[JasonParis]

That was my immediate thought. Especially as it was the Orange Order that ran this place until the 1950s.

Nitpicking, but the red hand of Ulster is only a loyalist symbol if it has the crown above it. It simply represents the historical Irish province of Ulster otherwise (which Nothern Ireland now makes-up most of).

Let the members of the Executive Committee know you will hold them accountable for allowing someone in Rob's position to continue to lead. Send an email to the following addresses (you can copy and paste everything into the to: field) And copy/paste the email list to any friends who might wish to express themselves to the Committee as well. Trust me, most politicians' days begin with their flunkies telling them what the media says and how many emails/letters/phone calls on each topic have come in. They know for every person who writes, there are a hundred more who feel the same but are too lazy to write. So your opinion is magnified far beyond what it would be at the ballot box. There's a reason sophisticated lobby groups in the US prioritize calling and writing representatives. City of Toronto Executive Committee

I just sent the following to the Executive. It seriously took me five minutes. Everyone should take a moment and do the same...

Good day:

I just want to preface this note by saying that I don't and won't look at the current situation regarding Toronto's Mayor from a left vs. right bias. I certainly preface it from a thoughtful vs. ridiculous one though.

And what I've seen from the Executive of Canada's largest city these last 24-hours is frankly wishy-washy, enabling, troubling, ridiculous and internationally embarrassing. We all the know the details of Mayor Ford's behaviour and we all know the man has a serious substance abuse problem (which he won't admit). He also has a real problem telling the truth and a serious problem in being the Chief Magistrate of this city. A Mayor that is now challenging the Chief of Police to a stare-off when it is HE that is the centre of a criminal investigation! A Mayor that is involved with criminals and allows this to happen, both in front of his own kids and also as he officially "sets" important issues such as policing budgets and crime prevention strategies moving forward.

Stop it. Really. You have the power to do it. It's a joke, it's troubling and I would have expected far more from our elected officials on all sides of the spectrum. Any other Mayor anywhere would have been taken down and forced to resign on any of this a long time ago. But here we are in Toronto where the Executive of this city largely want to continue to turn a blind eye. If you genuinely care about Rob Ford as a person and if you genuinely care about Toronto, then how can you possibly let this continue? Yes, Rob Ford was elected our Mayor and yes I accept that. What I can't accept is that there are that many others on a body as distinguished as yours that will continue to let this go on when we all know it's only going to get worse as further ITO information comes out.

Toronto deserves better than this. I dare say, Toronto deserves better than you as well.

Regards,

Jason Paris

Torquil is a very public figure. He would have no reason to lie -- or rather, he has every reason not to. As an aside, I adore him.

I adore him too. For those not in the know, he's half of the vocal component of the Montreal band Stars.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Rob Ford has only one good trait: charisma

All his other traits are either neutral or bad.

Really? You think he has charisma? He gives me the shivers at the thought of being in the same room!

 

[Gavin]

And unfortunately, I agree with Torquil on this:

torquilcampbell ‏@torquilcampbell 12m
lisi is a soldier for them. he won't talk, and they'll reward him for it. hence ford's insistence that he won't "snitch" on his friends.

torquilcampbell ‏@torquilcampbell 11m
what's the number one rule of any sports team or gang? don't betray your brothers. ford is betting his life on the truth of this axiom.

torquilcampbell ‏@torquilcampbell 9m
i think many of those in the "ford nation" deep down, know all this; and what's more, they respect it. toronto has always had these crews.

A friend of mine who had family that was deep into the drug trade in Edmonton in the 90s swears that this will be the case as well.

 

[dforthandbview]

The guy from Stars is making some interesting and intriguing comments on Twitter. But I'm also kinda skeptical. I have this feeling that this is all a ploy and he'll end his Ford rant with "oh, and p.s. our new album comes out next week!". But probably not.

 

[Gavin]

whoa! That guy's from Stars??

Yeah, him and Amy are the two singers. I've been a big fan since the early-00s. He's also a weekly contributor to Q on CBC Radio.

 

[Gavin]

The guy from Stars is making some interesting and intriguing comments on Twitter. But I'm also kinda skeptical. I have this feeling that this is all a ploy and he'll end his Ford rant with "oh, and p.s. our new album comes out next week!". But probably not.

You don't know him very well then.

 

[Dubster]

So I'm getting some serious vibes from otherwise politically neutral people at work that they would be interested in joining a mass protest at City Hall. What kind of group normally organizes this kind of thing? I think time is of the essence but I also agree with other posters that numbers and a real organized show of force is crucial for it to work. Any ideas?

