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!

The Mason Moment, November 18, 2024

I speak about celebrating working-class and neighborhood heroes, banding together for workers' safety and racial justice.

The Mason Missile, October 27, 2024

Greetings, Americans! We have commemorated the holidays of Rosh ha-Shona and Yom Kippur, along with Sukkot and Simchat Torah; may we continue to learn the true meaning of these events, that a new start is possible. Finally, the news media has been paying attention to trump’s mental health, or lack thereof, with his speeches going all over the place, and he goes on about everything but the topic he’s been asked about. Why has the news media, before Biden dropped out, been so fascinated with Biden’s mental health, but they’ve given trump a pass on it? Perhaps it’s because trump has been in the media for four decades, being hyped as a genius real-estate and casino tycoon, squiring some beautiful women all around Manhattan, and getting into tabloid fodder scandals, and that form of “news” veers into entertainment. Or perhaps also, some billionaire corporate interests, including some media corporations—yes, it’s a business like any other—don’t care about trump’s cognitive decline, or his racism, or his associating with neo-Fascists; all they care about are tax cuts they WOULD receive, along with the repression of workers and of women seeing reproductive freedom, people of color seeking equity and their REAL history told, and of LGBTQ+ people just wanting to live their lives without the risk of harassment and death. Project 2025, the brain-worm of the Heritage Foundation, is still on their minds, no matter how much the trump campaign tried to disassociate itself from it. (https://kamalaharris.com/project2025/) It’s NO different from the German industrial magnates who thought investing in Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP would be a great investment for putting down “Communism”—meaning any effort to empower workers, after the 1929 Crash and the Russian Revolution—and they paid no attention to Hitler’s rantings, the party’s violence and anti-Semitism, the brown-shirted goons stomping on their enemies and playing tin soldiers. They got their profits and the unions were destroyed, so what did they care? Of course you may think, correctly, of the German firms Krupp and IG Farben, who used the slave labor from the concentration camps; and there was Hugo Boss, the fashion house, which manufactured those uniforms for all the NSDAP’s branches, like the SS. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Boss) But American firms did business with Germany during the Second World War. (https://www.adl.org/resources/news/german-industry-and-third-reich) One is Ford, and Henry Ford was also a notorious Jew-hater and fanboy of Hitler; several subsidiaries of Ford held factories in Cologne and Berlin, using concentration-camp slave labor. Other corporate accomplices included Coca-Cola, Eastman-Kodak, IBM (for the record-keeping machinery they maintained regularly in the concentration camps, and their investments in several German firms, like the aircraft firm Focke-Wulf), General Motors (their Opal division), and certain American and British banks. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust) (https://lorimer.ca/adults/product/big-business-and-hitler/) And if these corporations could collaborate with a foreign tyrant and murderer, they damn sure would be happy to work with a home-grown tyrant, like a future trump regime—which we must make DAMN SURE there isn’t any. We tried it before with trump; respectable, mainstream politicians thought that trump would have “adults in the room,” competent cabinet members and staff workers who could keep him from doing or saying anything stupid; but he was subservient to Putin in that meeting in Helsinki, praised neo-Nazis as “very fine people,” scapegoated immigrants from the Mexican border (but not the Canadian border, mind you) and Muslims (with the travel ban), the contempt he has shown towards women—his bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade, his insults towards accomplished women, and his sexual abuses—his contempt for military personnel (“suckers and losers”), for a start. And we can’t treat this election as just an “election,” a contest between two candidates with more or less differing ideas—or, as some adults I heard say, “just a bunch of crooks, they’re all the same” during my growing-up years. It isn’t. It’s for the future of America and its people; and it would be a disgrace for us to allow trump back into power, so he can abuse it by attacking his enemies—meaning US, his fellow Americans. But, just as our ancestors crossed an ocean to fight foreign fascists—some of them even dying—we can defeat the home-grown fascists of today. Freedom-fighting is in the American blood, from the Revolution, through the movements of pass women’s suffrage and end chattel slavery, through the Civil War and the struggle to organize workers, through the World Wars, through the Civil Rights movements for African Americans and other people of color, for women, for LGBTQ+ people. We Americans have a long and venerable history of standing up to oppressors and bosses, and asserting our right, and in the process, asserting our significance, our value, as human beings. SO, November 5, Americans, don’t let our ancestors, or our progeny, down. Don’t forget the great freedom fighters of our true, sanitized history. Let’s continue to put in the work, to campaign, and VOTE. When we stand up to the fascist goons arrayed against us, we’ll see they’re not so tough after all. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!

