Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action-PSARA

No Trump. No ICE. No war. No Kings. ❌👑 Stand with us! March 28 from 1-3pm at Tacoma's beautiful Wright Park.

Voices of leadership. Governor Bob Ferguson and Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown hold a press conference to address their response to illegal ICE activity in our state.

Gov. Bob Ferguson/Attorney General Nick Brown Press Conference - TVW Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown host a press conference at the state Capitol to discuss the ICE memo directing agents to use force to enter

https://archive.radiotacoma.org//episodes/evegreen-state-college

Environmental stewardship requires us to get involved. Take action now! Your voice matters. Tell the Department of Ecology that our entire community supports Option 5 Cleanup - removal of all toxic waste and complete remediation. For almost 30 years the former mill site, with 4,000 creosote pilings still underwater, has continued to leach contaminants into Port Angeles Harbor and the surrounding area.
https://go.ecology.wa.gov/2270

We have our marching orders!!!! Contact your members of congress now! Tell them to vote NO on Dr. Mehmet Oz! It is incumbant on all of us to use our power to save Medicare and Medicaid. Find your MOC here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Calling all early risers! 6:00 am tomorrow morning - join us here for the shadow hearing on Dr. Oz', nominee for CMS chair. Thanks to our partner ally PNHP.org for hosting this important event.

www.facebook.com

Yesterday's press conference from Gov. Ferguson and other officials. Very reassuring that we elected strong and capable representatives who will not acquiesce to the illegal actions by Musk and Trump! (worth watching in entirety)

Governor Bob Ferguson Press Conference - TVW Governor Bob Ferguson, joined by state leaders, holds a press conference at the State Capitol to discuss Washington’s response to President Trump’s

MARCHERS PROTEST TRUMP’S “ANTI-PEOPLE” OFFENSIVE
By TimWheeler (PSARA member)
PORT TOWNSEND, WA.---Stepping to the beat of a Dixieland jazz band, 600 people marched through this city Jan. 18 in the Olympic Peninsula’s version of the “People’s March” that turned out tens of thousands of protesters in Washington D.C. and across the nation. Here they carried signs such as “Trump-Musk, Keep Your Greedy Hands off My Medicare.”
The march here took place on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Monday, Jan. 20 and eve of the inauguration---many call it a “coronation”---of convicted felon, Donald Trump, a notorious billionaire, liar, and thief.
Hundreds of protesters marched holding signs like “No Human is Illegal,” “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” and “My Heart Breaks for Gaza.” Most were residents of this picturesque Victorian city but hundreds more traveled from throughout Jefferson County. Clallam County residents carpooled to join the march.
Prominent was a banner, “JCIRA,” or Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates. Scores of Latino immigrants marched. A contingent of PSARA---Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action---active in defense of traditional Medicare and Social Security marched with their banner. Hundreds were mobilized by the Democratic Party of both Jefferson and Clallam counties.
One marcher, Gerry Daley, even fled from his home in Pacific Palisades, California, destroyed in the still raging wildfires. A lifelong union organizer, Daley said he and his wife have been given shelter by in-laws in Port Townsend. “Its still too early. We don’t know when our home will be rebuilt,” he told this reporter.
At Pope Park on the waterfront, Port Townsend Mayor David Faber welcomed the crowd and read a City Proclamation making Jan. 18 the first annual “People’s March Day.” The crowd cheered.
Faber said it is a grim time in America. He recalled a conversation he had 20 years ago with folksinger, Utah Phillips who urged him not to focus on the “Big Picture” but instead on smaller, more local issues. Build movements at that level and soon majority movements will grow to fight to end the war in Vietnam, racist segregation.
Walter McQuillen, hereditary chief of the Makah tribe chanted a blessing for the rally. The tribes, he said, still face the “doctrine of discovery” in which European settlers “discovered” North America and claimed it as their own. It includes nearby “Indian Island,” sacred land of the Pacific Northwest Indians, now a U.S. Navy weapons depot used to export bombs and missiles to Israel, for example, used in the 15-month Israeli war on Gaza.
Angela Gyurko, President of the Jefferson County League of Women Voters (LWV) said many vital issues are not partisan issues but have been deliberately politicized to divide the community. One aim, she said, is to isolate and intimidate LWV members. “But we will not be silent! Be an agent of change. Disengage from the oligarchs. They tell us we must buy more to be happy!” The crowd erupted in applause.
Newly elected Washington State Senator Mike Chapman, a former Border Patrol officer in Port Angeles, praised JCIRA for defending immigrant rights in the face of Trump’s threat to deport as many as 22 million immigrants. “Something is wrong with the Republican Party,” Chapman continued. He quoted the widely respected former Washington Governor Dan Evans, a Republican, that the U.S. should remain a sanctuary for all “refugees” around the world. The crowd responded with cheers and applause.
Avriana Sixtos, JCIRA Board Member spoke in Spanish, translated by Natalia Duran, JCIRA Outreach Coordinator. “If they are going to put a label on us, it should say we are not afraid to do a good job…We are hard workers.” The crowd erupted in cheers.
Natalia Duran then added her own comments: “Why did I decide to emigrate? Look around you. For better living conditions. To put food on the table. All the results of hard work: food, housing, medical care, social security.”
Again the crowd broke into cheers.”
Two young women students at Port Townsend High School spoke. Tallulah Sebastian praised the grassroots get-out-the-vote effort against ballot initiative 2117 sponsored by hedge-fund millionaire Brian Heywood and the Republican Party. “This initiative, 2117, would have got rid of the Climate Commitment Act but Washington voters said NO!” she said as the crowd applauded.
Hilina Taylor-Lenz spoke of the struggle to block real estate developers who seek to build houses in a wooded area with the Cappy Trail, a popular hiking trail in Port Townsend. “We will gain a sense of power by making changes right here in our own community,” she said. If the people succeed in defending Cappy Trail, “our entire community will benefit,” she said.
As the crowd was about to disperse, Gerry Daley stepped out of the crowd and asked loudly, “Is anybody here from the labor movement?” Several voices spoke up from union members in the crowd. “Reach out to labor! They know how to fight,” Daley said.

It’s Medicare open enrollment season. To help you understand the difference between Traditional Medicare and private insurance (Medicare Advantage), we’ve prepared this easy to follow document. For more info visit our website PSARA.org

Vote NO on I-2109 which would repeal Washington's capital gains tax. It's time the wealthy millionaires pay their fair share.

What We Know About I-2109

Vote NO on the four ballot initiatives - 2066 - 2109 - 2117 - 2124
Use the QR code on the photo below or visit PSARA.org for more information on the dangers of these ballot initiatives.

Medicare Advantage plans provide huge profits for private insurance companies. They will never stop fighting to privatize our Medicare Insurance. Join PSARA and work with us to stop this assault on our publicly funded Medicare Insurance. We are stronger together. It's up to us to hold our elected officials accountable to act on our behalf. Saving our Medicare MUST BE an election issue!

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/medicare-advantage-overbilling-diagnostic-codes-cms-killed-rule/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFEGoFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXHiSc2y1vLzK7Nkz-qxrpzIaHO5LheSCEqHC34trl2OgOEWT1ksncg1nQ_aem_QgpQTQT4z-JEGvICSO9XhQ

Feds Killed Plan To Curb Medicare Advantage Overbilling After Industry Opposition - KFF Health News A private 2014 decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services faces new scrutiny in a multibillion-dollar Justice Department fraud case against UnitedHealth Group.