http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436811/donald-trumps-sinking-poll-numbers-inspire-plan-b-search   Posted from Göteborg, Sweden     Read more

    I’m grateful — I suppose that’s the appropriate word — to Neville Rochow for calling this item to my notice:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-15/babies-of-late-terminations-left-to-die-without-care/7512618   Many look down upon previous generations for their moral indifference toward, or even moral support of, such things as slavery and the denial of the franchise and other basic rights to women.   But every generation has its moral blindspots.  And this, I firmly believe, represents one of ours.   Posted from Göteborg, Sweden  ... Read more

    For those who might be interested in the background of Ugo Perego’s recent presentation on the question of whether or not Joseph Smith was the biological father of Josephine Lyon via a plural wife, here’s a brief discussion:   http://www.josephsmithdna.com/uploads/4/5/4/1/4541549/white_paper.pdf   It’s quite important work.   Posted from Göteborg, Sweden     Read more

    News that, according to solid genetic evidence, Joseph Smith wasn’t the biological father of Josephine Lyon, despite what many had thought, is being used by some to argue that Joseph was nonetheless guilty of polyandry.  Is this argument supported by the evidence?   Here is a response to that issue by Brian Hales and Laura Harris Hales, who also spoke on related matters here in Sweden yesterday:     Posted from Göteborg, Sweden     Read more

    “Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.” Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982)       Read more

    “Trump Ain’t Gonna Change”   “The GOP Now Faces the Monster It Created”   By the way, every European who has raised the issue of Donald Trump with me — and there’ve been quite a number on this trip — is wondering whether America has gone mad.   Now, I realize that Europeans are typically quite a bit to the political left of Americans.  They’re certainly almost all to the left of me.  But I find it difficult... Read more

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436775/orlando-shooting-christians-sexual-morality-catholic-church-gay-marriage-theology-body   And see this, too:  “Why Can’t the Left Distinguish Conservative Christians from Islamist Terrorists?” by Jonah Goldberg, who is Jewish.   I posted on a related topic yesterday:   Mormons as hate-filled accomplices to mass murder?   Some are continuing to blame the Church, Mormons, and conservative Christians for the recent mass shooting in Orlando.  I’d like to think that such folks aren’t simply cynically exploiting a tragedy as a weapon against those they already disliked.... Read more

    You might find this of interest:   http://www.ldsliving.com/Church-Announces-New-Education-Initiative-to-Help-Saints-Around-the-World/s/82429?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email   Posted from Göteborg, Sweden     Read more

    We’ve never spent this much time in Sweden before, and we’ve enjoyed ourselves enormously.   In Uppsala, for instance, we devoted much of our attention to the cathedral, the largest Gothic structure in Scandinavia.  It’s the burial place of such notables as King Gustavus Vasa, the great botanist Carl Linnaeus, the Nobel laureate Nathan Söderblom, and the remarkable scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.     After — of all things — dinner in a Greek restaurant near the cathedral, we... Read more

    Quite a number of years ago, I gave a lecture about today’s reading, Alma 32, entitled “Experiment Upon My Word.”   So far as I recall, I’ve never published the lecture — beyond the transcript of it that can be found through the link here.   However, since my ultimate goal is to die without ever having had an unpublished thought, perhaps I should dust this transcript off and do something with it.  Candidly, I haven’t thought about... Read more