Scots Wha Hae

A genetic map of the Scottish population, superimposed upon a set of maps of Dark Age kingdoms, shows that the population has changed little in a millennium and a half.

Warning Order: Þorrablót

If you want an experience less Scottish and more Icelandic, enjoy this video.



Be sure to watch the parts about the cuisine. I don't want to hear any more complaints about the haggis.

Progress in Indonesia

Women are overcoming their shyness and taking up positions of power in Aceh province:

Here, public whipping remains a common punishment for scores of offenders for a range of charges including gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex. But the job has always been done by men. Until now....

But convincing women to participate has been no easy task, and it's taken years to assemble the first female squad, according to Safriadi, who heads provincial capital Banda Aceh's Sharia Implementation Unit.

Eight women -- all Sharia officers -- agreed to be floggers and were trained in the appropriate technique and advised how to limit injury.

Aceh is interesting because it's intensely Islamic, but has proven highly resistant to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. Aceh's particular take on Islam is so deeply held that these foreign groups find their different orthodoxies around Islam aren't acceptable there. They're more successful in the urbane regions of Indonesia, where people are persuadable about what Islam is supposed to mean. Non-Muslims who happen to be there have the option of not being tried under the religious law, too, so to some degree this is inside baseball from a culture that is policing itself. Those standards aren't ours (in particular we object to rape victims being punished for the extramarital sex!), but they are theirs, and they enforce them in a way that holds down on extremism that threatens us. If we were to go and try to interfere with their practices, they'd become enemies rather than somewhat queer and very distant 'neighbors.'

Whether and how to address our objections with them is a difficult question.

Masks Selling Out

There's a news story that surgical masks are selling out across the US as people prepare for a feared incursion by the Chinese coronavirus.  I'm not sure how helpful a mask really is in preventing transmission -- perhaps it does more to prevent you from infecting someone else than otherwise.

Still, surgical masks aren't your only option. You can also hit the hardware store. N-type masks are supposedly good against at least some biologicals, I don't know how well it works against this particular virus, of course, but if you're concerned and you can't get a surgical mask, try one that's made for particle filtration.

Endorsement: Bernie Sanders for Democratic Nominee

As longtime readers know, I am a life-long Democrat.  The part of the party to which I was attached was the oldest part, but it has largely ceased to exist in the current generation.  It was Jefferson's part, in other words, and Jackson's; lately it was Sam Nunn's and Zell Miller's.  Jim Webb (war hero Marine, former Senator, former Secretary of the Navy, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, diplomat, scholar, author) made a run at the nomination in 2016 and failed, to the sorrow of the nation whether it knows it or not. His departure from the field led us into the contest in which our options were Clinton and, well, you know the rest.

At this time the Democratic contest has narrowed to Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, with the other candidates seeming to be also-rans.  I could hardly agree less with Bernie Sanders on public policy or political philosophy.  Nevertheless, he is the better man.

He is the better man because he is a man of his convictions; Biden, as far as I can tell, has no lasting ones.  Bernie was arrested with the Civil Rights marchers in the 1960s, visited with the Soviets on his honeymoon, and has been a self-declared Socialist since the era when most Americans viewed that as a synonym for both "Communist" and "Satanist."  Bernie really believes what he claims to believe.

You may not be impressed by his convictions insofar as you think that the convictions are bad, since it will reliably mean that he will attempt bad things.  That is a strategic error.  Even if you are unalterably opposed to his convictions, an enemy of conviction is to be preferred.  A man of conviction can be predicted; on the principle of 'know thy enemy as thyself,' per Sun Tzu, he is the better choice of an opponent.

But also, he is the better man because he does not seem to despise anyone.  Jim Webb and he became friends, and supported each other at the first debate in 2016.  Bernie took fire in that debate and elsewhere for being willing to avoid gun control; he said, rightly, that coming from Vermont he had to respect the wishes of the rural population.  That sentiment will serve him and the nation well should he happen to be elected.

Finally, he is the right man to lead the Democratic field in 2020 because he is the purest advocate for their animating vision.  They need to know now whether or not that vision can in fact take root in America; we all need to know it.  The answer to that question will determine a very great deal of future history.

For all of these reasons, then, I endorse Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Johnny Cash

Arkansas decides to update its statuary.

Last Train From Wuhan

A reporter gets aboard. But isn’t that where the story is?

Sorting out the front-runners

People are beginning to suggest this week that it's a race between Sanders and Biden to oppose Trump.  There are signs the D establishment will pull out all the stops to kneecap Sanders in favor of Biden, the theory being that they're comfortable with Biden's crony capitalism but terrified of Sanders heartfelt (though reckless) anti-capitalism.

Here's how I frame the approach of the three candidates:  Biden is a true-blue crony capitalist.  Sanders despises the "capitalist" part of that equation, while Trump is at least skeptical of the "crony" part.

To adopt a different spectrum of organization:  on a scale of enthusiasm for centralized command-and-control economies, Bernie is all in for control by an enlightened socialist elite, Biden favors control by cronies, and Trump genuinely prefers a more free market with distributed control in the hands of as many ordinary Americans as possible.

