The Mason Missile, September 24, 2024

Greetings, Americans! We are coming up to the High Holy Days, Rosh haShona and Yom Kippur. We have been going through Elul, which, according to custom, is the time to reflect on our lives during the previous year. This is also the time to make amends for anything negative we have committed; in this spirit, I ask forgiveness to anyone I might have wronged, and if anyone out there has wronged me, I forgive them. My forgiveness, however, does not apply to Donald whatshisface and his running mate and pet boy JD vance. Trump went on the debate against Kamala Harris (pronounced KA-ma-la) at the National Constitution Center, located in Philadelphia (I’m proud to say, https://constitutioncenter.org/). Harris is the kind of happy warrior leader we need to fight trump-style fascism (yes I WILL use that word!), fighting the good fight on genuine issues (instead of trump’s whining about windmills causing cancer) having fun along the way. Aside from the dangers trump poses to our country and to the world (all very real), I got a kick out of trump making a damn fool of himself, while Harris stood there confident and in charge. (https://abc.com/movies-and-specials/0ff50ff8-d36b-4d74-a943-839d568932a9) The craziest part was when trump, talking about Haitian immigrants in Sprin gfield, Ohio, “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats.” (https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/trump-s-racist-lie-that-people-are-eating-dogs-this-is-the-logical-end-of-the-republican-party-219321413745) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHycpIhnFcU) Harris got a good laugh out of it, so did I, but the slander caused serious problems for Springfield, such as bomb threats at the schools, City Hall, and the Haitian community. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx05dAFNPb4) On top of all that, vance was interviewed on CNN by Dana Bash; (https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/15/politics/video/sotu-bash-vance-haitian-immigrants-full-interview) Bash informed vance that the allegations about Haitian immigrants stealing geese from the ponds, along with the “stealing cats and dogs” story, could not be verified, and that the Haitian immigrants have proven to be good workers, primarily in the steel industry. But vance, smiling through all this, and linked it with the trump-MAGA whine about “open borders” and letting “these people” in. He knew the stories he repeated were non-verifiable, but it made for some propaganda to feed the MAGA-ists. It’s an old American tale: accuse some or another ethnic group, particularly people of color, of every sin and crime you can imagine, and saying they’re dirty and stupid, and that they would just sit all day and collect welfare AND take jobs away from “real” Americans, and so the State must keep them under control, either with over-policing, or oppressive working conditions at rock-bottom pay, or artificially-enforced unemployment, so workers would fight among themselves for a scant number of jobs available. It’s an old racist trick all through our politics, and trump, whose racism and anti-Semitism is all too genuine, has picked up on it, and has brought out the racism and hate lurking inside his voters. Class, the dirty little secret of American society, also gets into this, with socially and economically elite classes similarly looking down on working and low-income people, assuming they’re good for nothing but toiling at an assembly line for their benefit, or else they would be drugging, or boozing, or screwing. And so trump and vance keep feeding the public the narrative about what the terrible things immigrants allegedly do, since they believe the American people to be stupid enough to believe it. Don’t fall for it, Americans. We’re better than this as a nation. On November 7, we must go to the viting booth in record number and VOTE, for Kamala Harris and the entire Democratic slate, and strike a blow to trump and his MAGA minions. Vote blue, all the way through. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Stop Project 2025! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, September 3, 2024

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak today about Labor day and the danger to workers from another trump regime.

