“You have enemies?  Good.  That means you’ve stood up for something sometime in your life.” Winston Churchill       Read more

    You cannot be unaware that today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.   But, please, don’t just pass indifferently over that fact.   Almost exactly 3000 people died as a result of those four plane hijackings.       The quantity of the sorrow that ensued and that, no doubt, continues is beyond human reckoning.   Here’s just one way of thinking about it:  Probably at least a few of those who died in the... Read more

    Because of the controversial circumstances of its discovery, the Grolier Codex was denounced by prominent scholars as a forgery and a fraud.   We now know that they were wrong:   “Oldest Manuscript in the Americas Confirmed”   For a very brief account of the relevance of the story of the Grolier Codex to evaluations of the Book of Mormon, see   “The Sobering Lesson of the Grolier Codex”     Read more

    Yes, indeed.  There is such a thing.   In my childhood, by the way — back when North America was almost two yards further to the east northeast than it is today — we didn’t know about “graphic novels.”  We read comic books.  But that term, I take it, is very much out of fashion these days, and, from what I’ve seen of “graphic novels,” it really wouldn’t be adequate to them anyway.   Be that as it may, though,... Read more

    “Get the Catholic Perspective”:   http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=177370     Read more

    A remarkable man:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.nz/article/%C2%A0fisher-for-the-poor     Read more

    Yes, she’s a lifelong liberal Democrat.  And, yes, we’ve almost certainly voted in opposition to one another since the first election in which we could both cast a ballot.  And we won’t be voting together this time, either.   (Funny aside:  I received a call today from a Clinton fundraiser.  They’re working through a list of Latter-day Saints who have come out in public opposition to Mr. Donald J. Trump.  When I informed the caller that I wouldn’t... Read more

    شر عيوبنا اهتمامنا بعيوب الناس “The worst of our faults is our interest in other people’s faults.” ‘Ali b. Abi Talib     Read more

    I can’t confirm this report, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true.  Mr. Trump’s campaign has been unwilling to set up state offices or spend much on staff or ads, and he’s notoriously unwilling to read or to study.  (Reports on that score go back for years.)     Read more

    It’s scarcely surprising, of course, that the 9-11 attacks affected American attitudes toward Islam.  But the article is still interesting:   http://www.npr.org/2016/09/07/492413599/sept-11-marked-turning-point-for-muslims-in-increasingly-diverse-america?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=religion   Be sure to notice, too, who else ranks at the bottom of American religious esteem!   And this was achieved without even destroying any skyscrapers, which makes it all the more impressive.     Read more