Turkish authorities ordered a Syrian civilian airliner flying in Turkish airspace to land in Ankara this week. The Turks claimed they had recieved intelligence that the Damascus-bound airliner was carrying cargo that violated international sanctions against Bashr Al Assad regime. Not surprisingly, both Damascus and Moscow claim an entirely different series of events than what the Turks claim happened.
The civilian A320 plane, which was carrying 35 passengers, landed in Damascus early Thursday after Turkey allowed it to take off, but Turkish officials will continue to investigate the confiscated cargo, Mr. Erdogan added.
"These are equipment and ammunition sent to the Syrian Defense Ministry from the Russian [state-owned arms manufacturer]. At the moment, our authorities are continuing their investigation of these items and the further statements will be made as necessary," Mr. Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara.
Asked to clarify precisely what the plane's cargo included, the prime minister's spokesman said that "it would be more accurate to refer to call it military equipment and not ammunition."
According to Syrian authorities, Turkish air-traffic control contacted the pilot at 5:20 local time and altered the GPS coordinates of the preset flight course. Turkish jets then appeared without warning to force the plane to land in Ankara, where the airliner sat for two hours before being searched.
Turkish authorities contested those charges, stressing that the Syrian plane was warned before it entered Turkish airspace that it would be forced to land, but the pilot opted not to change course.
Once grounded, the passengers' needs were catered for and that their safety was compromised are "baseless," the Turkish authorities said.
Although Turkish authorities declined to specify what exactly was among the cargo, a number of private and state-run media outlets throughout Turkey reported that the contraband included military-grade communications devices bound for al-Assad's army upon arrival in Damascus. Other sources had claimed the cargo possibly included missile components, but Russian officials denied any weapons or weapons components were on board.
Russia has provided Syria with arms since the Cold War, and until the mass uprisings against Bashr Al Assad's regime began in 2011 Turkey has enjoyed fairly cordial relations with both Syria and Russia. Since the uprisings began, Turkey has taken in a number of refugees from Syria and in recent weeks has traded artillery fire with forces loyal to Syrian president Bashr Al Assad after the Turkish border town of Akçakale was hit by mortar fire earlier this month, killing five Turkish civilians.
Shortly after the Syrian aircraft was forced to land at Ankara, Russian president Vladmir Putin announced that he was postponing a scheduled visit to Turkey.
French police arrested 11 and fatally shot one during a nationwide counterterrorism dragnet this week.
Pre-dawn raids by police in the eastern Parisian suburb of Dorcy uncovered explosives and bomb-making materiel in a four story building not far from the grounds of the Euro Disney theme park. Heavily armed officers surrounded the building as the structure was searched for more explosives.
The man shot to death by police was identified as 33 year old Jeremy Sidney, a prisoner who served time for drug trafficking and had recently converted to Islam. Sidney had reportedly brandished a .357 Magnum revolver when police showed up at his apartment in Strousbourg and exchanged fire with officers- striking three, although the rounds were stopped by their body armour. Police returned fire, mortally wounding Sidney.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins described him as "a delinquent" and said his fingerprints had been found on the remains of a grenade thrown into the kosher grocery store in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles on 19 September. One person was slightly injured in the attack.
Mr Molins said police had uncovered a list of Jewish associations and that the inquiry would determine "the next targets of this cell".
Prosecutors say that almost all of the men arrested in this week's sweep were fairly recent converts to Islam with extensive criminal backgrounds.
French authorities have been vigilant since a March 2012 massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Although the press intially blamed white neo-nazis for the murder of a rabbi and three schoolchildren, it was eventually learned that a 23 year old Islamic radical named Mohammed Mera carried out the school shootings as well as two seperate attacks on French paratroopers in southern France. Mera himself was eventually killed by police after a lentghty standoff in his apartment within days of the attack.
MLB- After falling into an 0-2 hole at home, the San Francisco Giants capped off a 3-game rally on Thursday afternoon at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark.
The Giants broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 5th inning with a Brandon Crawford RBI-triple followed by Crawford coming home on a throwing error by Reds shortstop Zack Cozart to give them a 2-0 lead. Before the Reds could get out of the inning with no further damage, Giants catcher Buster Posey belted a grand slam to put the Giants up 6-0.
Although the Reds would chip away at the San Francisco lead thanks to 2 RBI's each from Brandon Phillips and Ryan Ludwick, Giants reliever Sergio Romo was able to close out the game despite giving up an RBI single to Ludwick.
Despite no starting pitcher for the Giants making it as far as the fifth inning through the first three games, the Giants won three in a row on the road to advance to the NLCS where they'll await the winner of the NLDS matchup between the Cardinals and Nationals.
