The Mason Missile, June 26, 2023

Greetings, Americans! We celebrated Juneteenth, the new federal holiday, commemorating the day, June 19, 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger, who established his headquarters in Galveston, Texas, announced to the enslaved people there that they were free, under Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. News of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Lincoln on January 1, 1863, did not reach the enslaved people of Texas until then. That’s an old story; if you have any rights or liberties; people in power make damn sure you don’t hear about them. (https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth) This is why so many proto-fascists, like the ones congregated inside the Republican Party, are trying to prevent people, especially school kids, from learning the real story about our nation’s history; they prefer a sanitized, propagandistic version, like something you would see in a commercial for an insurance company. Do they really think they can hide, forever, the history of race and racism in this country, along with the existence of LGBTQ+ people, or the history to the Labor movement in this country? Do they think that by not talking about, or reading about, these issues, and using the force to the state to do it, will make these problems go away? Do they even know these issues, or people affected by these issues, exist in real life? Is willful ignorance, enforced by police, the only weapon they have? Sure looks like it. All this is coming to Philadelphia: the “Moms For Liberty,” one of the many Astroturf organizations, concocted by right-wing billionaires to keep the people at war with each other, will hold its “Joyful Warriors National Summit,” June 29-July 2, at the Marriot Hotel on Market Street in Philadelphia. Among the featured speakers will be Republican presidential candidates like Donald—you know, that guy—Ron Desantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy. (https://www.momsforliberty.org/summit23-speakers/) (https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/social-justice-groups-call-for-marriott-to-cancel-alleged-extremist-group-moms-for-liberty-summit-in-downtown-philly/3582020/) One of the speakers in particular that caught my attention is James Lindsay, author of the book Race Marxism: The Truth Behind Critical Race Theory And Practice. Yes, it’s about the right-wing’s favorite big scary thing they scare their kids with at bedtime. (https://jacobin.com/2022/03/james-lindsay-race-marxism-book-review-crt-liberalism) This reminds me of the Nazis of Germany, before they attained power; they campaigned against what they called “cultural Bolshevism,” a shorthand way of attacking what they called the evil influence of Jews (MY peeps!) on the arts. Do these right-wing-dings even have any idea what this horrific thing called CRT for short? Have they read ANY damn thing by the scholars on this subject—which, as I’ve said for the millionth time, is taught to law schools, and not, NOT, in Kindergarten. I myself have risen to this challenge, and have purchased the book Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed The Movement, published by the New Press. (https://thenewpress.com/books/critical-race-theory) I’m going to read the essays of the great scholars of CRT, such as Kimberlé Crenshaw, Cornel West, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas; will the maniacs who howl about it do the same? Doubt it. (By the way, I purchased this book through my favorite local bookstore, A Novel Idea On Passyunk (https://anovelideaphilly.com/); I urge you to support locally-based businesses, particularly bookstores.) Trump and Desantis continue to draw to their events all manner of neo-fascists, anti-Semetic and white-nationalist goons and thugs, and don’t doubt for a minute they’ll crawl out of the woodwork and spread their terror in Philadelphia. We must come together to stand up to these pricks, non-violently of course, and let them know they WILL NOT intimidate us. In the Second World War, our ancestors crossed an ocean and landed in foreign nations, fighting and dying to defeat fascist oppression; we mustn’t fail to do so this time, it would be an insult to their memory and sacrifice. All we have to do is go downtown to resist them. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason

I speak about the indictments of Donald t—p, and of the need to hold our officials accountable.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, June 5, 2023

I speak about Philadelphia's Pride Festival and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, the problem with the debt ceiling deal, the scapegoating of low-income and working people in budget negotiations, and the fallacy of "trickle down" economics.

