WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday and tell us some funny Christmas stories that you have experienced through the years.  Our readers would enjoy a lighter side on the Holiday.

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Many Hoosiers across Indiana will be celebrating Christmas with their own special and time-honored traditions, sharing with one another not only material gifts but also the rich blessings of family, faith and friendship.

During this season of giving, let us also remember the reasons we celebrate by finding ways to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Donating to a food bank or volunteering time to a charitable cause are just some of the ways we all might better fulfill the true meaning of the holidays.

Many of you already are pouring your hearts into these very acts of compassion. I have seen firsthand the amazing generosity of Hoosiers. During this special time of the year, let’s make a renewed effort to share the joy of this season with those most in need.

As you spend time with family and friends during the holidays, let us also pray for those serving in our Armed Forces and their families, for our police officers and firefighters, and all those faithfully standing post this holiday season to defend our liberties and keep us safe.

Karen and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

May God continue to bless you.

Settlement requires Volkswagen to offer to buy back older vehicles, and spend $225 million to mitigate NOx pollution. Volkswagen will also repair newer vehicles to comply with the standards to which they were certified

WASHINGTON – In a second partial settlement announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the State of California, automakers Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, Porsche AG and related entities (collectively referred to as Volkswagen), have agreed to recall 83,000 model year 2009 through 2016 3.0 liter diesel vehicles sold or leased in the U.S. that are alleged to be equipped with “defeat devices” to cheat emissions tests, in violation of the Clean Air Act and California law. For the older vehicles, Volkswagen is required to offer to buy back the vehicles or terminate leases, and must also offer an emissions modification to substantially reduce emissions if one is proposed by Volkswagen and approved by regulators. For the newer vehicles, if Volkswagen demonstrates it can make the vehicles compliant with the certified exhaust emission standards, it will have to fix the vehicles and will not be required to buy the vehicles back. Volkswagen is also required to spend $225 million to fund projects that will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx).

Today’s partial settlement does not resolve any pending claims for civil penalties, nor does it address any potential criminal liability. The settlement also does not resolve any consumer claims, claims by the Federal Trade Commission, or claims by individual owners or lessees who may have asserted claims in the ongoing multidistrict litigation. The state of California has secured a separate resolution for the 3.0 liter violations that addresses issues specific to vehicles and consumers in California.

The affected older vehicles (referred to as “generation 1” vehicles) are the 2009 through 2012 Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7 diesel models. The affected newer vehicles (referred to as “generation 2” vehicles) are the 2013-2016 Volkswagen Touareg diesels, 2013 through 2015 Audi Q7 diesels, 2013 through 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesels, and 2014 through 2016 Audi A6 quattro, A7 quattro, A8, A8L and Q5 diesel models.

“EPA has a public health imperative to hold Volkswagen accountable and remedy the illegal pollution their cars put into the air,” said Cynthia Giles, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “From the start, our team vigorously pursued this case to ensure these cars were fixed or taken off the road. Today we’ve secured another important settlement that delivers on EPA’s essential public health mission.”

“The settlement marks another significant step in holding Volkswagen accountable for cheating Americans out of the promise of cleaner air by selling vehicles equipped with defeat devices,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden. “This consent decree provides a remedy for every affected vehicle which will be removed from the road or meet enforceable standards that will reduce emissions, and will also require VW to provide additional funding to address the harmful impacts to human health and the environment from VW’s violations.”

“This settlement highlights the fact that cheating to get a car certified has consequences for air quality and the public’s health — and that cheaters will be caught and held accountable, said CARB Executive Officer Richard Corey. “Because California is able to enforce its vehicle regulations, CARB was instrumental in uncovering the cheating in the 3-liter, and before that, in the 2-liter diesel engines. The mitigation in this settlement will now help California address its serious air quality and climate challenges with a focus on putting the very cleanest vehicles in disadvantaged communities where they are needed most.”

According to the civil complaint against Volkswagen filed by the Justice Department on behalf of EPA on January 4, 2016, and amended on October 7, 2016, Volkswagen allegedly equipped its 3.0 liter diesel vehicles with illegal software that detects when the car is being tested for compliance with EPA or California emissions standards and turns on required emissions controls only during that testing process. During normal driving conditions, the software renders these emissions control systems inoperative or reduces their effectiveness, resulting in increased emissions. This is known as a defeat device. By using a defeat device, these cars meet emissions standards in the laboratory, but emit up to nine times or more above the EPA-compliant levels for NOx during normal on-road driving conditions. The Clean Air Act requires manufacturers to certify to EPA that vehicles will meet federal emissions standards. Vehicles with defeat devices cannot be certified.

Because Volkswagen cannot modify the affected 2009 through 2012 Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7 generation 1 diesel vehicles to meet EPA-certified exhaust emissions standards, the settlement requires Volkswagen to offer owners of generation 1 vehicles the option to have the company buy back the car and to offer lessees a lease cancellation at no cost. If a plan is proposed by Volkswagen and approved by EPA and CARB to substantially reduce emissions from the generation 1 vehicles, Volkswagen will also have to offer that as an option for consumers.

