The Mason Moment, January 13, 2025

I speak about not dealing with trump's inauguration.

The Mason Moment, January 6, 2025

I speak about the history of the January 6 raid on the Capitol, and standing up to trump.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, December 30, 2024

I speak about the legacy of Jimmy Carter, and of the decline of Evangelical Christianity.

The Mason Missile, December 28, 2024

Greetings, Americans! The New Year is soon upon us, and we must resolve to do what we can to resist the upcoming trump administration (I’m nauseated to say that phrase), with its attacks on workers, low income people, women, and people of color. Please don’t be distracted by the right’s artificial hysteria about “boys doing girls’ sports,” and their complaints about books that offer differing viewpoints that their kids might try to comprehend. They might find out that the doctrines of their parents would not work for them, or benefit them—if not harm them, physically or psychologically. These fights against intelligent discussion or study about race and ethnicity (you know, the dreaded “woke”), gender and sexuality, of the REAL history of this country, or class and Labor, are not at all about the kids, or trying to protect them from any “harmful” ideas; it’s about the “adults” trying to suppress these ideas. All this would keep kids in a perpetual state on childhood, if they’re not allowed to think for themselves. That is all part of FASCISM, a word that we thought we have retired forever, but the idea has continued to be at work. An even more dangerous aspect of Fascism is the merging or private-corporate power with state power, combining against the working and lower classes, trying to keep them in submission. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum has a list of signs of Fascism, and trump and his cult check all the boxes. (https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/31/the-12-early-warning-signs-of-fascism/) (https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism/Common-characteristics-of-fascist-movements) The power of corporations within the trump regime is shown by the influence of Elon Musk, and owner of Twitter (which he turned into X-crement), Tesla, and SpaceX—the labor of hundreds of engineers and technicians, and all Musk does is rake in the money from their labor, and due to which, he is recognized as the world’s richest man, according to Forbes magazine (https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#60f05d683d78) . In the most recent struggle to pass an emergency spending bill, to keep the federal government functioning through March 2025, House Speaker (for how long?) Mike Johnson had to deal with Musk, who used X to campaign against it, using lies and misinformation (synonymous terms) about what was in it. Musk wanted to take from the bill funding for programs that benefit working-class Americans, such as funding for research into childhood cancer, Down ’s syndrome, breast and cervical cancer, sickle cell disease, and opioid abuse. Why? Does Musk hate working and low-income people, just as trump has contempt for them? Traditionally, Republicans have howled, ever since Reagan, against the federal budget deficit, during Democratic administrations; but when THEY get into the Presidency, the deficit is no big deal. The original spending bill had a provision to raise the federal debt ceiling, and there have been plans to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and benefits for veterans; and all the while, the Republicans call for tax cuts on corporations and wealthy individuals, swearing on stacks of bibles that they would invest the money they saved from taxes back into their companies, and the economic growth (supposedly) would offset the money cut from taxes. And, alas, people still keep falling for that line, which have been proven to be untrue; deficits have gone from the billions to the trillions since Reagan. It’s all about attacking working-class and low-income people, to place them under their control and domination. Again, here is another feature of Fascism. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/18/elon-musk-false-claims-cr-00195252 https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/20/2293067/-House-speaker-spoke-with-man-in-charge-and-Trump-ahead-of-spending-bill-vote?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/19/2292861/-Trump-trashes-weak-and-ineffective-GOP-congressman-over-spending-bill?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_recent_news&pm_medium=web https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/20/2293117/-Government-funding-bill-clears-Congress-to-narrowly-avert-shutdown I must say something about the fatal shooting on Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of several health-insurance companies that make their billions out of denying claims for people who are sick and need important medical procedures, and who die because the “health insurance” company denies their claim—more profits to the board of directors. UnitedHealth has been the worst at denying such claims to sick dying people, and the alleged shooter, Luigi Mangione, has become a folk hero for this. Is it getting this bad, that people needing help need to go this far? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/nyregion/delay-deny-defend-united-health-care-insurance-claims.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/health-insurance-costs-inflation-denials-luigi-mangione-united-healthcare/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2024/12/05/unitedhealthcare-denies-more-claims-than-other-insurers---angering-patients-and-health-systems/ I MUST comment about from the commercial news media has often capitulated to trump: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC making the pilgrimage to Mar-A-Lago, after years of attacking trump; the editorial boards on the Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos) and the Los Angeles Times compiling editorials endorsing Kamala Harris, but their publishers cancelled them; ABC paying trump $15 million for a lawsuit, which they didn’t have to pay—SHAME! That is another sign of Fascism, taking control of the news media. The Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny (https://timothysnyder.org/on-tyranny) shows us how to deal with an upcoming authoritarian regime, from studying other dictatorial regimes. His very first rule is “Do not obey in advance,” that is, people think if they capitulate to the regime early enough and accommodate it, they would be safe from it. But the regime will attack you no matter what you do to keep your head down and lay low; they would find any excuse to come at you, if it suits them. But independent news outlets, such as Daily Kos and MeidasTouch have been emerging as viable sources of news for the public. https://www.dailykos.com/ https://meidasnews.com/ https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/20/2293011/-It-s-a-Christmas-Miracle-Democrats-Punch-Legacy-Media-in-the-Jaw-and-Kick-the-RNC-in-the-Crotch?pm_campaign=trending&pm_source=sidebar&pm_medium=web Another facet of Fascism is rampant nationalism and imperialism, the idea that a nation can impose its will on other, less powerful nations—because it can. You find this in trump’s wisecrack (I think he means it) about annexing Canada as the 51st state, and calling Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau “governor”; his threats to invade Mexico to “eliminate drug cartels;” his desire to retake the Panama canal and seize Greenland, a territory of Denmark. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-mexico-drug-cartels-military-invade-1235183177/ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-takes-aim-canada-greenland-panama-canal-christmas-day-posts-rcna185416 That’s what we have to deal with, Americans, an ignorant, racist, lying creep making policy decisions—again. Let’s organize ourselves and do our part to resist him and his replicas. That’s the resolution for New Year’s that we need. Stay Safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! And, in spite of everything, Happy New Year! ADVERTISEMENTS

