The Mason Missile, December 29, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. I will be happy to advertise your business in the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll discuss it. It happened-trump has been impeached by the House, and the senate has to hold a trial. Mitch McConnell, the Majority Leader of the Senate (who thinks he owns the damn thing!) announced he would work along with the White House Counsel to fight the vote to convict trump. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/13/mcconnell-says-hell-let-trumps-white-house-dictate-trumps-impeachment-trial/) The Senators are to take an oath: “I solemnly swear (or affirm) that in all things appertaining to the trial of ____, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.” Here are the senate’s rules on impeachment: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/1_1868ImpeachmentRules.pdf Already, McConnell has shown he cares nothing for the constitution and the rule of law, and will do the bidding of his master in the White House; he showed that in a fundraising video, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/mitch-mcconnell-vows-to-stop-impeachment-fundraising-video-20191006.html. Covering his own ass, trump has been connecting Republican Senators with his own network of donors for their own reelection. (https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/31/trump-impeachment-senators-donor-062084) All of this corruption is no longer hidden behind closed doors, either at a Beltway restaurant, a golf course, or an upscale brothel; it’s all out in the open, and we see it-and they’re daring us working and low-income people, “What the hell you gonna do about it?” Along with all this is the Republican tendency of suppressing the votes of demographic groups that wouldn’t usually vote in their favor-racial and religious minorities, students, seniors. Presumably, they expect us to take this-forever. No way! We will NOT accept this! We must and WILL use every avenue to make our Voices heard, even if we have to travel to the capitols of the states, and DC, to tell OUR elected representatives personally what we think. Yes we are angry about our right being eroded for so long, how blatant racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia are out in the open-such as the recent assaults on Hasidic Jews in the New York area over the Hanukkah season. There have also been the people ranting racial slurs at African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans, and assaults on same-sex couples peacefully walking down the street holding hands. And we’re supposed to be ashamed of ourselves for complaining about this, we’re called “snowflakes,” and we’re expected to just take it. Bullies are like that; they pick on you and tell you what a big baby you are to complaining about it, like they have every right to abuse you. Conservatism-go ahead and howl, you’re the big strong he-men!- has been shown to be the political movement of the school bully who wants to keep kicking the sand in your face without consequences, to beat you up for your lunch money and you’re supposed to accept it like a good boy/girl, and it’s (somehow) your fault anyway. To hell with that! We won’t be quiet anymore! We’ll continue to organize, to educate ourselves, to communicate our ideas, and involve ourselves in the political process, and reclaim it for ourselves and our future generations. 202 is the year we go out and vote out this regime in Washington and do more than repair the damage trump has done to this country, we WILL build it better than before, and we definitely won’t tolerate our votes being repressed. A Happy New Year, and a Happy New America!

The Mason Moment, December 9, 2019

The Mason Missile, November 25, 2019

Greetings! This past election on November 5, I was on my division’s election board, assisting people in working with the new voting machines; somehow, people were afraid that the new system would be too complicated, and that therefore people would not bother to vote-the establishment always sets up impediments to people voting-but I helped them make sense of it, and it really wasn’t so complicated. Turnout was said to be greater than in other off-year elections? Off-year? All elections are important, and every office, from President down to the lowest municipal row offices, affects our lives, and we have to pay attention to who we elect into office, and stay active in our communities. This was a great progressive election year: Democrats have taken both houses of the Virginia legislature and the Kentucky governor’s mansion. I got the feeling, “There’s hope after all!”, and others felt the same way. But in past non-Presidential elections, when republicans were voted out, they didn’t take the loss of their power graciously, but tried to subvert the power of the incoming Democratic officials. In Houston, Texas, nineteen African-American women were elected to judgeships last year; this year, Governor Greg Abbott (R) and the legislature introduced a bill that would allow the Governor to appoint judges in Texas’ urban, more racially-diverse counties, while allowing the mostly white conservative counties to elect their judges. (https://www.facingsouth.org/2019/11/texas-considers-ending-judicial-elections-democrats-gain-ground). I have also followed as best I can the impeachment hearings by the House Intelligence Committee, with the testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Dr. Fiona Hill, highly-regarded veterans in their particular fields of government service, pointing out the efforts by trump himself to demand that the Ukrainian government claim the Hunter Biden, son of former Vice-President Joe, engaged in corrupt business deals with that nation’s oil company, in exchange for military equipment to help Ukraine in their defense against Russia. trump’s threats and corruption have been so blatant, so out in the open, he doesn’t bother hiding them, like it’s a sign of his power, his masculinity, which he’s constantly trying to impress others of-just like Mussolini and Hitler a little under a century ago. It’s significant that Vindman and Hill are immigrants to this country, and they have shown themselves to be true, patriotic Americans, like many immigrants have been; this challenges the nativism and xenophobia that has long pervaded this country’s history, the fear of the foreign-born for whatever excuse, be it “taking our jobs away” or “they’re not our kind of people.” Plus, it also important that women have led the charge against trump, the “grab ‘em by the pussy’ guy-Hill, Marie Yovanovich (the Ambassador to Ukraine he had removed, and whom he tried to intimidate via twitter while she testified), and Nancy Pelosi. trump’s misogyny is coming back at him. It gives me faith and hope that there are honorable and decent people in public service-military, diplomatic, and congressional-who aren’t willing to be the sycophants of a wannabe dictator, and who are willing to act by principle to undermine trump’s crimes. But trump’s tendancy has been to honor the most low-down elements of our government, and