There was, no doubt, an Islamic component (of some sort) in the killing of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey a few days back.  After all, the assassin did yell Allahu akbar! (“God is most great!”).  But this cry is not uncommon at crisis points or moments of exultation.  The relief first officer of the Egyptair flight that crashed into the Atlantic back in 1999, for example, also cried Allahu akbar! just before the aircraft slammed into the sea, killing all aboard.... Read more

    http://www.space.com/35112-junocam-public-camera-nasa-citizen-scientists-jupiter-photos-art.html   We never had such excellent images when I was a young whippersnapper.  Of course, daguerreotypes were still in their infancy.     Read more

    A follow-up to my earlier post on this topic:   Some are really upset, apparently, that by accepting an invitation for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to sing at the inauguration of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is making a political statement.   This is nonsense.   The Tabernacle Choir has already performed at the inaugural ceremonies for the Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), as well as for the Republicans Richard M. Nixon... Read more

    I’ve been challenged repeatedly over the past two or three days by people attempting to equate Islam with Communism and/or Nazism, and by others, from a different perspective, who’re trying to argue that Stalin and Mao and folks like that really weren’t atheists, or that their atheism had nothing to do with their programs of mass murder, and/or that Adolf Hitler was actually a Catholic and beloved of the Catholic Church, so that, once again, the Holocaust can be — must... Read more

    Taki Theodoracopulos, the urbane, long-time, and sometimes (be warned!) slightly off-color columnist for the distinguished British conservative magazine The Spectator — who is emphatically not himself a Latter-day Saint — takes a surprising view of happiness and where it’s to be found:   http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/happiness-is-being-a-mormon/   Incidentally, The Spectator, which first appeared in 1828, is the oldest continuously published magazine in the English-speaking world.  The list of those who’ve contributed to it is extraordinarily impressive.     Read more

    http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-tabernacle-choir-trump-inauguration   For obvious reasons, I have mixed feelings about this.  But not terribly mixed:  The United States of America, and the presidency of the United States of America, are, and should be, far bigger than any one occupant of the White House.  (The story that I recently told about Herbert Hoover seems relevant in this instance.)  And, although they’ve been favored by Republican presidents, the Choir have sung for, and at the inaugurations of, presidents of both... Read more

    My 2016 Deseret News Christmas column has appeared:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865669735/Christmas-and-the-ultimate-restoration-of-all-things.html   It’s received a couple of Grinch-like comments so far from two of the usual suspects, but that’s not too bad.     Read more

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865669736/One-year-and-counting-Scholarly-website-helping-to-increase-understanding-of-the-Book-of-Mormon.html?clear_cache=1   Congratulations to all involved!     Read more

    “Instinct is a marvelous thing,” mused Poirot.  “It can neither be explained nor ignored.” (Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, chapter 8)     Read more

    This interview treats an interesting little bit of Latter-day Saint history:   When Mormons first went to Harvard …     Read more