NLDS- Speaking of the Cardinals and Nationals, one day after St Louis absolutely dominated the Nats in Game 3 by a final of 8-0, the Nationals forced a decicive Game 5 in dramatic fashion.
With the game tied at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 9th at Nationals Park, Nats outfielder Jayson Werth led off the inning and fought off a dozen pitches from Lance Lynn before this happened:
For those of you who can't view the embedded video above, you're missing out on Werth belting a solo homer to deep left for the 2-1 win in Game 4 [What is it about hair and the MLB postsseason? There was the '04 Red Sox 'idiots' and now Jayson Werth bearing more than a passing resemblance to the GEICO caveman- NANESB!].
The walk-off win, which ties the series at 2-2, is also notable in that it is the first postseason baseball win in the nation's capital in nearly 79 years. Game five gets underway on Friday night at 8:37 PM ET and will be televised on TBS.
ALDS- One night after the Oakland A's rallied in the bottom of the 9th against Detroit to force a Game 5, Tiger's starter Justin Verlander pitched a complete game 4-hit shutout of the A's to advance to the ALCS. Detroit Center fielder Austin Jackson put the Tigers on the scoreboard in the top of the 3rd with an RBI double before coming home himself on a wild pitch by A's starter Jarrod Parker.
Although that would be all the Tigers needed, they blew the game open in the top of the 7th starting off with another Jackson RBI base hit before getting 3 more runs on a bases-loaded walk, a hit and a throwing error.
Verlander didn't need alot in the way of run support, but he got it anyways in the Tiger's 6-0 win over Oakland. The Tigers will now await the winner of Game 5 between the Yankees and Orioles.
AL EAST- Over in the all-AL East playoff series, Yankees manager Joe Girardi's decision to bench 3B Alex Rodriguez for pinch hitter Raul Ibañez in the bottom of the 9th paid immediate dividends as the outfielder tied Game 3 up at 2-2 before going on to win it in the bottom of the 12th with another solo homer and give the Yankees the 2-1 series edge.
However, Baltimore came back on Thursday night and drew first blood, getting out to a 1-0 lead on a Nate McClouth solo homer in the 5th. The Yankees would eventually tie on a Robinson Cano RBI groundout and the game would head into extra innings where Baltimore's JJ Hardy belted an RBI double to deep center to give the O's the 2-1 lead. Jim Johnson got the Yankees out in order in the bottom of the 13th to preserve the Baltimore win, forcing a decisive Game 5 on Friday which is scheduled to start from Yankee Stadium at 5:07 ET and will be broadcast on TBS.
Girardi has again courted controversey by announcing that he is benching high salaried slugger Alex Rodriguez for Game 5.
CLEVELAND INDIANS- Former Red Sox manager and ESPN analyst Terry Francona was announced as the Tribe's new manager on Monday. Francona and the Indians had agreed to terms on a 4 year contract, although he hinted at staying longer during Monday's press conference where he was formally introduced as Cleveland's newest manager.
After contending for the first four months of the season, the Indians dropped out of contention late and manager Manny Acta was fired on September 27th. Francona was selected over Bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr- whose name has been brought up as a possibility in the Red Sox manager sweepstakes- took over as acting manager for the remainder of the season in Cleveland.
The Francona family has ties with the Indians that go back nearly 50 years. Francona's father, Tito Francona spent 6 seasons of his 15 year baseball career with the Indians, narrowly missing out on the AL Batting title during the 1959 season. After starting out with the Montreal Expos as an outfielder in 1981, son Terry played a single season for the Tribe in 1988. The younger Francona also spent time in the Cleveland front office before arriving in Boston.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
NFL- The New England Patriots got their first look at the post-Indianapolis Peyton Manning over the weekend and one would guess that for three quarters they liked what they saw.
New England headed into the locker rooms at halftime with a 17-7 lead and only added onto that with a productive 3rd quarter including Brady rushing to a TD on 3rd and goal followed immediately by Pats DE Rod Ninkovitch sacking Peyton Manning on the Broncos 14 yard line. The sack resulted in a fumble that was recovered by big Vince Wilfork. On the very next play, Stevan Ridley punched in in for the TD on an 8 yard run to put New England up 31-7.
However, with a little over a quarter to go, Manning appeared to rally his team, starting with a TD pass inside the Patriots Red Zone with just 1:08 to go in the 3rd.