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!

The Mason Moment, July 23, 2024

I speak about Joe Biden's leaving the presidential race, and of how Kamala Harris can and will defeat trump.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, July 2, 2024

I speak about the ridiculous panic over Biden’s performance in the debate, and how we must remember how awful trump was, is, and will be.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, June 25, 2024: "What do we thin...

I speak about the Torah portion Shelah-Lecha, and of the need to control our minds for the upcoming election.

The Mason Missile, June 24, 2024

Greetings, Americans! It has happened: Donald t---p, the twice-impeached, raping, cheating, stealing, ignorant, self-centered sick bastard who lurked around the white House, has been formally indicted for falsifying business records to hide the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, to keep their affair quiet during the 2016 presidential election. (https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-trial-conviction-of-donald-j-trump/) (https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0) We are at the end of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, when Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (as in young kids, growing up, ask themselves, “Am I gay?”) show their pride and self-acceptance of who they are and what their sexuality is, and knowing there are others just like them. It’s also a time to fight against those who, “for the noblest of reasons, like religious liberty,” seek to find any excuse to pare down, slice by slice, any or all of the advancements they have made in civil and human rights, and acceptance as citizens. Such attempts include, but not limited to, laws dictating which gender bathroom trans kids go to in school, complaints about libraries hosting drag queen story times, school libraries having LGBTQ+ themed books on the shelves (that show gay kids that there are, and have been in history, others like them)—the list goes on. Because of these dangerous crusades, gay kids will get the idea that there’s something wrong with being gay—and that THEY THEMSELVES are wrong and evil for being gay. These same crusaders against LGBTQ+-ness, as part of the evangelical rightist movement, have attached themselves politically to the twice-impeached, thrice-married, tax-cheating, wife-cheating, business-cheating, golf-cheating, nation-cheating, rapist and indicted criminal as their presidential candidate. The interesting thing is, so many of these evangelical campaigners have been found out to be sexually off base themselves. Case in point: Robert Morris, senior pastor of Gateway church, a Texas megachurch, and a “spiritual advisor” for trump, has been found to have had “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” who was TWEVE YEARS OLD at the time. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-adviser-pastor-robert-morris-confesses-sexual-behavior-rcna157474) The list goes on. The evangelical political movement has shown its corruption by having such a corrupt person as their standard-bearer. If you want to what a second trump regime (God forbid!) looks like, read about the document popularly called “Project 2025,” put out by the Heritage Foundation, a so-called “think-tank” designed to dress up the most reactionary ideas in the best academic finery. This has been called the “bible” of another trump administration, whose main author is Russel Vought, who was trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget. (https://www.thenation.com/article/society/russell-vought-center-renewing-america-christian-nationalism/) Vought, after leaving the government (thank God!), assembled the Center for Renewing America, another position-paper factory, and their documents have gone on about returning America to be “one Nation Under God,” and whining about schools grooming children by drag shows and “wokeness.” Project 2025 has a strong dose of Christian Nationalism to it. These are some more of the thoughts this think-tank has been thinking: Concentrate all power upon a unitary executive; this follows the Unitary Executive Theory, which states that the Congress cannot control or limit the President’s power over the executive branch. It was an idea common in the George W. Bush administration, that the President has the absolute authority to locate military forces upon his orders, and arrest and detain persons. It was advanced by John Woo, an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush II administration, during the “War On Terror.” (https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/exploring-the-limits-of-presidential-power/); Eliminate the Departments of Justice, of Education, of Commerce, and of Homeland Security, and the FBI (which used to be conservatives’ favorite bureaucracy, along with the military), eliminate cabinet secretaries and replace career civil servants with trump loyalists and flunkies (https://www.alternet.org/authoritarianism-project-2025-trump/); Eliminate protections against discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity; Direct the military to perform domestic law enforcement functions, thereby declaring war on its own fellow-citizens; arrest and deport immigrants; and implement capital punishment with swift “finality.” (https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/the-death-of-america-as-we-know-it/article_388920c1-1442-54ba-865c-d9b8923f06c8.html) Also in Project 2025 is the idea of restoring the military draft, so that young men and women would be compelled to serve under a commander-in-chief who regards them as “Suckers” and “Losers,” and would not hesitate to use them as cannon fodder for some egocentric war, so he could make himself look like a REAL man; and there would be no anti-war movement to stop it. (https://cardinalpine.com/2024/06/17/trump-mandatory-military-service/) It’s a common political fantasy on the right: look for a “strong man” dictator who would destroy the unclean, non-conforming, and dissenting elements of our society, and not let a silly little thing like Civil and Human Rights, or democracy, get in his way. the evangelical right has, as I have stated, been corrupted by its proximity to power, from the Reagan administration through trump. Its whole agenda anymore is to bash LGBTQ+ people: bash Jews, Muslims and other religious minorities; and ignore discrimination of people based on race and class. BUT—all is not lost. The presidential election coming up on November 5 will give us the opportunity to end this scheme of dictatorship, by us going out IN DROVES to the ballot box. But concern yourself with the polls; one thing I can’t stand is when the news media acts like trump will win, even before we’ve voted, so why bother to vote? DO go out and vote, and we will thwart trump and his nightmare of dictatorship. We’ve GOT this! Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael chai! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment June 17 2024: "Trump andThe CEOs"

