kodos Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Meanwhile BC and Alberta inch closer to a pipeline deal. Is that getting any coverage in the media at all? Nope, media distraction 101. Shameless opportunism, if anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Grimes Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 The Broker: In His Own Words Long before the Toronto Star labeled me the 'broker' as part of their story about a video of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, I was helping young men in my community negotiate a future that did not involve a life of crime. For more than a decade I’ve been a broker of sorts in a struggle for survival among young and vulnerable Canadian born Somali men who live in the Dixon community. I am proud of that accomplishment and I hope to continue serving in a similar capacity long after the Rob Ford story disappears from the headlines. Our community, made up of Canadians born in Somalia or to Somali immigrants, has been marginalized both by politicians elected to help them and by the police assigned to protect them. The media are never in our neighbourhood when families celebrate their children’s many accomplishments. Instead, cameras and live satellite trucks are everywhere on the morning of a raid or the day after a tragedy. By then, we are too busy worrying about our safety or grieving for a lost one to offer intelligent commentary on our social condition. The Toronto Sun profiled me ten years ago and describing the services my friends and I were providing to the community through the Dixon Youth Network, dubbed me the “Peacemaker.” Shortly after the Sun’s profile, my best friend at the time was attacked and hit over the head with an iron bar. Some misinformed thugs apparently did not like what we at the DYN were trying to do. My friend, Mohamed Omar, a budding math genius, survived the attack, but the head trauma left him with difficulties learning and remembering new information. Incidents like these are too frequent and they send a chill down the spine of anyone who wishes to help make a difference. The police was not there to protect Omar when he was attacked and yet today as young Somali men are murdered across the GTA and Alberta, Toronto Police and the RCMP has the gall to say the reason they can’t solve these murders is because no one in the community is willing to cooperate with their investigations. People who don’t share our experience are often quick to judge us and dismiss our young men as drug dealers and gangbangers. For the record, I’ve never been a member of a gang nor have I ever possessed or sold drugs to anyone. I have tried my best to be a role model to young people by becoming a contributing citizen of this wonderful country of ours. I am still burdened by an incident that took place in 2011. A young man approached me asking for my help with a problem in his life. I was apparently too busy with my own affairs to help him. A few days later 24-year-old Abdikadir Khan was killed in one of the Dixon high-rise buildings. The fact that I could have helped him and didn’t has haunted me and since that day I have made it an unwritten policy never to turn my back on anyone who reaches out to me for help. When I was approached by a young man in Dixon earlier this year to find a buyer for a video showing Mayor Ford smoking what was described to me at the time as crack cocaine, I asked to see it before agreeing to do anything. I thought it was a hoax, a skit or a prank. Unfortunately, it was none of the above. I asked him what he hoped to gain by selling it. He told me he had two videos that would be of public interest and he thought the video with Mayor Ford had a monetary value and with it he could perhaps get a head start on a new life somewhere other than Dixon. I believed he was sincere. The intense media coverage of what transpired in the days and week after the story broke has been the cause of much distress to me and many in my neighbourhood. Then came the Project Traveler raids. I too was arrested and charged with gun possession and yet I have never owned a gun in my life. I plan to defend myself against these charges in court in the months to come. In the eyes of our elders the raids were connected to reports of the crack video a month earlier. The real ‘trauma’ of the video, to invoke Bill Blair’s descriptive term, was experienced by mothers and grandmothers in Dixon on the morning of June 13 when hundreds of law enforcement officials descended on Dixon as if it was a shanty town infested with gangsters. Yet again, the Dixon neighborhood was making headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons. Now that Mayor Ford has ‘fessed’ up to his actions and more videos are beginning to surface of behavior deemed unacceptable for an elected official, my community still has to carry around the negative label of being a ‘hood’ where gangs thrive. I don’t hold out much hope for change. I expect our youth will continue to struggle to get jobs even when they have excellent qualifications. Unemployment in Dixon is about four times the national average. High school drop-out rates for Canadian born Somali teenagers will likely continue to hover just under 40 percent if action is not taken soon to reverse the trend. The lack of resources and facilities for our women, elderly and youth will continue to go unaddressed if politicians refuse to intervene and help alleviate the situation. My intention for coming out and