Rob Ford's Toronto

[SecretSquirrel]

I agree. What do we make of this?

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=195604

If Blair were showing Ford favour, sending out a Cessna to tail his activities from on high would seem like a strange way to do it. But what if there is no larger criminal conspiracy involving the mayor? Come Friday, Blair may have some explaining to do.

I gotta say, I expect better from di Matteo. You can "what if..." 'til the cows come home, but it is still correct to beef about Ford. I am unclear as to why anyone would still assume that Ford does not have some ties to organised crime.

What if the video actually shows Ford smoking harmless tobacco and his crack-smoking admission was given under duress as a police sniper trained a red dot on the back of Ford's head? What if Blair is actually a seven-foot-tall reptile in a human suit and Ford is all that is preventing Blair and his coven of reptile-policemen from summoning Cthulhu to destroy downtown Tokyo... err, Toronto?

I'm not an uncritical Blair fan, and as a fairly mainstream-y taxpaying type I don't think I'll ever forgive him/TPS for what happened to our city during G20. However: I'd be more inclined to believe that there is no larger criminal conspiracy surrounding the "Mayor" if not for, y'know, all the circumstantial evidence...

For starters: I'm still very, very interested to find out more about the links between Ford and di Battista.

 

[JWBF]

Gee, it must be nice to just show up as mayor and get a seat someone else paid for, I hope Matt is reimbused by "security and NFL".

Did Mayor Ford steal rocker's seat at Bills game?

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/01/did-mayor-ford-steal-rockers-seat-at-bills-game

 

[dforthandbview]

Bill Blair has some explaining to do
It’s starting to look like the entire police investigation into the mayor may have been designed to embarrass him out of office

http://nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=195604

"Police noted the mayor watching a video on a cellphone handed to him by Lisi after which the two became involved in an animated conversation."

Huh? Is that in the ITO? I know there's surveillance photos of Ford looking at a cell but it was a video that he was watching?? The cops were able to confirm that? That's news to me... Unless Lisi told the police that after he was arrested? Because, based on the surveillance photos, you sure as hell can't distinguish what Ford is looking at. Enzo, are you bending the facts a bit?

 

[evvabeing]

The Ballad of Rob Ford: The Musical

The 21-person cast, comprised of the playwrights’ friends, sang and danced to Story Involving the Mayor, Bosco Boys, Fit for Print, In a Drunken Stupor, Addict at Heart and Rob’s Song (The Ballad of Rob Ford), while accompanied by a live band.

http://watchmagazine.ca/2013/12/kings-student-plays-rob-ford-in-musical-about-torontos-mayor/

 

[tiffer24]

It will be a strange day in this city if Blair gets booted out of office before Ford.

 

[evvabeing]

"Police noted the mayor watching a video on a cellphone handed to him by Lisi after which the two became involved in an animated conversation."

Huh? Is that in the ITO? I know there's surveillance photos of Ford looking at a cell but it was a video that he was watching?? The cops were able to confirm that? That's news to me...

i haven't seen it say that ford was watching a video anywhere else... everywhere else says he looked at something on the cell phone. and at the soccer game isn't the only time. from the 250th page, or the page numbered 242 of the ITO...

e) Mayor FORD and LISI emerge together at approximately 11:10 pm. LISI appears to be showing Mayor FORD something on his cell phone.

 

[SunriseChampion]

It will be a strange day in this city if Blair gets booted out of office before Ford.

Yeah, if by "strange" you mean complete bollocks.

We'll see who gets the last laugh, but I sure hope it's my sometimes (when they're not beating me up or wrongfully arresting me) friends at the TPS.

 

[evvabeing]

So I was out on the fringes of Ford country this weekend (Scarlett Rd south of Lawrence) and it was again confirmed to me that Ford is still a frequent customer of Gardenia House (often leaving with Chinese food and a pizza box, oddly) as well as being a customer of Sun Cleaners. Maybe that's where he gets his actual dry cleaning done.

as in the pizza box is given to him by gardenia? wonder what's in there...

 

[TinyTiny]

as in the pizza box is given to him by gardenia? wonder what's in there...

Lisi was also spotted carrying a pizza box out of the Jay's drycleaning place too.

 

[Dubster]

Enzo's column reads like a Peepers post. http://nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=195604

I don't see why this is so hard to understand. The police probably heard from reliable sources that Ford was a big time criminal, they started an investigation to gather evidence, they have yet to get enough evidence they need to press charges. They were holding out on big things and so didn't risk the investigation with petty stop and seizures that would have ruined the investigation.

Blair is likely afraid for his job, but mostly in the event this investigation turns up bupkis. I think the Toronto Police just aren't really good at this kind of detective work, to be honest.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Dubster:

At this point, I am not sure why we are so obsessed with what the police know - the man has admitted to using crack himself and has demonstrated to have lied through his nose about it and everything else. Whether police ended up charging him is merely a technicality that wouldn't have done an iota to placate the conspiracy theorists.

AoD

 

[Tulse]

Whether police ended up charging him is merely a technicality that wouldn't have done an iota to placate the conspiracy theorists.

If the police can keep him in jail for 90 days, he can legally be booted from office, so it's more than just a technicality.

 

[pogopope]

Enzo's column reads like a Peepers post. http://nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=195604
I don't see why this is so hard to understand. The police probably heard from reliable sources that Ford was a big time criminal, they started an investigation to gather evidence, they have yet to get enough evidence they need to press charges. They were holding out on big things and so didn't risk the investigation with petty stop and seizures that would have ruined the investigation.

You think the police just recently became aware of the sorrid affairs of the Ford's?

There's a myriad of reasons I don't think any of them will end up being charged when all is said and done and wrong/right has little to do with it.

 

[Cooper]

Yep. I honestly hope he gets there.

 

[Blovertis]

At this point, I am not sure why we are so obsessed with what the police know - the man has admitted to using crack himself and has demonstrated to have lied through his nose about it and everything else. Whether police ended up charging him is merely a technicality that wouldn't have done an iota to placate the conspiracy theorists. AoD

Except that we need to know whether the police force for which we pay hundreds of millions of dollars is: (i) incompetent (ii) corrupt (iii) cowed by power or (iv) some combination of the preceding.

I am usually the first one to poo-poo conspiracy theories, but if the Fords ultimately face no charges given the information that's already come out about them, I'll be left with many questions about what's really going on.