insult and attack honorable people, like Vindman, Yovanovich, and Hill, for the crime of not putting the vanity of the Glorious Leader ahead of the welfare of the nation. Case in point: the Navy has tried to punish Eddie Gallagher, a Chief Petty Officer in SEAL Team 7, for war crimes, such as firing upon noncombatants and stabbing a wounded Islamic State fighter. trump intervened in support of Gallagher, along with supporting Army Major Matthew Goldstyn and Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance, in spite of Defense Secretary Mark Esper urging him not to. (https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/17/politics/mark-esper-donald-trump-military-pardons/index.html). The Navy brass carried out a review of Gallagher, seeking to remove his from the SEAL force; Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer tried to cut a deal with trump directly, bypassing the chain of command that was to go through Esper, and was forced to resign-and Gallagher, as trump wanted, retains his SEAL trident pin. The lesson: in this administration, you can commit any crime while trump is in office, and get away with it and be rewarded. We have to get ourselves ready for next year’s elections, from President on down. That means registering our family and friends, staying conscious of the issues, following the candidates, and THEN going to the polls on Election Day. It would also help if we go out into the streets, like in Beirut, Santiago (Chile), and Hong Kong, where people are out demanding their voices be heard in the halls of government. Like I said, the crooks and despots in power won’t go out quietly, and trump has his followers talking all badass, ready to start a civil war on his behalf as I warned previously. (https://www.lawfareblog.com/armed-militias-are-taking-trumps-civil-war-tweets-seriously) In short, Americans, we are in a dangerous time in our history-as we were during the Civil War, the Depression, the World Wars, and other periods of upheaval. If we band together, we’ll move this nation to a higher level. Bye!

The Mason Missile, October 23, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. I will be happy to advertise your business in the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll discuss it. We have been through the High Holy Days-Rosh Ha-Shona, the New Year, the start of new hope and opportunities; and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the day of re-tuning your life; these are the days where we re-assess our lives, and look at where we went right and how we can be better for the future. It’s not always good to call where we went wrong “sins;” the idea is that we have these good intentions, but we slip often, and we recognize where we slipped and we learn from our mistakes and start over again. For a person, most of the time, there is room for improvement. And where there is re-alignment with your true, positive self, there is still hope, for the individual and the nation. Let’s keep these lessons in mind as we go through the rest of the year. In the situation this country is in, we need hope to see us through, to know that we can get ourselves out of this predicament. The forces are arrayed against working and low-income people: a Supreme Court and federal judicial system filled with ideologically backward incompetents; states, like North Carolina, rewriting election rules to make it damn near impossible for minorities, students, and retired people to vote; the elimination of limits on campaign donations, as in the Supreme court’s Citizen’s United decision, so that corporations and plutocrats can pay for favored candidates to get elected. Those are just the beginning of the list of tactics used to “legally” perpetuate oligarchic rule in this country, under the guise of “democracy.” It’s gotten even more desperate with the news of trump’s contacting the President of Ukraine to demand information about the business dealings of Joe Biden’s son Hunter, in exchange for military assistance to Ukraine as it fights off Russian incursions into its territory. On top of this-oh the shame, Americans!-trump withdrew US personnel from Northern Iraq, giving the Turkish military the opportunity to attack Kurdish “terrorists”-these so-called “terrorists who have joined with the US in fighting the Islamic State fighters; the Kurds, who for generations have fought for their Own territory and their Own nation-lost 11,000 fighting against ISIS, (By the way, trump has a Trump Towers in Istanbul, along with over a hundred business interests in Turkey-a fun fact to know.) trump has a soft spot in his “heart” for “strongmen” dictators-Putin, Kim Jong Un, Oban in Hungary, Erdogan in Turkey, and Bolsonaro in Brazil. In his business dealings, he has had close ties to the American La Cosa Nostra and the Russian mafia; and he has, in his rallies, encouraged violence against protestors. (Not that he’s the type to do it himself; I’m familiar with rich kids who think they’re badass since they’re hanging out with guys on the street, but when things get rough, they can count on the old man’s pull and money to get them out of the jam.) Interviewed by Breitbart, trump said, “I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.” (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/15/trump-deletes-breitbart-post-how-tough-his-supporters-can-get/3172413002/) This tough talk includes threats from the evangelical “Christian” supporters of trump, such as Rick Wiles (https://deadstate.org/christian-tv-host-if-dems-impeach-trump-veterans-and-cowboys-will-hunt-them-down/?fbclid=IwAR0bSFCKLK7k8Qmkkq9sWBtHNz5P2idHWy3zIivMMyTsL3vwyrUugszPF5E) and Robert Jeffress (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/who-is-robert-jeffress-civil-war-trump-impeachment.html) who threatened “a Civil War–like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.” Civil war? Do they mean this, or are they trying to intimidate us? Or both? let us remember the history of the original civil war; southern states threatened to secede from the Union if Abraham Lincoln was duly elected President; this bullying escalated into an actual civil war, where hundreds of thousands of young men died-some to preserve the Union, others to preserve the slave system and their feeling of being of a “superior race.” I’m afraid that, like the last time, some gang of idiots will follow through on this threat. There have been over the years groups of paramilitary pseudo “militias” of men playing soldier pretending to be valiant warriors carrying assault rifles on their way to the grocery store-just to show they can do so. trump is relying on them to be a backup for him if he is impeached or otherwise removed from office (God willing!); one of these groups the Oath Keepers, certified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/oath-keepers), served as security for trump’s rally in Minneapolis (https://www.newsweek.com/anti-government-group-escort-minneapolis-trump-rally-1464170). This is a dictator move, having your own personal army-police-militia, outside of the military chain of command, like Hitler’s SS and Mussolini’s Blackshirts. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackshirts) Recently, we have the news that about a dozen Republican Congress-thugs stormed into the secure committee chamber where Laura Cooper, a veteran Defense Depatment official involved in policy about Ukraine, gave testimony surrounding the attempt by trump to demend information about Joe Biden and his son concerning “corruption” (a topic trump is adept at). These thugs barged in, holding cellphone cameras in violation of security rules, and Capital Police and the Sergeant-At-Arms’ office tried to talk them out of the room. This was a blatant attempt to intimidate Cooper; I hope she stands strong. (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-republicans-disrupt-closed-door-impeachment-deposition?fbclid=IwAR3OjSFdmVbyzq4QXrRuddyOpBCNbkl1I4LqFfC1E94SLPHMsR1yQGKeUsc) If these Congress-creeps were anywhere to the left politically, would they get the kids gloves, or the iron hand? In my reading of American history, more than likely it’s the latter. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, the Republican Party has presented itself as the party of “law and order” and “strong national defense,” while, if convenient, willing to break the law and compromise national security to attain power. Let me count the ways: Nixon contacting the South Vietnamese government to urge them to back off from peace talks with the North and the NLF, promising President Theiu a better deal-thereby prolonging the war and American’s involvement in it, dragging Cambodia into the war (thus allowing the Khmer Rouge to wage its genocidal regime), and allowing more American servicemen to be killed (how’s THAT for “support the troops!); organizing gangs of thugs to assault anti-war protestors opposing a terrible war, and organizing a crew of burglars to break into the Democratic National Committee office at Watergate; (this is recorded in The Arrogance of Power; The Secret World of Richard Nixon by Anthony Summers) contacting the regime of the Ayatollahs in Iran, urging them to back off of negotiations with Washington to release the hostages in the Embassy, thus making Jimmy Carter look weak and inept and allowing Ronald Reagan into office; the Iran-contra affair, whereby anti-tank weapons were sold to Iran to pay for the contra campaign in Nicaragua, against the law passed by Congress; Mitch McConnell’s refusal to speak out against the blatant effort, recorded by our intelligence and security agencies, by Russian state entities to interfere in our elections in 2016; I guess I just scratched the surface. Fellow Americans, let us NOT be intimidated by the thugs in and out of office. Let us organize, educate ourselves, and show them we will not be intimidated. Let’s get out and VOTE!-November 5 in Pennsylvania-and let’s keep ourselves strong, and America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Missile, August 21, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. I will be happy to advertise your business in the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll discuss it. Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; Dayton Ohio-more tragedies; more shootings with military-style assault rifles by deranged men, aimed at innocent people; more grieving families; more babbling by politicians about thoughts and prayers; more demand for control over these guns; and more-nothing. That has been the ritual over the years whenever these incidents occur. (On August 14, there was an incident in the Nicetown-Tioga section of North Philadelphia: a gunman opened fire upon police officers, injuring six of them. There is no information about the shooter. No place is safe from this scourge.) It has happened in houses of worship, schools, places you have out at for fun. Young men-almost entirely men-who pick up white-supremacist propaganda from the internet, and are inspired by the maniac-in-chief lurking in the White House, with his ravings about the “invasion” of people-including children-from Central America, escaping poverty, gang violence, and political repression in their countries-due to our government’s intervention in those countries over the decades, thus creating destabilization in those countries. trump has enabled and encouraged racism and violence to be normalized in this country, after decades of both being unacceptable. The Republican Party does not have the will or the courage to challenge trump on this, but is in the thrall of the trump voters-they actually think that the MAGA hat wearing racists and bullies are the true American people, the “silent majority” Richard Nixon deigned to speak for. They act as if ALL Americans are like them, and are not working and low-income people conscious of the true state of affairs in this country; are not people of color-the Republicans have bragged about making inroads in attaining votes from Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans, when not appealing to fears of dark-skinned rapists, drug dealers, and welfare cheaters; and are ignorant of how the Republican tax policies of the past forty years have shoveled more money for the already-billionaire class while making workers work longer for decreasing paychecks. This indicates how ignorant the Republican leadership-ALL our political leadership in this country-knows nothing of rank-and-file Americans and what they go through. trump is as much the symptom of the racist appeals of the Republican Party as he is the end result. His racism is all his own; it shows in his preventing Black families from renting in his company’s buildings in the seventies-resulting in lawsuits and hiring the notorious sleazebag attorney Roy Cohn; in his stereotyped statements about Jews being handy about money; in his continued demanding that the Central Park Five, accused falsely of raping a white woman, be executed, even after their innocence was proven; in his ordering Black employees off the floor of his casinos when he and Ivana came in; when he started his presidential campaign by saying Mexicans were rapists, drug dealers, criminals, “and some, I assume, and good people;” in his saying that Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, when they didn’t; and when he demanded a “complete shutdown” of Muslims entering this country-I’ve just scratched the surface. trump’s racism melded with the racist appeals of the Republican party, and this is the result. The Republican party is stuck with trump. Also-the myth of the almighty, all-scary National Rifle Association (NRA) is falling apart. The story in that politicians were scared to implement any meaningful gun controls for fear of the votes of NRA members; but recent scandals among the NRA leaders-Wayne LaPierre and Oliver North (of Iran-Contra infamy)-concerning living deluxe lifestyles from the NRA treasury, and big payoffs to the public-relations firm it hired, Ackerman-McQueen. (usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/03/nra-faces-financial-crisis-claims-might-unable-exist/902918002/) Many of the men who committed these terrible crimes are part of neo-Fascist, white-nationalist extremist movements-with some “Christian” rhetoric thrown in- encouraged by the words of the racist idiot-in-chief in the White House. Social networking sites-such sites as Gab and 8chan come to mind-connect these men to each other, encouraging each other in these beliefs. It’s no different from a young man in the Middle East being recruited similarly into Al-Qaeda. In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that there are NOW over a thousand of such racist, neo-fascist, and white nationalist groups in the United States. (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/us/hate-groups-rise.html?fbclid=IwAR3I_WO6rGM6fCgomURq2MpL3Ei9jGdrPTW4vZR6ELkxD16WSmdCTneCCbg) But-People are reluctant to call this by its right name-TERRORISM!