From the First Hill Newsletter (thanks to Mary M.)
Ed note: A full update for Skyline residents concerning the Skybridge project is planned for February 19th. Also of note, arborists plan the necessary tree pruning on 8th Avenue which will occur on January 29th.
In the fall of 2026, Skyline Retirement Community will begin construction on a new sky bridge connecting its Olympic and Cascade towers to improve safety and access for its senior residents. As part of the project’s public benefits package, Skyline has partnered with renowned local artist Georgia Gerber to create a new public art installation for the neighborhood.
The project will feature oversized salmon sculptures along a landscaped, river-inspired path on 8th Avenue north of Cherry Street (the location is pictured above). The playful, approachable sculptures celebrate the region’s ecology, indigenous roots, and the natural connection between the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges.
Neighbors are invited to help shape how the sculptures are integrated into the landscape for public enjoyment. Visit First Hill coffee shops the last week of January between noon-2pm to preview the project. Mon. 1/26 – Starbucks (1101 Madison St.)Tues. 1/27 – Coffee Tree (905 8th Ave.)Wed. 1/28 – Diva Espresso (502 9th Ave.)Thurs. 1/29 – Piedmont Cafe (1215 Seneca St.)Fri. 1/30 – Leon Coffee House (610 Terry Ave.)Share your thoughts and be entered in a drawing for a $25 coffee gift card! Stop by and help bring this unique public art project to life!
The problem telling Maggie stories nowadays is that you must stop and tell folks who Warren G. Magnuson was. He served this state in Congress for 44 years, 36 years in the Senate. I thought of Magnuson this week, thinking that I should have thought of him every time I turn on a light switch on a dark, raw midwinter day.
An early memory is of Magnuson billboards featuring the senator’s visage and the slogan “Keeps Our State Moving.” President Kennedy poked fun envisioning Maggie coming to the Senate floor late in the afternoon, mumbling about offering an insignificant amendment, “and Grand Coulee Dam gets built.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt built the 550-foot-high dam. But Maggie secured money to build its great third powerhouse, which heats and lights homes in this region during winter. Maggie was eventually chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. In 1962, Time magazine described Maggie as “a skilled politician with few pretensions to statesmanship.”
He wielded power backstage in the Senate while living a colorful life center stage. Why think of him now? Because Magnuson made government work for the people, and build the infrastructure that has allowed the nation and Pacific Northwest to flourish. Today, the Trump Administration is attacking that infrastructure with a wrecking ball.
Magnuson sponsored the Corporate Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. That entity, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, just went out of business. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, with its public access provision, was crafted in the Senate Commerce Committee chaired by Magnuson. In the process, Maggie had to break up a wrestling match between segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-South Carolina, and liberal Sen. Ralph Yarborough, D-Texas.
Maggie was also renowned for his malaprops. The president of France, Georges Pompidou, was “Poopidou.” The imperious chairman of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, was introduced at a Senate hearing as “Mr. Average Brundy.” When an environmental hearing witness slammed the Boeing SST project, Maggie exclaimed: “We can’t all go live at Walden Pond. Even Walden only lived there two years.”
Magnuson had a scare in 1952 when a Lutheran minister, Richard Christensen, held him to 52 per cent of the vote. He undertook a total image transplant with help from young aides — Gerry Grinstein and Gerald Johnson, the best known — he labeled as his “bumblebees.”
The buzz over oil spills in coastal waters led to Magnuson’s best known “little amendment.” Attached to renewal of the Marine Mammals Protection Act, it forbade supertankers beyond Ediz Hook (near Port Angeles). An oil port booster, Dixy Lee Ray, our last truly awful governor, called Maggie “a dictator.” In turn, he mocked her at the 1980 Democratic State Convention. Dixy stomped out. Later Magnuson, a lover of good drink, told Tacoma Democrats that smaller oil tankers could supply “every distillery on the Coast.”
The Senator went on to oppose making Hanford a dump for “spent” but highly radioactive fuel rods from nuclear power plants. He was a longtime booster of the nuclear reservation, but delivered memorable pronunciations of the Fast Flux Test Facility, a test reactor at Hanford.
