I’ve always felt sympathy for the Confederacy.  Not, certainly, because of its support of slavery.  That was a moral enormity, grossly inconsistent with the founding principles of our nation.   Partly, I suppose, it’s the romance of a lost cause.  Those fighting on behalf of the South were, by and large, just as good, just as sincere, just as idealistic, just as devoted to their homes and their families, as were those who fought for the North.  They... Read more

    Guys, I know.  I understand.  I get it.  She’s by far the most attractive element of Trumpism.  It could be argued, in fact, that she’s the only attractive aspect of the Trumpist ascendency.   But there are serious issues involved here.  Really:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/432679/donald-trump-melania-trump-immigration-h1b-visa   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    I published this article back in 2002, in a Festschrift honoring Truman Madsen:   http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1122&index=12   The book is, I expect, long out of print, but I like to bring the article up from time to time because . . .  well, because I like it.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    I really, really like this:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jimi-hendrix-korean-instrument_us_56c9cb4ee4b0ec6725e2f298?ir=Entertainment&   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    It turns out that what we know through science may be only a tiny fragment of what we don’t know:   http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/05/what_lies_beneath.html   One reader of my blog — a rigidly dogmatic and very vocal atheist — thinks that I post such things as this (and this) as part of a campaign against science, which, oddly, he seems to regard as an inherently atheistic enterprise that competes directly with religious faith.   He’s wrong.   On several counts.... Read more

    “‘O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ he chortled in his joy.”   The Book of Mormon — no, silly! not that one! — draws academic attention:   http://www.hartwick.edu/news/hartwick-colleges-shaw-releases-book-on-book-of-mormon/   Will Hartwick College replace Brigham Young University as a center for scholarly Book of Mormon studies?   Perhaps somebody affiliated with BYU has contributed to this important new volume!   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    The other day, I mentioned the topic of Book of Mormon “coinage,” a perennial target of critics of Joseph Smith and Mormonism, as an illustration of a rather different point.   Before I leave the subject of coinage altogether, though, here are a couple of links to discussions of the issue that are well worth a look:   “Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Coins”   “Weighing and Measuring in the Worlds of the Book of Mormon”   Posted from... Read more

    Here’s an article about Mr. Gill Parker Payne, 37, a patriotic and public-spirited resident of Gastonia, North Carolina:   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3589980/Gill-Parker-Payne-Gastonia-North-Carolina-pleads-guilty-ripping-woman-s-hijab-Southwest-Airlines-flight.html   I wonder who Mr. Payne’s preferred presidential candidate might be.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Dang.  I’m grateful to Chris Shearer for calling this remarkable obituary to my attention, but it was a bit late:   http://www.richmond.com/obituaries/article_c21b60bc-1153-5abd-b3c8-268cfd32eb57.html   The funeral was within practically a stone’s throw of where I’m currently typing.  We could have attended!   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. P.J. O’Rourke   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more