My wife found out a few weeks ago that an ultra-right neighbor's teenage boy had joined the military, and she cried about it, sure that he was going to go die in some useless war. I certainly hope that's not the case, but Trump has just made it much more likely.

Damn it. I liked this couple. They were friends/good acquaintances with me and at one point had an office across the hall. It's been a while since I've seen either one, and now I'm angry at myself for not staying in touch. If you're going through things, please please reach out.

When the ship arrives in Greenland, Greenland should thank Trump for the generous gift, keep the ship, and offer everyone aboard Danish citizenship.

The Idaho legislature is yet again trying to make it illegal for anyone to provide legal services to undocumented immigrants--even if those legal services would make them documented. ID 0693.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a religious leader (a member of my "stake presidency") and he asked me what I did for a job. I told him, and he responded with something like "wow, that's real political." I regret not responding with something snarky like "I think it's moral, not political...

Yeah, this is a good read.

Not improving Idaho's poor reputation for being the home of white supremacy and neo-Nazis, guys.

Immigration attorneys in western Idaho were first responders to this tragedy--working the weekend to help as many as they could. I'm on the other side of the state, but I saw the numerous emails go out on the listserv. Anyway, I hope the mayor of Wilder gets what he deserves.

This is what we’re doing to people. We are the bad guys.

My kid's watching CNN 10 (news show for kids) and they're talking about the 5-year-old who recently did time in a concentration camp, but they're uncritically repeating the Trump administration's talking points. Do better, CNN.

Ammon Bundy only now realizing that his Republican allies don't have any actual principles has got to be the funniest part of 2026 so far. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Searched for "Mormon" in the Epstein files. Not surprisingly, as the files are very heavy on East Coast people, there wasn't a lot there except for mentions of tickets to the Book of Mormon musical.

Not the strongest condemnation, but probably the best we can hope for from this newspaper and its owners.

Look, libraries are great, but this Facebook post from my local library--this is inexcusable.

The Church of Personal Piety? Over the last weeks and months, I've been thinking about the Church's self-image. How does it view itself? What does it think its mission is? What does it believe its obligations are? This is, naturally, in the context of the Church's silence in the face of a…

Cooking through the horrors, Sunday edition.

Wise words from WEB DuBois to gird us today: "It would be shame and cowardice to surrender this glorious land and its opportunities for civilization and humanity to the thugs and lynchers, the mobs and profiteers, the monopolists & gamblers who today choke its soul and steal its resources."

Embrace the Penguin (Batman/Trump villain mashup).

This is the guy Trump wanted as Attorney General. RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.

The sixth grader's school is cancelled tomorrow--because there's a staff shortage. Gotta love Idaho.

Man, Du Bois had some bangers, but for me, it doesn't get much better than his scathing indictment of the "Christianity" of the United States. Certainly this was all true of the nation in his lifetime. But in my lifetime, his criticisms have never felt so true of the nation right now.

I have my suspicions about this initially being a fake lawsuit (one where the Plaintiff and Defendant conspire together in order to get a law declared unconstitutional). Whether or not that's the case, it's always good for Idaho when Brian Smith loses.

So apparently this is why I recently received an unsolicited letter from the military asking me to become a JAG...

It's really astounding to me that we live in a time when there is so much great music available. A few years ago I decided to explore the genres and subgenres I love the most, and I discovered so much fantastic stuff.

You know the Trump administration has gone too far when even the conservative Deseret News admits it. www.deseret.com/opinion/2026...

/2 Anyway, America was never about everyone loving liberty; America was always about enough people loving liberty and being willing to defend it to keep down the people with totalitarian souls.

Step 1: Fire immigration judges who the Trump administration believes are too nice to immigrants. Step 2: Use unqualified JAG as temporary immigration judges. Step 3: Run out of JAG, send letters to immigration lawyers like myself asking them to apply for JAG positions.

Yesterday, ICE murdered an American citizen. The only way to prevent future horrors is to prosecute and ensure full accountability up the entire chain of command.

I know November 2028 is a long ways off, but it feels like the recent attacks on both Walz and Kelly are largely due to the fact that they're seen by Republicans as the two strongest options against Vance (or who knows, DT) in 2028.

