News Networks Distort History All The Time

I was going to post this in February. Then three months went by. Then I said, screw it, I'm gonna post it.

An unusual thing happened during NBC's coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. A commentator mentioned that South Korea's rapid growth as a technology leader was inspired by the success of their next door neighbor, Japan. I listened carefully to that description as it was broadcast. I found it to be somewhat accurate. It made no mention that the Korean-Japanese rivalry had anything to do with Japan's brutal occupation of Korea. It was an occupation that got worse each decade up to and including WWII. While that struck me as a historical whitewash, I thought that perhaps the comment relates to South Korea since 1987, when South Korea democratized. In that respect, the commentary was accurate.  

In order for its economy to boom, Korea's military dictatorship had to end (much like Brazil's had to end before its economy could briefly grow). When the junta folded in 1988, Korea's gadget and appliance companies were Goldstar and Samsung. Within 30 years Samsung would become bigger than Sony and Goldstar would become LG, a giant in its own right. Even as little as 21 years ago, the Korean government retained some of its policies from its totalitarian past and censored all materials flowing in and out of the nation to protect its growing auto and technology sectors. I knew graduate students from Seoul who, like me, were studying news media and journalism. They would request VHS tapes of news broadcasts from home, and Korean customs would watch those tapes, looking out for any news about auto worker union strikes - or any negative news about Korean business or economy. 

So I heard the comment. I raised an eyebrow. I moved on. But apparently South Korea couldn't let that one pass. So they demanded and received an apology from NBC for the network's historical oversimplification and disregard for atrocities. 

Now I agree, that commentary could have been written far better. It seemed scripted. NBC had time -weeks probably- to write blurbs on each nation as its athletes paraded into the Pyeongchang stadium. But if NBC had to apologize for that misstep, I thought, what are we to do with decades of misreporting history by television networks?

A really good example is one of the first I was taught by Professor Justin Lewis. When the Sandinistas held elections in Nicaragua in 1990, news networks described them as their "first" free elections. That wasn't true. While the Sandanistas were not keen on elections, they did participate in a monitored, free national election in 1984. But in the US, the 1984 elections didn't happen. I believe ABC World News Tonight had a piece showing Daniel Ortega dancing, kissing babies, and campaigning while a narrator described it as the first time Ortega ever had to campaign. He and the Sandanistas lost, by the way. The US interfered with that election, by the way. 

US news media seldom goes into the history of the Israeli-occupied territories. Furthermore, mainstream US media would ever interview a Palestinian. What's a Palestinian?

Same with American Indians and their townships. Townships? I mean reservations. L.B.J. called American Indians our forgotten people in 1964, and The Guardian reported it again in 2017. Isn't the United States sitting back and letting its native populations wither and die out? Reservations are sovereign, we say. Sure, sovereign and set up to fail. I've been to Navajo Nation. I've seen poverty and squalor that makes West Virginia seem downright prosperous. Sometimes I feel like I've been to the moon. Considering how few Americans have seen a real reservation -even the ones who live in Arizona or Utah- I think that's an apt comparison. 

And to a lesser extent, the US news media wouldn't need to go into the dark history of the CIA, our nation's involvement with at least five major acts of genocide (Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, East Timor, El Salvador), or the times we stripped the constitutional rights of our own citizens (during times of national crises, "panics," "scares," wartime, or just routine denial of voting rights). 

But yes, South Korea called out a US network for its tiptoeing around the Japanese occupation and legacy of rape and murder, and the network quickly apologized. If only we could get historical accuracy from our media so quickly and so easily every week.

Mike Piazza Made His Mets Debut 20 Years Ago Today

I can't say much about Mike Piazza, because his story is known, and as far as I know, he is a good guy. No women have accused him of abuse yet. 

Twenty years ago yesterday, the Mets acquired him in a trade, and twenty years ago today, Mike Piazza played his first game for the Mets. His arrival signaled the start of a big money era for the Mets. For the Mets to make it to the playoffs going forward, they were going to have to be a bigger club, like their bully next door neighbors. He got them there. And he was easily the best cacher the Mets ever had. 

But I want to write this next point, finally, after 17 years. The worst thing Piazza ever did was deciding not to beat the living hell out of Roger Clemens in game 2 of the 2000 MLB championship (I don't use the W word). He had foreseen it. He knows he should have. I still wonder "what if" Piazza had not been classy, and instead tried to kill Roger. Could this championship series had gone longer? Would it have slowed down the Yankee dynasty, which ended the following year in Phoenix? Would it have helped the other Yankee haters, the Red Sox? What if?

What if, Mike?

The Constitutional Crisis Has Arrived

And I agree with Charlie Pierce this morning. The crisis might come and go without the nation realizing it. And when it is over, there will be no more Republic. 

It's here already.

In fact, we already had one, albeit slightly smaller. We had a political party refuse to consider a nominee to the Supreme Court until it took over the executive branch.  

