Newcastle United: The Slowest Start

The story of Newcastle United's 2017-2018 season is that it took months to get in gear. That was, until February 11, when they stunned Manchester United at home. Newcastle’s season finally began this week.  

This season had stalled a couple of times. The first stall nearly killed their season, when Newcastle failed to win between October 21 and December 23. Then a less severe stall occured after Christmas, when Newcastle could only draw against Brighton, Swansea, Burnley, and Crystal Palace. During that time, they also beat Stoke. But 7 points out of a possible 15 was a massive missed opportunity to achieve safety. Of course you have to take whatever points you can get, and 7 points is not insignificant. But had Newcastle won 2 of those 4 draws, they would probably be safe today.

And bad luck happens to teams that are in a slump. Newcastle had victory taken away at Palace due to a very soft penalty.

But sports karma is a funny thing. The Jets helped create the Patriots dynasty when Mo Lewis injured Drew Bledsoe and forced the debut of one Tom Brady. While not nearly as dramatic, Newcastle put all those frustrating draws behind them when Chris Smalling dove in front of Jonjo Shelvey and the referee. Newcastle were awarded a free kick. Shelvey and Lejune delivered the ball to Ritchie’s feet, and he calmly put the ball in the bottom right corner for the only goal of the night. Luck had nothing to do with it. The Lads had done it. They beat Manchester United all by themselves. Man U lacked creativity and sustained attacking. Still, Man U could have scored four goals with their swift counterattacks. But the Newcastle defenders and new keeper, Slovakian International, Martin Dúbravka, held the line.

Watch full highlights of the match (minus Smalling's dive) here.

No one on the home side had a bad game. Florian Lejeune was heroic in his long-awaited return from injury. Paul Dummett was a hero. Dwight Gayle made a goal line block with his legs. Twice. Mo Diamé’s fine recent form continued. Jonjo Shelvey was brilliant. And Jamal Lascelles showed us again why he is the captain - the best team captain in many years.

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Jose couldn't complain

And with this win, their most thrilling since 2015 or so, Newcastle’s season has begun. There are 11 games left. They only really need to win 2 of them. But look at the table now:

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A general rule in football is that a team needs to draw or win against teams that are beneath them in the table. Newcastle have upcoming matches against Huddersfield, Southampton and West Brom. If they win those 3, they will be fine. If they win just 2, I think they are still fine. What they cannot do is lose to any of those teams. They are not out of the woods yet.

But their season has just begun. And Islam Slimani makes his debut on February 25 at Bournemouth.

New York Needed Congestion Pricing 10 Years Ago

There is no doubt New York City needs congestion pricing. It it is to remain a World City, like London, it must. But we can see that this proposal will fail. There is too much resistance from the counties outside the city. Just one more reason for this city to be its own Federalized district, like DC. New York is too important to this country to be ruled by Westchester, Long Island and Albany. Paris, London and Tokyo are national capitals. They don’t have this chronic political problem that New York has. Let’s fix it. New York is the economic capital of the United States. And it can’t have people driving into midtown who don’t NEED to.

It's Still A Masculinity Crisis

Professor Sut Jhally wrote about it 18 years ago.

He spoke about it 8 years ago (above).

I wrote about it 11 years ago.

We got possibly the biggest reminder of it in world history last fall.

The world has a serious masculinity crisis. And in the US, that crisis is directly linked to its gun violence epidemic. 

Laura KIssel raised the topic again this week. And the comments prove two things. First, they strengthen her argument. And second, they prove we will never even try to address this crisis. Not even try. 

The gun violence epidemic in the United States is both a public health and a cultural crisis. Since I last raised this topic in 2007, the number of firearms in the US surpassed the number of living citizens. 100 million new guns. This is our crisis now and until the end of this broken republic. 

Trump Is Obese

Donald Trump is the same height and weight as Albert Pujols. Riiiight. Why does the White House lie like this? It's just absurd. The White House lies about everything, important or trivial. Trump is obese, and everyone knows it. His diet is hideously bad. He must have good genes and the constitution of a bull, because given what he eats and his lack of exercise, he ought to be an invalid.

Oh, and off-topic, where did the leftover inauguration day cash go? That's still missing. 

Here's Joe Scarborough with an appropriate rant about Trump's physical health summary.

The Furthest Mankind Has Ever Seen In Space And Time

The Hubble Deep Field blew my mind 23 years ago. This is no less impressive. Mankind now sees black holes 12.5 Billion years in the past. And we still have the Webb telescope to look forward to. 

So my question is, can cosmologists really maintain their sanity? How can anyone contemplate facts like these, and not go stark raving mad? Where, exactly, does our piss ant planet fit in a universe as immense and mysterious as this? 