Earlier in his Senate tenure, Maggie was an intimate of Lyndon Johnson, and advocate for Great Society programs that are now on the chopping block 60 years later. In personal life, Maggie and a widow named Jermaine Peralta, 18 years his junior, preceded the young people by living together outside bonds of marriage. They slept over at the White House after a social affair. The day’s first tour saw the couple, in evening dress, coming down the stairs. LBJ ordered that they wed and acted as chief witness.
Magnuson told a story on himself to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Ed board. The couple had a free weekend after a speech at WSU and went to check in at a motor inn in Idaho. The suspicious clerk requested proof they were man and wife. Maggie produced a marriage certificate from his billfold, signed by Johnson. The disbelievering clerk suggested that they go to another place down the highway with looser moral standards.
As a powerful member and later chair of Senate Appropriations, Magnuson delivered millions of federal dollars to cancer research at the University of Washington. Maggie delivered more than a billion dollars in aid after the Mount St. Helens eruption. (Today, Trump wants to slash FEMA assistance.)
Magnuson waged a campaign too far in 1980, weakened by diabetes and slowed to a shuffle. My mother said, “I love the dear man but he can hardly walk anymore.” Republican Slade Gorton retired the old senator. “Slade Gorton has a great pair of legs but Magnuson gets things done,” Rep. Al swift argued in a futile TV spot. Gorton won going away with it in a GOP/Reagan year. Gorton advertised himself as “Washington’s next great senator,” paying tribute to Maggie.
The Magnusons took up residence in the west side of Queen Anne Hill, a totem pole decorating their front lawn. Years earlier, I had broken the news to him of Scoop Jackson’s death, and was first to hear the familiar refrain, “If I knew I would have lived this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” Nicknamed the “gold dust twins,” the pair served together for 38 seniority-enhanced years.
He was a character with character. Today, Patty Murray, who occupies Maggie’s old Senate seat, is serving her sixth term and is closing in on a 36-year tenure. Thus, Washington has for 80 years enjoyed power in the “other” Washington.
Today, Democratic senator Mark Kelly of Arizona sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department, Navy Secretary John Phelan, and the Navy Department for violating his First Amendment rights, the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the separation of powers, due process, the law that establishes ranks for retired commissioned officers (10 USC 1370), and the Administrative Procedure Act that establishes the ways in which agencies can make regulations.
While this sounds complicated, at its heart it’s about the attempt of the Donald J. Trump administration to trample Congress and create a military loyal to Trump alone.
Defense Secretary Hegseth came to his position from his job as a weekend host on the Fox News Channel. Before that, he served in the Army Reserve and the National Guard but, as Kelly and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) noted in a Military Times op-ed questioning Hegseth’s fitness for the position, he never rose to a command position and his “track record falls short of military standards.” He is the least-experienced defense secretary in U.S. history.
His attack on Kelly, who is a retired Navy officer and astronaut, began after Kelly and five other Democrats in Congress—Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Representatives Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Jason Crow (D-CO)—all of whom are veterans, released a video on November 18, 2025, in which they warned members of the military and the intelligence community that the administration was “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution,” the video continued. “Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders; you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution. We know this is hard and that it’s a difficult time to be a public servant. But whether you’re serving in the CIA, the Army, our Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is critical.”
The lawmakers concluded: “Know that we have your back, because now, more than ever, the American people need you. We need you to stand up for our laws, our Constitution, and who we are as Americans.”
The video simply reiterated the law, but White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller promptly posted on social media, “Democrat lawmakers are now openly calling for insurrection,” and by the next day, Trump was reposting comments that called for the lawmakers to be arrested, “thrown out of their offices,” “frog marched out of their homes at 3:00 AM with FOX News cameras filming the whole thing,” and “charged with sedition.” He reposted “Insurrection. TREASON!” and a message from a user who wrote: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”
On November 24, the “Department of War” posted on social media that it was investigating Kelly, after “serious allegations of misconduct.” It suggested that Kelly could be recalled to active duty “for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”
Over a photograph of the medals on his uniform, Kelly responded on social media: “When I was 22 years old, I commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and swore an oath to the Constitution. I upheld that oath through flight school, multiple deployments on the USS Midway, 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, test pilot school, four space shuttle flights at NASA, and every day since I retired—which I did after my wife Gabby was shot in the head while serving her constituents.
