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Volvo's Mack brand website states: The mDRIVE HD heavy-duty automated manual transmission is standard on the Mack Granite and Titan by Mack trucks, and is available for the Mack Pinnacle,TM so you can roll over your toughest challenges. I've no idea what the "TM" means, poor English on their part. http://www.macktrucks.com/powertrain-and-suspensions/transmissions/ The brochure states: Mack’s mDRIVE HD is “built light to make Mack Granite and Pinnacle models even more productive while helping Titan by Mack do the heavy lifting”. http://www.macktrucks.com/~/media/files/brochures/mack_mdrive_hd_crawl_sellsht.ashx?as=1 Why don't you place your order with the good folks at Watts Mack ?

Fleet Owner / May 12, 2016 Volvo Trucks is in the midst of several upgrades to its New River Valley (NRV) assembly plant, including the addition of a new $32.5 million paint wing due to open in September, the installation of 38 new assembly line robots by summer, as well as continued work on the facility's customer experience center, being built next to the 1.1-mile long test track that runs alongside the NRV plant. Slide show - http://fleetowner.com/equipment/upgrading-volvos-nrv-plant#slide-0-field_images-191371

Transport Topics / May 12, 2016 Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) is laboring diligently to persuade federal and state regulators to ramp up standards on greenhouse-gas emissions in an orderly fashion so as not to scare off fleets from buying more fuel-efficient trucks that will be produced to comply with the Phase 2 rule expected later this year. The company’s top executives told reporters and editors here May 11 that they are “doing a lot of lobbying to address the challenges and benefits” associated with the GHG proposal. VTNA President Göran Nyberg said the lobbying is important because a mandate that is too aggressive could cause a pre-buy sales boom in 2019 and 2020 before Phase 2 takes effect, and then a sales bust in 2021 as fleets try to avoid the new anti-carbon dioxide controls. “It’s nice to have a peak record for sales, but then it becomes very cold,” Nyberg said characterizing the problems with a boom-bust cycle. In April in Austin, Texas, Mack Trucks global President Dennis Slagle — a colleague of Nyberg’s within Volvo Group — responded to a question and said Phase 2 is a matter of concern, but at the Volvo event here, Nyberg raised greenhouse gases as an issue near the beginning of his remarks. Nyberg said VTNA takes greenhouse-gas emissions seriously and is eager to make more fuel-efficient trucks, as fleets always have an appetite for them, but the strategy should be to make vehicles that have market appeal so customers want to “get onboard early and not hold back” on adoption. Phase 2 of greenhouse-gas regulations aimed at heavy- and medium-duty trucks came out as a joint proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in June 2015. Phase 2 will affect truck trailers made in 2018 and trucks in the 2021, 2024 and 2027 model years, requiring them to be more fuel-efficient as a means to emitting less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Phase 1 started in January 2014, and the second and final segment of the first phase begins Jan. 1, 2017. Nyberg also posed some challenges for government regulators, asking them to allow 6x2 powertrain configurations, particularly in Canada; eliminate the requirement for side mirrors; and speed up the adoption of platoon and autonomous trucks.

Fleet Owner / May 12, 2016 The two Volvo Trucks executives also believe North America remains a top growth market. Claes Nilsson, tapped to be executive vice president of the Volvo Group and president of its global Volvo Trucks unit back in March, and Gӧran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA), believe that North America still remains a region that offers “the biggest opportunity” for future truck sales as well as for “organic growth.” In a sit-down with reporters at Volvo’s New River Valley (NRV) assembly plant here in Dublin, VA, Nilsson and Nyberg – currently in the midst of a 12-city U.S. tour of Volvo facilities, dealerships, and top customers – think that the Volvo brand remains relatively “young” in North America, compared to its much longer-term presence in other global markets, and thus has more room to grow. “The last four years we’ve focused on consolidation and synergies within our global organization; so we’re much more cost efficient but maybe we became too internally focused,” Nilsson said. “Now we’re really looking for organic growth and we really see North America as a most important market in parallel with Europe; it offers the best growth opportunity.” Nyberg noted that while Volvo is sticking to its 250,000 total Class 8 sales prediction for North America in 2016, he stressed that the market “is a bit more challenging” now after first and second quarter order rates became “a bit soft” in his words. “If you look at warranty registrations, you can defend that 250,000 [Class 8 unit] prediction,” he added. “But order intake points to considerably lower volume.” Nyberg pointed out that North American Class 8 inventory also is high, at roughly 60,000 units, with Magnus Koeck – VTNA’s vice president, of marketing & brand management – noting that order intake “will stay soft if that inventory is not pushed out.” Still, Nyberg expects third and fourth quarter order rates to “be somewhat stronger” compared to the start of this year, pointing out that comparisons with 2015 are difficult due to record-setting sales numbers posted last year. “Even as we level ourselves with this ‘new normal’ in orders, we will still see a top 10 or top 15 year in truck sales for 2016,” he said. Other items touched on by Volvo executives during the roundtable meeting: Nilsson said “attitude and personality” will be key attributes for the organization going forward. “We want to be a true customer service company; this is still a relationship business,” he explained. “We’re looking for those determined to go the extra mile for customers.” Nilsson emphasized that Volvo “wants to be a technology leader” and believes truck “connectivity” will be a major future focus for fleets and truck makers alike – especially in terms of how “connectivity” translates into more predicative and proactive maintenance, resulting in more vehicle uptime. Nyberg noted that impeding greenhouse gas (GHG) rules “create an opportunity” to win more business. They will also “force the industry to find every single opportunity for fuel efficiency.” As a result, he thinks 6x2 suspensions will gain more traction in the U.S. market to the level of automated manual transmissions (AMTs). But Nyberg also thinks it will take 5 to 7 years for 6x2s to reach the “market penetration” levels now being experienced by its I-Shift AMT. When it comes to platooning and autonomous vehicles (AVs), Nilsson said AVs will be deployed first but in “non-public” worksites such as mines and construction zones. “AVs will be commercialized far quicker in areas outside of public roads,” he said. What will hold platooning back is not the technology but the “legal challenges” faced by truck platoons when deployed on public roads. Turning back to GHG rules, Nyberg noted that Volvo and other OEMs are asking for a slower pace. “If we mandate too many improvements at the same time – aerodynamics, emissions, waste-heat recovery, etc. – my gut feeling is that the industry will more reluctant,” he stressed. “A step-by-step approach will lead to greater acceptability.” But the key to all of the industry’s GHG efforts, Nyberg emphasized, is finding value for customers. “Yes, we need to meet the regulations, but we need to find enhanced value for customers,” he noted. “We’ll work with the regulatory and legislative hurdles but at the end of the day what will drive our efforts is finding benefits for customers in all of this.” .

