Random Thoughts: New Bruce Springsteen Boxed Set

2025-04-03: "Bruce Springsteen will release a boxed set of seven albums of songs never before released."
Boxed set. Tell me you are from a bygone era without telling me your name or what years your biggest hits were released.

2025-04-03: In reaction to Trump's announcement of the imposition of broad tariffs on almost all of America's trading partners, the Dollar Tree announced an immediate name change to "$1.10 Tree."

2025-04-03: The Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act was a 1930 law that implemented protectionist trade policies in the United States. The Constitution says, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises." What I don't understand is why did Congress cede this power to the President?

People are Asking: "What Else is Dubey Hiding?"

Thomas More: "I have one question to ask the witness. That's a chain of office you are wearing. May I see it? The red dragon. What's this?"

Cromwell: "Sir Richard is appointed Attorney-General for Wales."

Thomas More: (Looking into Rich's face, with pain and amusement) "For Wales? Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . But for Wales!"

Source: A Man for All Seasons.

Election Day is near. This campaign season has had more people selling their souls with smears in text messages, robocalls, and mailers than any election since the 2013 election for mayor. I sometimes felt like I needed a shower after rebutting some of the attacks. The largest number and most hurtful of the smears came from the Dubey camp. They are spending thousands of dollars trashing a man's reputation in an effort to prevent him from becoming mayor for Richardson. Not the world, but for Richardson! It reminds me of that fateful scene in "A Man for All Seasons" where Thomas More confronts his false accuser, Richard Rich, in court. "But for Wales!"

As this is (probably) the last blog article I'll write before the election, I feel like I should document some of the questions I've never gotten to the bottom of. It wasn't for lack of trying.

Council Recap: A Crony for NTMWD

Source: h/t DALL-E.

On April 28, 2025, the City Council made appointments to boards and commissions. Maybe the most significant one, given how important water is to everyone in North Texas, is Richardson's representative to the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD).

Council Recap: A Lone Vote for Good Urban Design

Source: h/t DALL-E.

April 28, 2025, was the night that the Richardson City Council, led by Mayor Bob Dubey, officially abandoned our century-old downtown compact street grid in favor of a 580-ft superblock on which to build a 279-unit apartment building on property controlled by Manasseh Durkin, who just so happens to be a repeat donor to Mayor Dubey's election campaign. Also the same Manasseh Durkin whose limited partnership is being sued by the City of Richardson for breach of contract on another downtown project. These guys are getting brazen.

2073 (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

2073 (2025): Mostly clips of various kinds of catastrophes strung together for 90 minutes with brief breaks to see a woman living in apocalyptic end times of 2073. No plot. No characters. Mind-numbing and pessimistic. D-

Max

Dubey Gets Cash. Durkin Gets EDA. City Gets Screwed.

Source: Happy Hippie Brewing Co..

We've been getting down in the muck examining the hypocrisy hidden in plain sight in Mayor Bob Dubey's campaign finance reports. Manasseh Durkin, a big property owner in Richardson, gave money to Dubey's campaign for mayor, then sent out a mailer to voters smearing Dubey's opponent for having some lawsuits in his past, with neither mentioning the serious lawsuit Durkin himself is facing.

Diving into Dubey's Campaign Finance Report

Source: Adobe Firefly.

You know how, when you turn the light on in the kitchen, cockroaches scatter? Well, maybe not in my kitchen or yours, but let's say in the break room at City Hall. And let's say it's not cockroaches feeding in the public pantry, it's developers...and the Mayor is opening the food packages for the roaches, er, developers. Enough with the strained metaphor, let's get to the story.

Dubey Faces Ethics and Transparency Questions

Mayor Bob Dubey has close ties with a major developer with questionable ethics. Their cozy relationship raises ethical questions about Dubey himself. You won't find this developer listed among Dubey's endorsements. That raises transparency questions about Dubey as well. The supporter I'm referring to is Manasseh Durkin, whose self-named Durkin Properties says they are the "largest land holder in CORE District" in Richardson, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Following the Money behind Dubey's Mudslinging

Source: Pro-Dubey mailer.

Bob Dubey and his supporters have unleashed a barrage of mudslinging against Amir Omar using Dubey's advantage in fundraising, largely from sources outside the City of Richardson. Dubey might portray himself as a good old boy, but he's got big money backing him, including developer money, which is often the biggest money in local elections. Funny how that works. They are not holding back on mudslinging. Because we're already into early voting, it might be too late to properly sort out the truths from the half truths and lies.

The hypocrisy in this is that the attacks carry headlines like "Ethics and Transparency," but the authors of the attack ads don't reveal their names. One is a text message from "Larry with Right 4 Richardson." The other a mailer from "R2MFR, LLC." They force you to hunt down who is behind the attacks, if you can.

"This just got dirty. Disappointed in Mayor Dubey"

Source: Reddit.

After running a generally unobjectionable campaign (read "boring") for the first two months, Mayor Bob Dubey turned negative in a mailer during the first week of open voting. Why? Maybe he always planned to go negative at this point in the election or maybe he has some new polling that suggests Amir Omar's message of positive change is resonating with voters whereas Dubey's status quo message is not.