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