I speak about trump's address to corporate CEOs, and of corporate corruption.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, June 10, 2024: "Trump's Probati...

I speak about trump's Probation Hearing and His Las Vegas rally.

The Mason Moment, June 4, 2024

I speak about the history behind Juneteenth, the Tulsa Race Massacre on 1921, and the attempts at censoring teaching about such topics.

The Mason Missile, May 22, 2024

Greetings, Americans! On April 23, I did my duty as an election board worker for my division in Philadelphia. We need more people to step up and take part in OUR political system, and play a part in positively shaping OUR community. Maybe YOU could run for an office? Why not? And we must stand up to the violent minority who, through their terrorism (terrorism IS very much American, not always abroad) attempt to prevent or weaken the public’s right to vote. Such terrorism includes “voter ID” laws, limiting the number of drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots, and, as in Georgia, prohibiting serving food or beverages to people in line, for hours in whatever weather, to vote. Our right to vote is a mighty weapon in our hands, and certain powerful forces want to take this weapon away from us. Let’s not allow this to happen. We are in the season of Memorial Day, where we show our respects to those men and women in our Armed Forces who died in service to their country. We must continue to honor their memory, and to assist and aid their loved ones. As opposed to so many political hacks who want to talk all badass without risking themselves (and send low-income kids to get killed), we must genuinely worry about the needs of military families. The danger of fascism is ALL too real, and it’s not hyperbole, it’s a genuinely American strain we’re up against. Recently, trump, over his “Truth Social” rag of a social media site, put out a video, with AI-generated images of old-time newspapers, on the theme of “What if trump wins? (God forbid!)” One smaller headline talked about a “unified Reich,” as in hitler’s Third Reich. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/not-an-accident-trump-s-unified-reich-video-alarms-historians-and-fascism-experts/ar-BB1mMZvo) The campaign took down the video, but trump showed us once again, for any of us paying attention, what he would do to this country, IF he is elected again. We must add this alongside the march of the torch-bearing neo-Nazis in Charlottesville in August 2017, where he said there were fine people “on both sides”; his telling his rally attendees to beat up anyone who dares stand up to him; his dining with such Jew-haters as Nick Fuentes and Kanye West; his hiring while in office of Steve Bannon, online conspiracy-monger and believer in racist conspiracy theories; trump saying, according to General John Kelly, that hitler “did some good things”; trump doing nothing while COVID-19 spread all over the country, saying “It is what it is (dictators think their citizens are expendable); and NEVER forget about how trump urged his followers to rampage through the Capitol, to try to destroy the peaceful, democratic transfer of power after losing the 2020 election. NEVER, Americans, forget all that. Just as hitler cozied up to the big industrialists, financiers, and other conservative elites of Germany for their support (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-big-business-bailed-out-nazis), trump is trying to get money out of the billionaire class to finance his campaign—and to pay for his legal bills. recently, trump held a dinner at Mar-A-Largo with fossil-fuel executives, telling them IF he is elected, he would give them everything they wanted—ending Biden Administration executive orders to protect the environment, eliminating prohibitions in offshore drilling, ending all of Biden’s green energy programs, and granting them more tax breaks—IF they collectively give him $1 billion. (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/09/trump-asks-oil-executives-campaign-finance-00157131) (https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-offers-oil-execs-110bn-in-savings-exchange-support-2024) Oil industry lobbyists are already drawing up proposals and strategies to implement these policies IF trump wins. The fossil fuel moguls may act liked they’re shocked—shocked, I tell you!—but they have no more use for democracy, or for the lower classes (that’s us), than the industrial moguls who thought hitler was a good investment in order to beat down communists, Social Democrats, and unions, and then after the Second world War acted so innocent about what the regime did. Industrial and commercial corporations are authoritarian, hierarchical systems, spanning throughout the globe, and so what chance has a poor individual working person have against such a vast bureaucracy? (Yes, that’s what they are, bureaucracies, raking in TRILLIONS of dollars, and none of this Ayn Rand “rugged individualist” bullshit!) It’s only through organizing from the grassroots, in our worksites and neighborhoods, we have ANY chance of standing up to these Wall-Street gangsters, and their congressional concubines, and their pet media, and their deluded thugs. Remember November 5 is just a few months away, and we must take our stand and get out and VOTE like our lives, and our country, and our democracy, depend on it, because it does. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chi! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, May 6, 2024

