Have a Rebellious Rebellious Christmas, la la la la

It’s a stretch. Perhaps Rosie O’Donnell, the abrasive and enduring talented comedian/artist, is just too far off most people’s radar.  But her Christmas album was a classic in our house, particularly the very un-PC “Merry Christmas from the Family.” The tie-in – O’Donnell, if she is anything, is rebellious, and “Have a Rosie Rosie Christmas” is one of the better Christmas carols, and don’t we all need a little cheering up?

Rosie is famous for feuding with her Hollywood friends and for her feud with Trump (dating back to 2004). Twenty-one years later O’Donnell (March of 2025) became an expat in Ireland where she can raise her trans child in relative safety.

The most recent O’Donnell episode, having a trans child and her feud with Trump made me think of Marjorie Taylor Greene.  That is another stretch and insight into the Mobius mind of this writer.  Here is my thinking, Greene, like O’Donnell has a talent for taking the spotlight and most recently feuding with Trump and now more broadly with the MAGA base after her tumultuous journey of reconciliation recanting her celebrated meanness.  Greene, to complete her break, made a very sudden decision to retire from Congress on January 5, 2026, citing her complete lack of faith in Trump and the government, also rebellious.  

Outspoken, rebellious, committed, this is what it took for these wildly different women to make a new path for themselves and others.  It is somehow encouraging to see Greene finally refuse to bend the knee to Trump’s truth, the billionaire class.  Separated by miles of cultural difference, they both end up rejecting MAGA.  Looking through contorted glasses, you can almost see a remnant of convergence that resembles hope.  ‘Tis the season.

A Holiday Adventure on the Steward Express

Hang with me on this longish, but hopefully entertaining escapade of Stewardism, where the Grinchy ghoulishness of our current leadership is revealed as the most prominent reason we are not realizing the relief and sanity of the assurance of the necessities of life, education, and pride in the ability to lift all of us.  

Virginia, Trump is a Sociopath, Not Santa Claus

Trump’s (not at all Father Christmas material) latest charade is that he has embraced the religion of affordability and developed a love for Muslim politicians. Trump said that New York City will be safe with Mamdani as Mayor.  Trump said it in front of all of America, and when he did, the simultaneous cringe of Republican political consultants was measurable on the Richter scale.

This past Friday, Mamdani and Trump palled it up in the Oval Office (November 21st).  Don’t get the wrong idea, Trump is as oily as ever. Mamdami, who reportedly called for the meeting, came away with a trove of warm and fuzzy soundbites from the President, though he never answered the question of why he called Trump a fascist.

Trump’s visit with Mamdani follows his saccharine visit with Saudi Arabian “bone saw” Prince Mohammed bin Salman, visiting to use fossil fuel money to buy F-35 fighter jets, which will further escalate the Middle East tit-for-tat weapons purchases. (By US law, Israel must maintain an edge over all US military sales to the Middle East.) Expect a Congressional appropriation to Israel for F-36 fighters.  

But it was not Prince Bone Saw that Congress reserved its hue and cry. No, their outrage was not for the murderous authoritarian foreign leader, but for the same democratically elected US mayor Trump could not praise enough.  Congress came running through the halls to assemble in a jubilant anti-socialist fear-mongering frenzy over Mamdani.

In a testament to the power of decades of conservative think tank propaganda, 86 red, white, and blue Democrats joined 197 Republicans in a rush to vote for a resolution denouncing socialism to send a message to Mamdani and Trump.  Apparently, many Democrats do not know that socialist ideas were adopted by New Deal Democrats, and that’s how we clawed back from the devastation of lethal capitalist deviance and why we have a 5-day work week, among other humane guardrails on worker exploitation.  

Big D on Naughty List

The Democratic leadership descended on the newly elected Mayor of New York and socialism from the moral perch of just having  caved to end the shutdown.  Millions of newbie volunteer activists, along with Indivisible and Sister-District faithful, are still reeling from cognitive dissonance, not wanting to believe the Democratic leadership’s betrayal of the hard-fought gains of the anti-fascist equity movement.  Hard-working progressive activists delivered Prop 50 and a landslide of progressives, mostly Democrats, around the country. And got?  

