Rob Ford's Toronto

[Kat_YYZ]

Which also reminded me of one nagging question from one of the ITO's.

It was the incident where a young staffer and his date were at RoFo's home to fix his computer, ended up in the basement and was offered a joint. One part of that paragraph was redacted and I remember it referenced the basement as "someone's" room. I thought maybe it was RoFo's and reading this article I am more convinced that our Mayor sleeps in the basement of his own home.

even if he doesn't sleep in the basement all the time, I wouldn't be surprised if he does it on the nights he comes back at 3 or 4 am (after one of his sports/City Hall/Muzik nights). Stumbling in late, he's likely to wake the kids. And if the stumbling doesn't wake them, the shouting match with the wife will. Better to just slink off to the basement.

or maybe it's Renata who sleeps there?!

 

[TOBorn]

Of course, incompetence isn't the only conceivable explanation.



I might be more skeptical about a Ford or associates connection with the murder of Anthony Smith if Twohey hadn't found it credible, if Nisar Hashimi hadn't been offered a plea deal for manslaughter that leaves him eligible for parole in three years, if the RCMP han't sealed the search warrant used against Hanad Mohamed, or if TPS hadn't additionally concluded that the shooting of Abdullahi Harun - the same day as the assault on Fabio and his girlfriend, was also unrelated to the video. Certainly, justice isn't being seen to be done.

Is it possible to have the RCMP working this case without us knowing about their involvement? (BC was just tweaking his nose with the jaywalking ticket?) I also agree that the plea deal was a real sweetheart one and seemed a bit off. So far what little has come to court with any possible hint of a Rob Ford connection has been pleaded out and, thus, the details of the crimes committed and the circumstancing surrounding the incidents has be been tucked away out of the public eye.

 

[jml]

I think Ford detractors have been hoping police have something huge on him behind the scenes for too long now. It's hurt the ability to make a public case against him based on what's publicly known, even though there's more than enough available to do it.

I think we're almost reaching the point where getting caught smoking crack was the best thing Ford could have possibly done to help get himself re-elected. He's got huge name recognition. t's made for a wide field of other candidates splitting the vote. His base is mobilized because they see him as being picked on. Nobody will ever hear a bad word about his policies because all the reporting is on the salacious behaviour, which he's been able to shrug off while the population becomes numb to it. And none of the other candidates will go in for the kill because they seem to think the police will any day now.

 

[Kat_YYZ]

I was re-reading the incident with Fickel, his ex-gf and the joint. Fickel and Hills' stories don't match. I've done some editing to keep the post from being too long -- there's more interesting detail in her story, so you can look it up. And depending on what version of the ITO you're working from, your page numbers may not be exactly the same as mine. I'm using the older version.

Fickel first gave a very short story on pg 113 and then "corrects" the previous story starting on pg 116:

ffff) This happened mid to late October 2012 at approximately 9:00PM
jjjj) After 15 minutes, the Mayor insisted that FICKEL's date come into the house because the Mayor thought it would impress her.
llll)The Mayor, his wife, FICKEL and HILLS sat in the basement living room/ *REDACTED* area and had an enjoyable conversation for approximately 10 minutes. The Mayor's wife was very quiet.
mmmm) Then the Mayor left the room and came back with a marihuana cigarette.
nnnn) The Mayor lit the marihuana cigarette, asked if anyone wanted any, and then proceeded to smoke it alone. FICKEL recognized the smell of the smoke to be marihuana.
oooo) After approximately 10 minutes, FICKEL and HILLS were uncomfortable and left the house. HILLS was shocked by what had transpired but they did not discuss it after the incident

this is followed by a few more observations, followed by a heavily redacted area -- about half a page.

Hills (pg 145):

a) FICKEL was picking HILLS up for dinner one weekend sometime in January 2013 at approximately 6:30 PM. ...
b) ... the Mayor insisted that HILLS come in the house as well. HILLS had waited in the car for about 20 minutes before she was asked to come in.
d) HILLS sat beside the Mayor's wife & introduced herself. The Mayor asked HILLS if she would like something to drink, like a beer. HILLS declined.
f) HILLS talked with the Mayor's wife about school, what she was doing and how she met FICKEL. After this conversation ended the Mayor asked HILLS if she smoked marihuana and if she'd like to smoke a joint. HILLS declined. After about 3 minutes the Mayor leaves the room and it sounded like he went up the stairs. He was gone for about 10 minutes.
g) The Mayor came back with something that looked like a joint. He was the only one that smoked it. It smelled like marihuana.
h) HILLS became uncomfortable after the Mayor began smoking the joint. He was the only one smoking it and he only offered it to her.
i) At one point while the Mayor was smoking the joint HILLS was texting her mother on her cellphone. The Mayor said "I hope you're not taking a picture of me". She told him that she was not.
k) *REDACTED* The Mayor was pretty red faced but HILLS did not see him drinking any alcohol.
n) HILLS and FICKEL were at the Mayor's house for an hour and a half.

So,
1) He says mid to late October 2012; She says January 2013.
Times are off, too, though hers could be when they arrived and his more like when they left (see point #3 for more on that!);
2) He says Ford asked if "anyone" wanted any; She says he offered it only to her (one reason she felt so uncomfortable). There's also a discrepancy over whether he offered first and then went to get the joint, or came in with the joint and then asked if anyone (or just VH) wanted any. But that's less important and easy to mix up.
3) Fickel's story suggests they were there for a short time -- seems like 30-45 minutes. Hills says they were there for an hour and a half!

 

[sublime]

I think Ford detractors have been hoping police have something huge on him behind the scenes for too long now...

