There was a big fight in Utah over "modernizing" the State Flag, which used to resemble the State Seal. Candace Owens has added some new dimensions to the conflict which I don't think have been completely thought through.
Anyway, a little over a year ago, I wondered how the electorate in Utah could have chosen both Senator Mike Lee and Governor Spencer Cox. Our own commenter Bonhomme answered some of my questions.
Spencer Cox has made a name for himself with his "Disagree Better" campaign. He has enlisted other governors in this program. It generally involves giving in to "the other side", but he has sometimes "circled back" to more conservative positions under pressure. And there is something to be said for the idea that government officials working at the state level are forced to be somewhat more practical than the feds, because they "have to fix the potholes". Though he also has some big ideas, like the Olympics, that involve compromise with, well, you know who.
After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Cox did a pretty good job of keeping people informed of the actions of law enforcement and of the plans of the State of Utah. Many people were impressed. This brought new attention to the "disagree better" idea, but there seems to be more rancor, anger and disdain than ever in both the legacy media and social media. Strange.
The Atlantic turns its attention westward
I was already trending in this direction but I, for one, am grateful I never have to pay attention to Thomas Chatterton Williams again.
The Atlantic also published a piece by a McKay Coppins, about a warning from Trump to Spencer Cox. Link is to Instagram.
After Utah Governor Spencer Cox pleaded for calm in his address to the nation yesterday, Donald Trump called him with a warning. McKay Coppins spoke with the Utah governor.
“You know, the type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us,” Cox says Trump told him. Trump went on to recite statistics suggesting the presidency was “one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet.” The governor understood Trump’s concern—“after all, the president had narrowly escaped assassination himself just a year earlier,” Coppins writes.
Cox told Coppins that although he was relieved an arrest had been made, marking the end of a 34-hour manhunt, he also seemed unnerved by the alleged killer’s identity: a 22-year-old man who’d grown up in a Mormon family in the southern-Utah town of Washington. During his press conference, Cox admitted that he’d been quietly hoping for a different outcome.
“The comment drew some criticism from people who accused him of seeking a politically convenient scapegoat. But I understood what he meant. I was born in Orem, where Kirk’s shooting took place,” Coppins writes. “It is difficult to overstate just how surreal it was to watch the macabre scene—the bullet, the blood, the screams—play out in the heart of a county so cartoonishly friendly and wholesome that Utahns refer to it as ‘Happy Valley.’” For people like Cox, Coppins continues, “who have devoted themselves to realizing a certain idealized vision of Utah—the city on a hill, the beacon to the world—the assassination had a shattering effect.”
“The comment drew some criticism from people who accused him of seeking a politically convenient scapegoat. But I understood what he meant. I was born in Orem, where Kirk’s shooting took place,” Coppins writes. “It is difficult to overstate just how surreal it was to watch the macabre scene—the bullet, the blood, the screams—play out in the heart of a county so cartoonishly friendly and wholesome that Utahns refer to it as ‘Happy Valley.’” For people like Cox, Coppins continues, “who have devoted themselves to realizing a certain idealized vision of Utah—the city on a hill, the beacon to the world—the assassination had a shattering effect.”
Cox told Coppins that he had no doubt the alleged shooter’s worldview had been warped on the internet. “The worst of humanity is in our pockets,” he said. Yet, “Cox made clear that he wasn’t ready to let go of his Utah exceptionalism,” Coppins writes. “Maybe, just maybe, there’s a path forward for our country that comes through the great people of Utah,” he told Coppins.
They really seem to be lionizing Cox for some reason . . .
Glance through the comments for "different" points of view.
CBS News is also laying it on pretty thick in support of Spencer Cox. "A lonely voice rose above the rancor". . .
Listen carefully to what Cox says, especially in his opening. Think about how his words might actually be applied in real life, in comparison to, say, reining in the SPLC's labeling of Turning Point USA as a hate organization.
Support for Terrorism
Did you notice how the assassination of Charlie Kirk prompted a flood of attacks on his character?
Did you notice how a mass killer (apparently upset over a failed relationship years ago) who murdered several LDS people, injured many more and burned down an entire church triggered a social media firestorm over their identity as Christians, rather than over the terror attack?
Have you noticed that the terror attack in Manchester has triggered protests in support of other terrorists? How do you "disagree better" when these are the inclinations of society?
Or maybe even their fathers. Read to the end.
Melanie Phillips: J'accuse
The UK government has given up protecting its Jews. Video.
Weekend
The Week In Pictures: Mariachi Edition
Some matters of substance did occur this week: there was a purported government shutdown, Secretary Hegseth lectured the brass, a Gaza flotilla was intercepted, Taylor Swift dropped a new album…OK, not a really big news week. But all of that paled compared with the video that President Trump posted of Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero, with a mustache, while a mariachi band played. It was a psyop of the highest order, and the sequela were entertaining to say the least. The memesters couldn’t resist.
Music
Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.
This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.
Last week's thread, September 27, Points of view come into focus We have had some examples of irony in the news lately.
Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.