Sic Semper Tyrannis, Baby

Plus the woke case for controlled burns.

No, I’m not posting this because of Donald Trump—well, not exactly, and not yet.

Donald Trump will be sworn in for his second term next week, a prospect that carries a lot of uncertainties, none of them good. I’ll be writing about that soon.

But today and tomorrow, to clear the decks, I want to comment on a few recent news items and some links I’ve gathered over the past few months and haven’t had the opportunity to use, but which are too darned interesting to pass by.

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Sic Semper Tyrannis, Baby

First, a follow-up on the attempted coup in South Korea. President Yoon has been impeached, and it looks like Korea’s Constitutional Court, which has the power to affirm or deny the impeachment, will rule next month. They are expected to affirm Yoon’s removal, but “if the deeply unpopular leader is allowed to return to office, it could set a precedent for future leaders to use martial law as a political tool, said Ha Sang-eung, a professor of political science at Sogang University in Seoul.” Yes, and not just in South Korea. (But in the US, because we are led by idiots, they will call it “marshall law.”) In the meantime, after an awkward standoff between police and the presidential guard, Yoon has finally been arrested.

But that’s not what’s really interesting here. What is interesting is the symbolism used by Yoon’s supporters and by the opposition—both of which are borrowed from America.