Rob Ford's Toronto

[basic]

I don't really think it is important/relevant whether or not RoFo goes to rehab now/later/never. There is still a whoooole lot more coming in this that will take both of the brothers down.

Doug's words on having him take a break/go to rehab (which only came after Hudak said it), being affected by Flaherty's response, are all just Dougie trying to stay in the favour of the Ontario PCs. Which again, will be moot once the handcuffs come out.

I'm just enjoying the ride until then!

 

[Peepers]

So I just finished watching the documentary and I don't think the CBC uncovered one interesting fact that we did not already know about. The first 15 minutes was wasted on extraneous stuff beginning with the Eaton Centre shooting, Florida DUI, ACC incident, his voting record as a councilor his reference to "orientals working like dogs" and on and on.

I thought that the CBC would have uncovered new information but this was just a re-cap of what we already know about this case. The best part of this documentary was probably the stunning aerial shots of Toronto.

 

[adma]

Really? Instead of insulting me, you could enlighten us with your theory as to why there hasn't been a mayor of Portuguese, or Indian, or West-Indian, or Italian, or Chinese, or Greek, or you-name-it descent?

Does Jewish count?

(oof, I posted this before realizing all the other discussion on the matter.)

But speaking of Lastman: given how he's of similar suburban-blue-collar-aristocracy ilk to the Fords, it's definitely worth noting how "functional" his (legitimate) kids turned out to be: Dale a Bay St lawyer, Blayne successfully reviving his father's chain--certainly no obtrusive murmurs of gang'n'drug involvement there...

 

[Sweet Mister]

the one new info was that calls were made claiming to be from the mayor's crew threatening people

CBC broadcast that so I assume they lawyered it. I've worked in current affairs TV and you need more than just one guy saying that kind of thing.

 

[guitarchitect]

So I just finished watching the documentary and I don't think the CBC uncovered one interesting fact that we did not already know about. The first 15 minutes was wasted on extraneous stuff beginning with the Eaton Centre shooting, Florida DUI, ACC incident, his voting record as a councilor his reference to "orientals working like dogs" and on and on.

I thought that the CBC would have uncovered new information but this was just a re-cap of what we already know about this case. The best part of this documentary was probably the stunning aerial shots of Toronto.

They were telling the whole story. The title was not "Things that Peepers will find interesting". Remember, this is CBC - not "the station for people who have been following everything since day one and know everything and don't need any back story".

Also, and I say this with eyes rolling - it's interesting that you already knew everything Farah said. His interview with CityTV notwithstanding of course, because it was said the Fifth Estate would contain new info before it came out - then the CBC basically summarized its interview for the web today in order to break the story before CityTV. These are just silly details, of course.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

People on twitter have been busy figuring out the billboard. This twitter thread has a lot of information: https://twitter.com/judemacdonald/status/399020184804933632

The owner of the billboard has done work for Ford before, there's a video with a Ford ad, and there WAS a still picture of it, but during the last little bit of time it's mysteriously disappeared off of their website. Thankfully the before and after pics are in that twitter thread.

before: https://twitter.com/seanmhair/status/399029597032824833

after: https://twitter.com/CarolineG82/status/399026232802557952

 

[basic]

Just putting this out there - Etobicoke is full of mobsters. Take a drive through the Queensway, west of Park Lawn and a lot of the small shops and restaurants have connections. I know someone who worked in one of those joints and dated a guy who was connected. I would not be surprised at all that there are ties with the Fords. I doubt they could escape it.

If there are ties, I wonder how happy they could be with this gong show then...

 

[evvabeing]

So I just finished watching the documentary and I don't think the CBC uncovered one interesting fact that we did not already know about. The first 15 minutes was wasted on extraneous stuff beginning with the Eaton Centre shooting, Florida DUI, ACC incident, his voting record as a councilor his reference to "orientals working like dogs" and on and on.