“In combat, I had a missile blow up next to my jet and flew through anti-aircraft fire to drop bombs on enemy targets. At NASA, I launched on a rocket, commanded the space shuttle, and was part of the recovery mission that brought home the bodies of my astronaut classmates who died on Columbia. I did all of this in service to this country that I love and has given me so much. (continued on page 2 or here)
Ed note: If you are not already a Washing State Continuing Care Resident’s Association (WACCRA) member, please consider joining this statewide organization of CCRC’s which advocate for the rights of residents. Currently, we have very few legal protections of our CCRC investment. A good way to get more information is to attend the WACCRA Video of Annual Meeting at 11 AM this Friday the 16th in the OT’s Performance Hall. There will be discussion of the legislation being proposed (see below).
Happy New Year!Washington’s 2026 Legislative session begins on Monday, January 12th in Olympia. The very exciting news is that there are TWO bills being considered related to CCRCs! They both build on WACCRA’s success in the 2025 Legislative session. And like last year, WACCRA’s ability to move our legislative agenda forward depends on YOU, our members.
SB 5964 / HB 2289
Senate Bill 5964 has been introduced by Senator Jessica Bateman (D-Olympia) with companion House bill HB 2299, introduced by Rep. Kristine Reeves (D-Federal Way). The bill would create Ombuds support for seniors living in independent living facilities, including CCRCs. These include communities based on age, typically 55+, but excludes any portion of a community that is subject to regulation by the Department of Social and Health Services (e.g., skilled nursing, for whom the Ombuds already works).The bill requires the Department of Commerce to establish the Ombuds program to:• Provide ombuds services across the state. • Establish a statewide reporting system. • Identify, analyze and resolve resident complaints. • Refer to appropriate state agencies issues when they find violations or issues that warrant action.HB 2299 has been scheduled for a public hearing in the House Housing Committee on Thursday, January 15th at 8:00 AM. You can indicate your (favorable) position on by CLICKING HERE: HB 2299Please do so before the hearing starts to make your voice heard.You can find the full bill language by CLICKING HERE: SB 5964
HB 2384
A second important bill, House Bill 2384, was introduced by long-time WACCRA supporter, Representative Nicole Macri. This bill would require certain CCRCs to submit to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner periodic actuarial studies analyzing the CCRC’s ability to meet its promise of future health care services to its residents.The bill as currently drafted does not apply this requirement to every CCRC and it does not include a specific penalty if CCRCs do not submit or submit inadequate actuarial studies. These are issues WACCRA will address in testimony at the House Health and Wellness Committee public hearing. We expect the hearing to be held the week of January 19th.You can find the full bill language by CLICKING HERE: HB 2384When HB 2384 is scheduled for the public hearing, we will be activating our membership like we did last year. Be on the lookout for information from your WACCRA Liaison or via a NewsMail on letter writing and logging in to show your support.
The image, featured on the cover of Objektiv magazine, shows a close-up headshot of Trump with oil spilling from his nose in a shape that strongly resembles Adolf Hitler’s mustache, with the title “American Attack on Venezuela.”
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If you want to learn more about Gov. Bob Ferguson’s term so far and hear from lawmakers, a pollster and journalists about how he’s doing, listen to Northwest Reports’ newest series “Ferguson vs. Everyone,” which premiered Wednesday.
Nearly everyone had an expectation of who Bob Ferguson might be as Washington’s 24th governor.
The “American Heartthrob” who gained national recognition during his many fights against the first Trump administration. The statewide elected official who some say spent too much time and money worrying about the politics of Washington, D.C. The chess champion always thinking four moves ahead. The former King County Councilmember known for bipartisanship and a desire to reform government.
