Thoughts On The Second Generation Volkswagen Touareg (Gasoline / Petrol)

Not sure if it is really worth $42,000. But the 2015 gasoline V6 Touareg brings the features. It has a lot of suspension travel for a production crossover. Big springs. It is the quietest car I've ever driven. The 8-speed transmission is impressive. And the seats were near Volvo-comfortable.

It has a great blend of luxury and sport. The electric power steering is programmed to feel heavy, like a luxury car. But a direct injected 280HP motor made it feel lighter than it is. It is smaller than its cousin, the Audi Q7.

The big surprise was the off-road mode, as Andrew Collins over at Jalopnik described after he played with the diesel version. It has automatic downhill decent control, which downshifts and brakes automatically to guide you down dirt trails. It was a master of dirt roads. I think we did nearly 100 miles on "primitive roads" into canyons, washes, and forests near the Mexican border.

 

Offroad mode in the Touareg is not a gimmick. I was climbing and descending the trails with Jeeps and Range Rovers.

In 796 miles driven, I averaged a mediocre 23.9MPG on a mix of 87 and 89 octane. A 20 gallon fuel tank meant that I could have comfortably gone 500 miles in between gas pumps. $2.00 gasoline was also a nice plus in the American southwest.

An outstanding car. It competes against Range Rover, in terms of suspension. But it is overpriced as simply a paved roads family mover.

I loved how quiet and smooth it was. The third generation should arrive in the summer of 2016.

Federal Whistleblower Updates for 2015

So many spy programs, so little time. Let's recap the NSA spy program news for 2015, thanks to The Intercept.

Ryan Gallagher: How the NSA hacks mobile phone networks worldwide in Auroragold.

Glenn Greenwald: Comparing Chelsea Manning to Hillary Clinton.

The NSA released some documents about how the FBI oversaw some elements of their spying programs. The information was quietly released just before Christmas, 2014.

Morgan Marquis-Boire, Glenn Greenwald and Micah Lee: How the NSA's XKEYSCORE program works. This is the big piece to read, folks.

Glenn Greenwald: Journalists continue to be against transparency. Amazingly so.

Which brings us to the whistelblowers themselves. We're reaching the point in the Obama administration in which some whistleblowers who were convicted are now being released from Federal prison. More on that in 2016, I'm sure.

Newcastle United: Goodbye, Premier League

 [I tried writing this post on October 5, and I failed to delay it being published before it was ready. And while Newcastle's situation has improved somewhat as of October 18, I am leaving this up. Unprofessional, sure. But this isn't a professional blog.]

I regret not posting any opinions about what was the most exciting transfer window for Newcastle United since the summer of 2012. But now I can offer a more accurate prediction of where Newcastle will end up next June: one league down, in the SkyBet Championship. Newcastle are doomed this season.

Before I give my take on the 2014-15 campaign and the objectives for 2015-16, you should read Phil's post over at I Wish I Was A Geordie. When he published his piece, I realized that he summed up over half the points I wanted to make here, and he did a better job than I would anyway. My opinion here is still that of a Yank supporter trying to criticize and analyze the club objectively, except I will try not to repeat Phil. So here goes.

In the 2013-14 season, Newcastle were saved by a leased striker, Loic Remy. He scored 14 goals while on loan. Without him, they wouldn't have the goals required to earn their 49 points and finish in a remarkable (and undeserved) 10th place. They were also helped, at times, by the likes of Davide Santon, Yojan Cabaye, Mathieu Debuchy, and Moussa Sissoko. It was also a season brought serious trust and reliability issues for their captain, Fabricio Coloccini, and an astonishing season for the other central defender, Mike Williamson. With both Taylors injured at various times, Williamson was the unlikeliest of heroes in the backfield. The club had an over-performing defender, a prolific striker, and some inconsistent, but overall good players on the wings. That earned safety and the chance for the club to make significant improvements in-between campaigns.

However, the club instead chose to blow that chance, in favor of enhancing its profit margin. There was no summer shopping spree. Instead of setting the stage to give Alan Pardew a clear chance to fix his tactical mistakes, the club undermined Pardew through the unnecessary hiring of Joe Kinnear as Director of Football. This would be the first of two similar blown chances in a short period of time (the second would come just 6 months later when manager Alan Pardew resigned). In the summer of 2014, the club needed to buy one or two central midfielders. They needed to at least consider getting a defensive midfielder to replace the injury-prone Chiek Tiote. They needed a first-team quality striker. Of those three requirements (and surely there were more), they only completed the last one - the signing of Siem De Jong. That would have helped if he wasn't injured so often. So the team relied on it's other striker signed in the summer of 2014, Ayoze Perez.

