Small Missouri Towns Are Paying a High Price for Open Government

Source: Show-Me Institute
by Patrick Tuohey

“Between April 2021 and February 2026, the small city of Sedalia paid a single law firm, Lauber Municipal Law, just shy of $2 million—nearly one invoice per business day, according to reporting by Genevieve Smith and Annie Goldman of the Columbia Missourian. Sedalia’s population is a little over 20,000. Out of its $35 million budget for fiscal year 2026, the city set aside $500,000 for legal fees. Residents are asking why. The answer, at least in part, is Missouri’s Sunshine Law.” (08/14/26)

https://showmeinstitute.org/article/state-and-local-government/small-missouri-towns-are-paying-a-high-price-for-open-government/

Thomas L. Knapp

Australia: State regime to launch gun buyback after Bondi Beach attack

Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“Australia’s most populous state will launch a gun buyback scheme later this year, becoming the first to offer cash in exchange for firearms in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack. Gun owners in New South Wales (NSW) will be offered up to AUS$1,000 (£523) to hand over eligible handguns, shotguns and rifles from 2 November. Australian authorities had pledged sweeping firearm law reforms after 15 people were shot dead at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which is located in NSW, last December. The state’s premier Chris Minns said on Saturday: ‘We want those guns handed in, compensated for and safely destroyed’. He said the move could see hundreds of thousands of guns surrendered.” (08/15/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjee21eenvo

Steve Trinward

South Korea: Lee proposes talks with Pyongyang to formally end war

Source: France 24 [French state media]

“South Korean President Lee Jae-myung proposed talks with North Korea to formally end the long-running Korean War, as Pyongyang deepens ties with Russia while asserting its status as an ‘irreversible’ nuclear state. The two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict, triggered by a North Korean attack, ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Lee made the proposal in his speech at a ceremony marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. … Lee has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor since taking power in Seoul in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.” (08/15/26)

https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20260815-south-korea-president-proposes-talks-with-pyongyang-to-formally-end-korean-war

Thomas L. Knapp

Grades Versus Feelings

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“In the 1960s, MIT introduced a ‘Pass or No Record’ system for the first semester of freshman year. The idea? Help students adjust to greater workloads and ‘variations in academic preparation and teaching methods.’ You’d think that letter grades themselves would help students adjust by providing information about how well they are learning and adjusting — assuming that the grades are at least a roughly objective indication of mastery not yet rendered useless by grade inflation. Some universities let first-semester freshmen convert a poor letter grade into a pass/no credit ‘grade.’ Only a few have sweepingly replaced letter grades with the pass/no credit system in the first semester. Now University of Michigan has joined those few. One reason: to ‘curb the mental health crisis unfolding.'” (08/14/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/08/14/grades-versus-feelings/

Thomas L. Knapp

MAGA and the DSA, Part One: Similarities Between These Populist Antagonists

Source: American Greatness
by Thaddeus G. McCotter

“At first blush, it may appear the nation’s two preeminent populist movements, the Right’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) and the Left’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), have nothing in common. And it is true, of course, there exist numerous differences in the political views and aims of these movements. (These will be looked at in depth in Part Two of this series.) Yet, while rarely if ever recognized, let alone mentioned, by each movement’s members, there exist similarities between MAGA and the DSA. Naturally, the fundamental basis of any populist movement has spurred the creation of both organizations: namely, the members believe a powerful, unaccountable entity or entities are unfairly exploiting them and obstructing their personal pursuit of happiness. Further, they believe their exploitation is facilitated and exacerbated by collusion between the powerful entities and similarly powerful organizations.” (08/15/26)

https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/15/maga-and-the-dsa-part-one-similarities-between-these-populist-antagonists/

Steve Trinward

Indonesia: Rescuers dig through rubble and landslides after quake kills 47

Source: SFGate

“Searchers dug through collapsed buildings and landslide debris Sunday in eastern Indonesia as they searched for bodies and possible survivors a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 47 people, injured more than 100 and displaced thousands. At least 24 people died in Manggarai regency and 17 in neighboring East Manggarai, with additional fatalities reported in Sikka, Ngada and Ende regencies, the National Disaster Management Agency said. Rescuers were still searching for villagers feared buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in Muslim-majority Indonesia. The USGS said the magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 68 kilometers (42 miles) north-northwest of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province. The quake, at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles) off the coast of Flores, rattled much of the island and sent residents fleeing in panic.” (08/15/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/rescuers-dig-through-rubble-and-landslides-after-22390148.php

Steve Trinward