But I Thought Amerika Loves Free Speech.

Just a follow up on my previous post, which tried to take to task the arrant hypocrisy of Amerikans who trumpet free speech but become virulently opposed to it when their sensibilities are offended.

Apostles of the deceased right-wing emblem are warning Americans to get in line and mourn Charlie Kirk properly or be prepared for severe consequences.

At least 15 people have been fired or suspended from their jobs after discussing the killing online, according to a Reuters tally based on interviews, public statements and local press reports. The total includes journalists, academic workers and teachers. On Friday, a junior Nasdaq employee was fired over her posts related to Kirk.

Others have been subjected to torrents of online abuse or seen their offices flooded with calls demanding they be fired, part of a surge in right-wing rage that has followed the killing.

Some Republicans want to go further still and have proposed deporting Kirk's critics from the United States, suing them into penury or banning them from social media for life.

The hypocrisy of this right-wing pearl-clutching is rather breathtaking, but hardly surprising.

Republicans' anger at those disrespecting Kirk's legacy contrasts with the mockery some of the same figures – including Kirk – directed at past victims of political violence.

For example, when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul was clubbed over the head by a hammer-wielding conspiracy theorist during a break-in at their San Francisco home shortly before the 2022 midterm elections, Higgins posted a photo making fun of the attack. He later deleted the post.

Trump's whisperer Laura Loomer suggested that

Paul Pelosi and his assailant were lovers, calling the brutal assault on the octogenarian a “booty call gone wrong.” Speaking to a television audience a few days after the attack, a grinning Kirk called for the intruder to be sprung from jail.

And, of course, there was the deafening silence when Democrats were murdered. Herr Trump, who has been quite vocal about Kirk's killing, had nothing good or constructive to say when the other team was falling victim to violence last June. In fact, he politicized those deaths for his own advantage.

Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed along with their dog, and State Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were shot and wounded.

 Following the Minnesota shooting, Trump called the incident "absolutely terrible," however, he slammed Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, and did not call him.

"I think he's a terrible governor. I think he's a grossly incompetent person. But I may, I may call him, I may call other people too," he told ABC News' Rachel Scott on June 15. 

"Why would I call him? I could call and say, 'Hi, how you doing?' Uh, the guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time?" Trump told reporters on June 17.

Yet those disrespecting Kirk's memory and legacy are being ferreted out, a myriad of punishments awaiting them.

The campaign to fire Kirk’s critics has not slowed. Calls to run people out of jobs have flooded across X. A newly registered site, "Expose Charlie's Murderers," has 41 names of people it alleged were “supporting political violence online” and claims to be working on a backlog of more than 20,000 submissions. 

And Canadians, within Canada, are not exempt from this surge of outrage.

 A University of Toronto professor whose social-media post after the assassination of American political activist Charlie Kirk was criticized by Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities is now on leave, according to the university.

Ruth Marshall, an associate professor in religious studies and politics, has been placed on administrative leave, the University of Toronto’s faculty association confirmed Friday.

An account on X, apparently connected to Prof. Marshall, posted Wednesday afternoon that “shooting is honestly too good for so many of you,” using a profanity and describing the subjects as “fascist.” 

While obviously her remarks were intemperate, it is disturbing to see a Canadian institution devoted to free speech overreacting thus. 

And one wonders what the consequences will be for the European Union, whose members refused to support a minute of silence for the fallen Kirk. 

... the refusal of Katarina Barley, a vice-president of the chamber, to let some MEPs hold a minute of silence for Charlie Kirk has sparked uproar among many conservative MEPs, including inside the European People’s party. 

Surely such disrespect will not go without consequences by the Amerikan arbiters of all that is holy and sacred.

The message is clear. Some lives matter more than others. In the fraught and roiling political landscape of Trump's Amerika, that means Republican lives will always trump Democratic ones.