[LowPolygon]

i love the Fraud Nation types who are claiming that this has to have been faked.

the people who are claiming that this could have been done with 'special software', whereby Rob Fraud is inserted into the shot, are only revealing that they know nothing about motion graphics.

that kind of high end fakery is for people working on Hollywood blockbusters, using motion capture, facial feature tracking, and head replacements etc. its not for Somali drug dealers in Etobicoke.

the recording either exists as described, or it doesn't exist at all.

and no one thinks it doesn't exist.

 

[LowPolygon]

I'm quite sure posting entire copywritten articles is also against the forum rules, no?

mods, delete if you think its an issue.

 

[Johnny Au]

I love the Fraud Nation types who are claiming that this has to have been faked.

the people who are claiming that this could have been done with 'special software', whereby Rob Fraud is inserted into the shot, are only revealing that they know nothing about motion graphics.

that kind of high end fakery is for people working on Hollywood blockbusters, using motion capture, facial feature tracking, and head replacements etc. its not for Somali drug dealers in Etobicoke.

the recording either exists as described, or it doesn't exist at all.

and no one thinks it doesn't exist.

...and they need to find someone whose voice is extremely similar to that of Rob Ford as well (and the Somali drug dealers probably do not have software that does text-to-speech that is based on Rob Ford's voice samples).

 

[adma]

...and they need to find someone whose voice is extremely similar to that of Rob Ford as well (and the Somali drug dealers probably do not have software that does text-to-speech that is based on Rob Ford's voice samples).

"Hello. Somalis. You're. Quite. Good. At. Turning. Me. ON."

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Perhaps they used a Ford mask?

[video=youtube;qusXUC-Gpgk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qusXUC-Gpgk[/video]

 

[Irishmonk]

This story has taken on a life of its own and with so many angles and implications to it the media will continue feeding it oxygen for many more news cycles. It's not just about local politics anymore but also the increasing power of social media and crowdsourcing for circumventing the old and seemingly mandatory formal procedures when dealing with such official and grave matters as this.

If I was part of an office pool placing bets on when the 200k is met, my prediction would be late Tuesday night. The timing with the long weekend extends the limboesque vacumn that this story is in now, but the news cycle on Tuesday will respond with an absolute shitstorm. Not sure if Stewart/Colbert are doing new shows next week, but many, many media sources will be tracking both the outlandishness of the story as well as the indiegogo money bar as it nears the endpoint.

Seriously, this is one of the weirdest, most fascinating, most post modern and "meta" media stories to ever happen, and it could only happen in this era we're currently in. Books and college thesis will be written about this long after it's over. I think we may be part of history with this one.

 

[Peepers]

Well, earlier in this post-Gawker jag for this thread, the Layton/Chow co-op "scandal" was raised--though it's curious that an even juicier and more analogous Layton "scandal" wasn't raised: this one.

You bring up an interesting point and that is the double standard that exists in this country. Imagine if instead of Jack Layton - a right wing politician was discovered naked inside a rub-and-tug by police during an investigation into underage prostitution. That right-wing politician's career would be finished.

At this point, unless we're facing an eagle-boy circumstance, there's absolutely no sane way Council's right-of-centre power-brokers will coalesce around Ford in '14--that is, if Ford's in a position to run again. (However, w/a more palatable standard-bearer, I can *still* foresee said power-brokers winning the next election, strangely enough.)

Unless it can be proven that the video is some elaborate hoax involving computer graphics I don't think that there is any question that Rob Ford's political career is finished. It's just a matter of time before the video comes out and if it shows what it is purported to show Ford will be forced to resign within hours. I also think Doug's political career is finished. With Rob Ford out of the political picture I think another person whose political aspirations will be seriously damped is Olivia Chow. I am sure the people who have been pushing her for Mayor (the Toronto Star being her number one promoter - commissioning expensive push-polls every second week!) were hoping she would be going head-to-head with Rob Ford. Since this seems very unlikely I think that we will see some formidable challengers from the right emerge making it more difficult for Chow to win a mayoral election. I wonder if this is why the Toronto Star sat on this story until Gawker forced their hand? Were they hoping to keep it in their vault until later days of the next election to use as an "October surprise".

 

[Blovertis]

Interesting, indeed: potentially, Canada's first true international-scale tabloid political scandal. (Well, maybe not the *absolute* first; but the last-best-equivalent case I can think of--Colin Thatcher--happened before such international-scale tabloidism was par for the course.)

Don't forget Maggie and the Rolling Stones, 1977. BTW Pierre Trudeau (however tangentially) also figures in the current scandal.

 

[Peepers]

Rob Ford Claims He Has Twin Brother

Toronto mayor Rob Ford has refuted allegations he was caught on tape smoking crack cocaine by claiming he has an identical twin brother.

In an interview this morning with Sun News, the embattled politician affirmed that the video was authentic but insisted that the man doing crack wasn't him.