After a sack of Brady mid-field with just over 8 minutes to go in the 4th, the Broncos recovered the ball mid-field and were able to hit paydirt six plays later to make it 10 point game. On the Patriots' next possession Stevan Ridley coughed up the ball on the Broncos 37 yard line. The Broncos were able to get the ball as far as the New England 11 yard line and threatened to make it a three point game with just under four minutes to go, but RB Willis McGahee fumbled and the ball was recovered by Pats linebacker Jermaine Cunningham with 3:42 remaining. The Patriots were then able to get a first down and wind down the clock from there, preserving the 31-21 lead and giving New England a 3-2 record.
This Sunday, the Patriots will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks- also sporting a 3-2 record. Kickoff is at 4:05 PM ET, 1:05 PM PT, and the game will be televised on CBS.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas knocked the Pittsburgh Steelers into 3rd place in the AFC North thanks to a last-second field goal in the Titans'26-23 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck went 25-44 with 290 yards along with a TD and an interception and was sacked three times while Steelers starting QB Roethlisberger also had 1 TD pass and an itnerception to his name while going 24-40 with 363 yards in the losing effort.
The Titans got the ball back from Pittburgh at mid-field with 48 seconds remaining and the game tied at 23-23 after a missed Shaun Suisham FG attempt from 54 yards. Hasselbeck then completed a pass to TE Jared Cook on 3rd and 5 before Cook tightroped along the sidelines for a total gain of 25 yards, the first down, getting Bironas in FG range and stopping the clock with 39 seconds to go.
Bironas was 4 for 4 on the night while Suisham went 3 for 4 in FG attempts, with the critical miss from mid-field coming late in the 4th and giving the Titans excellent field position.
DETROIT LIONS- Actor and Detroit Lions defensive legend Alex Karras has passed away in a southern California hospice at the age of 77. The son of Greek immigrants, Karras grew up in northwestern Indiana and went to college at Iowa. During the 1956 season, he was on the first Hawkeyes team to earn a berth in the Rose Bowl, going on to beat Oregon State by a 35-19. That same year he was named an All American and was a runner-up in the 1957 Heisman trophy race. Shortly before being drafted by the Detroit Lions, Karras had reportedly declined an offer to play with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
In his 16 year NFL career, Karras had 4 interceptions and recovered 16 fumbles and was selected to the Pro Bowl 4 times. Sometimes known as 'the angry duck', Karras was suspended for the 1963 season due to his ownership of a Detroit bar known for illegal gambling.
After his NFL career, Karras went on to a reasonably successful acting and broadcast career. In 1972, he hosted a CFL pregame show on the CBC affiliate in Windsor, Ontario- just across the river from Detroit, MI. In 1974, he had a cameo as the burly and dim-witted Mongo in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. Later on that year he also started a two year stint in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth.
Starting in the 1980's Karras also played sports reporter George Papadopolis on the ABC sitcom Webster. Along with the dimunitive Emmanuel Lewis, Karras also starred alongside real-life wife Susan Clark. In 1991, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Karras' later life was marked by heart disease, dementia and cancer. He passed away on Wednesday, October 12.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS- The New Orleans Saints have earned their first win since news of 'Bountygate' broke and made history in the process.
On their second possession of the night and trailing the visiting San Diego Chargers 7-0, Drew Brees completed a TD pass to WR Devery Henderson to break Johnny Unitas' record of consecutive games with at least 1 TD pass. The record has stood for 52 years until the Sunday night game.
The Saints would go on to win the Sunday night game by a final of 31-24, snapping a 4-game losing strak. Despite being suspended by the NFL over the Bountygate scandal, the league allowed Saints coach Sean Payton to attend the game in anticipation of Brees reaching the milestone.
NCAA FOOTBALL- After week after playing only half a good game against the Clemson Tigers in Chestnut Hill (losing by a 45-31 final), the BC Eagles headed to West Point to take on Army.
The Black Knights were coming off an embarassing 23-3 loss at home to Stony Brook of the FCS and still searching for their first win of the season.
With Boston College leading 31-27 and Army driving the ball late in the 4th quarter, the Black Knights decided to go for it on 4th and goal, but were stopped on the 1 yard line with just over 2 minutes remaining. Although the Eagles got the ball back, they were in the shadow of their own end zone and went 3 and out, burning just over 20 seconds off the game clock.
The ensuing punt gave Army the ball on Boston College's 38 yard line with 1:09 remaining in the game. After the Black Knights advanced the ball as far as the Eagle's 29, Boston College was hoping to come up with a stop on 3rd and 1. Instead, Black Knights QB Trent Steelman rushed 29 yards for paydirt to give Army the late 34-31 lead. Although BC would get the ball back with just under a minute to go, their last posession was more a comedy of errors than anything else and the game ended when Eagles WR Bobby Swigert coughed up the ball at the BC 33 with 11 seconds to go.