Former senator: Release the uncensored truth about 9/11 By Bob Graham – The Washington Post / May 11, 2016 Bob Graham, a Democrat, represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 1987 to 2005. Nearly 15 years after the horrific events of 9/11, President Obama must decide whether to release 28 pages of information withheld as classified from the publicly released report of the congressional inquiry into the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans. On April 10, the CBS program “60 Minutes” aired a story about the missing 28 pages. I was one of several former public officials — including former House Intelligence Committee chairman and CIA director Porter Goss (R-Fla.) ; Medal of Honor recipient and former senator Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.); former Navy secretary John Lehman; and former ambassador and representative Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) — who called on the White House to declassify and release the documents. Two days after that broadcast, I received a call from a White House staff member who told me that the president would make a decision about the 28 pages no later than June. While that official made no promises as to what Obama would do, I viewed the news as a step in the right direction. My optimism about the administration’s action on this critical issue was short-lived. On May 1, when CIA Director John Brennan appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” I watched with astonishment as he argued that the 28 pages should not be released because the American people are incapable of accurately evaluating them. When asked by host Chuck Todd to make the case against releasing the information, Brennan replied, “I think some people may seize upon that uncorroborated, unvetted information that was in there that was basically just a collation of this information that came out of FBI files, and to point to Saudi involvement, which I think would be very, very inaccurate.” With all due respect, that argument is an affront not only to the American public in general but also to all those who lost family members, loved ones and friends on that fateful September day in 2001. Americans are fully capable of reviewing the 28 pages and making up their own minds about their significance. As co-chair of the Joint Inquiry Into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, I have read the 28 pages. My oath of confidentiality forbids me from discussing the specifics of that material. But while I cannot reveal those details, I strongly believe the American people deserve to know why this issue is so important. All of the references below are from the declassified, public version of the Joint Inquiry’s final report. For the first time in more than 200  years, Congress merged two standing committees from different houses of Congress: the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The Joint Inquiry had an impressive staff selected due to its members’ experience serving or overseeing key intelligence agencies. The first order we gave was for the intelligence agencies to preserve any information that might be useful in understanding what happened before, on and after 9/11. While reviewing these files, our experienced staff found documents that raised concerns about the possible involvement of foreign individuals and foreign sources of support for the hijackers. In several instances, agency leadership conceded that they became aware of this evidence through the probing of the Joint Inquiry staff. On Oct. 10, 2002, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller testified, “I think the staff probed and, as a result of the probing, some facts came to light here and to me, frankly, that had not come to light before, and perhaps would not have come to light had the staff not probed.” The fruit of that probing constitutes the bulk of the material that remains classified. Our final Joint Inquiry Report, released in July 2003 minus the missing 28 pages, reprimanded the agencies for a lack of attention to and action on information in their own files. This data included “information suggesting specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the United States.” At the time, “neither CIA nor FBI officials were able to address definitively the extent of such support for the hijackers.” Given the magnitude of the potential risk to national security, the Joint Inquiry found that gap in intelligence coverage “unacceptable” and referred the information summarized in the 28 pages to the FBI and CIA for investigation “as aggressively and as quickly as possible.” The release of the 28 pages would allow the American people to evaluate important questions, such as: ●Should we believe that the 19 hijackers — most of whom spoke little English, had limited education and had never before visited the United States — acted alone in perpetrating the sophisticated 9/11 plot? ●Did the hijackers have foreign support? If so, who provided it? ●Brennan stated the 28 pages contain information that is “uncorroborated, unvetted” and “inaccurate.” What is the investigatory basis for his conclusion? ●Has the 13-year delay in empowering the American people with the information in the 28 pages affected national security, delayed justice to the families of the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 or undermined the confidence of the American people in their federal government? Former Illinois governor and two-time presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson put it best: “As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law- abiding, the beginning and the end.” That unique status gives the American people all the authority and capability needed to review the 28 pages and determine the truth. It is long past time they had the opportunity.

