July 2019 – Page 2 – The Hungover Pundit

On the Grave of Old John Brown

On Saturday, July 13th my partner and I woke up at seven in the morning, dressed carefully for the heat, packed sunscreen and filled our water bottles, and headed out on a drive to Hamilton’s City Hall to participate in the “Hamilton For Who?” rally in support of the city’s embattled LGBTQ+ community.

My partner and I went to the rally, met up with friends, listened to music, bought t-shirts, drank water, danced and generally had a good time, as protests go. We also flipped off the violently islamo- and homophobic “Yellow Vest” hate-group which was forced out of the City Hall courtyard by the presence of both the rally and the weekend-long “Camp Chaos Gayz” occupation; making it the first Saturday in months that the Yellow-Vesters haven’t had a city-sanctioned presence at City Hall… which was one of the things the rally had been intended to achieve. We followed up the demonstration with a visit to the Art Gallery of Hamilton with some friends, then an early breakfast-for-dinner date at a diner and drove home in the long summer evening, footsore and sunburnt and feeling very good about the day.

At roughly the same moment I had gotten out bed that morning, Willem Van Spronsen was shot to death by police officers during his attack on the privately-owned and -operated prison for migrants called the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma Washington.

Where I’m Coming From – A Short History

I’m genuinely stumped about what to write about this morning. Not that I’m hurting for subject matter, what with the ongoing shitshow in Hamilton and this morning’s developments out front of City Hall, but that’s actually part of the problem: There’s so much going on. I’m having trouble staying on top of it all, even if I’ve been following it much more closely than most. So I’m going to take a step back and write about… well, me, for a change.

You see, I was challenged, earlier this week, by a pissed-off Yellow Vester who demanded to know why anyone should give a shit about my opinion.

Despite being asked by an alt-right moron, that is actually a fair question. I call this blog “The Hungover Pundit“, and while I’ve manifestly earned the appellation “hungover” why should anyone put any weight to my claim of being a pundit? Where am I coming from that on my opinion should carry any weight whatsoever?

Twenty years of activism and progressive political agitation, that’s where. I’m an activist, and I’ve been an activist for half my life.

Cui Bono?

I drove across the Burlington Skyway the other day; the first really hot and humid day of the summer. The sailboats were out on Hamilton harbour, and as I drove up the long slope of the bridge I could see the other thing which defines Hamilton in my mind: the visible layer of brown haze trapped between the escarpment and the steel mills. I’ve always loved the sailboats, but it’s the smog that says “Hamilton” to me.

I find myself doing these posts on Hamilton because the situation is evolving — or rather devolving — on a day-to-day basis. When last I wrote about this, on Friday, there was a glimmer of hope. Ceder Hopperton was waiting on the decision as to whether they’d violated their parole, and police had admitted that the only objectionable action they’d taken was to speak at a public meeting; surely justice would prevail and Hopperton would be freed.

Pride 2019 Part 4 – The Dumpster Fire

I was really hoping to write about something – anything – else, but the crisis in Hamilton continues and it’s pretty much dominated my life for the last week, so this is what I have to offer as part of the ongoing saga of Pride 2019.

As of time of writing, Friday morning, Cedar Hopperton is still in jail. Their hearing in front of the parole board was yesterday… but there was a bit of a twist ahead of time. Police had revoked Hopperton’s parole because it was alleged they had violated it by participating in the Pride defence action when fascists and religious zealots attacked the Hamilton Pride gathering in Gage Park on June 15th. On Wednesday, July 3rd, Hopperton’s lawyer announced that the hearing was not about this alleged parole violation, but rather because Hopperton had spoken at a public meeting on June 18th during which they called out the police for their inaction.

Let that sink in for a moment: Police now allege Cedar Hopperton violated their parole for speaking at a public meeting.

Free Speech vs. Propaganda

About two months ago, before I started this blog, I responded to a Facebook post about that swastika-wearing asshole in NYC’s Union Square who was egged by a passer-by. My comment was Anyone who walks around saying “Hell yes, I’m a Nazi” deserves whatever happens to them and they should be grateful it wasn’t worse.

It’s been eight weeks, and I keep getting harassment on Facebook over that comment. Some threats of violence, lots of pedantic crap from alt-right undergrad boys “just trying to have a discussion”, and so forth. It seems to come in waves, so I assume that the link is being shared and re-shared to some subreddit frequented by alt-right incel edge-lords whose basement apartments reek of ramen, B.O. and poor lifestyle choices.

But the thing that irritates me — far more than being threatened with axe murder, by the way — is the repeated claim by the morons defending a swastika-wearing homophobe who was shitting-up everyone’s public space in New York that day that I’m suppressing his free speech with my opinion.