Your credible concerns warrant a more insightful response than I can offer, at least tonight. So hopefully I don't come off as too glib for asserting there's no way in hell Ford's being re-elected, the vote isn't really split, and Ford's campaign is under-organized, under-funded, and not well considered. That Ford's most vehement public supporters are more likely to turn out for a free burger and beer than for a ballot, and that only Kinsella could possibly lose this for Chow. And I suspect KAT_YYZ may be a wizard.

 

[jml]

Your response wins post of the day... and we're only two hours in!

 

[adma]

I wasn't talking about everyone, just Ford.

Yeah, by over-knowing (is there such a term?) what we know about Ford, he might seem a perv at Caribana. But, get real--it's Caribana. Like all such Mardi Gras-style street festivals, scantily clad women and "cavorting" with them is part of the package, and everyone accepts that. It isn't like they're actually *twerking* him or anything.

It'd be like Sam Sotiropoulos branding Pride-marching politicians as "pervs" because of scantily clad *men* (and women, for that matter) lurking around the joint...

 

[adma]

I think we're almost reaching the point where getting caught smoking crack was the best thing Ford could have possibly done to help get himself re-elected. He's got huge name recognition. t's made for a wide field of other candidates splitting the vote. His base is mobilized because they see him as being picked on. Nobody will ever hear a bad word about his policies because all the reporting is on the salacious behaviour, which he's been able to shrug off while the population becomes numb to it. And none of the other candidates will go in for the kill because they seem to think the police will any day now.

Except when it comes to illusion vs reality, how big is that immovable "base" in the end? Just because certain of them are particularly vocal about it (eg. IHTWORF) doesn't mean they represent something *that* cretinously large. You're making more of the surface evidence then there actually is.

Plus, given the nature of the Fords' robocall outreach--yeah, the cavernous mostly-empty space camoflauged the fact that the Ford launch was "better-attended" than Chow or Tory; but, how many of those were 905ers and whatnot?

 

[CityPlaceN1]

905ers are still giving him money. What a joke.

 

[sno man]

905ers are still giving him money. What a joke.

Please stop saying that like the 905 is some monolithic hive of Ford support.

The ones giving him money are almost exclusively Conservative Party members. Big donators are often Developers looking to get projects done in the city, and the smaller donators drunk on the Con KoolAid, are doing it (against their own best interest) to screw Toronto.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Except when it comes to illusion vs reality, how big is that immovable "base" in the end? Just because certain of them are particularly vocal about it (eg. IHTWORF) doesn't mean they represent something *that* cretinously large. You're making more of the surface evidence then there actually is.

Plus, given the nature of the Fords' robocall outreach--yeah, the cavernous mostly-empty space camoflauged the fact that the Ford launch was "better-attended" than Chow or Tory; but, how many of those were 905ers and whatnot?

Agreed, adma. I've been using this argument for months with friends -- the selling of newspapers and comedy shows is obscuring the fact that his base is defending him from attacks not promising to vote for him again. The Ford Nation-ite who Mrs. RRR has been apprenticing with (a Jamaican-born small businessman) continues to say that people are out to get Ford, but the bumbaclot rant made this particular guy basically say he's not going to vote for him. Now, that doesn't mean he's going to vote for someone else, nor do I know if he voted last election. But that was the piercing of his particular Ford armor.

I'm betting of the 1000 or so that were there, no more than 500 can or will vote for him. They were there for bobbleheads and spectacle. They might not even volunteer. Whereas, everyone at the Chow/Tory/Soknacki/Stintz launches were volunteers or media.

 

[the lemur]

Yeah, by over-knowing (is there such a term?) what we know about Ford, he might seem a perv at Caribana. But, get real--it's Caribana. Like all such Mardi Gras-style street festivals, scantily clad women and "cavorting" with them is part of the package, and everyone accepts that. It isn't like they're actually *twerking* him or anything.

It'd be like Sam Sotiropoulos branding Pride-marching politicians as "pervs" because of scantily clad *men* (and women, for that matter) lurking around the joint...

I'd be more concerned about Mammoliti filming people at Pride ... Not to get too off-topic, but Sotiropoulos seems like a one-issue candidate, fixating on one event outside the school year that the TDSB is associated with along with many other entities. I have not heard one word from him about anything related to education (except maybe 'My god, these other trustees are awful and they make me want to puke') and I suspect he is running interference for someone. Suddenly public nudity has become a dog-whistle for social conservatives and the Fordite trolls on Twitter are clamouring for the law regarding public nudity to be enforced at Pride. What gives?

 

[pattycakes]

Please stop saying that like the 905 is some monolithic hive of Ford support.

The ones giving him money are almost exclusively Conservative Party members. Big donators are often Developers looking to get projects done in the city, and the smaller donators drunk on the Con KoolAid, are doing it (against their own best interest) to screw Toronto.

Why would developers give him money this time? He's proven that he can't get anything done in council, he's useless to developers. That's why they're selling the bubbleheads and t-shirts

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Him being friendly to developers? Yeah, unless it's in his ward like Humbertown. He like to talk the good talk, but when push comes to shove he is as much a NIMBY as anyone else. But of course, it's not like there is much happening in his ward now is there?

AoD

 

[sno man]

Why would developers give him money this time? He's proven that he can't get anything done in council, he's useless to developers. That's why they're selling the bubbleheads and t-shirts

But look at all those cranes in the sky, right?

The Vaughan fundraiser is a 'friendly' little FU to Toronto, with hardworking Toronto taxpayers subsidizing $225 of the $300 a plate dinner for guys that would drop 300 bucks for a dinner out, just having dinner out.