Rob Ford's Toronto

[freshcutgrass]

This whole antagonistic relationship between the Fords and the media has obviously caused both parties to act a little over-zealous at times. I don't see any point in over dramatizing every infraction that takes place.

Every time the Fords take the offensive in this little war they have with the Star, it's the Star that has the last laugh.

 

[Kat_YYZ]

If in fact this winds up in civil courts Dale will have to prove that Ford was lying about seeing him looking over the fence into his backyard at his kids. Without that he has no case against Ford. Ford recalling in an interview what was going through his head the minute he saw a man (allegedly) taken pictures of his kids does not amount to defamation. He is not saying that Dale is a pedophile. He is just saying what was rushing through his head the moment he saw a man taken pictures of his kids. Just as the Toronto Star vets everything with their lawyers you can be sure that VisionTV didn't air this without getting the green light from their lawyers.

I didn't follow this story voraciously in 2012, but I can't find any mention of his kids being in the backyard. Do you have a source for that?
This article for the National Post indicate "The Mayor says he was helping his daughter Stephanie with her homework when his neighbour knocked on his front door and told him “there is somebody in your backyard, taking pictures,†and that the person was perched on cinder blocks peering in." http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/04/what-the-happened-the-night-rob-ford-confronted-reporter/

I don't recall anything back then about directly threatening the children or pedophilia. It's one thing to generally say that you don't want reporters snooping around your property and taking pictures for the sake of the kids' privacy/safety. But was it ever alleged until today that either of Ford's kids were in range of Dale's camera on that day? It's one thing to assert (however falsely) that Daniel Dale overstepped the limits and trespassed or invaded the Mayor's privacy; it's quite another to wildly speculate on his motives (saying he might be a pedophile; why not say he's a pervert hoping to catch a glimpse of his wife through a window while she changes clothes? Both illegal, but one carries MUCH worse stigma than the other).

I think you've really jumped the shark with this one, Peepers.

 

[Jado]

I realize this pales in comparison to the potential Daniel Dale defamation suit, but did anyone who took a gander at DoFo's wife's instagram page notice the insanely excessive number of hashtags she attaches to each post? I mean, how many idea links can a person reasonably extract from one photo? It's also hilarious, because, you know: Who puts the "hash" in "hashtags"....?!

 

[Peepers]

I didn't follow this story voraciously in 2012, but I can't find any mention of his kids being in the backyard. Do you have a source for that?
This article for the National Post indicate "The Mayor says he was helping his daughter Stephanie with her homework when his neighbour knocked on his front door and told him “there is somebody in your backyard, taking pictures,†and that the person was perched on cinder blocks peering in." http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/04/what-the-happened-the-night-rob-ford-confronted-reporter/

I don't recall anything back then about directly threatening the children or pedophilia. It's one thing to generally say that you don't want reporters snooping around your property and taking pictures for the sake of the kids' privacy/safety. But was it ever alleged until today that either of Ford's kids were in range of Dale's camera on that day? It's one thing to assert (however falsely) that Daniel Dale overstepped the limits and trespassed or invaded the Mayor's privacy; it's quite another to wildly speculate on his motives (saying he might be a pedophile; why not say he's a pervert hoping to catch a glimpse of his wife through a window while she changes clothes? Both illegal, but one carries MUCH worse stigma than the other).

I think you've really jumped the shark with this one, Peepers.

No I haven't "jumped the shark" on this one!

Take a look at what I wrote on this forum back on May 10 , 2012:

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/printthread.php?t=14268&pp=40&page=172

Worse than the initial encounter in the park - which can be considered an assault (and possession of stolen property if Ford made the call from the phone) is what happened afterwards.

Rob and Doug accused Dale of peeping over the fence and taking pictures. They made ugly insinuations essentially accusing Dale of being a deviant with interest in Rob Fords young children.

Rob Ford claimed that his neighbors saw Dale perched on cinder blocks taking pictures over the fence.

My comments were based on what was reported on TV and in print. With effort I could probably find links but I think that my contemporaneous account should be enough to prove that this is what the Fords were alleging all the way back in May 2012. I'm not making stuff up.

 

[notshocking]

I've been lurking here for a good couple of months now, and have greatly appreciated both the information and entertainment provided by this thread. Thanks to all concerned for that!

Tonight's Vision interview was something else, and it really made me appreciate the real risks that journalists like Dale run in doing their job. Ford's clearly a pathological liar, a drama queen and a sociopath, so it's initially easy to laugh off his hysterical accusations and off-the-chart assertions as just so much empty bluster. That said, there does remain a significant chunk of the populace (albeit nowhere so large as some reports would suggest, I think) that really is credulous and unsophisticated enough to believe his every absurd pronouncement.

