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Tag: Toronto Mayor

  • Rob Ford: Toronto’s Most Notorious And Most Beloved Mayor Succumbs To Cancer At 46

    Rob Ford: Toronto’s Most Notorious And Most Beloved Mayor Succumbs To Cancer At 46

    Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who was often ridiculed for his unique political style and brash attitude, succumbed to cancer at age 46. Ford died on Tuesday after an 18-month battle with pleomorphic liposarcoma, an aggressive type of cancer.

    “With heavy hearts and profound sadness, the Ford family announces the passing of their beloved son, brother, husband and father,” his bereaved family said in a statement. “A dedicated man of the people, Councillor Ford spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto.”

    He was first diagnosed with liposarcoma in 2014 while running for a reelection which caused him to drop out of the race. Instead, he ran for councilor in Ward 2 Etobicoke North, winning it by a landslide. Ford declared he was cancer free in September but was hospitalized again in October after two new tumors had been found in his bladder.

    Rob Ford gained popularity among the masses for his unpretentious leadership style. However, he repeatedly found himself in numerous scandals involving drugs, threats of violence and alcohol. After a video showing Ford smoking crack cocaine in his office surfaced in 2014, the former Toronto mayor faced his addiction and said he was entering rehab. Video footage and photographs showing Ford intoxicated in public also emerged.

    Despite the scandals about him, Rob Ford was loved by many. Thousands of supporters have shared their prayers for his recovery on a website set up by his family during his battle with cancer.

    Toronto mayor John Tory paid tribute to the late politician saying, “His time in City Hall included moments of kindness, of generosity to his council colleagues and real efforts to do what he thought was best for Toronto.”

    Rob Ford’s brother, Doug Ford, also expressed his sadness on his demise: “My heart is ripped out. I loved Rob so much, I took care of him and protected him from the day he was born. I miss him so much. He was my best friend.”

  • Rob Ford Kicked Out Of Several Polling Stations, Brother Distances Himself

    Early voting opened in Toronto on October 14, and Mayor Rob Ford seems to be struggling to keep his hold on the city as its constituents are set to vote for new officials. In fact, Ford went so far as to break an important election rule just to get some face time with the voting public.

    After visiting and being asked to leave two polling stations on Thursday and Friday, Ford was reportedly sent a letter from the city clerk informing him that he had broken the Municipal Elections Act, which states that anyone attempting to directly or indirectly influence voters is not allowed to be at the polling station.

    Ford is currently running for city councilor in Ward 2, but was seen visiting Ward 8 on Thursday and Ward 7 on Friday. After receiving the letter from city clerk Uli Watkiss, however, Ward also drove a voter to a polling station in Ward 17 and ignored repeated requests by an election official to leave, according to Jackie Souza, spokeswoman for the City of Toronto.

    “There was no evidence the mayor was campaigning on the site or telling people how to vote. However, only electors, elections staff and scrutineers are permitted in the voting place so he was asked to leave,” said Souza in an e-mail.

    Ford reportedly dropped out of the mayoral race when he was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and decided to run for city councilor of Ward 2. His opponent, Andray Domise, feels so confident that Ford will not win that he called on Twitter for any last-minute donors to his campaign to redirect their funds to other progressive candidates who needed them more.

    Meanwhile, Ford’s brother, Doug Ford, has taken up the mayoral race and is reportedly both distancing himself from his brother’s tenure as mayor and taking credit for the administration’s accomplishments.

    Saying that Doug Ford as mayor was a tough sell, conservative strategist Dimitri Pantazopoulos added that in his opinion, “he can’t decide whether to distance himself or take credit, and therefore he’s kind of doing both.”

  • Rob Ford Takes Break From Re-Election Campaign To Enter Rehab

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford announced that he is taking a break from his campaign in order to enter rehab and seek help for his alcohol and drug abuse.

