The Canadian Marion Barry?

[MajGenl.Meade]

His poor wife looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Shorely shome mishtake? "He looked like he wanted crawl into a hole and dive"

[Lord Jim]

Toronto council poised to strip Mayor Rob Ford of more powers

TORONTO — Beset by scandal, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford faces another likely setback today as the City Council takes up a motion to snatch away most of his remaining powers. Ford called the effort a "coup d'etat" and challenged the council to call snap elections.

Under the motion, already endorsed by a majority of council members, Ford would in effect become mayor of Canada's largest city in name only. He would be stripped of his office budget and staff.

The council does not have the power to remove Ford from office, barring a criminal conviction. It is pursuing the strongest recourse available after recent revelations that Ford smoked crack cocaine and his repeated outbursts of erratic behavior.

Far from being chastened, Ford has vowed to take the council to court and insists he will seek re-election next year.

"It's a coup d'etat — that's all this is," Ford said as he arrived at City Hall this morning.

He earlier claimed on a radio station that councilors were against his agenda to save taxpayers' money.

"If they want me out, they should just call a snap election," Ford told radio station AM640.

Councilor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a former Ford ally, said it's about his conduct.

"This about embarrassing the city, his involvement with gangs, his involvement with crack cocaine this about his admission that he gets behind the wheel while drinking," Minnan-Wong said.

"He's the worst spokesman for the city of Toronto right now."

On Sunday, Ford embraced the spotlight, giving an interview to Fox News and showing up at a Toronto Argonauts game even though the commissioner of the Canadian Football League had suggested that he not attend.

He and his brother are set to debut a current events television show tonight called "Ford Nation" for the Sun News Network.[Just what a guy who can't open his mouth without shoving his feet in and doing a 50 yard dash needs...his own talk show...]
Toronto, a city of 2.7 million people, has been abuzz with the Ford melodrama since May, when news outlets reported that he had been caught on video smoking crack cocaine.

Recently released court documents show the mayor became the subject of a police investigation after those reports surfaced. Ford, who denied there was any incriminating video, now acknowledges the reports were accurate.

In interviews with police, former Ford staffers have made further accusations, saying the mayor drank heavily, sometimes drove while intoxicated and pressured a female staffer to engage in oral sex.

On Thursday, Ford spouted an obscenity on live television while denying the sex allegation, saying he was "happily married" and using crude language to assert that he enjoys enough oral sex at home.

Last week, after admitting to excessive drinking and buying illegal drugs, Ford disclosed that he is seeking medical help. But he and his family insist he is not an addict and does not need rehab.

The mayor addressed some of those issues in his interview with Fox News.

"I've admitted to drinking too much. Okay. So I'm dealing with it, I'm training every day, I'm in the gym two hours every day," Ford said. "I'm seeking professional help, I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not a drug addict. Have I had my outbursts in the past? Absolutely. But you know what, I'm only human. I've made mistakes. I've apologized."

He also added: "Yes, one day I do want to run for prime minister."

Coincidentally, Prime Minister Stephen Harper — like Ford a Conservative — was due in Toronto today to meet with area Parliament members from his party. Harper has been a guest at an annual summer barbecue hosted by Ford and his family, but has had little to say in public about the mayor's ongoing troubles.

With Ford refusing to step aside, even temporarily, the City Council took its first steps to weaken his powers on Friday, voting 39-3 to suspend his authority to appoint and dismiss the deputy mayor and the executive committee. The council also voted to give the deputy mayor authority to handle any civic emergency.

George Rust-D'Eye, a municipal law expert hired by Ford a municipal law expert, said he will not seek an injunction to block City Council from going forward with today's power-stripping motion. Rust-D'Eye said he will meet with the mayor to discuss what to do after the council debates.

"What they are proposing to do is make him into a deputy mayor. I think they have to respect the wishes of the electorate," Rust-D'Eye said.

Ford's brother and adviser, councilman Doug Ford, called him "the mayor of the people" and said the rights of those who voted for him were being trampled.