Army hangs on for the 34-31 win, their first of the season, while BC drops to 1-4. The Eagles will travel to Talahassee this weekend to take on #12 Florida State, who are coming off a stunning loss of their own, dropping a 17-16 decision to North Carolina State last weekend.
COAHUILA- Mexican Marines reportedly shot and killed the leader of the infamous paramilitary Zetas cartel during a firefight in the town of Progreso on Sunday. However, in a bizarre development the body of Zetas boss Heriberto Lazcano was stolen from a nearby mortuary at gunpoint in the early morning hours of Monday morning.
According to Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense, the Marines were responding to reports of armed men gathered outside of a baseball stadium in Progreso. When they arrived, gunmen moving in a small convoy threw grenades at them before the Marines returned fire, killing two of the gunmen.
Rear Admiral Jose Luis Vergara stated that the Marines had assumed that they had killed two low-level sicarios in the skirmish. Authorties took pictures of the two dead gunmen as well as fingerprints.
The theft of the two bodies quickly turned what should have been a moment of triumph for outgoing Mexican president Felipe Calderon into an embarassment that casts doubt on the official version of events in a nation that has grown increasingly skeptical of both the police and media.
While the cult-like and largely dismantled La Familia Michoacana was sometimes known to take their dead with them while retreating from a firefight, there were no reports of them actively breaking into funeral homes or mortuaries to retrieve their associate's bodies.
ARIZONA- A preliminary investigation into the shooting death of a US Border Patrol agent has found that friendly fire was likely responsible. Agent Nicholas Ivie was killed on October 2nd as he and another agent were responding to a sensor along the border in rural Cochise County, AZ that was tripped in the predawn hours.
“There are strong preliminary indications that the death of United States Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie and the injury to a second agent was the result of an accidental shooting incident involving only the agents,” FBI Special Agent in Charge James L. Turgal Jr. said in a statement.
Turgal didn’t elaborate on the agency’s conclusions but said the FBI is using “all necessary investigative, forensic and analytical resources” as it investigates the Tuesday shooting about five miles north of the border near Bisbee.
One of the other agents was shot in the ankle and buttocks, but was released from the hospital after surgery. The third agent was uninjured.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, which is assisting the FBI in the probe, said federal investigators used ballistic testing to determine the shootings likely were the result of so-called friendly fire among the agents.
While federal authorities declined to offer details of the shooting, George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the three agents split up as they investigated the sensor alarm, noting they all fired their weapons.
“Coming in from different angles, that is more than likely how it ended up happening,” McCubbin told The Arizona Republic of the shootings.
Agent Ivie is scheduled to be laid to rest in his Utah hometown on Thursday. Nicholas Ivie is survived by his wife, Christy and daughters, Raigan DeAnn and Presley Delna; his mother, Cheryl Ivie, father Douglas Ivie and step mother, Donetta Ivie; his siblings, Chris Ivie (Michelle), Andrea Davis (Todd), Rick Ivie (Corinne), and Joel Ivie (Anne).
Today's train of thought takes us to a fairly remote and isloated stretch of the Mountaineer State just as the leaves are beginning to turn color.
Founded at the turn of the last century, the tiny West Virginia village of Thurmond is nestled along the New River and the former Chesapeake & Ohio mainline from Virginia to the Midwest. The town in Fayette County reportedly wasn't accesable by road until the 1920s and to this day, a combined single lane road bridge and single track rail line that accomodated a C&O branchline to one of the coal mines to the west.
Like many other towns throughout Appalachia, Thurmond's fortunes rose and fell with the coal industry and two massive fires tore through downtown Thurmond in 1922 and 1930. Many merchants used the town's one and only road to set up shop elsewhere. By the mid 1950s, the Chesapeaske & Ohio had begun dieselization, phasing out the labor intensive steam locomotives that were serviced in Thrumond and facilities elsewhere along the C&O.
Perhaps the biggest developments in Thurmond since the C&O dieselized were the 1978 establishment of the New River National River by the National Parks Service and the 2005 sale of the CSX (former C&O) branchline between Thurmond and Mt. Hope, WV to shortline operator RJ Corman.
Although technically a 'ghost town', the 2010 census listed 5 full time residents and the isolated village is actually a flag stop on Amtrak's Chicago-Cincinnati-Washington D.C. Cardinal. The little C&O passenger depot is still used as visitor's center by the National Parks Service and occasionally for its intended purpose as the area is popular with campers, hikers, rail enthusiasts and boasts some of the best whitewhater rafting in the country.