A New Start For The Jeep Cherokee (KL)

Or as the British say, the KL Jeep Cherokee is now "sorted."

The current Jeep Cherokee (chassis code KL) has been a solid hit for Jeep. It was, until this year, a strong fleet vehicle (Jeep says it will no longer be sold as one). It was a popular choice at rental counters. And it generally sold between 150K and 200K units per year. It's a profitable car in the most competitive car segment in the US. The addition of the Overland trim in 2016 made it even more profitable. And it replaced a truck that very few people miss. Jeep made the correct call bringing back the Cherokee name and putting it on this vehicle.

But Jeep's parent, FCA, is slower to redesign vehicles, opting to keep platforms longer, refreshing them periodically. This means that FCA vehicles have lagged-behind most other manufactures in meeting the highest safety standards. It took a few model years for the Jeep Renegade, Cherokee, and Grand Cherokee to pass the brutal IIHS "moderate overlap front" test. But in 2017, they finally passed. I'm just speculating, but I wonder if FCA got any help from Hyundai Steel. They do work together sometimes.  

The KL Cherokee was introduced in 2013 and went on sale in 2014. I was excited to see it developed and released nearly five years ago. And while an all-new Grand Cherokee is still three years away, it was time to refresh the Cherokee. Jeep sales have flattened. The brand is healthy. But I don't know if Jeep will ever sell 1.3 Million vehicles in the US again. Not again this decade, anyway. 

This refresh seems like a new start for the KL. Here is some of what has changed:

• A new front fascia and rear end. The front end keeps the short, raked seven-slot grille, but eliminates "stacked" lights in favor of a more traditional headlamp and turn signal cluster. And it looks really good. 
• A new FCA two-liter turbo (same as the one available in the new Wrangler, minus the mild hybrid system). This new motor provides V6 power with the CO2 emissions of an inline four cylinder, which it is.
• It appears that "Ski Gray" is going to be a new interior color choice for the Limited. So one doesn't have to get the top of the line Overland trim to have an interior color palette similar to a Land Rover Discovery Sport. 
• The center stack has been redesigned to allow a phone storage slot, LED lights below the climate controls, and the new 8.4-inch Uconnect screen with Apple Car play will be available (just like the new Wrangler Sahara and top trim Grand Cherokee). 
• The lift-over height for the rear cargo area is still at least an inch higher than competitors (due to the fact that you can store a full-size spare tire under the floor). But the cargo floor is now wider.
• The 2019 Cherokee has lost 200 pounds, thanks in part to an aluminum hood and a redesigned, composite rear hatch. The hatch can now by activated by sticking your foot underneath the vehicle, just like the Ford Escape and Edge.  
  
  These changes should be enough to maintain Cherokee sales. But I don't see its sales catching up to the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Subaru Forester or Ford Escape. That's because this Jeep is unique in its drivetrain configurations and off-road capability. It's frankly a little weird. You can spend $35,000 and get it with two electronically-controlled transfer cases and a locking rear differential. That's very truck-like, even though it has a longitudinally mounted engine for a front-wheel drive bias in normal pavement driving. Or you can spend $22,000 and essentially get a fleet vehicle / rental car version, with either front-wheel drive or part-time AWD, the inefficient-but-dependable Tigershark motor, black cloth seats, and a soft steering feel. So you can get a Cherokee that can easily traverse the Valley of the Gods, or get a basic Cherokee to move you and the kids around town. The Cherokee can be as wild or as anonymous as you like, all in the same platform. Jeep knows it can't beat Hyundai or Honda's features at the base price. But the brand is so attractive, enough people find a Cherokee that suits their needs. And more important for FCA, enough people buy premium Cherokees to keep the model very profitable. I look forward to seeing it at this year's New York International Auto Show. 
  
  Here is this morning's press event, in which Jeep CEO Mike Manley introduced the revised Cherokee.

The USA Missed Its Chance To Make Room For High Speed Rail

High speed rail is not coming to the US in any sustained system, except perhaps in California.

Why? The USA missed its chance after World War II, when it had the capital and its rail corridors could have gotten the width they needed for freight and passenger trains on their own tracks. If the US tried to make room for high speed rail on the west and east coasts today, it would cost hundreds of billions. Of course, the US is still spending $2 Billion a week in Afghanistan. So I guess we can't afford it. 

In France, Germany Japan and China, where four of the world class train systems are found, the high speed passenger services were built from scratch, not piggybacked on an old, existing, mostly freight rail system. A world war helped, and that included a lot of bombing by the US and UK. But I don't think that's any excuse. The USA remained a wealthy nation through the space age. Just look at what happened to Penn Station. The French National Rail Corporation would die laughing if it ever got a good look at Penn Station and Amtrak. After all, France is a first world country, while the United States barely qualifies as a banana republic. And I wrote these words before news came out that the state of New York is considering yet another private company to manage the crumbling Penn Station.

