Rob Ford interview

Ezra Levant with Mayor Rob Ford before his big surgery:

The T-Star's shakedown targets

Last month The Toronto Star's loopy chairman wrote to 70 Toronto "elites"  in an attempt to intimidate them into denouncing Mayor Rob Ford (see Conrad Black's column).  Today, The (loopy) Star published a list of responders (and non-responders) along with their comments.  Many predictably went along with the Star's idiocy and dumped all over Ford as requested.  But many others either didn't respond at all or told the Star to drop dead.  Peter Kent's reply stands out (my bold):

WHENEVER A REPORTER FOR THE TORONTO STAR MIGHT WISH TO ASK FOR MY THOUGHTS ON AN ISSUE OF THE DAY, I STAND READY TO RESPOND.

HOWEVER, AND DESPITE YOUR “EXTENDED DEADLINE” I WILL NOT ANSWER THE DEMANDS IN YOUR LETTER OF DECEMBER 16TH, 2013, WHICH I CONSIDER TO BE A CRUDELY CRAFTED, VEILED THREAT THAT I (AND OTHERS) ENDORSE AN EDITORIAL COLUMN WRITTEN BY TORSTAR CHAIR JOHN HONDERICH . . . OR FACE CONSEQUENCES IN YOUR EVENTUAL STORY.

YOUR LETTER IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHAT MIGHT BEST BE DESCRIBED AS CRUSADE JOURNALISM; A NEWSPAPER'S ATTEMPT TO IMPOSE ITS EDITORIAL WILL FAR BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF ACCEPTABLE JOURNALISTIC PRACTICE.

MR. HONDERICH IS CERTAINLY ENTITLED TO HIS OPINION.

I WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO COMMENTING ON THAT OPINION.

YOUR MANNER OF NEWS-GATHERING IS, I BELIEVE, AN UNFORTUNATE EXAMPLE OF THE DECLINE OF A CRAFT I ONCE PROUDLY PRACTISED.

[via Blue Like You]

The media's Ford fetish

Apparently there's no limit to the media's loopy obsession with Ford.  Now it's Rob's brother Doug Ford's outrageous behaviour - handing out $20 bills to the less fortunate, at Christmas time.

The horror!

Conrad Black's defence of Mayor Rob Ford

The salvation of Ford: Conrad Black on why Rob Ford can win again

... nothing has come to light that disqualifies him from fulfilling the mandate his electors gave him, and I do not believe that the City Council has any legal capacity to redefine the powers of the mayor ...

... Mayor Ford’s detractors should realize that instead of hounding him from office, they have probably, by their bestial self-righteous excess and implicit mockery of a large echelon of the population that identifies with the mayor, made him more popular than ever. They have mocked human foibles a great many voters share, without shame, if not proudly. ... The law of unintended consequences asserts itself again, and it will be interesting to see whom it strikes.

Conrad at his best. Love it!  Though I'd say that in addition to that "implicit mockery" there was a lot of explicit mockery and insult of Ford voters by many including Post columnists J Kay and A. Coyne.

See also, Peter Foster's: Unravelling the Fordian Knot

Jim Flaherty's humanity to Rob Ford

Kelly McParland: Jim Flaherty’s humanity to Rob Ford sticks out from the baying mob

Jim Flaherty went up a couple of notches in my estimation on Thursday, when he found himself unable to speak coherently about the fix his friend, Rob Ford, is in.

... It appears the federal finance minister has failed to grasp that Rob Ford is no longer an extremely flawed human who has manoeuvred himself into a horror story of his own creation, but prey to a self-righteous pack that sees him only as a target to be brought down, and feeds on its shared callousness. He feels bad for the man; he doesn’t care about the story, which is what the mob cares about.

... The Star, which congratulates itself on its leading role in the unhappy tale, has abandoned even the pretense of civility.

... We’re not talking about anyone human here, just a target. He gets the thumbs down from the crowd, you stick a sword in him. It’s been going on for centuries.