So Charlie is correct that these crises go unnoticed. Bush v. Gore was another. And it fractured the Republic. Now the third constitutional crisis in the post-Nixon era threatens to burn down what is left.

Foreign individuals or governments, representing at least four nations, offered assistance to the Trump 2016 campaign. In return, they received or are receiving favors from the Trump administration. Whether it's a new embassy in Jerusalem, or a bailout for Jared Kushner's 666 Fifth Avenue. We are witnessing transparent bribery, corruption and many quid pro quos. We only know a few of them.

And what has Trump done today? He's on the verge of blowing up the DOJ. He is demanding that the DOJ launch a politically-motivated investigation of itself in order to hasten the end of an investigation into a large and real conspiracy. 

The crisis is here. And we're just watching the republic burn. 

This Is Not Sustainable

When an ignorant, volatile and incompetent President tries to run the executive branch with a small staff, and who thinks of himself as a "disruptor," he will, from time to time, throw a lit match into a lake of gasoline.

This is not sustainable.

This is not sustainable.

This is not sustainable.  

Update, May 15: This is not sustainable.







 

The US Fully Embraces The Dark Side

The Republic is doomed. A morally bankrupt Republic cannot stand. And yesterday, we saw confirmation of that.

Gina Haspel is a perfect CIA chief. She doesn't care what Congress thinks. She gives zero fucks about accountability, transparency, or human rights. 

The argument goes that the US, as an empire, has to do this in order to survive. We have tortured. We do torture. And we will torture again. But for now, just take the word of our millionaire senators from both sides of the aisle that the USA is good, and stands fro truth and justice. Don't worry, and go back to sleep. 

New CIA Chief Is A Trusted Torture Site Manager

Gina Haspel will almost surely become the next CIA chief on May 9. She managed a torture site in at least one nation. The torture employed at her black site had the usual - dark isolation, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, physical torture, psychological torture, and water boarding. 

Contrary to what Barack Oabma said, the USA never stopped its rendition and torture program. It's still with us. If we were serious about stopping it, there would have been a truth commission, investigations, reports and accountability. Of course that didn't happen, aside from one Senate report. Americans had more apps to play with one their phones and the CIA continued to orchestrate the torture of people all over the world. And now one of their torture managers will be head of the agency. 

And what did the DC elite say when she was nominated to head the agency? They said that she was just being loyal and was following orders when she ran a black site in Thailand. It's the Nuremberg Defense. 

I call this the good German defense, which was used by Adolph Eichmann when he was on trial in Jerusalem for his part in organizing the Holocaust. It was dismissed then, and should be dismissed now, and for the same reason. To argue that one may commit crimes against humanity because you were only following the orders of the legal authority in your country fails as a matter of law and a matter of morality. Such an order is illegal, always, and its immorality is self evident. 

I Finally Drove A Ford Mustang

And I absolutely loved it. 

The Ford Mustang is a car that has shadowed me my whole life. As I kid, I saw first generation Mustangs all the time. The Mustang was a triumph in marketing and design when it debuted 54 years ago in Queens. It was marketed as the sports coupe for the common man. The Pontiac GTO debuted the same year, and is the granddaddy of muscle cars. But the Mustang endures as the original American compact muscle car. For decades, it has a solid axle in the back, and was designed for drag racing. Not that Ford would ever promote drag racing or street racing by its customers.

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The Fox Body Mustang shadowed my teenage years. I saw it in the final two seasons of Spencer for Hire and in a Vanilla Ice video. In its fourth generation, the Mustang regained its muscle car for the common man status. And while the GTO, Challenger, Charger, Chevelle, and Camaro disappeared temporarily or forever, the Mustang has endured.

This third generation of the Mustang brought back the GT trim line after a 15-year hiatus. Back in 1987, the 5-liter V8 in the GT was the old pushrod Windsor (originally known in the late 60s as the 302). Today, the 5.0 Mustang is powered by the third version of the Coyote V8. Same displacement (well, 307 cubic inches, up from 302). About twice the horsepower, torque, and acceleration. And that’s the first Mustang I played with, after all these years.

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I did a solo trip to Central California to visit a friend and scout locations for a future Santa Cruz to San Diego road trip with Lady Sterling. I asked the good people at Sixt for a BMW 430i convertible. It’s luxurious and technologically advanced. It has BMW’s ubiquitous 2-liter turbo motor and ZF 8-speed gearbox. I saw myself getting 34 miles per gallon in that, highway coaster that I am.

