Fascinating.  A part of the standard story of the peopling of the Americas with which I grew up seems now to have been falsified:   http://www.nature.com/news/plant-and-animal-dna-suggests-first-americans-took-the-coastal-route-1.20389   By the way, I’m fine with the idea of migrations across the Bering Strait.  It doesn’t bother me at all.  And, though I read just a few minutes ago online that I’m a young earth creationist or something of that sort, I never have been.  I have no particular problem with... Read more

    This is fascinating to me:   http://beta.deseretnews.com/article/865659843/Exclusive-Hillary-Clinton-What-I-have-in-common-with-Utah-leaders-2-religious-freedom-and-the.html?pg=all   And you can bet that she wouldn’t have spent much effort on it (or, rather, had some of her supporters do so) if Team Clinton considered a win in Utah impossible.     Read more

    I’ve observed here previously that, for the first time in decades, an American presidential election will be interesting in Utah.   Here’s a fact that illustrates what I’m saying:   Both Evan McMullin and the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson have their headquarters in Salt Lake City!   I have reservations about Gary Johnson — and, for that matter, about libertarianism as a whole, though I’m sympathetic to it (especially on economics) — but I’ve long wished that Utah had... Read more

    But I don’t live in her district.     Read more

    “Truly, God will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” Qur’an 13:11     Read more

    “Mormon Candidate Will Not Answer Question Regarding Mormon Focus of Campaign”   I hope and trust that the Trumpist comments following this article on the ardently Trumpist Breitbart website aren’t representative of Trumpists generally.   But it’s pretty clear that, for at least some Trumpists, Mormons rank just above Mexicans and Muslims as enemies of the great America that Trumpism seeks to create.   Check the comments out, if you don’t believe me — and if you promise not... Read more

    This is a controversial subject.  Here’s one perspective:   http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/08/why_do_religious_people_behave_morally.html     Read more

    Several dozen prominent former national security officials — all of them Republicans — have signed an open letter declaring their opposition to the presidential candidacy of Mr. Donald J. Trump and outlining the reasons for their opposition.   Plainly, the Establishment doesn’t want Our Leader to make America great again.     Read more

    In connection with the challenge to certain critics that I offered yesterday, my friend Royal Skousen has just sent me the following note:   Well, Dan, early on I did mention the possibility of a committee. I have never speculated on who might be on the committee, not even jokingly that it included William Tyndale (in fact, his English is too early).  I definitely do NOT recall the conversation you put on your blog. But this is what I have written... Read more

    I think perfect objectivity is an unrealistic goal; fairness, however, is not.  Michael Pollan (University of California at Berkeley)   I would go somewhat further:  I don’t think that perfect objectivity is even a desirable goal.  But that’s a complex subject.  Fairness, however, is something for which we should all strive.  It’s just to others, and it’s immeasurably valuable to ourselves.     Read more