Above, railpictures.net contributor JB Lockard caught CSX C44-9W #461 leading a coal drag past downtown Thurmond on October 9, 2011. In the background, one can see a new banner welcoming visitors to town and that the leaves are beginning to change in along the New River.
Immediate aftermath of Syrian mortars being fired on the Turkish border town of Akçakale. Five civilians were reportedly killed in the barrage and the Turkish military returned fire with heavy artillery
A mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in a residential district of the southeastern Turkish town of Akcakale, killing a woman and four children from the same family and wounding at least eight other people.
Footage taken shortly after the attack shows how a cloud of dust and smoke rose up over low-rise buildings as residents ran to help the wounded. Others, infuriated by the increasing spillover of violence from Syria's civil war, took to the streets shouting protests against the local authorities.
Turkey's military responded to the attack by directing artillery fire on the Syrian town of Tal Abyad which was reportedly controlled by forces loyal to Bashr Al Assad. State and privately run media sources in Turkey report that a lengthy convoy of armored personnel carriers and artillery was enroute to the Akçakale district of Şanlıurfa province.
The two sides have been trading fire since the October 3rd attack. Over the weekend, an AP reporter observed a mortar round fired from Syria land 200m inside Turkish territory, although there were no reports of additional injuries.
Earlier this year, Syria shot down a Turkish Air Force jet over the Mediterrenian Sea. Syrian officials defended their actions, claiming they had assumed it was an Israeli aircraft that had violated their airspace. A report from Dubai-based Al Arabia network alleges that the pilots had bailed out and were captured by Syrian forces, but were subsequently ordered executed on direct orders from Damascus.
The cross border conflict could have broader repurcussions as an attack on the sovereign territory of one NATO member means they can counterattack with the full military backing of NATO.
NL WILD CARD- MLB's new expanded playoff format couldn't get through the first game without generating some controversey on Friday when the two National League Wild Card teams faced each other for a single elimination game at Turner Field.
Although the Braves got out to a fairly quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a 2-run David Ross homer, the Cardinals came back in the top of the 4th to take the lead thanks to a throwing error from Braves 3B Chipper Jones followed by a a hit and some productive outs, giving the redbirds a 3-2 lead before the Braves were able to get out of the inning. This was followed by a Matt Holliday solo homer to make it 4-2 in the top of the 6th and another costly throwing error in the top of the 7th.
The Braves would get a run back on a Bourne RBI groundout in the bottom of the 7th and looked like they had a rally going in the bottom of the 8th until this happened.
Seemingly determined to take the heat off the NFL's replacement referees, Atlanta thought they had the bases loaded when what should've been a routine flyout to shallow left off the bat of Andrelton Simmons instead fell between Cards shortstop Pete Kozma and Matt Holliday. The disputed call led to irate Braves fans throwing garbage on the field and a 20 minute delay as the grounds crew attempted to clean up as the teams waited out the deluge in their respective dugouts.
As it turned out, that was the last, best chance for Atlanta. The Braves played the remainder of the game under protest and the Cardinals would go on to win by a final of 6-3. Before the final out was recorded, umpire Sam Holbrook's call had already drawn comparisons to the Seattle Seahawk's disputed 14-12 'Fail Mary' or 'Touchdeception' win over the Green Bay Packers when replacement NFL referees had alternately signaled touchdown and interception as time expired during the September 24th game.
However, as many Braves fans and players attested postgame, it wasn't the call that had cost them the game, but rather the errors that eventually led to St Louis Cardinals runs.
The win means that the defending World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals will face the reigning NL East pennant winners in Washington DC on Saturday. Interestingly, the Nationals-Cardinals game on Sunday night will mark the first time since 1933 there has been playoff baseball in the nation's capital.
Friday night also marked a couple of milestones- it was the final game in Braves third baseman Chipper Jones' 19 year career. Jones- who spent his entire career with Atlanta- had a career batting average of .303 with 2726 hits, 1623 RBI and 468 home runs.
This also was the first postseason win for freshman Cardinals manager Mike Matheny and the first Cardinals postseason win without Tony La Russa as manager since 1987.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB PLAYOFFS- The Baltimore Orioles were rewarded for their first playoff appearence since 1997 with a 5-1 win over the defending AL champion Texas Rangers on Friday night. O's starter Joe Saunders went 5 and two thirds innings and got the win against the Rangers' Yu Darvish. Although both starters would give up a run early, Adam Jones would come home on a JJ Hardy sac fly in the top of the 6th and Nate McClouth would get an RBI single in the top of the 7th to make it 3-1 Baltimore.
3B Manny Machado would get credited with an RBI single while McClouth would get another RBI in the form of a sac-fly in the 9th to make it 5-1. That would be the final score that sent the back to back AL champs packing on Friday night and set up a rematch with the team they faced in the next-to-last time they were in the postseason, the New York Yankees.
