Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 955

Four quotations from Milton Friedman

    “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 [Read More...]

President Uchtdorf, Harrison Ford, and the “Candy Bomber”

    Now this is a fun trio!   https://www.facebook.com/lds.dieter.f...   Thanks to Charles Steinman for alerting me to it.    

“Why a Christian can view Muhammad as a prophet”

    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 [Read More...]

Prima Donald

    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 [Read More...]

“Donald Trump: Don’t hand federal lands to states”

    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, [Read More...]

Why Alaska has so many earthquakes

    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.    

BOM 2 Nephi 8

    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 [Read More...]

The Donald whines, pouts, takes his ball, and goes home.

    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 [Read More...]

“Tuesday on TV: Book of Mormon, angel Moroni show up in ‘The Expanse’”

    http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/3463184-1...      

Law and mores

    All that is good is not embodied in the law; and all that is evil is not proscribed by the law.  A well-disciplined society needs few laws; but it needs strong mores. William F. Buckley, Jr.