Blog Posts - Jay Evensen

Government shutdowns never accomplish anything

10/6/2025

No matter how often Congress decides to let the government shut down, the outcome is always the same – more debt.
It’s not a direct cause-and-effect. Perhaps I should phrase it this way: The outcome is never less debt, which is exactly what the nation needs.
Several years ago,at the start of the shutdown of 2013, I wrote, “We may learn soon that we don’t need as much government as we think we do. But we eventually will learn that we need one that pays its bills and quits running up debt like a college kid with a credit card and a yen for pizza parties.”

Jimmy Kimmel made a mistake; big deal

9/19/2025

Years ago, I wrote a weekly humor column — something I would advise any sane person against.
Humor is highly subjective. Not everyone laughs. Some get offended. The column ended through a mutual agreement with editors when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and, well, nothing seemed very funny for a while.
But while it lasted, I imposed only a few rules on myself. Don’t demean individuals needlessly, sacred things are never funny, and for heaven’s sake, never joke about death or tragedy.
Jimmy Kimmel broke that last rule earlier this week with a joke that revolved around the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Now he apparently is out of a job. Comedy is a tough business.
But this isn’t a new thing.

Despite the national mood, goodness still abounds

9/16/2025

With a political killing dominating the news, it may be easy to forget that goodness still abounds. Instead, it can seem as if darkness is feeding on itself. People wonder how the United States can emerge from an era of endless bad will.
But that’s not a complete picture.
I have a theory to offer. It is that extreme acts of honesty and goodness can create copycats of their own. Goodness can trigger an upward spiral. In some cases, kind acts can fly on tireless wings that carry them around the world endlessly.

How will children handle Charlie Kirk's murder?

9/16/2025

The year was 1968. I was 9. My best friend’s name was Dennis.
I remember how we would play assassination in my bedroom. We took turns standing on a toy chest, pretending to give a speech. The other boy would pretend to be a shooter, and the “speaker” would fall dramatically off the chest and onto the floor.
From the perspective of 57 years this seems such a sad and disturbed game, but, like most child’s play, we were merely reflecting what we had seen in the grownup world around us.

Even in Sweden, immigrants are not wanted

9/5/2025

ESKILSTUNA, SWEDEN — The middle-aged mover who collected an aging sofa from the family home my wife and her siblings are inheriting had a question for the Swedish people and the government in general.
“When we go, who will do these jobs?”
It’s a question being heard in many of the world’s developed countries today, including the United States.

Bangladesh shows how tariffs hit home

8/5/2025

Surprising news about crime in America

8/1/2025

Spot quiz: Is crime in the United States on the rise?
This is an open-book quiz, so you may be tempted to look at the recent mass shooting in New York City, where a gunman who intended to harm people at NFL headquarters took the wrong elevator but still killed four people.
You may read about the man who went on a stabbing spree at a Walmart in Michigan last weekend, injuring 11. You may come across similar crimes in Atlanta, Detroit and Reno, all on Monday.
But don’t be fooled. The truth is, crime is down considerably, overall.

When will the national debt hit home?

7/25/2025

“Mushrooming national debt,” the headline says.
What followed is a question-and-answer story prefaced with the notion that, with “public debt (at) an all-time peak, you might well wonder where our national debt is heading.”
It could have come from any newspaper in 2025, but this was a syndicated piece Americans woke up to in May of 1965, more than 60 years ago.
It also illustrates one of the reasons many people may not take today’s national debt seriously.
Americans have been hearing the same thing for decades now, and yet the nation has been on a steady arc of prosperity.

Finally, air travelers can keep their shoes on

7/25/2025

Say goodbye to the TSA sock hop.

What began this week as scattered reports and observations trickling in from across the nation became official Tuesday when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that, effectively immediately, airline passengers in the United States no longer will have to remove their shoes while also trying to quickly deposit electronics, belts, jackets and the contents of their pockets into various containers while going through security checks.

The budget bill's surprise for American gamblers

7/25/2025

Do you want proof that few people in Washington read or understood the massive One Big Beautiful Budget bill before it passed into law? Look no further than the world of professional gambling.
Hidden in the bill was a new tax policy that now has many professional gamblers expressing outrage on social media and wherever else people might listen. For their part, lawmakers have no idea how it got there.

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