Just before my wife and I drove off to watch the movie Arrival (which we enjoyed), I was delighted to hear of the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States.   Many people overcame their reservations about Donald Trump and voted for him because they were concerned about the future of the Court, and I confess that the hope of a constitutionalist nominee was the argument for Mr. Trump that came closest... Read more

    https://mic.com/articles/166948/this-powerful-twitter-account-is-sharing-the-names-of-jewish-refugees-the-us-turned-away-in-1939#.m6Z2Bj0ga   And, if you have five or six minutes, it might be good to watch this, or to watch it again:   https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/refuge-from-the-storm   And there’s this:   “‘We Weep When We Remember Zion’: Early Latter-day Saints as Refugees”     Read more

    There’s an entry up on the Huffington Post, by Mette Ivie Harrison, to which I would like to respond just a bit:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/thats-not-my-mormonism_b_14484376.html   Sister Dr. Harrison lists ten propositions that, she says, she “sometimes hear[s] either preached directly or indirectly about Mormonism which [she] reject[s].”  I will list them and comment on them in turn:   1. God loves us only if we are worthy of being loved. His love is not unconditional.    I know the speech... Read more

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    Nature, one of the preeminent science journals in the world, addresses the new edict from Mr. Trump regarding immigration:   http://www.nature.com/news/meet-the-scientists-affected-by-trump-s-immigration-ban-1.21389     Read more

    Because I have grave reservations about Mr. Trump’s decree regarding immigration, some are likely to resurrect the charge that I’m unwilling to give Our Leader a chance, that I’m just plain unfair.   This isn’t so.  I’m looking forward to his Supreme Court announcement tomorrow (Tuesday) evening.  Unless there’s a very big and unexpected surprise, Mr. Trump’s nominee will probably please me a great deal.   I also like some of his cabinet appointments, including the two discussed... Read more

    “A just city should favor justice and the just, hate tyranny and injustice, and give them both their just deserts.” Abu Nasr al-Farabi (d. AD 950)   Al-Farabi was writing in a period of political fragmentation, a time increasingly marked by small princedoms and even city-states.     Read more

    One of the best things I’ve read on Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration decree, and it was written by someone who cannot honestly be accused of being indifferent to the struggle against Islamist terrorism:   “Malevolence Tempered by Incompetence: Trump’s Horrifying Executive Order on Refugees and Visas”   It’s rather long, but it’s superb.   And, if you want to supplement that piece by Benjamin Wittes with other analyses, I suggest the following, from the “Volokh Conspiracy” blog, which is mostly... Read more

    The prestigious American journal Science weighs in:   http://www.sciencemag.org/news?_ga=1.226993757.194258154.1478384322     Read more

      Just in case the Church’s failure to be politically partisan regarding Mr. Trump’s immigration edict fails to generate a sufficiently satisfying and uproarious scandal, there’s now a back-up scandal that’s ready and eagerly waiting to go:   https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/30/from-book-to-boom-how-the-mormons-plan-a-city-for-500000-in-florida     For those who think that such investments represent a decision by Church leaders to satisfy their greed rather than to serve the poor and the needy, I recommend Nathan Oman’s short essay “City Creek and the Choices of Thrift.”... Read more