[dienw]

Not that Ford's supporters would care (even if they had the facts), but:

Is there an easily-accessible record of councillor (and mayor) requests to have votes reopened? And if so of votes for and against allowing the same? (It goes without saying that Robinoccio's repeated claim that 'it happens at every single council meeting' is Doug Ford-grade horse shit, but how often does it happen - and how often has Robinoccio opposed the very thing he was asking for?)

While I don't have an answer to that, I have seen it happen quite a few times. They tend to realize it right after the voting gets shown on-screen and ask to reopen the vote pretty much right away. He didn't notice it for over half an hour, not that I believe he was the one to notice it at all.

I was at the council meeting today. People nearby were playing a guessing game about how Rob would vote simply by checking who had made and/or seconded the motion. He looked like he wasn't paying much attention to anything, yet he managed to vote in favour or against items as he wished (he wasn't just repeatedly pressing the 'no' button for each vote).

Regarding the front page: *headdesk*

 

[newearthling]

Suddenly, handing this over to the OPP doesn't seem like such a great idea.

Demonstrations at the OPP cop shop might be needed after all.

Edited to add:
Ontario Provincial Police
Address: 2682 Keele St, Toronto, ON M3M 3G5
Phone 416 235-4981

 

[VTB]

73,000 views in less than 24 hours. That represents 20% of the number of votes Ford got in 2010.


ag

This is going viral. When the link was posted here this afternoon, it had exactly 27 views!!

 

[VTB]

https://twitter.com/TheTweeknd/status/451558705968865280

according to @ddale8 OPP and Toronto police =fighting over Ford investigation and as OPP has final say Ford may escape @MetroManTO #TOpoli

Hold on a second here. Does it have to been either or? Could it not be "and". First the Dixon Bloods tried to extort then Lisi and Ford turned it around and extorted them back. Isn't that what actually went down?

 

[kaboi]

What Jimmi T said syncs up to some degree with MM's latest claim about somebody higher up slowing the investigation... though it wouldn't seem to be for quite as political a reason as MetroMan made it out to be.

If Jimmi T's information is sound, then the OPP commissioner is really just worried about the optics of the arrest. That's nothing BUT politics.

The good news is, the optics aren't hard to fix. And it's a great political move:

Assuming the detectives are trying to build a case for blackmail based on the wiretaps, then the obvious next step is to interview the victim to confirm that blackmail actually took place. So detectives invite Ford to talk about the blackmail. Seems to me there are two possible outcomes:

1) Ford details the blackmail and the blackmailers get charged, thus paving the way for his own arrest.
2) Ford refuses to talk to the police, so won't give the evidence needed to support blackmail charges, thus paving the way for his own arrest.

If it's 1) then the police appear even-handed and fair. If it's 2) then police have the perfect key message: "We actively pursued blackmail charges based on the wiretaps, and invited the alleged victim to speak to us. But Mayor Ford refused participate in the investigation. Without sufficient evidence, without a victim, and without a confession, we couldn't proceed."

 

[casita]

Hold on a second here. Does it have to been either or? Could it not be "and". First the Dixon Bloods tried to extort then Lisi and Ford turned it around and extorted them back. Isn't that what actually went down?

I forgot to add the quotation marks.

"according to @ddale8 OPP and Toronto police =fighting over Ford investigation and as OPP has final say Ford may escape @MetroManTO #TOpoli"

 

[ROFOMOFO]

Exactly. This idea that it all has to be done in one shot doesn't sound very police-y to me.

For cutting deals ie: getting someone to rat it works better if everyone is swooped up at the same time.

 

[adma]

Going back to the Rob/Renata/kids household situation and the possibility of Children's Aid stepping in; wouldn't that really most likely happen in the event that some kind of disturbing dysfunction "played itself out" in the classroom or schoolyard?

 

[Franks2000inchTV]

The OPP's reluctance is pretty transparent ass-covering. Either Sandro Lisi threatened violence to get the video back, or he didn't.

