Rob Ford's Toronto

[Electrify]

Maybe he is having a midlife crisis?

Rather than condemning him for going to a club, other potential candidates should be emulating such behaviour. Maybe not going to a club per-se, but getting out among the people and loosening up a bit. It is stuff like this which makes Ford appealing to his base: his approachable demeanor. And to be frank, despite all of his faults, I don't believe this is one of them.

 

[golodhendil]

What I'm curious about is how does a well educated person get so badly informed? He does not watch Sun TV or read the Toronto Sun. He does not listen to talk radio. In fact he does not watch or listen to any English language media. All the media he watches, hears and reads is Chinese. He hates Olivia Chow and David Miller yet he does not know why but he tells me, everybody at his Chinese church, hates them too. Was he brainwashed at church? How does somebody who watches no English media get these views and so badly informed about the issues? Are there Chinese right wing media outlets spewing Ford's toxic views and misinformation?

Chinese electronic media in Canada, in general, is notoriously conservative, on both economic and social matters. Basically every mainstream Chinese-language TV and radio station across the country (except for "community stations" like OMNI) is either fully or partly owned by one corporation, Fairchild Media Group, founded by the son of a HK real estate magnate and who has myriad connections with the business establishment over there. The editorial stance is almost uniformly pro-business, socially conservative, and pro-Beijing on HK/China-related matters. And in any case their "news" (esp the TV news) consists mostly of regurgitated stuff from Global or CTV.

There used to be another Chinese radio station in Toronto that broadcast on CHIN AM1540. In the early 2000s there was an exodus of progressive/left-leaning/pro-democracy radio hosts from Fairchild Radio, one of whom eventually bought the Chinese station on CHIN and set up competition against Fairchild (as Toronto First Radio). But in 2008, the station was bought out by a partnership between Fairchild and Sing Tao (a Chinese newspaper group; though its Canadian operations are partly owned by Torstar, its parent group in HK is strongly pro-Beijing), and all of the most outspoken and progressive hosts left the station (some in the community suspect the move was at least partly to appease the Beijing regime). So, possibly as collateral damage, Chinese media in Toronto has thus become uniformly conservative.

 

[wheeler98]

Maybe he is having a midlife crisis?

Rather than condemning him for going to a club, other potential candidates should be emulating such behaviour. Maybe not going to a club per-se, but getting out among the people and loosening up a bit. It is stuff like this which makes Ford appealing to his base: his approachable demeanor. And to be frank, despite all of his faults, I don't believe this is one of them.

"Maybe not going to a club per-se..." is the entire point. Ford is his own worst enemy by injecting himself into these ludicrous situations.

 

[EagleEye]

A married man with children isn't allowed to go to a club? I was unaware of that rule...

That's not the point. How many people in their 40s with a spouse and kids at home go to clubs alone? I'm 51 and the last time I went clubbing was likely in my late 20s with my friends. When you look at all the pics from last night, there were no people that were Ford's age and that's typical. My guess is he needed a pick me up where people would treat him like a rock star because for whatever reason, people in their teens and twenties seem to think of him that way. Now that MetroMan has made his comment about the cops having something on him, I bet that's exactly what happened.

The other thing is that he has denied he has any kind of alcohol or drug addiction problem, so why is he going to a place where people dance and drink? Why do no other politicians go clubbing by themselves? He is so clueless about how things look to the general public.

 

[JWBF]

Maybe he is having a midlife crisis?

Rather than condemning him for going to a club, other potential candidates should be emulating such behaviour. Maybe not going to a club per-se, but getting out among the people and loosening up a bit. It is stuff like this which makes Ford appealing to his base: his approachable demeanor. And to be frank, despite all of his faults, I don't believe this is one of them.

You may be right, however, mid-life crisises usually entail acting like you did when you were young, and/or proving your virility. Robbie has never stopped and has used elected office as an excuse to continue to do it.

 

[evvabeing]

have we ever learned how the crack video went from the group shown in red (in the graphic below) to the ones shown in yellow? those 2 groups aren't friends, right?

http://globalnews.ca/news/1012557/whos-who-in-the-rob-ford-documents/

 

[salsa]

But there's the alternative, that this is a campaign move by Doug. Take Rob to a club to have a little bit of fun without falling apart and then say that he's fully recovered.

Or to hand out more fridge magnets.

 

[MetroMan]

If Lisi is pleading GUILTY, Ford's down spiral is predictable.

No, if Lisi pleads guilty, there will be no trial. Lisi would only plead guilty if Ford and his lawyers told him to take the fall and do the time. Rob Ford does NOT want this to go to trial because he WILL be subpoenaed as a witness. We all know how Ford does on the stand. It would be his worst nightmare -- specially during the campaign.