Mr. Flaherty, at least, stands out for retaining some compassion. You won’t find any at the Star. I’m glad I don’t work there. If I did, I’d be embarrassed.

Meanwhile, about that video showing Ford's supposedly out-of-control rant -  "Rob Ford sounds like he’s doing a Hulk Hogan impression because… he’s doing a Hulk Hogan impression"

Media Party circles the wagons in defence of crappy journalism

In yesterday's National Post there were columns by Andrew Coyne and Chris Selley discussing, in part, the journalism surrounding Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's alleged crack smoking.  At least the focus is on the real problem - the media, instead of the steady stream of innuendo about Ford .  But, to me, both columns are just more of the Media Party's circling of the wagons around their own, spinning their biases into a transparent rationalization of crappy journalism.

Towards the end of Coyne's column he says that the alleged Ford video couldn't have been faked because some alleged tech experts have said so. That's a highly dubious assertion. Such a video can indeed be faked, at least one sufficiently good enough to dupe gullible reporters on the prowl for dirt on Ford, who viewed it on a tiny screen in the back of a dope dealer's car, at night. The hard part about faking such videos is making them good enough to avoid detection on close inspection. Could this be the reason the video hasn't surfaced? This is precisely why the Star should not have published the story. They didn't have the video in their possession and were therefore unable to have it technically authenticated.

Coyne also yaps about the alleged sterling reputations of the Star reporters asking whether they'd risk them, along with possible "heavy financial losses", if they didn't have grounds to believe their story to be true. 

Here's a clue for Coyne: why don't you review the case of that once reputable, highly acclaimed journalist DAN RATHER?  You know, the one where Rather let his biases and enthusiasm for screwing George W Bush get the better of him when he published a smear based on a phony memorandum.  Sounds very similar to the Star story on Ford, doesn't it?

Near the end of Selley's column he defends the Star's ethically dubious journalism:

"Journalistic standards are important; but are the ones that journalism schools are teaching still appropriate? Much of the criticism the Star itself has endured — speak to standards that non-mainstream outfits can very profitably ignore, while greatly furthering the public interest."

Really?! How does publishing smear stories based on unverified, possibly unverifiable, videos "greatly further the public interest".  No doubt Selley believes Ford is guilty -  where there's smoke (generated by "reputable" journalists) there's inevitably fire. No evidence required.

Selley, like Coyne attaches significance to the reputations of the Star and its reporters. But there's nary a peep (by either) about the damage being unjustly done to the reputation of their victim, Rob Ford.

Corruption in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) + nitwit mayors and useless media

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is holding its annual conference in Vancouver this year.  This is the conference attended by Mayors and municipal staff to share ideas (collude) on stuff like, you know, "green" plans, "sustainability" initiatives and "climate change" strategies (aka wasting wads of cash ripped off from taxpayers).   Ezra Levant describes it as a lobby group that received $550 million in taxpayer funds from the federal government. 

Ezra also pointed out in this segment how and why corrupt thugs from FCM blacklisted a Montreal contractor from its tradeshow for having the temerity to advocate more efficient, open and honest tendering of municipal acquisition contracts:



And where's the Media Party?  One wonders whether or not this FCM corruption was a topic of discussion at the conference, at least informally among attendees.   Also, was the corruption in Quebec discussed?  There's real corruption in the FCM and real corruption in Quebec municipalities, so you might think the media would give their reporters an assignment to ask some relevant questions.   Well, there was no sign of it on my local CTV news last night.  The one and only topic they saw fit to cover was: "Rob Ford criticism bubbles up at Canadian mayors’ conference".  [The mayors were all atwitter, like giddy schoolgirls sharing hot gossip.  Note that one scumbag mayor, Frank Leonard of Saanich, BC, skated close to slander by suggesting Ford should be in jail.]   A worthless media sinks farther into irrelevance.

How to make your own Mayor Rob Ford Smoking Crack video

Via Blazing Catfur:

Legion of Decency video