[pud99]

At least management could've looked at the video and confirmed who he was. But I guess they have strict rules around reviewing that footage.

I suspect it is based simply on the fact the TH public relations people would know that it would be a mugs game for TH to get into the middle of this by having some TH spox announce what he/she did or didn't find on the surveillance recording.

 

[ROFOMOFO]

Thank you, I now have the image of Rob Ford on a table covered with a zillion acupuncture needles, like a porcupine.

When I was at the Donwoods Institute (An OHIP Rehab) they did accupuncture as well as Tai Chi as part of therapy, it wasn't mandatory. I participated in both.

It may seem dumb and hippy dippy but by the time you get to the point where you're actually WANTING to get better you're open to a lot of different things because you've been living a groundhog day life revolving around your addiction problem.

 

[themarc]

If nothing else, Ford's trivializing of rehab shouldn't be downplayed or allowed to slip through the cracks.

I have had people in my life who tried rehab several times (and failed) and it infuriates me to no end that the Ford's are using this as some sort of sick prop to extend an election campaign.

Those two clods will get every ounce of bad karma coming to them in this life and hopefully in a few others...

 

[ThoughtArcade]

What the hell is that? Ford Nation supporter?

Well, as has already been said, quite the opposite.

I can sympathize, and am feeling a large amount of Ford-fatigue.

Last night the whole thing jumped the shark for me. The rumour came up that Ford was at Caritas -- a program I used to work at (and did when I was 18). I gently inquired as to why people thought that (given that I have pretty intimate knowledge of the program, and it seems HIGHLY unlikely he'd go there). I got a lot of "Julian Fantino, George Chuvalo, Mammoliti connecttions". Which is all true. But at the same time, I could have written 10 pages on why he wouldn't have gone there, and a couple of donators who like to use charities to make themselves look good is not an actual indication.

I was reasonable, until someone posted the address on twitter (but only of the main centre, which is available on the website) and then people said they were going to stake it out. I blew a gasket. There are families going in and out of the centre in the evening, for meetings, support, addicts going to inquiry groups pre-residential treatment. All of whom have nothing to do with Rob Ford and have the right to privacy in their time of suffering/recovery/therapy.

I had people yelling at me to give up the address of the residences, the farm location, and because I wouldn't do it I was called, by several people, a Ford Enabler (which is absolutely insane).

To stake it out was so over-the-line to me and so disrespectful to those families -- I felt like what I was seeing was mass hysteria. It was truly crazy and awful.

So I definitely understand what Jude is saying, personally.

 

[SFO]

The Fords are so cheap, I can't see any of them willingly paying 100 grand for anything. This is a guy who tried to buy the crack video with $5000 and a used car. If Rob is in any sort of 'rehab' at all, I would imagine it's a scam run by some fake guru that he managed to fall under the sway of. I'm picturing someone F. Murray Abraham could play in a movie. That type. And they may get 100 grand out of Ford over time, but it'll be a death of a million cuts, and Rob won't even see it happening---"Well, Rob, it looks like you're carrying a lot of negative energy in your feet, so we're going to need to give you daily foot baths where your karmic poisons are nibbled away by tiny fish. Unfortunately, these fish are not cheap."

"So what's that gonna cost me?"

"Discussions of dollar amounts are vulgar. But I assure you the cost will be quite fair. For now, let's get you to your caviar massage."

"A hundred grad" is exactly the number Rob Ford would pull out of his ass, too. Everything in his world costs a hundred grad or a million bucks or some other 4th-grader's conveyance of the idea of big money. There are questions about how long he's staying, etc., that might naturally affect the cost of a rehab program, but no, the number's a hundred grad.

 

[OSS 117]

Note that the girl said that she was outside of the Tim Hortons and that Rob (or whoever it actually was) went into the TH wearing a suit and came out wearing sweats. So far as I have been able to dig up, it appears she just assumed that he must have used the washroom to change. The two TH employees were in the TH. So far as I have been able to dig up, neither of them said anything about Rob (or whoever it actually was) changing clothes.

Also note that, while it may not be easy to mistake Doug for Rob, there are lots of hyper-obese white, blond, mid-40s-ish males in Toronto that could be mistaken for Rob. (Why, only yesterday, someone posted a picture on UT of an overweight guy behind the wheel of a dark-coloured SUV with the suggestion that it was Rob.)

I certainly think that what Doug is spouting is standard issue Doug Ford-grade horseshit, but it is too simple to leap to a conclusion based merely on a few people thinking that they spotted a particular notorious hyper-obese white, blond, mid-40s-ish male in a city where there are lots of hyper-obese white, blond, mid-40s-ish males.

This girl wasn't basing her observation on a single blurry picture of a fat guy wearing sunglasses. She had a prolonged look at the guy and made eye contact. and the people working at the Tim Horton's back up her story. And while I admit there are a lot of hyper-obese white, blonde mid-40s-ish males, I would argue that not a lot of them actually resemble Rob Ford. He's a very specifically weird looking guy.

 

[pud99]

Got to love that a couple of the call 311 tabs have been torn off.

 

[kbdid]

Well, as has already been said, quite the opposite.

I can sympathize, and am feeling a large amount of Ford-fatigue.