Sure, Ford was blackmailed, that's kind of the whole story here. But the one crime doesn't cancel out the other.

 

[kensingtoncat]

It helps they got a $10M kickstart from Harper for the Vaughn Hospital just weeks before the election. Never mind the Feds can't fund hospitals (provincial only) AND that the $10M evaporated into a trust run by Fantino's lead fundraiser. He is greasy. His associates are greasy....

sno man does it up right, yet again.

http://rantingcanadian.tumblr.com/post/40998596182/julian-fantino-once-a-dirty-cop-now-a-dirty

 

[DTGeek]

"according to @ddale8 OPP and Toronto police =fighting over Ford investigation and as OPP has final say Ford may escape @MetroManTO #TOpoli"

Before anyone freaks out like I started to, this is some random guy (no one I've heard of at least) tweeting at DD and MM, the "Ford may escape" part isn't coming from anyone in the know.

MM tweeted this in response: "@RWhittall @TheTweeknd @ddale8 No. They've got him on more than conspiracy to commit extortion. #ItsNotOver"

 

[MertonGuy]

Here's the text, slightly abbreviated:

The OPP is taking a back-seat role in the Prject Brazen 2 probe following a dispute with Toronto police over who was the victim of extortion – the alleged drug dealer who made the video, or Mayor Rob Ford, who is pictured in the video. Toronto detectives believe the man who made the video and his associate were the victims of an extortive attempt by Ford friend Alexander Lisi and possibly others to retrieve the embarrassing video of Ford smoking crack and making racially charged and homophobic comments. The OPP detective who was asked to oversee the case saw it differently, contending that the alleged drug dealer who filmed the one-minute video may have tried to extort money from Ford.

As a result, the much talked-about Project Brazen 2 probe has been mired in dispute over the past two weeks, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The disagreement led to the OPP, at least for now, removing itself from the probe. OPP spokesman Sgt Pierre Chamberland: “the OPP has determined that there is no role for further investigation because to date there is no new information or evidence that has been provided to the OPP.”

TPS spokesman Mark Pugash reported that the Brazen 2 investigation is ongoing. While saying he could not discuss details of the case, he noted that the course of the investigation the Toronto detectives took has been validated by Crown attorneys and judges.

“The TPS investigation started more than a year ago, with a group of the most experienced and diligent investigators in Canada. They work very closely with an equally skilled team of Crown prosecutors. The case has been vetted by two judges. Its comprehensiveness is reinforced every time the courts release documents from the ITOs” Pugash told the Star…

One month ago the OPP assumed oversight at the request of Toronto police Chief Bill Blair…. Almost immediately, a difference of opinion arose between detectives on the two forces. The Toronto police squad’s theory, put forth by Det. Sgt Gary Giroux, a veteran homicide investigator, has long been that Ford’s friend Lisi used threats to have two men – Mohamed Siad, who filmed the video, and Lihan Siyad, a friend – turn over the video so that it would never see the light of day. Those threats by Lisi were allegedly made in a two period beginning May 26, 2013, the day the existence of the video became public…

 

[Sweet Mister]

You can read the first part of the story here: it seems pretty serious to me.

https://twitter.com/JPKnews/status/451558200362291203/photo/1/large

 

[MertonGuy]

You can read the first part of the story here: it seems pretty serious to me.

https://twitter.com/JPKnews/status/451558200362291203/photo/1/large

Fucking OPP. Seems pretty clear to me that TPS is leaking this info because they are really, really keen to move forward but OPP is dragging its heels. Hell, the TPS spokesman made a point of saying that the investigation has been cleared by multiple prosecutors, judges.

 

[Dubster]

Fucking OPP. Seems pretty clear to me that TPS is leaking this info because they are really, really keen to move forward but OPP is dragging its heels. Hell, the TPS spokesman made a point of saying that the investigation has been cleared by multiple prosecutors, judges.

I've never heard Pugash that pointed, or that candid to be honest. TPS must be pissed. Blair didn't have to pass the file over to OPP. Penny for his thoughts...