Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto UPDATES

bleeding heart · November 24, 2013

A weak post.

I fail to see where you have refuted bh's post.

You've simply attacked the poster.

Against forum rules, and also a sign of having no real argument to make.

Zero points.

Thanks, jacee.

At any rate, I'm not sure how my post is "pseudo-psychiatry" anyway, rather than speculation on political tactics. (And did he actually mean "psychologizing" rather than "psychiatry"?)

Big Guy · November 24, 2013

Rob Ford ran for and was elected the "Chief Magistrate" of Toronto. The illegal drug trade survives only because some people create a market for it - people like Rob Ford. Rob Ford also knows the identity of the drug dealer who sold him the product (CRACK) - yet he refuses to co-operate with the police! Not only is he not fulfilling the obligations of his office of chief magistrate but is also assisting in the illegal drug trade. That fact alone disqualifies him from staying in office. Time to charge Rob Ford, take him to court and force him to testify under oath.

jacee · November 24, 2013

Thanks, jacee.

At any rate, I'm not sure how my post is "pseudo-psychiatry" anyway, rather than speculation on political tactics. (And did he actually mean "psychologizing" rather than "psychiatry"?)

I don't think he distinguishes.

I think he just meant it as an insult.

I thought you made a valid observation.

So much of what goes on here on the forum and in the 'news' is just Conservative and Liberal political groupies (or paid political staffers on our dime) hacking away at each other with their "talking points", stealing each other's talking points and turning them against the other ... and generally behaving as 'boys in short pants' do ... trashing the other team as if the world depended on it.

Some of us realize that the world is bigger than a political dogfight.

In fact, some of us realize that we're being pushed into fighting their partisan dogfights to distract us from working together to resolve society's issues in the best interests of all of us.

.

bleeding heart · November 24, 2013

Some of us realize that the world is bigger than a political dogfight.

In fact, some of us realize that we're being pushed into fighting their partisan dogfights to distract us from working together to resolve society's issues in the best interests of all of us.

I think that's a good point. I don't think it's a political conspiracy, either. It's just a kind of institutional sickness.

eyeball · November 24, 2013

That sickness should be referred to as institutional or i. difficile. It's difficult to get rid of despite all the best intentions of up and coming politicians to root out once they get onto power.

Maybe what happens is that once they're elected someone takes them to a backroom somewhere to have their Goa'ulds inserted.

jacee · November 24, 2013

I think that's a good point. I don't think it's a political conspiracy, either. It's just a kind of institutional sickness.

I think it's bigger than that.

Think about The Matrix.

DFCaper · November 25, 2013

Rob Ford ran for and was elected the "Chief Magistrate" of Toronto. The illegal drug trade survives only because some people create a market for it - people like Rob Ford. Rob Ford also knows the identity of the drug dealer who sold him the product (CRACK) - yet he refuses to co-operate with the police! Not only is he not fulfilling the obligations of his office of chief magistrate but is also assisting in the illegal drug trade. That fact alone disqualifies him from staying in office. Time to charge Rob Ford, take him to court and force him to testify under oath.

So Layton should not have been allowed to run as he was known to use rub-n-tugs? Or Justin for being a pothead?

g_bambino · November 25, 2013

In fact, some of us realize that we're being pushed into fighting their partisan dogfights to distract us from working together to resolve society's issues in the best interests of all of us.

I'm not sure if he intends it as a distraction or he really believes the universe is built that way, but RoFo's whole shtick relies upon a him versus everyone else paradigm; the underdog, self-appointed embodiment of the every-man fighting against the liberal, pinko, elite establishment. If it wasn't clear already, it was made glaringly so at that circus of a council meeting earlier, wherein he broadly sprayed at all those in the public gallery who were speaking out against him the sneering accusation that they were statist NDP hacks. He even went so far as to ask where the "real" taxpayers of Toronto were; insinuating that a "real" taxpayer would side with him, so, obviously, the riff-raff in the chamber wasn't a group of "real" taxpayers. However, as Christie Blatchford overheard, one woman near Ford when he was yelling that said "but, I'm a real taxpayer". The Mayor brazenly belittled taxpayers, the people he vouched in his campaign to respect. No matter, in Ford's world, you're with him or against him, and if you're against him, you're a leftie, which is his euphemism for amoral leech.

Black Dog · November 25, 2013

So Layton should not have been allowed to run as he was known to use rub-n-tugs? Or Justin for being a pothead?

Do you think so?