-which Britannica calls “the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective.” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism) The US of A is NOT immune to terrorism; company thugs and official law enforcement have applied violence against organizers of workers, and still do; and let’s never-EVER-forget the sacrifice of Civil Rights activists facing beatings and murder at the hands of the Klan and the police (often the same thing). Let us not wait for the “leaders” to come their “senses,” let us hit the streets to fight against the scourge of gun violence, the easy availability of military-level assault rifles, and the rise of a murderous neo-fascist movement. The fight is ON for the future of America, and the planet. Coming up is Labor Day, the holiday of, by, and for American working men and women. Let us enjoy our burgers and beer-and afterwards, let us remember and relearn the struggles working people went through to organize themselves for their mutual benefit; how THEY endured terrorism, by sheriff’s deputies, police, militia, and company thugs to attain a better life for themselves and their children, knowing they were worth the struggle. I will take part in the Philadelphia area’s Labor Day parade and family celebration on September 2, and I hope you’ll all join me. Bye!

The Mason Missile, July 22, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. For $10.00 I will be happy to advertise your business on the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll talk about it. Reminder-I will hold an author’s event at the new independent bookstore, A Novel Idea on Passyunk, 1726 E. Passyunk Avenue, on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. I hope to see your face in the place. (https://anovelideaphilly.com/) Late in June I underwent a colonoscopy at Hahnemann Hospital. Two of the polyps they scraped out of me were called a “hyperplastic polyp,” a benign polyp that is not cancerous. The third polyp, however, was a “tubular adenoma,” a pre-cancerous polyp which is not cancer, but it places me at risk for developing these kinds of polyps in the future. I know the prepping for the procedure is a pain in the ass (sorry about the pun), but it was worth it, so I don’t develop colorectal cancer. I beseech all of you out there to go get your colonoscopies, you’ll be glad you did. This leads me to the upcoming closing of Hahnemann Hospital early in September 6-a hospital geared closely to serving the medical needs of homeless, working-class, and low-income people, and people with no health insurance-no small thing. Such people will lose a valuable health asset, and 2500 employees there- doctors, nurses, medical technicians, custodial workers, and food service workers-will lose their jobs. Happily, people in the community, and some elected officials, are rising up against this. Health care is a right and a necessity, not a luxury. The company owning Hahnemann, American Academic Health System-owned by Joel Friedman-are said to plan on turning the hospital into luxury condominiums; Hahnemann is on North Broad Street in Philadelphia, where, as part of the development of that area, other historic buildings are being refurbished into high-end dwellings-the Divine Lorraine Hotel, and the old Inquirer building. Here is the “free market’ at work; public policy is geared towards satisfying the profit margins of real-estate developers (like the current inmate in the White House) and investors, almost entirely in the Center City area, while the needs of residents-hospitals, schools, fire and police services-are neglected because they’re not making a billionaire richer. The idea that you have to make someone else richer-someone who already has billions in their offshore accounts-to bring about needed services has to end. Again I call for a national health insurance program for all Americans-Medicare for All. Late in June, there was a fire at the refinery in South Philadelphia, along West Passyunk Avenue, owned by the firm Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES). I, along with other residents nearby, got the call to shey in our houses until the fire was contained sufficiently. The refinery, in its producing of gasoline, used hydrogen fluoride, which has been a danger to workers and people in the surrounding neighborhoods. The facility-a merger of the Point Breeze and Girard Point refineries-is at the point where the Schuykill and Delaware rivers meet, and is on top of an aquifer, defined by Merriam-Webster as “a water-bearing stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel.” Thus, three sources of water in the region could have been contaminated, along with the air. Now, the refinery is closed, and 1,100 workers are out of work, due to the short-sightedness of the company, not upgrading or updating the infrastructure of the facility, simply taking the money out for their own fun and not reinvesting in the facility or its workers, their most important asset. I heard the old story from the seventies, from the Ford administration to today-“Government regulation is hurting economic growth and preventing job creation! We must allow the corporations and their brilliant genius leaders to do whatever the hell they want, and we shall all prosper!” Both parties have played this tune for over forty years, and it’s incidents like this that remind us that regulation of corporations-be they energy companies, banks, or HMOs, what have you- is necessary, that we can’t count on them utilizing the “market” for their riches and thus we all will thrive. Gouging for short-term quarterly profits, instead of upgrading equipment and infrastructure, has been the practice of our capitalist class, and eventually the downfall of the American economy. The needs of the community-for hospital care, safe working conditions, and a livable environment-and cast aside for the sake of profit margins for the already-billionaire class, and working and low-income people have no say in any of this. Plus, the plutocratic class’ handmaids in politics and the media tell us to not be so damned indignant over it all, as if fighting for our rights-and our well-being-is a crime; and sometimes it is. The solution is to get organized, educated, and informed about these situations and what we can do for our well-being as a community, and to get out OUR vote for OUR candidates and OUR needs. Bye!