But throughout his first few months on the job, Ferguson the governor didn’t seem to align with these previous iterations. Instead, lawmakers and voters alike expressed surprise, confusion and sometimes disappointment about the public servant they thought they knew.
Some had hoped Ferguson would approve more taxes on the very wealthy; others were disappointed he had not been more cautious about signing off on new revenue streams.Still others wanted him to do more to stand up to the second Trump administration, or said he had focused too much on federal challenges.He was too moderate for some Washingtonians, and too progressive for others.
“It’s a curse of trying to be in the middle,” said Seattle pollster Stuart Elway of these warring expectations. “You get hit from trucks going both ways.”
Ferguson also received criticism for not being available to the press: He did not hold weekly general press conferences his first few months as governor like past governors did. (Ferguson’s office did not respond to multiple requests to be interviewed for this story.)
As his tenure continues, he’s become known for keeping his cards close to his chest, leaving even lawmakers guessing as to his opinions on controversial policies. In the final quarter of his inaugural year as governor, no one seems to know what’s next.
Here to reform
The first of many surprises from the new administration came minutes after Ferguson was sworn in.
In a packed House of Representatives chamber, the new state executive gave his first speech.
For 30 minutes, he expressed a promise to eliminate as much bureaucracy as possible and remain fiscally responsible in crafting a budget. He threatened to veto policies that would require spending more than four years into the future.
Ferguson emphasized bipartisanship, noting his support for several policies backed by conservative lawmakers, like increasing the state’s law enforcement funding and limiting the executive branch’s emergency powers.
In the chamber, Republican lawmakers cheered, repeatedly standing in support of policies they had pushed for years. Democrats were less enthusiastic, applauding at times but also responding with evident confusion and skepticism.
Ferguson’s first speech wasn’t what anyone had expected from the state’s first new governor in 12 years, and it set the tone for the challenging legislative session to follow, as the new executive struggled to win over Democrats, Republicans, activists, voters and even some of his own staff.
In that first address to the Legislature and to the public, Ferguson made his mission clear: “I’m not here to defend government. I’m here to reform it.”
Governor Bob Ferguson delivers his inaugural address in Olympia on Wed., Jan. 15, 2025. A recent Cascade PBS/Elway poll found Ferguson had the worst first approval rating of any Washington governor in more than 30 years. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Keeping quiet
It quickly became clear that Ferguson’s governor’s office would operate differently than those previously.
He stopped holding general weekly press conferences and issued a memo in the first few weeks of his term requiring that most cabinet agencies’ public messaging go through his office first. Ferguson’s lack of communication became a theme throughout his first few months, frustrating lobbyists, journalists and lawmakers.
After weeks of trying to get a meeting with the governor, Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington State Federation for State Employees, decided to go public with his concerns about Ferguson’s proposal to furlough state workers and his refusal to support a wealth tax.
He criticized Ferguson at public rallies, held sit-ins outside the governor’s office, called him a “ratfink”on social media posts – all in an attempt to get the governor’s attention.
“I expected to have some tough conversations this session, I expected that there would be difficult decisions,” Yestramski told Cascade PBS.“I didn’t expect to not have conversations.”
Almost no one knew where Ferguson stood on controversial issues throughout the session.
Toeing the tax line with Democrats
In the middle of Ferguson’s first legislative session as governor, he had a meeting over coffee with Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. The two had worked together for decades: They’d started at the same law firm early in their careers.
Pedersen’s caucus was in the middle of writing the state’s budget for the next four years, and Ferguson was still settling into his new job.
Ferguson had already stated publicly that he would not support a budget reliant on a “wealth tax” – meaning a tax on the state’s most affluent residents. A tax like that, he said, would be unsustainable, and had never been legally tested in Washington.
But many Democrats thought the governor might change his mind, Pedersen said.
At their meeting, Pedersen said, Ferguson was blunt. He said there was no way he would sign a budget that depends on a wealth tax, according to Pedersen.
Pedersen went back to his colleagues with the bad news: “It’s not happening,” he recalled telling them.
Ferguson’s refusal to support the tax surprised many Democrats in the Legislature, who had hoped the governor would locate more revenue sources to fill a looming multibillion-dollar budget hole instead of just making cuts to state programming.
