Rob Ford's Toronto

[retailestate]

Thanks. I was previously unaware of this, as this is the first election cycle where I've really been devouring every detail I could find. Here's the article: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2014/04/03/rob_fords_first_big_fundraiser_is_set_for_vaughan.html.

Seems to me I should register to run for Mayor, get a load of my friends to donate $300 to my campaign and then hold one hell of a taxpayer-funded party. Looking at the rules posted on the City of Toronto website, I can't see anything which would stop me from doing this. Why $300 per person? That's the best bang for your buck: after $300 the rebate formula changes from 75% to a graduating lesser amount, so that if you donate $1,000 you're only getting back around 57.5%, at $2,000 a mere 45.4% and the $1,000 rebate cap means that after around $2,300 per person you're not getting any additional money back as a rebate at all.

So yeah - who's in? If Ford can milk the gravy train in this way, I say let's follow his worthy example!

PS I'm not serious, but this was an eye-opener for me. The only thing I like is that small donations get bigger rebates.

It would be funny to run a strictly Anti-Ford campaign funded by taxpayers using this funding strategy...

 

[the lemur]

I disagree. Family of five killed in this one. Dufferin and Bloor area.

Please don't watch if at all squeamish. But, it's the reason we used to take councillors on ride-outs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwwyfnZdgAc&feature=related

I'm a great believer in smoke alarms and sprinklers.

I think Crazy was referring to Ford's vote against making sprinklers mandatory in seniors' homes not too long ago.

Also, MADD and mandatory seat-belt laws. Laminated and tempered glass, crumple zones, side impact protection beams, collapsible steering columns and padded dashboards, improved fuel system integrity and fire retardant materials.

Some or all of those features will benefit Ford one of these days ...

 

[SecretSquirrel]

More stuff I didn't know:

Borrowing and lending

s75(1) (2) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996

A candidate or their spouse may borrow money for campaign purposes only from a chartered bank or other recognized lending institution. Only the candidate and his or her spouse may guarantee a loan for campaign purposes. Any unpaid guaranteed balance of a loan is considered to be a contribution.

The full amount of the loan must be paid directly into the campaign account.

So between that and the paper trail required for individual donations, the Fords really do need to be able to account for where all that money is coming from. No wonder they struggled with this sort of thing last time around. It's a lot harder than getting high/drunk/bullying pepole.

No borrowing from Deco! No contributions from Deco! Individual donors only! No cash donations over $25! Receipts!

Why, it's almost as if the law was designed to level the playing field and make it harder for those with money to just flat-out buy their way into power.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

The GTA doesn't produce an appreciable amount of food...that's Ontario. The GTA is the prime farmland that's been covered in concrete, in part to facilitate the raising of bank towers. Entertainment, well, again it might generate economic activity that you can measure, but the tangible benefits are pretty nebulous.
And when the last Toronto banker has ensured that the last oil-sand worker has extracted the last profitable square meter of bitumen, if there's a habitable planet left, we will assess the value of human activity much differently.

1. Not agriculture -- packaged food. Bread, bagels, etc. And the bank towers are on the swampy land that was just onshore from the landfilled harbour.
2. Movie and TV production, etc.
3. Piss off with your sanctimonious moaning, unless you're living off the land w/o power, motorized vehicles, and are paying for all goods through exchanges of other goods.

 

[kensingtoncat]

1. Not agriculture -- packaged food. Bread, bagels, etc. And the bank towers are on the swampy land that was just onshore from the landfilled harbour.
2. Movie and TV production, etc.
3. Piss off with your sanctimonious moaning, unless you're living off the land w/o power, motorized vehicles, and are paying for all goods through exchanges of other goods.

No.
I'll haunt you in a different form.

 

[newearthling]

And we have a new troll, your comments would be genuine if you bothered to quote in context, but alas you haven't seen fit to do so, pity. It was a nice try though, however, you should not be discouraged, practice makes perfect.

Having insight into one's self is a characteristic that, say, someone in Fraud Nayhsun would not have. So I am surprised that you cannot see your crudeness. But especially when given specific feedback, it would be good to take some time to look at behaviours that put other people off.
Maybe you chat that way with your friends,or at 4chan, or wherever else you like to hang out. But it is not acceptable in 'mixed', polite company.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Jesus Rink Rat, do you need a secretary? Sounds like a fabulous life you are living.

hahahaha... thanks for the offer, but I'm OK. It's a new gig for me, to be based on Barbados, but so far, so good.

 

[JWBF]

Thanks. I was previously unaware of this, as this is the first election cycle where I've really been devouring every detail I could find. Here's the article: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha..._first_big_fundraiser_is_set_for_vaughan.html.

Seems to me I should register to run for Mayor, get a load of my friends to donate $300 to my campaign and then hold one hell of a taxpayer-funded party. Looking at the rules posted on the City of Toronto website, I can't see anything which would stop me from doing this. Why $300 per person? That's the best bang for your buck: after $300 the rebate formula changes from 75% to a graduating lesser amount, so that if you donate $1,000 you're only getting back around 57.5%, at $2,000 a mere 45.4% and the $1,000 rebate cap means that after around $2,300 per person you're not getting any additional money back as a rebate at all.

