“A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence, used in the classical sense of trust. A confidence trick is also known as a con game, a con, a ripoff, a scam, a grift, a hustle, a bunko (or bunco), a swindle, a flimflam, a gaffle or … Read more
I keep intending to write something for this blog about my reaction to the 2016 Presidential Election, but I can’t seem to do it. Every time I hear, read, or think of the phrase “President-elect Trump” I feel like I have entered an impossible, surreal, nightmare world. Sometimes I even get a little dizzy. Instead, … Read more
The Utah LDS vote was of interest to the media in the 2016 Presidential election because of the wide gap between Donald Trump’s (lack of) character and LDS values. Trump’s early attacks on immigrants led the Church, on December 8, 2015, to release a statement on religious freedom that contained two quotes from Joseph Smith. … Read more
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16:17-18) To me, … Read more
And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning. (D&C 93:24-25) The New York Times has an article out about how Russia uses … Read more
Nicholas Kristof has a column in today’s New York Times entitled “Donald Trump is Making America Meaner.” He recounts a story from last spring when, in the middle of a high school physics class in a small Oregon town, a group of white students began chanting at their Latino classmates: “Build a wall! Build a … Read more
Last night was the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics. I confess I am not really a TV sports fan, but I make an exception every two years for the Olympics (Summer and Winter). I always try to watch the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. They are wonderful pageants of color, music, and dance. They … Read more
Alma Chapter 31 records the odd story of a people known as the Zoramites who were reportedly “perverting the ways of the Lord” (verse 1). Alma took seven companions to preach to them. They were astonished to see the method of worship the Zoramites had adopted. One day a week, they would gather into their … Read more