Treasure Mackley, executive director of progressive tax advocacy group Invest in Washington Now, said it was disappointing to hear of Ferguson’s hard line against the wealth tax so early in session.
“There were folks that would have liked the opportunity to be able to have a conversation and work together to be able to build a budget that would help us close our deficit, as well as build a more equitable tax code,” she said.
Ferguson’s opposition to a wealth tax drew criticism from progressive lawmakers like Rep. Shaun Scott, D-Seattle, who knocked Ferguson’s alternative proposal to furlough state workers and cut state entitlement programs.At a rally in March, Scott called the policy “Fergonomics.”
Despite the criticism, Ferguson stood by his word.
“I understand that my approach is making some of my friends and supporters unhappy,” Ferguson said at a press conference in April. “That is OK. Sometimes we need to tell our friends hard truths.”
Republicans’ fading optimism
For those on the other side of the tax debate, Ferguson’s hesitation was welcome.
“I give credit to Ferguson,” said Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima. “He basically said, ‘This is not something that we can just rely on, it will be challenged. How do you tax unrealized wealth and not have it violate [the] state constitution?’”
Many Republican lawmakers like Corry were at first cautiously optimistic that the new governor would support their party’s approach to budgeting – fewer taxes, more cuts.
“I sure hope that he’s willing to stand firm and follow through on the promises he’s made as governor to govern responsibly and in the best interest of all of Washington, and not just part of that progressive base,” House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, told reporters as the legislative session wound down.
But in the weeks that followed, Republicans’ optimism quickly faded.
Ferguson would end up signing off on more than 400 bills, including $9 billion in new taxes, an increase to the state gas tax and dozens of progressive priorities, like yearly rent caps and changes to parents’ rights for K-12 children.
Ferguson’s approval of these policies brought relief to many Democrats who had been unsure about where the governor stood on controversial proposals. Their relief was mirrored by Republicans’ frustration: Conservative legislators had hoped the governor would side with them.
Ferguson’s approach to the budget may have cost him. In the Cascade PBS/Elway poll, 59% of those who gave negative ratings blamed Ferguson’s approval of new tax increases, his disapproval of more taxes, or his handling of the state budget in general.
“I think maybe Gov. Ferguson tried to split the baby a little too much, and it didn’t pan out,” Corry said.
At a press conference on federal tariffs held earlier this month, Ferguson defended his decision, though said raising taxes was not what he had wanted to do.
“We had a challenging budget situation, and there was no easy way out of that,” Ferguson said. “Given the challenge we were facing, I think the balance between the revenue and the reductions was a balance that made sense.”
Critics point to a lack of transparency from Ferguson, who didn’t hold general press conferences during his first few months as governor. (Lindsey Wasson for Cascade PBS)
‘Part of Bob’
Long before being elected governor and his 12-year stint as the state’s attorney general, Ferguson served as a King County Council member – a position he won in an uphill political battle.
In his first campaign, Ferguson ran against a 20-year Democratic incumbent, Cynthia Sullivan. The 38-year-old attorney – as determined and focused as ever – spent weeksdoorbelling thousands of voters in the district ahead of the primary election.
In one of the biggest upsets of that election, Ferguson narrowly beat Sullivan. Hewas sworn in as a Councilmember in 2004.
Two years later, he ran against another Democratic incumbent on the council, Carolyn Edmonds. He won and continued to serve on the Council until 2013.
Ferguson’s priorities then looked a lot like they do now. As a councilmember, he was known for his bipartisanship, his leadership on budget issues, his efforts to improve public safety and his work to reform elections and government efficiency.
Ferguson has always believed that public officials have a responsibility to make sure taxpayer dollars are used wisely and frugally, Pedersen said. Anyone who paid attention to Ferguson’s early career would not be surprised by anything he’s done as governor.
But to those who knew him only in his previous role as attorney general, his more moderate policy approach might come as a surprise.
