Homecoming Notes

So I’m finally on my way home from Spain today, via five-day “layover” in Iceland. It turns out that Iceland Air will book you trans-Atlantic itinerary (but how long until “trans-Atlantic” takes up an unacceptable meaning??) through Reykjavik that allows you to stay five days in Iceland on the way, so this was too irresistible after finding the one cloudy spot in northern Spain to take in the total eclipse. So I rented a Land Rover to hit the very challenging back roads in the highlands, and only blew one tire. (Likely the moment in the second video below.)

Anyway, I spotted a headline in an Icelandic news source on my way of out town this morning:

Hmmm, what could this possibly be about? The article was rather spare and circumspect, but you don’t need to have an advanced degree in reading between the lines to figure it out:

A group of boys from Qatar was escorted by police from Iceland’s National Scout Jamboree, which was held in Akureyri from July 21 to 27. . .

Early in the jamboree, inappropriate harassment by boys in the group toward girls attending the event was reported. Scouts between the ages of 10 and 17 were taking part in the jamboree.

Despite being reprimanded by the organizers, the group did not heed the warnings, and security at the jamboree site was subsequently increased. When that proved insufficient, police were called to the scene and asked to explain to the group from Qatar that they would have to leave the site.

So, the religion of peace and tolerance shows up again. Don’t they know yet that you’re supposed to go to Britain to behave that way?

• If you have three minutes or so, here’s a very rough cut of just a few of the scenes I managed to capture in pixels (longer more polished version with some backing music and narration to come):

And here’s the moment where I’m pretty sure I wrecked the right front tire on a rock I hit hard crossing a stream. (The video may look odd, as the car rocks while the picture is steady. I shot it with a GoPro Hero 13, which has a stabilization function that is remarkable, especially when fitted with an anamorphic lens for the wide letterbox framing.)

• A couple article updates. My latest for Civitas Outlook is a contribution to a symposium on constitutional reform, in my case whacking Progressives for what I am calling “Progressive Constitutional Bipolar Disorder” (hopefully PCBD in the next edition of the DSM). Sample:

To behold contemporary Progressive attitudes toward the Constitution is to see what could be mistaken for clinical bipolar disorder. On the one hand, a common refrain from the left today is that President Donald Trump is an existential threat to the Constitution. Yet in the very next breath, leading Progressives will say: the Constitution stinks and should be changed wholesale.

Read the whole thing, as the saying goes.

On a lighter note, I also have up at The Libertist, a new journal of the Pacific Research Institute, an article celebrating the greatness of the air fryer: “Have You Accepted the Air Fryer as Your Lord and Savior?” You can find a short history of its development and why it is going to make the microwave obsolete in the same way the personal computer killed typewriters, along with one of my favorite quick recipes. And here’s proof of my love for it:

Extra credit for anyone who can decode the deep meaning of my t-shirt here.