I speak about how Kristi Noem's dog killing isn't popular, and of the cruelty and violence of the MAGA base.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, April 15, 2024

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak about how abortion is now a toxic issue for Republicans, and the need to commemorate Confederate Surrender Day.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason. April 8, 2024

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak about the upcoming solar eclipse, and the need for better scientific education. Transcript

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, March 26, 2024

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak about NBC's wrong decision to hire Ronna McDaniel, and of trump and his legal issues in New York State.

The Mason Missile, March 23, 2024

Greetings, Americans! Again, Social Security and Medicare are in the sights of Republicans, particularly their glorious leader, Donald whatshisface. On the CNBC program Squawk Box (after you get past the commercial), trump raised once more the idea of cutting “entitlements,” using the old excuse “bad management,” with a particular emphasis on Social Security and Medicare, and raising the old scare of “rising inflation.” (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-entitlements-cutting_n_65ef1763e4b0bd5228d4eadd) (https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/03/11/former-president-donald-trump-on-entitlements-theres-tremendous-numbers-of-things-you-can-do.html) Part of the Republican-conservative drive to eliminate Social Security and Medicare is to raise the retirement age for both, raising the scare of “the Social Security fund will soon be insolvent! It won’t have enough funds!” (If they’re trying to eliminate Social Security, why should they worry about its solvency or lack thereof?) The Republican Study Committee (RSC), a caucus of way-to-the-right republicans, put their proposal out, for the 2025 federal budget, to raise the retirement age of eligibility for Social Security and Medicare, along with cuts in SSI for the blind, aged, and disabled retirees. (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-03-21-republicans-want-to-raise-retirement-age/) (https://www.businessinsider.com/social-security-benefits-republicans-raise-age-retirement-cuts-2024-3) (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-budget-raise-age-retirement-social-security-medicare-rcna144341) Do they actually expect a lot of work out of elderly people, the blind, or physically challenged? But, knowing damn well this idea isn’t at all popular, they announce, in the most soothing tones, that they’re just making “adjustments” to the program, denying that they WILL NOT deny payments to the elderly or retirees. That’s the Republican propaganda tactic, to scoff and mock at any suggestion that they would eliminate these vital programs millions of Americans (like me) depend on to survive. Their real constituency are the billionaires and corporations who have their cushy positions and fortunes, and don’t have to worry about getting from oen paycheck to the next. How long have we heard this? I remember this talk since the 70s: pundits would warn, in an “as we all know” tone, that all of our financial foes stem from “excessive government spending” and “excessive regulation” of industries, and such programs as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps (now SNAP), Unemployment Compensation, etc., and made the scapegoat for such problems, and the mainstream, commercial, “left-liberal slanted” news media picks up on this line and broadcasts it ad nauseam. (Media conglomerates, remember, are also mega-corporations, and they also have a stake in preserving the economic system.) And so, low-income and working-class people are lectured about being “too lazy to find a job, just leaching off welfare,” and racial stereotypes are added in the mix. This line of “reasoning” is seldom ever questioned or examined; seldom are the questions asked, “IS federal government social spending all that “excessive? DOES federal regulation of industries REALLY damage the economy? ARE people of color the only ones feeding off the welfare trough?” NOW is the time to start asking these questions, and the current movement of workers organizing, along with the Bernie Sanders campaigns of 2016 and 2020 and the COVID pandemic, where workers had to either work at home to do their jobs, and “essential” workers like store workers and medical workers realized how essential they were in making the economy, at least the company, run; with our the workers, they’d be like generals without an army, just talking to themselves and can get nothing done. In my reading of history, primarily US Social History, Capitalists want workers dependent upon them for jobs, since workers’ only asset is their labor power; a vast population of unemployed workers, fighting amongst each other for the same few jobs, with no other source of income but the pittance the employer gives them, is their ideal. A form on social insurance, such as SNAP (I remember the program as Food Stamps, and I had them), or Unemployment Compensation, or Social Security (I get that also), gives workers a little breathing space, a little bit of independence, something to live on while looking for a job; it’s a form of independence from the capitalist employers, to show they’re not totally in control of their lives. The capitalist class needs this vast population of unemployed workers fighting amongst each other, to depress wages and make the workers dependent on them; and their political lackeys whine about low-income people becoming “dependent” on government funds to get by. Now, after COVID, these “non-essential” workers see how essential they are to the economy, and to the very life of the corporation they work for. SO, let us continue to support workers’ work in organizing themselves for their mutual protection and well-being. SO, Americans, let us organize and educate ourselves about the REAL issues, the REAL dangers facing us. The CEOs of the multi-billion-dollar corporations are as much a danger to us as are the goons, bullies, and fascists trump riles up in his rallies. And, of course, on election day, get out there and VOTE, like our nation and our democracy depend on it, because it does. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, March 18, 2024

I speak about the Jewish holiday Purim, and its theme of taking down tyrants.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, March 11, 2024

I honor the memory of my friend and union sister, Barbara Rahke (OBM), and I offer a commentary about the State Of The Union address.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, March 4, 2024

I speak today about the corruption of the Supreme Court, Mitch McConnell's legacy, and trump's judicial problems.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak today about the decision by the Alabama Supreme Court on frozen embryos, and the movement towards theocracy in this country.