No matter the contempt one might feel for these fools, I don't envy anyone in the public eye the experience of being called a pedophile by someone who has such an audience. Among these people are no small percentage of thugs and creeps in the mold of their crackhead bully of a hero, and it's truly, grossly negligent for Ford to throw such allegations around when he clearly knows exactly who's listening.

 

[nfitz]

I think you've really jumped the shark with this one, Peepers.

As the only poster here still defending that wife-beating child-abusing racist gay-hating piece of shit, then I think we can safely conclude that Peepers shares at least Rob Ford's attributes.

 

[OSS 117]

The half-assed way that interview was shot, simply cutting back and forth between Black and Ford in extreme close-up, it was really obvious how disgusting Rob's yellow, rotten, crack teeth are. Although, maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt and just assume he has scurvy.

 

[Forty Fs]

I don't envy anyone in the public eye the experience of being called a pedophile by someone who has such an audience. Among these people are no small percentage of thugs and creeps in mould of their crackhead bully of a hero, and it's truly, grossly negligent for Ford to throw such allegations around when he clearly knows exactly who's listening.

I don't think it's negligent. I think it's intentional.

The half-assed way that interview was shot, simply cutting back and forth between Black and Ford in extreme close-up, it was really obvious how disgusting Rob's yellow, rotten, crack teeth are. Although, maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt and just assume he has scurvy.

I've always been quite fascinated by the perfect colour match between his hair and his teeth.

I hope any escorts who may have got close to him were paid very well. Or were blind, deaf and anosmic. Ideally all of those things.

 

[nfitz]

Although, maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt and just assume he has scurvy.

Maybe we should petition the LCBO to require that Vodka is supplemented with Vitamin C.

 

[Peepers]

As the only poster here still defending that wife-beating child-abusing racist gay-hating piece of shit, then I think we can safely conclude that Peepers shares at least Rob Ford's attributes.

Have you bothered to read any of my above posts? Way back in May 2012 I was calling on police to charge Ford with public mischief (see the links I posted). How is this "defending a wife-beating child-abusing racist"?

 

[Electrify]

Did anyone have the misfortune to catch Strobel's article in the Sun? Seriously, I really hope when this man's time comes, it is a slow and painful passing (this was probably the least damning and incriminating comment I can post about this asshole)

Pam McConnell is LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!

“I’m lucky to be alive,†she sighs, two weeks after her near-death experience in city council chambers.

Oh, Pammy, Pammy, Pammy.

Cue the telethon.

Unless you’ve been in a coma or Ottawa, you know of Councillor McConnnell’s encounter with Mayor Raging Bull during the Chamber of Horrors incident Nov. 18.

Rob Ford, rampaging to the aid of belligerent brother Doug, who was in a screaming match with the public gallery, blundered into grandma Pammy.

The collision was described breathlessly by us media maggots, including the CBC, whose ringside reporter exclaimed, “Oh, my God, he’s ATTACKED somebody ... he ran at her and GRABBED her.â€

But the video clearly shows it was an accident. Ford did not see wee Pam until the last second and he cradled her as she sagged backwards. Watch the video, you’ll see what I mean.

Mostly, the episode was careless and ungentlemanly, especially Ford’s hesitation to apologize afterward. Let’s face it, Rob has a boorish streak as wide as Etobicoke Creek. And Pam has that knack for the hand-wringing common among lefties. But...

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!?

A survivor of a terrible disease is lucky to be alive.

The British parachutist who fell 15,000 feet and landed in a blackberry bush is lucky to be alive. Luckier than that blackberry bush.

The Apollo 13 crew was lucky to be alive. Captain Bligh, after 47 days adrift, was lucky to be alive.

Frank Selak, the Croatian music teacher who survived an airliner crash, a train wreck, a bus tragedy, two car fires and five marriages before winning a million-dollar lottery and was dubbed the World’s Luckiest Man by the UK’s Telegraph is most definitely LUCKY TO BE ALIVE.

“I am LUCKY TO BE ALIVE,†said Elton John, who had appendicitis last summer. Hmmm. Lucky to have concert cancellation insurance.

“I am LUCKY TO BE ALIVE,†said Glee star Cory Monteith, in 2011, referring to his history with drugs. Monteith, from B.C., died four months ago.

“I’m LUCKY TO BE ALIVE,†supermodel Sophie Anderton said of her cocaine past. Lucky to be 32C-24-35 with rivetting green eyes, you might say.

“I’m LUCKY TO BE ALIVE,†mused golf comedian David Feherty, after being clobbered by a pickup truck while cycling. Well, lucky it didn’t leave him with a hook.

