Council Recap: Ethics, Transparency, and Trust

The Richardson City Council reviewed its Ethics ordinance on August 26, 2024, as required by law every two years. Two years ago, the City Council found nothing to amend. This year, City staff recommends six amendments. Three of the suggestions are simple clarifications to head off potential misinterpretations. Two of the changes relax the ordinance in favor of officers. And one toughens penalties, from $200 to $500 for an officer failing to obey a subpoena. I have no objection to any of these changes, and in the interest of reducing the length of this post, I won't even summarize them. Watch the video yourselves. ;-)

Instead, I want to talk about a related subject that City Manager Don Magner rolled into this agenda item, and that's for either the Ethics ordinance or the Council Rules of Order and Procedure to add guidelines for Councilmembers meeting with property owners, developers, and other stakeholders that have action scheduled for consideration by the Council, or merely to discuss topics that may come before the Council in the future.

Book Review: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

From Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk (Author), Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator):

Amazon

"The door into the kitchen was ajar, and at once I saw Big Foot’s body lying on the floor. Almost as soon as my gaze landed on him, it leaped away. It was a while before I could look over there again. It was a dreadful sight."

Grade: A-

The Serpent Queen (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Serpent Queen (TV 2022): Historical drama based on life of Catherine de' Medici, cunning queen of France in the 1500s. Scheming over religion and succession fill the series with intrigue that builds to an exciting climax that is suspenseful even if you know the history. A-

Prime

#VeryTardyReview

The Instigators (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Instigators (2024): Two losers (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) pull off a heist that goes wrong each step of the way, but somehow there's always a fallback plan to keep going. A caper comedy that's easy to follow and fun to watch, with more than a few good laughs. B+

AppleTV+

TIL: A Parallel Between Hezbollah and the GOP

The current issue of The New Yorker has a story by Dexter Filkins on the growing risk of war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon ("Will Hezbollah and Israel Go to War?"). It delves deeply into not just the current crisis, but the entire history of Hezbollah, which was founded in 1985. Hezbollah has had the military aim of destroying Israel ever since. It has adopted a political strategy inside Lebanon as well, preventing the existence of a functioning government in that nation. American politics aren't explicitly addressed in Filkins's article, but I recognized a similarity between Hezbollah's tactics and the GOP's.