The Mason Missile, June 27, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. For $10.00 I will be happy to advertise your business on the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll talk about it. Reminder-I will hold an author’s event at the new independent bookstore, A Novel Idea on Passyunk, 1726 E. Passyunk Avenue, on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. I hope to see your face in the place. (https://anovelideaphilly.com/) This is one year after the Janus Decision; in June 2018, the US Supreme Court, in the Janus vs AFSCME decision, decided that public-sector workers are not required to pay even partial union dues-the “agency shop” fee, whereby if a person elects not to join a union, that person still pays a partial fee, since the person is still protected under the union contract. But, even without the fees, the union HAS to protect the nonunion person, thus laying a financial burden on the union. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-issues-devastating-ruling-against-labor-unions_n_5af9ec8fe4b09a94524b2ae9) This has been the dream and scheme of the corporate right for decades-after demonizing unions, they’ve always wanted to eliminate unions as a challenge to corporate power, to prevent corporations from oppressing workers in the pursue to a little more profit in the next quarter. Guess what? There has been an uptick in union activism, such as the teachers strikes in such “red” states as West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky (are you sweating real good, Mitch McConnell?), and Colorado. Public sector union membership has been on the rise, thwarting the rightist scheme of weakening unions. (https://afscme.org/news/press-room/press-releases/2019/workers-chose-to-stick-with-their-union) People all over the country are converging on the web with the hashtag “I’m sticking with my union.” (https://ucommblog.com/section/union/im-sticking-my-union) This harkens back to the old union song “The Union Maid,” popularized by the Industrial Workers of the world (IWW). (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-0lDKsXMb8) We need that kind of militancy to fight against those who would oppress us, whether we are workers, LGBTQ+ people, women, or people of color. Are we edging closer to civil war in this country, as many pundits are warning? The Oregon state senate has been debating a “cap and trade” bill aimed at fighting climate change; eleven republican state senators ran out of the state, to prevent a quorum in the chamber for voting on the bill. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/awol-gop-state-senators-oregon_n_5d0ec421e4b07ae90d9e32fa) Rightist paramilitary militia groups-The Three Percenters, designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group-has been protecting them from the state police, whom Governor Kate Brown sent to arrest the senators. One of the senators, Brian Boquist, warned the police, “Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.” (I remember the Republicans boasted of being the “law and order, tough on crime” party; but the question is, whose law and whose order? And if they commit a crime, like Nixon in Watergate, how can they get away with it? That’s a common idea, making a resurgence with trump: if you’re sufficiently wealthy, powerful and connected, you can get away with anything.) The premise of American politics is that we can find some middle ground, some way we can work out a deal for the common good. Is that a reality anymore, if it ever was? Joe Biden, former Vice-President, thinks so. But, in finding a common ground and making a deal, how much do you give up on what you work for, and what? What does the other side want? Biden, I’m afraid, is all too willing to give up something worthwhile to get along with the other side, even if the other side was a pair of segregationist senators- such old “Dixiecrat” senators as James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. “I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” says Biden, and “He never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.’” Did Biden need Eastland’s approval? Senator Cory Booker (NJ), also running for the Democratic nomination, demanded that Biden apologize, but Biden refused and demanded Booker apologizes. (It’s a common bully tactic, act like you’re offended because someone complains about being offended.) Talmadge and Eastland were notorious segregationists, adamant about preserving the South’s Jim-Crow system, raving about the “inferiority” of African-Americans and about “mongrelization.” (But if a certain race is “inferior,” why are they so scary?) Plus there is the fundraising among wealthy donors; corporate-plutocratic campaign cash is the crack cocaine of American politics, and it will kill all of us. Biden himself appeared at a fundraiser at the home of Comcast executive David Cohen ( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-2020-campaign-lobbyist-money_n_5cc111dce4b0764d31dc8586), and has called for donations of $100,000 for people joining his financial committee. (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/04/joe-biden-calls-on-financiers-to-raise-up-to-100000-to-join-committee.html) Is it absolutely necessary to sell your soul to the plutocratic devil to get yourself elected to office? Here is another sign of the inability for a working or low-income person to have any effect in the political system. I don’t believe that Biden, or others calling themselves “liberal,” really want to see minority, low-income, or working people in charge of society; they do want to advance their rights and well-being, but they want to remain in control-that’s how it looks. Like so-called “conservatives”, they don’t want the social-political system disrupted, so they make small accommodations to those challenging the system, even bringing some of the members of the out-groups into the system. Moreover, I notice the tendency of SOME (not all, let’s be fair) “Liberals” trying to accommodate conservatives, asking as if they are addressing a serious concern; but their only concern is to impede and real social reform. Conservatives or others on the right act as if they are the real masters of America, and minorities, workers, and their liberal abettors are usurpers, taking control of the nation from its rightful owners-calling that “communism,” back in the Cold War day; plus, whenever someone stands up to them, and works to advance social reforms, the conservatives act as if they’re the oppressed minority, as if liberals must ask the permission of their conservative superiors. I plan to discuss such issues at the next meeting of Philly for Change, which meets every first Wednesday-July 3-at 7:00 PM, and Tattooed Mom, 5th and South streets in Philadelphia. Political change begins and ends at the grassroots, the streets, and the neighborhoods. Bye!

