Get Your Spirits Up
Fox 13 ran the best funeral video for Halloween—so sad because this state of peculiar people is bidding an almost-farewell to our iconic 3.2% beer. Even the Budweiser Clydesdales were there to mark the end. It was an almost-farewell because the state, for some very unclear reasoning, isn't exactly jumping into regular-strength beer. That's because, of course, they have to have the issue studied by some work group—likely one that doesn't drink beer. So, Utah at 4% alcohol by weight is a mere 0.8% from reality. There were discounts galore, though the best one was probably mimicking the hair-splitting over percentages. In a photo being circulated on Twitter, one store offered a discount from $2.91—now $2.90, while supplies last. Whatever's left, The Salt Lake Tribune says, is being dumped down the drain.
Can't Tame These Horses
The Deseret News ought to get some kind of award for a series on the wild horse problem. It's something Congress has refused to address—much like the border crisis. The problem is that there are too many animals, generating a number of ideas about population control. There is, of course, euthanasia. Then there's birth control. And there apparently is a budding industry for horse meat—at least in other parts of the world. But it's not likely to happen because the very mention of wild horses conjures up romantically Western thoughts. The romance, however, is short-lived if you think about how those horses are starving, how people release unwanted horses to the wild and how there really aren't any more horse-slaughter facilities. This series might nudge Congress, and if it does, maybe the D-News should do a series on how to solve the border crisis—other than with a Colorado wall, of course.
Trickle-Down Miscues
Perhaps the most partisan issue in the United States is taxes. That's because, despite the overwhelming need for public services, Republicans still hold dear the trickle-down theory. Utah is mulling over a major tax-reform package, which legislators like to say is revenue-neutral or some such garbage. The biggest problem, however, is that legislators are loathe to articulate their values. It's more about the gimmes. The mainly impotent House Democratic Caucus wrote an op-end in the Trib pleading with lawmakers to think about Utah's shared principles. Former Republican Sen. Steve Urquhart, however, stands pretty much alone in the fight against raising the tax on food. The food tax is definitely on the table, so to speak, while the Trib notes that any tax cut will benefit the rich more than the low-income. It appears they're trying trickle-down again.
