Rob Ford's Toronto

[Jimmi T]

What follows is purely anecdotal, and ought be taken as such, but as it seemed interesting and germane, thought it might be worthwhile fodder.

So, up at the in-laws, north of Barrie, for Easter. After the meal, the conversation over beverages continues. Brother-in-law asks, "What the heck is up with your mayor?" BinL , being from Collingwood and environs, so what does he know, right? You go through the usual explanations, as one does, but he comes back with this dismissive, hand-wavey, "You don't get it."

"What don't we get?"

Well, turns out he/they are friends with a senior OPP guy up there. With the caution that "He's a by the book. Won't reveal stuff, yada, yada-type cop" this particular service member has said they've been trying to nail the Fords for ages. Ages! Not just the TPS, or the OPP. For bad shit. A lot of it related to the laundering of money, but other, undisclosed, 'worse'. "Much worse". And every attempt to do so comes up against a protective social membrane that will not be broken. This is constituted by a nexus of capital, authority, politics and crime.

Apparently, the OPP has had these guys on radar for longer than Ford has been Mayor. And the Ford-ian utterance that 'People bigger than me' (or whatever it was) is seriously grounded in apparent investigative fact. And there is a serious amount of frustration at the stymey-ing of relevant, productive leads that comes from 'somewhere'. A mysterious 'above'. The 'Mobbed-Up' interjection offered was met by a slow,noncommittal, nod by BinL.

Again, and let's be clear, this was a post-prandial discussion with people who have nothing to do with the politics of the city, the Fords, none of it. But they seemed surprised at how stupid we were about 'what's really going on'. And, yeah, anonymous anecdotals from some cop who's a friend of a one-degree family separation. But, delivered in such a matter-of-fact, 'why don't you get this' kind of way made me think The Joker is in command.

Don't want to pretend to know anything. But this all kind of left us jaw-dropped.

As you were.

My main source once said the crack video scandal shone a light on something cops long suspected was happening with Ford but they could never prove. They sometimes speak in this code rather than straight up telling me what's happening haha. So maybe they have been after him for years.

 

[ThinkRicky]

It's too bad there are no brave police willing to take justice into their own hands for the greater good, because it seems the system works mainly to shield corruption at this point.


Hahahah who am I kidding, there are no brave police.

 

[soimelk]

What follows is purely anecdotal, and ought be taken as such, but as it seemed interesting and germane, thought it might be worthwhile fodder.

So, up at the in-laws, north of Barrie, for Easter. After the meal, the conversation over beverages continues. Brother-in-law asks, "What the heck is up with your mayor?" BinL , being from Collingwood and environs, so what does he know, right? You go through the usual explanations, as one does, but he comes back with this dismissive, hand-wavey, "You don't get it."

"What don't we get?"

Well, turns out he/they are friends with a senior OPP guy up there. With the caution that "He's a by the book. Won't reveal stuff, yada, yada-type cop" this particular service member has said they've been trying to nail the Fords for ages. Ages! Not just the TPS, or the OPP. For bad shit. A lot of it related to the laundering of money, but other, undisclosed, 'worse'. "Much worse". And every attempt to do so comes up against a protective social membrane that will not be broken. This is constituted by a nexus of capital, authority, politics and crime.

Apparently, the OPP has had these guys on radar for longer than Ford has been Mayor. And the Ford-ian utterance that 'People bigger than me' (or whatever it was) is seriously grounded in apparent investigative fact. And there is a serious amount of frustration at the stymey-ing of relevant, productive leads that comes from 'somewhere'. A mysterious 'above'. The 'Mobbed-Up' interjection offered was met by a slow,noncommittal, nod by BinL.

Again, and let's be clear, this was a post-prandial discussion with people who have nothing to do with the politics of the city, the Fords, none of it. But they seemed surprised at how stupid we were about 'what's really going on'. And, yeah, anonymous anecdotals from some cop who's a friend of a one-degree family separation. But, delivered in such a matter-of-fact, 'why don't you get this' kind of way made me think The Joker is in command.

Don't want to pretend to know anything. But this all kind of left us jaw-dropped.

As you were.

Makes you wonder if the OPP PR move a few weeks ago might have been an investigative strategy.