The summer of 2013 was similar. Thee were signings. But it wasn't like Pardew's first summer, when Cabaye, Obertan, Santon, and Marveaux were signed. A summer without strong signings can lead to a thin, demoralized squad when the injuries and losses pile up. Then the relegation battle begins. 

How did such a big club get here for the third season in a row? And why do I think they cannot save themselves from relegation in this third drop to the bottom? Well simply put, they should have been relegated last season, and a new manager, a new system, and new signings are all too late to save Newcastle. Steve McClaren will try to keep his club calm, but the 10 wins needed to secure safety are not coming. Goals are not coming. And this team seems doomed to concede the first goal in nearly every match.

And even when this team does score the first goal (improbable first goals to boot), they still fail to win. 

This post was written on October 5th, and at the time, Newcastle's next 6 games looked winnable, on paper. Well, so were 3 of their first 8 legaue games this season. For this reason, I am calling it: Newcastle are going to be relegated. Relegation would be devistating. It would set the club back 5 years, financially. It would mean at least another 10 years without Europe tournaments. I know how bad it would be. But a part of me knows that Newcastle would deserve it. Relegation would make the owner hold on to the team longer, but it would force players out who need to go (Tioté, Sissoko, Coloccini).

Only in retrospect, after 3 years, do we know how the club got here, even though it has been happening before our eyes since the winter of 2013. Who or what is to blame? It isn't the owner. It was never the mangers after Sir Bobby Robson. It was and is the failed transfer policy. That shouldn't be a surprise, because we heard that three-word phrase as early as the summer of 2013. Couple that with a failed summer transfer strategy, and you have a disaster. I will try to explain.

This past Summer, Newcastle signed 5 players at the cost of £52.6 Million before salaries. Of those, 3 are proving themselves to be capable of playing and succeeding in the Premier League. The rest are development players with Premier League salaries and needing at least a year to get up to Premier League fitness and strength. And still, the team needs new central defenders and a true defensive midfielder.

Manager Steve McLaren has acknowledged this. He has been upfront that he doesn't see a roster full of players he needs until February 2017. But we fans are convinced that he isn't choosing the new players. We don't think any Newcastle manager since Allerdyce has been involved in player scouting and recruitment. That work is done by chief scout, Graham Carr.

What has Newcastle done under Carr? It has "bought for value." The team has brought in promising mainland European talent, who have ended up in a few, fairly predicable scenarios. Some have proven to be capable of succeeding in the Premier League, which eventually attracts a profitable bid from a bigger club. Some players become unhappy, and see their time at Newcastle as an audition to play for a more famous club. That would be okay if they were engaged and played hard in every appearance (that's you, Moussa Sissoko). Then there are the flops. The Ben Arfas. The Marveauxs. The Cabellas. The Thauvins?

When a team brings in flops, and the best guys are sold, you are left with a second-tier team in a top-tier league. If the new arrivals don't start producing - if service to the strikers doesn't improve - and if Wjindulum and Mitrovic don't increase their goal rate, this team is going down.

Austerity Is The American Way

As this Guardian opinion piece by Susan Campbell illustrates, Americans already operate under austerity. "One hand tied behind our back," is our baseline. Some of the hardships and sacrifices Greece is being forced to accept have been commonplace in the US for over 40 years.

And what's so frustrating is that millions of Americans believe the "if you work hard enough" fairyland talk. It certainly doesn't help that we are generally such an ill-informed public. Even when some are enlightened enough to more or less understand, the resentment factor kicks in from the "we are paying for them" crowd. The fact that WE could easily become THEM doesn't register.

Manhattan Street Reopens As An Outdoor Prison

I am a history professor. I've taught in three prisons in my Commonwealth. This looks eerily like several prison passageways I traveled through. Welcome to Escape From New York?

American Infrasturcture Is Hell And Time Is Running Out

One xxample of this is Penn Station. It's hellish on ordinary days. Here it was on July 4. There are many examples of our crumbling infrastructure, but the principal train station in the nation's largest city pretty much says it all.

