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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Johnny Au said:
Downsview must be a celebrated WW2 hero. He once used his plane to shoot down hundreds of zeppelins undetected.
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Until he got separated from his platoon as they parachuted into Dusseldorf, and he had to ride out the war posing as a cabaret singer.
 
scomofo said:
we're not trying to figure out the Jeopardy clue, we're trying to figure out what was meant by this:
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My bad. I assumed Billy Bishop served in WWII.

Anyways Watson probably screwed up and assumed WWII = WWI somehow. I'm surprised something so intelligent would make that mistake, but I could see that happening.

In fact, Watson had to make a few mistakes to come up with Toronto:
1. Toronto isn't in the U.S. I'm guessing he equated U.S. with America and since Canada is technically an American country (continental) he decided to include Canada in the search.
2. Somehow deciding that WWII = WWI. I'm guessing that the roman numerals screwed Watson up.

Or perhaps the only airport named after any war hero that Watson's database knew of was Billy Bishop.

I'll ask him when we go out for coffee next week (he's grown legs, right?) ;)
 
Johnny Au said:
I wonder what would Ford Nation think of Jeopardy!
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JasonParis said:
The more chatter I hear and the more I read, I'm ever more convinced that the #1 reason a sizable group of the public still support Rob Ford is that they perceive him as being a victim of media hounding. They basically feel sorry for him.

I think on all levels that is ridiculous, especially in light of the recent incident which was recorded by private citizens, not the media. There's also nothing the media has reported on in the last three years that hasn't proven to be eventually true. He's the victim of good investigative journalism basically. Moreover, media "hounding" of Rob Ford is more or less related to him not providing the same access former Mayors did and refusing to answer some very important questions. He also refused the CBC and Toronto Star most media requests from Day #1 as Mayor. The media is doing their jobs and he's avoiding them like few public figures ever had previously. The media are also in competition, not in a conspiracy as Doug would suggest. Yet, people see the cameras and mics being shoved in his face and feel sorry for him. Some educated people I know still seem to give him some support for this very reason. He's the rebel fighter against the media machine narrative.

I'm sort of talking out loud here, but I'm not sure how to change the perception of what is actually going on here. The media should be vindicated and thanked, yet it seems to somehow generate RoFo sympathy.
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And the irony is that by and large, the media *has* sought to leave Rob Ford's "personal life" alone--that is, by allowing him to go about his personal business without French-paparazzi stalking him at every opportunity. It's just common discretion. Even re the Steak Queen incident, it isn't like the media tagged him and followed him and spied on him there--he was genuinely free.

Who he should be blaming is the non-media regular folk who seek to take pictures of him, to film him, and to share. This isn't stuff that the media pursued; it's stuff that fell into their lap.
 
ahm said:
i kind of doubt it. looks to me like people are soaking up the talking points, and repeating them so much on-line and in bar room conversations, that they have the patter perfect. also, the ttc is travelled by plenty of folks who are, for lack of any better words, mentally ill. functioning in society in general, but still mentally ill. they are desperate for conversation and recognition and validation, and ford and his kind seem like the perfect guys for them to get behind.

in another way, though, yes, ford has bought these guys. not directly, but things like peeling off $20s for the poor in TCHC is in a sense buying this kind of loyalty. these guys may not have directly gotten that cash, but they probably feel like they owe it to the mayor to defend him, seeing as somebody who is just as likely to be as poor as they are did.
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I can see 'saved the city lots of money' as a spontaneous talking point, because it sounds good enough that it almost doesn't need to be fact-checked, but 'did everything he said he would'? Most people don't remember half of Ford's campaign promises. Replace streetcars with 'clean hybrid buses'? Bike trails linking to the islands? Smaller city council? Ford himself never mentioned most of that after the election.
 
the sun's part 2 is available...

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/01/23/rob-ford-crack-video-hits-the-fan

best refreshed info in there, in my opinion...

Farah first approached the Star’s Robyn Doolittle in March.
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The Gawker story made one more interesting note: “The tipster and I both fear that the owner will try to sell the video back to Ford. That would be a shame.â€
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Ford’s former press secretary George Christopoulos told police the mayor’s staff didn’t understand why he was hired and “everyone was aware that Price had a past of drug dealing.â€
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While waiting for the mayor on that crazy spring morning, Price was in “crisis management mode.†He later told investigators he recognized the house in the Star’s photo and wanted to confirm it was 15 Windsor Rd. “The mayor never asked him to go to that address,†he insisted

He knew the home well. During the 2005 campaign, Price told police he used the Etobicoke house for several hours as an ad-hoc office and knew “Fab†-- Fabio Basso -- through a mutual friend.

Price knocked on the door to speak to Fabio “to find out if he knew anything about the situation.†But, he told police he left soon after when Basso’s sister, who appeared to be “high,†made it clear Price wasn’t welcome.
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If we are to believe this loyal family friend, Price never told the mayor about his visit. He also didn’t tell Ford about the two mysterious phone calls he received that day from an anonymous supporter.

“Is this Dave?†asked the caller from an unknown number. It was around 8 a.m. and Price later told police he didn’t know how the man got his cellphone number.

Price said the caller had heard the alleged drug dealer who recorded the video could be found at 320 Dixon Rd. But, without a specific unit, the information wasn’t very helpful and Price insisted he forgot about the call as Ford emerged from his home into a banshee of demanding reporters hungry for comment.
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According to their interview with former communications advisor Isaac Ransom, Ford came into the office insisting there was nothing to the story. “This was not the worst that was going to happen. This was going to blow up and there will be people in bigger trouble than me,†he recalled Ford telling him.

“What does that mean?†Ransom asked him.

The mayor just kept repeating the situation was bigger than him and that he wasn’t involved.
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