I thought that the CBC would have uncovered new information but this was just a re-cap of what we already know about this case. The best part of this documentary was probably the stunning aerial shots of Toronto.

anyone else notice the gin blossom on doug sr.?

 

[guitarchitect]

Does Jewish count?

Heh, you missed the part earlier in the thread where people were saying Jewish doesn't count as a race. So to some people, no it doesn't (despite the fact that it's basically both a race and a religion - anyone that wants to debate that fact can kindly go to google first, thnx)

the one new info was that calls were made claiming to be from the mayor's crew threatening people

CBC broadcast that so I assume they lawyered it. I've worked in current affairs TV and you need more than just one guy saying that kind of thing.

But the difference is, CBC isn't reporting it as a fact... it's pretty clear that it's Farah's opinion and his alone. Just like when any media organization lets anyone sit in an interview and say whatever they like, regardless of its veracity. I'm pretty sure that "verifiable truth" isn't what dictates what is edited into and out of interviews.

 

[Peepers]

I loved this documentary. Watching it unfold online you miss a lot of the actual details and interviews. They really ask the question, why didn't ford get arrested?

Does anyone know what the answer to this is? And are reporters working on this question? It seems like we've only scratched the surface of this.

I work in construction and now how prevalent organized crime still is in Toronto and understand the hesitance of all these people coming forward. It's about time the media is stepping up and putting pressure on police to take action (even if it's only one step)

This is indeed one of the key questions in this investigation. Toronto Police spent five months surveilling Ford from the air with a high-tech spy plane and on the ground with "spin-teams" of up to 20 officers. His phone lines were tapped as were phones of his associates and yet not one warrant to search his car and home? As Clayton Ruby explained all it would take is a three minute phone call to a justice of the peace and officers would have the search warrant needed to search Ford's car.

It is inexplicable that Police did not seize any of the many opportunities that they had to conduct a search of Ford's property. Without a search you cannot obtain physical evidence of a crime making it difficult or impossible to lay charges in relation to drug offenses OR influence peddling (were the brown envelopes stuffed with cash? We may never know).

Unfortunately the media has not been aggressively pursing the question why no searches of Ford property. I think part of the reason is they were dumbfounded when Blair dropped his video bombshell. I suspect Blair deliberately dropped his bombshell to divert attention from the actions - or rather in-action of his police force.

 

[basic]

Yeah he said that... They didn't really make a big deal about it for some reason. It's weird though, I don't really believe this guy.

The one thing I really, really liked about what he said was that he was frustrated that all of these Somali kids are in jail, yet Ford is walking around like he is bulletproof. I'm sure alot of those arrested, as well as others in the community, are lining up to sing to the police with what they know about Ford's involvement in the underworld dealings around Dixon.

 

[basic]

I still don't understand why Blair came out and talked about the video at all. If they wanted to keep their cards close to their chest they would've. What's going on here?

To keep people off the trail of what they are actually investigating. It bought them at least over a week before the 5th Estate really brought it back to the criminal element.

 

[newearthling]

The one thing I really, really liked about what he said was that he was frustrated that all of these Somali kids are in jail, yet Ford is walking around like he is bulletproof. I'm sure alot of those arrested, as well as others in the community, are lining up to sing to the police with what they know about Ford's involvement in the underworld dealings around Dixon.

Yes, I liked that they ended with his quote that RF needed to be held accountable too.

 

[basic]

View attachment 19784

People on twitter have been busy figuring out the billboard. This twitter thread has a lot of information: https://twitter.com/judemacdonald/status/399020184804933632

The owner of the billboard has done work for Ford before, there's a video with a Ford ad, and there WAS a still picture of it, but during the last little bit of time it's mysteriously disappeared off of their website. Thankfully the before and after pics are in that twitter thread.

before: https://twitter.com/seanmhair/status/399029597032824833

after: https://twitter.com/CarolineG82/status/399026232802557952

Thanks for sharing

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Wow Rob. That is absolutely pathetic. Just.... I don't know what to say. Really?