The Mason Missile, May 28, 2023

Greetings, Americans! This past primary election in Pennsylvania, on May 16, I took part in my division’s election board, and I helped people work the new computerized voting machines. People have lost their lives so that WE can have this precious weapon of working people, so affect positive change in our communities and our lives. Whatever you do, please don’t give up this right, and don’t let anyone take it from us. The Republican-led House of Representatives is hell-bent on ending the programs so many American depend on to survive—Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits— which, full disclosure, I also depend upon. The republicans, led by “Speaker” Kevin McCarthy (at the sufferance of the MAGA maniacs he depends on to say in how position), insist on “work requirements” for recipients, such as 20-or so hours of side work. How much work can you get out of a 70- year old veteran, who has mental trauma and some physical injuries; or a construction and building-trades retiree, whose body is worn out from physical demanding labor for 30-some years; or someone in a wheelchair due to a disability, or a single mother needing help with her kids? That’s the capitalists’ dream—flood the job market with millions of unemployed workers, to prevent employed workers from going out on strike for higher wages (well-deserved) and the unemployed workers are a pool of scab labor; plus the workers would be at war with themselves over attaining the jobs that are in short supply, in a playbook resembling The Hunger Games. The Republicans aren’t aware that if they have their way with this, people will lose their homes, their food supplies, and their health; or maybe they ARE aware and don’t care. If Biden DOESN’T go with their evil scheme, and the federal government defaults on its debts, the economy of the nation, and the world, will collapse; the Stock Market will crash, millions will be unemployed, for starters. But again, the GOPricks running the House doesn’t think about that, it’s just “destroy Biden and get Trump back in!” And THIS is supposedly the party of fiscal responsibility! The news is in—Biden and McCarthy have reached a tentative deal on spending, which raises the debt ceiling for two years, and has some work requirements, though it would not be as bad as the Republicans demanded. However, it still would not be enough for the MAGA caucus in the House, whose permission McCarthy needs to stay as Speaker, probably still would welcome a default and the economic catastrophe that would occur. (https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/27/politics/debt-limit-negotiations-latest/index.html?utm_term=1685278240157d92a43bbe9cf&utm_source=cnn_Five+Things+for+Sunday%2C+May+28%2C+2023&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=Dn5hHjlduTwichDHbdPqsNkn15m8EwUPDhQjxycCp5w3wdiCG770mvCaLexMLJD7&bt_ts=1685278240160) (https://www.alternet.org/crazy-cuckoo-maga-people/?utm_source=123456&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=14523) And in this discussion—or threatening if you will—of a federal default, we have to overcome the “two sides are equally bad” idea, like it’s a squabble between two kids in the playground. The long-term goal of the right, in all its forms, is to undo the advancements that have occurred in the past few decades that uplifted working, low-income, and marginalized people, since FDR. We—Labor, Civil rights, LGBTQ, Feminists, and other activists—are the decedents of those who have campaigned and fought for these things we enjoy, sometimes at the cost of their lives. SO, we’ll pick up where they left off. We’ll continue the fight for equality and justice that our ancestors fought for, and we’ll move them further. to do that requires we educate ourselves about the reality of our history and our present, organize our communities and worksites, and get out to vote whenever there is an election. We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, May 8, 2023

I speak about the mall shooting in Allen, Texas, and the refusal of politicians to do anything about it, beyond the “thoughts and prayers” stuff.

The Mason Moment with John Oliver Mason, May 1, 2023

I speak about the real story behind May Day, aka International Workers Day, and of the need to support all workers' organizing efforts.

