Thanks as always to my friends at If You’re Left You Ain’t Right, Pirate’s Cove, The Other McCain, Flappr, and Bacon Time for the Rule Five links!

A personal rant: There’s been a lot of hooraw lately about the renaming of, among other things, Army bases and various landmarks, like mountains.  While a lot of this was stupid, and done in the name of political correctness or “woke” sensibilities, a discussion I got into on X the other day involved one exception to this: Denali.

In 2015, the Obama Interior Department officially changed the name of the United State’s highest mountain from Mt. McKinley to Denali. This prompted some complaining, but there’s one key difference to be pointed out here, and it’s nothing to do with whatever motivations the Obama people had in doing this. No, here’s why it’s different:

Alaskans have always called it Denali.

The Indians who lived in the area called it Denali. But more recent arrivals in Alaska called it Denali, too. The state of Alaska changed its name to Denali in 1975, and it has been “Denali” in Alaskan government references, maps, and tour guides since then. Every Alaskan I know has always called it Denali.  To Alaska, it’s always been Denali, and in typical Alaska fashion, Alaskans took little notice and even less concern with what Washington called it.

That’s all there is to it.