The Mason Missile, May 30, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. For $10.00 I will be happy to advertise your business on the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll talk about it. I have just finalized plans for my author’s event on Tuesday, August 6, at A Novel Idea On Passyunk, a lovely independent bookstore located at 1726 E. Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. (https://anovelideaphilly.com/). We must support local bookstores; the big box chains and Amazon can’t fulfill all our book needs. I will also be one of the dozens of fine Philadelphia-area poets reading their material at the 23rd Annual Poetry Ink, sponsored by the Moonstone Arts Center (http://moonstoneartscenter.org/). The event will take place at 12:00 PM, on Sunday, June 2, 2019, at District 1199C, 1319 Locust Street. Please try to attend; like I always say, the arts are for everyone. I have also served on my division’s election board in the primary election on May 21, helping people exercise their fundamental right to vote. That is essential, especially since what’s left of our democracy-such as it has been-is endangered by a “president” and his minions trying to establish a police state for their benefit-or at least to repress attempts to legally get them out of office due to their corruption. Impeach trump? I would NOT be opposed. I have friends who say we mustn’t impeach trump, since Mike Pence is more dangerous since he is more ideologically committed to the Christian Right agenda, which includes the “religious freedom” bills that permit discrimination against anyone-at a job or at a restaurant, say-on a “religious” excuse. LGBTQ+ people are targeted by these bills; but the bills would allow discrimination against anyone for any reason-“You’re a Muslim, I don’t serve Muslims.” “You Jews killed Jesus, so I won’t hire you.” You see where I’m going with this. Back to impeachment-Nancy Pelosi has had fun mocking trump for his behavior, such as with the recent tirade he put on at a conference with Democratic leaders which was supposed to be about infrastructure, then going to the Rose Garden for a hissy-fit in front of the news media. Pelosi has also said trump wasn’t worth the bother impeaching, in a tone of “He ain’t nothing!”; but she sounds like she’s willing to hear discussions of impeachment from the rank and file of the caucus. There is also the rise in anti-abortion legislation, such as in Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri, which does not totally prevent abortions but only allows them after a certain period of time, long before a woman knows she’s pregnant, and by then it’s too late to have the abortion, so they would either have to carry the baby to term, or else go through some dangerous act-coat hangers, bleach, or worse-and risk life and health, or prison time. There are many fine people who differ on abortion and when life begins-at conception, or at birth? Scientists and theologians have debated for millennia when life begins, and they still haven’t decided; so why should a gang of political hacks in a state legislature have the power to decide? I believe a woman has the right to control her body and her reproductive system-end of story. We are in a dangerous situation in this time. Climate scientists warn us that there are only ten to fifteen years left before irreparable damage in done to the environment-the air, water, and land which we all depend on to live. Far-right, racist “populist” movements are on the march in the US and Europe, and they’re not above using violence, including murder. But, thank God, I see some serious fightback against this, and I’m proud to be part of it, and I hope you join in. Bye!

The Mason Missile, April 21, 2019

Greetings! Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. Plutocracy on the march! The scandal emerged of the actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman paying bribes of $500,000 to the University of Southern California to have their children admitted; additional charges were of money laundering and fraud. The federal grand jury also charged 16 other parents, including Loughlin’s husband, fashion designer Massimo Gianulli. Laughlin and Giannuli have been in denial of the severity of the charges against them, and refused to go for a plea deal, thinking the judge was “bluffing.” Laughlin and Gianulli tried to have their daughters placed into the rowing team, but one of Laughlin’s daughters Olivia Jade Gianulli, had an indifferent attitude about education, saying in a video, “I don’t know how much school I’m going to attend, but I’m going to go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope I can balance it all. But I do want the experience of game days, partying, I don’t really care about school, as you guys know.” There were reports that Oliva Jade was partying on a yacht owned by a trustee of USC when the charges came for her parents. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lori-loughlin-olivia-jade-money-education_n_5c8f5e9de4b0d7f6b0f5723c) The issue of college admissions favoring the wealthy over talented poor kids goes beyond USC, Huffman, Laughlin, and their daughters, it is endemic. The march to oligarchy goes one step further with the report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) showing the several Fortune 500 companies not only paid NO taxes-after billions of profits- but attained tax refunds. These include such corporate behemoths as Amazon, IBM, General Motors, Molson Coors, and Netflix. (https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/04119-Corporate-Tax-Avoidance-Remains-Rampant-Under-New-Tax-Law_ITEP.pdf) Meanwhile, schools, roads, libraries, and public health are falling into ruin-we the working and low-income people are paying for this, and our finances are depleting. Georges Clemenceau once said, “War is too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.” I say capitalism is too dangerous to be left to the capitalists, who donate to candidates and lobby for bill to their liking-many times the lobbyists sit with legislators to write the bills. The idea, promulgated to death by Ronald Reagan and too many others, that if we left the capitalists to do their capitalist thing without the government-i.e., the public-interfering, the economy would flourish, and we the workers and consumers would flourish right along with them. Case in point: In February, General Motors announced layoff of 4,000 workers in their North American plants. (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/gm-readies-to-make-4000-involuntary-layoffs-next-week.html) Meanwhile, GM CEO Mary Barra was reported to be among the top 20 highest paid CEOs, with an annual compensation of $21.87 million, 281 times higher than the average GM employee. (https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2019/04/18/gm-ceo-barra-compensation-22-million/3415415002/). THIS is the game rigged against workers, folks. It’s a common idea in American history-the cult of the Businessman, the economic wizard who builds an industry or corporation, and we need him to apply his genius to run our government in a “businesslike” fashion. We had this during the 1920s, with the talk about running Henry Ford-union-hater, anti-Semite, and friend of Adolf Hitler-for President; then came the Depression of 1929, and the corporate elite were shown to be useless in dealing with the problem, other than repressing workers’ struggle to organize, and fighting Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs-which included the Wagner Act, the basis for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the legal carte-blanche for workers to organize. Again, the Cult of the Businessman revived, and we have Donald trump touting his business and deal-making skills for negotiating trade deals favoring American workers, saving their jobs. Now we have Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, talking about running for president, publishing his manifesto book (mandatory for presidential candidates today) and threatening to run if the Democrats run a candidate too “radical” for HIS liking, deciding all by himself what the “center” (whatever that is) is, again associating his profits with the good of the nation as a whole. (For myself, I’m boycotting Starbucks until Schultz stops his silly campaign to nowhere.) These politics of corporate dominance and public exclusion have got to come to an end. The only way is for us to-right NOW-get politically active in our local communities. In Philadelphia, I’m engaged in local elections for Mayor, City Commissioners (in charge of the election system), City Council (district and at-large), Register of Wills, and judge-ships. Becoming active in politics at this basic level is great education for engaging in politics at the federal level, as with voters vetting the upcoming presidential candidates throughout the primaries. Together, we can reclaim our democracy-what’s left of it-and expand on it. Bye!

