All Categories - Jay Evensen

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.

Are Republicans finally standing up to Trump?

5/22/2026

Could this be the act that gives Republican members of Congress the backbone to stand up to the president?
Any clear-eyed review of President Donald Trump’s “settlement” providing $1.776 billion for him to reward people, possibly including those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 would see it as wrong, and that’s a big concern during an already contentious election year.
Remove politics and partisanship and it becomes easy to see.
A president sues the IRS, an agency he controls, then decides to settle out of court, essentially negotiating with himself. That settlement gives him the aforementioned sum to reward victims of “lawfare” unconnected to the suit — victims identified by a panel he controls. It’s a clear conflict of interest.

It's 2026; where's my self-driving car?

5/15/2026

A few weeks ago in Wuhan, China — a city that boasts thousands of supposedly driverless taxis — a whole bunch of them came to a stop on roadways, reportedly because of a “system malfunction” as Technology Magazine reported it.
These were taxis operated by a company called Apollo Go. While passengers could open their doors, many considered that ill-advised as they were stopped on high-speed highways. However, they could do nothing to get the cars moving again.

Tired old conspiracy theories get recycled

5/15/2026

Conspiracy theories seem to rise and gain traction quicker than a Stephen King novel these days.
But before you assign the crazy narratives associated with the recent attempted attack on President Donald Trump to just another chapter in this modern phenomenon, consider this:
The first assassination attempt against a president happened on Jan. 30, 1835. An out-of-work housepainter named Richard Lawrence approached President Andrew Jackson after the funeral of a member of Congress and tried to shoot him. Lawrence carried two guns. Both of them misfired, giving Jackson enough time to launch an assault of his own on Lawrence, using a cane. Others, including members of Congress who also were exiting the funeral, joined in.
It was one of the most extraordinary moments in U.S. history. And as theweek.com describes it, conspiracy theories soon followed.

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