OTHER MLB NEWS- Detroit Tigers infielder Miguel Cabrera has become baseball's first Triple Crown winner in 45 years. For the 2012 season, Cabrera led the AL in with a .330 batting average, 44 homers and 139 RBI.
The last Triple Crown winner was in 1967 when Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski won the honors. Cabrera is also the first player from Latina America to win the Triple Crown.
Detroit clinched the AL Central title last week and will play the AL West Champion Oakland A's on Saturday in what will be a rematch of the 2006 ALCS.
BOSTON RED SOX- The Boston Red Sox regular season ended with a whimper following a three game sweep in the Bronx at the hands of the archrival Yankees, going 7-22 since Labor Day weekend and a disastrous West Coast road trip. All but five games took place against opponents in the AL East, with every game after September 7th taking place against the Devil Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays or Yankees. The month-long freefall marked an anti-climatic finish to the centennial season of Fenway Park.
A day after the close of the 2012 Red Sox season, the Red Sox made it official and fired manager Bobby Valentine. The 69-93 finish to the regular season under Valentine was Boston's worst in nearly 50 years and good for dead last in the AL East.
Valentine's dismissal has led to speculation that the Red Sox are actively pursuing former Red Sox pitching coach and current Toronto manager John Farrell.
AP Photo/Bill Wippert
NFL- Tom Brady and the New England Patriots rallied from a 14-7 defecit at haltime against Buffalo to win their first AFC East matchup of the 2012 season.
The Pats were fortunate to be down by just one TD before the half. Trailing 14-7 and With just over 2 minutes to go in the first half, Wes Welker fumbled after catching a 14 yard pass deep in New England's own end. However the Bills fumbled at the Patriots 4-yard line and Vince Wilfork was able to recover.
Even with the fortutious turn of events, Buffalo was able to take a 21-7 lead on a 68 yard completion and run from QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to WR Donald Jones on their 1st posession of the 3rd. However, New England would come back to tie it by outtung together back to back TD drives while limiting the Bills offense to a couple of short porsessions where they had to punt almost immediately. The Partiots took the lead early in the 4th with a 28 yard reception and TD run from Brady to TE Rob Gronkowski to make it 21-28 and the Patriots never looked back from there, going on to win by a final of 52-28. RB Stevan Ridley had a pair of rushing TDs while Brandon Bolden and Tom Bary each had a rushing TD between them. Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead and Brandon Lloyd each caught TD passes.
This Sunday, the 2-2 Patriots will return home to Foxbourough and take on a familiar face in a new uniform when they play the Denver Broncos and QB Peyton Manning. Kickoff is set for 4:25 ET and the game will be televised on CBS.
A US Border Patrol agent was killed and another wounded in what investigators are describing as an ambush in rugged terrain along the Mexican border west of Naco, AZ. The shooting reportedly took place in the early morning hours of Tuesday as the agents were responding on horseback to a tripped sensor along the border fence.
The agents reported over the radio that they had come under fire as they were following a trail into the area, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman with the Cochise County Sheriff's Office. Earlier reports said they were on horseback.
When deputies arrived, one of the agents had died and another suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries, she said. Cochise County Sheriff's Office sent every available deputy to the scene.
The wounded agent was flown to a hospital, according to Crystal Amarillas, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Sector Border Patrol.
On Tuesday, investigators patrolled a rugged area south of U.S. 80 on ATVs and trucks, and James Turgal Jr., FBI special agent in charge for Arizona, said at a Tuesday press conference that they would likely continue gathering evidence for two days.
The murdered Border Patrol agent has been identified as 30 year old Nicholas Ivie of Provo, UT. Ivie joined the Border Patrol in 2008 and family described him as a loving father and husband who grew up around horses and loved his job which involved patrolling remote and rugged terrain in south eastern Arizona on horseback. Ivie was also a Mormon and he learned Spanish during his two year mission to Mexico at the age of 19.
The second agent, whose name hasn't been released, was treated and released by Wednesday after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds including to the ankle and buttocks.
The area in which the shootings took place has been described by local, state and federal law enforcement officials as a high-intensity drug trafficking and smuggling area owing to the rugged terrain and the distance from the Border Patrol stations in Naco and Douglas, AZ- creating a gap in effective coverage.
Lt. Floyd Gregory, who oversee the Cochise County Sheriff's Department Narcotics Unit, has pointed out that smugglers have gotten increasingly brazen and resourceful in recent years.
