I like this.  I like the human reality of it.  It’s not about mere abstractions:   http://www.standard.net/Me-Myself-as-Mommy/2017/06/29/Column-Listen-to-a-story-of-a-Mormon-girl-at-a-Ramadan-feast.html   Posted from Barcelona, Spain     Read more

    Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.   A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.   Fanaticism consists of redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.   Only the dead have seen the end of war.      Posted from Barcelona, Spain Read more

    This is not a pleasant prospect:   https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/06/29/is_war_between_a_rising_china_and_a_dominant_america_inevitable_134325.html   I certainly hope that Chinese and American leaders will be good enough and wise enough to avoid such a catastrophe.   Posted from the Mediterranean Sea     Read more

    My initial objection to the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump regarded his character.  It was always my principal concern, and it remains so to this day.   Jay Nordlinger gets it right:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/449114/latest-names-character-donald-trump   Posted from the Mediterranean Sea     Read more

    The rise of socialism to renewed popularity is scarcely good news, because socialism, when enacted, is a major threat to human wellbeing.  Like other quack cures, though, it has a certain appeal to many.   This article attempts to account for its current return to popularity:   https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/06/29/why_socialism_is_back_134324.html   Posted from the Mediterranean Sea     Read more

    A common accusation against Muslims and Islam by some inflamed critics is that Muslims are encouraged to lie to non-Muslims, so that we outsiders can’t trust a single thing they say.   I intend to write up a rather serious treatment of this topic.  But, in the meantime, here’s a little item from a Muslim.  It could have used some editing, but it’s a legitimate response:   http://islamicresponse.blogspot.com.es/2011/05/what-is-taqiyya.html   Posted from the Mediterranean Sea     Read more

    I’m pleased at these changes:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865683828/Pants-for-women-parental-leave-for-all-LDS-Church-employees.html   Two personal experiences:   1.   Many years ago, in the early afternoon of an exceptionally hot summer day during my mission in Switzerland, my companion and I were tracting and knocked on a door.   A man opened the door and immediately invited us in, something that we weren’t accustomed to.   “You’re Mormon missionaries, right?” he asked.   We said that yes, we were.   “I thought so,”... Read more

      And perhaps, although they’re gone, they’re not . . .   http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2017/06/29/the_amazing_fate_of_the_first_stars.html   Posted from the Mediterranean Sea     Read more

    “If a person never contradicts himself, it must be that he says nothing.” Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936)   Posted from the Mediterranean Sea     Read more

    My sense is that he may have exaggerated the importance of the Fath al-Bari just a bit.  Nevertheless, Joel Blecher’s fundamental point remains both sound and important:   https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/06/islam-manuscript-discovery-istanbul/531699/   In particular, I often encounter critics of Islam who think that, by quoting a cherry-picked passage or two from the Qur’an — usually cherry-picked for them by a hostile website, without regard to historical context or the history of interpretation — they’ve settled the question of “What Muslims... Read more