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But Sixt didn’t have a BMW convertible. They didn’t have a Mercedes C Class convertible either. The manager nodded at me and said “I’ll let you take a 5.0, no extra charge.” I got scared. I knew what he just said. I was getting a Mustang GT convertible for three days. So much torque. So much noise. So many ways to wreck a car in three days. I got nervous. But I let him punch in the codes. I signed the contract. And then there it was. A just-washed 2018 Mustang GT with just 636 miles on the clock. Within 30 minutes, I was in the parking lot of 4th Street Bowl, a midcentury style bowling alley with a “W” shaped canopy above the entrance. There were some sketchy men and women hanging out front, but I wanted to get settled with this beast. I put loose items away, put the top down, got my coordinates for Santa Cruz, and hit Route 17 south. It was a fitting introduction to this car. With the top down, I could hear every exhaust note, and the highway is an old 2-lane with lots of curves and elevation changes. It’s a little like the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, only with many more hills.  

The first thing I noticed was how the Mustang is narrow compared to the Challenger. I drove the Challenger 10 years ago, and it remains a 75-inch wide grand touring coupe dressed at a 1970s muscle car (which is fine). The Mustang is far more nimble in its handling, with far less body roll, and far more comfort in a dense, urban setting. I’m sure the latest Camaro is an even better handler, based on lap times and journalist reviews. But the Mustang is a contemporary car now thanks to its independent rear suspension. And man does it look great, fastback or convertible.

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There have been enough detailed reviews for the Mustang, so I won’t go into one now after a long introduction. I’ll just list out some things.

Here’s what I loved:

• It isn’t too low. Getting into and out of the car was as comfortable as a 1990s Japanese compact sedan (the 1990 Nissan Sentra was intentionally low for its time). It’s low, but not Chevy Corvette low, and certainly not super low like a Lotus. It didn't feel much lower than my Hyundai Elantra, and I found the height to be livable. I drove from Pebble Beach to Big Sur, and I must have stopped to get out and take pictures 20 times along the route. I would have noticed it the car was too low for my taste. 

• The exhaust note for the 5.0 GT is impressive and somewhat old school. It doesn’t burp and pop like a Jaguar F Type. It doesn’t have the Mad Max thunder of a Chrysler Hemi V8. But in an era in which the sound of the car is a big part of the retail price, $35-$55K for a Mustang GT is a comparatively excellent value for a car that makes this much noise.

• And then there’s the bigger value - the torque and acceleration. The Mustang GT can go from 0-60 in 4 seconds. That’s faster than a 1984 Audi Sport Quattro. That’s even faster than a 2010 Audi S8 V8. It’s faster than any Aston Martin from the 1990s, as well as several 1990s Ferraris.  Before the Mustang GT, the most powerful and fastest cars I’ve ever driven were the 2003 Lincoln LS V8 and the 2015 Volvo S60 T5. Both had 250 horsepower. Both could do 0-60 in 6 seconds. This thing is a level of fast I’ve never experienced before, and I know full well that it doesn’t impress journalists today since they get to drive 3 and sub-3 second cars.

• And that power, while more than one needs, is actually practical. Getting onto a highway was never easier. Cruising in the travel lane was never more fun. Turning left with heavy incoming traffic was incredibly stress-free. The all-season Pirellis never lost grip, except in dirt on the scenic stops I made along California Route 1.

• The interior is not as slick as a BMW, but it’s so well put together. Form follows function. The audio system has two big dials that move with a satisfying notchy feel. The interior is ergonomic, comfortable, and is an updated version of the Mustang interior that has been with the car since its inception. The inside of the Mustang has never been better. I could drive for hors and hours in that bolstered seat. The continued availabilty of My Color, used to customize guage and interior ambient light color is a great bonus.  

• The visibility with the top down rivals almost any non-convertible aside from a Jeep Wrangler with the top down. And surprisingly, visibility with the top up was as good as a compact crossover, like a Jeep Renegade. You don’t ride as high, but you see everything. Having wide-angle blind spot mirrors set inside each side view mirror helped out a great deal. Thank you, Ford.

• Suprisingly comfortable. Even with 19-inch wheels, the Mustng didn’t feel like my Elantra Touring with low profile tires. Of course, being in a state with mostly smooth roads helped out a lot. This was not Manhattan. But when driving slow, the ride was classic Ford. It was like a lower Ford Taurus at slow speed. Smooth and comfortable. And at speed, I got almost the ideal amount of road feedback. The Miata and Audi TT are more connected to the road. But this was still very good. The ride was never harsh.

• The base brakes are outstanding. A lot of owners would look to Brembo or Stop Tech upgrades. But the brakes out of the factory are fine in the GT. The stopping power was big, like the motor.

• The Wet/Snow mode does its job at reducing torque (at least that’s what I think it does). Grip comes down to tires, of course, but for a rear wheel drive muscle car, this is a great feature.

• All the exterior lights are LED. Love them.

• I fit in the back seat just fine. I am 6’3” 200 pounds.

• The trunk is about 4’ x 3’ and fits two rolling bags plus 1-2 carry-on bags just fine. For traveling couples, the Mustang convertible can securely carry your luggage. Nothing remians in the car to blow around when the top is down.

