Miss: Elephants in the Room
If it's a given in Utah that a Republican will win statewide office, then voters need to know their Republicans. The upcoming election will decide who represents the state's 2nd congressional district—probably for a long, long time. Do voters even know if they are in CD2, since it was gerrymandered? If they are, then the latest news from the GOP convention is that Celeste Maloy (who?) was elected as the nominee—sort of. Former Utah Rep. Becky Edwards has now gathered enough signatures to get herself on the ballot, but she is equivocating over why she voted for Joe Biden instead of Donald Trump, who losing convention candidate Greg Hughes thinks is delightsome. Edwards promises to toe the party line in the future and says, no, she's not a "RINO." Meanwhile, Maloy had to scramble to get on the ballot after not voting in two elections and registering GOP only after she was nominated. Maybe voters should be concerned about how much candidates value voting and democracy, even if Republican winners are certain.

Hit: Church and State
Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, was having none of the nonsense. To be clear—King is a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Salt Lake Tribune ran a cringeworthy front-page story on the intersection of LDS doctrine and the U.S. Constitution, which faith leaders say was "divinely inspired." The story detailed how LDS leaders embraced a group called "Why I Love America," which purports to connect morality and religiosity. "You can't have a moral people unless you have a religious people," said Tad Callister of LDS bonafides. King went on a Twitter screed, calling it "exclusionary thinking," and reminding that many Founding Fathers disdained religion. Oh, and the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing a religion. May we suggest reading Ben Sheehan's book—OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say?

Miss: Gun Shy
If it weren't so damned funny, it would be tragically sad. Gov. Spencer Cox twisted in the wind as he tried to make sense of gun violence in America. Cox spoke out on CBS' Face the Nation when asked why the state's "impulse" to ban dangerous things for kids does not extend to firearms. He deftly turned to suicide as the major cause of gun deaths, and said they're working in a bipartisan manner on—yeah—mental health and locking up guns. CBS noted that 16 bills passed last session increased access to guns. Yeah, yeah, but it's a Second Amendment issue, Cox insisted, and we're working on mental health—so rather than banning guns, ban kids on social media. And as for trans kids: "It's impossible to get unbiased information out of the United States right now on this issue," Cox said. So, apparently we need better studies from somewhere else because it's all about mental health.