Month: May 2012
It’s all determined by your birth month and date and the colour of the shirt you’re wearing right now. Yes, it’s one of those silly diversions making the internet rounds, but for some reason I like it.
I rather like my team: Tyrion “The Imp” Lannister from Game of Thrones, Batman and Scarlett Johnansson.
And yet Ken doesn’t care:
Byron Sonne, dubbed by some folks in the media as the “G20 Geek” was found not guilty on all counts today. Byron is a computer consultant and a freedom-and-technology activist who wanted to expose the 2010 Toronto G20 Summit’s “security theatre” — measures taken by security that serve little actual purpose except to present a false image of security and to justify the security team’s budget — and wound up being arrested and accused of planning to detonate bombs at the event.
Byron faced some pretty tough opponents: a police force who’d pretty much used the summit as an excuse to make mass arrests and crack some skulls, detective Tam Bui playing the bad cop’s bad cop, and Liz Nadeau as the prosecutor determined to justify the security theatre. His house was raided, he and his wife were arrested, he was put in prison for nearly a year, his stuff was confiscated and his ability to use a computer — the tool of his livelihood — was seriously curtailed. In the process, he lost not just his freedom, but also his wife.
While I don’t agree with the way in which Byron went to point out the security theatre of the G20 Summit, I believe that as the citizenry that is supposed to be served by the security mechanism put in place (and we were very badly served), we have the right to call it out. Byron’s arrest and the prosecution’s actions during the trial were just extensions of that security theatre, and his exoneration is one small step to justice being served. He would be justified in taking legal action against the police — they’re the real criminals in this case.
Congrats, Byron! I’m buying you a freedom beer when we next see each other.
Recommended Reading
- FreeByron.org: A site providing information about Byron Sonne’s case put together by his supporters.
- How Byron Sonne’s obsession with the G20 security apparatus cost him everything: A Toronto Life article covering his case as it was last year.
- Everything You Need to Know About the Byron Sonne Trial: His case explained, in timeline form.
I took this photo yesterday on the south side of Adelaide, just east of Jarvis. There wasn’t anybody using the door to load stuff on or off a supply truck, nor was anybody using or watching it:
Here’s a close-up of the sign:
Be warned, it’s pretty sweary, but the show itself has gratuitous cursing, violence and sex. That’s why we love it, and that’s why Anitra and I like to call the show “Boobs and Beheadings”.
