The day before Thanksgiving is Baking Day! So far today: pie crust (made yesterday then frozen) was blind-baked, then filled with chocolate cream to chill, and cornbread for dressing was baked and now sits on the counter to dry out. Also, earlier I made turkey stock from the neck and some veggies.

In Alexandria, our Council meetings are so much more fun than Arlington's County Board Meetings!

COUNTDOWN COMMENCING….

Alexandria is so fun there is even a podcast about our Council meetings! 👇

We’re back! Check out the latest episode of Council Connection, in which @sarahbagley.bsky.social and I discussed not one not two but seven city Council meetings in September and October! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

For the sixth year in a row, Alexandria has received a perfect 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign's Equality Index. Alexandria will always be a place that stands up for the rights of our LGBTQ+ residents. www.alxnow.com/2025/11/20/a...

This is amazing.

This time I got the hydration right from the start, and substituted 25% whole wheat flour. Came out perfectly.

On Wednesday I was honored to welcome everyone to Alexandria in support of the transformative rail projects kicking off at Alexandria’s Union Station A fourth track, improved station conditions and access, and new bridges at King & Commonwealth. More frequent and reliable service 😁 🚊 !

The Samuel Madden Redevelopment is going to be a transformational housing site once completed. Building quality housing opportunities is not easy, thank you to all those involved in making this groundbreaking possible! #AlexandriaVA #Housing

At last night's City Council Meeting, Mayor @alyia4alx.com read this statement from the Council regarding our collective position regarding the Sheriff's Department and interactions with ICE.

Instead of digging our own grave further with more sprawl-fueling roadway expansion, we should be doubling down on what works Build in the urban core/inner ‘burbs, and fund the transit that makes this possible You can comment on that plan here: www.mwcog.org/visualize205...

As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX

Today, the lawsuit against the City's Zoning for Housing policies was dismissed by the courts. This is a great victory for those who need more affordable and better housing in Alexandria, and the many Alexandrians who advocated for these policies — which are a start, not an end, to our efforts.

Yesssssssss!!!

Republicans refused to fund tax credits to prevent Americans' health care costs, but they snuck in a provision that will give Republican Senators millions of dollars in taxpayer money. They won't help you, but they'll take your money for themselves. This stinks to high heaven.

Today across Alexandria, and America, we stopped to remember the valor and sacrifices of America's veterans. Thank you to everyone who has served our nation in uniform!

Baking fun today: bread made with a pouliche preferment. I acc dentally added too little flour before starting the bulk fermentation, and tried to incorporate it as I folded the dough. This I got a limited rise and it’s a bit dense — but still very tasty!

You just reboot the series again. This “oh no what do we do he died in the last one” thing is absurd. There have already been two Bond continuities. Start a third. No one will mind. Do something different and cool, like set the next group of movies back during the Cold War.

The deal cut by the Senate last night is unacceptable.

"Pluribus" is remarkable. Whoever does content acquisition for Apple TV is the best in the business. I can't wait to see where this show goes.

A focus on affordability, with policy responses specific to each campaign, powered the Democratic wins in New Jersey, Virginia and New York. "Each candidate answered the affordability prompt with a tailored message fit to electorate. Affordability is a big tent." substack.com/home/post/p-...

Nancy Pelosi was one of the greatest Speakers and Congressional party caucus leaders in our nation’s history. No one was better at counting and whipping votes to pass legislation in support of the American people. Thank you for your service, @nancypelosi69.bsky.social!

I think that Microsoft might have set the size of these menu icons incorrectly.

Voting in Alexandria is a great experience because of the hard work of our election officers.

No matter how hard people try to convince us having empathy is wrong, it is right. No matter how hard people try to convince us that diversity is a weakness, it is a strength. No matter how hard people try to convince us that love is limited, it is unlimited.

Now let's retake the US House and Senate next year (and re-elect our great Congressman in the process). Last night's wins in Virginia and California will help in the fight for the House. The Senate remains a harder fight.

Last night was a phenomenal victory for America and Democrats of every stripe: progressive, liberal and centrist Democratic candidates returned amazing results across the country. America is rejecting Trump's abuses and corruption. Let's stay united and defeat the GOP again in 2026!

In 2017, Democrats swept the big three races in Virginia and defied expectations by *almost* winning the House of Delegates. Tonight, we're repeating in the big three and walking away with ~60 seats in the House of Delegates. The takeway? People are sick to death of Trump.

If Trump were smart, he would double down on the ballroom right now.

Congratulations to Lieutenant Governor-Elect @senatorhashmi.bsky.social!

Congratulations, Governor-Elect @abigailspanberger.com!

Alexandria! Today is the day. Vote for @abigailspanberger.com for Governor and our ENTIRE Democratic ticket!

It never really occurred to me until just now that Mark Warner won the 2001 Virginia gubernatorial election in an environment where George W Bush’s approval rating was 90%. That’s incredibly impressive.

I find the outright bigotry against the Mamdani (NYC) and Hashmi (VA) campaigns gross and, well, deplorable.

Did not expect one of the best paragraphs I’d read about baseball would come from an Irish newspaper www.irishexaminer.com/sport-column...

Met with canvassers in Alexandria yesterday, then hit the doors to turn out votes for the entire Democratic ticket. Virginia, let’s win this thing for the sake of our commonwealth, our nation, and our future!

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers for powering through an epic Game 7 to win the 2025 World Series!

Not shown: my great relief that I was using proper hand signals as I was unaware my colleague was behind me!

A huge government policy win would be figuring out a way to bring generic tirzepatide to market before the late 2030s. Even if that means spending a few billion to just buy Lilly’s patent outright, it’d be worth it.

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

Post a game that you remember playing that no one else remembers.

Alexandria needs to step up its game—Baltimore is winning hard tonight.

Rewatching the first season of “Stranger Things,” and it’s pretty shocking that after everything his Department of Energy did to their son, Mike’s parents still voted for Reagan in 1984.

Six years! @cantorshimi.bsky.social

Del Ray! The Halloween Parade is about to begin!

"The ballroom is really the president's main priority." Not your health care. Not rising prices. Not the dragging economy. Not ending the shutdown. Trump's "main priority" is wrecking the White House so he can build a fancy new ballroom.

Check your kid’s Halloween candy carefully. Someone tried to hide a Planning and Zoning Virtual Community Update in this one.

The fundamental problem with our federal government is the increasing concentration of power in the executive branch. Legislative term limits would greatly exacerbate this challenge. To claw back our democracy we need Congress to be more powerful, not less.

Since 2005 (when it was 5.7%), there's never been more than a 2.5% delta between the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee's margin and the attorney general nominee's margin. While once there was a lot of variability between the results in the three statewide races, that's mostly gone now.