Rob Ford's Toronto

[Huge Seagull]

What could be better for Ford at this point than being sued by a Toronto Star reporter? I hate to say it but that's the reality we're in. Yeah, a court would probably have police officers sitting there saying there were no pictures on the cell phone etc. but that won't be for months and months, assuming they don't settle. In the meantime, Ford gets to campaign with actual proof of how the media is out to get him. A reporter suing a politician is dicey enough but everything else about this plays into Ford's grand mythos of persecution, no matter how crazy that might sound.

Who gives a hoot? Whiners gonna whine. During all those months and months, folks in the general public will get more informed about the evening when the mayor raised his fist and mugged a reporter, stole his phone, recharged it, looked through it, made up a story about Dale being a peeping Tom, which was contradicted by the cops, the refusal to reveal the security camera footage, and so on. Robbie's cockiness ("I stand by every word," smiling at Robyn D.) is borne of his being accustomed to power, money, lawyers, etc. Not necessarily a reflection of reality. Don't be intimidated by that. It's a bluff. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. He's got it coming to him.

 

[TOperson]

I'm not a huge fan of Black but he's no idiot. He knows better than that. What if (to invoke Godwin's Law!) Ford said, "You know, I think Adolf Hitler had some really good ideas." ? Black would just go on to the next questions because that's Ford's opinion and it's not his job to debate him?

Actually Hitler did have at least one good idea: the first anti-smoking campaign, at a time when most people considered smoking harmless.

Not that it makes the rest of Hitler's deal OK. It's just an odd historical footnote.

 

[JustAnotherGuy]

So, not a real person? (What's a Max Headroom?)

Not for the first time, I suddenly feel old.

 

[sno man]

Before I never knew with whom I shared a birthday but Teri Garr. Now I can add Rob Ford's wife. Reading of journalists at Momma Ford's for the Christmas party it's all beginning to seem like Stockholm Syndrome. He really should be being ostracized. Maybe if I think people should be ignoring him then I should start with myself. It's so hard to tear away attention from this without any closure, but I'm beginning to believe that closure won't be coming, and watching him continue to jerk everyone around, grabbing all the attention despite all the horrid things he does, is becoming endless useless aggravation.

Happy Birthday!

 

[JWBF]

The only hope that Dale has to successfully sue Ford for defamation would be to prove that Ford lied about seeing Dale peeping into his yard. The video would provide definitive proof of this. In the absence of proof that Ford lied Fords comments to Black and his comments immediately after the incident are merely a father recounting his emotional response to discovering a man trying to take pictures of his children - at least this is how it will be viewed in the courts.

A video if it exists, the Fords should have produced at the time of the original investigation. I would like to see them charged with impeding a police investigation.

 

[CalgarianExOntarian]

Actually Hitler did have at least one good idea: the first anti-smoking campaign, at a time when most people considered smoking harmless.

Not that it makes the rest of Hitler's deal OK. It's just an odd historical footnote.

In future, just don't do that kind of historical footnote thing, please.

There's a chance some younger readers might think, hey, bad guy reputation in some ways, but in other ways, ahead of his time.

Meanwhile, other readers of what might be a generally decent and useful forum have their evenings wrecked trying to choose between "My response on the Hitler thing would just be throwing gasoline on a flame war, so I shouldn't post" or "God damn it, how can you not know that the anti-smoking thing is a speck of dust beside the mountain of genocide plus non-genocidal slaughter plus despair about what it means to be human."

I'm posting this, so you know which choice I made.

 

[Kat_YYZ]

Before I never knew with whom I shared a birthday but Teri Garr. Now I can add Rob Ford's wife. Reading of journalists at Momma Ford's for the Christmas party it's all beginning to seem like Stockholm Syndrome. He really should be being ostracized. Maybe if I think people should be ignoring him then I should start with myself. It's so hard to tear away attention from this without any closure, but I'm beginning to believe that closure won't be coming, and watching him continue to jerk everyone around, grabbing all the attention despite all the horrid things he does, is becoming endless useless aggravation.

Happy Birthday typezed!

This is a work event for the reporters. It's not their job to enable or un-enable Ford. This is a politician throwing a work-related holiday party for co-workers and people who do their job around his job. They are in their capacity as guests (hence no filming, etc) but they are not warmly-welcomed "friends" there -- they know it and the Fords know it. He's asked that they not take pics inside the home (I think that's fair) but he knows they are attending so they can report on it and on him.

