News   Jul 17, 2024
Side-by-Side The Davisville and Uovo Top Off on Yonge in Midtown
 333     0 
News   Jul 17, 2024
Midtown Resubmission Adds Height, Density, Matches Adjacent Proposal
 1.1K     2 
News   Jul 17, 2024
News Roundup for July 17, 2024
 575     0 

Rob Ford's Toronto

Status
Not open for further replies.
blackballed said:
Pretending Ford doesn't exist is the fastest way to lose my vote. It's like talking about the importance of fire detectors when my house is burning down. Because you know how Ford got to where he is? People assumed everyone would realize that he was talking nonsense and couldn't be bothered to defend their ideas or expose him for the morally bankrupt snake oil salesman that he is.
Click to expand...

Have to confess, I was one of those 'people assumed' people. Never thought such a thing could/would occur.

As to the 'wish him away' factor that through political fear or misguided politesse won't take him on directly, that's gotta end (without creating a viable 'victim' scenario). Tory (and I'm no fan) shot some pretty direct shots yesterday. So I was heartened. But then I heard Fillion on CBC MM today. He dished out some weaselly disapprobation. Council generally, and not the usual suspects, has to step up and help this madness cease.

Fergawdsakes, Nenshi, of all people, delivered the sanest assessment of the Fords' follies today at the TBOT. In a polite but pointed way, of course.
 
hper said:
Toronto, the GTA, the Province and the nation as a whole has a substantive "Hoser", "redneck", proud-to-be, in-yo-face, belligerently ass-holish population. And they can't be discounted. They vote, mostly. The 'Just Society', Pearsonian, Blue-Helmet, Peacekeeper Lovin' populace obviously still roams the land in great numbers, but they're getting slaughtered in the Message Delivery dep't. It often seems Advertisement trumps Government. The Fords truly get this, love it, spread it.

So, that smugness has to go. We have to wake up, acknowledge The Fordian Knot amongst us and figure out how to counter their - let's face it - effective sloganeering, sound-bite nonsense with more effective counter-comms. Or that populist, reactionary bent will continue to destroy the policulture, burn the furniture and piss on everything. Just because it's 'catchy'.
Click to expand...

Too right, coast-to-coast, and probably around the world, too. Beautifully expressed.

Greetings from the home of Naheed Nenshi, but also Rob Anders, worst MP ever.
 
John_Dee said:
Hotmail Lawyer is essentially a real life Lionel Hutz, right? A nasty, cheap little small-time shit artist with delusions of grandeur. The perfect fit for Slob and Thug, in other words.
Click to expand...

In theory Morris could be some boutique guy who is so good he doesn't need a website and all that but I see no evidence of that. I put his name into Canli, a legal database of Canadian cases at all levels, and it brought up nothing.

More to the point, and I've said this before, consider that there are two descriptions we hear coming from the Fords:
1) Best Criminal Lawyer in Canada
2) Ford Family Lawyer

I can understand if you have a family lawyer to deal with the business or write your will or whatever but why on earth would you have The Best Criminal Lawyer in Canada (real or otherwise) as your FAMILY LAWYER?

I'm kind of surprised no one else has picked up on this; haven't seen anyone from the media ask Morris why he, a criminal lawyer is apparently on retainer for the family. Maybe they keep him busy enough that they're his only client, kind of like how Tom Hagen was put through law school and then worked for the Corleones? Are we sure Doug and Diane didn't adopt little Denny after finding him on the street?
 
hper said:
Fergawdsakes, Nenshi, of all people, delivered the sanest assessment of the Fords' follies today at the TBOT. In a polite but pointed way, of course.
Click to expand...

Ha, Nenshi is such a nerd, in the best possible way! Diplomatic to a fault on the boozing, drugging, and lying, but just can't stop himself from saying WTF on spending 2 or more times the money on a subway that will be half or less as useful as a good LRT.

Edit: Should have said, boozing, drugging, lying, hanging with criminals, destroying faith in democracy and destroying faith in other pillars of civil society. Man, Rob Ford gets me a little worked up.
 
