Times, they are a-changing.
I’m old enough to remember when political campaigns in Platte County were about speaking on the issues and comparing viewpoints, positions and stances with your opponent. Apparently those days are gone. Instead, this campaign cycle has featured:
*Threats of ‘investigations’ of anyone associated with an opponent.
*Dozens if not hundreds of social media bots and fake social media accounts.
*Threats of lawsuits for a variety of alleged reasons, some of them ridiculous in nature.
*AI generated press releases with false or exaggerated claims, sometimes wildly exaggerated claims with no tangible sourcing, no author listed and no legitimate point of contact.
*Using unidentifiable email accounts to spread political accusations. These accounts, often called anonymous or burner email accounts, are not linked to the sender’s real name, phone number, or personal details. Users can set one up without sharing personal data, and it hides their digital footprint so messages cannot be traced back to their true identity.
*People spending a lot of time searching ways for their candidate to “win” by technical default rather than concentrating on winning at the ballot box.
Oh well, gotta love it, I guess. Actually we don’t have to love it. But it’s here.
It’s like that great philosopher Jimmy Buffett once said, if we weren’t all crazy we would go insane.
If you’re interested in gas prices–and most of you are–here are the newest figures from GasBuddy, the country’s most authoritative source for station-level fuel pricing data, updating averages 288 times daily from the broadest mix of inputs–spotter reports, direct station integrations and transactional data.
The most common price per gallon we’re seeing in the Platte City area this week is $3.85 per gallon. GasBuddy says the average price in Kansas City has risen nearly 11 cents per gallon in the past week and now stands at $3.87. This means prices in Kansas City are 34 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and $1.02 higher than a year ago.
According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station on Sunday in Kansas City was priced at $3.65 per gallon while the most expensive was $3.99. The lowest price elsewhere in Missouri on Sunday was $3.49 while the highest was at $4.69.
Historical gas prices at this time of year in Kansas City going back a few years: 2025–$2.85; 2024: $3.21; 2023: $3.56; and 2022: $3.77
You may have noticed your Landmark papers have been thicker, richer and creamier the past month or so with the same delicious flavor. You may also have noticed we’ve had many pages and so many inserts in recent weeks with two Landmark sections, advertising flyers from regulars like Menards and Dollar General, retail coupon booklets, and this week we’re adding more flyers with Bass Pro Shop jumping on board this runaway train. All this advertising action means we’ve been running a Tuesday evening shift of folks stuffing inserts into Section B, getting that step finished the night before we run Section A.
The benefit of the Tuesday night shift is that it leaves only one insert to be stuffed when we’re doing our mailing session on Wednesdays with Section A. Anyway, if you’d like to serve on a future Tuesday night shift–or maybe you just want to come watch and engage in the mailroom banter–feel free. Or maybe we’ll take all the fun to Facebook Live.
You do you, I’m not here to tell you how to vote on these, you are smart enough to do your research and we’re still friends no matter which way you feel on any of the amendment questions. But I’m not shy about telling you that I am a hard no on both Amendment 4 and Amendment 5. In fact if there’s a box available to mark “not just no but hell no” I’ll be putting an X in that.
If Amendment 5 passes (the elimination of state income tax) get ready to pay sales taxes on goods and services you wouldn’t have dreamed you would ever pay sales tax on. This would get ugly. I’m told even the Platte County Republican Central Committee declined to endorse this amendment, a proposal pushed heavily by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Amendment 4 would allow your politicians to shred the idea of majority rule. Sorry, not a fan of that approach. Amendment 4 would require a majority of voters in EACH congressional district to approve petitions to amend the constitution. A no vote keeps it so that a simple majority of voters may approve initiative petitions to amend the state constitution.
What is Facebook going to do when the Sixth Congressional race between Chris Stigall and Nathan Willett is over? Will there be any content remaining for everybody’s Facebook feed?
Here’s a hack for a more peaceful life: Remember that you don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.
Yes, I realize in formal writing you’re not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition like I just did but this is a conversational column, not a term paper. Don’t try to be the grammar police, nobody likes that and you’ll be considered no fun at parties.
This week I’ve been on an all banana diet. Haven’t lost any weight but you oughta see me climb trees.
Guiding you toward our digital coverage.
On Election Night–Tuesday, Aug. 4–you’ll want to check out The Landmark’s up-to-the-minute coverage of results as they come in. We’ll be posting those in real time on our Facebook page (Platte County Landmark) and following up with further details, if needed, on our website at plattecountylandmark.com.
So if you aren’t yet one of the 15,460 people who follow our Facebook page, or haven’t yet been among the more than two million views to our page in the last 28 days, or contributed to the 155,716 reactions, comments, shares and saves in the past 28 days, you’ll want to be ready for that.
Next week’s printed version of the paper will not contain the election results, you’ll want to go to our digital options for that. And the great news is you’ll be able to get the results as they come in, no waiting.
You’re welcome, America.
(Keep up with Foley at ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
