Rob Ford's Toronto

[zang]

Dude, that's Pig Shit Balls, or PSB. That's the JPEG Rick Roll. A classic among some of my fellow hacks...(I mean writers, not hack-ers).

Seriously, why do people believe someone who's a notorious a-hole on Twitter, with a very long practiced pro-Ford agenda and a history of intentionally making fun of anti-Forders is suddenly in their camp?

 

[guitarchitect]

Dude, that's Pig Shit Balls, or PSB. That's the JPEG Rick Roll. A classic among some of my fellow hacks...(I mean writers, not hack-ers).

Then it would appear we're being PSB'd, wouldn't it?

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

At the risk of bringing this thread back to it's pre-scandal level of discourse, Richard Florida has a very good article in today's Globe that, among other things, is a very intelligent rebuttal to those who think de-amalgamation is a solution problem. Personally, I think he's dead on...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...lem-has-grown-past-its-mayor/article15313661/

The answer is not to ditch the amalgamated city and return to the smaller city of the past. The amalgamated city reflects the underlying integration of the economy and provides the scale and scope that are needed for growth. It forces us to deal with our very real divides and not sweep them under the rug.

Toronto can lead the world by devising a modern system that’s up to the task of investing in governing and investing in a large economically integrated city. As Alan Broadbent has rightly said, Toronto needs to be run essentially like a province. The amalgamated Toronto is bigger than most of Canada’s provinces; its GDP accounts for 20 per cent of the entire country’s. But like all Canada’s cities, Toronto has been left with “little fiscal resilience, and with weak governance structures.”

 

[pattycakes]

For those of us finding it difficult to keep track of all the "characters" in Ford's Follies, this might be needed if further information is released.

https://twitter.com/YYZMarc/status/398669840367378432/photo/1

 

[Sweet Mister]

Did you see the link I posted?

Yes, am talking about the original screenshot.

Certainly not discounting the possibility we are being trolled. That's why I say 'if it's real'.

If DS/ManuvSteele is a troll, he's a much better one than larouxb/unfuckwithable. So I'm happy to enjoy the show he's putting on, if it is one. Remember how well it worked out for unfuckwithable?

 

[Tulse]

Toronto has been left with “little fiscal resilience, and with weak governance structures.â€

While I agree generally, the problems we're experiencing with Ford would be massively worse if the mayor's office had major power.

 

[pattycakes]

Fabulous retell of what's happened:

from torontoist. thanks to daniel christie.

danieljchristie • 14 hours ago
Rob Ford's Demons held their AGM at the Air Canada Centre on Monday night. The overflow of Demons were accommodated in the parking lot equipped with video. The keynote speech was delivered by Demon-In Chief Impulse. Impulse spoke impulsively about the value of the impromptu blurt, emphasizing disconnected thoughts combined with poor judgement. After Impulse, Victimhood took to the stage and, in a typically dramatic fashion, broke down in tears after cataloguing a lengthy list of 'those out to get me'. Then, in a surprise moment, Addiction walked out on stage only to turn around half way, declaring he had nothing to say and was probably in the wrong building anyway. As the evening drew to a close, New Demons were introduced and accepted into membership -including Maudlin Self-Pity, Child-Like Arrogance and Fingers-In-Ears Listening Skills. A good time was had by all.

 

[pattycakes]

Don Peat is reporting that Rob that will be in this afternoon. Family meeting must be this morning. Can't wait to see if Rob's at the "bargaining" stage yet.

 

[Philofwrite]

Forgive me if this is all common knowledge, but I have a couple questions:

Re: Rehab. In the discussions of Dianne being worried about Rob going to Rehab because it is either beneath their station in life, or because of what RoFo may reveal I wondered, how did Cathy become clean? She is an admitted addict. Did they send her to rehab, lock her in the basement, home care? Granted she is not as well-known as Rob, and has less to lose, but if she revealed illegal activities of the family, would the medical personnel not have to report it as quickly as they would have to for RoFo? The press would not be in rehab, so what could be revealed other than illegal activities that would have to be reported.

re: Unfuckablewith. Forgive me, I'm newish, what happened with this person? How did it end?