Lucky to be alive? Did your life flash before your eyes? Did you leave your body and watch it all unfold below you?

Well, you may be a victim, all right. You may be dangerously hyperbolic.

Pam McConnell? She’s lucky to have a job involving taking people’s money against their will and using it to meddle in their lives.

And she is lucky our new society of victimhood allows her not only to be LUCKY TO BE ALIVE, but to ponder suing Mayor Mayhem.

“I’m looking at all the options to see what is available,†she tells our Terry Davidson. “At the moment, I have a report being done by security, and I’ve asked that the integrity commissioner look at that ... I’m not ruling out anything at the moment.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with chiropractors and massage therapists ... and certainly I’ve been battling with headaches. But, in general, I’m LUCKY TO BE ALIVE, and I’m very thankful I haven’t stopped my work.â€

We’re all grateful, plucky Pam, and, please, enjoy your new condo in Regent Park.

Finally, as readers have been heard to declare after surviving one of my columns: “I’m LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!

Strobel’s city column runs Monday to Thursday. mike.strobel@sunmedia.ca

I really am lucky to be alive, with folks like those listed here, recent donors to my Christmas Fund for Variety Village. Want to join them and perhaps win some fantastic prizes to boot? See Page 43 of Monday's Toronto Sun for details, or donate online at sunchristmasfund.ca. Do it, and your life will flash before your eyes — in a good way.



Renee D. Sheldon, Pickering $25

John Boros, Markham $25

Brian Heaton, Oshawa $25

Ross Peacock, Barrie $10

Helen Desjardins, Oshawa $20

Ralph Pawley, Courtice $25

Marianne M. Meinel, Scarborough $25

Thayer Bouck, Fonthill $50

Timothy Crowley, Toronto $30

Joyce Rennick, Barrie $15

Darlene House, Trenton $20

Carol E. Jones, Scarborough $50

Brian G. Gonzales, Scarborough $50

David G. Saville, Ajax $30

Joyce May, Brampton $150

Ruth S. Berg, Toronto $25

John Keenan, Mississauga $250

Roland Bahler, Ajax $50

Bonnie Finch, Clinton $25

Frank Smith, Toronto $25

Patricia Paolini, Etobicoke $25

Jeanne Colvin, Markham $25

Frank Devine, Scarborough $50

Janet E. Lumb, Toronto $100

Gigi Merek, Toronto $50

Deborah Ufnal, Oshawa $50

Michael Trigiani, Etobicoke $25

Tom Beavis, Campbellford $100

Birkdale Seniors, Scarborough $100

John Hill, Oshawa $10

Total: $1,460

To date: $4,216

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/08/ford-mcconnell-collision-hardly-a-near-death-experience

 

[Electrify]

Unfortunately I think that would be firing blanks. I got the impression that he felt that elected officials should work for free, or at least very little since they are already well off. He also brought up that Ford gives his salary away to charity, and spends little of his office budget (actually I think he overestimated the amount).

Love or hate the guy, he will make an interesting subject of research in future political science classes.

Forgot to add the biggest irony: prior to the group conversation going local, we were talking about how ignorant some Americans are...

 

[khris]

Maybe we should petition the LCBO to require that Vodka is supplemented with Vitamin C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_vodka

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Did anyone have the misfortune to catch Strobel's article in the Sun? Seriously, I really hope when this man's time comes, it is a slow and painful passing (this was probably the least damning and incriminating comment I can post about this asshole)

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/08/ford-mcconnell-collision-hardly-a-near-death-experience

I'm a McConnell fan, but IMO she flubbed that whole fiasco with the "I'm lucky to be alive" comment. With that silly remark she's being taken a whole lot less seriously now with regard to any injuries she incurred.
It should also be on the record here that after Ford ran into her and knocked her over he did indeed think fast on his feet and grab her before she could have completely fallen and potentially hurt herself badly, but from another less seen camera angle two others that were behind her are also seen grabbing her at the same time and helped catch & re-balance her.

 

[OSS 117]

I'm a McConnell fan, but IMO she flubbed that whole fiasco with the "I'm lucky to be alive" comment. With that silly remark she's being taken a whole lot less seriously now with regard to any injuries she incurred.
It should also be on the record here that after Ford ran into her and knocked her over he did indeed think fast on his feet and grab her before she could have completely fallen and potentially hurt herself badly, but from another less seen camera angle two others that were behind her are also seen grabbing her at the same time and helped catch & re-balance her.

if he was fast on his feet, he might have, you know, stopped running, instead of continuing to speed along with McConnell stuck to the front of him like a bug that's hit a windshield.

And she's an old lady. If she'd fallen and hit her head, which nearly happened, yeah---she could have died.