T’is the Season

Rejoice, Recharge, Regroup

Donald John Trump is an old, sick, weak, frightened corrupt businessman and greasy grifter with a lucrative side gig as 47^th president of these barely United States. He lacks the depth of character to be called “shallow.” He more closely resembles festering pond scum in nature. Primitive. Invasive. Unattractive. Malodorous. Toxic to healthy life in its vicinity.

Credit. The Week

His current abuses of Article II powers are immoral, tiresome, harmful, unsustainable, and unconstitutional. They are hazardous to the health and well-being of all forms of life on this planet and in near space.

Congress has adjourned for the year. Come 01 Jan 26, millions of Americans will lose supplemental health care coverage. Beyond the increased cost of living caused by tariffs and extending tax credits for the top 1%, the common taxpayer will suffer from the dereliction of duty and lack of simple empathy of persons elected to represent their clear will and basic best interests in every area of governance.

Credit. Washington Times

To one side, the odd and odious President Crazy Pants continues to worry about damage to his brand and personal freedom caused by the content of the Epstein files.

Credit. The Week

Any and every distraction will do. And is employed.

In simple and brutally honest terms, the Big Guy likes to cause violence to make himself look decisive and strong. In the mirror. And, like any smart mob boss or craven general, he stays at a safe and credible distance from implementation of his self-serving orders. He restyled the 06 Jan 21 assault on the Capitol and pardoned those persons punished for reliance upon his incendiary remarks. He very likely will not be available to rescue from prosecution and punishment the ICE, Border Patrol, militia, and/or sworn military personnel performing illegal acts in 2025 against civilians on land, sea, in clear air or near space.

Dear loving Goodness, Ding Dong Donny can’t keep his ego at bay and his aggression in his pants for a 19-minute address to the nation on 17 Dec 25 loosely entitled “How Great I Am.”

Of the moment, Putin’s Pal is trying to force Ukraine specifically and Europe generally to surrender world peace to the obsessive territorial ambitions of the Grey Guy in the Kremlin.

Credit. The Guardian

On 23 Nov 25, Mark McInerney (Smoke Signals) posted an article on the Substack platform entitled “Ukraine at the Edge of Betrayal.”

It should be IMMEDIATE and mandatory reading for every person in a position of political power and/or possessed of clear moral compass.

Mr. TACO Time is off the beaten track of responsible public service along every available lane. And by any responsible metric.

1. ABROAD

Ukraine is betrayed and beleaguered.

a. Betrayed. In 1994, under terms of the Budapest Memorandum, and in support of the noble goal of world peace, it surrendered its nuclear capability to Russia in exchange for political assurances from other nuclear powers which have proven false. The United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Russia promised to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and existing borders. And to refrain from threats or force against it “except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.” The assurances did not promise military reprisal against any nation taking advantage of Ukraine’s vulnerability. This was not so much an “oversight” as a negotiated surrender of Ukraine to Russia’s territorial ambitions.

b. Beleaguered. Russia invaded and occupied the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Neither the US or the UK sent the military aid necessary to force Putin to withdrawn his forces and relinquish his claim of right to invade and occupy a neighbor state. This lack of committed resistance emboldened Russia. It:

1) Massed forces on its border with Ukraine;

2) Supported the activities, ambitions, and claims of paramilitary groups within Ukraine favorable to returning their territory to Russian oversight and control; and,

3) Conducted an intensive and sustained ideological grooming of border populations to the validity of a notion that invasion of Ukrainian territory was a reunification of cultures.

In 2018, Russia claimed that it was threatened by the possibility that NATO would include Ukraine in its community of mutual defense commitments. In 2022, under a (totally bogus and laughably weak) claim of protecting Mother Russia from reprisal and containment, Putin invaded Ukraine along their shared land border.

The situation is long-standing, complex, and riddled with self-serving corruption on all sides since the end of WWII.