The Endless Cycle Of Gentrification

This is a story as old as the real estate game. In New York, especially, money doesn't just talk, it fairly screams. The working and middle classes in this country have been, to coin a phrase, reamed, steamed and cleaned for decades. Maybe, just maybe, there are tiny, hopeful signs that they're getting good and sick of it.

Trust Us

It all sounds very familiar to Americans, who have had two Red Scares, and now a 15 year long "Terrorism Spasm". In each instance, 1917-1920, 1949-1954, and since 2001, our defenders of the republic have demanded an unraveling of Constitutional safeguards in order to protect us, and preserve "freedom". And they say irony is dead.

The Least Fit Cities In The US

The latest urban fitness report is out for the US. Do you detect a slight red state/blue state dichotomy? I must say, the only real surprise is Indianapolis as the LEAST fit metropolitan area in the country! Apparently, walking is considered an un-American, Commie plot. 

The Vatican Had It Coming

The Catholic Church, which had its own way in Ireland for centuries, has seen an incredibly rapid collapse of its power and influence. Of course, it had it coming! Good on the Irish!

Now on to the next human rights issue in the republic, abortion.

Military Events in London Now And This Weekend (May 15-18)

We almost never post about events here, as this is a small blog with infrequent posts. But right now in London, The Honorable Artillery Company, the oldest artillery regiment in the country, is staging an event in East London. They have soldiers doing drills, a parachute drop, a chinook helicopter, and at least one howitzer.

And this weekend is something even more special. If you are in London between May 15 and 17, you can go see the surviving little ships of the Battle of Dunkirk.

Leave it to the British to convert one of the most thorough defeats ever suffered by the United Kingdom into a glorious "victory". As some readers know, the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium in 1940 was as badly mauled by the Germans as the French had been. When the soldiers got back to England, they had left all their tanks and heavy guns behind, and only the Channel, the RAF, and Royal Navy stood between Hitler and the U.K. Still, the many ordinary citizens who sailed these little ships saved many lives, and displayed undaunted courage. It would be fascinating to see them in the Thames. My annual trip to London has already happened. But you are there, go see them. 

Further Down The Spiral

The differences between the Democratic party and the GOP continue to dwindle. The Democrats are sponsored by Wall Street, have abandoned the idea of taxing the rich, and have even abandoned questioning the size of the military-security complex. Meanwhile, Republicans are embracing marijuana legalization and marriage equality. The biggest differences left are really Social Security, science, and medicine (the GOP is against all three). Otherwise, that's pretty much it, folks. We can summarize this nation like this: declare war on the world, give every break and perk to the rich people, spy on everyone, and ignore the man-made environmental catastrophe. The longer we keep these two parties in power, the further this nation is ruined. Considering it has been this way for nearly 20 years, it is probably too late to save the USA.

Rikers Island Is A Human Rights Catastrophe

The United States has an ongoing human rights crisis. It has been going on for decades, especially since the 1970s. Almost no one talks about it. Almost no one even questions it. It is the nation's largest jail. It is Rikers Island.

I wish Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch would draw more attention to Rikers. To it's credit, Amnesty has published reports about Rikers before. In 2000, they called out Rikers for the abuse of female prisoners at the hands of male guards. And in this latest round of reports about Rikers, Amnesty has shed light on the torture of teenagers and the high rate of solitary confinement of teen prisoners.

The most recent revelations about Rikers are shocking even for those familiar with how bad it has been over the last 40 years. There have been inmate deaths. Then there were the families who were not told that their relatives had been allowed to die on the city's watch. And then there was the incredible case of Kalief Browder, a high school student who was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack, and was held at Rikers in a cycle of torture, court appearances, and trial delays for three years.

The mayor has called for a task force. But either he is not serious, or is unable to change RIkers. Very few politicians care, and neither do many New Yorkers. They should. This is a true human rights catastrophe. Rikers is the not only the largest jail in the US, but in terms of human rights abuses, it is easily the worst. The abuse there is done in the names of New York's citizens, and fully funded by the citizens and tourists of this city. And when there is accountability - when prisoners are able to get legal representation and fight for their rights - the city pays in punitive damages, over and over.

The major roadblocks to reform are Albany (as always) and the Department of Corrections, which is a city agency, and touts itself as "New York's Boldest." Their tough guy union leader Norman Seabrook, has been unapologetic, has tried to block investigations of the facility, and has even demanded that his guards and officers receive a new contract with pay raises if they are to cooperate with implementing any reforms.

