Blog Archives - Jay Evensen

Do protests destabilize a democracy?

10/30/2017

Do protests destabilize a nation?

Or does the First Amendment to the Constitution protect the right to peaceably assemble and “to petition the government for a redress of grievances” specifically because the Founding Fathers believed the opposite was true?

The question has gained some relevance as news reports reveal how Russian-linked Facebook accounts allegedly were behind the organizing and financing of various protests both during and after last year’s election. A Wall Street Journal report said sometimes these Russian influencers organized protests on both sides of a volatile issue, seemingly agnostic about the actual causes.

One example: Russians were believed to have been behind both a “blue lives matter” rally in Dallas after several officers there were shot, and a rally to protest a police shooting in Minneapolis.

Governments should just tell Amazon no

10/25/2017

If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard politicians or economic development directors explain how they must offer tax incentives to lure businesses because everyone else is doing it, I’d have … well … I’d have to pay taxes on all those dimes, which is more than those businesses have to do.

Utah is being secretive about what it has offered to lure Amazon’s second headquarters here. That’s a shame. A lot of other cities and states were upfront, and it has made for interesting reading.

New Jersey offered $7 billion in state and local

How to determine if a politician is incapacitated

10/24/2017

The day we really knew my father had dementia was when a doctor asked him what year it was and he answered, tentatively, “1948?”

All the suspicions and doubts, the inclination to pass things off as minor lapses, suddenly crystalized. Other questions followed. Who is the president? Where are we? He couldn’t answer.

Once the family was sure of the diagnosis, the

Why did Weber girls make a racist video?

10/18/2017

Last summer, the Harvard Crimson reported that at least 10 students admitted to the freshman class of 2021 had their offers rescinded after the school discovered they had posted offensive messages on a private Facebook chat set up by incoming students.

The offensive items included racist memes as well as messages and photos “mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust and the deaths of children.” One

How many votes are enough to make a winner?

10/18/2017

John Curtis won the Republican primary for the state’s third congressional district, a three-way race, with 43.28 percent of the vote. He will be the party’s candidate in next months’ general election, but does his inability to get a clear majority of votes mean he has less than total support from members of his party?

My guess is many people would say no. The winner of a substantial plurality is just as legitimate as the winner of a majority.

But would we feel the same about Curtis if he had won with 35 percent? How about 20 percent? At what point does a victory signal something less than the will of the people?

These questions could become much more relevant in Utah soon as voters face ballot initiatives that, if successful, could increase the number of names we see on future primary ballots.

Are you willing to pay more in taxes for a new jail?

10/18/2017

How much support would Salt Lake County residents give Operation Rio Grande when they are asked to pay more in taxes for a new jail?

No politician, Democrat or Republican, likes to us the T-word in Utah, and even though we’ve all seen a fair share of tax increases in recent years, it it’s harder to make the argument when it concerns a jail, or the homeless.

You can make a good case for more money to build schools, even if voters don’t always agree. Schools

Are casinos culpable for Paddock's actions?

10/10/2017

Stephen Paddock was a professional gambler who, his brother has said, knew the odds of each video poker machine he played to the tenth of a percent. If he happened to be a net loser at video poker for a period of time, he was a winner when all the comps were figured in — including free rooms, meals and expensive drinks.

All of which is a “total crock,” according to David Tarbert.
“The machines are built for him to lose,” he told me by phone Tuesday. “They don’t give these comps

With Weinstein vilified, will Polanski be next?

10/10/2017

In 2009, the Independent in Britain published an impassioned op-ed in defense of film director, producer, writer and actor Roman Polanski, who the United States was trying to extradite on decades-old child-rape charges.

“Whatever you think about the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time,” the op-ed said, referring to Polanski’s guilty plea to drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1972 and his subsequent 42-day prison sentence on an apparent plea deal.

“It is a shocking way to treat such a man,” the op-ed said.

Could political boundaries be more fairly drawn in Utah?

10/4/2017

Utah’s political lopsidedness may make this week’s arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court over political boundaries seem like a moot point here.

How lopsided are we? Let me count the ways.

Only 13 of 75 state House seats and five of 29 Senate seats belong to Democrats here. By themselves, Democrats are powerless to stop any bill from becoming law.

Think driverless cars are scary, what about ones that fly?

10/3/2017

If you’re having trouble getting used to a new car that thinks its cruise control can stay in the same lane of traffic without your help, how would you feel about a car that thinks it can drive unassisted 5,000 feet in the air?

Rush hour traffic along the Wasatch Front may become a thing of the past if last week’s test flight of a driverless drone taxi in Dubai means anything. Too bad we spent all that money on freeway expansion.

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