 

[Sweet Mister]

unfuckwithable aka @larouxb claimed to have the crack video and even apparently flew to Toronto from (I think) New Orleans or somewhere with some kind of strange plan to confront the Star. He claimed to be a former secret agent and posted pictures of a gun. His Twitter account posted that he had arrived in TO but MetroMan said he had been detained at the airport. It turned out he was using timed tweets. He was apparently put on the next plane back and had a visit from men in black that shut him up for a while.

I think it's safe to say that no-one will ever take the slightest bit of notice of him ever again, and he was massively the biggest victim of his own trolling.

 

[TOperson]

I have a theory on why the Ford family won't let Rob go to rehab. Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, I haven't seen it, and I read every page, but there's been a lot of content lately, and it's easy to accidentally miss posts.

From what I understand of rehabilitation programs, there's a lot of talking, and opening up. I think it's fair to say that Rob has been pushed into a lot of this business by his family, for their own gain. What if the Fords are afraid of what Rob will say when the therapists get through to him? Who knows what secrets he's hiding.

In the crack video Ford was reportedly mumbling something about how he's supposed to be right wing. Seems like he's living someone else's life, and it's his duty just to endure it.

Also it appears that Ford unilaterally admitted to smoking crack. Now his family is desperately trying to pretend like they were not aware of this. I really think they're scared of what will come out of Rob's mouth in rehab.

This makes sense. Plus the whole idea that rehab is too "common" for the likes of the Fords.

I'll go full psychoanalyst here. This is clearly a seriously dysfunctional family. It seems the Ford parents utterly dominate(d) their children, which all by itself indicates emotional abuse. (In healthy families, children have freedom to be themselves, find their own path in life, etc.) I wouldn't rule out physical abuse either, while the Ford children were little. With everything we know about how abuse affects a developing brain, it's no wonder that at least two of the Ford children have substance abuse issues. It's textbook. Doug Ford, on the other hand, seems to have learned how to dominate and has an unhealthy need for control - the other side of the coin.

When a member of dysfunctional family gets healthy, they stop playing along with the family script. They tell the truth, they set boundaries, they call out bad behaviour. It throws the entire family into chaos. Usually at this point families escalate the dysfunctional tactics in order to get the healthy one back in line. They try that for a while, and if it doesn't work, the next phase is Devalue & Discard. They trash the healthy one to the extended family in order to isolate/exclude them, they cut them off, disinherit them, stuff like that. Ultimately what they are trying to do is protect their world.

I doubt the Ford family will get to that stage with Rob. I don't think he is strong enough to get healthy enough for that. A dysfunctional family would sooner sacrifice one of its members than face its issues, so things do not look good for Rob. Hell, it already looks like they are willing to sacrifice him just for Doug's political career.

(And uh, yeah, there's a reason why I just happen to know this stuff about dysfunctional families. )

 

[urbandreamer]

That $5k video is hilarious: Surely Rob Ford is Canada's best comedian?

 

[Tewder]

Americans don't even give a shit about their own politics. They're so ignorant.

This is Ford Nation-type thinking at its worst. From the outside looking in, how must the people of Toronto look to the world in terms of 'ignorance'? We shouldn't throw stones.

As for the Fords, good grief...

 

[Edward]

He is a classic addict with massive denial. Normal (non-addicts) can stop drinking at any time. Addicts on the other hand can't stop after one. Ford fits that profile perfectly. Considering his circumstance I'm quite surprised the family isn't doing anything to stop him. They are worried about his weight and rightly so. But taking crack or coke certainly isn't helping his heart.

 

[TonyV]

Rehab, getting help, psychology, these things are useful but they're all misspent here. The Ford Twins have had bad motives all along. The whole damned lot of them -- I do mean the whole frikkin' family -- are just in this for themselves.

For now, I just want the Fords out of here, and the door slammed behind them.

And yes, our governance needs an overhaul of course. We've known that since the last civic election here in Toronto. I think the Premier may be inclined, right now, to take a good look at that. Maybe we haven't gone this route for nothing after all.