The Mason Missile, march 31, 2019

Greetings! Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller has submitted his report into the meddling of Russian intelligence systems into the 2016 presidential election favoring trump-I’ll never show him respect!-to his superior, Attorney General William Barr, a longtime Republican asset. Barr released a four-page digest with his own idea of summarizing the report (of at least 300-plus pages)-I, and so many others, would prefer to see the actual report, just as, during the Watergate scandal of the ‘70s, we read the White House tapes. But, even Barr’s summary said that Mueler’s report “does not exonerate him (trump).” I don’t want to dismiss Mueller, or hype him up; he has been a dedicated and honorable public servant, and I respect his work. It is fortunate that he had to work with a thoroughly corrupt regime. But fear not-there are the investigations of the Justice Department’s Southern New York, and the congressional committees at work, showing the trump doesn’t have the entire federal government under his control-yet; he still has his dictatorial dreams, wanting to be like Putin, Kim Jong Un, Bolsonaro in Brazil, and Viktor Orban in Hungary. I am galled by the Republicans claiming, with Barr’s four-page summary of two years of investigation, that trump is fully exonerated, while he is not; the Republican base, and its media like Fox News, is talking to itself and listening to itself. I believe even they have a good understanding of how corrupt trump and his crew are, including Ivanka, Don Jr, Eric, and Kushner; but do they care about the future of this country and of the planet? The lessening of health care, education, and job opportunities in this country? Are they also bullies who worship someone who pretends to be powerful, and so live vicariously through him? Feeling their sense of entitlement to rule the government without thinking of anyone else’s opinion, the Republicans have demanded that Adam Schiff (D-CA) resign as Chair of the Judiciary Committee-but he’s stood fast against them. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spoke against the “condescending” and “arrogant” tone of Barr’s letter, and she demanded the full report-as do we all. (https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/29/politics/mueller-report-secrecy/index.html?utm_source=fbCNNp&utm_content=2019-03-29T12%3A32%3A07&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR15IldRQdmU6-w_2IvfS1lKZCf7U85ZQ7__FL0rpZ1hCqTe8QdqS_zyZbA) (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dems-demand-muellers-full-300-pages-mock-scaredy-cat-gop_n_5c9d447de4b0474c08cb2671) Recently, I joined other Jews, like in my synagogue, Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir (http://www.leyvhair.org/) in celebrating Purim, the rocking, rolling, riotous holiday where we celebrate the downfall of the wicked Haman (Boo!), through the work of the beautiful Esther (Woo hoo!), honoring the downfall of puffed-up despots who want to be worshiped as the gods they’re not. (Like someone we heard of). In a few weeks we will celebrate Pesach, AYA Passover, where we celebrate the liberation of the Jews from slavery-an ongoing theme in history that constantly has to be celebrated in every nation, in every faith, in every era. Let us maintain the spirit of those two wonderful holidays as we fight to win back our country for the people. Bye!