After all, Ferguson was the attorney general who filed or joined nearly 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration on behalf of the state of Washington during the president’s first term in office, sparking local and national fandom. “American Heartthrob” Bob Ferguson graced the cover of a 2017 edition of The Stranger, where reporters praised Ferguson for his tenacity in a “feud against Trump” and said he had “a crisp narrative about his progressive cred.”
“Most people who started paying attention to him during that time thought of him as this sort of gleeful progressive warrior who’s fighting the good fight against the Trump administration, and assumed that’s Bob,” Pedersen said.“And that’s part of Bob, right? But it’s only a part.”
Now eight months into his role as governor, Ferguson is still finding his footing.
He’s leaned into his fight against the second Trump administration, often holding press conferences to decry decisions from the federal government. He’s vowed to take another look at the state budget and new taxes ahead of next legislative session, though he has not made clear what changes he may propose.
But introducing himself to Washington voters could take a bit more opening-up, Elway said. The governor’s lack of clear messaging and communication early on could be leading to some confusion for voters, the pollster pointed out, and relying on his reputation as attorney general may not be enough.
“For a large portion of Washington voters, he’s new,” Elway said. “He’s just being introduced to them. It’s sort of on the governor to introduce and communicate himself to the voters, too.”
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Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II. Titled Army Talks, the series was designed “to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.”
On March 24, 1945, the topic for the week was “FASCISM!”
“You are away from home, separated from your families, no longer at a civilian job or at school and many of you are risking your very lives,” the pamphlet explained, “because of a thing called fascism.” But, the publication asked, what is fascism? “Fascism is not the easiest thing to identify and analyze,” it said, “nor, once in power, is it easy to destroy. It is important for our future and that of the world that as many of us as possible understand the causes and practices of fascism, in order to combat it.”
Fascism, the U.S. government document explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”
“The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.” “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,” the pamphlet said.
Fascists “make their own rules and change them when they choose…. They maintain themselves in power by use of force combined with propaganda based on primitive ideas of ‘blood’ and ‘race,’ by skillful manipulation of fear and hate, and by false promise of security. The propaganda glorifies war and insists it is smart and ‘realistic’ to be pitiless and violent.”
Fascists understood that “the fundamental principle of democracy—faith in the common sense of the common people—was the direct opposite of the fascist principle of rule by the elite few,” it explained, “[s]o they fought democracy…. They played political, religious, social, and economic groups against each other and seized power while these groups struggled.”
Americans should not be fooled into thinking that fascism could not come to America, the pamphlet warned; after all, “[w]e once laughed Hitler off as a harmless little clown with a funny mustache.” And indeed, the U.S. had experienced “sorry instances of mob sadism, lynchings, vigilantism, terror, and suppression of civil liberties. We have had our hooded gangs, Black Legions, Silver Shirts, and racial and religious bigots. All of them, in the name of Americanism, have used undemocratic methods and doctrines which…can be properly identified as ‘fascist.’” (continued on Page 2 or here)
Ed note: As a subscriber to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, this arrived in my inbox today. It’s inspiring to remember our history and battle against Facism–a battle that must be renewed today. The second post today (thanks to MaryLou P.) will further defined that battle.
This new series in Journey to American Democracy comes to you thanks to that odd way history has of braiding the past and the present.
Do you remember that in October the head of the Eisenhower Library in Kansas, a military veteran, was forced to resign after he refused to hand over to President Donald J. Trump a sword that had been given to General, and later President, Dwight D. Eisenhower?
The man’s name is Todd Arrington, and he told news outlets he was blindsided by the demand that he resign. He couldn’t give them the sword, he told a reporter, because it belonged to the American people. But he and his staff worked with officials from the administration for two months to locate a sword that they could give instead, and found a replica Eisenhower sword from West Point. “We felt very good about the way that everything worked out,” he said.
But then he found out that, after almost 30 years of service to the U.S., he was being fired.
This is where the braiding starts. I knew Todd slightly from giving him some advice on his dissertation decades ago. We were on each other’s radar screens enough that when a friend and I started the online magazine We’re History a decade or so ago, Todd began to write for us, and later he helped us out by coming on board the magazine as an editor.