UPDATE, June 8, 2015: Kalief Browder, the boy who was held for 3 years without charges, committed suicide on June 6, 2015.

Chris Rock: Most Americans Oblivious To Class Inequality

None of this is news to Americans who live in our largest cities. Chris Rock is probably correct about most middle Americans being oblivious to class inequality. There, the reality of inequality is right in your face, unambiguously  and apologetically slapping you, just in case you might miss it. In the small towns and suburbs, where most Americans live, the arrogance and entitlement of our plutocrats -and yes, our kleptocrats too- is more abstract, out of sight, and almost never encountered in person. The great and mighty fly in their private jets, to their palaces in the sky, or their private islands. Out of sight, and out of mind, they float above the rest of us, supremely confident and protected. 

Professor Tim Wu: Airlines Want You To Suffer

Like most essays Tim Wu has written, this one is pretty awesome.

As airline customers, we must suffer at baseline. And besides, suffering not only builds character,  it reinforces an important social lesson. The natural order of things requires that we all understand that decent treatment is a privilege, to be purchased with money. If you lack money, you don't deserve the good treatment that only money can buy. If you have money, no matter how you acquired it, you are entitled to the best of everything. Furthermore, everyone must be conscious of the differences having money brings. So, if you're part of the great, unwashed masses, and you're miserable in airports, bus stations, subway stops and other places of public accommodation, the system is working, and the correct lesson is being taught. 

London Sets New All-Time Population Record

London finally made it. It is a true top 20 megacity.

London is roughly three to four times the size of Paris, and the pace is exhausting. In some ways, England has always been two countries. Metropolitan London is very different from the rest of the nation. I love England, and I see it as two countries. London, and everyone else.

Ted Turner's Apocalypse

So Ted Turner was ready with a video for the end of the world? Well, as they say in the Coast Guard, "Semper Paratus!"

We Get A Leap Second on June 30, 2015

June 30 brings another leap second to our global atomic clocks, in order to account for the slowing rotation of our planet. I remember the first leap second I paid attention to, on January 1, 1988, when the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) took over the responsibility to scheduling and coordinating leap seconds. 

When the United Kingdom finally joined the rest of Europe in adopting the Gregorian calendar in the 1750's, there were riots by people who were convinced the government had stolen two weeks of their lives in a Papist plot! A second or two, added to the year every now and then, probably doesn't represent an existential threat to the planet.

The Most Requested Photo In The US National Archives

This is one of the funniest pictures of the twentieth century. An obviously drug-addled Elvis Presley (then age 35), visiting a cynically bemused Richard Nixon, shaking hands in the White House and discussing the recently declared "War on Drugs," has to be one of the jaw dropping moments of recent history. Is this a great country or what!

The news item, that this picture is still in high demand, made me think: we don't obsess with Evis as much as we did 30 years ago. History remembers him. His legacy is safe. But the current culture doesn't include him in conversation nearly as much as it did in the 1980s and 1990s. It seemed to reach a peak from 1987 (the 20th anniversary of his death) to about 1997. Notable American pop culture examples include the movies Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), and True Romance (1993) which both reference The King. And for me personally, two of my favorite guilty-pleasure songs from that period include Elvis is Dead (1990) and Elvis Ate America (1995).

The King is dead. America just took a while to move on.

Does Everyone Want To Be Normal?

This is not a popular question, but I feel the need to ask it out loud. 30 years ago, when Act Up taught me how crucial it was for homosexuals to get the same civil rights I enjoy, in the face of a deadly pandemic, did they envision a future in which gays would become the new conservatives? The capitalists. The owners. The bankers and politicians. The same boys club that keeps women from getting birth control? The same club that doesn't blink when unarmed black teenagers are gunned down by police? What I'm asking is, do we all want to be this affluent New York couple? To be wealthy conservatives? Or am I reading too much in a Tiffany ad?

Every civil rights movement in the USA has begun from an edgy place. Secretive women's afternoon meetings. The pews of black baptist churches. Or a loud protest outside a gay bar in New York. The goal of every civil rights movement is to obtain equal rights for all, so anyone can be anything they want to be. But when I see capitalists embrace a group that was only recently kept out of the mainstream, I have to wonder, is that what we were fighting for? Did corporations embrace gays only when they realized how much disposable income they have?

And gay friends, do I even have a right to bring this up? Is this topic off-limits for straights?