Muslim Brotherhood
Thu 2017-12-14
  Afghan forces foil deadly blast, US drone strike kill 3 IS militants in Nangarhar
Wed 2017-12-13
  Newspaper: Saudi members of Islamic State arrested in Iraq up to 50
Tue 2017-12-12
  Scores of Islamic State militants surrender to security forces in Mosul
Mon 2017-12-11
  Several injured after device explodes at New York City’s Port Authority, one arrest
Sun 2017-12-10
  Coptic pope cancels Pence meeting over Jerusalem
Sat 2017-12-09
  Ahrar al-Sham commander eliminated in Idlib


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