An interesting article by Furqan Shaikh, a physician and writer based in Toronto, Canada.  The nature and location of the places that he’s chosen — one in Massachusetts and four in the District of Columbia — might surprise you, as it did me:   Five Great Places of Islamic History in the U.S.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Like most kids — boys, at least — I loved dinosaurs.  I still like them.  And Utah is rich with them.   http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/05/18/new-dinosaur-species-discovered-in-american-southwest.html?intcmp=hpbt4   Someday, I would like BYU to have a dinosaur museum fully worthy of its remarkable collection.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    “I’m a conservative, but I’m not in a bad mood about it.”  (Mike Pence [R], governor of Indiana)   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    “Dystopia:  Venezuelans Are Now Hunting Cats, Dogs, and Birds for Food Because Socialism Can’t Provide”   “In Venezuela, Socialism is Killing Venezuelans”   Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven! Oh! times, In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways Of custom, law, and statute, took at once The attraction of a country in romance!   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    I posted a link yesterday to an article on Moses 7 that I published roughly a decade and a half ago.  Here’s another article on Moses 7 that I hope you’ll find of interest — this one published a while back in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Jacob A. Rennaker, and David J. Larsen:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/revisiting-the-forgotten-voices-of-weeping-in-moses-7-a-comparison-with-ancient-texts/   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    I’m told that I’m angry, bitter, unchristian, a whiner, and many other bad things, because of my vocal opposition to putting Mr. Donald Trump in the White House.   I also oppose Hillary Clinton for the presidency, but, somehow, I don’t imagine that my opposition to Mrs. Clinton will be seen as angry, bitter, or unchristian.  (I haven’t yet begun to “whine” about her candidacy, but the time for that will soon come.)   In any event, here are... Read more

    A nice essay from back on 30 April of this year, by Neal Rappleye:   http://blog.fairmormon.org/2016/04/30/bring-forth-fruit-patience-lessons-faith-patience-book-mormon-archaeology-2/   Posted from Richmond, Virginia   Read more

    First, let me say that I have absolutely no problem with the theory that early migrations across a Bering Straits land bridge produced much of the historical DNA of the Americas.  I’m perfectly fine with that idea.  I realize that I’m supposed to hate and fear science — a number of people who don’t know me have informed me that I do — but, try as I might, I just can’t.   Nor do I imagine that the amendment... Read more

    I had some personal (and even professional) contact with former U.S. Senator Bob Bennett over the years, and the more I came to know him, the more I respected him.   I think I’ve mentioned this before:  In the wake of the 11 September attacks, Senator Bennett decided that, like most Americans, he knew very little about Islam and the Middle East.  Unlike most, though, he undertook a serious program of self-education on the subject — and I saw... Read more

    The latest specimen of my weekly column for the Deseret News is now up:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865654549/Sweet-are-the-uses-of-adversity.html   Sigh.  One of my regular atheist critics is already complaining about supposed religious glorification of suffering — as if my column had advocated or endorsed anything remotely like that.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more