It being summertime, schools are getting out; people are graduating high school and college, soon will be July and Independence Day.  We are also, thankfully, deep into the U.S. Presidential election at this time.

There have been various incidents in the news lately about Patriotism, and our Constitutional rights, and how they are to be upheld, and who has the right to what.  There are those in the State of Utah, some who possess high and or important positions, like Sheriffs, State Legislative members, members of Congress, who feel that it is not the Federal Government’s role or position to be able to tell them how to do things, or how they can control Federal lands.  This is in direct contradiction of the Lord’s words to us in these days.

Love your neighbor as yourself

--Jesus

The Savior's teachings were clear, but their applications are not always so clear. One thing I do know, however, is that the first step in loving someone is to understand where they are coming from. This post will be organized around five key questions about my brothers and sisters who are transgendered:

1) Is Gender Dysphoria treated as a mental illness?
2) What are the dangers of letting people use the restroom of the gender with which they identify?
3) What are the dangers of requiring people to use the restroom of the gender with which we think they should identify?
4) What about children? Should we be encouraging them to accept this life?
5) So, now what?

I was raised listening to Rush Limbaugh on talk radio.  I graduated from BYU.  I voted straight Republican - telling myself I was voting for the best, without actually doing any research.

The pretend successful servant did take one hundred talents from his father, and from the publicans, and did trade with the same, and did build gambling halls, and did sell steaks, and did build a school for profit.

The United States ranks 27^th in math, 20^th in science, 17^th in educational performance, 24^th in literacy, 54^th in education expenditures (as % of GDP), 15^th in college graduation rates, and 18^th in reading against the rest of the world. Our homes and classrooms lack infrastructure capabilities as the US ranks 33^rd in internet speeds and access. There was a recent study of the top 14 countries in the world polling high school students against current events and country demographics with the US finishing next to last (thank you Italy). We have so many issues with our educational system the biggest challenge is figuring out where to begin.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying Bernie's achievements aren't impressive. He took what many assumed to be a gadfly candidacy and turned it into something that will probably get around 45% of the pledged delegates for the Democratic nomination. But now the question is: where do the supporters of Senator Sanders go from here?

A meme equating Hillary Clinton with Dolores Umbridge and Bernie Sanders with Dumbledore was recently posted in a major Facebook group for liberal Latter-day Saints. This post is nerding out about why it's wrong and what it suggests about Utah going Blue in November.

(SPOILERS ABOUND for Harry Potter / Lord of the Rings / Star Wars / Hunger Games - THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING).

It’s politics season again in America, which means that discussions are heating up on Facebook, in living rooms, and in ward foyers around the country. As someone who has had a fair number of these discussions myself, and as someone who falls solidly on the left side of the political spectrum, one of the arguments I hear most often from my fellow Mormons suggests that I’m in favor of Satan’s plan. In fact, this is one of the most frequent themes of hate mail sent to the LDS Democrats caucus leadership in Utah. Liberals, the argument goes, want to take away our agency. Liberals want to pass laws that, while well-intentioned, actually enact one of the devil’s top priorities since before the Earth was formed: “Satan rebelled against [God], and sought to destroy the agency of man” (see Moses 4:1-4).

For those of you old enough to remember, there was an LDS missionary approach called the Golden Questions. (What do you know about the Mormon Church? Would you like to know more?) This was part of the “Every Member a Missionary” approach used during the 1960s and 1970s. This was used as a conversation starter or door opener to get people to discuss any interest they might have in the church. The idea being to find those people who, for whatever reason, might have some interest in the church.

Senator Mitch McConnell gathered the Republican majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee together and reached a decision that no hearings would be held for a supreme court nominee by President Obama. Mount McConnell was formed, with a signed loyalty oath to boot.