Clinton Charity Aided Clinton Friends The Wall Street Journal / May 12, 2016 A $2 million commitment arranged by the nonprofit Clinton Global Initiative in 2010 went to a for-profit company part-owned by friends of the Clintons The Clinton Global Initiative, which arranges donations to help solve the world’s problems, set up a financial commitment that benefited a for-profit company part-owned by people with ties to the Clintons, including a current and a former Democratic official and a close friend of former President Bill Clinton. The $2 million commitment was placed on the agenda for a September 2010 conference of the Clinton Global Initiative at Mr. Clinton’s urging, according to a document from the period and people familiar with the matter. Mr. Clinton also personally endorsed the company, Energy Pioneer Solutions Inc., to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu for a federal grant that year, said people with knowledge of the endorsement. The company, whose business plan was to insulate people’s homes and let them pay via their utility bills, received an $812,000 Energy Department grant. Mr. Chu, now a professor at Stanford University, said he didn’t remember the conversation. The Clinton Global Initiative is a program of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The foundation has been a focus of criticism this political season over donations received from governments and corporations that had business before Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state and that could be affected by decisions she would make as president. The foundation has said it “has strong donor integrity and transparency practices.” The Clinton Global Initiative’s help for a for-profit company part-owned by Clinton friends poses a different issue. Under federal law, tax-exempt charitable organizations aren’t supposed to act in anyone’s private interest but instead in the public interest, on broad issues such as education or poverty. “The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests,” the Internal Revenue Service says on its website. Energy Pioneer Solutions was founded in 2009 by Scott Kleeb, a Democrat who twice ran for Congress from Nebraska. An internal document from that year showed it as owned 29% by Mr. Kleeb; 29% by Jane Eckert, the owner of an art gallery in Pine Plains, N.Y.; and 29% by Julie Tauber McMahon of Chappaqua, N.Y., a close friend of Mr. Clinton, who also lives in Chappaqua. Owning 5% each were Democratic National Committee treasurer Andrew Tobias and Mark Weiner, a supplier to political campaigns and former Rhode Island Democratic chairman, both longtime friends of the Clintons. The Clinton Global Initiative holds an annual conference at which it announces monetary commitments from corporations, individuals or nonprofit organizations to address global challenges—commitments on which it has acted in a matchmaking role. Typically, the commitments go to charities and nongovernmental organizations. The commitment to Energy Pioneer Solutions was atypical because it originated from a private individual who was making a personal financial investment in a for-profit company. Asked about the commitment, foundation officials said, “President Clinton has forged an amazing universe of relationships and friendships throughout his life that endure to this day, and many of those individuals and friends are involved in CGI Commitments because they share a passion for making a positive impact in the world. As opposed to a conflict of interest, they share a common interest.” A spokesman for Mr. Clinton, Angel Urena, said, “President Clinton counts many CGI participants as friends.” Mrs. Clinton’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment. A Clinton Foundation spokesman, Craig Minassian, called the commitment an instance of “mission-driven investing…in and by for-profit companies,” which he said “is a common practice in the broader philanthropic space, as well as among CGI commitments.” Of thousands of CGI commitments, Mr. Minassian cited three other examples of what he described as mission-driven investing involving a private party and a for-profit company such as Energy Pioneer Solutions. Ms. Eckert, one of those identified as a 29% owner of Energy Pioneer Solutions in 2009, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ms. McMahon, listed as another co-owner, said in an interview she didn’t know how the commitment to the company came to be made as she wasn’t involved. Ms. McMahon, 56 years old, described Mr. Clinton as “a family friend.” Mr. Kleeb, who is the company’s chief executive as well as founder, said Ms. McMahon recruited Mr. Weiner as an investor. Mr. Weiner has a company, Financial Innovations Inc., that makes campaign souvenir items such as coffee mugs and pens. Mrs. Clinton’s current and 2008 presidential runs have paid Mr. Weiner’s firm about $4.2 million, federal reports show. Mr. Weiner was among the first state Democratic officials to endorse Mr. Clinton for the presidency some 25 years ago. He has been a major donor to the Clinton Foundation and also to the campaign of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, another Clinton friend, foundation and Virginia records show. Mr. Weiner declined to be interviewed. The other 5% investor, Mr. Tobias, has been the Democratic National Committee treasurer since 1999. He said he spent $450,000 for equity in Energy Pioneer Solutions and lent it $650,000. “With my modest initial investment, I wound up owning a small percentage of the company,” Mr. Tobias said in an email. “It grew, because ultimately, between loans and equity investments, I’ve wound