Jay Evensen - Opinions

Gambling's toll on the American people

7/23/2026

One of the sad ironies of the day is that, despite an explosion of legal gambling from coast to coast, no one in Washington is studying what this is doing to the nation.
Yes, Utah Rep. Blake Moore is, together with New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, sponsoring the “gambling disorder health study act,” which a press release said would use 10% of a federal excise tax Washington imposes on state gambling to study the “causes, development and long-term effects of gambling disorder,” and would look at ways to prevent and treat the problem.

Why we need to meet a real space alien

7/23/2026

As usual, nothing in the latest tranche of UAP materials in Washington gives us what we really want (the acronym UFO went out with multi-colored COVID masks, in case you didn’t notice.)
What we want is the smiling face of a genuine alien. Even a frowny face would do, although that would likely raise concerns to a whole new level.
Frankly, with the national debt, a war in Iran and the never-ending fixit job on the Washington Mall’s reflecting pool, we just can’t afford to ramp up a space war with another planet right now. Don’t expect China or Russia to be much help in that funding problem, either, no matter how many spaceship phasers are pointed at them.

Another twist in the Daylight Saving drama

7/23/2026

An old adage says, “The best time to fix the hole in the roof against rain is when the sun is shining.”
Fifty-two years ago, that wisdom was quoted by Pennsylvania’s Republican Rep. George A. Goodling. It was late June of 1974, only a few months after the last time Congress and the president decided to make daylight saving time permanent.
I’ll explain how the analogy applies in a minute. For now, it’s important to understand that the United States already experimented with year-round daylight saving time. The current effort in Washington is not plowing new ground.

Why Norway has become America's darling

7/10/2026

I spent two full summers of my childhood in Norway. The only time I actually came in contact with rowing was as a 4-year-old teetering on a makeshift raft on a mountain lake with my grandfather.
I know this because I fell in.
I don’t know enough to describe the commotion this caused. I can’t remember much about it. But it must have been considerable because the mere fact that it happened was seared in my memory long after I dried off and stopped shivering. Every time it came up in conversation, relatives would look toward me and pout, as if to say, “Poor thing.”
Maybe if my grandfather had banged a drum and ordered me to “Ro!” I would not have failed so early and spectacularly as a Viking.

Are socialists a threat to America?

7/10/2026

I’ve been around long enough to see how most long-term political plans eventually crack and disintegrate under the harsh heat of reality. So, I try not to get too worked up over the recent rise in Democratic socialists winning primary elections, or over the movement’s supposed aims, which sound closer to Marx than to Jefferson or Madison.
But those who hope a post-Trump future might revert to the calmer political days of our youth may be disappointed. The far left seems to be on the rise to compete with the far right.
And while that rise is still small, if politicians don’t stem the fearsome rise in the national debt, a possible economic collapse and the chaos it could cause might bolster all kinds of radical ideologies.

Sports gambling scandals just keep coming

7/2/2026

At a time when gamblers and sports are getting warm and cozy in front of the glow of endlessly televised games, it’s hardly shocking that scandals keep popping up in endzones.
Surely, this isn’t the first generation to discover that the pursuit of easy money can brush aside health, safety or even the integrity of athletics.
This may, however, be the first to energetically embrace sports gambling and be shocked at the results.

Despite hating the rich, Americans want to join them

7/2/2026

Wealth can be a delicate topic.
Despite the anti-rich sentiment in far-left political circles these days (including some of the recently unsuccessful candidates for Utah’s new first congressional district), most people still want to join the ranks of the wealthy.
And more people each year are succeeding.

Is Vladimir Putin going to strike NATO?

6/10/2026

Could Donald Trump’s recent decision to draw down U.S. troops from allied European nations embolden Vladimir Putin to spread his flagging war in Ukraine to some of NATO’s smaller nations along the Baltic Sea?
A Russian drone struck an apartment building Friday in Romania, injuring two people. It was the sort of incursion into a NATO country that heightened tensions but probably didn’t rise to the level of widening the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Can Congress fix Social Security by 2032?

6/10/2026

If you’re receiving Social Security payments, could you make due with $523 less than you are currently getting?
And if the day comes when you do see such a cut, who would you blame?
The question isn’t some remote hypothetical. Experts now predict Social Security’s main Old-Age and Survivors Insurance fund will become insolvent in 2032, a scant six years from now.

Why AI will be good for the economy

5/22/2026

About once a generation, Harvard economics professor Richard Cooper told a podcast in 2018, “we have a near panic by some people because technology is destroying jobs.”
When I was a child, the worry was described in one word, “automation.” Machines were performing tasks much faster than humans, whose services no longer would be needed.
But the history of this worry goes back much farther, at least to the cotton gin.

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