Last night the whole thing jumped the shark for me. The rumour came up that Ford was at Caritas -- a program I used to work at (and did when I was 18). I gently inquired as to why people thought that (given that I have pretty intimate knowledge of the program, and it seems HIGHLY unlikely he'd go there). I got a lot of "Julian Fantino, George Chuvalo, Mammoliti connecttions". Which is all true. But at the same time, I could have written 10 pages on why he wouldn't have gone there, and a couple of donators who like to use charities to make themselves look good is not an actual indication.

I was reasonable, until someone posted the address on twitter (but only of the main centre, which is available on the website) and then people said they were going to stake it out. I blew a gasket. There are families going in and out of the centre in the evening, for meetings, support, addicts going to inquiry groups pre-residential treatment. All of whom have nothing to do with Rob Ford and have the right to privacy in their time of suffering/recovery/therapy.

I had people yelling at me to give up the address of the residences, the farm location, and because I wouldn't do it I was called, by several people, a Ford Enabler (which is absolutely insane).

To stake it out was so over-the-line to me and so disrespectful to those families -- I felt like what I was seeing was mass hysteria. It was truly crazy and awful.

So I definitely understand what Jude is saying, personally.

Wow, that's really shitty of people. While I'm all on the gossipy/speculation train about whether or not Ford's in a real rehab etc, I'd expect most people to have the decency to leave treatment centres alone. I don't want to see press or civi stalkers violating anyone's privacy (which I don't think has actually happened yet, despite Doug's stupid plea yesterday).

 

[Cooper]

Not by way of forgiving them, but I would bet that they do not know the difference between trying to debunk something and succeeding in debunking it (so that is is debunked). It say this because it is difficult to find any "news" source in Toronto that knows the difference between trying to refute something and actually refuting it (so that it is refuted). (It is common for Doug simply to deny something and be reported as having refuted whatever it was that he merely denied.)

Yep. I've been working in the biz for 25 years. I don't count on reporters to have detailed grasps of the language and its nuances. There are those who shine, and many who don't. One common mistake is that people latch onto words because they think they are "interesting." Not true. Ideas are interesting. Words are there to communicate them effectively.

 

[L23]

At least management could've looked at the video and confirmed who he was. But I guess they have strict rules around reviewing that footage.

If I was the manager, I' be concerned with anyone calling my employees liars, and release the footage to prove that they weren't and should receive an apology.

 

[ThoughtArcade]

Wow, that's really shitty of people. While I'm all on the gossipy/speculation train about whether or not Ford's in a real rehab etc, I'd expect most people to have the decency to leave treatment centres alone. I don't want to see press or civi stalkers violating anyone's privacy (which I don't think has actually happened yet, despite Doug's stupid plea yesterday).

It was bad. Like, really bad. And then my wife got mad at me for staring at my phone having Twitter fights which was obviously even worse, ha ha.

And one of the people did send someone to "check it out", sadly.

It was a pretty stark realization of how far down the rabbit hole this has gone. And I agree, I read the rumours, the sightings and I agree with themarc, this makes a mockery of rehab in many ways (use as an electoral tool), and that infuriates me too.

But if hatred of Rob Ford means that we no longer have the ability to treat others with respect, then I don't know what's what anymore.

 

[L23]

I certainly think that what Doug is spouting is standard issue Doug Ford-grade horseshit, but it is too simple to leap to a conclusion based merely on a few people thinking that they spotted a particular notorious hyper-obese white, blond, mid-40s-ish male in a city where there are lots of hyper-obese white, blond, mid-40s-ish males.

When you couple that with DoFo saying it was him though...If it was just a case of normal mistaken identity, why would DoFo lie and say it was him? Apart from his pathological lying mentality of course.

 

[Sweet Mister]

a) Tim Hortons hopefully respects the privacy of its customers, even if they are Rob Ford

b) The only reason there's a media circus is because the FoBros won't say where he is. All they have to do is say 'he's at X, please respect their privacy'.

 

[tiffer24]

If nothing else, Ford's trivializing of rehab shouldn't be downplayed or allowed to slip through the cracks. It's a serious, difficult, life-changing event and he is undermining those who are actually trying to better themselves. I don't think that ignoring that is the right way to proceed.

It is a little bit like pretending you have cancer so that people will say nice things about you on Facebook.

 

[pud99]

When you couple that with DoFo saying it was him though...If it was just a case of normal mistaken identity, why would DoFo lie and say it was him? Apart from his pathological lying mentality of course.

I have already postulated a theory which would explain that. It was posted a few pages back.

ETA: To save you searching:

Another theory about Doug - whom, I agree, is a chronic liar. (1) There are many hyper-obese white males in Toronto, some of whom are blond, somewhat balding, and aged somewhere around mid-40s. In the current atmosphere, it seems quite plausible that a few people may have ID'd someone as Rob simply out of a natural over-eagerness to have spotted the notorious Rob. (2) Rob is somewhere in the GTA (applying the universal rule that any denial by Doug means the opposite). (3) Doug fears that indeed Rob may have managed to cut loose from wherever he is. (4) The fabricated narrative that Doug was at the Tim Hortons is intended to cover for the possibility that Rob may have escaped for a while and been spotted and conveniently reinforce the claim Rob is not in the GTA. If indeed Rob was not somewhere in the GTA then Doug would only have had to say that the ID was erroneous, not go on to confabulate the nonsensical tale that he was at Tim's in order to cover off a risk that it might have been Rob out on a temporary scarper.