My neighbor Swamp Rabbit was complaining about recent history. An odious fraud comes to power and proceeds to make a mockery of existing laws. Fools and bigots rally around him. The elected officials who could rein him in encourage him and his lackeys to create chaos on a daily basis. How could these things be happening in 2026?

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” I said, trotting out the hoariest of cliches.

“That ain’t true,” Swamp Rabbit replied. “Not when it comes to masking.”

I realized he was talking about facemasks. A few years ago, sane people wore masks to help limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Rightwing goons and nincompoops ridiculed them and called them “woke.” They accused mask wearers of trying to abolish their God-given right to do as they pleased, even as hundreds of thousands of Americans became infected with the virus and died.

“Everything has flipped,” my crusty neighbor explained. “Most of them woke peeps put away their masks when the pandemic cooled down. It’s the goons who are masking now.”

He meant members of the huge, militarized gang called Immigration and Customs Enforcement, usually referred to as ICE. The heavily armed and armored ICE agents get media coverage every day. They wear masks not for health reasons but rather to hide their identities as they stalk, chase, beat, abduct, jail, deport and sometimes shoot people who seem alien to them, all for the purpose of discouraging immigration to the United States. They get paid to eliminate undesirables and scare everyone else.

“They’re a private army, Odd Man, just like the Gestapo.”

“You’re wrong,” I reply. “The Gestapo wore fedoras, not masks.”