The Mason Moment, December 16, 2024

I speak about certain of the commercial news media caving in to trump, and the need to develop alternative news media.

The Mason Moment December 9, 2024

I speak about the demonstrations against the governments of South Korea and Georgia, and of the book On Tyranny.

The Mason Missile, November 22, 2024

Greetings, Americans! It happened, and I’m recovering from the shock-Donald whatshisface won, once again, the Presidency. And now, after the defeat, is the tradition of a party pointing fingers at each other to decide whose fault the defeat was. Hopefully, it’s not going to be like the 1984 disaster, and the party leaders, in the form of the Democratic Leadership Council (led in part by Bill Clinton) fighting to remove the “special interests” from influence in the party; you know, the LGBTQ+ people, the people of color, Labor, defiantly not the fossil fuel lobby, or the NRA. To the DLC, the standard American voter is white and indifferent, if not hostile, to the fate of minorities or Labor, and not at all interested in economic issues affecting Americans. Such myopia does not consider the long-term effects policies have on people, and would disengage people from voting or any other participation in the process. I’m not saying anything against Kamala Harris; she ran a terrific campaign, at such short notice, with a positive message, and I’m proud to have played a small role in her campaign. Like she says, the fight goes on, and we have NO right to back away from it. In the words of Rabbi Tarfon, in the Pirke Avot, “It is not for you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it.” (https://www.jewishboston.com/read/it-is-not-up-to-you-to-finish-the-task-but-you-are-not-free-to-avoid-it/) (https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?lang=bi) Plus, his margin of victory over Harris was far smaller than other elections, so it wasn’t such a “mandate” after all. (https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/donald-trump-vote-margin-narrowed/ ) (https://crooksandliars.com/2024/11/actually-was-close-election) Victory is NOT a virtue in itself, except in the “mind” of t---p. Just because you win an election, or anything else, doesn’t put you on the right side of history, or above any criticism. There’s no bandwagon effect going on. In fact, there are signs of “buyers’ remorse” by trump voters about voting for the Tangerine Tumor. Now they see what trump is about to do: raise tariffs which American consumers, not China, would have to pay for, pay more in taxes that billionaires, deport millions of immigrants who comprised a huge part of the workforce, and thereby face the worst possible inflation, along with cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and the VA system (which, full disclosure, I benefit from). And don’t think, as the trump-republican apparatus thinks, that people will simply keep quiet about the loss of the freedoms and livelihoods. (https://thehill.com/opinion/4986223-trump-majority-economic-turmoil/) (https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/buyer-s-remorse-trump-s-radical-fringe-rfk-gaetz-picks-roil-nation-melber-report-224504901879) Even establishment figures in our politics have been fighting back: The Senate has been confirming Joe Biden’s appointments for federal judgeships, so far at 218 appointees. (https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-democrats-secure-confirmation-long-delayed-judicial-nominee-2024-11-19/) Hopefully, as the Democratic Party pulls itself together after the defeat, it finally shuns the neo-liberal, “free market” worship that has affected both parties, so they can both attain corporate donations and exclude working and low-income people from their councils. That is the idea that if the government defers to corporations and lowers taxes on them to zero, transfer municipal services to private corporations, turn against workers, and wipe out social welfare systems-what is behind the right’s hatred for social spending? That deserves study-all Americans will prosper economically. Alas, it hasn’t turned out like that; sure, the Stock Market soared under Clinton, Obama, and Biden, but have people on the bottom of the ladder gotten anything from it? No, the profits have remained at the top, and have resulted in oligarchs (as dangerous as the ones around Putin) building luxury bunkers for themselves for when the Revolution happens, Jeff Bezos playing Flash Gordon with his rocket, and Bezos and Musk buying up already established corporations along with the ones they own, because they can; such is capitalism, corporations gobbling up smaller firms into one gigantic megacorporation, which can not only challenge the State but buy it. So let’s reclaim the State as ours, Americans. Let’s NOT AT ALL be deterred by the MAGA leg-breakers and neo-fascist goose-steppers, or by the wannabe theocrats that would oppress us with their warped idea of “Christianity,” or by the brain-worms in the Heritage Foundation concocting their schemes of autocracy, as shown in Project 2025. It’ll be a hard slog, but as long as we band together, we can AND WILL beat them. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free!