up putting a little more than $1 million into this effort.” Mr. Tobias, a best-selling personal-finance writer and long-standing Clinton Global Initiative member, said he invested “because I would love to see the world more energy-efficient and hoped to make some money doing that.” Records of the Clinton Foundation show he has given it between $250,000 and $500,000, the same donation level shown for Mr. Weiner. The company’s Mr. Kleeb said he knew the DNC treasurer from his own runs for office and invited him to invest. Mr. Kleeb won Democratic nominations in Nebraska for the U.S. House in 2006 and the Senate in 2008, but lost. His wife, Jane Kleeb, led opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline and now heads a group called Bold Alliance opposing large fossil-fuel projects. The Clinton Global Initiative, at a Sept. 23, 2010, gathering in New York, announced a $2 million commitment to Energy Pioneer Solutions from Kim Samuel, a Canadian academic, philanthropist and a director and owner of the Samuel Group of Companies, which includes steel businesses. She appeared on stage. A spokesman for Ms. Samuel, a longtime member of the Clinton Global Initiative, said she ultimately chose not to give the full $2 million. This is a “personal financial matter and a personal investment,” said her spokesman, Alan Peck. “Following the initial September 2010 announcement and subsequent due diligence, the actual investment was $500,000 made by Ms. Samuel to Energy Pioneer Solutions on July 25, 2011.” Mr. Tobias, the Democrats’ treasurer, said in an email a day after a Journal interview that he, too, contributed to the commitment. The 2010 announcement of it cited only Ms. Samuel. Mr. Kleeb said the commitment announced was achieved, and he raised $2 million. He didn’t specify where the money came from. The commitment was a late addition to the agenda for the September 2010 conference, internal Clinton Foundation documents reviewed by the Journal show. According to one document, about two weeks before the conference, Ms. Samuel contacted an official in the Clinton Foundation’s commitments office and said Mr. Clinton wanted to feature her commitment to Energy Pioneer Solutions at that month’s gathering. Ms. Samuel’s spokesman didn’t respond to a question about that. One of Mr. Clinton’s top advisers at the time, Doug Band, tried to prevent the commitment from being added to the agenda as an onstage event in the weeks prior to the conference, according to a document reviewed by the Journal. The commitment was entered into a database on the Clinton Global Initiative website. A few months later, it was removed. The reason was to avoid calling attention to Mr. Clinton’s friendship with one company co-owner, Ms. McMahon, and to protect the integrity of Mr. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, according to people familiar with the matter. The Clinton Foundation spokesman said the information was withheld at the request of Ms. Samuel, the announced provider of the commitment. Her spokesman didn’t respond to a question on that. After the Journal asked about the absence from the database, the Clinton Foundation said it was making a policy change and would publish all previously unpublished commitments and all future ones. At the U.S. Energy Department, which had a grant program to encourage innovative approaches to weatherizing low-income people’s homes, giving a grant to a for-profit company was rare but permitted, said T.J. Hansell, a former contractor to the agency who worked on the program. An Energy Department spokeswoman declined to comment. An Energy Department news release in 2010 announcing a grant to Energy Pioneer Solutions called it “a women-owned small business,” repeating language in the company’s application, which the Journal obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Mr. Kleeb, the company’s founder and 29% owner, didn’t respond to a question on why it described itself as women-owned. On occasion, Mr. Clinton has trumpeted the company’s work. Speaking in 2011 to an Omaha-based syndicated radio show called The Todd-N-Tyler Radio Empire, Mr. Clinton said: “There’s a group there called Pioneer Energy Solutions that retrofits housing—they’re in and out in a day…Eight hours and they’re out of there.” Mr. Clinton also cited the operation, without naming the company, in his 2011 book “Back to Work.” Mr. Tobias, the Democratic treasurer, said he discussed Energy Pioneer Solutions frequently with Mr. Clinton. “I wasn’t surprised that President Clinton was psyched about the potential for EPS and making America’s housing stock more efficient, cutting CO2 emissions and lowering consumers’ energy bills,” Mr. Tobias said. Energy Pioneer Solutions has struggled to operate profitably. It lost more than $300,000 in 2010 and another $300,000 in the first half of 2011, said records submitted for an Energy Department audit. Mr. Kleeb noted that losses are common at startups. The audit found deficiencies in how the company accounted for expenses paid with federal grant money, Energy Department records show. The company addressed the deficiencies, and a revised cost proposal was approved in 2011, said an Energy Department spokeswoman, Joshunda Sanders. Recently, Mr. Kleeb laid off most of his staff, closed his offices, sold a fleet of trucks and changed his business strategy, promising to launch a national effort instead. “We are right now gearing up to start under this new model,” he said. Asked if Energy Pioneer Solutions has ever broken even, Mr. Kleeb said, “We’re at that stage…We are expanding and doing well. We have partnerships, and it’s good.” .