Hypocrisy, Naivete, Ignorance

U.S. President Clinton, Prime Minister John Major, Russian President Yeltsin, and Ukrainian President Kravchuk signed the Trilateral Statement in Moscow on 14 January 1994. All four were politicians. Not warriors. Not statesmen. Time and treachery have delivered the world to this moment of high, if not immediate, consequence. No amount of retrospective discussion can evade the inescapable fact that, for reasons and purposes in their own time, the four disingenuous parties to the Budapest Memorandum pre-emptively enabled Ukraine’s current military vulnerability.

Greed, Corruption, Complicity

Ukraine’s present plight and position affect every nation party to the facts and consequences thereunto attendant. As well as all the places, persons, principles, and practices therein sheltered and sustained.

The US is brokering (read strong-arming) past and present proposals by third parties asking or demanding that Ukraine surrender. That it agrees to “cornerstones of a broader agreement aimed at reaching a cease-fire” in which it concedes sovereign territory and abandons notions of inclusion in NATO.

These “peace plans” require Ukraine to surrender land, wealth, dignity, identity, and strength to its invader and occupier. In short, to agree to lay down its arms and independence.

Credit. The New Voice

Every nation supporting this type of “peace” is feeding Putin’s fantasy of resurrecting and reassembling the might, glory, and reach of the Soviet Union behemoth lost in 1991.

It would be a tragedy of our times if America allowed or enabled Putin to prevail.

Credit. DW

The only responsible, moral, and strategically sound response to Russia’s invasion and occupation of neighboring territory is to evict it from Ukraine. Completely.

France and Canada are the voices most resolute about right action in the instant. Nations not supporting eviction today are complicit in their own demise tomorrow.

For reasons now passing understanding, and which the Epstein files may help explain, our sitting president is Putin’s Pal. The Traitor Trump is an embarrassing lap dog which Putin gleefully and openly disrespects on the world stage. Which fact makes President Crazy Pants a threat to world peace at the highest levels of power and consequence. The 2025 National Security Strategy published on 04 Dec 25 repudiates the whole living body of American foreign policy before, during, and since WWII. All to the service of open enrichment of the brand and family fortunes of Team Trump—around the globe. Gaza and Ukraine are just promising real estate deals. Prospective new hospitality developments are being negotiated elsewhere throughout Asia.

1. AT HOME

Always armed and occasionally masked agents of the Trump 2.0 are directed to assault the lives, liberties, safety, welfare, human rights, and constitutional protections of residents of this country. Working while brown is as dangerous as driving while black or protesting in a public place. Surveillance of the governed is activity incidental to the uninvited occupation of urban spaces targeted for enforcement of illegal and unsustainable ICE and Border Patrol operations.

Credit. The Week

Governor J.B. Pritzker and his legislature are heroes of the moment. They have made it legal in Illinois to sue ICE agents $10,000.00 per unlawful arrest.

MEDITATION

1. Abroad. Ukraine is not just another trade deal. Or, real estate opportunity. It agreed to nuclear disarmament in exchange for certain assurances from other nations with like capability. Since 05 Dec 94, the United States has had an obligation to protect that nation’s territory, sovereignty, and safety. Military force or economic coercion against it by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia specifically are prohibited in the Budapest Memorandum. France and China gave individual assurances in separate documents. We the People object to trading our national integrity and world peace for the illegal, immoral, and gleefully obvious financial gain of a rogue and temporary employee. And his family.

2. At Home. In recent weeks, the Tyrant Trump has overplayed a losing hand regarding his powers under Article II as “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” Per constitutional and international law, he cannot compel persons sworn to the Constitution to obey his orders when they are illegal. Disobedience is mandatory when following orders received from him may or surely will cause harm to or death of civilians. Read L. D. Michaels 24 Nov article in Substack entitled “I Was Only Following Orders” for an erudite rebuttal of Truth Social rants.

MANDATE

In 2020, the House impeached Bully Boy Trump for his abusive conduct toward Ukraine during his first term in high office. In 2024, Trump v United States set aside paths for prosecution and punishment for similar crimes and misconduct today. So what? Other avenues for resistance exist. Here is one.