The incumbents saw that the anti-donor class/fascist movement (kind of socialist, really) was gaining oxygen from the shutdown, so they shut down the shutdown. Naughty for sure.

The fight against incumbent sell-outs is uniting people across the country.  We see what the incumbents are about. We know Americans need to move people, who are not friendly to the ultra-rich, into power in both parties. 

It’s premature to say that Republicans are ready for reform, but Democrats have to be or they will lose.  Check out Justice Democrats, every primary is a referendum on the people’s will to tax the very wealthy and refuse to become corporate or foreign government shills.  

Resist dismissing the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).  The DSA is not its own party, the DSA is part of the Democratic Party.  Learn. Read about what Democratic Socialism is. It is a LOT like the Democratic Party platform, except the DSA considers progressive social values essential, not dispensable.  Socialism, far from radical, contains answers for removing the absurd and unnecessary harshness of capitalism without losing its initiative and independence.

We Are the Brave and the Many We Are Waiting For

As we come to our holiday season, we can (and really need to) poke fun at the wacko 180s as much as we struggle with the very dire consequences of preventable and intentional harm brought on by those who are too warped or too afraid to act on behalf of the people. 

This seasonal address offers some ways to help dismantle the economic foundation supporting ICE enablers, identify who is on the people’s side and who isn’t, support families and children in Palestine and at home, and find new expressions of hope and confidence that we already live in the possibility of an all-electric world. There are many links to supporting sources, and I hope you will explore them as you enjoy a second piece of pumpkin pie. Here are some concrete rebellious pre-holiday/holiday actions to consider.

Don’t buy stuff from billionaires sponsoring ICE.  Americans from all walks are being asked to not shop at Target (caved on DEI), Home Depot (welcomes ICE), Amazon (discounts all sales to ICE in exchange for more tax breaks – MORE tax breaks!?), and Spotify (running ads for ICE).  Join in on the full Thanksgiving black out. From Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday (11/27 – 12/1). Don’t spend any money on companies that are undermining our democracy.  Instead, support small, local businesses or mutual aid efforts in your community (this is a Davis example). 

Do check out this vetted and outstanding charity, Project Hope Palestine.  Delivering aid (and sovereignty) to Palestine is our responsibility.  A short radio interview by one of Project Hope for Palestine founders, Iyas Sartawi (first 20 minutes), explains how Project Hope Palestine uses your donations to buy much needed supplies (tents, warm clothes, food) within Gaza – these workers do not truck in goods, they find and pay for essentials within Palestine and distribute within Palestine. This is the most efficient way to avoid extortion of handlers that come with trucking goods into Gaza (trucking is also essential, but problematic).  The Israeli blockade continues, the bombs – we taxpayers finance – still fall on Gaza and now many more on the West Bank.

Another World to Fight For

Do listen to the Mamdani Effect – class consciousness. It’s a New York-centric synopsis of Laguardia’s success and the white supremacy that has stalled progress to this day. www.survivorsguidetoearth.com. This is just one, a good one, of a myriad of goodness promotions that we need to insist are part of how to bring each other together. We need all of us to be brave and insist on implementing the very possible and practical.  We need to believe our own good news. Public banking, complete electrification, universal health care– all of it is not perfect, but practical, humane and all it needs is an unyielding will to end the rule of fearmongers.

We are all guests here, and as we gather around the table, we are asked to share our blessings with one another and to support human rights work in the United States and around the world!  Pay attention to what people need and you won’t see so much of a difference between them.

Socialism is a Good Word

Gnawing on turkey legs or lifting forks of vegan stuffing, we are all fighting against the excessively wealthy who undermine democracy and defund humanity. Despite our differences, we all worry about our future just as much, and most of us are only one paycheck away from disaster – that’s not capitalism, that’s tyranny.  

Whether you are lighting a Menorah, feel that you need to conceal and carry to be protected, or celebrate Ramadan early in 2026, I hope you look forward to the Holidays, secular or otherwise, and stay rebellious. 

May you have a Rosie Rosie Day of Gratitude and a merry Holiday season.