http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/donald-trump-shooting-vote-218145?cmpid=sf#ixzz3y6Hw4Mip       Read more

    I would estimate that, over the past several weeks, two-thirds of the political ads I’ve seen on television have been commercials sponsored by Jeb Bush’s super pac and dedicated to harsh criticism of Marco Rubio.   I don’t understand it.  And, truth be told, I’m disappointed and, really, irritated by it.   Jeb Bush seems to be a decent fellow.  And he was, by most accounts, a popular and exceptionally successful governor.  If he were the Republican nominee,... Read more

    Cody Quirk calls my attention to this article, which was published on 15 January:   “Golden statue of angel Moroni placed atop Philly Mormon temple, marking ‘significant milestone'”   He says that the anti-Mormons are running wild in the comments section.  I wasn’t able to find the comments section, though.  Which may well be a divine blessing to me, a “tender mercy.”   Here’s a more recent piece about the new temple, with some good accompanying photographs (located... Read more

    I don’t read Mommy blogs, Mormon or otherwise, but I’ve heard enough about some of them, and about the sometimes rather odd thinking out there on and off blogs, that I really liked this:   http://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/real-life/humour/ten-little-monkeys-as-told-by-every-mum-you-ever-met-on-the-internet   Incidentally, while I’m not very sentimental and while I know that it takes no particular skill or character simply to be a biological mother (or, for that matter, a biological father), good mothers rank at the top among the very best people... Read more

    A stimulating little piece from “The Muttering Mormon”:   https://mutteringmormon.wordpress.com/2016/01/08/yeah-but-discipleship/   “It is an easy thing to believe in the dead prophets, but it is a greater thing to believe in the living prophets. . . . “One day when President Grant was living, I sat in my office across the street following a general conference. A man came over to see me, an elderly man. He was very upset about what had been said in this conference... Read more

    Jabra Ghneim drew this to my notice:   http://www.standard.net/Faith/2016/01/23/Smithfield-man-writes-book-designed-to-help-others-study-the-Book-of-Mormon   I suspect, from the description, that many people out there might well find Brother Taylor’s book helpful.  I plan to take a look at it myself.     Read more

    An interesting Scientific American interview with an eminent mathematician, physicist, and cosmologist who also, it turns out, happens to be a Christian:   http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/physicist-george-ellis-knocks-physicists-for-knocking-philosophy-falsification-free-will/   Some of it’s a bit rarified, but it covers a range of topics, including the question of what relationship there is, if any, between his faith and his science.   (Thanks to Stephen Smoot for alerting me to this interview.)     Read more

    By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord‘s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand... Read more

    “What is better than wisdom?  Woman.  And what is better than a good woman?  Nothing.” Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 25 October 1400)     Read more

    http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/3450134-155/from-surge-to-slump-no-but   Some critics are chortling in triumph, but I’m not sure how significant it really is.   After all, it was entirely predictable:  There would be a period when the missionaries called under the old age guidelines (nineteen years old for men, twenty-one for women) would still be in the field while those called under the new guidelines (eighteen for me, nineteen for women) were beginning to flood in.  Something of a “doubling up.”   But this... Read more