For the generation 2 vehicles, Volkswagen will recall and fix these vehicles so they meet their certified exhaust emissions standards, after the technical solution is approved by regulators. If after extensive testing the solution does not perform as expected and is not approved, Volkswagen must offer to buy back the vehicles. In that case, the company can also seek approval of an emissions modification plan to substantially reduce emissions and, if approved, can offer that as an additional option for generation 2 vehicles.

Under the terms of the settlement, Volkswagen must achieve an overall recall rate of at least 85% for each of the generation 1 and generation 2 vehicles recall programs or pay additional sums into the mitigation trust fund. The buyback and lease termination program for generation 1 vehicles will begin within 30 days following court approval of the settlement. Vehicle modifications will become available to eligible owners and lessees once the modifications are approved by regulators.

Vehicle owners and lessees will receive updated information from Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche concerning their available buyback or modification options after today’s settlement is approved by the court, and can also obtain information about these options at: www.VWCourtSettlement.com and www.AudiCourtSettlement.com.

The settlement requires Volkswagen to pay $225 million to fund projects across the country that will reduce emissions of NOx where the 3.0 liter vehicles were, are or will be operated. This funding is intended to fully mitigate the past and future NOx emissions from the 3.0 liter vehicles. That money will be placed in the same mitigation trust to be established under the partial settlement for the 2L vehicles. This $225 million is in addition to the $2.7 billion that Volkswagen is required to pay into that trust under the prior settlement. The mitigation trust will be administered by an independent trustee.  Beneficiaries, which may include states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and Indian tribes, may obtain funds for designated NOx reduction projects upon application to the trustee.

The emissions reduction program will help reduce NOx pollution that contributes to the formation of harmful smog and soot, exposure to which is linked to a number of respiratory- and cardiovascular-related health effects as well as premature death. Children, older adults, people who are active outdoors (including outdoor workers), and people with heart or lung disease are particularly at risk for health effects related to smog or soot exposure. NO2 formed by NOx emissions can aggravate respiratory diseases, particularly asthma, and may also contribute to asthma development in children.

The provisions of the settlement are contained in a proposed consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, as part of the ongoing multi-district litigation, and will be subject to public comment period of 30 days, which will be announced in the Federal Register in the coming days.

Making Sense by Michael Reagan

Why does California even bother to have a border?

Why does the United States of America?

In 2013 the governor of our one-party state, Jerry Brown, and the Democrats in Sacramento effectively turned California into a sanctuary state.

They told Washington that if any of the illegal immigrants arrested here had not committed a serious crime they would not be turned over to federal immigration officials for deportation.

Now the council of Santa Ana has voted to join more than 30 other California towns that have declared themselves sanctuary cities.

Already L.A, San Francisco, San Diego and Oakland won’t cooperate with federal officials or spend any of their resources to look for people who are in the USA illegally.

We’ll see how tough the politicians running these cities and places like Chicago are when the Trump administration starts cutting off their federal funding.

Meanwhile, the state I love continues to be abused by the Progressive Gestapo (PG) in Sacramento that doesn’t care who gets hurts by their open-door immigration policies or their terrible regulations and nonstop tax hikes.

The working-class Latinos who live here – the legal ones, the American citizens – and the working poor are the ones who’ll lose their jobs to the cheaper labor of illegal aliens.

The state’s “Haves” – the Hollywood elites, Silicon Valley computer engineers and lifetime political hacks — are not going to lose their jobs to an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

It’s going to be the “Have Nots” – the gardeners, day laborers and entry-level restaurant workers.

They’ll be the ones who’ll be hurt by the incoming waves of illegal immigrants that California’s Progressive Gestapo greets with open arms and treats better than the state’s shrinking number of taxpayers.

Illegal immigrants in California already get free health services and schools for their kids. They already can get a driver’s license. Now they’re talking about letting them vote.

In California, there’s a whole industry built around supplying fake Social Security cards. You can buy one and get it in an hour. Then you have the paperwork you need to take someone’s job away from them.

So watch out, America.

California is where most of our worst ideas about government are incubated and put into practice.

Unless Donald Trump’s get-tough policy on illegal immigration turns things around, the Progressive Gestapo might be coming to your state and town next – if it’s not already there.

California is a 40-year-old train wreck and it’s only getting worse. Major corporations are moving their headquarters to other states. People who own homes and pay taxes are leaving, too.

A friend of mine who had immigrated to America from communist Czechoslovakia recently gave up on California.

The Golden State was looking more and more to him like the country he escaped from in 1986, so he sold his house and moved to Puerto Rico.

Immigrants from around the planet used to come to America to work hard, get rich and become Americans. Now they come here – often illegally — and want Americans to assimilate to their cultures and give them free stuff.

It’s getting so crazy in California, legal immigrants from Mexico are thinking of moving back.