The Guardian / May 12, 2016 First serious public split revealed among commissioners over the release of the secret ‘28 pages’ that detail Saudi ties to 2001 terrorist attacks A former Republican member of the 9/11 commission, breaking dramatically with the commission’s leaders, said Wednesday he believes there was clear evidence that Saudi government employees were part of a support network for the 9/11 hijackers and that the Obama administration should move quickly to declassify a long-secret congressional report on Saudi ties to the 2001 terrorist attack. The comments by John F Lehman, an investment banker in New York who was Navy secretary in the Reagan administration, signal the first serious public split among the 10 commissioners since they issued a 2004 final report that was largely read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia, which was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11. “There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government,” Lehman said in an interview, suggesting that the commission may have made a mistake by not stating that explicitly in its final report. “Our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia.” He was critical of a statement released late last month by the former chairman and vice-chairman of the commission, who urged the Obama administration to be cautious about releasing the full congressional report on the Saudis and 9/11 – “the 28 pages”, as they are widely known in Washington – because they contained “raw, unvetted” material that might smear innocent people. The 9/11 commission chairman, former Republican governor Tom Kean of New Jersey, and vice-chairman, former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, praised Saudi Arabia as, overall, “an ally of the United States in combatting terrorism” and said the commission’s investigation, which came after the congressional report was written, had identified only one Saudi government official – a former diplomat in the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles – as being “implicated in the 9/11 plot investigation”. The diplomat, Fahad al-Thumairy, who was deported from the US but was never charged with a crime, was suspected of involvement in a support network for two Saudi hijackers who had lived in San Diego the year before the attacks. In the interview Wednesday, Lehman said Kean and Hamilton’s statement that only one Saudi government employee was “implicated” in supporting the hijackers in California and elsewhere was “a game of semantics” and that the commission had been aware of at least five Saudi government officials who were strongly suspected of involvement in the terrorists’ support network. “They may not have been indicted, but they were certainly implicated,” he said. “There was an awful lot of circumstantial evidence.” Although Lehman said he did not believe that the Saudi royal family or the country’s senior civilian leadership had any role in supporting al-Qaida or the 9/11 plot, he recalled that a focus of the criminal investigation after 9/11 was upon employees of the Saudi ministry of Islamic affairs, which had sponsored Thumairy for his job in Los Angeles and has long been suspected of ties to extremist groups. He said “the 28 pages”, which were prepared by a special House-Senate committee investigating pre-9/11 intelligence failures, reviewed much of the same material and ought to be made public as soon as possible, although possibly with redactions to remove the names of a few Saudi suspects who were later cleared of any involvement in the terrorist attacks. Lehman has support among some of the other commissioners, although none have spoken out so bluntly in criticizing the Saudis. A Democratic commissioner, former congressman Tim Roemer of Indiana, said he wants the congressional report released to end some of the wild speculation about what is in the 28 pages and to see if parts of the inquiry should be reopened. When it comes to the Saudis, he said, “we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of what happened on 9/11”. Another panel member, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of offending the other nine, said the 28 pages should be released even though they could damage the commission’s legacy – “fairly or unfairly” – by suggesting lines of investigation involving the Saudi government that were pursued by Congress but never adequately explored by the commission. “I think we were tough on the Saudis, but obviously not tough enough,” the commissioner said. “I know some members of the staff felt we went much too easy on the Saudis. I didn’t really know the extent of it until after the report came out.” The commissioner said the renewed public debate could force a spotlight on a mostly unknown chapter of the history of the 9/11 commission: behind closed doors, members of the panel’s staff fiercely protested the way the material about the Saudis was presented in the final report, saying it underplayed or ignored evidence that Saudi officials – especially at lower levels of the government – were part of an al-Qaida support network that had been tasked to assist the hijackers after they arrived in the US. In fact, there were repeated showdowns, especially over the Saudis, between the staff and the commission’s hard-charging executive director, University of Virginia historian Philip Zelikow, who joined the Bush administration as a senior adviser to the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, after leaving the commission. The staff included experienced investigators from the FBI, the Department of Justice and the CIA, as well as the congressional staffer who was the principal author of the 28 pages. Zelikow fired a staffer, who had repeatedly protested over limitations on the Saudi investigation, after she obtained a copy of the 28 pages outside of official channels. Other staffers described an angry scene late one night, near the end of the investigation, when two investigators who focused on the Saudi allegations were forced to rush back to the commission’s offices after midnight after learning to their astonishment that some of the most compelling evidence about a Saudi tie to 9/11 was being edited out of the report or was being pushed to tiny, barely readable footnotes and endnotes. The staff protests were mostly overruled. The 9/11 commission did criticize Saudi Arabia for its sponsorship of a fundamentalist branch of Islam embraced by terrorists and for the Saudi royal family’s relationship with charity groups that bankrolled al-Qaida before 9/11. However, the commission’s final report was still widely read as an exoneration, with a central finding by the commission that there was “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually” provided financial assistance to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. The statement was hailed by the Saudi government as effectively clearing Saudi officials of any tie to 9/11. Last month Barack Obama, returning from a tense state visit to Saudi Arabia, disclosed the administration was nearing a decision on whether to declassify some or all of the 28 pages, which have been held under lock and key in a secure room beneath the Capitol since they were written in 2002. Just days after the president’s comments however, his CIA director, John Brennan, announced that he opposed the release of the congressional report, saying it contained inaccurate material that might lead to unfair allegations that Saudi Arabia was tied to 9/11. In their joint statement last month, Kean and Hamilton suggested they agreed with Brennan and that there might be danger in releasing the full 28 pages. The congressional report was “based almost entirely on raw, unvetted material that came to the FBI”, they said. “The 28 pages, therefore, are comparable to preliminary law enforcement notes, which are generally covered by grand jury secrecy rules.” If any part of the congressional report is made public, they said, it should be redacted “to protect the identities of anyone who has been ruled out by authorities as having any connection to the 9/11 plot”. Zelikow, the commission’s executive director, told NBC News last month that the 28 pages “provide no further answers about the 9/11 attacks that are not already included in the 9/11 commission report”. Making them public “will only make the red herring glow redder”. But Kean, Hamilton and Zelikow clearly do not speak for a number of the other commissioners, who have repeatedly suggested they are uncomfortable with the perception that the commission exonerated Saudi Arabia and who have joined in calling for public release of the 28 pages. Lehman and another commissioner, former Democratic senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, filed affidavits last year in support of a lawsuit brought against the Saudi government by the families of 9/11 victims. “Significant questions remain unanswered concerning possible involvement of Saudi government institutions and actors,” Kerrey said. Lehman agreed: “Contrary to the argument advocated by the Kingdom, the 9/11 commission did not exonerate Saudi Arabia of culpability for the events of 11 September 2001 or the financing of al-Qaida.” He said he was “deeply troubled” by the evidence gathered about a hijackers’ support network in California. In an interview last week, congressman Roemer, the Democratic commissioner, suggested a compromise in releasing the 28 pages. He said that, unlike Kean and Hamilton, he was eager to see the full congressional report declassified and made public, although the 28 pages should be released alongside a list of pertinent excerpts of the 9/11 commission’s final report. “That would show what allegations were and were not proven, so that innocent people are not unfairly maligned,” he said. “It would also show there are issues raised in the 28 pages about the Saudis that are still unresolved to this day.” Asked on Thursday if he had any comment on Lehman’s claim about individuals working for the Saudi government, White House press secretary Josh Earnest gave a two word answer: “I don’t.”