The Mason Moment, February 25, 2024

Greetings, Americans! We have reached the end of African-American History Month, set aside to honor the history of African-descended people in our country-a history that has long been slandered and distorted, for the basest political purposes. Ever since the end of the Civil War, and the giving-up on Reconstruction in the former Confederacy (which led, albeit briefly, to the empowerment, economically and politically, of the former slaves), historians, learned men in some of the most respected universities, helped to propagate the myth of the “Lost Cause—” that the Confederacy was at war to defend their “states’ rights” (for what?) and that such Confederate military commanders as Lee, Jackson, and Jefferson Davis were valiant warrior chiefs, and that the slaves were perfectly happy in their slavery and loved ole massah, and that Reconstruction was a monument of corruption and rule by bestial, ignorant ex-slaves. Historians, and many other influencers of the post-Civil war era—a period of “free-market” capitalism at its worst, with politicians on company payrolls, wealth flouted in the people’s faces, and grinding poverty—went along with the “lost cause” idea, calling it “binding the nation’s wounds,” but the attitude was more like “we don’t want to deal with it anymore;” and the federal troops, once utilized to police the post-war South, were sent to fire upon workers striking against their terrible pay and working conditions. A great source for reading on Reconstruction is Eric Foner’s Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution; I highly recommend it. (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/reconstruction-updated-edition-eric-foner?variant=32116709523490) There have been in our history efforts to control how such events as the Civil War and Reconstruction are taught and presented to school kids. The United Daughters of the Confederacy, founded in 1894, led the way in altering the memory of that era, as memories were fading. They called for the construction of monuments in honor of Confederate leaders, and they demanded local school boards not purchase history books that were “unjust” to the South. (https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/10/25/16545362/southern-socialites-civil-war-history) Monuments, statues, and school textbooks are prime propaganda tools; they tell the kids, the future leaders, who their heroes were, what to believe was just, and whom to emulate. the classroom is just one more medium of acceptable propaganda. The film The Birth Of A Nation (1915), considered at one level to be a cinematic masterpiece, was also part of the “lost cause” movement, portraying Klansmen as valiant defenders of white women, protecting them from bestial freedmen; this film was one of the prime motivators of the founding of the 20th century Ku Klux Klan. (https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/the-connection-between-the-united-daughters-of-the-confederacy-and-the-kkk/) This idea was helped along with the help of academia at the time; in the late-19th-early-20th centuries, two “scholars” based in Columbia University—William A Dunning and John W. Burgess—developed what became known as the Dunning-Burgess school of the history of Reconstruction, which stated that the South under Black governance was a disaster to the South (the WHITE South), and that the former slaves were to childlike and emotional to govern, and the end of reconstruction was to them a blessing, the passing of a “disastrous” era. (https://slaveryexhibits.ctl.