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Rob Ford's Toronto

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After watching the Ashleigh Banfield interview with Doolittle on CNN, it just occurred to me that not only has Rob Ford the man made Toronto out to be an ongoing international joke, but that his approval ratings are around 45% makes Torontonians look like absolute idiots to the world. Doolittle tried to explain and tone down his high approval ratings but the case just wasn't made because it can't be. She described the contents of the recording that she saw along with homophobic and racist remarks he makes - yet 45% approve of the job he's doing. Toronto, and Canada for that matter, has been known to be progressive, friendly, safe - and now stories of drug dealers, gun runners who are friends with "the crack smoking Mayor" trumps our formally respected reputation.
Major Canadian cities are flying the Pride flag today as a form of protest for the opening of the Sochi Olympics - but not Toronto. How did that not happen? We know the answer.
This man absolutely must go.
 
I don't think anyone need to apologize when his worship said that he fellate his wife in public, and then chose to drag out her as a prop in his subsequent "apology" (I am not sure how much character is there to assassinate) In fact, we are still waiting for some action that would signify that one's apologies are not mere words in that and other regards.

AoD
 
atodaso said:
Myth does not even begin to describe the absurdity of the ford's claim to address constituents personally. That's the job of 311 Toronto which is a heavily staffed call center. To actually see these customer issues through would require a team of hundreds. Meanwhile, Ford proposed to cut back staff in the customer service side of city hall. Ford's 'personal service' amounts to nothing more than a few heavily publicized (and relentlessly repeated) token gestures.
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http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/06/rob_ford_lowincome_supporters_stand_by_their_mayor.html

“He’s made life harder for folks,†says Councillor Adam Vaughan. “He has done nothing for low-income people except answer their phone calls, show up, scream at a hole in the wall and leave. . . . He doesn’t fundamentally fix the problem.â€
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"scream at a hole in the wall and leave" -- perfect.
 
animatronic said:
The witness interviewed on TV reported Rob saying "the bitch almost hit me". I took this to mean he got a ticket for walking in front of a squad car as he jaywalked across a major road.

It's not that he's a Broncos fan, it's that the cop didn't want to be picking bloody chunks of hair and Broncos jersey out of her car's grill.
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I thought the "bitch" who almost hit him was the Rob Ford fan interviewed on the CBC (someone here posted a clip a few pages back). It's strange, but with any Rob Ford story it seems impossible to pin down the details.
 
Just watched the extended interview on the Daily Show. I thought it went well! And even if the book is not Nobel Prize worthy, I think it is still good to support Canadian writers, especially when they get international exposure.

Adding: The domestic abuse/dysfunctional family/root causes have been discussed A LOT here at UT, by many people.
We have a big part of the story here in the thousands of pages.
 
Katie Simpson ‏@KatieSimpson24

Breaking: Mayor Rob Ford says he does not support raising the rainbow flag at city hall. Says Olympics not about sexual preference.

edit: looks like he's asked the city manager for it to be removed.
 
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SFO said:
Fair assessment of the book---it feels workmanlike and a bit superficial. Not surprising. It was written in a hurry and I doubt it went through much of an editorial process.
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I agree. Three months to write and edit 90,000 words doesn't leave a lot of time for editing. A few other things to bear in mind. First, good reporters aren't good writers by default. It's more important to get the info than to make it pretty. Second, Robyn Doolittle's manuscript would have been lawyered extensively, which likely accounts for some awkwardness or hanging questions. Third, short of being compelled to testify or a frank disclosure from Ford himself (or his circle), there are some things we'll likely never know. I think the Star deserves credit for pursuing this story so aggressively. It may not be the most elegant paper around, but they did the bulk of legwork. As for Crazy Town, it's a good document of what is knowable so far, with some interesting bits for us news junkies from days before "Crack Mayor."
 
dforthandbview said:
Katie Simpson ‏@KatieSimpson24

Breaking: Mayor Rob Ford says he does not support raising the rainbow flag at city hall. Says Olympics not about sexual preference.

edit: looks like he's asked the city manager for it to be removed.
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He is clueless about what the Olympic Spirit is all about. Surprised?
 
I find Ford's unapologetic stance on gay issues the last few days interesting. I don't think it's an accident. It's almost as though everything is a "Fuck You" to everyone who isn't Ford Nation. It's like he's trolling the city.
 
dforthandbview said:
Katie Simpson ‏@KatieSimpson24

Breaking: Mayor Rob Ford says he does not support raising the rainbow flag at city hall. Says Olympics not about sexual preference.
Click to expand...

Of course he doesn't, he's a homophobe and he's clueless.

Great news to see the flag raised in Toronto, thank you! This was not discussed in Council, I've no idea how they can determine what flag flies when but I did note in a FB link that Montreal, Vancouver & Calgary were flying their flags at City Hall but not Toronto, hence my comment.

Now that being a homophobe is all good and dandy thanks to the lead by our "Mayor", comments like this hit the Toronto Sun -

chuck burke ‏@chuckmburke 19m
@reporterdonpeat totally disgusting flying the pedo pennant over city hall
 
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#BREAKING: Mayor #Ford says he does not support raising rainbow flag at city hall for Olympics...has Cdn flag and he's on the move #TOpoli
 
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