 

[hper]

OK, so you're saying the TPS and the OPP have been outsmarted by the likes of Rob Ford and Doug Ford and Randy Ford and Diane Ford?? <head spins off neck and falls to floor>

To be clear, I know FA. And what I am saying should be regarded as BS. This is all second hand from people who inhabit the region north of T.O., who, FWIW, seem to regard us all as morons who can't see what's plainly in front of our faces. I would prefer to outright reject their insinuations and observations. But that wouldn't be rational.

 

[EagleEye]

Makes you wonder if the OPP PR move a few weeks ago might have been an investigative strategy.

Especially since they barely said a word about it. You would expect that when something involving the mayor comes down, a more formal announcement would be made, even more so when it is a slap down of a local police force.

 

[sno man]

Makes you wonder if the OPP PR move a few weeks ago might have been an investigative strategy.

I'd be more inclined to that, if Fantino hadn't been the one early in his tenure to promote Hawkes to one of his deputies... (and hope I'm wrong about that)

 

[TOBorn]

More like they have way more important friends than us. (Nearly as big a mystery, to me...)

So just maybe Doug Ford wasn't blowing smoke when he said 'in his 30 years of politics'. The family's connections must go way back if they're being so heavily protected (and what do these buffoons have on the guys higher up the totem pole that warrants that level of protection?).

"Councillor Doug Ford, Mayor Ford’s campaign manager, said it will be the biggest event in his 30 years of politics..."

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...nch-set-to-go-with-beer-mugs-and-bobbleheads/

 

[euler]

Jesus christ MetroMan pisses me off these days

Pedro Marques ‏@MetroManTO 1m
Plans for #Brazen2 are organic. Even well placed sources can't know for sure what's happening until actions are already in motion.

He is literally saying "I know nothing about anything, but I like to mention that I have sources so I'm going to post this worthless nonsense anyway"

Christ on a cracker someone get this guy off his Twitter celebrity high

Like really buddy, people don't know what's happening until it's happening? Fuckin' tell me more, this is *NEWS*.

 

[dforthandbview]

I'm starting to wonder if Ford's arrest will happen after the election (assuming that he loses). Maybe there are some people that would be willing to cooperate with the police once Ford becomes a private citizen again and no longer has the ability to pull favours at City Hall for those people.

 

[Expatriot]

What follows is purely anecdotal, and ought be taken as such, but as it seemed interesting and germane, thought it might be worthwhile fodder.

So, up at the in-laws, north of Barrie, for Easter. After the meal, the conversation over beverages continues. Brother-in-law asks, "What the heck is up with your mayor?" BinL , being from Collingwood and environs, so what does he know, right? You go through the usual explanations, as one does, but he comes back with this dismissive, hand-wavey, "You don't get it."

"What don't we get?"

Well, turns out he/they are friends with a senior OPP guy up there. With the caution that "He's a by the book. Won't reveal stuff, yada, yada-type cop" this particular service member has said they've been trying to nail the Fords for ages. Ages! Not just the TPS, or the OPP. For bad shit. A lot of it related to the laundering of money, but other, undisclosed, 'worse'. "Much worse". And every attempt to do so comes up against a protective social membrane that will not be broken. This is constituted by a nexus of capital, authority, politics and crime.

Apparently, the OPP has had these guys on radar for longer than Ford has been Mayor. And the Ford-ian utterance that 'People bigger than me' (or whatever it was) is seriously grounded in apparent investigative fact. And there is a serious amount of frustration at the stymey-ing of relevant, productive leads that comes from 'somewhere'. A mysterious 'above'. The 'Mobbed-Up' interjection offered was met by a slow,noncommittal, nod by BinL.

Again, and let's be clear, this was a post-prandial discussion with people who have nothing to do with the politics of the city, the Fords, none of it. But they seemed surprised at how stupid we were about 'what's really going on'. And, yeah, anonymous anecdotals from some cop who's a friend of a one-degree family separation. But, delivered in such a matter-of-fact, 'why don't you get this' kind of way made me think The Joker is in command.

Don't want to pretend to know anything. But this all kind of left us jaw-dropped.

As you were.