 

[ceread]

But isnt it also true that addicts tend to lose everything in the end??! Like their job, their car(s), their house, their wife....etc..etc.

Or is that a generalization??

Bit of a generalization. There are so many variables in determining what the outcome can be i.e. social support, personal resilience, mental health issues, other social determinantes of health, etc

Other than those three things, the rest is a toss up. Could be a lawyer (cough... mayor), street sweeper (do they exist anymore?), musician,
dentist, alley-dweller, ichthyologist. Anything. They might have a job. They might not. They could be thin (if the choice is substance vs. food) or rotund (with sufficient enablers, binge use, alcohol consumption, who knows).

OT: My favourite addict story was the health food store owner that drank 2 BOTTLES of vodka a day.

*crawls back to lurkdom. again*

 

[TorontoDoh]

Doug Ford just jumped the shark

 

[dforthandbview]

All this talk of Ford being a gangster makes me think of a comment written on Warren Kinsella's blog by a "marc rosen" (http://warrenkinsella.com/2013/08/the-rob-ford-crack-video-the-truth/) that I've come back to many, many times in my head over these past few months.

"This video absolutely should not come to light for all of our best interests ( i know that seems weird – however the TO police and Crown know what is at stake ) … Curiosity killed the cat and unfortunately the Toronto Star unknowingly stepped in some deep shit – inadvertently exposing something that some stupid kids did not realize the gravity of … If we stop the Rob Ford hating – we will begin to see how deep and wide this rabbit hole goes – and why it is perhaps better to leave certain sleeping dogs alone." (bold added by me)

 

[Dubster]

All this talk of Ford being a gangster makes me think of a comment written on Warren Kinsella's blog by a "marc rosen" (http://warrenkinsella.com/2013/08/the-rob-ford-crack-video-the-truth/) that I've come back to many, many times in my head over these past few months.

"This video absolutely should not come to light for all of our best interests ( i know that seems weird – however the TO police and Crown know what is at stake ) … Curiosity killed the cat and unfortunately the Toronto Star unknowingly stepped in some deep shit – inadvertently exposing something that some stupid kids did not realize the gravity of … If we stop the Rob Ford hating – we will begin to see how deep and wide this rabbit hole goes – and why it is perhaps better to leave certain sleeping dogs alone." (bold added by me)

Could this be what Pasternak meant by "if you knew what I knew"? Maybe the RCMP is involved and working with the TPS and we don't even know it yet. I hope so. At this point I don't care if Rob Ford is a goddamn mob boss, I just want him the hell out of City Hall for good.

 

[dforthandbview]

@ddale8 58s
Doug Ford, denying a non-accusation: You'll never see Rob Ford doing any Montreal-style misappropriation of funds.

Nice reference to the mafia, Doug. Let's keep that angle going

 

[ThoughtArcade]

I remember that comment too. It sounded like the ravings of a lunatic. I will admit that it sounds... a bit less so, now.

Perhaps the entire situation has become so absurd that something that sounds alarmist and paranoid can generally be seen to be
prescient at this point.

All this talk of Ford being a gangster makes me think of a comment written on Warren Kinsella's blog by a "marc rosen" (http://warrenkinsella.com/2013/08/the-rob-ford-crack-video-the-truth/) that I've come back to many, many times in my head over these past few months.

"This video absolutely should not come to light for all of our best interests ( i know that seems weird – however the TO police and Crown know what is at stake ) … Curiosity killed the cat and unfortunately the Toronto Star unknowingly stepped in some deep shit – inadvertently exposing something that some stupid kids did not realize the gravity of … If we stop the Rob Ford hating – we will begin to see how deep and wide this rabbit hole goes – and why it is perhaps better to leave certain sleeping dogs alone." (bold added by me)

 

[TorontoDoh]

how so???

ledrew asked him about the photo of Rob with 3 unsavoury characters
Doug got mad and said if they were preppy white kids no one would care
No one mentioned that one of those guys is dead and the other 2(?) are in jail due to project traveler.....

 

[Ramako]

I remember that comment too. It sounded like the ravings of a lunatic. I will admit that it sounds... a bit less so, now.

Perhaps the entire situation has become so absurd that something that sounds alarmist and paranoid can generally be seen to be
prescient at this point.

That guy also claimed in the same thread that the police and Ford are working together. Perhaps Ford and his police buddy in Etobicoke are, but Blair doesn't seem to be in on it.