The Mason Missile, April 22, 2025

Greetings, Americans! We have had a wonderful series of demonstrations throughout the nation, protesting the despotic-wannabe acts of Donald whatshisface. There were the April 5 “Hands Off!” demonstrations, meaning “hands off” Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans benefits, and other things low-income and working people need. All this is done, though trump’s buddy E-load, uh, Elon Musk, to cover for the tax breaks for billionaires, who can well afford to pay their fair share of taxes, relevant to their income, and they certainly won’t go around starving to death—unlike disabled veterans and retirees, who are just scraping by as it is. Another series of demonstrations are the “No Kings!” rallies throughout the country, on April 19, to protest trump’s attempts as dictatorship. I have no doubt April 19 was selected deliberately, since that would be 250th anniversary of the start of the American War of Independence (not Independence Day itself), when, on April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode through the countryside after receiving the signal at the Old North Church in Boston that the British forces would attack the local villages and seize the colonists’ leaders, muskets and powder, local militia and a unit called the Minute Men assembled to fight the British force, with “the shot heard ‘round the world,” on April 19. (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/lexington-and-concord) (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/paul-revere?ms=googlepaid) (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45870/concord-hymn) On April 9, 1865, 160 years ago this month, General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate States of America, surrendered his forces to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, officially ending the American Civil War, and ending a regime dedicated solely to maintaining the enslavement of African-descended people, so that a wealthy planter aristocracy can live in luxury and pretend it was European nobility. (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-9/robert-e-lee-surrenders) That is a suitable fact, which I believe is relevant, since the disciples of trump are trying to reestablish something like the Confederacy in this era, to repress the advancement of workers, women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. This drive from the trump gang—I won’t dignify it with the title “administration”—stems from the drive of a madman (like certain others in history) to destroy any checks on the President’s powers, who has grandiose visions of conquest (Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal), who seeks to emulate such despots as Putin, Xi, and Orban—and hitting the streets to stand up to him and his brood of vipers. There has been a danger of certain elements of our “civil society,” that non-governmental sector of institutions that are to put a check to state power, would submit to trump’s demands (such as removing all programs that look to him like the dreaded DEI-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) from their texts and libraries. Harvard University has grown a spine and stood up to the regime’s demand that it monitor the student body and the courses the university teaches. The regime says it’s trying to weed out anything “anti-American,” however THEY interpret those terms. Bravo, Harvard! (https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2025/the-promise-of-american-higher-education/) (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/harvard-stand-against-trump-rcna201322) Now, the “Big 10” universities have banded together to form a “mutual defense compact” to fight off any attacks from the regime, including Penn State and Rutgers. (I hope Temple gets in on this.) This shows that banding together in solidarity is how you fight fascism. (https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/campus/2025/04/18/big-ten-mutual-defense-compact-michigan-state-university-trump-administration/83158081007/) (https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5255943-big-10-universities-trump-rutgers-nebraska-michigan-state/) (https://senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Resolution-to-Establish-a-Mutual-Defense-Compact-for-the-Universities-of-the-Big-Ten-Academic-Alliance-in-Defense-of-Academic-Freedom-Institutional-Integrity-and-the-Research.pdf) I’m always trying to get the news out about any activity standing up to trump and all he stands for, such as soaking working people and other low-income people of their money and labor, enriching the already obesely rich, perpetuating hatred against formerly disempowered people, and raising hatred against dark-skinned people. I’m trying to show that we’re not alone, other like-minded people are banding together and standing up to this regime. I urge you to take part in this work, in your home area, and make our voices heard. We CAN do it, Americans. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! Fuck trump AND musk! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment, April 7, 2025

I speak about the Hands Off! rallies throughout the country on Saturday.