 

[Gavin]

But if Lisi rolled on Ford and was taking a plea deal, wouldn't he have to plead guilty?

 

[Johnny Au]

Chinese electronic media in Canada, in general, is notoriously conservative, on both economic and social matters. Basically every mainstream Chinese-language TV and radio station across the country (except for "community stations" like OMNI) is either fully or partly owned by one corporation, Fairchild Media Group, founded by the son of a HK real estate magnate and who has myriad connections with the business establishment over there. The editorial stance is almost uniformly pro-business, socially conservative, and pro-Beijing on HK/China-related matters. And in any case their "news" (esp the TV news) consists mostly of regurgitated stuff from Global or CTV.

There used to be another Chinese radio station in Toronto that broadcast on CHIN AM1540. In the early 2000s there was an exodus of progressive/left-leaning/pro-democracy radio hosts from Fairchild Radio, one of whom eventually bought the Chinese station on CHIN and set up competition against Fairchild (as Toronto First Radio). But in 2008, the station was bought out by a partnership between Fairchild and Sing Tao (a Chinese newspaper group; though its Canadian operations are partly owned by Torstar, its parent group in HK is strongly pro-Beijing), and all of the most outspoken and progressive hosts left the station (some in the community suspect the move was at least partly to appease the Beijing regime). So, possibly as collateral damage, Chinese media in Toronto has thus become uniformly conservative.

At least there are the pro-democracy Epoch Times, perhaps the most progressive major Chinese news media in Canada, which also prints out an English edition. The Epoch Times also has the New Tang Dynasty TV channel.

The Epoch Times called out the Communist Party for being too conservative.

 

[adma]

What I'm curious about is how does a well educated person get so badly informed? He does not watch Sun TV or read the Toronto Sun. He does not listen to talk radio. In fact he does not watch or listen to any English language media. All the media he watches, hears and reads is Chinese. He hates Olivia Chow and David Miller yet he does not know why but he tells me, everybody at his Chinese church, hates them too. Was he brainwashed at church? How does somebody who watches no English media get these views and so badly informed about the issues? Are there Chinese right wing media outlets spewing Ford's toxic views and misinformation?

I think you'll find this a lot these days among Ford supporters: a near-total disconnection from *all* traditional MSM, the whole spectrum from Sun to NOW, to the point where any editorial opinionating on said MSM's part feels like a haughty imposition. A generation or two ago, daily English-language newspaper(s) were ritual; today, they're superfluous--which heightens the tendency to view them en masse w/suspicion.

And another point, drawing from my own oft-cited idee fixes: there's probably also a fair likelihood that within his suburban-Sino-centric isolation, said "well educated person" has gawdawful McMansion taste and aesthetic values.

 

[The Golem]

The police have something on Ford. Details when I have them.

What is this. I feel like I've seen this same post months ago.


LIsi was charged with threatening and trying to extort from two piece-of-shit gang members, and was released on only $5000 bail. I really doubt he's going to ruin whatever rep he has to roll on Ford, and will just take a sentence of a few years in jail.
He was also charged with some drug crimes but that's pretty minor and doesn't involve Ford.

 

[Gavin]

I really doubt he's going to ruin whatever rep he has to roll on Ford, and will just take a sentence of a few years in jail.

I still believe this myself too.

 

[themarc]

What is this. I feel like I've seen this same post months ago.


LIsi was charged with threatening and trying to extort from two piece-of-shit gang members, and was released on only $5000 bail. I really doubt he's going to ruin whatever rep he has to roll on Ford, and will just take a sentence of a few years in jail.
He was also charged with some drug crimes but that's pretty minor and doesn't involve Ford.

Unless that the Crown has decided that they have enough on Lisi to have him classified as a "Dangerous Offender" if he fails to cooperate with the Crown - in which case he could be going away for a very long time. Maybe someone fessed up to Lisi being in on a few of the violent extra-curriculars... pipes, guns, kidnappings etc. He's been in trouble before. Kinda like a "3 strikes" scenario....

 

[themarc]

No, if Lisi pleads guilty, there will be no trial. Lisi would only plead guilty if Ford and his lawyers told him to take the fall and do the time. Rob Ford does NOT want this to go to trial because he WILL be subpoenaed as a witness. We all know how Ford does on the stand. It would be his worst nightmare -- specially during the campaign.

But if Lisi pleads guilty he has to admit to all charges and a lot of the "circumstantial evidence" converts to proven in court case law against Ford, No? It's like a nasty catch-22.