• I am very surprised that I got over 21 miles per gallon in nearly 600 miles of driving. And I didn’t go easy on the throttle, like I normally do. I had some fun, and once unintentionally clocked 85 on the highway.

• The Ford/GM 10-speed automatic transmission is super smooth and responsive. Like any contemporary gearbox, it is quick to upshift and hold high gears in order to conserve fuel. I caught it going into 10th gear at under 50MPH regularly. But it does not annoy. For someone who will never drive stick, it was great to have a responsive transmission that got the most out of what I wanted from the motor (which was simple, I drive slow).

And here’s what I didn’t like as much:

• The volume controls on the steering wheel are too narrow.. You can find them by feel but they are tiny. I need an extra quarter of a second to find the center of each button with what I think are average-sized thumbs.

• Android Auto sometimes cut out and returned me to the standard SYNC3 interface. I blamed my extra long, braided USB cable and not the car. But I had no shorter cable to use.

• Collission warning and adaptive cruise control were not on my car, but I could have used them in my first hour. There was stop and go traffic leaving San Jose, and I would have appreciated a more active driver aid system. Consumer Reports argues that every new car should have these systems, despite adding at least $500 to the sticker price.

• There is no sunroof option, unlike the Dodge Challenger. I take it that the Camaro has no sunroof option either. If you want sunshine, opt for the convertible.

And so far, that’s all I have found that I do not like. This raises a question for me, personally. I am currently shopping for a compact crossover. A Jeep Renegade is my ideal-sized vehicle for New York City. But could the Mustang be the car I am seeking? Probably not, as there is still the Northeast road quality issue. The potholes would still annoy me in a low-riding car. But in every other aspect I can think of, a Mustang would work. It’s the right size. With the 300 horsepower EcoBoost motor, I’d get closer to 30MPG. My wife could sit in the back when driving hose guests to and from the airport. There would be a need to switch to snow tires in November and all-season tires in April. But there are ways to make that work, even without a garage.

What I learned in my four days with the Mustang GT is that it deserves a place in the most iconic American vehicles made today. The Jeep Wrangler, Chevy Corvette, Chevy Camaro, Ford F-150 and Ford Mustang are living icons of the US auto industry. And of those, the Wrangler, Corvette and Mustang are the most iconic. I drove an icon. And now I want one. That’s why it’s easy to rent a Mustang convertible. They help sell Mustangs. I really want a mustang. A red one, with a red exterior, EcoBoost motor and a ragtop.

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Ford And Other Automakers Doubling Down On Crossovers And Trucks

Ford brought cars to the masses in 1908 with the Model T. It cost about $20,000 in today's dollars ($1,000 back then).

GM perfected the market segmentation with their tree or pyrimid of brands. 

Customers would start their car ownership years with a Chevy. Or they could start with an Opel or Saturn back when they were available. Then they could move up to a flagship Chevy (Tahoe, Camaro, or Corvette for example). Or, if they preferred, they could move to an Oldsmobile (Grand touring brand), Pontiac (Muscle car brand) or Buick (quasi luxury for Geezers, now Opels for for the Chinese). They could also switch to a GMC (luxury truck brand). And if they reach the top of the GM pyramid, Cadillac awaited them.

That paradigm seems to be under threat, at least temporarily until every automaker has an entry-level electric car.

Ford has announced that it is going to stop selling four cars in the US and Canada: The Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Taurus. They are doubling down on crossovers and trucks, where the higher profit margins are. Ford had only recently given the Fusion a makeover, with a new 8-speed transmission, which is coming to the next Focus and Escape. 

This means that later this year, the least expensive Ford in the US will be the front wheel drive EcoSport, at $20,000. Currently, the least expensive Ford is the base, manual transmission Fiesta at $15,000. 

Gasoline prices will surely rise again. And when they do, Ford will lose market share to GM, Toyota, and Hyundai/Kia. But they have laid out their strategy of profit margins over market share. The Mustang, F-150, Bronco, baby Bronco. EcoSport, Escape, Edge, Explorer and Expedition will drive Ford sales in the US and Canada for the next few years. Plus their commercial vehicles like the Transit can and F-250 truck will continue to sell very well. By the time the Bronco and baby Bronco are released, we'll know if this was a smart strategy.

Rot In Hell Mrs. Bush

Donald Trump skipped her funeral, and I approve! She was a rotten, terrible human being. She was the mother of a war criminal and the wife of a former CIA head and insecure, war-mongering Vice President and President. I acknowledge quite a lot of things about her. I acknowledge that she had a hard life as a young woman. I acknowledge that she had a traumatic miscarriage. And I appreciate that she consistently supported reproductive rights (mostly privately, but sometimes publicly).