The Mason Missile, August 31, 2024

Greetings, Americans! This month had the Democratic National Convention, in Chicago. There, the attendees heard from Congress-member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY; her district covers portions of the Bronx and Queens), UAW President Shawn Fain, Senator Raphael Warnock (GA), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (TX), Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, AND—President Joe Biden. The speakers spoke about the serious issues facing Americans, such as workers organizing for their defense, trying to pay medical bills for loved ones, the dangers to women’s reproductive rights, lifting people out of poverty, and the dangers of a widening gap between the super-rich and the rest of us working and low-income Americans. But there still was a feeling of joy and positivity, and hope that we STILL CAN defeat the fascist forces of this country, and raise the country to an even higher level. Plus, it gave proper respect to Joe Biden, who cleaned up themes left by the regime of Donald whatshisface, dealt seriously with the COVID pandemic (instead, like one other person, of talking about injecting bleach or UV lights inside your body), and gave the nation a reason to hope for something better than racism, division, and hatred infesting our politics. Thank you, Joe, for all that you have done. (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-rep-alexandra-ocasio-cortez-speaks-at-2024-democratic-national-convention) (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-uaws-shawn-fain-speaks-at-the-democratic-national-convention-revealing-trump-is-a-scab-t-shirt) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JznC5vZnGOQ) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md0GA-T8Cv4) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8N9LJ1Tk1w) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6ZGonecFE) One great part is when Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow hauled out to the convention a HUGE copy of Project 2025, the demon child of the Heritage Foundation, and she read some of the items it has in store for America, essentially turning the entire federal government into trump’s own enforcer, on behalf of his billionaire donors. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/08/19/mallory-mcmorrow-dnc-speech-michigan-state-senator/74857761007/) Others who have read portions of Project 2025 were Kenan Thompson, a veteran of Saturday Night Live, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and Pennsylvania State Representative (and candidate for Auditor-General) Malcolm Kenyatta. (https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/kenan-thompson-warns-voters-of-project-2025-217713733673) (https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/colorado-gov-polis-slams-project-2025-as-trump-s-roadmap-to-ban-abortion-217707589796) (https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/state-rep-malcolm-kenyatta-slams-project-2025-at-the-dnc-217567813821) (I myself will also keep mentioning Project 2025; the trump campaign has been distancing itself from it, but this is the plan they STILL have, and have been planning to do for decades; they WOULD put it to practice in a potential trump regime, IF we don’t go out and vote November 5.) Please contrast the Democratic convention to the Republican National Convention last month, in Chicago. In spite of the trump-worship, and all the silliness it entails, there was a look of doom in the hall, like they know they MIGHT lose (let’s work to see that happens), and, instead of substantive discussions about issues affecting the lives of Americans, they put on a freak show, including a lip-synch act by Kid Shlock, uh, Rock, and Hulk Hogan acting like he’s ready to take on Andre The Giant again in Wrestlemania, which, back in the day, took place at trump’s casinos in Atlantic City (before he bankrupted them and they had to be demolished; quite a business whiz, he). The fight is on for America’s democracy, and to improve it however we can. The labor movement is an excellent resistance movement against everything that trump, Project 2025, and all their corporate sponsors are trying to accomplish: eliminate women’s right to control their reproductive systems, eliminate any and every intelligent and fact-based discussion of our nation’s history (including racism and oppression of workers), along with any restraints on the President removing career, competent civil servants and replacing them with his hacks and flunkies, and turning our own military—our own fellow Americans, our own sons and daughters—into his own private crew of leg-breakers; and let’s not forget their targeting LGBTQ+ Americans, in the name of “traditional values.” You know I’ll do my part! This Monday, I’ll take part in Philadelphia’s Labor Day Parade and Festival, joining my union brothers and sisters in honoring the work WE have done to build up this nation, no thanks to the billionaires who just take the profits and get all the publicity; and to prepare ourselves for the election, November 5, where we can strike a blow, with our ballots, for freedom and against fascism. We GOT this, Americans! Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment, August 26, 2024

I speak about third parties in our politics, and how we can't vote for them this election.

The Mason Moment, August 6, 2024

I discuss the influence of such tech-moguls as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk entering and influencing our politics.

The Mason Moment, July 29, 2024

I speak about the freak-out of evangelicals over the Dionysian tableau at the Olympics, and their self-centered attitude in general.

