Jay Evensen
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Why the pandemic has made drivers lose their minds

1/29/2021

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A few days ago, in the early hours along I-15 near Lehi, two pickup trucks began swerving at each other amid morning commuter traffic. Five men were in one truck, while the driver was alone in the other.
Regardless of what started the confrontation, the two cars became increasingly aggressive toward each other as other drivers tried to move out of the way. By the time it ended, two people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and the truck with the lone driver had crashed into a concrete barrier, according to the Deseret News.
It was, in other words, just another day on pandemic highways. Some of you — much more than the normal easy-to-ignore fringe, it turns out — are not happy campers since the Coronavirus began changing things.

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Time to end laws against price gouging

1/27/2021

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Basic principles of supply and demand, the bedrock of American free enterprise, tend to be no match for emotional arguments.
That’s a pity. ​


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GOP jumps back on the austerity bandwagon

1/22/2021

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As I’ve said before, the Old Testament would read a lot differently if Joseph, having been summoned from prison by a Pharaoh who was troubled by dreams, had acted like today’s politicians in Washington.
That is, if he had said what Egypt needed to do was to eat all its food during times of plenty and borrow money for even more of it. Then, when a famine or, heaven forbid, pandemic, comes along, the nation could just go on borrowing more to help the people because, you see, interest rates are low and, well, studies have shown that over time economic growth will outpace the cost of interest, anyway.

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And the monument-designation dance continues

1/21/2021

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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.

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Without this, Utah lawmakers should have an easier session

1/19/2021

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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.

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Big changes are coming to how we fund roads/highways

1/14/2021

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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.

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To unite the nation, Biden should pardon Donald Trump

1/13/2021

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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? 

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

1/11/2021

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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.

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Make no mistake, this is Trump's fault

1/6/2021

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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.

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Maybe space aliens can help us distribute the vaccine

1/4/2021

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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.”

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    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

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