However, even after acknowledging all that, I refuse to forget all the terrible things about Barbara Bush. Somehow, we're supposed to forget that Bush was a racist, and had zero empathy or sympathy for the poor. She also had no desire to acknowledge the cost of our wars. At least Nancy Reagan was evil and had some polish (albeit creepy). Barbara was evil and gave zero fucks. She was a most inelegant person, like her husband. And no amount of being good early in life makes up for her being evil in the second half of her life. Some people need to be forgotten from history. Barbara Bush is one of them.

And I won't criticize her or George Sr. on their move from Connecticut to Texas. We Americans have the right to move to any state we want. But to anyone who made the argument that Barbara Bush was great Texan woman, I just have two words: Ann Fucking Richards. 

The Current State Of BMW

I am one of the last bloggers to write about this. But BMW either is or just was a mess. The world's 11th largest automobile brand is moving forward with its winning strategy of a diverse model lineup and distinct sport and luxury characteristics. This comes after a very rough patch in which the company's turbocharged, direct injection motors (as well as some of their most expensive, coveted M motors) were harboring awful secrets that both the company and even owners didn't want to talk about. 

Today's BMW has too many models in too many variations, with names that are sometimes annoying. But this is what BMW wants. And it is making a lot of money on three continents (North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific). 

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The badge above is from a BMW X1. Back in the 70s through the early 2000s, those two numbers would represent the engine displacement. However, the X1 does not have a 2.8-liter motor. It has a 2-liter motor. So what is this badge about? It's an homage to the days when base BMW motors were 2.8 liters. Somehow BMW thought that this number would matter to longtime brand loyalists. I don't think it does.

The company's model naming system is broken and will likely remain broken for the foreseeable future. Unlike Jeep or Subaru, which have 5 or 6 different models, BMW has at least 25. BMW has done something I've never seen an automobile manufacturer do outside of Japan. It has committed to serious market differentiation, and it has not lost any money doing so. As far as I know, BMW was the first car company to stretch a grand touring coupe into a 4-door sedan, added a rear liftback and call it a Gran Coupe. Who asked for the Gran Coupe? BMW is like Mexican cuisine (or perhaps Taco Bell), with combinations of the same basic ingredients, presented and meant to be eaten differently in each iteration. But one thing remains constant, and that's the fact that in the US, BMW has been a premium, luxury brand since the E30 won our hearts in the mid 1980s. At least Toyota and Honda offer cars for all types of people in their domestic market. But in the US, BMW is premium only (except that one time with the 319ti). BMW wasn't a luxury brand when it was allowed to make cars following the American occupation. However by 1985, the E30 coupe, convertible, sedan and wagon were all icons of the young professional Baby Boomer "Yuppie" era. 

I'll state one of my arguments early: With few exceptions, owning a BMW is not a great value. That's just because they are priced at least $10,000 higher than non-premium cars in the same class. But I am not here to shit on the brand. I respect it. I have driven two BMWs in my lifetime, and I understand the history and appeal of the brand. They stuck to generally more fun and track-ready rear-wheel drive platforms when the world was running to front-wheel drive as a means to reduce manufacturing costs, increase traction in winter, and bump up fuel economy. Advances in rear differentials and computer controlled driver aids like traction and stability control supported their derision to stick to making enthusiast cars. There are some models from the past and present that have a special place in my heart. And I am sure, from time to time, I will treat myself to a BMW rental through the German company, Sixt.

Loyalists to the brand would argue that BMWs age better than most other cars. In fact, German cars tend to age better thanks to classy designs. They don't necessarily last a long time. There have been some dogs. But the models that have been successful have endured decades. And if you think about it, we auto enthusiasts know the really good German cars by their chassis codes, much like Jeep models. The last air-cooled Porsche 911 was the 964. Coco Chanel, John Lennon and Jack Nicholson all owned the legendary Mercedes 600 sedan. But we call it the W100. The first BMW I ever drove was a 2003 328i, but I'll always call it the E46. The BMW 5 series of the same era is the other BMW I've driven. It's the greatest car I've ever driven, a beautiful sedan known simply as the E60. I'll still take an E60 wagon, please 

But the 2000s are over. Many changes have come to BMW. It took a while, but we auto enthusiasts had to accept that the numbers on the backs of BMWs no longer disclose the engine displacement. Also, we've had to accept that most BMWs don't come standard with straight six motors and rear-wheel drive. Some BMWs are electric. And increasingly, BMWs are built on a front-wheel drive architecture.  If we can accept and move past that, the elements of BMW remain largely unchanged. No BMW is ever under-powered. Most BMW models use some version of the ZF 8-speed transmission, which is smooth, reliable and downright dreamy. And BMW interiors have been on a roll since the turn of the century. I find the materials, layout, buttons and typefaces epitomize what we think of German design. It's logical, clear, and made to last through coffee spills and kicking children.

So of the more than 20 BMW models for sale today, what's good? Quite a lot, it seems, so long as you're prepared to fork over a small mountain of cash.