This ties into the bigger, more obvious issue that mass transit in the US is generally terrible. The underlying reason is the same: the best chance for planning and funding was in the last century (either before the 1920 crash, or just after WWII). In my father's day, New York City took care of it's essential infrastructure. The automobile had not yet become the dominant means of transportation, and Robert Moses had not yet rearranged the city to accommodate millions of cars. Now, after decades of neglect, the bill is coming due. I hope the city gets the help it needs, because it's approaching a dangerous tipping point.

A Revolutionary War Mass Grave In Brooklyn?

Here's another story for 2017 I didn't post until now. A Brooklyn site next to the Gowanus Canal is to be excavated. There's reason to believe it holds a Revolutionary War mass grave, dug in the aftermath of the Battle of Brooklyn.

The Battle of Brooklyn wad a bad defeat, but thanks to Mr. Glover of Marblehead Massachusetts, Washington's troops were able to make good their escape to the Jersey shore, and live to fight another day. By the way, Continental cannons were emplaced in Red Hook to strike the British fleet as it entered the harbor, but they didn't hit a thing! If they find a mass grave, the city, state and Federal governments should erect a fitting monument. 

Red States Turned On Their Blue Cities In 2017

But the tide might be turning back to the cities' favor.

After the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, there was a wave of bad behavior by his supporters. Hate crimes spiked. The Federal government threatened states. And some states punished their cities, the largest of which voted for Hillary Clinton.

This conflict is about raw political power, and I'm afraid that cities are at a huge disadvantage in any conflict with the state. Legal precedents all give enormous deference to the state, holding that cities, towns, counties and all other local jurisdictions are under sovereign state authority. If Texas wanted to abolish the charters of local government and designate them differently, increase or decrease their powers, they can, and there's little the local areas can do about it. When a cult like the Texas Republican Party gains unchecked power, it will use it to crush local opposition. The same pattern is being replicated almost everywhere in states with Republican governors and legislatures. Elections, as they say, have consequences.

Interestingly, the onslaught against the cities might have been slowed down thanks in part to Trump not being able to get his administration to focus on any one issue for long. And the Trump backlash has been in-gear since Roy Moore was upset in Alabama in December 2017. The aforementioned Texas Republican Party's unshakable hold on power is suddenly under threat. 

2018 Is Bringing The Turmoil

You thought 2017 was turbulent? We've seen nothing yet.

The first month of 2018 has brought a pack of storms through Washington DC and the world. We've read the biggest threat of a nuclear war ever written by a US president. A new book came out, and we're still feeling the shock waves it has caused. We've seen the first reporter insulted during a press briefing in the Trump presidency. The administration ended protected status for over 200,000 El Salvadoran asylum seekers. The president said racist things in a meeting for a second reported time.  Shithole is already the English word of the year. Trump's trip to the UK has been canceled, as I predicted. A Democratic Senator on her way out has released the valuable Senate interview of Glenn Simpson, and it offers a preview of what's going to be in the Mueller Report later this summer. But don't expect Robert Mueller to indict Trump. It might be too late for him or anyone to rescue this republic from Donald Trump. Just hang on tight. 

The Racist Authoritarian President

There wasn't any doubt that Trump and his base are racists. And finally, the press has acknowledged it. 

Only the people who refuse to accept reality fail to comprehend the visceral racism of Donald Trump. This is a man who demanded the death penalty for young African Americans who were clearly not guilty of the attack on the Central Park jogger a few decades back. He led the "Birther Lie" campaign against Obama, for reasons transparently racist, said a Mexican American judge, born in Indiana, couldn't fairly preside over a lawsuit involving him, and began his pursuit of the presidency by slandering the entire population of a neighboring republic. It's clear we have the most overtly racist president since Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869, who did all in his power to destroy the chances of 4,000,000 freedmen of ever achieving legal equality in this country. There are two primary reasons this fat, orange man is president. His Democratic opponent was pathologically hated by millions of Americans, and chose to vote for the least experienced, most ignorant, and most psychologically damaged candidate to ever run on a major party ticket rather than put her in the White House. And the second reason is equally chilling. Trump validated the deep racial resentment of millions of white Americans.

Trump's base remains a solid 35% or so. This base is not only overtly racist, but demands an authoritarian leader. We can pay lip service to our sanitized corporate culture and say that they are not aligned with "American values." But actually, there has always been a minority of citizens like this in the US since the Civil War. We have seen flare-ups in support of the KKK, the Third Reich, and the "Patriot Movement" (roughly 1978-2010). Trump has helped us re-identify and track them going forward. They are going to play a role in both local and national politics long after Trump is gone.