*** Last night, we watched a special piece from the CBS 60 Minutes program that was first broadcast on Sunday evening. It was entitled The Ritchie Boys. It focused on the former Camp Ritchie, Maryland, an elite military intelligence school during the Second World War, and on four very old survivors from among those who were trained there. All four of them, as it happened, were German refugee Jews, whose language skills and cultural background made them... Read more
*** Just three days into 2022 and you’ve already run out of good things to read? That’s not our fault. Have a look at the books that the Interpreter Foundation has published this far: Books And here are some articles from a past but still relatively recent number of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “The Rise and Fall of Korihor, a Zoramite: A New Look at the Failed Mission of... Read more
*** It was a heart-breaker. The University of Utah lost in the last twelve seconds of the Rose Bowl game, which was just completed, after having led Ohio State almost all the way. But they can be proud. No embarrassment whatsoever. Not even remotely. They played very well. And, had the game ended just a bit earlier, or perhaps if it had gone just a bit longer, they would have won. They have definitely established themselves as... Read more
*** Here are a couple of nice retrospectives that I’ve enjoyed: “Read the Church News staff’s favorite stories from 2021” “Meridian’s 15 Most-Read Articles in 2021” Have a look at the links. You might find something in them that you missed and that, it turns out, you really like. And some of you will probably watch the Rose Bowl game today. (Did you know that it’s today? Did you know that the University of... Read more
*** A new essay appeared at noon today, Utah time, in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. I regret to say that I wrote it. I don’t regret my authorship of the essay because I disagree with anything that it contains, but because I don’t like the fact that this is the second Interpreter essay in a row by, well, me. I hadn’t intended to author this year’s Christmas message, which was published last... Read more
*** Here’s a New Year’s article that I wrote for Meridian Magazine: “A Lesson from Two Great Leaders on Beginning Again When It Feels Like You’ve Failed” Here, perhaps relevant to my article above, are recent stories about a pair of Latter-day Saints that you might enjoy: “BYU’s Mikayla Colohan Named Country’s Top College Soccer Player Following Team’s ‘Magical’ Season” “Scott O’Neil’s next mountain: The NBA executive recently stepped away from the highest echelons... Read more
*** A few of you may remember that there was once an extremely unpleasant man who went by the name of Keith Olbermann. He was, at various times, a sports commentator and then a rather negligible political commentator and then a sports commentator. Well, it seems — at least according to Bethany Mandel and some other journalists — that Herr Olbermann is still (more or less) alive out there somewhere: “Perspective: Keith Olbermann’s attack on Mitt... Read more
*** Because of a grave defect in prudence and common sense, I’m now going to return to the subject of the late Latter-day Saint Senator and Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV). (See my prior post here.) This will provide yet another opportunity for intemperate haters to comment. However, although I’m a generous and forgiving host, I will not tolerate very much of their vitriol. (I’ll partially explain why, below.) First of all, here is a... Read more
*** I think I had only one significant encounter with him. (It occurred at the event at the Embassy of the Royal Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that is pictured above.) I disagreed quite comprehensively with his more striking policy positions and, on more than one occasion, found some of his actions quite morally indefensible. His hyperpartisanship — notably including his vocal disrespect for President George W. Bush and his baseless and unrepented slander about presidential candidate... Read more
*** Three new pieces were posted today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Come, Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps Lesson 2, January 3-January 9: Genesis 1-2; Moses 2-3; Abraham 4-5 — “In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth” This is yet another brief but helpful contribution from Jonn Claybaugh: Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Old Testament Lesson 2 “In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth”... Read more
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