Rabid, run

 "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice.  He forgot to add:  the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."

  Louis Napoleon may have been "a grotesque mediocrity playing a hero's part," but he couldn't have been worse than our grotesque mediocrity who also thinks he's Napoleon ("He who saves his Country does not violate any Law").  Marx forgot to add:  It doesn't feel like farce while you're living through it.

At least some of the farceurs seem to be aware of the history they are repeating.  Last Sunday on CBS Margaret Brennan pointed out that J.D. Vance was "standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide," causing Vance to retort on Xitter, "Does the media really think the Holocaust was caused by free speech?"  No, it was caused by the kind of people he and Marco Rubio went to Munich to advocate for, people who identified Jews and others as "the enemy within."  Their rhetoric tends to be aimed at immigrants and "woke" now, but the intent is just as clear.  It's revealing that even in the 1930s what we now call LGBTQ were also demonized, mainly for their refusal to breed cannon fodder for the Fatherland.  (Drag artists, too -- have you seen Cabaret?)  

Who does the Musk/Trump regime deploy its free speech for?  Accused sex traffickers Andrew and Tristan Tate, the fraternal sleazebags for whom "special envoy" Richard Grenell was sent to pressure the government of Romania.  Andrew Tate has floated the idea of becoming prime minister of Great Britain, which is fine with Musk.  They represent the "manosphere" which essentially blames women for being raped and promotes misogynistic ideas which naturally appeal to Musk and Trump (and according to the Washington Post, Barron Trump).  Tate's vile comments about Kamala Harris also brought his plight to the co-president's attention.  Just your basic child pornographers and groomers, the very kind of activity for which our Rightzis love to blame "Hollywood liberals." 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, unlike Musk an elected officeholder, distributes a leaflet for immigrants outlining their legal rights in English and Spanish.  She does not suggest that they break the law, and her free speech is protected by the First Amendment.  This so enrages Obersturmbannfuhrer Tom Homan that he has sought advice from the Bondi DOJ about arresting and prosecuting her.  Even Fox News's Jonathan Turley called bullshit, although he did so while praising Vance's "powerful defense of free speech in Europe."  Now would be a good time for all Democrats in Congress to make AOC's pamphlet available to their constituents in Portuguese, Criole, Arabic and any other languages which seem relevant.  Brandon Gill (R-TX) has started a petition to have Ilhan Omar deported to Somalia, so she might want to join the movement.  

Even some MAGAs are testing the limits of free speech.  A bunch of them are hearing from their voters about how the Musk assault on USAID is hurting farmers, who rely on the program to spend $2 billion a year for their crops.  Glenn Thompson, chair of the House Agriculture Committee, said, "It's good diplomacy...if we can address food insecurity, it reduces the likelihood of us having to do any intervention abroad if there's terrorism or war."  That actually make sense.  He must be a RINO.

It's not just farmers.  Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is so worried about the measles outbreak in Gaines County, Texas, that he found it necessary to Xweet, "The measles vaccine has been proven safe & effective since 1963."  Cassidy, a physician, probably should have thought about that before voting to confirm Roadkill Bob.  No takie-backies, Doc.  Sure hope the virus doesn't spread to Louisiana.

In other news of the Your Health Is Your Own Problem Now Department, the FDA employees overseeing one of Musk's side hustles, Neuralink, were fired while everyone was watching NASCAR.  Neuralink is pushing a chip for implantation in human brains.  Roadkill Bob should get one so he can talk to Biff the Brain Worm.

Speech isn't thriving at the Washington Post, where democracy died of cowardice months ago.  Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center were ready to spend $115,000 for an ad in today's paper called "Fire Elon Musk," but the Brit installed by Bezos to make his toy indistinguishable from the New York Post wimped out.  Of course their wimpishness made news and alerted people beyond the shrinking pool of Post subscribers to the ad so, well done, idiots, you saved them some money. (I hope Common Cause picks up members, too.)

In case you can't wait, here's a taste of Sean Hannity's historic interview with co-presidents Musk and Trump.  According to Musk, we're completely irrational because of "Trump Derangement Syndrome."  "Like the methamphetamine and rabies!"  He seems oddly knowledgeable.

And TDS is spreading to Canada.  Conservative Party leader and MAGA darling Pierre Poilievre told a Flag Day rally, "We will never be the 51st state...we will bear any burden and pay any price," he went on, quoting from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, "to protect the sovereignty and independence of our country."  

Back home, the smearing of JFK continues.  I assume this is coming from Trump, the outer borough schlub who always envied Manhattan sophisticates.  As predicted, the Kennedy Center is being ordered to promote and honor the likes of "ambassadors" Stallone, Gibson and Voight.  A concert by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington scheduled for May 21 has been cancelled.  With Lee Greenwood on the board, don't be surprised if the opera house becomes the Opry House.  Back at the Ole White House it wasn't enough for the First Escort to destroy Jacqueline Kennedy's Rose Garden; the plan now is to pave it so Grandpa can doze on a goddam patio when he can't get to the golf course.   It's the quintessence of Queens, a place real New Yorkers visit only to catch a flight or a Mets game.  Maybe plastic flamingoes for the lawn, or one of those concrete statues of the BVM.  In gold.

By far the goofiest invocation of Nazis this week came from Eric Adams, kicking off his hilarious re-election campaign at Brooklyn's Rehoboth Cathedral.  "I was listening to some of Dr. King's teachings, and he talked about the book Mein Kampf.  He said if you repeat a lie loud enough, long enough, people will believe it's true, and that's what you're seeing right now.  This is a modern-day Mein Kampf."  Wow, two points for incoherence and three for working King and Hitler into the same speech.  Of course it was Goebbels who said that, but in what way is the outrage over a corrupt Justice Department dropping charges against a corrupt mayor remotely related to any of them?  Nazism is in the air, the Zeitgeist, as Hegel would say, and everybody wants to dress up in victimhood.