Sic semper tyrannis (thus always to tyrants). That’s what Brutus said as he plunged the knife into his friend Julius Caesar, and also what John Wilikes Booth said after he unloaded his .44 caliber Derringer into Abraham Lincoln’s brain. It’s also the phrase that comes to mind this morning as I learn that Algeria is moving to cut off Facebook accounts and access in that country.
Democracy is contagious:
Opposition groups in Algiers who gathered on May 1 Square, near the centre of the city were encircled by riot police determined to stamp out any attempt to stage a revolt.
A police helicopter hovered over the neighbourhood and around 200 officers in helmets and armed with batons were at the square with dozens of police vehicles parked nearby.
The protesters have been chanting anti-government slogans including “down with the regime” and some waved copies of a newspaper front page with the headline “Mubarak has fallen!”
They can expect a beatdown.
Meanwhile, the GOP cannot control its own wurlitzer.
