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Rob Ford's Toronto

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casita said:
Doug can't force poor not-so-little MiFo do do anything against his will. He is over the age of 18 and a free man.

Did MiFo inherit Ward 2, or did Ward 2 inherit MiFo? Depends on your point of view, I suppose.
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Given that it would seem Kathy's not gonna get much of a slice of the Ford cash pie, who's to say her bastard child would get anything either? Unless of course, he agreed to do a few things for his uncles…
 
evvabeing said:
pickles... this post has stuck with me, and even though it should probably be on the mayoral race thread (http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/20317-2014-Municipal-Election-Toronto-Mayoral-Race) i gotta at least say something here.

http://www.soknacki.com/record/ is where he lists his accomplishments, and you are right, none jump out as being truly amazing. but it has me wondering... how long and impressive would the list be for councilors in similar positions for a similar length of time? seriously. i'd love people's thoughts / input on this.
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Off the topic of this thread but I'll give a brief response: Pleased to see you move from comparing him to Ford or Mammoliti to comparing him to other, more normal councillors. There are many councillors who are fairly dull and parochial to whom he compares favourably. None of them has become a candidate for mayor, though. They are happy in their little fiefdoms. Councillors who have successfully run for mayor -- Art Eggleton, June Rowland, Barbara Hall (all Liberals) Jack Layton, David Miller (both NDP), John Sewell and Mel Lastman (flirted with different parties) have evinced and demonstrated an interest beyond their own ward while councillors (Sewell, Lastman and Layton most particularly). Most were sitting politicians when they entered the mayoral race. Socknacki and Tory are the only serious candidates with a long hiatus between being politicians and running for mayor.

Like him or not, Tory has done a significant amount of community building in Toronto since he left politics, particularly in the Toronto City Action Alliance and in fundraising for many various good causesacross the City. He was awarded the Order of Ontario (by a Liberal gov't!) for his community work. I do not see a similar interest in City-wide issues from Socknacki, who retired from politics in 2006. In my view, he just doesn't have a base outside of Scarborough.

Finally, I'm not impressed with any of the candidates so far. I don't see a coherent and forceful vision plan for progress and growth from any of 'em.
 
For all that he's technically an adult, Mikey is still just a kid in any real world sense of the term. And his uncles/grandmother, who are the ones calling the shots in that horrid family, are monstrous bullies, yes. That's undeniable. And his mother is as useless a sack of protoplasm as ever you're likely to see, so she's no help. Also undeniable. So, based on all that, I could have some pity for him, were I so inclined, simply as one human being for another.

But that's provisional, based on just how willing an accomplice he is in the Ford family shenanigans, and since we have no way of knowing that, I don't think it unfair to come down on the side of assuming he's less innocent than he might appear. Sorry, but the family of jackals he's related to have long since closed that door. Giving any one of them any benefit of the doubt by this point is simply suicidal.

Look, he's either (a.) an unwilling participant, (b.) a willing accomplice, or (c.) a stooge. Those are the only choices. If it's (a.) then I feel sorry for him, but I feel a fuck of a lot sorrier for the rest of us, having to tolerate his family of criminal scum running wild, completely unopposed by anyone in a position of authority or power. The fact that they're using him makes him part of the problem even if he personally would rather not be there.
 
John_Dee said:
As a gay male, I can say this much: If Mikey is gay, then I can have some sympathy for him for no other reason than he's stuck with that hideous Ford DNA. That alone will ensure he's not in for an happy time of it in our youth and beauty-focused community...though I suppose there won't be any lack of gold diggers waiting to sink their claws into him in the delusional hopes of getting hold of some quick, easy cash. As if his family would ever allow that.

Likewise, since he always has that perpetual deer-in-the-headlights expression plastered on his lumpy face, I can sympathise with him based on the fact that he (usually) doesn't look like he wants to be there. If he is being coerced into this by his thug family, and if he really doesn't want any part of their political ambitions, then, yes, I can feel for the poor dummy. It's an unenviable position to say the least.

But aren't these dangerous assumptions to make? He was raised in the Ford family so isn't it just as likely that he's just every bit as nasty and entitled as his brutish uncles and vicious harridan of a grandmother? And even if he's not as bad as the rest of them, does he honestly deserve that benefit of the doubt? Even if he's being forced, he's still going along with whatever crackpot scheme they're cooking up. At the bare minimum, it looks like they're trying to extend the Ford politcial "dynasty," a little gameplan that I think most of us would prefer to see thwarted. So isn't it fair to say that anyone who starts weeping about how bad poor widdle Mikey has it is just playing into their hands? And isn't that precisely the sort of "high-minded" attitude that's gotten us into this mess to begin with?