The 5 Series wagon is great. Even with 'just' a 2-liter turbo. It is awesome. Really.

BMW still makes a convertible with a manual transmission and a simple soft top. The 2 series. No one is honestly saying that this is better than the V6 Camaro convertible (the Camero can smoke it, I think). But this BMW is for those who just can't be seen in an American muscle car. That's the point. BMW and Mercedes make muscle cars that don't look like them nor carry the muscle car label. They are marketed as cosmopolitan, European luxury coupes. Exactly 30 years ago, "the ultimate tanning machine" E30 convertible was about $21,000 if you stuck to the manual gearbox and negotiated well. That's $42,500 today. And that's very close to the starting price of the 2018 230i convertible. Inflation, kids. They teach that at Harvard Business School, right?

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Right now, the ultimate enthusiast BMW is the M2. Stick shift. Over 350 horsepower. Yeah, now that keeps up with the Camaro SS and Mustang GT. This is the best of what BMW has for those who want performance and something close to the M cars of the past.

The 4 Series convertible is a cruiser with a retractable hard top, room in the back for 2 adults, and some awesome wind dampening for a quieter ride with the top down. About $620-$730 / month for a lease, or about $56,000 to buy one. That is a fine grand tourer for those who have the means. But the M4 convertible is mad. It's rare, and like the M2 it's a future collectible.

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Wanna be different? Well, BMW still sells the 3 Series wagon. Why not be different? What was great 30 years ago is still great today. It can do grocery shopping, soccer practice, beach days, and the autocross. And these days, they come with all wheel drive (X Drive).

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Want a value BMW? Do they exist? The second generation X1 is the closest thing. It's the least expensive BMW for sale in the US, along with the 2 Series coupe and 3 Series sedan. It has style, practicality and grunt. It's narrow for city streets and has a surprising amount of storage space and headroom. Still, it can do a lap of the Nürburgring in under 11 minutes with little sweat. 

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Now it's time to get weird. And BMW has several weird vehicles. I like two in particular. The 3 Series Gran Turismo is basically a 3 Series sedan with a big fat hatch in the the back.

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And the X4 is an egg of a crossover that seats just four adults. It's unusual and relatively rare. Now in its second generation, I'm sure it will soon be available in a ridiculous M edition.

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And then there are the electrics. The i3 might be discontinued in a couple of years. But it is the most successful EV behind the Tesla S in these early years of the switch to electrification. Its carbon fiber frame is a milestone in production vehicles, and it just surpassed 10,000 units sold in the UK. It's wood, carbon fiber, wool and leather interior is one of the best in the automotive world today.

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And the i8 is arguably the most impressive, sensible supercar in production. 

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Too many models. Too many variations. But BMW s doing what it wants and has the research, customer feedback, and sales figures to back up such a diverse and wacky lineup. 

A Song For Our Apocalypse

Editors have a new album. It's their sixth. And it's good. I would rank it as their fifth best in an overall strong and diverse discography. Yeah, Editors hold a special place in my heart. Their worst album, despite some poor arrangements and nods to Journey and Phil Collins, is still pretty good.  

I like 7 of the 9 tracks on the album. One song, No Sound But The Wind, was originally inspired by Cormac McCarthy's The Road. But it has gone through two different iterations.

The first recorded version was a demo that somehow made it onto the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack. You can see how it fits into a teen vampire romantic drama. Lyrics are below the video. 

We can never go home
We no longer have one
I'll help you carry the load
I'll carry you in my arms
The kiss of the snow
The crescent moon above us
Our blood is cold
And we're alone
But I'm alone with you

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
It will light our way forever

If I say shut your eyes
If I say look away
Bury your face in my shoulder
Think of a birthday
The things you put in your head
They will stay here forever
Our blood is cold
And we're alone, love
But I'm alone with you

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
It will light our way forever

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Now help me to carry the fire
It will light up our way forever

If I say shut your eyes
If I say shut your eyes
Bury me in suprise
Where I say shut your eyes

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me carry the fire
It will light our way forever

The band never formally recorded the song as it was originally written, with lyrics inspired by the premise of The Road. They started playing the original version live in 2010 and finally recorded it in 2017. But the world has changed quite a bit from 2010. And hearing this song for the first time in March 2018, I interpreted it as a song for a world with a broken EU and a US being driven into the ground by Donald Trump's GOP. It's a song for our Theresa May and Donald Trump apocalypse. Lyrics are below the video. 

