Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach in NSW, Australia

On Sunday night at Bondi Beach near Sydney, NSW, Australia, two gunmen opened fire on a crowd of people at the beach. People were gathered after sundown to celebrate the start of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The perpetrators murdered 15 people and injured dozens of others before being stopped by a very brave Good Samaritan and police. Example news coverage: BBC News article, 17 Dec 2025.

We marked the start of Hanukkah at our house in low-key fashion Sunday night local time. It was low key because that was our plan anyway, but also the tragedy in Australia cast a pall over what it otherwise a joyous celebration. (What is Hanukkah celebrating? I wrote a brief guide to Hanukkah a few years ago.)

One thing I remarked to friends and family on Sunday afternoon as news of the tragedy filtered in is that Australia was sure to reconsider its gun laws as a result of this tragedy. Unlike in the US, where one political party is entrenched opposition to any new gun restrictions and the current president callously responds with things like "Stuff happens" or even "Get over it!" to mass shootings, Australia treats such incidents as the largely preventable tragedies they are. Australia notably toughened its gun laws nearly 30 years ago in response to a mass-shooting tragedy and has seen markedly lower rates of gun deaths since then. Indeed, the prime minister and legislators are already evaluating what needs to be changed.

Costco Elite Membership Rebate Check Doesn't Quite Measure Up

Our Costco dividend check arrived this week. It's for $55.50. That's less than last year's $68 rebate and way less than the nearly $114 we earned in 2023. But still, $55 is nice, right? Welllll....

This $55.50 isn't free money. We paid to get this money. We paid $60 for Costco Executive Membership. So we actually lost $4.50!



This rebate is the big selling point of executive membership. Costco charges an extra $65 (now; up from $60 last year) for this elite tier of membership and, in return, gives you 2% back on all Costco purchases, except gasoline.

I'm sure for many families it's a win. I know because I see them in the checkout lines with their carts full to the rim. Meanwhile we virtually never have more than 1 layer of items resting in our cart. The previous two years we came out ahead on the deal. This year we paid our money and came out a bit short.

Coincidentally our Costco membership is up for renewal right now. I'm of two minds about whether to re-up at the executive level.

• On the one hand, it wasn't worth it this year. We lost a few dollars. Even last year, it didn't pay off hugely. We only netted $8 on the deal.


• On the other hand, coming up $4.50 short at the end of the year isn't anything to get upset about. It's not even milkshake money nowadays. And maybe next year we'll earn more. Though the ante has been raised. Membership is now $65 for basic tier plus an extra $65 for executive.

Right now I think I'm leaning toward renewing. There is one perk to executive membership I'm eager to try out.... Executive members get earlier shopping hours at Costco! 🤣 I haven't availed myself of that elites-only benefits yet— mostly because every time I've planned on doing it I decided I'd rather sleep in instead and deal with the crowds at the store later in the day. 🤣 But maybe this coming year I'll drag myself out of bed early to play Let's Go Shopping!