After the magazine went on hiatus, we largely lost touch. But as soon as I learned Todd might have some free time on his hands, I plotted to bring him onto the Journey to American Democracy project. In our first meeting on what topics he might like to cover, fresh from his time at the Eisenhower Library, Todd noted that 2025 was the 80th anniversary of World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. I loved the idea of covering military history in a smart way. And so we began this series last November.
But now that the time to drop the videos is here, their meaning has changed. In just the past week, the illegal extraction of a foreign leader without consultation with Congress, the seizure of Venezuela’s oil and placement of its proceeds into Trump’s own hands, the threatening of other countries, the open flouting of the Epstein Transparency Act, the shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and the government’s attempt to smear Good and to justify the state murder of a citizen exercising her constitutional rights have made it clear that officials in the Trump administration have fully embraced the same fascism that underpinned the Nazi government that American soldiers were fighting 80 years ago. (continued on Page 2 or here)
Between 1932 and 1972, the United States Public Health Service, in what was called “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” knowingly withheld life-saving antibiotics from 600 African American sharecroppers in Alabama. Most died from syphilis. Purposefully withholding antibiotics so that investigators could observe the neurological outcomes of untreated syphilis was then, and remains today, a dark stain on American history.
RFK Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will soon conduct his own Tuskegee experiment. He has chosen the resource-poor nation of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, to do it. Guinea-Bissau is currently overwhelmed by hepatitis B virus. About 18 percent of the population is infected. The World Health Organization (WHO) strongly recommends that all children in all countries receive a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine to prevent mother-to-child transmission. The United States implemented the birth dose in 1991, eventually eliminating tens of thousands of cases of hepatitis B virus in children less than 10 years of age. Guinea-Bissau, on the other hand, has struggled to implement the WHO recommendation, deferring the first dose to 6 weeks of age. Consequently, about 11 percent of children less than 18 months of age in Guinea-Bissau are infected with hepatitis B virus. These children have a 90 percent chance of developing cirrhosis (chronic liver disease) or liver cancer later in life. Realizing the problem, Guinea-Bissau has decided to launch a universal birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine for all infants in 2027.
RFK Jr. sees this one-year delay in implementation of the much-needed hepatitis B birth dose as a “window of opportunity” to test his theory that the vaccine causes long-term neurological problems even though more than 30 years of experience in the United States has disproved his claims. (continued on Page 2 or here)
Donald Trump has gotten his hand-shake-bruised hands on pretty much everything in DC…
For those counting down: He’s got three years left, but de-Trumpification will take time once he’s gone. Fortunately, some cosmetic issues can be fixed almost immediately:
1. First off, they can remove paintings like this one:
2. This one:
3. And this one:
4. Next up, they can take his name off the Institute Of Peace:
By Jake Lundberg in The Atlantic (thanks to Mary M.)
Because every day is Black Friday at Costco, I choose to go on Saturday. I like to get there early. I always park in the same spot (right next to the cart return), and wait with the other die-hards. It has the thrill of a stakeout, absent any crime or danger. When the doors open, we move toward the entrance in an orderly march. There’s a small gasp upon entry—the kind of quiet awe that one feels before the most epic human achievements, as when stepping across the threshold of St. Peter’s or the Chartres Cathedral. But in this place, there is no baroque majesty, no stained glass, just abundance bathed in light. In the sweep of human history generally marked by scarcity and want, here is bounty on an unimaginable scale; here is a year’s supply of mozzarella sticks; here is a hot dog and a drink for $1.50; here is a monument of our civilization, in more than 600 locations across the United States.
I take the ease with which I resort to Costco talk—about produce prices in particular—as a worrying sign that I’ve become a middle-aged bore. But there’s something happening at Costco that I think goes beyond bell peppers (note that my family eats a lot of them, and, boy, are they a bargain). Costco is a marvel not just historically but also in this moment. In an age of broken institutions, insufferable politics, and billionaire businessmen auditioning to be Bond villains, most things feel like they’re getting worse. Costco seems to stay the same. The employees are generally satisfied. The customers are thrilled by the simple act of getting a good deal. All of it makes a unique space in contemporary American life, a space of cooperation, courtesy, and grown-ups mostly acting like grown-ups.
