Jay Evensen - Opinions

And the monument-designation dance continues

1/21/2021

OK, everybody, time to switch sides again in the great, never-ending antiquities square dance. There’s a new caller in charge, a feller by the name of Biden. Spread out and make some room here, because things are about to get bigger again.
President Biden had no sooner taken the oath of office when stories began circulating in the media that he was thinking about changing the sizes of national monuments that President Trump had shrunk after he took office.

Without this, Utah lawmakers should have an easier session

1/19/2021

Two words were missing from the opening day of the Utah Legislature this week — tax reform.
Frankly, that means we all can take a deep breath and exhale slowly. For the last two years, that has been hanging over the heads of lawmakers like a leaky roof no one seemed able to fix. No matter what they tried, the public threw a fit.
Instead, the president of the Senate has declared 2021 to be “the year of the tax cut,” which sounds like such a nice, happy thing.

Big changes are coming to how we fund roads/highways

1/14/2021

How would you like to have a transponder in your car that keeps track of how many miles you drive so the state can charge you 1.5 cents per mile in taxes?
How would you feel if, on top of that, all freeways were toll roads, not just the carpool lanes but all lanes, and if the tolls would be more expensive during times when the traffic was heavy?
I can imagine your reaction. You’re muttering something about governments always wanting to tax anything that moves, and your car probably moves a lot.

To unite the nation, Biden should pardon Donald Trump

1/13/2021

If President-elect Joe Biden wants to begin to unite a horribly divided country; if he truly wants to put the good of the nation ahead of partisan politics, his first act as president should be to pardon Donald Trump.
I know what you’re thinking. Nothing would outrage Americans more, especially Democrats and people of both parties who are angered by what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Shouldn’t there be an accounting for weeks of election conspiracy nonsense and the speech that morning that sent protesters to the Capitol, believing the president was marching with them?

Follow Martin Luther King's example: Make friends of your political enemies

1/11/2021

On Nov. 6, 1956, in a sermon at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said, “As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
He continued: “Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.”
It is fitting that we celebrate King’s birthday this month only a few days after political violence struck the nation’s Capitol Building and after a year of sometimes violent social unrest. It’s fitting to study his words amid a culture in both political parties that treats the other side as an enemy, rather than as a collection of loyal Americans who happen to have a different vision for how the nation can succeed.

Make no mistake, this is Trump's fault

1/6/2021

As a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, a report on one of the 24-hour news channels stated what should be obvious. Ambassadors from foreign countries were saying that, if this had happened in their countries, the U.S. Congress would be alarmed and discussing action.
A photo showing capitol police, guns drawn and pointed toward the doors to the House chamber, with members of Congress ducking behind chairs, underscored that concern. Then came the photo of an unnamed protesters sitting in the chair of the Senate president.
This happens in banana republics, not the United States. This happens where people and personalities rule, not in a nation of laws.

Maybe space aliens can help us distribute the vaccine

1/4/2021

Alien garbage has reached our solar system, at least according to a new book by a Harvard professor.
Scientists discovered a craggy, cigar-shaped object with a reddish hue soaring near earth a couple of years ago at a speed so fast it must have been catapulted by a star other than the sun. A summary in Business Insider quoted author Avi Loeb as saying it wasn’t something created naturally, and therefore “was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization.”

The real story of 2020 probably hasn't been written yet

12/29/2020

On the last day of 1903, the New York Times published a long editorial that expounded on all the momentous things that had happened during the year.
Under a section titled “Invention and discovery,” the editorial board said the year had been “less distinguished than many” and contained “no announcement of a world-controlling invention.” It then went on for a while about radium and its possible future uses.
Then it made this stunner of an observation: “Transportation has profited little from … the persistent attempts at aerial navigation, in which no useful progress has been made or can be considered in sight.”
No useful progress? Kitty Hawk, anybody?

A Trump pardon with some meaning attached

12/29/2020

The case of Weldon Angelos always seemed to make people uncomfortable.
He was, by any definition, a criminal. He sold marijuana to undercover agents and had drug paraphernalia, evidence of money laundering and firearms in his home when Salt Lake Police officers conducted a search warrant. Most importantly, he was carrying a gun during drug transactions, at least according to an informant, even though he didn’t unholster it or wave it about.
He deserved to go to prison. It was hard to argue against his harsh sentence without appearing soft on crime.

Planets align so that we can see the magic around us

12/22/2020

A social media post I saw somewhere this week seemed to put it best: “Sometimes the planets align so we can better see the magic.”
I’m not sure what my wife, a grown son and I were looking for Monday evening as we drove miles from the Wasatch Front toward the clearer skies and cleaner views of the southwestern sky. But as we pulled off the road near Grantsville, it was clear we were not alone.

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