Rob Ford's Toronto

[Dubster]

Hey, remember when we speculated wildly about GFL being a front for something else and the mayor being involved?

https://twitter.com/goldsbie/status/396236890614923264

 

[Dubster]

Oh! And CBC confirmed this morning that the police approached the mayor on Wednesday for questioning but Ford refused on legal advice. So MetroMan was right about the timeline. My own two cents? The Crown will try to plea bargain Lisi to get Price and Ford.

As for why they didn't pinch Ford earlier (as per Clayton Ruby), they were clearly going after something much bigger. See Ford's meetings with GFL head in a club in Etobicoke.

 

[sixrings]

Oh! And CBC confirmed this morning that the police approached the mayor on Wednesday for questioning but Ford refused on legal advice. So MetroMan was right about the timeline. My own two cents? The Crown will try to plea bargain Lisi to get Price and Ford.

As for why they didn't pinch Ford earlier (as per Clayton Ruby), they were clearly going after something much bigger. See Ford's meetings with GFL head in a club in Etobicoke.

I agree. If I am Lisi I am a snitch and getting the hell out of there... All this fear that Rob Ford has power to try and get revenge is crazy since that power is connected to his office which he may lose sooner then later.

 

[Silence&Motion]

Ford's oft-quoted line "you don't throw your friends under a bus" makes so much sense now. It wasn't Ford refusing to throw Lisi under a bus, it was Ford sending a message to Lisi: "you better not throw me under a bus".

 

[newearthling]

Hey, remember when we speculated wildly about GFL being a front for something else and the mayor being involved?

https://twitter.com/goldsbie/status/396236890614923264

Could they be distributing illicit substances?

 

[sixrings]

Ford's oft-quoted line "you don't throw your friends under a bus" makes so much sense now. It wasn't Ford refusing to throw Lisi under a bus, it was Ford sending a message to Lisi: "you better not throw me under a bus".

I get why former staffers like Mike Towey wont do it because they are looking for another job and being loyal to Ford shows any other person hiring Towey that if he wont sell out Ford than I can trust him with my life. Lisi on the other hand as much as he wants a job at city hall will never be getting a cheque and he wont be a driver for anyone. His chance of a real career at the city is over. Sell out and then sell your story to someone who is going to write a book or make a movie...

 

[poprocks]

Ford's oft-quoted line "you don't throw your friends under a bus" makes so much sense now. It wasn't Ford refusing to throw Lisi under a bus, it was Ford sending a message to Lisi: "you better not throw me under a bus".

More pointedly, that he hadn't ratted him out or turned on him and that if that was the case, it came from someone else involved which in effect was throwing his other friends under the bus.

 

[Dubster]

And another mystery...where does all this leave the idea that the police were investigating a major celebrity drug ring including the notorious "prominent hockey analyst"?

 

[tariqata]

Ford has been an embarrassment and is not fit for office.

That being said, many of the comments last night on the Agenda hit close to home about the human impact of all of this. In the end the guy clearly has issues and is in trouble emotional and physically. While I disagree with his politics, I genuinely feel bad for him.

Beyond that, I do agree with the commentary that Ford has been bullied by the media more than your typical politician. Not to say he didn't bring a lot of him upon himself with his lack of openness/accountability, limited press conferences, confrontational nature and pathological lyeing (though let's be honest that all politicians lie). E.g. When he fell over hiking that football last year, that had nothing to do with anything detrimental with respect to the city, and yet he was still destroyed over it.

I hope people don't forget that he is a human being and has a family.

Various comments, mostly from the right wing, about how left-wingers are so in favour of "being nice to addicts" have hit home for me, because in the course of my work I've come into contact with people with pretty serious substance abuse issues fairly regularly, and I believe very strongly that the best way for our society to support them is through harm reduction strategies and a focus on treatment. At the end of the day, though, while I (try to) feel compassion toward Ford on a personal level, on a political level, that personal compassion shouldn't outweigh the need for an honest assessment of his capacity to carry on in his role as mayor. No one, least of all the media, needs to shy away from that.