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/williamdunning/columbia-and-johnburgess) This shows that popular beliefs and prejudices could influence scholarship, and “learned” professors could be influenced by racism. Slowly but surely, the Dunning-Burgess theory has been challenged, and leading this challenge was the scholar WEB Du Bois, with his history Black Reconstruction (http://www.webdubois.org/wdb-BlackReconst.html) (https://libcom.org/article/black-reconstruction-america-web-du-bois) ; Du Bois contends that rather than being a total disaster, reconstruction was a positive movement for the freedmen AND poor whites; who if combined would be able to challenge the dominant economic powers of that era—southern planters and northern capitalists. In short, race did NOT have to be the great dividing line in this country; white and black workers and low-income people COULD unite to defend against the financial powers that still seek to pit us against each other, so they can remain in power; I still hold out hope that such unity is attainable. Now, for example in Florida, the teaching of African-American History is a political battleground, with their genius governor declaring “war on woke” and policing the teaching of Black History, and resisting the horrible, terrible, very bad, no-good thing that is (gasp!) CRITICAL RACE THEORY! (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-proudly-teaches-african-american-history-official-says-he-defends-2023-01-21/) Governor Deshithead also has the audacity to declare that slaves, during their enslavement, acquired skills that they could utilize for their benefit. This movement by the state, under the so-called “Stop WOKE S Act,” bill also tries to deemphasize white privilege, and tries to prevent white people, particularly school kids, from “guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” over what their ancestors did. Remember, these are the same damn people who have no trouble terrorizing transgender or gay kids, or allowing racism to run amuck in this country, and who mock concerned people as “snowflakes,” and NOW they don’t want to hurt white people’s feelings. (https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/20/florida-black-history-teaching-standards-00107067) (Do I HAVE to mention it again? Critical Race Theory is really—pay attention now—the theory of how racism has permeated every aspect of American life, like the judiciary, the financial-corporate sector, government, law enforcement, AND education and academia. I’ll keep repeating this for as long as I have to.) (As for “woke,’ it has a long tradition in African-American culture; “woke” meant to pay attention to what’s going on around you, especially dealing with white authority figures; then it moved on to mean having consciousness about social and economic issues. Marcus Garvey, founders of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), once proclaimed, “Wake up, Ethiopia! Wake up, Africa!” Later, during the case of the Scottsboro Boys, Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter , wrote a protest song on the case, which was of nine young Black men accused of raping two white women in 1931. Ledbetter, at the end of the song, warned, “So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there (Alabama)—best stay woke, keep your eyes open.” (https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy) THESE are the gatekeepers of our education—racial and religious haters who refuse to accept people not like them as full-fledged citizens and human beings. But it’s not at all hopeless; the Republicans, being infested with the trump-MAGA virus, and home for the haters, have been soundly defeated in last year’s elections, particularly in school boards, which were formerly dominated by anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ+ haters. So let’s go to the polls, whenever and wherever they take place, and do some serious voting—and yes stay WOKE! For my part, I’ll be as woke as a cup of coffee with an espresso shot. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, February 19, 2024

