The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, July 21, 2025

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak about the gutlessness of institutions caving in to trump, and how it backfires against them.

The Mason Missile, July 14, 2025

Greetings, Americans! They done did it! The Republicans in the House had enough votes (barely) to pass trump’s Big, Butt-Ugly, Bitch of a Budget Bill. In this bill are proposed cuts in Medicaid; that’s been the target that we’re been focusing on. We have to: Medicaid is a lifeline for rural hospitals (some of which have already closed down), people with disabilities both physical and mental, elderly people, the list goes on. But don’t worry, they’ll be coming after Medicare, Social Security, and veterans’ benefits, among other things. What is their phobia against such programs about? For Medicaid, there are work requirements, that you have to work X number of hours a month to qualify. How much work can you get from an Alzheimer’s patient, or a person in a wheelchair, or a mentally-challenged person? That’s has been conservatives’ favorite whine, “People on welfare are lazy, we must bully them to get back to work!” Work where? Many regions of the country are economically depressed, with factories moving to low-wage countries with repressive, union-bashing governments. You have to wonder about trump’s disciples; they range from low-income to stone-poor, and yet they keep voting for this guy who’s ruining the economy, thus losing them jobs at good wages. Why? It’s the oldest story of American politics: white voters voting according to their hates and bigotries, for someone who doesn’t give jack-shit about them, but he’ll the (name your racial slur) in their place. It’s a long haul to get through to them, to deprogram them out of their racism and xenophobia. (I use the word “deprogram” deliberately; it’s a word used to describe helping a person in a cult UN-learn whatever nonsense the cult leader taught them. trump’s movement has long been described as a cult, with the followers believing what the Dear Leader spews.) “Own the libs” has been an ongoing theme among the MAGAs; they are perfectly happy to forego Social Security, education, health care, etc. so they can insult and humiliate minorities and activists who advocate these programs. They’re like school bullies, who want to humiliate the “weaker” kids rather than deal with them as fellow human beings. These are not serious people, you can’t engage in serious discussion with them. Plus, like the bully, they’re not averse to using physical force to beat down their victims. (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/kyle-rittenhouse-trump-own-the-libs-kill-the-libs.html) Just as the bully tries to dominate the “weak, nerdy” kids, so conservatives work to attain and retain dominance over the less empowered elements in society, like minorities, workers, LGBTQ people—and immigrants, with or without documents, trying to attain some portion of the “American dream.” I love it when I see, in my social media, people in neighborhoods standing up to ICE, as they nab innocent people, just going about their jobs and lives, and detain them for no good reason, other than to fulfill Stephen Miller’s quota of 3,000 people a day. There are cases of immigrants going to the federal courthouse to clarify their status and plead their case, as they have every right to—and ICE agents kidnap them right in the hallway. (I use “kidnap” on purpose too.) Tom Homan, trump’s “border czar” (whatever that means), was interviewed by a Fox News “reporter;” Homan said that ICE agents did not need “probable cause” to arrest someone; they could just detain them due to “physical appearance.” This is otherwise known as “racial profiling,” which gives law-enforcement agencies carte blanche to go up to any person of color and arrest them, for any excuse they can think of, and the racism prevalent in US society plays a factor. (https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/top-trump-aide-sets-quota-of-3-000-undocumented-migrant-arrests-per-day-240743493828) (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ices-tactics-draw-criticism-it-triples-daily-arrest-targets-2025-06-10/) (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ice-arrests-migrants-courthouses-opens-door-fast-track-deportations-2025-05-23/) (https://www.alternet.org/trump-homan-ice/) (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tom-homan-trump-border-czar-claims-ice-can-detain-based-on-looks_n_68715e1de4b00de383c1028a) I’m not going to be polite about it; trump, and all his lackeys and disciples, display the WORST elements in American society—the racism, the religious quackery, and the willful ignorance—and trump et al. have permitted it and called it acceptable, organized it, and monetized it. Never mind it causes ruptures between people, never mind it prevents any meaningful change in our communities, never mind it leaves all workers, of all races, still down at the bottom; they are a voting block that the Republicans have relied on for decades, and trump is its current manifestation. SO, let us manifest the POSITIVE elements of our country, like our LONG history of struggle for rights and dignity. By banding together, we WILL defeat trump, and set it back on a positive course. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael chai! fuck trump! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, July 14, 2025

I speak about the Jeffery Epstein case and its effect on trump's followers.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, July 7, 2025

I speak about UPenn and CBS capitulating to trump over DEI.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, June 16, 2025

I speak on social and political issues, calling them as I see them. I speak today about the No Kings marches throughout the nation, and of trump's disaster of a parade.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason

I speak about the demostrations in LA against ICE and trump's repressions.

