Today's Little Patriotic Gesture - Yes We Can!

Me in the garden today

Today's Little Patriotic Gesture was stopping by VA Puget Sound Health Care's Building 101 as part of a study to detect signs of dementia early enough to do something about it; it needs a whole LOT of volunteers like me (presumably a "healthy control" but who knows?) to build a database.

It's fun, they give you tests that are fun (why is remembering 7 random digits easy but remembering 9 random digits is hard?), and it's good to do something positive however small.

Why not sign up for trials like this yourself!

Afterwards, I visited my crusty old friend Cyril Miller, temporarily housed in their Community Living Center while recovering from something to do with being d@mn old. From his hospital be,d he's fielding phone calls to connect veterans in need with resources - King County has a lot of good stuff thanks to our levy, but you have to know about it - he does his part.

Afterward I visited the Healing Garden (for this photo) to which I had made a small contribution so long ago, and am proud to be remembered on the same plaque as Cyril's sister Zelda. She departed our world too soon but left Cyril the kidney that helps him p1ss off the footdraggers.

None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something!

Addiction Intervention: No One Is Above The Law

I know you want pretty pictures, but it's time for an intervention.

You ever try to tell someone that their addiction is hurting them, hurting their children, hurting people they love?

I've had that conversation, maybe you have too.

The addict is just as smart as you, so they understand your words and when you point to an exact example of what their addiction is doing to their kids or themselves or their world, you see them understand.

Then their eyes get unfocussed for a second, and they're back with a response:

• You don't understand.
• You're just saying that to make them feel bad.
• You think you're better than them.

Off they go, on the long spiral down.

That is just the way addiction works.

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Yesterday, the Chief Addiction announced he is above the law. See the screen shot?

He's telling his addicts that nothing he does is illegal.

(Didn't we settle that with Nixon?)

You may not have read the details of what he's doing, because corporate media is corporate first, media second or not at all.

But a few of the objectively illegal things he's doing:

• Stop health research that Congress ordered.
• Close a cybersecurity office that Congress ordered.
• Stop food aid that Congress ordered ... leaving half a billion dollars in food sitting, undistributed and unguarded, in warehouses around the world to rot or for gangs to steal.
• Violate the Privacy Act of 1974 (signed into law by Tricky Dick himself!) by giving Elon Musk your tax, Medicare, VA and other records to populate his AIs and decide who is worthy.

There's more, but you get the idea.

It's no use telling this to addicts; an addict can not go against his addiction.

Sorry, that's just the way it is.

Those of us not addicted to MAGA can peacefully demonstrate on President's Day, demanding the return of the rule of law.

(You want to cancel cancer research? fine, pass a law in Congress).

We can call our Congresscritters and tell them we prefer Congress to make the law (5calls.org makes it easy)

We can talk with our family, friends and neighbors to see who will help us and who we can help when Trump's tariffs and illegal layoffs crumble the economy again.

We can have compassion for the addicts.

After all, they are one of us.

We're all in this together.

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See:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-napoleon-quote-immunity-court-judges-b2698977.html