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14 Aug 2010 12:13

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Biz: The Detroit auto industry not looking so dire nowadays

  • Fundamentally this thing has been reshaped, resized and rethought. … We’re not trying to kill each other for this month’s market share. Those days are over. We’re not offering $7,000 checks to try to sell a car.
  • Chrysler (and Fiat!) CEO Sergio Marchionne • Discussing the major changes the Detroit auto companies have made in their business models in the wake of the whole bailout situation from a year or two ago. GM was on dire straits. Ford was skating by. It didn’t even look like Chrysler was going to make it. This has largely changed. Profits are back for the companies. They have slimmer product lines and payrolls. And their CEOs – especially GM’s new one – are outsiders to Detroit. Don’t call it a … OK, call it a comeback. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 May 2010 20:47

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Biz: Ford kills Mercury, has eyes on Zeus himself next

  • 528k number of Mercury models the automaker sold in 1985
  • 92k number of Mercury models they sold just last year
  • 0k number of Mercury models they plan to sell after 2010 source
  • Why kill them? Simply put, Ford is trying to ditch most of their sub-brands to focus on the flagship. Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo have all met similar fates. Mercury has more history than any of those brands, though – at 71, it’s eligible for social security.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 May 2010 22:13

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U.S.: The sad tale of Aiyana Jones: From tragedy to lawsuits in three days

  • sunday The Detroit police breaks into a home searching for a murder suspect and accidentally kills the 7-year-old girl.
  • monday People hear about what happened, and get angry and upset about the tragic circumstances. It’s a very sad story.
  • tuesdayTwo lawsuits are filed on behalf of the family, who is now represented by Jack Kevorkian attorney Geoffrey Fieger. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2010 10:11

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U.S.: Holy Crap: Detroit’s ready to bulldoze its vacant neighborhoods

  • Mayor Dave Bing ready to destroy parts of a city he’s an icon of. This map above shows all of the vacant neighborhoods in the city, which has declined in population by half (from 1.8 million to 900,000) since the ’60s. The green areas? They’re at least half vacant (and blighted). You can see the problem already – all the vacated areas are deep within the city, while the populated areas are in the outskirts. That complicates urban planning. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2009 10:35

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World: Amsterdam’s airport says Nigerian terror suspect passed security

  • Was he checked? Yes, Dutch authorities say Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab went through security checkpoints. In fact, they note that Nigerian travelers go through strong security when flying because of fears of fraud.
  • What was the weak point? From the sound of things, airport security could not detect the materials on him because they weren’t made of metal. Which means that we’re going to start seeing full body scans soon. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2009 23:27

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Politics: Max Headroom: Two Peters make a homeland security sandwich


  • Finger-Pointing Rep. Peter Hoekstra seems ready to stick a fork in Obama’s handling of terrorism on Fox News, blaming his staff for downplaying the threat. We think it’s a bit overblown.

  • “The System Worked” Of course, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano disagrees with Rep. Hoekstra’s assessment, and she was on CNN trying to calm the American public’s frayed nerves.

  • “No it didn’t, Janet” Rep. Peter King, looking like he’s going to rip someone to shreds, totally disagrees with Janet Napolitano’s assessment, but says that they need to work towards a bipartisan solution.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2009 15:26

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World: Is the Detroit terror attempt part of a larger plot, guys?

  • ? Who knows? We’ll update this post as it happens source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Dec 2009 14:48

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U.S.: A second incident at Detroit’s Metro Airport; Twitter’s on it

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2009 10:06

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U.S.: Jasper Schuringa reportedly the hero in the Detroit terror attack

  • My hands are pretty burned. I am fine. I am shaken up. I am happy to be here.
  • Jasper Schuringa • On reportedly subduing terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after he tried to start a fire on board. He apparently was the hero – jumping over another passenger to reach him, grabbing the explosive device, and stripping off his clothes to ensure he didn’t have any others – but CNN has not been able to independently verify his role in the attack. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2009 09:52

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World: The Detroit terror incident stemmed from other security failures

  • Nigeria Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew out of Nigeria with explosives tied to his leg, a clear failure of Nigerian airport security policies.
  • Amsterdam Despite the fact he flew in from another continent, he wasn’t re-screened; if he were, his name would’ve lit up the screen. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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