Kudos to Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) for raising the not-unimportant issue of Donald Trump’s personal character, as that character is represented by what seems to be a remarkably tawdry social life:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/430381/donald-trump-ben-sasse-twitter-question-marital-infidelity   And kudos to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Russell Moore, for asking the question “Have Evangelicals who support Trump lost their values?”   People have tiptoed around such matters, perhaps feeling that we’re too sophisticated in these wonderful days to take note of them.  But Mr. Trump’s repeated... Read more

    I could devote several days to today’s wonderfully rich chapter, 2 Nephi 9.  Certainly I could write much more than I’m going to write here.   However, true to my constraining but (for me) life-saving rule that I will only comment briefly on each chapter, I’m going to restrict myself to 2 Nephi 9:10:   O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call... Read more

    “A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither.  A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”   “If all we want are jobs, we can create any number — for example, have people dig holes and then fill them up again, or perform other useless tasks. . . .  Our real objective is not just jobs but productive jobs — jobs that will mean more goods and services to consume.”... Read more

    Now this is a fun trio!   https://www.facebook.com/lds.dieter.f.uchtdorf/photos/a.120510344786318.1073741829.114461198724566/343054325865251/?type=3&theater   Thanks to Charles Steinman for alerting me to it.     Read more

    I don’t agree with everything in this article — there are some things I definitely disagree with — and the perspective of a Latter-day Saint is distinctly (though not altogether) different from that of a mainstream Christian on a question such as this one.   But I share it as something with which I’m broadly sympathetic, and as a short essay that’s worthy of reflection.   Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for calling it to my attention.     Read more

    Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the last Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses has left me thinking of this:   ANDREYour public needs you!FIRMINWe need you, too!CARLOTTA (unassuaged)Would you notrather have yourprecious littleingenue?ANDRE/FIRMINSignora, no!the world wants you!(The MANAGERS adopt their most persuasive attitudes)ANDRE/FIRMINPrima donnafirst lady of the stage!Your devoteesare on their kneesto implore you !ANDRECan you bow outwhen they’re shoutingyour name?FIRMINThink of how they alladore you!BOTHPrima donna,enchant us once again!ANDREThink of your muse . . .FIRMINAnd of the queuesround the... Read more

    Many people in the interior American West are instinctively conservative.  One of the issues that sometimes exercise them is the intrusive role of the federal government in their lives.  For years, for example, legislators and bureaucrats from the heavily populated East set slow speed limits for highways in the sparsely populated western states.  And, of course, the federales either own or control vast areas of the American West.   Some in the West no doubt see Donald Trump as... Read more

    Alaska suffered a magnitude-7.1 quake over the weekend.  Fortunately, there was very little damage and, so far as I’m aware, there were no significant injuries.   Roughly 80% of American earthquakes occur in Alaska.   Why?   This article explains.     Read more

    In today’s reading, 2 Nephi 8 (= Isaiah 51-52:1-2), Jacob continues to cite the writings of the prophet Isaiah.   I would like to focus, very briefly, upon one verse, 2 Nephi 8:6:   “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not... Read more

    If Megyn Kelly is so frustrating and intimidating to Mr. Trump that he’s bailed out of the final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses, doesn’t that raise fundamental questions about him?   Would he find the duties of the presidency similarly irksome and frustrating?   Does he seriously expect that moderators from MSNBC or CNN would be more gentle and deferential toward him in a debate with Hillary or Comrade Bernie than a moderator from Fox News?  ... Read more