    Ford has been the center of attention since May when reports of his crack-cocaine smoking surfaced. The announcement of his break came after report that a new video has emerged showing Ford smoking crack. The video, which was said to be filmed just last Saturday, shows Ford with a drug dealer. He was smoking from a copper-colored pipe.

    The video was said to have been taken in Ford’s sister’s home. Ford’s sister, Kathy, is also a self-confessed addict. The video was not released to the public, but still images have been circulating on the internet. According to reports, the drug dealer has offered to sell the video to the media for a large sum of money.

    In a statement, Ford said “It’s not easy to be vulnerable and this is one of the most difficult times in my life.” He also admitted that he has been struggling with his alcohol addiction for a long time.

    “I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as mayor to seek immediate help,” he said.

    Dennis Morris, Ford’s lawyer said that his leave from office is effective immediately.

    Despite the first news of his drug usage in May, Ford still went through with his decision to seek another term in office. At the start of the year, he was also the center of controversy when a video of him talking bad about the city’s police chief was posted on a social media site. At that time, Ford said that he is a human being who is entitled to a personal life.

    Ford ended his statement by saying that he knows that he needs professional help and that he is “100% committed” to setting his life straight.

    Image via YouTube

  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus Nude on ‘Rolling Stone’ Cover

    Julia Louis-Dreyfus graces the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone–in the nude. The Veep star’s cover shot and the third season of the show make headlines at about the same time–the new season aired Sunday and the magazine hits news stands Friday.

    Inside the pages of Rolling Stone, Louis-Dreyfus dishes on Seinfeld as well as the upcoming season of Veep. She says she gets to curse a lot in season three, and that seems to please the actress to no end.

    “Once, when we were trying to come up with the particular perfect, horrible, swear-y thing to say in Veep, I said, ‘You do realize that if we were 12, we would get in big trouble for this conversation,’” Louis-Drefus told the magazine. “That was not part of the curriculum in high school, and the fact that it is now a part of the curriculum of my life is a pleasure, which is the understatement of the universe.”

    Julia also mentions that she landed the role on Seinfeld as Elaine Benes partly due to her ‘disposition.’ And she talked about sexism in Hollywood.

    “There is sexism — I’m not denying its existence,” she says. “But I’m saying that I will deny its effort against me. I just pay it no nevermind and say, ‘Get out of my way.’”

    On the magazine cover, Julia Louis-Dreyfus sports nothing but a copy of the U.S. Constitution on her bare back.

    Prior to this post she shared one indicating her expectation of landing some new Twitter followers.

    Do note the reference to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in her tweet with her use of the ‘drunken stupor’ excuse.

    Will you be picking up a copy of Rolling Stone this Friday with Julia Louis-Dreyfus–nude–on the cover? Given the number of Seinfeld and Veep fans she has–the news stands could sell out quickly.

    Image via YouTube

  • Rob Ford Curses In Drunken Jamaican Jibber Jabber

    He’s done it again! Just when we thought Toronto Mayor Rob Ford  was done with drinking, there’s a new video showing the mayor in another one of his drunken stupors. In the video, the intoxicated mayor is heard using words that are offensive or profane — in Jamaican patois.

    Although the video is generally incoherent and some of his words sound like gibberish, Jamaican words such as “bumbaclot” and “rassclot” are heard and experts are weighing in on their context.

    Jamaican speaking Canadians familiar with Jamaican dialect say the words are extremely profane when used in the right context. According to the experts, the words are offensive in most situations in Jamaica and in general is viewed as low-class.

    It is difficult to pin down specific words in the video, which was made in a northwest Toronto restaurant Monday night. Bob Arthurs, a retired teacher, says the words are common slang words in Jamaica just like the F-word. “If you met someone on the street you didn’t know and you said, “you’re a bumbaclot, that could be a very trying situation for you,” said Arthurs.

    Another Jamaican-Canadian, York University professor, Clive Forrester said the words are simply curse words, “not suitable for use in polite company or in the presence of children, and performers have been fined in the past for using the words on stage,” Forrester noted.

