The John Mason Talk-Walk, July 7, 2023

I speak about the "Moms For Liberty" conference and how Philly turned out against them, and of the Supreme Court's attack on affirmative action. 

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Hello, hello, hello, John Mason. How is everybody? Well, the moms for Liberty, as they call themselves, has fin have finally left Philadelphia. And the Republican Who's Who of Presidential Candidates left with them. Mike Pence wasn't there, as far as I know, but there was Donald Russ's face, Ron De Shithead, or Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley, trying to convince them to vote for them as they share their agenda of terrorizing LGBTQ kids, terrorizing school librarians, the school boards, about uh what kind of books they uh they should have available for kids. And it's all it is an Astro-Turf movement, Moms for Liberty. Is not popular grassroots effort. It's it's another thing for uh to divide the country, to have to be angry at some someone other than the corporate elite who have been dominating our government, our economy, and our news media. And we and I'm proud of uh Philadelphia, particularly the LGBTQ people and the trans people who have who have peaceably made their stand against the Moms for Liberty as they were at their at as they were camped out at the Marriott Hotel on uh Market Street for their conference and like the whole LGBTQ community banded together inside, including inside the Marriott and inside the Museum of the American Revolution. That's not another thing I find interesting. They're terrorizing uh libraries and schools, but museums, but they held our opening reception, a museum, another educational institution, but that's for another day. That's what it takes for us to fight this wave of fascism. Yep, that's what it is, fascism. The idea they can terrorize us certain demographic groups to uh to then have everyone terrified of these demographic groups rather than being terrified of the big money people who hire hire hire or who spend the money to organize such groups as Moms for Liberty. I was really afraid that neo-Nazis would crawl out of the woodwork too. And guys like the the Proud Boys, what are they proud of? And and various assortments of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. I was afraid they would crawl out of the woodwork when they saw their heroes, Trump and DeSantis, uh, were in town. I hadn't heard I didn't hear anything of that happening, however, the gay community and all all of its allies, including my my own good self, uh rallied tour with them, rallied for them, rallied alongside of them. That's the fight that's the fight we're in. We still have to that's how you deal with bullies. You stand up to them and they and they back down. Works every time. Let's remember that and keep practicing it. That's one muscle you have to exercise. And now I must complain about this the recent decision by the U US Supreme Court to uh to kill and destroy once and for all affirmative action and and selections in universities. And that will and uh is a threat to efforts for to diversify the uh the student body of a of such institutions so so that they so that people from various uh backgrounds and ethnicities and religions and parts of the country could live amongst each other, study amongst each other, to get beyond the stereotypes and see them each other as human beings, exchange ideas. A diverse workplace is so always proven a diverse workplace or a diverse uh uh uh uh school bring brings forth better ideas. But but the racism in the in the right wing about uh uh such programs as diversity, equity, and inclusion, they actually say that they're going to target these these uh these programs, not and they're no longer hiding it uh uh hiding behind the the scary monster critical race theory. They're in your face about it. I don't know if it's conscious racism or what, but that seems to be the an issue in this country dealing with race. It's like we don't want to deal with it. We don't want to uh seriously address it, we just wanna say, okay, okay, it's all taken care of, we can go home now and no longer deal with it. But it's always there and always will be there, is these issues have to be addressed. And interesting though that in the same decision whereby the Supreme Court uh struck down affirmative action, they've preserved affirmative action for military academies. I mean, that seems to be the another old story in this country. People of color aren't good enough to uh attain a serious education, go into med school, law school, go into sciences, the sciences, work in the banking industry, and and move move to predominantly white neighborhoods and enter politics, but they're they're perfectly fine and being canon fodder uh for the nation's wars. And more often than not, the some of these wars are, with some exceptions, are pointless, useless uh wastes of valuable human beings' lives. War is repression, war is terror, war is slaughter, and war is disease and death. So let's so send the people of color over there to get killed for us. Yay! Bright idea, bright idea, huh? But there's one affirmative action program that's still around for affluent uh white people. Legacy admissions. A team of lawyers in Boston and allied organizations have brought a lawsuit against Harvard University against this uh tradition of legacy admissions. Legacy admissions meaning a kid's father was in such and such an institution and his grandfather and his great grandfather, so therefore he simply has to be admitted. No talk about grades or social skills or what have you. No discussion about that. Let him in. Therefore, people of color, working class people have no way of entering such instituties. And that has to be eliminated. And that's where we, the American people, come in. We got our votes, we got our numbers, let's put them to use or in our voices, let's put all of them to use and let the elected officials know, I happen to be one myself, let them know that we will have our needs addressed, such as the fifteen dollar hour minimum wage that has to come through. I understand it's about uh 725 round about the federal minimum wage. In several decades, but that's still the minimum wage uh uh not taking into and they didn't think about uh inflation. Uh and nobody can live on that. So raise the minimum wage to fifteen an hour. We have to do that. If it wasn't for the workers toiling away at these jobs, these humongous multi-trillion dollar corporations would be nothing. I'm thinking about McDonald's and Burger King and and Amazon and Starbucks and UPS and Trader Joe's. Support them as they organize their work sites. I urge you. As a matter of fact, there's some negotiation between the going on between the Teamsters and UPS and UPS. The Teamsters are represent the UPS drivers. So, support UPS drivers in their in their dealings with uh UPS. Rest assured, the Teamsters are no longer the Teamsters of Jimmy Hoffa. They're a vital, viable union. Roshon O'Geary is its general president, wonderful guy. Support the workers at Starbucks, the workers at Trader Joe's, the workers at Amazon, as all workers. As they deal with their employers. And just remember, these bosses aren't hiring these workers of some charity. I hear often the idea, oh, we must be grateful for our boss for hiring us and paying our salary. He's paying your salary because he needs you to do his work. And if you can find a machine to do your job, you're asked to be out on the street. All of a sudden I'm thinking about the uh the these automated checkout stands, which thereby threaten the uh the employment of cashiers as such uh stores as your local supermarket. I always make it a point to uh go to an actual uh cat cash register and go to a perfectly human cashier, take care of my business, and shun the automated systems. So support your all workers must support all workers. Okay, I'm all talked about for now. Now advertisements. It takes work and much expense to put out these podcasts and my website and my YouTube channel. They're serious work a serious expense. So quite frankly, I need help. I could do some financial help. And you wish to contribute to my to my podcast or other media, my website is john omason.com. I would greatly appreciate it. And also, there's my novel, Soldier of the Cross, available on Amazon.com. It's the story of David Lucas, who as a young man grows up to be a whore chaser, who early in the 60s is a whore chaser, a school bully and a drunk, gets in trouble in the army, ends up a born-again Christian, is striving to be a manly, zealous, fanatical, manly Christian man. And it leads him to a lot of trouble. Please purchase it. Soldier of the Cross on Amazon.com. And also, Hyporific is a lovely little CBD product store located on Snyder Avenue, near 15th Street in South Philadelphia. There you'll find some of the finest cannabis-infused products, such as flour and gummies, and candies and drinks and hand sanitizer and lip balm and dog treats. Yep, dog treats for you. To cool off your doggy. Look them up, please. Happerificlc.com. And also, my beloved career and business coach Michelle Snow. Michelle is excellent in helping you as you develop your professional career or small business. Let you know what you're doing right, where you need work, and help you network with other up-and-coming professionals and entrepreneurs. Look her up, please. Growwithsnow.com. Okay? Okay. Okay. And let's enjoy the some some summertime. And keep cool, drink plenty of water. Don't stay out in the sun too long. And remember, climate change is a genuine thing we must deal with. Thanks. Enjoy your weekend, Shabbat Shalom. Bye.