I agree, Tip; Michael Lilliquist is a reasoning, reasonable, and responsive representative. He is one of the few that actually replies to emails and concerns. I do not always agree, but I do not doubt his integrity and feel our community's wishes, laws, and wellbeing are at the center of his thinking.

 

There is no question that integrity and transparency is a requirement, not only of leaders, but of all of us. Besides death and taxes, the one thing we can count on is that human beings will always be composed of those who behave fabulously, unselfishly good, reasonably good, just ugly and unkind, and incomprehensibly, pathologically bad. Behavior and attitude cannot be predicted by age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, nor by parties. And none of those characteristics, including party endorsements, should ever be our end-all in deciding on whom we listen to, watch, read, or choose to vote for. 

Although a party should not be judged by the behavior of some of its members, we do have a problem when loyalty is to individuals, corporations, or self-interest rather than to our communities and democratic, Constitutional principles as is happening now at our national level. The individuals that make up the Republican party have been like the proverbial frogs that did not jump out of the pot, and now have elected leaders that act as polar opposites of what I knew them to be as I was growing up. These people are bending at the knee to enable an individual to rob the public, to turn our defense against our own, to threaten and control our judiciary, to eliminate non partisan protectors, to suppress free speech, to abandon our global allies, and to treat others with grievous inhumanity. That is a party corrupted. That type of gangster "loyalty" is what we need to stop at every level. At this moment our attention needs to be on protecting our democracy, period. The Cascadia Daily (Updated Oct. 1, 2025 ) reporting on this issue stated, "The state Democratic Party acknowledged the complaint, but said its review found no code of conduct violations that would require intervention." 

Let us work together to support transparency and ethical behavior going forward and put saving our democracy on the front burner.

Thank you and I agree our community is hurting in many ways, homelessness is the most pressing. Homelessness is the tip of the growing iceberg of wealth inequality that is ripping a hole in our good government ship and Trumpism is is the gash. 

Governor Ferguson inherited a 10 Billion Washington State deficit. https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/11/14/with-10b-deficit-looming-wa-governor-calls-on-state-agencies-to-make-cuts/ I am with Ingrid Robeyns and believe raising taxes on the super rich would be a better answer than making cuts. If you have not read her book, Limitarianism, please do.

However, Governor Ferguson, along with the rest of the country, have a monster, mobster may be more accurate, in the White House, who is bleeding the life out of our Federal support systems. What are the odds of helping the poverty stricken people in our community with less financial and program support? It is very likely that when the cuts his minions have made are fully implemented, we will have more homelessness and people with unmet healthcare needs than we have ever seen. We will look like Oliver Twist's England, probably with an occupying National Guard carrying guns and roaming our streets ...

Our community needs are great and the load is growing heavier with every year of global warming. We need housing and we need to find ways to have clean, potable water to meet the GMA demand of population growth here, as glaciers shrink. We need to figure out how to protect the fish, wildlife, and farming in a world on fire.

Now, we need to focus on getting our democracy back or we cannot get back to solving these problems.

Yes and our hopes for fiber-optic are not looking good since the supreme forgetter of "the people" (and their Constutuon and their justice system and their integrity...) has moved to practically give BEAD money to Musk: "...Donald Trump demanded that a $42 billion effort to bring high-speed internet to rural and underserved communities scrap plans to prioritize fiber-optic tech, even though it’s considered the fastest and most durable option. Now, states are preparing to redirect millions to Starlink and Amazon’s satellite program — even though research suggests low-Earth-orbit tech isn’t capable of meeting rural broadband demands" (Internet buffering, brought to you by Elon)

 

This article adds to "cons" column for any woman debating procreating.

Why would we hesitate to bring children into a world in the grips of climate crises, in a nation turning into a totalitarian regime with increasing human rights abuse, degradation of women (including in your article), and excessive wealth inequality? My goodness, let's do bring as many children into this world as we can to be serfs and slaves to the likes of the Musks, Zuckerbergs, Bezoses, Pichais, and their purchased politicians who bring us such lovely people like Miller, Nome, Bove and so many more that really make us want to populate this world! I do not believe many women are into human sacrifice.

"Survival" is way too low a bar to set. If this is the best we can do after of millions of years of human evolution, maybe we just did not make the grade, should admit defeat, and fade away....

If, on the other hand, we can man and woman up to the problems we have created and decide we can and should use our brains and hearts to fix them,

We can start by reading two books:

1) Dr Luke Kemp's, Goliath’s Curse:

"Kemp’s new book covers the rise and collapse of more than 400 societies over 5,000 years and took seven years to write. The lessons he has drawn are often striking: people are fundamentally egalitarian but are led to collapses by enriched, status-obsessed elites...."

2) Limitatianism by Ingrid Robeyns:

She relates this joke:

 

Person 1: Do you know how America's class system works? 

 

Person 2: America has a class system? 

 

Person 1: Yes, that's how it works.

 

"...there are 2,668 other billionaires on that Forbes list. Together they held $12,700,000,000,000...how much would your hourly wage need to be so that by the end you had amassed Musk’s wealth? The answer is:... Almost two million dollars per hour. Every working hour for 45 years....How much is too much?...In practical terms, limitarianism calls for three kinds of action. First there is structural action. Our societies’ key social and economic institutions should give people genuinely equal opportunities, through affordable childcare, free high-quality education and a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy...."

At this moment our entire world's people, with, I imagine, the exception of these maniac billionaires, are stressed and traumatized by wars, extreme weather, crazy violence, increasing dictatorships and shrinking democracies, and little indication reason will prevail. 

So, who wants to inflict this on an innocent child? 

If you actually care about the future, provide real hope by making tangible changes to the present.

This is distressing news, Barbara. At a time when our democracy is so battered at the national level, we need to keep it in tact locally! I am, to my embarrassment, not familiar with your work, but the point that a vote should have taken place would not change based on my preference for the outcome. 

You raise another important point that needs to be discussed much more often, i. e.the need to be transparent and give timely, honest feedback in all areas of our lives. An incalculable amount of damage is done when people hold gossipy, purposely manipulating or cowardly "letting off steam" conversations about one who is absent to the hear the criticism or complaints. 

Thank you for keeping us informed on Veterans' affairs , Dick. I just read another disturbing article regarding veterans,  US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance.

"The article warned that cancelled contracts, layoffs and a planned staff reduction of 80,000 employees in the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system jeopardizes the health of a million veterans seeking help for conditions linked to toxic exposure – ranging from Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed cancer after being exposed to smoke from piles of flaming toxic waste."

This is just another act of violence perpetrated by this administration against us, US citizens..Talk about cancers.

This is so moving, Dick. This has been and is a dark time for us. I cannot understand how this man and his unelected cronies have been allowed to desert those allies on whose land the men who sacrificed their lives are burried. Those citizen soldiers did not die in vain. We know the history of the dictators that brought about World War II. They were arrogant braggards, bullies, and cowards. After years of bloody war the begetters were dead and their countries decimated. They brought unbearable suffering, shame and ruin on themselves and their countrymen. Generations suffered to recover, to get back to living normal lives.

Those soldiers who came home taught us that we are not a nation of goose-stepping, unthinking bullies and cowards. We do and will continue to speak truth to power. We speak about our Constitution, the balance of power that should exist through our three branches, the separation of church and state that protects our freedom to believe as we wish, honesty, integrity, compassion, respect, equality, dignity, freedom, the Bill of Rights, and all the ways our Constitution is designed to protect these ways of being. 

Thank you for reminding us to do this, Dick.