telling my story is to shed light on the hypocrisy of a system that punishes the vulnerable for minor misdemeanors while the rich and powerful are protected by the same laws for crimes that are much more egregious. Has the time not come for our elected officials to take action that would lift my community out of a state of distress and give our youth a chance to prosper? Mohamed Farah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaches5 Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 I have seen that commercial about a dozen times in the past week about the fat lady who is from BC so she cares about building the safest pipeline ever for her province. Is that the Pipeline you keep talking about deniro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Love Dave Bidini (Rheostatics, also wrote a few books about hockey) He has a piece in the National Post today on Ford, great read: Rob Ford, substance abuse and consequences This week, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he had tried crack cocaine, while, last summer, two laid-off Kitchener forklift drivers, one of them fighting prostate cancer, were arrested on charges of growing marijuana. The afflicted man had started smoking to help with the pain of his disease, as well as lending him the ability to negotiate a series of miserable, low-paying jobs. They’d started by growing a little for themselves, and then some more to sell — and then lots more — but were taken down by OPP police. Prosecutors asked for a five- to seven-year sentence for one of the men, a two-year sentence for the other. One lawyer called the sentence “beyond the pale.” Last month, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford boasted that he used to smoke marijuana — “a lot of it” — while, in Chilliwack, B.C., 11 students were suspended from Sardis Secondary school after admitting to smoking pot on a school trip. They were ousted by the school’s principal for the rest of the term, hurting their chances to graduate on time and in good standing. Parents protested the severity of the punishment in light of the changing nature of the times, but the school board said that, unless there was a policy change, the punishment would stay. Last year, a story about the privileged youth and alleged history with drug dealing of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug appeared in the Globe and Mail, while, on a message board devoted to the banning of OxyContin, a working class mother named Wilma Stevens (not her real name) wrote: “My 20-year-old son is addicted to OxyContin. He should be a carefree and happy young adult, but he has problems with the law and a lack direction in his life. Every dime goes to buying the drug. He began taking the drug because of back pain. I’ve never seen him high. Other people may not even realize his addiction. But those who love him know that it is keeping him from the millions of other wonderful things in life because he cannot stop taking this drug. … What an ugly world it is; the world of addiction. Please take OxyContin off the market.” This week, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford — the youngest of his two male siblings — said that he, most definitely, was not addicted to crack cocaine while, a few provinces away, a Global News story about drug use in Halifax talked about how a young woman named Jessica started “dabbling in pot, mushrooms and other drugs” because “it was a peer pressure thing, wanting to fit in.” At 19, she became addicted to crack, which, in her words, made her “verbally aggressive with people. I lost a lot of dignity.” Explaining that she’d done unspeakable things to maintain her addiction, she talked about how rehabilitation was the only way to manage her recovery. After a tortuous program of withdrawal, she eventually became sober, mending ways with her friends and family, especially her father. “[My father] passed away last month,” she said. “He got to see me three years clean and that’s been the biggest gift of all.” This week, Toronto mayor — and proud Argonaut fan, as well as sometime high-school football coach — Rob Ford appeared at a press conference wearing a tie from 1995 depicting the logos of every team in the NFL. Meanwhile, a quick Internet search revealed the story of 50-year-old Glenn Kulka, the retired wrestler and football player, who told CBC news how 10 years of intense steroid use “took a toll on his internal organs,” shortening his life expectancy to 65 years. Kulka said that doctors told him that his “liver, kidneys and other internal organs had suffered irreparable damage” by steroids. “I have to look at the damage I’ve done,” said Kulka. “That’s a tough pill; the hardest I’ve ever had to swallow.” This week, and a few weeks before, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he had smoked pot — “a lot of it” — and that he had also tried crack cocaine, while, last year around this time, the drug-using head magistrate of Canada’s biggest city went fishing on Harrington Lake with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who, around the same time, was forcing through the House of Commons an omnibus bill in which minimum sentencing would be applied to minor drug arrests, ruining the lives of “regular Canadians” upon whose backs they rode into elected office. Ford told the Toronto Star that they’d been fishing together for a few years, and one could only wonder whether the Prime Minister was addressing his buddy when, last weekend in advance of Ford’s confessional, he climbed the stage at Cowboy’s during his party’s annual convention and played Dwight Yoakam’s Fast As You, singing: “Maybe I’ll do things right. Maybe I’ll start tonight. And you’ll learn to cry like me. Baby, let’s just wait and see.