We can never go home
We no longer have one
I'll help you carry the load
I'll carry you in my arms
We walk through the ash
And the charred remains of our country
Keep an eye on my back
I'll keep an eye on the road

Help me to carry the fire
To keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
This road won't go on forever

If I say shut your eyes
If I say look away
Bury your face in my shoulder
Think of a birthday
The things you put in your head
They will stay there forever
I'm trying hard to hide your soul, son
From things it's not meant to see

Help me to carry the fire
To keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
This road won't go on forever

Help me to carry the fire
To keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
This road won't go on forever

If I say shut your eyes
If I say shut your eyes
Bury me in surprise
When I say shut your eyes, eyes

Help me to carry the fire
To keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
This road won't go on forever

It's Time To Downsize Amtrak

Last month, we saw the third serious Amtrak accident of 2018 - the third in just in six weeks! Our "infrastructure president" should have his golden hair on fire about our third world inter-city train system. But of course, he can't be bothered. He just gave away $1,500,000,000 in tax cuts to himself and his wealthy pals, so a real effort to fix our miserable public infrastructure isn't going to happen. Fromt time to time there are blog posts and news stories about how aircraft in France struggle to get to their destinations ahead of the TGV trains, and nearly always fail! Every modern nation has rapid rail transit, just as they have universal health care, with the exception of the good old USA. 

Which leads me to this opinion. I think Amtrak should be downsized. I know Amtrak's charter requires it to function as a 48-state federally subsidized train network. But it is an imbalanced network. California might be able to build its own high-speed coastal rail system. Amtrak is crucial to the economy of the five city megalopolis from Boston to DC. But it is not crucial anywhere else. It has to run on freight train tracks. Ridership is poor. It can keep the Chicago to LA routes for nostalgia buffs. But it's time to reduce Amtrak to mostly northeast service only. This would require Congressional action. And rather than downsize Amtrak to make it easier to kill, I would argue we need a fully-funded Amtrak to serve the northeast. No reduction in funding. Just a new charter and mission to keep the most important part of the United States running (most important region outside of California and Texas, certainly). Amtrak needs to run better. We need new everything in the northeast. We need new roads, bridges airports, train networks, and subways. Amtrak should be re-chartered as part of a 20-year northeast infrastructure rebuilding plan. 

There's just one big problem. We're broke. It's a non-stater. And so the slide into oblivion continues. 

Uncle Tim contributed to this post. 

The Tail End Of Generation Y Steps Up

In just a few days, the youngest members of Generation Y have awakened. They have ended NRA discounts at car rental companies and have probably destroyed Marco Rubio's 2022 reelection campaign. Suddenly, I don't feel so old. The generation ahead of me has done something. Now can it keep doing it? The NRA is acting like they must be stopped. These kids have frightened the NRA. That's something that parents of 20 murdered children could not. 

This might be the beginning of a movement to make gun regulation an accepted and desired policy. And these kids who started the latest push for firearm regulation are off to the best start in US history. They will do more than just make the NRA a lobby group to avoid. Today's politicians will ignore them, but these kids will be running the nation 20 years from now. 

Even before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, Amnesty International was set to publish their annual "State of Human Rights" report. In it, they downgrade the USA due to its growing casualty counts in gun massacres. You can go read it here.

Selling Out For No Reason Whatsoever

There's a weird but good line from Se7en (1995) when Detective Somerset asks Detective Mills:

"I wonder what exactly was the point of the conversation you were about to get into?"

I thought of that line when I saw Taoiseach Leo Varadkar publicly tell a story to Donald Trump in order to flatter the criminal, bigot president of the United States.

Just what was he thinking? Are Fine Gael ministers this bloody daft?

Selling out is one thing, but selling out for absolutely nothing, to a U.S. president who is universally loathed, is mind boggling.

Fine Gael need to be voted out of power. Just what will it take to motivate the Irish to vote differently at the polls?

Chances Are Brad Parscale Is A Criminal

Brad Parscale has been officially named the manager of Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign.

I do not know much about him. I know that he's an aryan-looking dude from Kansas who got economics and business degrees from a regional university in Texas that doesn't have particularly strong business programs. I know he's a bit of a marketing hustler who reached out to businesses offering to improve their websites and overall internet presence. One of those companies was the Trump Organization in 2011. That would be around the time that Trump was thinking of running for president for the second time, and leading the allegations that Barack Obama was foreign-born and performed poorly at Columbia and Harvard. Trump even accused Obama of never attending either school. Who has a chip on his shoulder?

But back to Parscale. Given that he has been highly paid (tens of millions, apparently) by the Trump Organization since 2011, and was the Facebook marketing and advertising manager for the Trump 2016 campaign, and that campaign was full of criminals, I'd say that there's a very good chance that Parscale is a criminal as well. I have no evidence. But now there's going to be a spotlight on him given today's announcement. Investigative journalists are going to be informing us who this guy is soon. Was he really paid over $90 Million to run Trump's online presidential campaign? Wasn't that nearly one-third Trumps' entire campaign budget? That's going to be re-examined.