In the past, the area was a major route for illegal immigrants who left behind piles of discarded clothing, water jugs and other debris. But most of the illegal-immigrant traffic has dried up. What remains is the drug smuggling.
They use the canyon to smuggle loads of marijuana from the border north to Arizona 80, where it is quickly loaded into vehicles and transported to stash houses in Douglas, Tucson or other communities, Gregory said.
Sometimes, the smugglers use pickup trucks or SUVs loaded with cellophane-wrapped bricks of marijuana to get to the highway. But more commonly, the marijuana bricks are stuffed inside homemade burlap backpacks and trekked north through the desert. The backpacks weigh anywhere from 40 to 80 pounds, he said. Sometimes one smuggler is designated to carry only food and water for the rest of the group, he said.
In the past, Gregory said these human smuggling "mules" traveled in groups with as many as 15 people. But more recently, law-enforcement officials are encountering smaller groups of two to four mules. That way, the groups are harder to detect and smuggling organizations can reduce their losses if the mules are caught
"We've had intel that the higher-ups have told their people to do whatever it takes: 'We are not going to lose a load at any cost,' " Gregory said.
In December 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed when his BORTAC [Border Patrol Tactical- the Border Patrol equivalent to a SWAT Team- NANESB!] unit was engaged in a firefight with what law enforcement describes as a "rip crew"- armed bandits who ambush and rob smugglers of their contraband. At least two guns from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' ill-advised 'Fast And Furious' gunwalking program were recovered from the scene, where field agents were ordered to allow guns purchased on the US side of the border to cross unimpeded into Mexico, where they would surface at any number of crime scenes in Mexico. Operation Fast and Furious was carried out without any notification of Mexican authorities about the trafficked weapons. The death toll on the Mexican side of the border from Fast And Furious guns is thought to be in the hundreds and a recent Univision report has uncovered additional Fast and Furious weapons that were recovered by Mexican troops from the scene of a 2010 massacre of 16 teenagers at a birthday party in a residential area of Ciudad Juarez. This eventually led to a Congressional inquiry and impeachment of Attorney General Eric Holder.
Last month, Mexico Federal police announced the arrest of one of the suspects in the shooting of Brian Terry- although any eventual extradition to face charges in the USA may be a thorny issue as Mexico will not extradite prisoners facing the death penalty in the United States. Ironically, the Border Patrol station in nearby Bisbee, AZ was renamed in honor of Agent Terry a few weeks before the murder of Agent Ivie.
On Thursday, reports were circulating that Mexican police had detained two suspects in the shooting of Agent Ivie.
Federal police have arrested two men who may be connected with the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent just north of the Mexico-Arizona border, a Mexican law enforcement official said Thursday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said it was unclear if there was strong evidence linking the men to the shooting of Agent Nicholas Ivie.
Brenda Nath, an FBI spokeswoman in Arizona, and Border Patrol officials in Arizona declined to comment on the detention of the two men in Mexico. The Cochise County sheriff's office, which is also investigating the shooting, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lydia Antonio, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, confirmed the two detentions, but declined to say what prompted them and what made authorities suspect the two might be involved in the shooting.
Authorities have declined to provide key details about Tuesday's shooting, including what they believe prompted the shooting, whether the agents were ambushed and whether any guns from the shooting were recovered. Still, they suspect that more than one person fired on the agents.
The head of the Border Patrol agents union has said he believes those who carried out the shooting probably had time to escape in the early morning darkness before authorities could seal off the area and that he doubted that whoever shot the agents would still be hiding in the area.
While its still early in the investigation, there exists the distinct possibility that Agent Ivie was also slain with a gun from Operation Fast & Furious.
Today's train of thought takes us to the Northstar state and gives us a slight peek at the rail industry's dalliance with 'green energy'.
Railroads of all shapes and sizes throughout the USA and Canada have been scrambling in recent years to take advantage of fossil fuel exploration and drilling in places like Texas, Alberta, the Appalachians or the upper Midwest. In addition to the crude oil or LNG that gets shipped by rail, these drill sites also require a massive amount of sand and pipe be brought in- a demand that often can only be met by dedicated 60-car unit trains.
Since diesel still rules the rails here in North America, running trains on wind or solar power is something of a pipe dream. While some manufacturers have been experimenting with biodiesel or ethanol, it will be awhile before we see that kind of technology in regular usage- if at all.
Yet with the proliferation of windmill farms throughout the country in recent years, the bulky, unwieldy components that make up the massive turbines don't lend themselves particularly well to being shipped via highways- and a little like oil, coal or natural gas, this is where rail freight once again proves its worth as its often the only feasible way of shipping these parts long-distance [FYI- a large part of the reason the parts typically need to move long distance is because they often arrive in the USA via ship from Asia or Europe- NANESB!].