Last edited:
From Globe and Mail article (http://www.theglobeandmail.com//news/toronto/calgary-mayor-baffled-by-scarborough-subway-plan/article17170003/?cmpid=rss1&click=dlvr.it) about Nenshi's remarks ...

“Here’s the thing: nobody cares about those old labels of left or right and liberal and conservative. Is removing the snow a right-wing or left-wing idea? Is fixing the potholes more New Democrat or Conservative? It’s ridiculous,†he said.

“If we went on to Bay Street today and asked 100 people, ‘Are you left-wing or right-wing?’ I guarantee you, 85 of them would have no idea what we were talking about and 11 of them would answer incorrectly. And the rest would be John Tory.’†he said, to wild laughter. Mr. Tory – considered by some to be a “red tory†-- was in the audience.
Click to expand...

We are so lucky that his two main opponents split their votes in his first mayoral campaign.
 
There are legitimate differences between candidates and policies municipally, and there is an argument to be made about getting it into the open, rather than having to play guessing games about where someone falls on the political spectrum.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
In theory Morris could be some boutique guy who is so good he doesn't need a website and all that but I see no evidence of that. I put his name into Canli, a legal database of Canadian cases at all levels, and it brought up nothing.

More to the point, and I've said this before, consider that there are two descriptions we hear coming from the Fords:
1) Best Criminal Lawyer in Canada
2) Ford Family Lawyer

I can understand if you have a family lawyer to deal with the business or write your will or whatever but why on earth would you have The Best Criminal Lawyer in Canada (real or otherwise) as your FAMILY LAWYER?

I'm kind of surprised no one else has picked up on this; haven't seen anyone from the media ask Morris why he, a criminal lawyer is apparently on retainer for the family. Maybe they keep him busy enough that they're his only client, kind of like how Tom Hagen was put through law school and then worked for the Corleones? Are we sure Doug and Diane didn't adopt little Denny after finding him on the street?
Click to expand...

+1, my Kraut-Mc friend.

I've said this before, how about we elect a mayor who doesn't have a criminal lawyer on retainer?

As for Morris, he has no record beyond his attachment to the Ford family. He probably hasn't had a client who wasn't a Ford or Ford - related since he represented Randy on that kidnapping beef in the 80s.

We do know a few things about him. For example, after hearing that Gawked was about to break the crack video story on May 16th, Mark Towhey (who is human garbage) made his first call to Dennis Morris. Answer me this: Why would his first call be to a criminal lawyer and not, say, a defamation lawyer?

Also, when Ford was going on about Morris being the best criminal lawyer in Canada back in November, Daniel Dale tweet something to the effect of "that's not what other lawyers have told me." I take this to mean that he is openly mocked by his colleagues.
 
OSS 117 said:
The sad part is that it's the recognition that a very large percentage of Torontonians are stupid. Notice how every non-Canadian article or segment on him ends with the writer/host saying something along the lines of "and with all that, a large percentage of Torontonians say they'd vote for him again!" That's really the hook of their story---not that Ford is an insane criminal, but that people don't seem to care. Ford seems to be mostly used, by U.S. media in particular, as a weapon to take us smug Canadians down a peg
Click to expand...

As a non-Canadian living in Toronto, that's really the worst part. Kind of like, what am I doing here, living among people who vote for this vile man? And I already felt that way in 2010 when voters condoned (endorsed?) the wife-beating, the offensive comments about cyclists, gays, and "orientals" and the thuggish behavior that was already on display for anyone who bothered to look.
Yes, I'm well aware that US voters have supported plenty of awful people, but that doesn't make it better.
 
CalgarianExOntarian said:
Greetings from the home of Naheed Nenshi, but also Rob Anders, worst MP ever.
Click to expand...

Greets back. Lived in Kensington from '89 to '93 (with a small residence in the Moxam Building - or was it the Congress? - on 13th, I believe. Strange tales of that...). Getty-Klein times. Anyway, I have fond memories of the place, met many great people (like the Michael Green and the OYR folks, etc.) but I cou;dn't waitto get back to T.O. Maybe I just missed brick. Been back to snowboard since but, despite the madness, glad to be back in The Dot. Hope you're prospering there though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top