As long as politicians buy into local governments who say housing affordability is a federal and state money issue and not a local zoning rules issue we will never solve the multi decade affordability issue. I want my kids to be able to buy homes in their 20’s / 30’s and not have to wait until 50+

We need to restore the morality of our country, of democracy, of humanity. People like him give me hope. Politics can’t be about helping the politicians, it needs to be about making all of us better, and by that, making humanity stronger.

How are people prepping for this holiday party packed weekend? Pace yourself folks.

I have a secret that would raise every school in Virginia to the highest level of “achievement” - and you don’t have to spend a dime. Just only allow upper income kids in the schools. If that sounds wrong to you you should also hate VA’s new school rating system.

Virginia’s Board of Ed just rolled out a new school rating system that is best described as red lining. It measures schools by level of family $. If the families in your school are doing well they will be rated well. Now, why would they want to blame schools for larger socio-economic issues? Hmmmmm.

With Arlington distracted with process and trying to make good government “gooder”, it is time for a hostile takeover. Alexandria, this is our moment. Our fun runs and yoga classes have prepared us. Lattes and strollers brigade, it is time to storm Shirlington. Raise the Alexandria Tartan!

Looking forward to joint thousands of friends to run 5 miles in Alexandria before we gorge on food and drink all day. Also, special shout out to the brotherhood of the final bourbon mile powered by Pork Barrel BBQ.

Blueberry Tarragon Chutney (includes garlic, jalapeños, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, onions, blueberries, and tarragon).

Update; blue cheese frozen yogurt was excellent. The tartness of the yogurt works well with the cheese. I tried it with a little apricot jelly and that was fantastic as well. This may be a drinks, hiking, political rants, and weird frozen foods page now.

Trying out a blue cheese frozen yogurt to serve with poached pears for Thanksgiving. Fingers crossed.

1 of my life questions is when can I start the holiday tunes. Usually we wait until after Thanksgiving. I created a holiday adjacent playlist that kinda lets me start earlier, but I get grief. Today I started making a dried fruit and nut infused Manhattan that will be served on Thanksgiving. So now?

For my local Dem friends…if you are not building community you are doing it wrong: weekly volunteer events, regular social gatherings, collective actions to improve where you live. This is how you rebuild democracy.

This is basically the opposite of where things were a little over 10 years ago. Amazing changes. It was hard to be in thr minority then, I can only imagine how hard this majority will be to govern now.

I just hope the house GOP sees this as an aberration and makes no course corrections. Thankfully, that is reasonably likely.

Blowouts blowing in the wind tonight…

How America invests in its people says a lot about the society it wants. Right now everything points to wanting an extreme gulf between the haves and have nots. If you are not at the top things are designed to get worse for you and your children.

New Florence and Machine album is excellent. This ends my music reviews this week.

New Greensky Bluegrass album is excellent.

Just hung out at a Halloween party in Rappahannock county at the base of the Shenandoah National Forrest. People with all sort of politics. Eating chili. Telling ghost stories. Drinking mulled wine. America as it should be.

My take on an obituary — added a little green chartreuse and orange bitters to the gin, vermouth, and absinthe, and used lime instead of lemon for garnish.

When the deal you do is worse than the deal that was there before that is performance art.

Stop and look.

Why has no media outlet asked Trump or his minions why they are avoiding action in the most crime ridden places?

My City can’t blink near the George Washington Parkway without major Federal oversight, public process, and expense. The same agency that controls that apparently has no issue destroying the White House.

No Kings organizers say it would be easier if people just let them know if they did not attend a rally.

Voting and protesting…the most American Day.

One of the most important things we teach our children is to be responsible for their actions. We now have a government controlled by people who are unable to perform this basic human skill.

Rising health care premiums expose the myth of individuals succeeding by their own bootstraps. Healthcare shows the truth: we’re not isolated islands, but an interdependent nation.

I always liked Gilbert when I was in the House of Delegates. We didn’t agree on much (he is staunchly conservative) butI thought he was a good guy (and a fellow UVA grad). This is quite the story.

No notes.

Today’s vibe.

Closing out the weekend. Fires and falling leaves time. Current playlist curation: open.spotify.com/playlist/3VZ...

Made pizza in the big green egg. For my pizza sensitive Alexandria friends, I think a new pizza spot just dropped

It is pretty amazing when your local music hall (the Birchmere) is the host of a post apocalyptic Kennedy Center escape party by @pinkmartiniband.bsky.social . Amazing show! They remind us that we are all a part of a whole world of beauty and connection and joy.

Feeling big feelings for all the victims of trauma while serving in the military hearing today that all procedures to prevent that trauma from being repeated are being removed.

Autism has been know about for longer than Tylenol has been in the market.

This happening while AI is gaining steam is increasibky scary for America and humanity. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

The Sting was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Johnny Hooker forever.

Bananas. Every time I buy a bunch there is one or two that turn totally brown before anybody gets to them. It doesn’t matter how many I buy. This always seems to happen. Sometimes I freeze them or use them in smoothies. But I think something sinister is causing this…

Conservatives now talking about killing homeless people as a solution to homelessness and mental health issues. The shark has been jumped. Humanity can’t survive this kind of thinking.

Can’t we all agree that watching the FBI work these last few days has made us all feel less safe?

I wish for a country where we all grieve every death.

When we lose community, when we forget kindness, when we mock civility, when we celebrate or condone violence—against anyone, in any form—we are lost.

Our society is crumbling in front of us. Our leaders sow fear and hate. We won’t make it continuing on this path. America the historic democracy is fading.

You cant use race in hiring or college admissions, but in arresting people with a federal secret police, using only a person’s race is fine. We are well past the point where we can turn away… we have hit the iceberg. We are now scrambling to life boats while Kid Rock serenades us.

Humans need purpose, things to do, structure. When AI takes that all away, what will we be?

Given all that is going on I felt I had to make a final stand for freedom. That’s right, I bought a pumpkin spiced coffee today. Nobody can hold me back.

My family has this tradition where we sit down after dinner on a Sunday and each of us reads a poem (original work of the reader or by somebody else) and we eat pie. Poetry and Pie we call it. It is probably my favorite family activity. Great insights and conversation. Tonight we had apple pie.

Why isn’t anybody asking how much the government is spending on its military intervention in DC? It’s like budgets and finance no longer matter.

An organization focuses on what it measures. A department of war is measured how?