In a low-boy tractor application, you would want the just introduced heavy duty 13-speed mDrive (a rebadged Volvo I-Shift AMT with crawler gears). The weak link is, it's a single countershaft design, AND it's designed so that you can't work on it.....literally (you have to do remans). http://www.macktrucks.com/~/media/files/brochures/mack_mdrive_hd_crawl_sellsht.ashx?as=1 * Old hands, note that Volvo's Mack brand mDrive HD sales brochure doesn't list any gear ratios! AND, regarding the legacy Maxitorque transmissions from the former Mack Trucks, Volvo doesn't even offer a brochure anymore (http://www.macktrucks.com/powertrain-and-suspensions/transmissions/maxitorque/). Just a brief mention......no picture much less a promotional video. Truth be told, with the introduction of the vocational I-Shift, Volvo can't wait to phase out the Maxitorque transmissions.

It's sounds like you're speaking of this..........http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/44493-roadside-access-to-worldwide-expertise/#comment-328684

Business Wire / May 12, 2016 Chinese truckmaker JAC on May 10 completed delivery of a US$274 million order for 5,239 heavy trucks to Venezuela. On the morning of May 10th, the final shipment arrived into the South American country. In July 2014, JAC signed purchase contract with Venezuela’s land transport department and CORPOVEX S.A. for tractors, dump trucks and water tankers. It is the largest Chinese truck export order to date. JAC has been active in Venezuela since 2006 selling primarily light and medium trucks. Note: JAC is producing light truck engines under license from Navistar's Brazilian MWM engine subsidiary. .

We offered some heavy axles in Australia. .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2016 Driving made safe with active roll stabilization Continuous damping control (CDC) enables rolling and pitching movements to be stabilized using the continuously variable electronic control of the shock absorber hardness. This prevents the development of rolling and pitching movements while cornering, changing lanes and braking. .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2016 The second generation of MAN EfficientCruise is a GPS-controlled cruise control and enables an anticipatory driving strategy, thanks to automatic speed control incorporating optimised gear selection that takes into account crests, downhill and uphill stretches. The result in all operating ranges is a pattern of speed that achieves the lowest fuel consumption. .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2016 Braking and moving-off functions for off-road operation The electronic brake system for off-road operation improves handling in difficult terrain. Besides the paver brake, the hill holder and ASR functions for simplified moving-off as well as ABS for off-road operation for braking on loose surfaces and the turning brake are described here. .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2016 Intelligent braking and moving off with networked systems The electronic brake system EBS enables the optimization of braking and moving-off procedures of commercial vehicles. The anti-lock braking system keeps the vehicle directionally stable even under emergency braking conditions and can reduce the braking distance. ASR prevents the drive wheels from spinning when moving off and accelerating. .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2016 Top-down engine cooling provides efficient cooling output in the D38 engine. What is special about this is that the coolant flows vertically from the cylinder head to the engine block. This cools particularly those parts of the block that are subject to high loads. .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2016 Maximum engine braking power for demanding drivers The MAN Turbo EVBec engine brake is a special further development of the engine brake for the D38 engine series. Variable exhaust valves upstream of the turbo chargers ensure higher backpressure when braking and enable a targeted air flow to the turbo charger blades to increase the turbine speed of the turbo charger on the exhaust side and thus also on the intake side. The pressure level in the engine is raised and the brake output increases. Background: MAN EVB (exhaust valve brake) enables powerful, wear-free braking and controlled downhill driving at high speeds with up to 290 kW of braking power. The engine braking power increases when the exhaust valves are opened briefly. A further improvement is the pressure-controlled MAN EVBec. This provides an even greater braking torque at lower speeds. MAN EVBec extends the normal EVB function to enable continuously variable brake output. This is achieved by regulating the exhaust back-pressure with the butterfly valve in the exhaust pipe. The air-actuated engine brake valve closes the exhaust pipe in a stepless process depending on the desired brake output, thus generating the exhaust back-pressure required for the cylinders. The vehicle management computer (FFR) measures the current exhaust back-pressure from a sensor and uses a proportional valve to ensure that the servo-cylinder is accordingly triggered by pressure. The staged response of the sustained-action braking equipment permits regulated use when driving. Smooth, jerk-free braking can be achieved in this way. The impressive combination of the powerful EVBec engine brake and the MAN PriTarder® water retarder creates an efficient and economical brake system. In contrast to a conventional retarder the water retarder works directly with the water from the cooling circuit. As is the case with the intarder, the MAN PriTarder® is incorporated into the MAN BrakeMatic® sustained-action braking management system. When shifting/declutching, the service brake is activated so that the braking power is not interrupted during gear changes (reblending). .