BubberMiley · November 25, 2013

So Layton should not have been allowed to run as he was known to use rub-n-tugs? Or Justin for being a pothead?

If the public will was that Layton should have been censured because of the right-wing lie that he used rub-and-tugs, the conservative politicians had the ability to use their democratically granted powers to do so. They decided that wasn't in their interest.

If the current Conservative government thinks that Trudeau should be censured for smoking weed, they can do that too. No one is stopping them, other than the sane majority that would evicerate them at the polls for trying.

The politicans on Toronto's council, right and left, decided that removing Ford's powers was responsible, in the public interest, and wouldn't hurt them getting reelected. So they did it. If you disagree, you are free to express that in the next election. But your opinion is of the minority.

Glad to help you to develop your understanding that politics is not a black-white, good-bad, binary exercise.

Shady · November 25, 2013

How do you know the rub n tug is a lie?

DFCaper · November 25, 2013

Do you think so?

No... I could care less about someone's sexual activity or drug use when not at work. Same goes for Ford. I am not a supporter of prohibition of drug use.

Assuming there is some truth to this:

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/11/22/rob_ford_mayors_support_at_42_per_cent_poll_finds.html

That Ford is at 42% popularity, not sure it is right to take his powers away. Should we take away Harper's Powers as he would love to see 42%.

He was given a mandate from the people, and it should be the people who take it away.

Maybe we should put in additional mechanisms to kick people out of Office.... Maybe when online polling goes below 30% (sarcasm)??

I think Ford is a buffoon and never should have been elected, and likely wouldn't have been if it wasn't for Miller, but the voters have a chance to speak next year and that's when it should happen. If it needs to be sooner, then it should be a snap election.

His sound clips make it almost impossible to defend our democracy in this case... but the precedent I feel is not good..

BubberMiley · November 25, 2013

How do you know the rub n tug is a lie?

Show me the video.

Shady · November 25, 2013

Show me the video.

So something only happened if there's a video?

BubberMiley · November 26, 2013

So something only happened if there's a video?

Apparently. Those were the rules until the Ford video became less elusive anyway.

Shady · November 26, 2013

Apparently. Those were the rules until the Ford video became less elusive anyway.

Actually, the video hasn't become less elusive. We still haven't seen it.

BubberMiley · November 26, 2013

We still haven't seen it.

That's true. How come you stopped calling the Star reporters liars?

Shady · November 26, 2013

That's true. How come you stopped calling the Star reporters liars?

I never did.

Shady · November 26, 2013

The Ford situation raises an interesting question. Why do you do when you have a mayor that runs a city well, puts in place popular policies that work well, but also has a troubled personal life?

BubberMiley · November 26, 2013

I never did.

Declaring that the video they claimed to see never existed is calling them liars. But you can try and RobFord your way out of what you said if you like.

jacee · November 26, 2013

Actually, the video hasn't become less elusive. We still haven't seen it.

Does this help ?

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/11/19/rob-ford-did-not-get-a-free-pass-from-police-chief-bill-blair-says

Ontario Superior Court Judge Ian Nordheimer ... described Chief Blair as having fairly characterized the contents of that video as being consistent with previous media reports.

Aside from several reporters from theToronto Star and the Gawker.com website, Chief Blair and Judge Nordheimer are among a select few who have actually seen the 90-second video.

jacee · November 26, 2013

The Ford situation raises an interesting question. Why do you do when you have a mayor that runs a city well, puts in place popular policies that work well, but also has a troubled personal life?

It depends how much damage he's doing, I'd say.

ReeferMadness · November 26, 2013

The Ford situation raises an interesting question. Why do you do when you have a mayor that runs a city well, puts in place popular policies that work well, but also has a troubled personal life?

Oh, a rhetorical question.

BubberMiley · November 26, 2013

The Ford situation raises an interesting question. Why do you do when you have a mayor that runs a city well, puts in place popular policies that work well, but also has a troubled personal life?

Does running the city well include hiring criminal associates on the public dime, making drug deals while working, representing the city while incoherent and intoxicated, firing staff because they acknowledge your drug problem, and building a ridiculously expensive subway line to low-density areas like Scarberia?

Because I would think most reasonable people would not agree that constitutes running the city well.

Black Dog · November 26, 2013

The Ford situation raises an interesting question. Why do you do when you have a mayor that runs a city well, puts in place popular policies that work well, but also has a troubled personal life?

Interesting indeed, and when such a situation comes to pass, we can talk about it.