To the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns

We attended a Burns Night supper this evening.

Robbie Burns

That’s a haggis, in case you’ve never actually seen one. Note that the supper did not serve a choice of beer or wine or whisky. All three were served together. 

To Fight Discrimination, Discrimination

On race and sex, but also national origin.

Wall Street's biggest underwriter of initial public offerings in the U.S. will no longer take a company public in the U.S. and Europe if it lacks a director who is either female or diverse. Asia is not yet included in the firm’s new policy.

Soft bigotry of low expectations, that last.

Le quatrième pouvoir, c'est moi

Lots of good links from Maggie's Farm this morning. Here's one about Laura Ingraham's report that the New York Times quashed a story about a White House meeting on the eve of Trump's inauguration, involving Eric Ciaramella and Ukrainian officials, and addressing the problem of Hunter Biden's Burisma connections.

Ingraham asked the NYT why they quashed the story. The answer was, in effect, we did it because it's what we do.

That's me, "fringe thinker"

Somebody better shut me down.

“YouTube, Reddit and Facebook have allowed fringe thinkers to bypass traditional gatekeepers and reach millions of people directly.”

I'm shocked to learn that conservative argument "gets clicks by generating fear and outrage, not by appealing to reason." That would never happen on the left.

I like the term "anti-establishment conservative content." These days it turns out I get to be conservative and anti-establishment at the same time, a childhood dream fulfilled. This one's good, too:

Senior CNN Reporter Oliver Darcy says citizens resist his reporting because they “just won’t digest facts.”

You can believe me, because I never lie, and I'm always right!

A monopoly on charity

The usual response by command-and-control monopolists to the anxiety that they'll be outcompeted by the private sector:

The same journalist who wrote the recent Time cover story also authored a book savaging philanthropy as “an elite charade” that does more harm than good, a tool of injustice in a rigged system, a means of suppressing dissent, a way of disguising merciless taking by appearing to give back. He attributes to donors every imaginable motive -- vanity, cynical reputation laundering, undemocratic manipulation, drop-in-the-bucket cheapness -- except altruism and good faith. For these fashionable arguments the work was anointed a “book of the year” by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and NPR.

Other critics make the same arguments. Philanthropic giving is “an undemocratic exercise of power” which should be wielded only by the state, says Stanford’s resident philanthropy academic. Even well-intentioned charitable efforts must be shut down, say the new activists, because they undercut the revenue and authority of the federal government. Powerful interests ranging from elite media to Democrats running for president insist that only government officials should be allowed to improve public welfare and reform society.

Sky Eyes

It is a surprising fact that, if you go up to the right height, roads and human construction become obviously visible though they may be thousands of years old. Though they may, in fact, be completely invisible if you are walking the land, from above you can see clearly where once men scarred the earth.

For example, spy satellites have recently discovered an older city than any on record — a city long forgotten. Robert E. Howard was right.

The buzz

The Bee reports on Schiff anxiety:

"When the Founders wrote that founding document thing, they never imagined there would be electoral outcomes that Democrats did not agree with."

Democrats also said they even have hard evidence that the 2016 election was compromised by Republicans voting for Trump.

That's something you don't hear very often

Something described as a "grinding" facility in NW Houston blew up early this morning, damaging houses in a surprisingly large radius.  Two deaths have been reported, apparently from right at the blast site.

Watching the local news coverage, I was struck by three things.  First, police and firefighter representatives are completely comfortable switching back and forth between fluent English and Spanish.  Second, the warning to potential looters was fierce and completely believable, including the advice to consider what happened to Harvey looters (a 20-year sentence, in one case).  Finally, residents were gently encouraged to search their yards and roofs for body parts.  That's a first for me.

The blast showed up clearly on weather radar, a signal covering several square miles.  Here's a shot from a front-porch security camera that was far enough away to require a couple of seconds for the shock wave to hit.

"I dreamed I saw Kurt Schlichter last night...."

Organize!

[T]urn your anger into votes. The gunfascists got into power because far too many of you thought, “Oh, we’ve had Democrats in power in Virginia before and it’s no big deal.” Okay, wrong. The Democrats today are not the Democrats of yesterday.

And, as he advises, watch out for wusses in the Republican primaries, too.

Paid your own loans back? You're a chump

PowerLine reports candidate Warren's "Joe the Plumber" moment.

The Hill notes that the man cited his friend who makes more money than he does and, instead of paying off his loans, bought a car and went on expensive vacations.

“I saved my money,” the man said. “He made more than I did. I worked a double shift, worked extra … so you’re laughing at me.”

Warren's riposte was devastating:

“No I’m not,” Warren responded.

Iran's Failure

Jim Hanson (formerly "Uncle Jimbo" of BLACKFIVE fame) has a piece on the failure of Iran to extend itself across the Levant.  Their strategic situation has become much worse thanks to the Trump administration, even apart from the Suleimani killing.

A Peaceful Insurgency

Colonel Kurt on the way forward in Virginia.