Navistar's OnCommand Connection Hits 200,000 VINs Heavy Duty Trucking / May 10, 2016 Navistar, Inc. announced subscriptions to OnCommand Connection (OCC), the company's open architecture remote diagnostics system, have surpassed the 200,000 vehicle mark. This milestone reflects OnCommand Connection's rapid rate of subscriber growth since it was initially demonstrated in October 2013. It also underscores the system's integration with a large and growing number of leading telematics service providers (TSPs). OnCommand Connection is already integrated with 16 TSPs [link to web portal showing TSP list], with several additional TSPs now in the process of being integrated. Illustrating this breadth of coverage is the fact that approximately two-thirds of the vehicles now in the system were manufactured by other OEMs besides Navistar. "OnCommand Connection continues to grow its subscriber base by proving its value to a wide range of customers who are seeking a one-stop telematics solution for their entire fleets," said Terry Kline, Navistar senior vice president and chief information officer. "Through our strategy of integrating with a wide range of leading telematics service providers, we are able to provide unique, single-portal access to fleet managers and other customers who want their fleet's vehicle health information available through a single integrated portal. This open-architecture approach is helping many customers achieve significant uptime improvements while also driving reduced maintenance costs." Vehicle status and diagnostic trouble code data from the TSPs are transmitted to OnCommand Connection, which then interprets this data and creates easy-to-understand vehicle health reports and recommended action plans for all brands of vehicles and engines, which can be accessed through an online portal, e-mails and other types of alerts, as determined by the customer. By integrating and interpreting vehicle health information in a customer-friendly format, OnCommand Connection enables fleet users and other customers to achieve more efficient repairs and maintenance, better lifecycle value, and an overall lower total cost of ownership, giving them increased visibility into maintenance needs and better control of their business. To learn more about OnCommand Connection, visit www.OnCommandConnection.com.

Fleet Owner / May 11, 2016 You often hear fleet management and telematics systems companies say they've integrated a third-party application and it will work with their platform. Now get ready for the next level: software and systems unification. What's that? Think of this unification as making different systems and applications work in combinative, complementary ways rather than just being able to run with or on a given platform — i.e., working together, not just tolerating each other. Trucking got a notable dose of next-level technology systems integration, for instance, when Bendix showed last summer how its Wingman Fusion product has radar and video systems that help instruct each other. The systems detect potential obstructions or objects in a truck's path in different ways, but together they can make better determinations on things like whether an object ahead is a soda bottle or a stopped car. In another new take, fleet management technology company PeopleNet has decided to roll up telematics information from trucks — associating it with particular drivers — into its video product interface and in customizing what triggers video clips to be sent to fleet managers. "We can trigger video [being sent to the back office] off of what the truck and driver actually do, not an accelerometer. Those are a good start, but accelerometers can trigger all the time and it's not meaningful," notes Jim Angel, vice president for video intelligence solutions at PeopleNet. "We've had this deep integration to ECM [electronic control module] data coming off the J1939 [bus] for over a decade. Why not use it? "We can trigger videos based on what the customer says — 9 mph per sec. deceleration, 7 mph per sec. acceleration, whatever — and give the carrier the flexibility to manage to the level they want to," he continues. "When that deceleration triggers from the ECM, that's where we get our trigger — not when I hit a pothole in the middle of the road that sets off an accelerometer." That can fine-tune video clips that are sent to fleet managers for review, but there's more you can do once you start combining telematics and video. Angel points to a dash cam video showing two passenger cars cutting in front of a truck, the second one very nearly causing a crash; had the truck driver not hit the brakes quickly, there would've been a collision. "If you didn't have the video with something like that, the argument would've started," Angel says. "In this case, the driver did a great job, so now we can send 'safe driving' recognition where we're going to give him a credit on his safety analytics score. This all ties back to our safety analytics and what we've built as part of the PeopleNet system," he explains, discussing the telematics-enhanced video product's inclusion of color-coded, filterable driver scorecard info. "You also have the opportunity to review risky or problem behaviors," Angel adds. "We can bring a whole bunch of data into one place and make it easy to use." More in store Expect more collaborative, complementary systems integrations — or unifications — going forward from the world of truck telematics. Omnitracs recently said as much, discussing the second wave of a major product launch and refresh program it's been progressing through. Back in early 2015, the company announced its OTIS project, for Omnitracs Integrated Telematics Solution. The first phase of OTIS comes this year, as Omnitracs rolls out a new, more advanced in-cab telematics box called the Intelligent Vehicle Gateway, or IVG. The idea is to consolidate and focus the company's hardware platforms. Beyond hardware, however, Omnitracs has also been building its applications portfolio substantially. And Dan Speicher, the company's chief technology officer, said earlier this year Omnitracs wants not only to bring those apps together, but to move toward being "hardware agnostic" and able to run on various devices a fleet or trucking company might use. Laura Lohrke, Omnitracs' product manager for mobile, describes working toward those two concepts simultaneously. "We've had these separate solutions with these different companies that have come together under Omnitracs. We've got some really powerful products," she says. Meanwhile, by 2020, industry analysts predict there will be anywhere from 25 billion to 40 billion or more mobile devices of various kinds in the market globally, and Omnitracs is looking to those, too, as possible interfaces for its products. "Playing off the idea of the Internet of Things, we're already tracking trucks; we're tracking people. Those are very important assets in this industry," Lohrke tells Fleet Owner. "We're looking to make things simpler for the drivers as well as back-end managers, where you have a single sign-on and all these functions talking to each other and working together in unison, and coming to a central back end. "We've really been working on not just integration of our different offerings, but unification of them," she continues. "It's not just like a third party integration; we're looking to bring a unified solution with all those analytics tools. "We've started that, and it's just going to continue throughout the year."