So yeah - who's in? If Ford can milk the gravy train in this way, I say let's follow his worthy example!

PS I'm not serious, but this was an eye-opener for me. The only thing I like is that small donations get bigger rebates.

God bless Ford Nation for not supporting local businesses and finding more gravy for themselves from the pockets of taxpayers.

 

[newearthling]

3. Piss off with your sanctimonious moaning, unless you're living off the land w/o power, motorized vehicles, and are paying for all goods through exchanges of other goods.

Well, now we are entering ideology country. We don't need to be off the grid hippies to be opposed to nature-killing energy policies and practices.
I am opposed to the tar sands as well. Europe is doing a much better job at 'green energy' than we are. Perhaps we could be more progressive too, except that this brand of reform/conservatives are oil company lackeys. This includes Ford who seems to have a 'scorched earth' outlook as well. There is no conservation with these type of conservatives.

 

[Doomstown]

 

[animated]

https://twitter.com/reporterdonpeat/status/453573043697487872

Donating 10,000 eggs.

 

[greenegg]

https://twitter.com/reporterdonpeat/status/453573043697487872

Donating 10,000 eggs.

I always found it weird and rather disrespectful of him to throw the eggs on the ground for the kids to pick up....like Kimmel said, it looks like he's feeding birds.

 

[animatronic]

The "win a date" was a fake, and Doug Ford is pissed (or so twitter tells me). What is real is the rebate on the cost.

Just tell her to stay alert, walk tall, carry mace, take self-defence classes & don’t dress like a whore.
#DontBeAVictim #StreetSmart

 

[JWBF]

Having insight into one's self is a characteristic that, say, someone in Fraud Nayhsun would not have. So I am surprised that you cannot see your crudeness. But especially when given specific feedback, it would be good to take some time to look at behaviours that put other people off.
Maybe you chat that way with your friends,or at 4chan, or wherever else you like to hang out. But it is not acceptable in 'mixed', polite company.

And another troll... you need more practice as well.

Anyway, although humourous, and at times cute and adorable, I would rather stay on the topic at hand, Mayor Rob Ford's Toronto.

Cheers.

 

[Forgotten]

So, maybe I'm just optimistic but I read those tweets and think it all still adds up and remains consistent with the larger narrative. He may well be right about "private citizen Ford" having to deal with this (especially when you think about how long it takes things to court, his penchant for appeals etc.) but surely Brazen 2 can't go on THAT much longer. One would have to think that, at the latest, they're shut down by Labour Day. Hard to picture election day coming and them still saying they're going at it. At some point they have to produce a result of some kind. Still have my fingers crossed; if you don't believe a guy so overtly, well, brazen isn't going to get justice, what are you gonna believe?

If you want justice, you've come to the wrong place. I admire your naïveté but justice has nothing to do with it.

We're in this quagmire solely because of one man's ego.

It's no secret he's in the twilight of his career. He knows the clock is running out.

He has every incentive to drag this out for as long as possible and milk the cows until they come home because the day is fast approaching when he won't be able to put his hand in the cookie jar anymore.

The public teat isn't a bottomless pit of entitlements: it will run dry. When that happens, we'll see if his goons and thugs will be so eager to close ranks to coddle and protect him.

It goes without saying he's well beyond his best before date. He clearly lacks the self-awareness to realize when it's time to ride off into the sunset and bow out gracefully with dignity.

He's like an aging quarterback who doesn't know when to quit and exit stage left because he's too addicted to the spotlight. Fortunately Father Time catches up with all and will call down the thunder on his dictatorship eventually.

I'm salivating in anticipation for the day when this overpaid paper-pusher announces he is coming out of retirement (again) to chase the one big fish that got away, in yet another sad pathetic attempt to recapture the glory in his past failures to bring home the chip.

It wouldn't actually surprise me in the least if, at one point, we end up seeing him behind the lectern making apologies for sexting selfies to other employees. The embarrassment this man puts his family through—I don't even—his ego is just that big.

You don't have to take my word for it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Actions speaks louders than words.

If you wanted any more proof of the police and media bias against Rob Ford, just look at the kiddie gloves they put on to handle the Toronto Raptor player caught with his pants down yesterday.

How many unmanned drones were in the air trying to make sure he was tucked in by his bedtime last night? How many reporters were waiting in the bushes to ambush him on his home driveway this morning?

We graciously let this guy into our country to make a living, he can't keep his pants on, and yet Rob Ford is the only one being crucified and burned at the stake. And for what? A few pops?

Why aren't the police chieves or the Ryerson dropouts at the Star calling for a jihad? When did Lithuanians get diplomatic immunity? Come on. It's so political.

You're fooling yourself if you think 100 Queen Street West is the only stop on the gravy train. It goes all the way up to the top levels at 40 College Street and 40 Bay Street.

This whole entire city is corrupt from top to bottom and there's only one man willing to stand dead centre on the tracks to stare down this runaway trolley right between the eyes and say that's it guys.

Brazen indeed.