Ford, 44, was elected three years ago with overwhelming support from Toronto's conservative-leaning outer suburbs, where many voters felt angry about what they considered wasteful spending and elitist politics at City Hall. He campaigned on promises to "stop the gravy train" by curbing public spending and keeping taxes low.

http://www.freep.com/article/20131118/N ... ain-wreck-

To call this guy a "train wreck" really doesn't do him justice...

He's more like a train wreck that then has a plane crash into it, followed by a tornado blowing through....

[Scooter]

Toronto City Council overwhelmingly voted to remove a number of key powers from Rob Ford Monday, as the mayor defiantly declared “outright war” until the next election. The vote occurred a few hours after city council broke into chaos when the mayor angrily charged a towards a spectator in the galley, knocking over a veteran city councillor in the process.

Council voted by large margins to significantly cut Ford’s budget as mayor, his ability to speak first and last on council agendas, his right to designate key items and to give the deputy mayor control over the mayor’s staffing.

“You guys have just attacked Kuwait,” Mayor Ford said a speech just prior to the vote on the special motion. “This is going to be outright war in the next election.”

ETA - my LOL moment this morning:

Q. What's the difference between Rob Ford and Kuwait?
A. Kuwait stopped getting bombed over 20 years ago.

[Scooter]

[Lord Jim]

Hizzoner provides a re-enactment of his recent behavior at yesterday's Council meeting:





Ya know, I'm gonna miss this guy when he's gone...

ETA:

It appears there's a back story to this...

Apparently Ford did this drunk driving impersonation while a council member was speaking who had herself been given a warning at a sobriety checkpoint last year...

[Big RR]

Jim--it reminds me what someone said at my college graduation, when we surrounded by professors walking around in robes and any number of silly hats, people carrying the official university seals and the mace on velvet cushions, etc. Someone said to me, "you know, this would be funny until you realize these are grown people who are highly educated and have responsible jobs acting this way." This guy just bears that out.

[Scooter]

Yesterday was pretty much a new low in this saga. Both the mayor and his brother (a city councilor) were picking fights with spectators in the gallery. At one point the mayor's brother was about to get into a physical altercation with someone, and the mayor bounded across the room to "come to his brother's defense", tackling another councilor in the process and giving her a fat lip. After several demands from the chair, the mayor issued yet another of his remorseless apologies for his assault on a grandmother.

[Scooter]

It appears there's a back story to this...

Apparently Ford did this drunk driving impersonation while a council member was speaking who had herself been given a warning at a sobriety checkpoint last year...

This has been one of the tactics that the Fords have been attempting to use as a defense - that these single incidents involving other members of council are equivalent to what he has done (if not worse), so why is he being punished? He conveniently ignores that it has been years that he has been exhibiting the behaviour of an addict out of control, and that he has been routinely consorting with criminals (at least one of whom he employed in his office) in order to feed his addictions.

[Long Run]

He is a comedy show for those not impacted by him, but as BigRR noted, you have to feel bad for the people of Toronto and others who have to live with this. Maybe your suffering of this fool will be more bearable knowing it gives chuckles to the western world.

[Lord Jim]

Ford gains another distinction...

His TV show ties Turn On for quickest television cancellation in history:

Ford Nation TV show cancelled after one episode

Sun News Network pulls plug on mayor's new show despite audience.

Sun News has cancelled Mayor Rob Ford’s TV talk show, Ford Nation, after its debut Monday evening.

Sun News did not issue any statement on the decision, but Kory Teneycke, the media network’s vice-president did confirm in an email to the Star that Ford Nation is over.

“It wasn’t viable to put all those resources into it,” Teneycke, told staff Tuesday, according to media reports.

The broadcaster announced the show only last week to be hosted by Ford and his councillor brother, Doug, after their radio show on Newstalk 1010 was terminated in the midst of the mayor’s crack scandal.

According to the Globe and Mail, Monday’s show brought in 155,000 viewers and the network attributed the show’s cancellation to the high production cost that came as a result of the brothers’ inexperience with the new medium.