The Mason Missile, April 24, 2023

Greetings, Americans! As I keep repeating, and I’ll keep on repeating, May 16 is Primary Election Day in Pennsylvania, and wherever you are, please get out there and vote. There are many powerful forces out there, using abusive laws and physical violence, which have for a long time, and continue to, try to steal from us this most powerful tool of democracy. So many conservative forces, mainly located around the Republican Party—and the Democratic Party has had its sellouts (I’m looking at YOU, Kyrsten Sinema!)—have given up the idea of using the democratic process to persuade voters as to why voters should vote for them, and have used such tricks as gerrymandering of legislative districts, voter ID laws, and laws for placement of drop-off boxes, to try to discourage voters from voting. It’s important to vote and be conscious about the situation in your community—that is WOKE, and it’s not a dirty word, it’s a necessity in the world—after the Republican-dominated Tennessee House of Representatives held votes to remove three Democratic members—Justin Jones, Justin Pierson, and Gloria Johnson—for their support of students in the chamber protesting the legislature’s willful inaction following the shooting and deaths at the Covenant Christian school in Nashville, where three children and three adults were killed. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/school-shooting-tennessee-leaves-multiple-injured-shooter-dead-officia-rcna76841) And as always, there was the usual “thoughts and prayers” business, where anything, except the availability of military-grade assault rifles on the civilian market, is the cause of the deaths. But these young people in Nashville weren’t having it; they showed greater maturity than the “adults” in the legislature, by walking out and demonstrating in the chamber galleries and hallway. (https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/04/kids-are-still-in-body-bags-students-protest-tennessee-house-gop-for-refusing-to-address-gun-violence-after-nashville/) The three members of the House—Jones, Pierson, and Johnson—showed support for the young people; but the republicans ruling the House voted to expel Jones and Pierson, and Johnson escaped expulsion by one vote. (Jones and Pierson are young African-American men, and Johnson is a white woman—don’t tell ME racism had nothing to do about it!) Here’s a fact we must remember; one of the Republican members of the Tennessee House who voted to expel Jones and Pierson, Scotty Campbell, resigned after it was revealed that he sexually harassed a teenaged female intern. (https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/us/tennessee-house-rep-scotty-campbell-resigns/index.html) Campbell used the excuse that Jones and Pierson violated the “Decorum” of the House by participating in the demonstration, while Campbell violated the House’s rules on discrimination and harassment. Again, the vote against Jones and Pierson had nothing to do with “decorum” or maintaining order in the chamber, it was about repressing any discussion about firearms running rampant throughout the country. What is it with the Republicans in state legislators and Congress? Are they so isolated in their doctrinal bubble that they’re ignorant of what the people they’re purported to represent really think, about guns, LGBTQ issues, racial issues on our history, for example? Are they so damned secure in their gerrymandered seats that they could count on the suckers and rubes they see voters as to keep voting for them? So corrupted by donations from the oil lobby and the NRA? So ignorant that they believe the raving maniacs at school board meetings, transported to those meetings by “Astroturf” groups paid for by corporate cash, are the REAL America? The battle of the Federal Budget goes on. Economic experts predict severe economic disaster if the federal budget is not approved by summer—the Stock Market falling, unemployment rampant. Congress could agree to raise the debt ceiling, but the Republican-dominated House, under the “Speakership” of Kevin McCarthy, is demanding changes in Medicaid, which is aimed towards older American (like myself, full disclosure), such as greater work requirements. ( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medicaid-work-requirement_n_6442e175e4b04997b5717a38) They also are aiming at the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the forerunner to Food Stamps, which helped me a lot too). McCarthy’s plan would be to require recipients of Medicaid—seniors, retirees, people with physical problems—to work 20 hours a week for their benefits; Matt Gaetz, the hair-boy from Florida, is demanding it be 30 hours a week. Again, poor, working-class, and low-income people are the punching bags in discussions about the Budget, and they get lectured about their spending habits and work ethic. But they don’t dare go after the tax cuts that they have accumulated over the years, such as the ones under t----p; and I’m sorry to say, the news media needs to pay more attention to that too. But low-income and working-class people don’t have thousand-dollar an hour lobbyists schmoozing Congress-members, treating them to dinner, taking them to high-end resorts and brothels, it’s the trillion-dollar corporate entities hiring the lobbyists. As for the “work requirements” that seniors and the infirm have to do under McCarthy’s plan—it’s not about instilling a “work ethic” on “those lazy welfare leeches,” as the right-wing pundits would put it—the oil industry, plus savings and loan companies, and mortgage companies, have long been bailed out by taxpayer dollars, thus being the HUGHEST welfare queens; it’s about re-creating a pool of impoverished people who would bring down the wages of people who still have jobs (for now) and preventing them from going out on strike for better wages, since, the capitalists believe, they could grab any dude off the street and they would take whatever the company decides to throw at them. Plus, the social safety net offers a bit of independence and breathing space while the unemployed look for jobs. The conservative propaganda machine bleats about “ending people’s dependence on welfare,” while making working and low-income people dependent on the same billionaire class that traditionally controlled our government, in all its entities, and the media, including in some cases (I’m sorry to say) academia, which million–dollar donations to universities. This is where WE, the working people and ow-income people of America, come in. we must band together to educate ourselves on these issues, and realize the dark-skinned people down the road aren’t our enemies; neither are the same-sex couples, the drag queens reading to kids in the library. Division between us is their main weapon against us, having us freaked out about things other than the corporate classes grip on our government and our nation. We must organize, in the neighborhoods and the worksites, to advance our rights and our well-being. We’ve done it in the past, and we’ll do it again, in the present and on into the future. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! America will be free! Bye!