The Mason Missile, March 5, 2019

Greetings! I’m sorry to be so late; I’ve been doing my work as a Committee-person for my ward in South Philadelphia. Politics, the process of electing persons who run the community’s affairs, are the concern for all of us. I was delighted by the defeat of Amazon, in its attempt to establish its second headquarters in New York-specifically, Long Island City in Queens-by neighborhood people protesting the disruption of their neighborhoods and the massive tax breaks, up to $3 billion, that the City and the State would have given the company-a company said to have $11.2 billion in profits (including the upscale grocery store chain Whole Foods), and whose CEO Jeff Bezos is worth $130 billion-rich enough to organize his own private space program, SpaceX. There were also worries by the community and the unions-still the best hope for working people-of low-wage work under stressful conditions-there were reports out about those practices at Amazon facilities-and of disruption of neighborhoods and gentrification. Working-class and low-income people standing up to a corporate behemoth that, for a while, was valued at one TRILLION dollars, (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/04/amazon-hits-1-trillion-in-market-value.html), is something to be proud of. Organizations for tenant’s rights, immigrant rights groups like Make The Road NY, and neighborhood groups joined together to stand up to Amazon and for their community. (https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/19/organizers-oust-amazon-hq2-new-york?cd-origin=rss#) Amazon also serves as a poster child for the challenge to the idea that giving corporations tax breaks stimulates the economy, and so state and city governments must offer these to corporations to establish themselves I their communities. That was the way Amazon played it-several cities, including Philadelphia, were on the list to be the site for HQ2, and cities and states offered the company billions in tax breaks. A report by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that Amazon, with all its billions, has not paid a single cent of federal income taxes last year. (https://itep.org/amazon-in-its-prime-doubles-profits-pays-0-in-federal-income-taxes/) Moreover, Amazon has received a tax REBATE of $129 million. Another bad example of corporate socialism is Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturer of pasts for Apple. The original deal was that, according to Governor Scott Walker (with Donnie trump going along), Foxconn would set up a factory that would create “up to 13,000” manufacturing jobs, mainly for display panels; for that it company would have the incentive of tax breaks from the state, worth $3 billion, along with three-quarters of a billion from local municipalities. But all of a sudden, Foxconn executives announced that the company would make the site into a research and development “hub,” which would hire approximately 1,000 technical employees. Billions of dollars lost, elected officials groveling to foreign capitalists, hopes raised for jobs for workers who have no jobs-for nothing. ( https://thinkprogress.org/factory-wisconsin-foxconn-billions-to-build-eea422ff0cef/) May I introduce you to one of the most influential-and malignant-economic thinkers you never heard of: economist James McGill Buchanan, who did his work out of George Mason University. (https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/meet-the-economist-behind-the-one-percents-stealth-takeover-of-america) . Buchanan, like Milton Friedman, Friedrick Hayek, Ayn Rand, and Ludwig Von Misis, has been an influencer to the economic elite, advocating absolute “free market” capitalism, at the expense of workers and community people. Buchanan has projected upon workers, social activists, and similar enemies of conservatives the traits of utter selfishness-to him, they are people who want to take property away from its owners for their own benefit-but are the capitalists, the owners of said property, not being selfish in bleeding workers and community people for their profit being selfish? Property owners-oligarchs-must, said Buchanan, be protected from working-class and low-income voters standing up for their rights-which, to Buchanan, would lead to tyranny, and so protecting the property of plutocrats-who wouldn’t be where they were without their workers-was defending liberty. And in defending his idea of “liberty,” Buchanan had the support of Charles Koch-you know, of the Koch brothers-and worked against such threats to “free enterprise” as the environmental movement, feminism, public education, Social security and Medicare, and the civil rights movement-blatant racism was a loser in publicity, so Buchanan’s patrons utilized the arguments of “controlling government spending.” Buchanan’s ideas were antithetical to the idea of utilizing the state apparatus for progressive ends, for the public weal; but he was happy to be an advisor for the brutally repressive Pinochet regime in Chile, and he supported the repression of low-income and working people organizing themselves for their benefit. The 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has come and gone, and there was none of the defense of tradition that is supposed to epitomize what “conservative” is supposed to mean. There was the old scare of “socialism,” updated to include terrifying pictures of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, and distorted interpretations of the proposed Green New Deal. One rock-star speaker was Sebastian Gorka, a former trump advisor and member of the Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group founded by that nation’s pro-fascist (and anti-Semitic) dictator Miklos Horthy; members of the group were declared “Inadmissible” into the United States by the State Department. ( https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-anti-terror-adviser-a-sworn-member-of-nazi-allied-group-1.5449737) But that did not stop Gorka from raving against how he interprets the Green New Deal; “They want to take your pickup truck, they want to rebuild your home, they want to take away your hamburgers! This is what Stalin dreamt about!” said one of the deep thinkers of conservativism today. Michelle Malkin, another right-wing pundit, raved about the “invasion” of immigrants, both legal and illegal; “Both parties are to blame,” Malkin proclaimed, “and yes, I’m looking at you, retired Paul Ryan. And yes, I’m looking at you, Mitch McConnell. And yes, I’m looking at you, Bush family. And yes, I’m looking at you, the ghost of John McCain.” The crowd cheered at that-an attack on people who were as conservative as themselves, but they disowned them when it suited their purpose. ( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cindy-mccain-john-mccain-cpac-speaker_n_5c7c225ae4b0614614db7900) The fear of the “Other,” of dark-skinned immigrants, who don’t look like themselves, was in Malkin’s speech. (Malkin, by the way, is of Filipina extraction, yet she used rhetoric worthy of David Duke. Hmmm…) Blatant white nationalists-like Peter Brimelow, of the racist web site VDare; Gavin McInnes founder of the Proud Boys, the white nationalist thug gang; and Faith Goldy, who has been on podcasts of the racist web site Daily Stormer- people who conservatives of an earlier era would have shunned, roamed the halls of the conference, denying the value of diversity and treating it as a plague. And during the conference, there were reports of harassment of Muslims and LGBTQ people by CPAC attendees. (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cpac-harassment_us_58b7360fe4b0284854b3a2a4?fbclid=IwAR3B2uOpF77FJXBsq5NRV36bJYREya5R887z7y37RBdylEZ61CYFt3UJp5E) THIS is what there up against; and our commander in chief is their enabler and hero. Let us continue to organize, to study the issues, and fight against this menace to our liberties. Bye!