You can read more at this link

http://dailycurrant.com/2013/05/18/rob-ford-claims-he-has-twin-brother/

 

[datamouse]

Rob Ford Claims He Has Twin Brother



You can read more at this link

http://dailycurrant.com/2013/05/18/rob-ford-claims-he-has-twin-brother/

Just in case:

Q. Are your news stories real?

A. No. Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

You bring up an interesting point and that is the double standard that exists in this country. Imagine if instead of Jack Layton - a right wing politician was discovered naked inside a rub-and-tug by police during an investigation into underage prostitution. That right-wing politician's career would be finished.

Except that said right-wing politician would probably pontificated for years about prostitution, underaged or otherwise. Often it's not the act itself that is the issue per se - it is hypocrisy. And beyond that, as far as we can recall, Layton didn't have a history of visiting these sites, which makes the unclear one-off a lot easier to dismiss. It ain't like Berlusconi, let's put it this way.

See below:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...ough-love-is-the-only-way-to-battle-drug-use/

So I guess if the formalilty of confirmation occurs, we should be building a crematoria beside his house? Because we sure shouldn't be building one beside City Hall.

AoD

 

[gweed123]

Except that said right-wing politician would probably pontificated for years about prostitution, underaged or otherwise. Often it's not the act itself that is the issue per se - it is hypocrisy. And beyond that, as far as we can recall, Layton didn't have a history of visiting these sites, which makes the unclear one-off a lot easier to dismiss. It ain't like Berlusconi, let's put it this way.

AoD

Yes, much like the Republican politicians who openly rallied against Gay Marriage, only to be caught in an airport bathroom or hotel room with a gay prostitute. It's the outright villainization of the act and the people who do it before the actual 'scandal event' occurs that makes it so much worse.

 

[guitarchitect]

The pace of donations is actually picking up. The fundraiser is going viral and Ford's drug news is more widespread amongst the mainstream today than yesterday. The campaign is on track to hitting $100K today and then it's just a matter of it gaining $10K a day which is achievable if this stays in the news. The longer Ford stays silent on it, the longer reporters and Torontonians demand answers. I was skeptical but I think it'll hit the goal.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make with finance is assuming that past performance indicates future trends. I'm not saying we won't hit it, but there is no reason to believe we will hit X in Y amount of time because of the current numbers and yesterday's performance. You're ignoring the lump sum payment that gawker made, first of all...

Again - I think it shows promise. I hope that if it's looking good in 5 days' time, some high rollers with money to drop will parachute in and drive up the proceeds once the end is within reach. But as it stands right now, it is slowing down quite a bit as there are no big-ticket donors. I hope that gawker has an internal number in mind, like "if we get within $25,000 in the last hour we will top it up." But as of right now, it's anyone's guess...

 

[Johnny Au]

One of the biggest mistakes you can make with finance is assuming that past performance indicates future trends. I'm not saying we won't hit it, but there is no reason to believe we will hit X in Y amount of time because of the current numbers and yesterday's performance. You're ignoring the lump sum payment that gawker made, first of all...

Again - I think it shows promise. I hope that if it's looking good in 5 days' time, some high rollers with money to drop will parachute in and drive up the proceeds once the end is within reach. But as it stands right now, it is slowing down quite a bit as there are no big-ticket donors. I hope that gawker has an internal number in mind, like "if we get within $25,000 in the last hour we will top it up." But as of right now, it's anyone's guess...

I have made some calculations and it stands that an average of around $11.75 per minute is needed to achieve the goal. Compare that with an average of $12.25 per minute needed just after Gawker donated $15,000.

 

[Peepers]

Except that said right-wing politician would probably pontificated for years about prostitution, underaged or otherwise. Often it's not the act itself that is the issue per se - it is hypocrisy. And beyond that, as far as we can recall, Layton didn't have a history of visiting these sites, which makes the unclear one-off a lot easier to dismiss. It ain't like Berlusconi, let's put it this way.

See below:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...ough-love-is-the-only-way-to-battle-drug-use/

So I guess if the formalilty of confirmation occurs, we should be building a crematoria beside his house? Because we sure shouldn't be building one beside City Hall.

AoD

You are forgetting that at the time Jack Layton was on a crusade to ban lap-dancing in strip clubs:

In 1995 and 1996 Layton advocated a ban on lap dancing in Toronto strip clubs."A strip bar is not a petting zoo," Layton said at the time, pressuring local city councillors and the mayor to outlaw private VIP rooms in strip clubs. "These are sexual assault parlors and rape cubicles," he said laying it on pretty thick they way he usually does.

Would you not agree with me that this was the height of of hypocrisy to be advocating a ban on lap-dancing and VIP rooms when he himself was frequenting rub-and-tug parlors?

Source for above quote: http://nationalconsciousnesspolitic.../assessing-political-smears-against-jack.html