Watching Big Brother
There is legalese, and then there is the Legislature creatively using the English language to make them sound smarter than the average bear. And of course, almost all of their legislation this session sent the message that, yes, they are smarter than you, they know better than you and you'd better just suck it up. Let's first talk about how something might "implicate the principles of federalism or state sovereignty," which The Salt Lake Tribune thankfully put in quotes. In the real world, implicate means to show that something or someone is involved in a criminal pursuit. Are the principles of federalism and state sovereignty doing something criminal? That's not what Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, meant with his bill, HB209, which intends to monitor the federal government. And they're going to get a third party to do this "monitoring" and decide what exactly those federalism principles are—if not someone's debatable interpretation of the Constitution.
Fire Away
We're back talking about gun laws and the multitude of ways "the militia" has come to mean anyone, any time, with any gun doing anything with it. What happened was 58-year-old Michael Clara shot at a truck that fled after hitting his 4Runner, KSL reported. Clara, an outspoken and bombastic political activist, claimed he was defending himself, sure that his life was in danger. Yeah, his bullets totally missed the escaping truck but almost killed a young girl in the back seat of another vehicle. "As much as it troubles me to hear a story about a young child who was almost killed in the back seat of their car as they're traveling down the street, my hands are tied by the requirements that the Legislature imposed in the new statute," a judge said. That's because Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, literally cut-and-pasted the self-defense law from Florida, where "stand-your-ground" has come to mean "get ready to die."
Calling Spades
While the Republican Party devolves into anarchical fascism, Utah's Sen. Mitt Romney stands firm with the old guard—you know, the ones who had morals. "I have to think anybody that would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points," Romney told CNN. This after he called Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, "morons" because they attended the wing-nut America First Political Action Conference amidst frenzied cheers of "Putin! Putin!" Romney also famously voted twice to impeach the former U.S. president and faced backlash from Utah's conservative right. But he can take it—for now. He doesn't run again until 2024, so he has a little time to curry favor with Utah's right-wingers and make sure he doesn't fall to the hands of the GOP fringe.