Fleet Owner / May 11, 2016 IMI says balance is the ley to longer tire life and better fuel economy. Can tire balancing beads truly extend usable tire life while providing fuel savings at the same time? That’s what the engineers at Chambersburg, PA-based IMI Products believe and they put the company’s new Equal Flexx bead package – introduced earlier this year at the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) annual convention in Nashville, TN – to the test during a special demonstration event for reporters held at the firm’s new headquarters in Chambersburg, PA, this week. http://www.imiproducts.com/products/equal-flexx/ Taking two almost identically spec’d Penske rental Class 8 tractors – with even their maintenance records a near spot-on match – IMI put pouches of its Equal Flexx balancing beads in the steer and drive tires of one of the trucks while leaving the tires on the other untouched. Special sensors mounted to the wheel hubs of the tractors also allowed IMI’s engineers to show how Equal Flexx balancing beads help reduce vibration at the wheel end, creating a smoother ride for the driver while evening out tread wear – promoting longer tire life and fuel savings simultaneously, noted Bob Fogal Jr., the firm’s president and CEO. “Over the course of a tire’s life, regardless of position, it’s going to lose rubber and wear unevenly. You’re looking at losing anywhere from 25 to 30 lbs. of rubber over a tire’s life due to wear,” Fogal (seen at right) told Fleet Owner. “So the key is to get a better ‘footprint’ with that tire, because as it wears more, it becomes more fuel efficient due to lower rolling resistance,” he added. “Thus the reason balancing the tire becomes critical is that more even wear extends the life of that tire in its ‘sweet spot’ for fuel economy.” John Tak, IMI’s director of marketing and product development noted that the development of just the right kind of tire balancing beads in terms of shape and material composition "is a complex science" with "a lot of nuances" to account for. Yet the extensive testing by IMI's research team – headed up by Steve Ludwig, the firm’s senior product development engineer and an aeronautical engineer by training -- leads it to conclude that fuel savings for all tire positions on a tractor-trailer can be improved significantly by using tire balancing beads: - An improvement of 18% on steer tires, or $1,000 in annual fuel savings for a tractor-trailer accumulating 100,000 miles a year, averaging 6.5 MPG and paying $2.50 per gallon for diesel; - An improvement of 39% on drive tires or $2,100 in yearly fuel savings; - And an improvement of 43% on trailer tires or $2,400 saving per year in fuel. Altogether, fleets can save $5,500 in fuel costs annually, measured against the $450 total cost of adding Equal Flexx balancing beads to all the tires on an 18-wheeler – a figure that derives from 25% more tire life and a 3% to 5% improvement in overall fuel economy due to lower rolling resistance, noted Derek Forney, IMI’s associate product manager. Those kinds of numbers mean that fleets should experience a return on investment (ROI) of three months on average by using Equal Flexx beads, noted Fogal. He added that one of the “best parts” about balancing beads is that they help tires adapt to their conditions, balancing them if stones are caught in the tread, or there’s a lot of mud or snow and ice on the road. “It’s also a ‘one-and-done’ application,” Fogal pointed out, with the Equal Flexx pouch dropped in at tire installation, breaking open to release the beads once installed. “That’s why it’s a cost effective solution.”

Today's Trucking / May 10, 2016

I believe there are some joint military exercises ongoing this week, and the matter/antimatter engines utilized on Romulan ships are known to cause disturbances to our internet connectivity. Everything should be back to normal by week's end.

You're wondering about something heavier than an axle-forward Pinnacle (CHU), and mentioning the expensive axle-back Titan (TD), aka. Volvo VNX. For a low-boy tractor, did you consider an axle-forward or axle-back Granite? https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5538/9263449487_827b5e0a0e_b.jpg http://www.macktrucks.com/~/media/files/brochures/mack_construction_brochure.ashx?as=1 https://www.macktrucks.com.au/~/media/files%20au/brochures/granite_vocational.ashx?as=1 Of course, a Trident would be my first choice, a Super-Liner second. https://www.macktrucks.com.au/~/media/files%20au/brochures/trident_ab.ashx?as=1 https://www.macktrucks.com.au/~/media/files%20au/brochures/trident_af.ashx?as=1 https://www.macktrucks.com.au/~/media/files%20au/brochures/superliner_brochure.ashx?as=1

The RM's were such a fixture of the Australian Army for decades that we forget about the ADF's earlier Macks. http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/15604-mack-military-truck/?page=2 http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/15604-mack-military-truck/?page=5#comment-186988 On another note, here's one of their right-hand drive Diamond Reos (they also ran Diamond Ts). .