Merrick Garland’s “Moderation”   “The Senate Should Not Act on President Obama’s Supreme Court Nomination”   In the meantime, who would a President Trump nominate to the Supreme Court?   http://spectator.org/articles/65018/who-would-donald-trump-appoint-supreme-court   We have literally no clear idea at all.   Trump in 2016!  He’ll do something to America!     Read more

    He has, absolutely, beyond reasonable doubt, coarsened political speech in the United States.  And now he seems to be encouraging thuggish violence:   Los Angeles Times: “Trump’s endorsement of violence reaches new level”   “Donald Trump: ‘Never said’ I would pay supporters’ legal fees”   I’m astonished, genuinely astonished, that apparently otherwise decent people can look upon this with benign indifference, let alone support it.   And here, unsurprisingly, is another healthy and related development:   “Hactivist Group Anonymous... Read more

    My Thursday Deseret News column for the week:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865650218/Is-the-Bible-more-like-Platos-or-Copernicus-books.html     Read more

    In today’s reading, Mosiah 4, we continue with King Benjamin’s remarkable address.   I’ll single out four passages (from among many) that I really like:   1.   I love the exhortation to humility in verse 9.  It seems particularly apt in a time and a society in which many seem to think themselves wiser than God, if that poor wretch even exists:   Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that... Read more

    They’re not joking:   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/15/bible-bonfire-isis-video-shows-christian-books-being-destroyed-adds-fuel-to-genocide-debate.html?intcmp=hplnws     Read more

    For years, critics have pointed to Joseph Smith’s use of Elijah and Elias as names or designations for distinct individuals as evidence that he was a false prophet.  After all, Elias is simply a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name of the prophet Elijah.  In his cunning ignorance, so the argument goes, Joseph unwittingly manufactured two different individuals out of the single historical Eliyahu (אֵלִיָּהוּ).   Of course, it strains credulity — at least, it does so for... Read more

    They laughed at Louis Pasteur.   They laughed at the discoverer of continental drift.   They laughed at Einstein.   They laughed at Bozo the Clown.   Being laughed at doesn’t mean you’re not ridiculous.   Of all the book reviews that I’ve written, this one — published fully a quarter of a century ago — remains one of my very favorites, if only because the book to which it responds ranks among the worst books that I’ve ever... Read more

    In an event on the BYU campus sponsored by the Interpreter Foundation, BYU Studies, the BYU College of Humanities, and the BYU Department of Linguistics and English Language, Professor Royal Skousen and Dr. Stanford Carmack will address the topic of “Editing Out the ‘Bad Grammar’ in the Book of Mormon.”   Admission is free.  Further details can be found here:   http://byustudies.byu.edu/content/special-feature-17     Read more

    I doubt that Governor Romney would succeed.  But he would, if he were somehow elected, make a very good president.   He’s not as conservative as I am.  But he’s far more conservative than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.   And he’s a good man.  Honest.  Competent.  An adult.   A third-party candidacy, though, would probably fail.  Even Teddy Roosevelt fell short when he attempted to regain the presidency on a third-party ticket.   Another possible scenario, of course, would... Read more

      1.   Wednesday, 16 March 2016 (7 PM)   Cruise Lady Event Center 9116 S Redwood Rd, West Jordan, UT, United States (map)   “The Temple Mount: What is It, What’s On It, and Why is It So Important?”   A visit to the Temple Mount is one of the high points of any trip to Jerusalem. Thousands of years of history are still represented on and around it, but its importance is far from merely historical. This... Read more