Nearly two years ago, I went to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, I found myself needing to disrobe — completely — in front of a female nurse.

If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, then I got an erection in front of her.

She made a comment about it. And honestly, if I were her, I probably would have too. I mean, my body is saying I want to have sex with her. It’s something with too big of implications to ignore.

(I wish I could remember the exact words she said.)

She was a nice woman.

Penises are…

Changes to the Latter-day Saint church’s temple endowment ordinance, or “sacrament” in the Christian world, have contradicted LDS prophet Joseph Smith’s teachings that the ordinance never should be changed.

(Last year, there were changes regarding women; this year, there were changes to endowment clothing and an act of the ritual, as some examples of endowment changes. And statements from the church about the temple changes reflected a failure to even try to be honest. And the church says the endowment is an ordinance.)

Consider Smith’s teachings — while in the capacity of a prophet:

“Now the purpose in Himself (God)…

In 2014, I watched “Frozen” on a laptop at my apartment and proceeded to castigate it on social media for advocating for social liberalism.

It may have a little of that. For instance, the song “Let It Go” may be slightly feminist. (“That perfect girl is gone,” Queen Elsa sings after considering if she should “Be the good girl (she) always (has) to be.”) And quick marriages are frowned upon.

But is that good?

Only a year after seeing “Frozen” and writing the post blasting the film for advocating for social liberalism, I was done with the Latter-day Saint (formerly…

An address on “Elias and the priesthood.”

Another known as the “King Follett discourse.”

Saying “oh Lord my God” when he was assassinated.

“From what I gather … Joseph Smith was very familiar with Masonry,” independent researcher Cheryl Bruno said. “And in fact, was so familiar with Masonry, he spoke on Elias and the priesthood in a way that masons would understand but others would not.”

Bruno told The Seer Stone that the summer she presented at the 2020 Sunstone Symposium in a presentation titled “Freemasonry’s Impact on Mormon Mourning in Nauvoo.”

Smith joined the Masons when in Nauvoo, about…

FRISCO, Texas — Vive Funds, led by Veena Jetti, in a joint venture partnership with Blue Lake Capital, led by Ellie Perlman, are pleased to announce the successful closing of its first acquisition in the Marietta/Atlanta, Ga. submarket, Element 41. The deal closed on Oct. 26 and is an $80 million joint venture between the two female-led companies.

“Vive Funds and Blue Lake Capital are both known for targeting conservative, steady, double-digit returns for their investors,” said Jetti, Vive Funds’ founding partner. “This joint venture from two female-led companies offers investors assurance that the companies can deliver such returns once…

Note: This is Part V of a series of stories about issues The Salt Lake Tribune has faced.

Noting that the Huntsmans — the one with the late Jon Huntsman Sr., former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. and Salt Lake Tribune President Paul Huntsman — are a “big, powerful family in this town,” former Tribune white-collar crime reporter Tom Harvey doesn’t think Huntsman Sr. and Paul Huntsman wanted “real, hard-core stories” that “strike.”

“I think they would be reluctant to run any types of stories about the political elite of the state,” Harvey said.

Harvey pointed to a story by…

QAnon. Pizzagate. COVID-is-a-hoax.

Conspiracy theories are aplenty these days, with plenty of people who believe in them. Utah professors in the studies of communication, political science and psychology talked with me about conspiracy theories.

This second part of a two-part series regards content creators, among other things. Content creators have a role in the development of conspiracy theories, from those who deliberately create fake news to a natural fallout from the typical work of the media, professors said.

Dr. Ben Lyons (an assistant professor of communication at the University of Utah), along with Vittorio Merola and Jason Reifler, did a…

QAnon. Pizzagate. COVID-is-a-hoax.

Conspiracy theories are aplenty these days, with plenty of people who believe in them. Utah professors in the studies of political science, history and communication talked with me about conspiracy theories.

This first part of a two-part series has to do with their history, what it takes to believe in them and why someone may be likely to, among other things.

Dr. Matthew Burbank, a professor of American politics at the University of Utah, said conspiracy theories have been around “pretty much” since the start of civilization.

“[We] tend to use conspiracy theories to come up with…