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gustavo Fring Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 I don't pop mollies, I smoke crack just like rob ford. There needs to be a youtube parody of this hilarious situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 heh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockout Casualty Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Booze, drugs, suspected escorts in new Rob Ford docs TORONTO - The tide had almost turned. There was a wave of sympathy building for the beleaguered mayor. The media — myself included — were being harangued for our vulture-like pursuit of the poor man. Rob Ford has addiction issues. He has problems. He made a mistake; he’s human. Why won’t we just back off and leave the guy alone? But remember, dear readers, Ford was the delusional leader who dared us all when he declared: “I have nothing left to hide.” The hundreds of previously redacted pages released late Wednesday afternoon put the lie to that. Stunning allegations of consorting with a suspected prostitute in his City Hall office, of snorting cocaine in a private room at Bier Markt, of calling a taxi driver a “Paki” and making disgusting and lewd comments towards at least two women while drunk on St. Paddy’s Day in 2012 -—these are just some of the unproven accusations contained in Toronto Police interviews with former staffers and others who have been caught up in the Ford circus. Imagine if he did have something to hide. True, none of these allegations have been tested in court. But this much seems irrefutable: this mayor is out of control — a chief magistrate whose behaviour in office is far beyond embarrassing. In council, Ford himself admitted he has purchased illegal drugs while presiding over this city during the last two years. That is criminal by his own account. And then there are the alarming allegations contained in the myriad of police interviews that were uncensored on orders of Justice Ian Nordheimer: descriptions by Ford’s former staffers of a man who had employees buy him mickeys of vodka, who would drink and get behind the wheel, who once assaulted staff in a drunken rage. The man who vowed to get rid of the gravy hired his pal David Price. He offered City Hall jobs to women he allegedly met smoking joints outside a bar. Is that not an abuse of his office? He turned up impaired at evening events such as his disastrous 2013 appearance at the Garrison Ball. Towhey, his respected former chief of staff, told police that Ford was “intoxicated by something that night” and had warned him that showing up at the charity ball in that condition, two and a half hours late, with his two poor children in tow would be career suicide. Yet somehow the mayor has survived. And Towhey was fired. But the most damning allegations surrounded St. Paddy’s night 2012. Isaac Ransom, Ford’s former special assistant of communications, said he was summoned to City Hall about 9 p.m. and found Ford there with a few people including “Alana”, a woman he believed might be an escort. She was described in the document as a young, attractive, blue-eyed blonde. “Alana may have been an escort or prostitute,” the document says. “There have been rumours that Mayor Ford has used escorts or prostitutes. Alana has also been seen with Mayor Ford at a stag party.” Ransom told police that when he arrived at City Hall, he saw Ford had consumed half of a 40-ounce bottle of Smirnoff vodka. “Mayor Ford was trying to get the staff members to drink as well. Mayor Ford would talk about getting hammered, going out then getting laid,” the document said. This is in the city’s seat of elected power. Ford allegedly wanted to smoke pot in his office, but Ransom said he managed to talk him out of it. The mayor then took his entourage off to Bier Markt on the Esplanade in a cab. Ransom then recounts a truly despicable scene — one reminiscent of other racist comments Ford allegedly made on that notorious crack video. This time, the mayor of multicultural Toronto reportedly used a racial slur to address the cabbie, “threw business cards at him and made mocking fake language sounds.” That disgraceful behaviour in itself should be enough for Ford to resign. But there is so much more. And we’re the ones who are supposed to be very careful? So please don’t shoot the messenger — we didn’t make this stuff up. These are damning allegations made by the very people who were closest to Ford, who tried their best to stand by him and rein him in until even they couldn’t stand it anymore. Sorry doesn’t cut it. How much more does there need to be? http://www.winnipegs...d-investigation Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti makes a gesture commonly associated with marajuana smoking as Toronto mayor Rob Ford tries to move a motion requiring all councillors to submit to mandatory drug testing paid for by him at City Hall in Toronto, Ontario, November 13, 2013. Council was in session today debating a motion put forth by council to appeal to the provincial government to have the mayor removed from office. This guy. Poor Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobbiep Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Funny