 

[Sweet Mister]

Long time lurker (since May), first time poster.

Lisi won't flip (sadly). The drug use is just the tip of the iceberg. The previous prison incident shows clearly that Ford has connections within the prison system. There's a reason for the basic criminal code that you don't rat your friends out, because once that starts it never ends and everyone goes down together. There is far more riding on this now than the mayoralty of Toronto. If Lisi started talking it wouldn't just be Ford who'd be in the frame but all the people on the other side of the deals he's done. And the guy who ran the after-hours nightclub is obviously running scared. There's way more to come out.

 

[sixrings]

Long time lurker (since May), first time poster.

Lisi won't flip (sadly). The drug use is just the tip of the iceberg. The previous prison incident shows clearly that Ford has connections within the prison system. There's a reason for the basic criminal code that you don't rat your friends out, because once that starts it never ends and everyone goes down together. There is far more riding on this now than the mayoralty of Toronto. If Lisi started talking it wouldn't just be Ford who'd be in the frame but all the people on the other side of the deals he's done. And the guy who ran the after-hours nightclub is obviously running scared. There's way more to come out.

People flip all the time when they know that jail time is the alternative. Police play people off each other all the time.... There's a reason Karla Homolka is out while paul bernardo is in jail. At some point criminals weighs the pros and cons of snitching. Just because he snitches on one person doesnt mean that all of a sudden hes going to out the nightclub guy. It does mean his drug trafficking career is done. But I worked in Jane and Finch and I visited many traffickers in Jail. Lisi wont last 6 months in there. He probably knows that... He needs to get out for his own sake..

 

[poprocks]

Long time lurker (since May), first time poster.

Lisi won't flip (sadly). The drug use is just the tip of the iceberg. The previous prison incident shows clearly that Ford has connections within the prison system. There's a reason for the basic criminal code that you don't rat your friends out, because once that starts it never ends and everyone goes down together. There is far more riding on this now than the mayoralty of Toronto. If Lisi started talking it wouldn't just be Ford who'd be in the frame but all the people on the other side of the deals he's done. And the guy who ran the after-hours nightclub is obviously running scared. There's way more to come out.

Agreed. Doubt it would be Lisi.

 

[DD13]

I get why former staffers like Mike Towey wont do it because they are looking for another job and being loyal to Ford shows any other person hiring Towey that if he wont sell out Ford than I can trust him with my life. Lisi on the other hand as much as he wants a job at city hall will never be getting a cheque and he wont be a driver for anyone. His chance of a real career at the city is over. Sell out and then sell your story to someone who is going to write a book or make a movie...

Yeah, Mark Towey certainly felt like he was angling for some new job when he was on the radio yesterday. Trying to position himself as above the scandal while coming across as implicit in it. He sounded really sketchy to me.

 

[Tulse]

Various comments, mostly from the right wing, about how left-wingers are so in favour of "being nice to addicts" have hit home for me, [...] I believe very strongly that the best way for our society to support them is through harm reduction strategies and a focus on treatment.

One can believe all those things, and still think that a drug addict with deep criminal ties shouldn't be running a city of three million (and controlling the police budget).

 

[TOperson]

Ford has been an embarrassment and is not fit for office.

That being said, many of the comments last night on the Agenda hit close to home about the human impact of all of this. In the end the guy clearly has issues and is in trouble emotional and physically. While I disagree with his politics, I genuinely feel bad for him.

Beyond that, I do agree with the commentary that Ford has been bullied by the media more than your typical politician. Not to say he didn't bring a lot of him upon himself with his lack of openness/accountability, limited press conferences, confrontational nature and pathological lyeing (though let's be honest that all politicians lie). E.g. When he fell over hiking that football last year, that had nothing to do with anything detrimental with respect to the city, and yet he was still destroyed over it.

I hope people don't forget that he is a human being and has a family.

This is the same guy who called reporters "maggots" for covering a story that has turned out to be true. If he can dish it out, he can take it.