Many, many thanks to Rodney Ross for bringing to my attention this eloquent editorial by Mi-Ai Parrish, the president of the Arizona Republic, which, a short time ago and for the first time in its 125-year history, has endorsed a Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States.   Ms. Parrish writes about the distasteful response to the Republic’s editorial position:   http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/2016/10/16/publisher-response-to-threats-after-republic-endorsement-clinton-trump/92058964/   I salute her and her editorial board for their integrity and courage, and I... Read more

    My title for this post is a little bit shorter than the preview:   An update and book preview     Read more

    New4Jacksonville:  “Volunteers join Red Cross, Mormon’s hurricane cleanup effort”   The Bahamas Weekly:  “Mormons to render humanitarian aid post Hurricane Matthew”     Read more

    “But science has given us new eyes that allow us to see down to the deeper roots of the world’s structure, and there all we see is order and symmetry of pristine mathematical purity.”  “The universe looks far more orderly to us now than it did to the ancients who appealed to that order as proof of God’s existence.”  Stephen M. Barr, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith     Read more

    Listen to the exhortation of the dawn!  Look to this day!  For it is Life, the very Life of Life.  In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence.  The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty.  For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.  Look well therefore to... Read more

    In this really embarrassing incident from just slightly more than a year ago, a reporter or anchor for CNN by the name of Yasmin Vossoughian inadvertently reveals that she isn’t listening at all to her interviewee.   Somehow, he was lined up by CNN as a supporter of Edward Snowden and of Mr. Snowden’s leaks of secret documents.   But he’s actually a comedian by the name of Jon Hendren, and he insisted on answering each of her questions... Read more

    Has a Canadian team discovered evidence of intelligent life in the remote universe?   https://www.newscientist.com/article/2109139-strange-signals-from-234-stars-could-be-et-or-human-error/   Posted from Cedar City, Utah   Read more

    Ms. Lindsay Hansen-Park, founder of the Feminist Mormon Housewives podcast, has published a piece on the non-Mormon Quartz blog entitled “Hillary Clinton sounds powerful when she speaks—and that’s exactly why some women won’t give her the vote.”   It immediately becomes obvious that, by “some women,” she intends “many Mormon women.”   The article is perhaps worth a read:   http://qz.com/809136/if-hillary-clinton-wants-to-secure-the-mormon-vote-in-utah-in-the-us-presidential-election-she-might-need-to-start-using-the-primary-voice/   Here are three initial reactions to her essay from one privileged patriarchal male:   *   Granted that there... Read more

    Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.   (St. Teresa of Ávila, d. 1582)   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more

    Perhaps you’ve wondered.  But then, of course, perhaps you haven’t wondered at all.   In either case, the latest installment of the biweekly Deseret News column by William Hamblin and Daniel Peterson provides an answer to that question:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865664835/Why-was-the-New-Testament-written-in-Greek.html   Posted from Cedar City, Utah     Read more