11 days to the 2018 midterms. Friday morning's political speed read from UtahPolicy.com

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Situational awareness - October 26, 2018

Good morning from Salt Lake City and TGIF!

🚨🚨🚨Will it be a "blue wave" or a "red save" in November? Enter our 2018 Election Challenge. We've got a $50 Amazon gift card for the winner - http://bit.ly/2Ed4dhj

Executive summary: Herbert wants to revamp the process for removing signatures from citizen initiatives. The investigation into pipe bombs mailed to several prominent Democrats is focusing on southern Florida. Trump may issue an executive order to close the border with Mexico to migrants moving northward from Central America.

  TICK TOCK   

Mail-in voting continues
4 days until the last day to register to vote online or in person (10/30/2018)
6 days until in-person early voting ends (11/2/2018)
11 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
94 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
141 days until the final day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (3/14/2019)
739 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today At Utah Policy

Hey Utah, answer your damn phones!
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
We're less than two weeks away from the 2018 midterms....Herbert says lawmakers should change process for removing signatures from citizen initiatives
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
GOP Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday that in the 2019 Legislature lawmakers should look at changing how those opposing a citizen initiative petition can target certain signees and get them to remove their signatures thus killing the petition....Podcast: Bernick and Schott on Politics Ep. 395
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Bob Bernick and Bryan Schott run down a busy week of Utah political news....Enter the UtahPolicy.com 2018 Election Challenge
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Enter our 2018 Election Challenge and you could win a $50 Amazon gift card....Weekly survey: How will the 'migrant caravan' controversy play in November?
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
A "migrant caravan" of people fleeing violence in Honduras is heading north toward the southern U.S. border. President Trump is stoking outrage about the issue. Do you think the controversy will help Republicans or Democrats in November? Vote now in our weekly survey....

  OTHER UTAH HEADLINES   

Deseret News

A. Scott Anderson: Why Utah's outdoors contribute to economy, quality of life

Jay Evensen: Why Utah's leaders made a trip to China despite trade war

Editorial: Time for peace in the war on drugs

Utah members of Congress say everyone needs to tone down caustic political rhetoric

Board denies Utah disposal of depleted uranium bullets

Governor calls for corrections investigation following killing of Utah student

Emphasize economic arguments for improving homeless services, Utah service providers told

GOP Senate candidate Mitt Romney made $83.8 million in the past three years, tax returns show

Utah Inland Port Authority chugs along, adopts first $1.9 million budget plan

Maximum salaries for new Utah Transit Authority leaders questioned at final trustees meeting

Utah lawmakers question prescription drug pricing, talk importation from Canada

Salt Lake Tribune

'National monuments kill people' - S. Utah commissioner's comments draw criticism after park ranger shot a Navajo

Utah says no to EnergySolutions accepting depleted uranium from military, but will it change course in the future?

Gov. Herbert says there will be no 'ideal' medical marijuana law until Congress acts

A decade after the big Delta-Northwest merger, the airline says its Salt Lake City hub has prospered

'Mobile pot shop' rolls up to local high schools as part of campaign against Prop 2

After years of rail construction and controversy, UTA board reaches the end of the line

Other

Politicians discuss conflict resolution and civility across political lines (Daily Herald)

Utah House hopefuls for western Weber Co. seat focus on growth, UTA, Medicaid (Standard-Examiner)

Weber County, Weber State University beef up economic development efforts with Davis County (Standard-Examiner)

  NATIONAL HEADLINES  

Investigators believe the rash of pipe bombs mailed to prominent critics of President Trump were mailed from southern Florida - https://nyti.ms/2CGQRat

In a 3 a.m. tweet on Friday morning, President Trump blasted CNN for blaming him for the pipe bombs mailed to several Democrats earlier this week. Since the discovery of the explosive devices, Trump has targeted the media for how they've covered his administration - https://wapo.st/2CHvfLl
Several Republicans are suggesting the pipe bombs are actually a media conspiracy to undermine President Trump ahead of the 2018 midterms - https://politi.co/2CGEsDG
A fringe right-wing theory that the pipe bombs sent to critics of President Trump were a "false flag" plot to gin up sympathy for Democrats was parroted by several conservatives in an  astonishingly quick timeframe - https://nyti.ms/2CJrvJp

The Trump administration is considering executive action to close the Mexican border to asylum seekers. The move would almost certainly end up in court, but it would be popular among the president's base less than two weeks before the midterm elections - http://bit.ly/2CFZAd3
Defense Secretary James Mattis will send another 800 troops to the border with Mexico to assist the border patrol - https://cnn.it/2CGn4ie
  Facebook is struggling, and failing, to stop false narratives about the mail bombs and migrant caravans from spreading on social media - https://wapo.st/2CGkMj2
There's another migrant caravan forming in El Salvador, and another that entered Guatemala from Honduras - https://cnn.it/2CGO29t

President Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington according to National Security Advisor John Bolton. It's not clear whether Putin has accepted the invitation - https://reut.rs/2CGkWqO
Despite a consistent lead in polling, Democrats are terrified they will suffer a shocking loss similar to what happened in the 2016 presidential election - https://wapo.st/2CFoGce
The GOP spending more money than they would like to protect several House seats that have been reliably Republican in the past - https://nyti.ms/2CGDKGw
Michael Avenatti says Democrats should nominate a "white male" for president in 2020 because arguments made by white men "carry more weight." Those remarks seem remarkably tone-deaf in a year with a record number of women and people of color running for office - https://ti.me/2CJ7anw
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley is seeking a federal investigation into whether Michael Avennati and his client, Julie Swetnick, made false statements during the sexual misconduct scandal that nearly upended Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings - https://politi.co/2CGSmW9
National Security Advisor John Bolton and his top deputy are trying to push Defense Secretary James Mattis out of the Trump administration by spreading rumors Mattis is planning to resign - http://bit.ly/2CEpmyi
President Trump's lawyer said in court Trump had no choice but to spend $10,000 in money from his charity on a giant painting of himself because nobody else would buy it during a charity auction - https://nyp.st/2CI8EOP
Text messages show longtime Trump associate Roger Stone was seeking a presidential pardon for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange - http://bit.ly/2CIeobm
China trolled President Trump over a report spies were listening in on cell phone calls he makes on an unsecured cell phone, suggesting he switch from an iPhone to a Chinese made Huawei device - http://bit.ly/2CH6u1G 
Google protected several top executives accused of sexual misconduct according to an investigation, including paying $90 million in severance to one who was forced to resign because of the allegations - https://nyti.ms/2CE6yzn

  ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY  

1774 - The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.
1775 - King George III goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorizes a military response.
1776 - Benjamin Franklin departs for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
1825 - The Erie Canal, America's first man-made waterway, was opened linking the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River.
1861 - The Pony Express officially ceases operations.
1881 - The storied gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred in Tombstone, Arizona.
1892 - Ida B. Wells publishes, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
1936 - The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
1984 - Doctors in California performed the first baboon-to-human heart transplant in a 14-day-old girl, known as Baby Fae. The baby died of heart failure Nov. 15.
1990 - District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $5,000 for his conviction on misdemeanor drug charges. Barry became mayor again in 1995.
2001 - Congress passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.

Policy News

Casual Friday: Weekend Events & Outdoors Report
Weekend EventOutdoors Report--Tribune: Washington County pays $1M to buy property for a possible park-and-ride lot leading to Zion National Park--KSL.com: Can this UVU professor's barge solve Utah Lake's algal bloom problem?--KSL.com:Wildlife officials propose new big game h...Utah Inland Port Authority Board takes important steps to begin a process of addressing project's impact
The Utah Inland Port Authority Board took important steps forward to facilitate the creation of a world-class inland port in Utah....Zions Bank marks quarter century milestone as Utah's top small business lender
Known for its resident cats who lounge on its shelves, iconic Dolly's Bookstore on Park City's Main Street has steadily grown its sales and has increased its part-time employee count, with help from a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan approved by Zions Bank....CEO of Delta Air Lines Ed Bastian announced as keynote speaker for 2019 Utah Economic Outlook & Public Policy Summit
The Salt Lake Chamber announced Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian as the Keynote Speaker for the 2019 Utah Economic Outlook & Public Policy Summit....

More National Headlines

Planned Parenthood stands with the porn lawyer freak show (Washington Examiner)

Sarah Sanders responds to CNN chief's criticism after bomb scare: 'You chose to attack and divide' (The Hill)

Is Trump Transforming Midterms With Arena-Size Rallies? (RealClearPolitics)

Medicaid enrollment declines for the first time in more than a decade as strong US economy boosts income for poor Americans (CNBC)

Republicans say George Papadopoulos raises questions about start of FBI's Russia probe (CNN)

Long-Shot Beto (National Review)

Michael Avenatti to Time: 2020 Democratic nominee 'better be a white male' (CNN)

Trump Aims To Lower Some U.S. Drug Spending By Factoring In What Other Countries Pay (NPR)

McCaskill, Hawley trade harsh shots in final Missouri debate (Politico)

Avenatti fires back at Senate Republicans over potential criminal probe (CBS News)

Trump's Tax-Fueled `Hot Economic Boom' Shows Signs of Slowing Down (TheStreet)

Wise Words

Independence

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made." Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

Lighter Side

Draping

"There's a new trend in makeup right now called "draping." You know what that is? It's where people blend their eye shadow and blush together. Or as it's also known, sweating." Jimmy Fallon

 

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