I speak today for Medicare for All, and to comment on the murder of Alexei Navalny.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, February 12, 2024

I speak about the Republicans playing political games with the needs of the American people.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, February 6, 2024

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, January 29, 2024

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak today about the republican politicizing about the border, and with the E. Jean Carrol verdict and the “quality” of trump’s legal team.

The Mason Missile, January 24, 2024

Greetings, Americans! Once again we have celebrated the life and legacy of the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I believe people are paying attention to that part of King the commercial media doesn’t let out, that of the King who challenged authority and social orders, who recognized the interconnectedness of racial and economic problems, and the injustice of the Viet Nam War. If King was just some harmless nonviolent peacenik, the FBI wouldn’t have the whole smear campaign against him. That’s how social change works; we’re going to anger some powerful people in government and finance (about the same thing). As the movement to correct a social injustice proceeds, those in power, who benefit in some way from said injustice, wit for their time to roll back the gains the movement has done; then comes the backlash (the popular media plays a role in this), and some pundit proclaims, “Isn’t the movement going a little too far?” It happened with the Civil Rights movement, in the latter 1960s, when more radical African-American activists said there were still injustices to addresses, there were uprisings in cities, and King was held to blames for them. All of the injustices of race and class emerged from the shadows, and there is media generated sentiment against the movement, with a note of nostalgia, the dream of returning to some unspecified “good ol’ days,” when certain demographics of people “knew their place” and didn’t make any noise about it. That’s what trump means when he says “Make America great again,” like it stopped being great for some reason. In the 1970s, it was like that with the feminist and LGBTQ-rights movements; the leaders of those movements were veterans of the Civil-Rights and anti-Viet Nam-war movements, and they learned their organizing skills in those causes, and applied them to fighting for the rights of their own groups. Then came the backlash: well-subsidized organizations campaigned against the Equal Rights Amendment (let’s try it again), raising the fear of women press-ganged into the workforce and genderless restrooms; and campaigns rose against LGBRQ+ rights, saying the gays are trying to attain “special privileges” and were out to “recruit our children.” (For them it’s all or nothing; any advancement in Civil Rights for any group is called giving them some sort of privileged treatment, as if the dominant group has become some oppressed minority, or else makes it their right to terrorize their “inferiors.”) The forces opposing changes in society have the advantage of “tradition,” which could, to them, mean “It’s always been like this, and we can’t handle change!”; such changes make them uncomfortable; hence, a crew of media figures (I hesitate to call them “journalists”) and politicians arise to take advantage of such sentiment and anxieties. The commercial media, having the habit of “What’s the latest fad we can talk about?” thinking, and being mainly from the once-dominant classes and races, pick up on this, and they treat this as something here to stay, forever.” That line has been said all through the nation’s social history, coming from every news outlet, that the current situation is how it is for all time. Not so! By banding together, by joining forces with each other, in our neighborhoods and worksites, we can affect change, and move the nation forward to something better. It was an established “fact” earlier in our history that slavery of other human beings, for the benefit of a useless, parasitic class of European-nobility wannabees that pretends to be dukes and duchesses (and getting deeper in debt to keep up appearances) would last forever; that the second-class citizenship of people of color, and the accompanying oppressions and humiliations, were permanently fixed; and that an oligarchic class of multi-billionaires is destined to rule the world, thanks to tax-breaks from their pet congress-members. In short, we fought them before, we beat them before, and, if we band together for our rights, learn together, work together, and VOTE (hint, hint) we’ll continue to beat them. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, January 22, 2024

Today I speak about the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and the need to vote to protect reproductive rights.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason

I speak about the need to remember the REAL history of January 6, 2021, the need to pay attention to the political process, and the need to vote.