It took the Ford brothers five hours on Sunday to tape Monday’s episode, the report said, and Sun staff another eight hours to edit.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11 ... isode.html

ETA:

I think the solution is to bring the show back in a live format; (with a five second delay of course to bleep out offensive language...)

That would get an even bigger audience....

[Lord Jim]

It's been nearly 24 hours since Rob Ford said or did anything outrageously stupid and/or crazy in public....

Come on Rob, you're slippin'....

Maybe he's down with the flu, or maybe he's working up to something really special....

[Joe Guy]

I bet he is cooking something up...

[Scooter]

It didn't stop Jon Stewart from lampooning him again last night:



I love his take on Pam McConnell getting tackled by him in chambers - "you know she got into politics thinking, you know, this may be a dirty, unrewarding business, but at least I'll never have to worry about going to work and being trampled by a crackhead."

[Scooter]

It's been nearly 24 hours since Rob Ford said or did anything outrageously stupid and/or crazy in public....

Come on Rob, you're slippin'....

Maybe he's down with the flu, or maybe he's working up to something really special....

You didn't have long to wait, Jim:

Rob Ford fitness consultant a convicted steroid trafficker, banned from coaching in Canada

A trainer who consulted with Rob Ford as recently as Tuesday night on a health “game plan” was convicted in the U.S. for steroid trafficking and is currently in the midst of a 12-year ban from coaching in Canada for administering steroids...


Moscariello pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute anabolic steroids in October 2005, according to United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

“Valerio Moscareillo, age 31, of Toronto, Canada, pleaded guilty in August to the felony offense. He admitted to unlawfully possessing 27 units (270 cc) of anabolic steroids, Schedule III controlled substances, and to operating a website at [www.juiceworld.com], that was accessible to the general public for the purpose of distributing these anabolic steroids,” a November 1, 2005 press release said.

“In February 2005, U.S. Postal Inspectors tracked a steroid distribution operation to the defendant’s residence in Henderson. In June 2005, law enforcement officers executed a search of the residence and seized a quantity of anabolic steroids, including Primobolon Depot, Deca Nadrolone Decanoate, and Trenbolone Acetate. They also seized “buy-owe” sheets, materials such as small bottles and syringes consistent with the repackaging of these substances, and approximately $16,000 in cash.”

He was sentenced to five months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. The press release said he was in immigration custody for a removal hearing.

In January 2010, Moscariello received a 12-year ban from Canadian sport for administering steroids to national-level boxer Amanda Galle of Mississauga. Galle received a two-year ban.

“His 12-year sanction means that he is ineligible to participate in any sport at any level and in any role. This prevents him from coaching, training or competing, and restricts competitive athletes from associating with him as a coach or trainer,” the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) said in a press release.

[Scooter]

Ok, not even a giggle at Ford picking a steroid pusher as his personal trainer?

God, even the Americans are getting bored hearing about him.

[Sue U]

"Crack" and "bad judgment" go together like "poutine" and "Celine Dion."

[rubato]

Good simile.

Poutine is NASTY looking. And not the good kind of nasty either. Yuck! I had to look it up.

And Celine Dion is proof that you can have a great voice and no ear. She has less sense of rhythm and worse musical taste than most white girls. Glad Las Vegas has sucked onto her and keeps her from polluting the rest of the world ( a function Branson Mo. serves for others).

Heeuge cocoanut on that woman. Have you noticed? "I am a tiny little French-Canadien with a BEEEG GIANT HEAD. Fear me."



yrs,
rubato

[Sue U]

I was going for a Canadian theme. Yes, I know Ontario =/= Quebec, but for the rest of the world (i.e., the U.S. and A) it's all Canuckistan, sacred birthplace of Our Lord and Savior Ted Cruz.

[Lord Jim]

Poutine is a common Canadian dish, originally from Quebec, made with french fries, topped with a light brown gravy-like sauce and cheese curds.

I'm afraid to ask what a "gravy-like" sauce is...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Ford has all the actions and attitudes of an alcoholic. Hope he gets the help he needs.