There is an easy pattern with the Trump Organization. It engages in blatant nepotism and richly rewards those who are loyal to it. And in order to be loyal to the Trump Organization, one has to be comfortable with the fact that it is a criminal enterprise. Therefore it is no surprise that its top people, past and present, are criminals themselves. People like Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Corey Lewandowski, Anthony Scaramucci, Ivanka Trump, Hope Hicks, Eric Trump, Allen Weisselberg, George Papadopoulos, Michael Cohen, David Pecker, Carter Page, Roger Stone, Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn. Chances are Brad Parscale is also a criminal like them. Let's see if I'm correct.  

Bad News Ahead

There are five big, bleak elections happening in the world this spring, and the all look bad.

As Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms. The problem, to put it succinctly, is that it requires an informed and engaged electorate. Americans are politically lazy, ill-informed, resentful, fearful, and often bigoted. Now obviously that isn't true for millions of our fellow citizens, but it pretty well describes the folks who've put Trump in the White House, and gave that collection of clowns and rascals known collectively as the contemporary Republican Party full control over the Congress and most state governments. It's extraordinarily hard to feel bad for people who insist on giving power to a party that despises it's own supporters. And the problems are not confined to the U.S. The idea the Italians are seriously contemplating reinstalling Silvio Berlusconi as head of their government should make civilized people weep. Basta!

Republicans Are Cowards

He's not up for re-election for another 56 months. But Marco Rubio's Senate career virtually ended this week.

Rubio's cowardice was on full display on February 21, one week after the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. What would you expect from the man who said it was "Florida's turn" for a gun massacre hours after the Pulse nightclub massacre less than 2 years ago? The problem for him and the rest of the NRA darlings is that there's no longer any place to hide on the issue of guns. All the ideologically approved slogans have outlived their shelf lives. Guns don't kill people. To stop a bad man with a gun you need a good man with a gun. Mass shootings are proof that the issue is one of mental illness, not the easy availability of combat weapons. "Gun-free zones" attract gun rampages. And these deaths are the price we pay for freedom. Every one of the shibboleths you hear when these tragedies unfold are finally being seen as the empty, hypocritical expressions of a profit-addicted gun lobby. Their time might be up. Throw the creeps out!

A Perfect Circle Came Back At The Perfect Time

Fourteen years. That's how long it has been since we've had an album from A Perfect Circle, the supergroup fronted by Tool's Maynard James Keenan. 

In 1999, Tool had released one EP and two studio albums for the decade, and there were strong indications that there wouldn't be new Tool material while the band was tied-up in record company contracts. So a side project from one of the greatest lead vocalists in rock was more than welcome. And while the lyrics in APC songs are not as complex or as profoundly pretentious as Tool songs, thunderous musicianship and atypical time signatures are still employed. Take their latest track, Talk Talk. It's an incredibly well-timed song about the uselessness of "thoughts and prayers," and has references to Christ that Keenan has done before. But what makes the song good is its use of the 3/4 time signature. Guitarist Billy Howerdel and company made the song ready for recording when they switched the tempo from 4/4 to 3/4.   

I thought this band was dead. I had forgotten that one of the greatest guitarists of the 1990s, James Iha, had joined A Perfect Circle in 2003. The 90s was a decade full of virtuoso guitarists, and I had simply assumed that the band would never record original songs with Iha. But then, in December 2017, this dark song dropped. A Perfect Circle had returned with dark tracks for these very dark times. I love The Doomed because, well, we are doomed. 

Keenan is having one of the busiest years of his life. The new APC album comes in April. He and his Tool bandmates are almost ready to record their fifth album (and first in twelve years). And he might be recording new tracks with his other side project, Puscifer, now. 

He's Not Listening

"I think the two fundamental issues were that Donald Trump doesn't read anything. Let me accent that — anything. Nothing. If you're working for the president of the United States, that's an odd position because how do you get information to him? That's already a major hurdle. But then there's the second hurdle — that not only does he not read; he doesn't listen. So it becomes from Day One, the crisis of the presidency: You can't tell him anything." - Michael Wolff

I Called It - Trump Is Seriously Bringing Us Down

Others have explained this far better than me. In January, Ellie Shechet of Jezebel wrote a feature piece on how 2017 was a year of total chaos and stress. In October, I specifically wrote this:

“Donald Trump has done something that no president has done since Nixon. He was worn down national morale.”

And now, we are beginning to see evidence. Gallup and Sharecare have released their annual Well-Being Rankings for all 50 US states. They found that for the first time since 2009, the first full year of the "great recession," their well-being index for the USA is down a significant amount - 0.6 percent. That might sound tiny, but in the history of the survey, it is a large drop. 

What areas in life did Americans experience a major drop in optimism? Areas like a sense of purpose, enjoying what you do each day, confidence in one's leader (could be political, religious, professional, a teacher - any leader), and confidence in the support of friends and family (social links, Persona fans!) All down. 

What was up? "Significant Daily Worry."

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Now what could be the cause of that? Anyone want to guess? I will kick back with a drink while you come up with explanations. We have time. Or not.