I'm seeing more and more articles clearly written, at least in part, by AI. Like all writers, AI has a specific writing style, and it's easy to identify. Please don't use it to help you write. Even if you're just using it as a time saver, it makes you look stupid, and it turns off readers.

The Day Tonga Became a Threat A guest post from friend of the blog David Cook. Somewhere deep inside the machinery of the Trump travel ban, someone apparently decided that Tonga posed a serious threat to the United States. As of January 1, 2026, there are stark restrictions on student and…

Stopped by Ocean Mart in Sandy a few days ago (a regular practice when I'm in civilization) and picked up some sushi goodies like smoked eel and nori as well as other Asian food. It's been a few years since I've made sushi, but I'm making it tonight!

Eastern Idaho, January, and it's RAINING.

Christmas Eve: Watch Mindcraft Movie with the kids and laugh at the Idaho jokes. Make and eat fish tacos. Read The Grinch to the kids and do the voices. Wife reads from Luke and we sing a handful of Christmas songs. Good night, all. Have a great Christmas.

There's a bakery near my work that was supposedly started by a German baker in the 60's. I've stopped by before without finding German baked goods, but figured I'd have a better chance around Christmas time, so stopped by again today. Nope. No Lebkuchen, no Pfeffernusse, nothing. Pffft.

The Yellowstone area got hit with hurricane-force winds yesterday, with the highest winds being recorded near Star Valley, Wyoming--144 mph. Dozens of semis blew over on the freeway near Malad, Idaho. Fortunately the winds weren't quite that high in the Idaho Falls area.

Trump's brand new addition to Travel Ban countries includes Tonga. The LDS church says over half of Tonga is LDS (other sources have lower but still significant numbers). Restricting F and J visas is going to have a huge impact on BYU-Hawaii.

The Gaston live movie news reminds me of a writing assignment my freshman year at BYU. During class time we had to write a brief recollection about a time someone was mean to us. Once we'd written it, we were given new instructions--to write about it from the other person's perspective.

The Grand Inquisitor and the Christ Child After the shepherds had returned to watch their flocks at night, after the wise men had left to their own country, deliberately avoiding another audience with Herod, after the shepherds had returned to watch their flocks at night, the Holy Family received…

Went all the way to Pocatello to buy bread at a European-style bakery. Arrived 35 minutes before it opened and the line was already 10 deep. About 40 people in line before it opened. The crowd was definitely not an Idaho Falls style crowd.

New Trump policy--a waste of tax dollars and extremely painful for immigrants and their U.S. citizen families.

The wife has had in-depth conservatives with two different divorced friends this week about their dating lives, and the dating world for women in their 30s and 40s is harsh. Too many guys wanting to date but not willing to commit. A type of Peter Pan Syndrome.

"For decades, Latter-day Saint leaders have preached compassion. During Trump’s first term, the church’s governing First Presidency issued a rare public statement condemning family separation. The 2016 churchwide initiative 'I Was a Stranger' explicitly reminded members that early Saints were...

Reading Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" for the first time and can I ask writers of mainstream fantasy series to not adopt a pen name that's the same name as the main character in a classic novel? It's not fair to Hemingway that I get irritated each time I read the name "Robert Jordan."

Today's Thanksgiving leftovers meal: Turkey tacos--homemade corn tortillas, homemade salsa verde, leftover turkey, and mozzarella cheese, baked until the cheese is melted. Turkey matches real well with the salsa verde.

Animals I have seen in the wild and swerved or braked hard to miss: 1. Turkey vulture (and it dropped its lunch on the hood of my car) 2. Deer 3. Dog (okay, not a wild animal) 4. Couch (okay, not an animal) 5. Coyote

The only positive thing about hosting a crowd of 23 in a house not built for hosting is the ability to sneak off to another room in the house when it all gets to be too much. Hope all you others who are hosting are hanging in there.

Not even that. Trump hates TPS period. Everyone I know from Ukraine is white (and yes, I know quite a few good people from Ukraine) and yet Trump's working on ending TPS there too, despite the war.

Took my teens to a TSO concert last night and I found myself telling them "I first saw these guys play more than 20 years ago when some buddies and I did an all-nighter and drove from Provo to Boise just to see them play" and that sentence made me feel so incredibly old.