Simon Rosenberg (Hopium Chronicles) proposes a five-part agenda for grassroot activists. Part One calls upon We the People to stand with Ukraine and our European allies. In support of that notion, these actions seem appropriate and urgent:

1. Require our elected representatives to challenge efforts to sell out US principles and integrity to Russia;

2. Insist that Congress:

a. Force the administration to release immediately to Ukraine all funds, material, logistical assistance, and intelligence information legally due it and for any reason now delayed, diverted, and/or disputed by any officer, employee, or agent of any executive branch, agency, or office;

b. Find and fund meaningful additional support for Ukraine’s fight to evict Russia from territory invaded and occupied since 2014;

c. Rebuke current efforts to force Ukraine to surrender; and,

d. Formulate and bring to the floor of both houses a vote of no confidence in the current administration’s foreign policy programs related to the territorial disputes of foreign nations.

ANTHEM

Regarding any Russian-US “Peace Plan” proposal:

1. The people of Ukraine do not have to accept a suggested or forced surrender;

2. Europe and NATO do not have to agree to allow Russia to devour Ukraine in part or whole; and,

3. Why would anyone believe the United States would provide full, adequate, reliable, continuing, and true security for a diminished, disarmed, and devalued Ukraine against an emboldened Russia?

Sarah Bush is a talented artist. She has a Substack slot entitled The Pink Teacup. On 16 Dec 25, she posted a thoughtful article entitled “A New and Electric Relationship.” It is recommended reading for any person dedicated to the proposition that the inalienable, indivisible Power of One will see We the People through and past these troubled times.

Through this cold winter and into a promising spring, let us covenant to continue to line the streets, stand at the bridge rails, heat up the ‘phones, and flood the ether to protest every assault on life and liberty in our vicinity. Let us each and all use our purses and our persons everywhere all the time in every way to make a stand for decency. Let us covenant with each other to:

1. Refuse to go along to get along;

2. Rise up;

3. Speak up;

4. Stay standing and resolute until our point is heard and won;

5. Endure and abide; and,

6. Insist upon respect for our opinion. And that of every other person of reason and good will.

Never mind who invited the Ghost of Grievance to this year’s happenings and gatherings. Just clean up every place Trump 2.0 has despoiled. And repair anything it has disrespected, damaged, or broken while on the premises.

Give thanks for real that We the People have the liberty and power to cast the Project 2025 playbook and every faithless enabler of it away from all we, honor, love, and cherish. It is time to:

1. Count our present personal blessings;

2. Rejoice in, and take strength and direction from, recent election results repudiating Trump 2.0 in practice, if not principle;

3. Move on; and,

4. Focus on remedy for a bad situation.

The only way past the fact and consequences of Election 2024 is to resist implementation of the Project 2025 playbook in every place and on every point all the time.

Efforts to neutralize President Crazy Pants most appropriately and effectively focus on function and purpose, not personality. We the People need to fumigate the office of the presidency. And all the rats despoiling and distorting its proper role.

It is a three-step process:

1. Election 2026: Restore a responsible and responsive Congress;

2. Election 2028: Find and elect a person of vision, good character, and determined intention to bend the arc ot history toward a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people that does not perish from the earth;

3. Thereafter: Return the rule of law to a position that favors life, liberty, security, welfare, and the pursuit of happiness for the governed.

Let us covenant to continue to remember ourselves well as we push through and past the Time of Trump Troubles. Let us honor and harness our indivisible Power of One to use our person and our purse to delay, divert, dismantle, and demolish attacks on our human rights and constitutional protections. Let us find and band with like minds and common objectives. Let us grow in number, force, and coverage. Let us become undeniable. Let us covenant to:

• Be faithful

• Be firm

• Be resolved

• Be present

• Be strategic

And, further, to:

• Rise

• Remain

• Resist

• Persist

• Prevail

And, to continue to wonder and ask— “What’s in those Epstein files?”