Hello, hello, hello, John Mason. How is everybody? I bid everyone a happy and prosperous new year of 2023. The Lord knows what you can do with it. We have uh here in the my region of the country, we we have been through the most hellacious uh snowstorm you can imagine. And there was a danger of the power grid being cut off. I from I understand it was uh cut off. It went down in southern New Jersey. But uh but uh we've we starting to recover, we've recovered from it. Hopefully you if if you have been affected uh by the snowstorm, I hope you're recovering very well. And what a year we had, what a year. This the pundits and political journalists were predicting a humongous red tsunami. Not read in the traditional sense, but read as in the Republican sense, that the Republicans were gonna take over uh thirty house seats and uh a good number of Senate seats. Didn't happen. The people realized the stakes that that were that were in play about what would happen if the Republicans, still contaminated by the Trump virus, re retook power. One candidate one uh issue is abortion rights. Talk about laying the can out of the bag at the time when Associate Justice Samuel Alito uh announced that they were planning to uh that the Supreme Court was out was planning to repeal repeal Roe v. Wade. I was there when Alito's announcement came out, I was one of those in the streets in the streets, well, rallying in front of City Hall in Philadelphia for abortion rights. And and if Clarence Thomas can be believed, I wouldn't put it past any of them, the uh other decisions were not safe. Were not safe. The kind of decisions that benefit uh the people rather than corporations, such such as the Obergefell uh decision that uh that allowed for a same-sex marriage. And and uh the civil rights legis decisions like uh Brown versus Board of Education and Loving versus Virginia, which allowed interracial marriages. It is fortunate that uh the that uh some Republicans are willing to bend, and and the House and Senate and the President signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act. The Respect for Marriage Act allows for same-sex marriages, and if you're in a same-sex marriage and you're married in a state that well, you're married in a state that allows same-sex marriage, but you're moving to another state that does not uh have same-sex marriage, your marriage is still valid in that state. And also uh protects the right of for uh interracial marriages. So why all these uh prognostications uh uh by the by the political media? I believe that well my example is uh to gin chin up uh controversy, which gin which raises uh ratings and purchases of the paper and and ad time uh on the on the TV shows. I w I wish to God that the news would not be some commodity like a fast food at McDonald's. The news is is what is important to uh the people so they can make informed decisions. It is not a commodity to put on the market. And the fat I and the fattishness of the news media, it is what really gets me. Like when there were when the news media was getting tired of uh hearing about civil rights, all of a sudden uh they all have some fun with the rise of feminism and and the rise of LGBTQ rights. I took uh gin up ratings. And and uh in spite of what the right wing said wings about the liberal leftist slanted news media traditionally traditionally the uh commercial news media has aired on the side of corporations and established power and socially acceptable ideas that that dissidents challenge. And if you stray from that norm, that that uh that line, uh you are subject to ridicule. So so the conservative right spectrum of politics is pretty much indulged. This goes back to uh dealing with the domestic terrorism on the right, such as such recent incidents as the destruction of power lines in North Carolina as a way of attacking a drag show in a local theater, and the sabotage of the uh of the power grid in Washington state, and all and the terrorizing of uh libraries and bookstores that and schools that have LGBTQ content or hosting uh uh drag queen story times. They're so terrified of drag queens. I mean, nothing that they act with such blatant impunity, these terrorists, and nothing happens to them. They get away with it. So extremism on the neo-Nazi or uh or right wing fringe of the spectrum is treated with a lot of leniency. I say we can't have that. People on the left, I work with I'm very much a man of the left, and I work with uh leftist groups and labor groups and community organizations, and organizations advancing uh African American rights and women's rights and gay rights, what have you. They're uh they're playing uh they're playing by the rules, more or less. And whenever and if ever they feel like they break the law, they follow the tradition of civil disobedience, very peaceably disrupting the plans of the established powers, and very patiently accepting arrest and imprisonment. And we're supposed to just turn the other cheek, no way. It's high time we get off the mat and not be knocked down ever again. We have to stand up, we're gonna stand up for ourselves in this new year and every other year. In this new year, let us resolve to be prepared to stand up for our rights. If someone makes a anti-Semitic or a racist wise crack, let them know, hey, that's wrong. That's way off. Because uh racist and anti-Semitic uh rhetoric eventually leads to racist and anti-Semitic violence. Okay, that's it for now. No advertisements. Hemporific is a lovely little CBD product store located in on Snyder Avenue near 15th Street in South Philadelphia. There you'll find some of the finest cannabis-infused products flour and gummies and tea and drinks and lip balm and hand sanitizer and dog treats. Yep, dog treats. Look them up, please. Hemporific llc.com. And also my beloved career and business coach Michelle Snow. Michelle is excellent in helping you develop your professional career or a small business. Let you know what you're doing right, where you need work, and help you network with other up-and-coming business people and professionals. Look her up, please. Grow with snow.com. Okay. Oh, last week I purchased my first uh uh I'm on the medical marijuana program in Pennsylvania. I look forward to the day, Lord speed it when recreational marijuana is legalized, decriminalized, legalized, however you want to put it, and reefs uh the benefits of the tax revenue and the savings that that accrue from not having to arrest any at any uh schmo that's g that's uh lighten fight lightened up a joint. I mean and that's another thing. The news media uh propagates this uh artificial hype uh around uh let me back up for decades from the 30s from uh uh the the federal government's head of the federal government's bureau of narcotics, Harry Anslinger. Anslinger in the 30s took over the Bureau of Prohibition. And since the and since uh prohibition was ended, that agency had to find a new purpose for a living. Hence this great big scare around around marijuana, associating it with uh Mexicans and jazz musicians who are more often than not African American, and that has remained unchallenged in the popular media for decades until now. I say we go with the science. If it is scientific marijuana, I can attest this. Marijuana has been good for calming people down, helping people with some level of autism, and helping people sleep. Worked for me. But it's just me. It might affect you differently, but I say like I so like I said, I got my first uh uh uh container of uh medical marijuana, and I look like I said, I look forward to when it is legalized for a recreational purpose. And and that's another thing. So many politicians try to cater to these fears. I officially rev up these fears about uh crime in the streets and the evasion of illegals in our borders. Whereas uh you have to wonder what what they're doing in their spare time, who they're getting their campaign money from, and what and uh what's in their closets and dresser drawers. Might be interesting. And on that cheery note, once again I bid everyone a happy and prosperous new year. My mantra for for going into the new year is 2023 will be excellent for me. And I hope it's excellent for you too. Be well. Bye.
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