Even the smaller parts for many windmills require at least one 85 ft flatcar to be transported- the blades and tower assemblies often require multiple specially-fitted flatcars in order to be moved by rail.
Here, rrpicturearchives.net contributor Christopher Muller caught Soo Line SD60 #6001 heading north (railroad west), cresting a gently undulating grade at Mahnomen, MN on June 25, 2005. This portion of the former Soo Line heads north from the Twin Cities to the Canadian border and onto Winnipeg from there.
Mr Muller also snapped this photo of the red and white SD60 and a trailing Canadian Pacific SD40-2 making their way past the grain elevators in the center of Mahnomen with their cargo. He also managed to compile a helpful photo album on rrpicturearchives.net, highlighting the different windmill components as the rolled by that's worth checking out.
Apparently this train is simply passing through, with its final destination being somewhere in Canada.
A new drama starring Matt Damon as a smooth-talking natural gas company official who attempts to purchase drilling rights from local residents in a rural Pennsylvania town is already generating buzz, but it has nothing to do with what takes place on-screen.
The movie Promised Land supposedly dramatizes the dangers involved in the drilling process known as hydrofracking- a local environmentalist seeks to thwart Damon and his company's attempts to drill in the area. To hardly any one's surprise, the local schoolteacher and environmentalist who raises the alarm regarding hydrofracking is portrayed in a positive manner while I suspect Damon's gas company official will be portrayed as manipulative and unethical- at least until his change of heart where he falls in love with a local woman.
Pretty standard Hollywood 'We-Liberals-and-Environmentalists-know-whats-best-for-you-rubes-in-flyover-country' boilerplate so far, right? With its December release, there's even Oscar talk for Promised Land all while bringing the ongoing debate over fracking front and center.
The film was produced “in association with” Image Media Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media, as first reported by the Heritage Foundation. Abu Dhabi Media is wholly owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, a small but extremely wealthy federation of absolute monarchies along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.
Very obviously, the UAE has an interest in slowing down the expansion of hydraulic fracking that has created an energy boom in the United States.
This would not be the first American film that would've received financial backing from Image Media Abu Dubai- other titles include The Help, Contagion and The Crazies among others.
Locations for filming Promised Land include the city of Pittsburgh as well as Westmoreland and Armstrong counties in Western Pennsylvania. A group of Armstrong county residents, upset at what they claim were the filmmakers using false pretenses to film in the area, started up a Facebook page called Armstrong County Promised Land Pride. Visitors to the page are greeted with the following succinct message: "They filmed this movie in our backyard. They said it would be fair to drilling. It's not. We're pissed."
Fracking opponents claim that the process injects massive quantities of hazardous chemicals into the groundwater and that hydrofracking can cause tap water to burst into flame and caused last year's magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Mineral, VA that was felt up and down the East Coast- even though the nearest natural gas well was hundreds of miles away.
The movie is loosely based on events in Dimock, PA where a handful of local residents had claimed drilling from nearby wells had contaminated their groundwater. However, after analysis by Pennsylvania's environmental agency and the EPA, the water was deemed safe to drink by the EPA this summer.
The real-life events in Dimock have reportedly prompted a hasty re-write of the Promised Land script. Of course this is where Hollywood decided to double down on the stupid in typical Hollywood fashion.
according to sources close to the movie, they’ve come up with a solution — suggest that anti-fracking fraudsters are really secret agents employed by the fossil-fuel industry to discredit the environmental movement.
In the revised script, Damon exposes Krasinski as a fraud — only to realize that Krasinski’s character is working deep undercover for the oil industry to smear fracking opponents.
Hollywood is worried about declining theater audiences; it’s blaming the Internet and the recession. But the real problem might be closer to home.
Damon and Krasinski said they were making a movie that “defines us as a country” but then shoehorned ideology into a script — and when real-world events became a problem, they shoehorned in more ideology.
You see, instead of the noble well-intentioned environmentalist perhaps having some kind of a 'Mea Culpa' moment and the dire environmental consequences Kasinski's charachter warned about not taking place, in west coast liberal screenwriter-land, the anti-fracking advocates being wrong are purely the fault of the oil company who are disseminating misinformation to discredit opponents.
Instead of some ancillary plot where the cash-strapped townsfolk can now afford to save up for their kids' college education or put an elderly relative in a decent rest home- all while drinking and bathing with tapwater that doesn't burst into flames- the alarmist and false narrative spun by the environmentalists and celebrity anti-frackers has to be placed at the feet of the energy companies. I believe that is called 'chutzpah' in some parts of the world.
