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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Another possible scoop: On Tuesday, I'd heard from a City Hall observer I sometimes sit next to in Council (not Graphic Matt) that told me The Star's legal team has prepared a lawsuit against Rob and Doug for harming their brand with the allegations that the paper has been persecuting them and lying in their stories. It just occurred to me that with evidence of this last scandal likely coming with the release of the video, they now have a case. TheStar was doing its job reporting on news and both Doug and Rob have publicly accused TheStar of making it all up. I hope the Fords have a lot of business cards and magnets lined up because they sure are going to need the money.
 
MetroMan:

Might not be the best thing to do before the video/article/other juicy stories are released - just to deny the possibility of this whole thing from being reframed to the Fords vs. Toronto Star.

AoD
 
PinkLucy said:
I know that the money can be returned to the donors, but I'm wondering if the sellers of the video would take a lower amount or will they hold out? I bet Gawker could bargain with them. After all, wouldn't they rather have, say, $150k, than nothing?
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Not can. It will. It's a fixed fundraiser. Either they get at least $200K to fund their goal or the campaign fails and the money is returned. If it reaches $199,999.99 it fails and whoever donated gets their money returned. This will actually help the campaign in the end I think. The people who contributed, clearly want the video to come out and have a stake in the campaign succeeding. If on the last day there's still $30K to be raised, you can bet that a lot of those who already contributed will double up while others who've been sitting on the fence might finally decide to act.

We're $14K a day right now. It's outperformed that so far with yesterday being $28,000. Unless there's a major story that distracts people from this (unlikely) or if Ford confesses and resigns, the $200K appears to be near certain. Beyond that, we move to Gawker actually purchasing the video. They say that Jon Cook has remained in touch with the seller so it's fair to say that because the campaign has been maintained that the video still exists and the seller still wants to sell.
 
Ford in my opinion has betrayed the public trust by his actions.

All this current side show is just a distraction from Ford's wanton need to subvert Toronto's democracy.
 
PinkLucy said:
I know that the money can be returned to the donors, but I'm wondering if the sellers of the video would take a lower amount or will they hold out? I bet Gawker could bargain with them. After all, wouldn't they rather have, say, $150k, than nothing?
Click to expand...

That's not the way the website works, though. If you don't meet your target, all of the money is automatically returned. The website has the money right now, not Gawker.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
MetroMan:

Might not be the best thing to do before the video/article/other juicy stories are released - just to deny the possibility of this whole thing from being reframed to the Fords vs. Toronto Star.

AoD
Click to expand...

Right. But once the video is out, TheStar has a key piece of evidence to demonstrate that the Fords have knowingly tarnished The Toronto Star's brand for political gain. That's gotta be worth a handful of $millions. They can sit on it for a few months (or until the next election should he have no respect whatsoever for voters and decide to run) while this is played out. It would also be a way for TheStar to make its case in a court of law and clear its name. You can bet that Ford's dirty laundry would be put out on display all over again.
 
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Gavin said:
That's not the way the website works, though. If you don't meet your target, all of the money is automatically returned. The website has the money right now, not Gawker.
Click to expand...
Can they change the target though? So if the sellers agreed to a reduced price?
 
PinkLucy said:
I know that the money can be returned to the donors, but I'm wondering if the sellers of the video would take a lower amount or will they hold out? I bet Gawker could bargain with them. After all, wouldn't they rather have, say, $150k, than nothing?
Click to expand...

Others that know more about group funding can speak better to this but I don't think it is an option....I think if, at the deadline, they are at $199,999.99 all the money is automatically returned and the fundraising is deemed to have failed.

PinkLucy said:
And re the reporters, what TOperson said above. Not only has the Star been clear in what it said, but they grilled those reporters separately to make sure they weren't making it up. It seems very clear that the reporters believe they saw a real video, etc. If the video never turns up or is proven to be fake, I don't think they'll get fired because they were reporting on what they believed to be true, they weren't making stuff up.
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Right, I think the Star is fine...but if in the end it turns out that, despite the grilling, the reporters have misled their employees (very unlikely, I admit) then they have to be fired. (IMO).
 
PinkLucy said:
I know that the money can be returned to the donors, but I'm wondering if the sellers of the video would take a lower amount or will they hold out? I bet Gawker could bargain with them. After all, wouldn't they rather have, say, $150k, than nothing?

And re the reporters, what TOperson said above. Not only has the Star been clear in what it said, but they grilled those reporters separately to make sure they weren't making it up. It seems very clear that the reporters believe they saw a real video, etc. If the video never turns up or is proven to be fake, I don't think they'll get fired because they were reporting on what they believed to be true, they weren't making stuff up.
Click to expand...

No, they won't be fired (if it's fake) but they'd probably be laid off, with a lot of other people. The Star almost has more on the line than Ford (Ford's job vs 100's of TO Star jobs). If the video is proved to be fake, they can say they prefaced all their comments appropriately, but their credibility (and revenue) would take a serious hit.

Just saw Metro's recent comment. The video will decide who sues who. Fake, Fords sue Star (might win, but would be difficult). video's real, Star sues Fords (slam dunk win.) No video? I have no clue what would happen......

As an aside, how do we know it's a crack pipe. I actually tried to search for this and there appears to be many variations. My point is if you light it from the top it could be crack, pot, hash, etc. If you light it from the bottom, it's crack. Although my experience with these types of pipes is very limited this is how I understand it so far.

All that said, I've never seen someone that messed up from hash or pot, but crack would make your sentences trail off as alluded to in the description of the video, but it does give Ford a minor out (it was only pot people, relax vs. full blown crack smoker) Charges would differ too......(I think)
 
junior43 said:
As an aside, how do we know it's a crack pipe. I actually tried to search for this and there appears to be many variations. My point is if you light it from the top it could be crack, pot, hash, etc. If you light it from the bottom, it's crack. Although my experience with these types of pipes is very limited this is how I understand it so far.
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All of the accounts said that a lighter circled the pipe from underneath, which would indicate either crack or meth.
 
junior43 said:
As an aside, how do we know it's a crack pipe. I actually tried to search for this and there appears to be many variations. My point is if you light it from the top it could be crack, pot, hash, etc. If you light it from the bottom, it's crack. Although my experience with these types of pipes is very limited this is how I understand it so far.

All that said, I've never seen someone that messed up from hash or pot, but crack would make your sentences trail off as alluded to in the description of the video, but it does give Ford a minor out (it was only pot people, relax vs. full blown crack smoker) Charges would differ too......(I think)
Click to expand...

At this point, I don't think the substance matters. What matters is that the Mayor was (allegedly) engaged in drug use while hanging out with drug dealers -- even if he didn't use anything, he's consorting with the very people he professes to despise. And then there are all his (alleged) comments as well.
 
In my opinion, the entire fundraising scheme is nothing but mean spirited vengeance by an angry and irrational mob coupled with monolithic opportunism by Gwaker media. Transacting with a purported drug dealer, to the tune of $200,000 not only smacks of legitimizing a purported criminal but is the height of hypocracy. Not to mention awful karma for the people of Toronto. I acknowledge readily that the karmic train is being navigated by the mayor's bad judgment but by indulging the purported criminals in their illicit activities the people are worsening his actions, not erasing them.

I would be more than satisfied with a truthful admission by the mayor followed by a brief leave of absence as I suspec would the general population.
 
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