It starts with the thing you’re pushing, the vessel into which you shall receive thy bounty. The cart is improbably large yet easily maneuvered through the warehouse’s aisles. Through some invisible quality control, the sad and broken-down ones you find at the supermarket—unlevel, rear wheel locked, front wheel spinning—seem to be ushered quietly into oblivion at Costco. You’re at the helm of a Peterbilt with the handling of a Porsche.
Traffic is never light, but things generally move along. Pushing something that large requires an awareness of oneself in space. Those who might need to consult a list or message their spouse—should I grab this brick of cheddar cheese?—seem to know to step off to the side. At my store in Granger, Indiana, where elbows are perhaps not as sharp as at some other locations, patrons appear to have an unspoken patience with the person who wants to give a bag of avocados an extra squeeze, or hold a double shell of raspberries up to the light. There are occasional expressions of camaraderie as well: “We can’t get enough of that stuff,” somebody might say as you load two pillow-size bags of Pirate’s Booty into the cart.
You might see the bargain-hunting bonds among Costco shoppers as a function of the chain’s history. To join its ranks costs $65 a year; the store’s membership model originates from a nonprofit wholesale collective for federal employees called Fedco, founded in Los Angeles in the 1940s. The genealogy is complex (a three-hour-long Acquired podcast episode traces it in full), but one trait has endured: the company is animated—even as a for-profit enterprise—by the idea of bringing good value to its members. This has yielded a cultlike loyalty, such that the company can largely rely on happy members to do its advertising and marketing by word of mouth—or perhaps by wearing prized company merch. Kirkland Signature, Costco’s in-house label for hundreds of products, is a kind of anti-brand that happens to be one of the world’s largest for consumer packaged goods. Just buying something under its comically dull logo makes you feel like a smart shopper: You’ve made the wise decision to forgo a better look for a better price.
Costco is a place that encourages, and rewards, just knowing the drill—and the drill isn’t hard to figure out: Move along. Don’t block the way. Unload your cart onto the conveyor belt with dispatch, but leave the heavy stuff. Make the barcodes visible. Violators are never exiled, but transgression, I know from experience, is not without shame. Once, I left the cart in front of the flower display loaded down with 120 pounds of water-softening salt. When I returned, the grandmother who was blocked from the flowers (find me a cheaper dozen roses!)—well, she gave me the finger.
The veneer of civilization is always thin, even at Costco, as one is reminded before major holidays, or in the vicinity of the samples. When there’s a Christmas feast to be provisioned, or half a bite of pizza to be tasted, order breaks down, and with it, spatial awareness, common courtesy, and the Golden Rule. We’re circling like buzzards; we’re blocking the way; we’re shaking our heads at the nerve of the person who took the last three.
But the checkout restores us to our senses. At my Costco, there is usually a line to get in line for the cashier. People can game the system, but most quietly queue up, content to wait their turn to pick a register. The clerks are cheerier than they should be before this endless current of humans and their stuff. Whatever lapses I might have had in the store (did I take a second sample? maybe), here, I’m on my best behavior.
Ed note: There is much work still to do in Washington State. There has been political resistance in the State Senate, but some work is being carried out in this direction. A National Registry would be a great step forward.
Several states have state registries for advance directives and/or POLSTs. But we may someday have a federal nationwide registry. Spain already has one.
The Legacy Act of 2025 (H.R. 5861) directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into an agreement with the National Academies to conduct a study on establishing and maintaining a national, confidential, and secure system for storing and retrieving by an authorized agent a last wish document of an individual, at no cost to such individual.
The term “last wish document” includes— (A) an advance directive; (B) an organ donor registration; (C) a healthcare or medical proxy; (D) a power of attorney; or (E) a living will.
Just as the hare is zipping across the finish line, the tortoise has stopped once again by the roadside, this time to stick out his neck and nibble a bit of sweet grass, unlike the previous time when he was distracted by a bee humming in the heart of a wildflower.