This kind of stuff drives me crazy. On one hand they claim to be incredulous that you don't already "know" stuff, but then they just use vague innuendo and winks and nods and won't actually tell you anything concrete about what that stuff is. Same with Jimmie T's source a few entries above. And MetroMan too, of course. This whole notion of some secret evil that can't even be actually shared feels like the rumor mill equivalent of vaporware. I have no idea what manner of devious behavior RF gets involved in (beyond that which is already common knowledge), but I wish some of these sources would either piss or get off the pot, so to speak.

tl;dr: these pretzels are making me thirsty!!!

 

[jml]

This kind of stuff drives me crazy. On one hand they claim to be incredulous that you don't already "know" stuff, but then they just use vague innuendo and winks and nods and won't actually tell you anything concrete about what that stuff is. Same with Jimmie T's source a few entries above. And MetroMan too, of course. This whole notion of some secret evil that can't even be actually shared feels like the rumor mill equivalent of vaporware. I have no idea what manner of devious behavior RF gets involved in (beyond that which is already common knowledge), but I wish some of these sources would either piss or get off the pot, so to speak.

tl;dr: these pretzels are making me thirsty!!!

Agreed. It's frustrating having him be Schrodinger's Mayor. Is he just an idiot and a terrible mayor who most likely participated in extortion or something much worse?

 

[TinyTiny]

Jesus christ MetroMan pisses me off these days



He is literally saying "I know nothing about anything, but I like to mention that I have sources so I'm going to post this worthless nonsense anyway"

Christ on a cracker someone get this guy off his Twitter celebrity high

Like really buddy, people don't know what's happening until it's happening? Fuckin' tell me more, this is *NEWS*.

I'm assuming you're Dimitri S. You look pretty much exactly how I pictured you would look.

 

[CalgarianExOntarian]

Apparently, the OPP has had these guys on radar for longer than Ford has been Mayor. And the Ford-ian utterance that 'People bigger than me' (or whatever it was) is seriously grounded in apparent investigative fact. And there is a serious amount of frustration at the stymey-ing of relevant, productive leads that comes from 'somewhere'. A mysterious 'above'. The 'Mobbed-Up' interjection offered was met by a slow,noncommittal, nod by BinL.

Again, and let's be clear, this was a post-prandial discussion with people who have nothing to do with the politics of the city, the Fords, none of it. But they seemed surprised at how stupid we were about 'what's really going on'. And, yeah, anonymous anecdotals from some cop who's a friend of a one-degree family separation. But, delivered in such a matter-of-fact, 'why don't you get this' kind of way made me think The Joker is in command.

Don't want to pretend to know anything. But this all kind of left us jaw-dropped.

As you were.

Feck. It's quite depressing to me that that implausible explanation for the way things are in Toronto is less implausible than all the others.

Naively, I can't get my head around the idea that powerful unseen forces are so awful.

Cynically, I'm skeptical that said unseen forces would see a big upside in staying close to the volatile, substantially-so-far-unexploded bomb of sleaze that is Rob Ford's mayoralty. (A smart bad guy would see the risk in Rob's lack of self-discipline, and be unimpressed by his lack of city-council influence, no?)

But despite those objections, what better explanation is there for the giant, growing mound of circumstantial evidence accompanied by no criminal charges at all, not even driving around with a horrifying blood-alcohol level and (probably) a solid quantity of cocaine and/or other illegal drugs on his person or in his vehicle?

 

[euler]

I'm assuming you're Dimitri S. You look pretty much exactly how I pictured you would look.

What a bizarre thing to say to somebody.

 

[CalgarianExOntarian]

While I'm in the mood for late-night rants, here is one more thing. I will try to be terse. To me, worse than the criminality, probable corruption, opposition to progress on transit and social issues, opposition to just about any useful thing a municipal government can do, international humiliation, etc, all of which are terrible and are in no way to be laughed off, worst of all is the endorsement, celebration, and worship of total bullshit.

I stumbled on this old-but-good-post earlier this evening.

Briefly, lying is defined as uttering a statement one knows to be false, with the intent to deceive. That's actually less awful than bullshitting, which is uttering something with no concern at all about whether it is true or false or just completely incoherent, with the goal of influencing the opinions of others. The saddest part of the whole RoFo story to me is the credible suggestion to political campaigners everywhere that if you're not sure you're winning, you need to amplify the BS.