 

[Bennett000]

How much and how?
It can't be purely because my telly is never on and I barely use my laptop.

Over four hundred dollars ($400) for the last two months. I don't know how. I was visiting one of my sisters this evening, and her bill for her whole house for two months was only one hundred and seventy five dollars ($175). I've got a friend who's an electrician, and I'm going to get him to check out our metering.

Prior to the AC/Dehumidifier we got at the start of this past summer, our bills were still around two hundred and fifty dollars, which is still too high. I do have three computers that never turn off (2x celerons, and a core 2 duo with two RAID arrays), a Wii, and a DSL modem, plus we're avid cooks, and have on site laundry.

This is the last I'll say about this off topic business. Feel free to PM me if you want any more info.

 

[kbdid]

In future, just don't do that kind of historical footnote thing, please.

There's a chance some younger readers might think, hey, bad guy reputation in some ways, but in other ways, ahead of his time.

Meanwhile, other readers of what might be a generally decent and useful forum have their evenings wrecked trying to choose between "My response on the Hitler thing would just be throwing gasoline on a flame war, so I shouldn't post" or "God damn it, how can you not know that the anti-smoking thing is a speck of dust beside the mountain of genocide plus non-genocidal slaughter plus despair about what it means to be human."

I'm posting this, so you know which choice I made.

Wow, so this thread has Godwin'd at least once, sheesh...next we'll learn Hitler liked puppies or encouraged exercise or something. Always best just not to mention him.

 

[Peepers]

A video if it exists, the Fords should have produced at the time of the original investigation. I would like to see them charged with impeding a police investigation.

According to the Star and other media - the police actually viewed the video so the Ford's didn't impede a police investigation by withholding the video. The fact that Dale wasn't charged after police reviewed the video is proof that Ford lied about Dale "bobbing" up and down over his fence which gets back to my question. Why didn't police charge Ford with public mischief for telling a lie that caused police to open a criminal investigation of Dale?

 

[Bennett000]

According to the Star and other media - the police actually viewed the video so the Ford's didn't impede a police investigation by withholding the video. The fact that Dale wasn't charged after police reviewed the video is proof that Ford lied about Dale "bobbing" up and down over his fence which gets back to my question. Why didn't police charge Ford with public mischief for telling a lie that caused police to open a criminal investigation of Dale?

I would wager nobody wanted to go through the ordeal, over a measly public mischief charge. Even if the video proved Ford was wrong, Ford would just turtle up, and claim he thought his family was in danger. Even with the video, Ford would just back up to "my neighbour told me the guy was hopping over the fence, my kids, gravy, blah".

 

[Kat_YYZ]

In future, just don't do that kind of historical footnote thing, please.

There's a chance some younger readers might think, hey, bad guy reputation in some ways, but in other ways, ahead of his time..

If that's how the younger generation thinks, we are screwed, bro.

But the real monsters of humankind look just like you and me. The fact is you WILL see an absolutely horrible human being pick up and cradle a wounded bird, or give his old grandma a foot massage. Same person kills a child the next day in cold blood. The problem is people who think bad guys look like Disneyfied monsters with horns and evil eyes and blood dripping from their jaws. That's why when they see an apparently "average" person with a few sane ideas they refuse to believe s/he could be evil.

 

[TOperson]

hey, bad guy reputation in some ways, but in other ways, ahead of his time.

That can be said of nearly every major historical figure though. If we must stop mentioning people who did evil things, who are we going to talk about?

 

[TOperson]

If that's how the younger generation thinks, we are screwed, bro.

But the real monsters of humankind look just like you and me. The fact is you WILL see an absolutely horrible human being pick up and cradle a wounded bird, or give his old grandma a foot massage. Same person kills a child the next day in cold blood. The problem is people who think bad guys look like Disneyfied monsters with horns and evil eyes and blood dripping from their jaws. That's why when they see an apparently "average" person with a few sane ideas they refuse to believe s/he could be evil.

Excellent point. Not to derail the thread, but unfortunately many people don't have to look further than their own extended family or friendship circle to find someone who has done a truly terrible thing. They just might not know it.

 

[CalgarianExOntarian]

That can be said of nearly every major historical figure though. If we must stop mentioning THE WORST PERSON IN THE 20TH CENTURY, AUTHOR OF UNPRECEDENTED SUFFERING, who are we going to talk about?

Fixed that for you.

Jesus, I hate getting dragged into this, but please, please ... I don't know how to continue.