Torontovibe puts it rather well there, but in addition: Suppose for a moment that a political rival of the Fords came from anywhere near as toxic a background as Mikey does. Can you imagine the sort of things they'd be saying about him? For crying out loud, Mikey's mother is a drug addict and a shoplifter, and his father is a convicted murderer. Does anyone here think for a second that Slob and Thug would hesitate to trumpet those facts every chance they got? Or that their media stenographers would fail to provide them with a platform to do so?

So why on earth are we still wringing our hands and blubbering about being "fair" to a member of the Ford family? Mikey could be comparitively innocent, yes. Anything's possible. But that's a dangerous assumption to make, and by this stage in the game, I really don't think they deserve any such courtesy. They've long since eliminated any rights they had to that expectation. Fuck 'em.
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Even if he did nothing else, the fact that Mikey was the willing errand boy and lapdog for his evil relatives makes him toxic. He gets no benefit of the doubt from me.
 
And Rob shows up for work this afternoon, just in time to call for the resignation of another city CEO?

reporterdonpeat 1:02pm via Twitter Web Client
Mayor Rob Ford now at City Hall & meeting with Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines today.
 
John_Dee said:
For all that he's technically an adult, Mikey is still just a kid in any real world sense of the term. And his uncles/grandmother, who are the ones calling the shots in that horrid family, are monstrous bullies, yes. That's undeniable. And his mother is as useless a sack of protoplasm as ever you're likely to see, so she's no help. Also undeniable. So, based on all that, I could have some pity for him, were I so inclined, simply as one human being for another.

But that's provisional, based on just how willing an accomplice he is in the Ford family shenanigans, and since we have no way of knowing that, I don't think it unfair to come down on the side of assuming he's less innocent than he might appear. Sorry, but the family of jackals he's related to have long since closed that door. Giving any one of them any benefit of the doubt by this point is simply suicidal.

Look, he's either (a.) an unwilling participant, (b.) a willing accomplice, or (c.) a stooge. Those are the only choices. If it's (a.) then I feel sorry for him, but I feel a fuck of a lot sorrier for the rest of us, having to tolerate his family of criminal scum running wild, completely unopposed by anyone in a position of authority or power. The fact that they're using him makes him part of the problem even if he personally would rather not be there.
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Mike Ford is running for political office. Like all politicians, he has opened himself to legitimate questions regarding his past, his credentials, his personal qualities, his finances, his motivations and his platform. Mike's tender age does not exclude him from the totally justified political concerns that apply to all elected officials. He is not a child no matter how immature he appears or who is controlling him. Mike Ford is a politician running for elected office. Plain and simple.
 
Mikey's mother is a drug addict and a shoplifter, and his father is a convicted murderer.
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A correction to an earlier post: Ennio Stirpe has been convicted of manslaughter (Michael Kiklas) and attempted murder (Angela Fantauzzi), but never of murder. The crown laid first-degree murder charges in the Kiklas case but the outcome of the trial was a manslaughter conviction.
 
John_Dee said:
So why on earth are we still wringing our hands and blubbering about being "fair" to a member of the Ford family? Mikey could be comparitively innocent, yes. Anything's possible. But that's a dangerous assumption to make, and by this stage in the game, I really don't think they deserve any such courtesy. They've long since eliminated any rights they had to that expectation. Fuck 'em.
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this is something that's been on my back burner for a long time now. true, the fords come out of the past few years looking like the terrible human beings that, i suppose, they've long been. but there's plenty of blame to go around.

the media have in some cases outright abdicated their duty to public interest, and often been caught out as incapable even of basic research, fact-checking, or prep-work.

the public have also not been nearly vociferous enough, i don't think, and the fact that toronto is unable to get rid of ford has made the city a laughing stock worldwide. there's been plenty of ironic twitter accounts and t-shirts, but why aren't people out in the streets? canadians aren't incapable of this: look at all those montrealers banging pots and pans in the street.

lastly, council deserves plenty of heat. why don't some of them walk out to the army of media sitting in front of ford's office - right now - and say in plain language that rob and doug are corrupt, incompetent, dishonest fools? where are the councilors ready to make a stand? the fords are bullies, and at some point this refusal of council to openly challenge them just looks more and more like tacit approval.
 
and rob decides, without consulting the police, to go ahead and read that bomb threat to the assembled media.

and wouldn't you know? the letter sent to doug (?) says the place will get bombed if rob doesn't resign.

man, i sure feel sorry for rob! he always seems to be a victim, don't you think?
 
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expat said:
and rob decides, without consulting the police, to go ahead and read that bomb threat to the assembled media.

and wouldn't you know? the letter sent to doug (?) says the place will get bombed if rob doesn't resign.

man, i sure feel sorry for rob! he always seems to be a victim, don't you think?
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Another fishy threat! Ya, shouldn't police be handling this?
 
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