Situational awareness – August 20, 2018

Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City.

Nazi jokes. “Truth isn’t truth.” Cohen investigated for bank fraud.


  TICK TOCK   

  • 50 days until the last day to register to vote by mail (10/9/2018)
  • 57 days until mail-in ballots are sent to voters (10/16/2018)
  • 64 days until in-person early voting begins (10/23/2018)
  • 71 days until the last day to register to vote in person or by mail (10/30/2018)
  • 73 days until in-person early voting ends (11/2/2018)
  • 78 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
  • 161 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
  • 206 days until the final day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (3/14/2019)
  • 806 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

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  HERE ARE THE STORIES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO TODAY  

Nazi “jokes”

The vice-chairman of the Utah County Republican Party is apologizing after making a Nazi joke about Count My Vote on a private Facebook page for the party’s State Central Committee – http://bit.ly/2PiGiOR

Casting blame

Disgraced former GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold, who resigned from Congress in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, is partially blaming Rep. Mia Love for his downfall. He said in a court deposition that he was upset with Love who he felt would call for his resignation if he had not stepped down – http://bit.ly/2OPorOt

Operation Rio Grande

Our “Political Insiders” say the effort to combat homelessness in Salt Lake City is either a success so far, or it’s still too early to cast judgment. Around a third say the program has been a failure so far – http://bit.ly/2MDTFKY

Utah’s economy continues to roll

Utah’s job picture grew by nearly 4% over the past year as the state’s economy added more than 57,000 jobs in that time – http://bit.ly/2PpoEJt


  OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Will voters put Utah kids first?

Editorial: Mountain Accord won’t make it at a glacial pace

‘Where do they go?’ With prices rising, advocates urge Utah leaders to focus on affordable housing to help reduce homelessness.

A southern Utah county that fought monument designations is now eager to make money off them

How bad is this year’s Utah wildfire season? Actually, not that bad so far — unless you’re trying to breathe.

Utah again leads the nation for job growth

Federal complaints accuse Mia Love and Ben McAdams of taking illegal donations, marking the latest fight in this contentious campaign

Surprised by plan from his own BLM to unload land inside Utah’s former Grand Staircase monument, Interior boss cancels sale

Midvale councilman calls for the Utah city to ban Confederate flags from its Harvest Days Parade

Deseret News

Pignanelli & Webb: The political inferno of wildfires, and other issues

Op-ed: Are tax exemptions for businesses a blessing or a curse?

Editorial: This is a vexed generation

Love, McAdams refute allegations in dueling FEC complaints

Utah’s jobless rate is among the lowest in the nation. Here’s how it ranks

Utah Inland Port board subcommittees have been meeting behind closed doors

Utah 2018 wildfires destroy the most structures in past 15 years

Dream of citizenship at risk for immigrants in the U.S. military

Utah’s overdose deaths fall 12% despite nationwide surge

Utah lawmaker proposes putting a team in every school to catch red flags

Other

U.S. Senate candidate Jenny Wilson makes case to valley voters (Logan Herald Journal)


  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

  • “Truth isn’t truth.” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani made that head-scratching claim during an interview while trying to make the case that President trump should not testify for special counsel Robert Mueller – https://politi.co/2MyxS7B
  • President Trump’s legal team is suddenly realizing they don’t know what White House counsel Don McGahn told investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller – https://nyti.ms/2PpelVG
  • Prosecutors are investigating Michael Cohen, President Trump’s ex-lawyer, for bank and tax fraud. They’re focusing on more than $20 million in loans obtained by the taxi business he owns – https://nyti.ms/2Popsyc
  • A speechwriter for President Trump has been fired following revelations he appeared at a conference with prominent white nationalists – https://wapo.st/2PopExq
  • Former CIA director John Brennan says he’s considering legal action over President Trump’s decision to strip his security clearance – https://wapo.st/2Myyfz1
  • Some analysts say the worst-case scenario for the GOP in the 2018 midterm elections is a loss of more than 70 seats in the House – http://bit.ly/2PmmDO5
  • The FBI is probing a cyber attack on a Democratic candidate for Congress in Californa. Hackers infiltrated the computers of David Min, who was defeated in a June primary – https://reut.rs/2MES5bC
  • National Security Adviser John Bolton is warning that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran could all try to interfere in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections – https://abcn.ws/2MClLq8

  • President Trump claims social media platforms are “totally discriminating” against conservatives – https://abcn.ws/2MAbQkQ

  • Asia Argento, one of the first women to accuse producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, paid $380,000 to silence a young actor who claimed she had sexually assaulted him – https://nyti.ms/2Plvhw9

  • Fewer Americans are relocating for a job, mostly because of high housing costs in places where jobs are abundant – https://on.wsj.com/2PkD65v

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY   

  • 1741 – Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering discovered what is now called Alaska.
  • 1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution.
  • 1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the Civil War over.
  • 1920 – The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio.
  • 1968 – Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring.”
  • 1996 – President Bill Clinton signed into law an increase in the minimum wage.

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