people there say we are tree hugging pot smoking hippies....meanwhile they are fat, crack smoking bullies....haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Ford can smoke crack and have escorts all he wants as long as it doesn't affect the ability to do his job I say! Apparently his approval ratings are good and continue to go up? The guy apologizes and takes full responsiblity and still the grilling continues. Pathetic. Everyone loves to point the finger but not forgive or forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 This isn't simply pointing the finger, the 'grilling' is warranted, and, most importantly it will effect his abilities. Start here http://www.thestar.c...cal_record.html A months long investigation turns up multiple accounts of drunk driving, drug use in city hall, a mix of both, escorts, and there's still that lurking shadow of murder-for-hire - you call it pathetic that there's continued interest in the mayor of the largest city in Canada, and the third largest in North America, and his involvement in all of this? It's not a grilling, it's an intervention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockout Casualty Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Ford can smoke crack and have escorts all he wants as long as it doesn't affect the ability to do his job I say! Apparently his approval ratings are good and continue to go up? The guy apologizes and takes full responsiblity and still the grilling continues. Pathetic. Everyone loves to point the finger but not forgive or forget. You broke my sarcasm detector. You owe me ten bucks. Rob Ford launches legal action over prostitution and crack claims in profane media scrum Rob Ford claims he has 'more than enough to eat at home' Warning: Graphic language, details Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he is taking legal action against the former staffers who made stunning allegations about the mayor in a police document, saying he consorted with escorts and used sexually explicit language to a woman working for him. In a profane media scrum aired live on television that left journalists gasping, Ford, wearing a Toronto Argos jersey, denied many of the allegations laid forth in the court documents, although he admitted to occasionally drinking and driving. He was particularly angry about his staffers telling police that they thought a young friend of his was a prostitute. “I don’t appreciate people calling Alana a prostitute, I never had a prostitute here, I’m very happily married at home,” he said. “She’s a friend and it makes me sick that people are saying this.” The mayor said he would be suing his former chief of staff, Mark Towhey, former press secretary George Christopolous and former communications officer Isaac Ransom for the comments they made to police in court documents made public Wednesday. Ford then said he never said “I want to eat your feline” to a former female staffer, an allegation contained in the court document. “I’m happily married, I have more than enough to eat at home,” he said, drawing gasps from the reporters gathered around his office. The mayor also said he is suing a waiter at the Bier Markt who thought the mayor was doing lines of coke on St. Patrick’s Day, 2012. “That is outright lies, that is not true. It hurts my wife when they’re calling a friend of mine a prostitute, a prostitute, Alana is not a prostitute. She’s a friend. And it makes me sick how people are saying this,” he said. “Unfortunately I have no other choice, I’m the last one to take legal action, I can’t put up with it anymore. I’ve named the names, legal action will start shortly, I’ve had enough.” Asked later about allegations of drinking and driving, Mayor Ford said he “might have had some drinks and driven, which is absolutely wrong.” Asked by a reporter how he can still be mayor with that admission, the mayor retorted: “I’m not perfect.. I know none of you guys have ever, ever had a drink and gotten behind the wheel. I know that.” When asked by another reporter as the elevator doors closed if he is going to take a leave of absence, the mayor said: “You guys can take a leave of absence.” The mayor’s language drew sharp condemnation from members of council, some of whom stood in objection as a meeting resumed Thursday. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong spoke angrily after the mayor’s media scrum, demanding that he resign because of the language he just used. “The mayor has got to go, after admitting drinking and driving and the absolutely vulgar language,” said Minnan-Wong. Ford, minutes later in city council, refused to apologize. “I’m not apologizing. Put yourself in my shoes,” he said. “Enough is enough. That’s it.” Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, a top Ford ally, said that Ford needed to step aside and he wanted to get him into rehab by the end of the day. “You need treatment, go now,” he said. “If you don’t do that by the end of the day, you’ve lost me as well. “Nobody whether they are an addict…it’s no excuse to treat women the way I am seeing this unfolding. That’s not the way for any mayor… to be acting.” http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/11/14/rob-ford-launches-legal-action-over-prostitution-and-crack-claims-in-profane-media-scrum/ That damn leftist media. Can't a conservative politician drink and drive, smoke crack, abuse women, and not be hounded like some sort of scumbag by the media? He's sorry after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tre Mac Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Hey leave him alone, he's got plenty to eat at hime. Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inane Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 This guy is a gold mine in a train wreck. It's awesome and depressing all at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobbiep Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Didnt know you could do any legal action for someone making a statement to the police....this guy is a JOKE..I thought Chris Farley died of an OD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkSniper Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 He should try suing those dealers who sold him the stuff, it didn't make him any skinnier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 yep, definitely an intervention Wynne lays out conditions for intervening Premier Kathleen Wynne is willing to intervene to deal with Mayor Rob Ford — but only if city council formally requests intervention from Queen’s Park. Premier Kathleen Wynne is open to dealing with embattled Mayor Rob Ford — but only if city council formally requests intervention from Queen’s Park. A grim-faced Wynne suggested at a hastily-called news conference Thursday that her previous reticence about stepping in was wavering. “The things we are seeing and hearing about Mayor Rob Ford are truly disturbing,” the premier said in a statement to reporters. “The city of Toronto has a mayor and council that were elected by the residents of Toronto and must be accountable to them. It is up to the municipal level of government to address the issues they face,” she said, refusing to take media questions. “It is not the provincial government’s role, nor its intention to impose its preferences upon that government. Toronto city council has to be able to function.” More Video Mayor Rob Ford pulls wife through media Rob Ford's shocking statement But Wynne flung open the door to the province playing the heavy. “If council were to clearly indicate that they lack the ability to function as a result of this matter, the province would respond to a request from council to be provided new tools, depending on what that request might be,” the premier said. “Because of the extraordinary and unique nature of this type of intervention, I would consult with the other party leaders to see if our legislature could move unanimously if required.” Wynne, selected by Liberal delegates last January and who has yet to face the electorate, leads a minority government. So she would want Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to agree to such grave actions. “The last thing this terrible situation needs is a layer of partisan politics. Within Ontario’s legislature and across this city, we all have to stand together to represent the best interests of the people,” she said. The premier emphasized that the provincial capital would weather the Ford crack cocaine scandal, which has attracted international media attention. “Toronto is greater than one politician or one government. Ontario is greater than one politician or one government. I understand that people are affected by what is happening at this moment,” said Wynne. “But I want the people of Toronto to know that we will not be defined by this. And we will all work together to ensure the people’s interests are served.” Neither Hudak nor Horwath was immediately available to comment on the premier’s statement. Wynne had repeatedly said the province would not intervene to remove the mayor despite his admitted crack cocaine use, his being under Toronto police investigation, and his dealings with accused criminals. But as the situation has worsened this week, the province is facing immense pressure to act. On Wednesday, Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey had suggested Queen’s Park would be taking a hands-off approach. “My office is aware of the motion that was just passed by council and we are reviewing it,” Jeffrey said after councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of censuring Ford for his transgressions. “Toronto city council needs to function and we are watching developments closely as that’s the responsible thing to do,” she said. “However, I encourage council to continue to work together to address the day to day needs of the people of Toronto. We remain confident in the Toronto police and their ongoing investigation. Toronto is governed under the City of Toronto Act so action from Queen’s Park is required to oust Ford before the October election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tre Mac Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Oh yeah what about that 'prominent hockey analyst' that was also in this crack tape. When is his name going to be thrown out to the public? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Ford can smoke crack and have escorts all he wants as long as it doesn't affect the ability to do his job I say! Apparently his approval ratings are good and continue to go up? The guy apologizes and takes full responsiblity and still the grilling continues. Pathetic. Everyone loves to point the finger but not forgive or forget. But his behaviour IS AFFECTING his ability to do his job! Nothing is being done at Toronto City Hall. Everything is at a standstill. He must resign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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