    Ford did admit that he had been drinking, breaking vows he made weeks ago that he had given up drinking. The controversy stricken mayor contradicted his “most loyal brother” Councillor Doug Ford. The Councillor claimed that the video was an old one which was probably taken before the mayor declared that he would stop drinking — the video was taken less than a week ago.

    Many of Ford’s colleagues were not fooled by his assertion that he would quit drinking. The city’s only black councilor, Michael Thompson, said many of his fellow councilors did not believe the mayor had changed for good.

    “I think we all had sort of concluded it was only a matter of time,” Thompson said.

    Rob Ford Is Unapologetic About Incident

    http://youtu.be/LWKfrlskXSQ

    Image via YouTube

     

  • Rob Ford: Toronto’s Crack Smoking Mayor Seeks Reelection

    Is he smoking crack…again? Despite repeated calls for him to step down from office, Toronto mayor Rob Ford was the first candidate to show up at City Hall on Thursday to register for reelection. The mayor is asking Toronto to vote for him in the city’s municipal election on October 27th.

    “Ford more years,” he declared. He then referred to himself as the “best mayor” Toronto has ever had. “I’m sticking to my record, and talk is cheap. You’re going to see action like you’ve never seen before.” he added. Yes, this is the same crack smoking, foul mouthed, erratic Canadian politician named Rob Ford we’re talkin’ about here. Maybe the mayor was just in another one of his “drunken stupors”.

    Well, Ford did maintain all along that he would seek reelection and on Thursday morning he showed up to the state building to file his paperwork.

    In May of last year video footage surfaced of the mayor smoking what appeared to be a crack pipe and spewing out a series of curses and racial slurs.  The video embarrassed many Canadians and Ford eventually confessed to smoking crack, using marijuana and abusing alcohol. One of Ford’s gang member associates also snitched on him, confirming that Ford is in fact a crackhead and a heroin user and he had pictures to prove it. Ford does however maintain that he is not an addict and is perfectly capable of executing his job as the mayor of the largest city in Canada.

    Despite his belief in his ability to carry out his job, the Toronto City Council stripped him of most of his powers, though he continues to receive support from more conservative voters.

    Would you vote for Rob Ford? We can only wait to see how Toronto votes in October.

    Watch Rob Ford In Some Of His Finer Moments

    Image via YouTube

  • Rob Ford And Alleged Crack House In The News Again, Still No Video

    Ever since the stills of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford allegedly smoking crack cocaine hit the mainstream, the mayor’s denials and the house itself are still a topic of conversation, especially to the Canadian news cycle. Take, for instance, the latest story to hit trend status. While the mayor doesn’t make this particular new cycle, the house the pictures were apparently taken at is, which gives them an opportunity to bring the Ford connection back into the mix, like so:

    CBC News has confirmed that an assault occurred at the Windsor Road house, just days after news broke that two news outlets had been approached about buying a video purporting to show Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.

    The details of the crime are, largely, meaningless–two people in the house were assaulted by an intruder–because it allowed the Ford angle to be reintroduced, which quickly became the focus of the “Police visited house linked to Rob Ford…” article. For those who may not have all the details, this refresher will help. The still that leads this post was apparently taken from a video that featured the mayor smoking crack, which, of course, Ford denied. The video, which has not been released, was allegedly viewed by members of Gawker.com and the Toronto Star.

    The following video will help clear up any confusion:


    It appears, however, that the video indicting Ford may be gone with the wind:

    On Wednesday, John Cook, the editor of the U.S. gossip website Gawker which has led an online campaign to purchase the alleged video, said his main contact fears the footage is “gone” and that the media attention may have scared the owner away.

    Gawker has raised over $200,000, the alleged asking price that the so-called drug dealers wanted for the video.

    If these entities don’t produce the video, does that mean they, in their effort to generate the appropriate buzz, committed something similar to slander? If you are going to accuse someone like Ford of smoking crack, and you are claiming to have seen video evidence of the act, you might want to have said footage in hand before you tell the world what it is you think you saw.