The Mason Missile, May 28, 2025

Greetings, Americans! On Thursday, May 1, I served as a marshal for Philadelphia’s May Day rally and parade, and it was enormous—Bernie Sanders was the featured speaker. It was a great sign for each other: that we band together for our rights and a message to trump and his minions of our resistance—IF they’re paying attention. (https://6abc.com/post/bernie-sanders-may-day-rally-center-city-philadelphia-road-closures-due-demonstration/16296325/) It’s also great that May Day is losing its stigma as a “commie holiday,” and that May Day has its origins in the Labor struggles HERE in the United States. I urge you to study the REAL background of May Day, including the books I always recommend, Labor’s Untold Story, published by the UE. (https://www.ueunion.org/labors-untold-story) (https://www.britannica.com/topic/May-Day-international-observance) We must continue to organize, at our worksites, in our neighborhoods, locally, and nationally; that is how we fight the fascist regime of the tangerine tumor. We certainly have to band together to show our power—to our oppressors AND to each other, to show that we as individuals are not alone in this fight, that we can join others in the fight. trump has displayed his megalomania by his idea to annex Panama, Canada, and Greenland; in issuing his executive orders without regard to their legality or constitutionality; in unilaterally raising and lowering tariffs on imported goods on his whim; in, after ending traffic congestion fees in Manhattan, declared, in a mock Time magazine cover, “Long Live The King!” (https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1892295984928993698) (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-long-live-the-king-twitter-b2701329.html) ; in stating, in an interview for the Atlantic, “I run the country and the world” (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/06/trump-second-term-comeback/682573/) ; and in demanding a huge military parade for his birthday, down Pennsylvania Avenue, complete with tanks, aircraft, a parachute team, and reenactors wearing Army uniforms over the centuries. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-military-parade-things-to-know_n_682f0374e4b05418243c6839) (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/army-reenactors-flyovers-what-to-expect-at-president-trumps-military-parade-in-dc/3918515/) (I’m just scratching the surface.) The latter, the great big military parade, is merely a reflection of trump’s sense of inferiority: he has seen vast military parades in Russia and North Korea, as well as the Bastille Day parade in Paris in July. He seeks to compensate for his insecurity by trying to be one of those dictators he admires, like Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Xi Jinping. The date of the parade, June 14, will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States Army; in June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for the recruiting of “six companies of expert riflemen,” to “be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia,” to support the rebel forces in Boston “to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army.” One day later, the Continental Congress voted unanimously to appoint Virginia Delegate George Washington as the army’s Commander in Chief. ( https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/june-14/u-s-army-founded-1775) Plus recently, trump gave what was to be considered the commencement address at the US Military Academy, West Point, New York; instead of an inspiring speech about the US military’s role in the world, and their role in the military, trump, wearing a red MAGA cap during an apolitical event, feeds the graduating cadets a word salad about a real estate mogul he knows and his trophy wife, about how he rebuilt the military” and “saved it from men in women’s sports” and diversity programs, about how he was investigated more times than the legendary Chicago gangster Al Capone; and he didn’t following the tradition of Presidents shaking hands with the graduates. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-branded-as-disgraceful-after-breaking-tradition-at-west-point-graduation/ar-AA1FwwdS) (https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tells-west-point-grads-184041969.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall) (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/24/donald-trump-west-point-speech-00368997) (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-address-west-point-graduates-dei-crackdown/story?id=122116685) Alas how our valiant men and women in our armed forces have to become a chorus line and Broadway show for this disgusting orange blob that looks down on them as “suckers” and losers.” I remember that story from the Atlantic very well. That is how military people, and the working and low-income classes they come from, look like to trump. (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/) BUT—We the people, as long as we are organized and unified, and as long as we inspire each other and ourselves, will bring down this malignant tumor on two legs, along with his cadre of haters formulating the regime’s policies, and score a great defeat over fascism, just as our ancestors did in 1945. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael chai! Fuck Trump! America will be free! Bye!