The Mason Missile, July 26, 2024

Greetings, Americans! On August 1, I celebrate my birthday (I won’t tell which one). Hopefully I’ve learned a few things along the way to this point. I still have many miles to go along my way. Age? That’s supposed to be a disease? If it is, I’m not feeling any symptoms. Ageism, the assumption that a person is good for nothing after a (ahem!) certain age is a real form of discrimination; at my “age” I feel youthful, more so than when I was in my 20’s. I commend President Joe Biden for doing something that trump would have no comprehension of—cancel his campaign, for the good of the party and the nation. I was SO sick of hearing all this talk about Biden’s age and mental acuity, but with this unselfish act, Biden has ended all that nonsense talk, so that we can discuss some REAL issues. Thank you, Joe, for everything you’ve done for this country. The Republican National Convention, held in the “horrible” city of Milwaukie (trump’s word, not mine), was nothing but a freak show; instead of former Presidents, community leaders, or other statesmen (and women), the top speakers were Amber Rose, Only Fans model and former wife of Kanye West, and former wrestling mega-star Hulk Hogan, tearing off his shirt like he was in Wrestlemania ready to take on Andre The Giant; with Kid Rock lip-synching the entertainment. Other speakers included Lara Trump, Co-Chair of the Republican Party—oh, did you know she’s married to trump’s son Eric? Also there was Nikki Haley, who ran against trump in the primaries and spoke out against trump, but now she’s praising him to the skies. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31bx-QanaIM) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbzNiwRz4gU) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PPKRmk0wqI) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lb6LZwiHdU) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfoOhq4kwu4) JD Vance, Senator from Ohio and author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, is trump’s running mate, and another “champion of the little guy.” But please don’t take the memoir too seriously, as it is full of stereotypes of low-income whites as alcoholic, drug-addicted, welfare-leaching, and lazy, not wanting to raise themselves out of their poverty, like, presumably, Vance did. (https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-07-15/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-book-trump-vice-president) (https://www.npr.org/2024/07/20/nx-s1-5043772/appalachian-writer-revisits-j-d-vances-hillbilly-elegy) (https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/7/19/2255717/-JD-Vance-Scorns-Hillbillies) The reason trump selected Vance, who has served only a year and a half in the Senate, is that Vance, once a severe critic of trump, has now become one of his devotees. It’s the pattern in the Republican Party; anyone who has spoken against trump, or have been insulted by him—like Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Ted Cruz—have now turned around and kissed his ring (and other things). (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/23/2257403/-Trump-reveals-the-pathetic-reason-he-chose-JD-Vance?detail=emaildkre&pm_source=DKRE&pm_medium=email) Plus, Vance has called for a nationwide abortion ban (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jd-vance-national-abortion-ban-soros-1235062748/) and has called for making divorce, even from abusive spouses, more difficult, saying people shouldn’t “shift spouses like they change their underwear.” (https://www.vice.com/en/article/93abve/jd-vance-suggests-people-in-violent-marriages-shouldnt-get-divorced) This, I assume, is a sop to the evangelical “Christian” Right. (https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/2024-election/jd-vance-comments-violent-marriages-resurface/) And, again, we have his interview with Tucker Carlson, then on Fox “News,” whereby Vance babbled about the country “being run by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable with their own lives and the choices they’ve made, so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” (https://www.msnbc.com/chris-jansing-reports/watch/-jesus-did-not-have-children-jd-vance-ripped-for-ridiculous-childless-cat-ladies-comment-215684677984) Vance defiantly has traditional ideas about the role of women, that they should just stay at home and crank out babies; and it has sparked a whole slew of a-MEW-sing memes of the internet. (I couldn’t resist.) And what’s a Republican convention without some good ol’ fashioned racism? Vance’s own wife, Usha Chilukuri—who is of Indian descent, works for a big San Francisco law firm and no trad-wife—has been hit with racist attacks, as was Harmeet Dhillon, a prominent figure in the Republican Party in California, who is also Indian and of the Sikh religion of India—opened the convention with Ardas, a traditional Sikh prayer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdWWigkAuoM) (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jd-vances-wife-faces-racist-online-backlash-social/story?id=112096897) THIS is where the Republican Party is at now. Their candidate is a fake billionaire (who keeps finding some scam to soak his followers for money), with a fake hillbilly as a running mate, praised by a fake wrestler, and serenaded by a fake rocker. I hope the Democratic Convention, to be held in Chicago next month, show WAY more intelligence and dignity. Now, set to take on trump is Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has had vast political and legal experience, as a Prosecutor, US Senator, and current Vice-President. (Did I mention she is Vice-President?) Let’s give the Harris campaign our 120% support, and keep reminding everyone of the danger of Project 2025. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!