Crackstarter - Gawker crowdfunding the Rob Ford crack tape: good or evil?

Incidentally, the Fords are doing their radio show today at 1:00 (EST). If you're interested in listening:

http://www.newstalk1010.com/player.aspx

"Bob and Doug," as a friend just pointed out on Facebook.

hey we found a dead mouse in our crack, eh? that means you owe us a free kilo

Excellent start: Rob calls 98% of the media "maggots."

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that..."

Rather amazing: 10 minutes in, and they still haven't really addressed anything. They're talking about last night's Rolling Stones show right now (which will surely clear them of all drug-related suspicion).

Quite surreal.

http://wellconnect.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Elephant-in-the-room.jpg

Bumper music's been good, though--"Can't You Hear Me Knocking," "Good Vibrations," Wild Cherry. There seems to be the suggestion that Doug will address everything during the second half of the show, after Rob's gone. The thinking seems to be that...???????

Can't stick around for Doug's hour, unfortunately. Some bizarre mix of Checkers Nixon and 72nd-hour Telethon Jerry so far.

characters an amateur could never dream up.

sometime truth is stranger than FICK_shuuuuuun

the video originally belonged to an individual who may have been killed for its potentially valuable contents, according to a source.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/toronto-police-spoke-to-mayor-fords-senior-staffer-after-tip-linked-killing-to-alleged-drug-video/article12163629/#dashboard/follows/

So, the owners of the video may be murderers now - where does this leave the gawker campaign now?

characters an amateur could never dream up.

― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, May 27, 2013 9:36 AM (2 hours ago)

You'd have to be good, agreed--a friend on Facebook pointed out that yesterday's radio show had kind of a Sammy Maudlin feel to it, and sketch writing doesn't get any better than that.

it's The Wire set in SCTV's Melonville

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66hLNY-D13A

ford's press secretary just quit

this is actually the state of media-mayoral relations in toronto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=blcj-jEXfsA

https://twitter.com/reporterdonpeat/status/339074390878732288

"the lights! the lights! will somebody get the lights!"

Imploding, brio--there's a cancer on the mayoralty...

CFTR made a big deal this morning about Ford's public support "holding firm." He was at 36% support/approval before all this, and he remains at 36%. They must never have heard of Nixon or Gingrich--if you refer to the media as maggots, of course your base laps it up and digs in. Meanwhile, Olivia Chow still leads 56-36.

Crackstarter has less than $2 G's to go with 11 hours on the clock

woah bam just hit it

I am amazed people are/were still donating to this

so is Gawker, I think:

John Cook ‏@johnjcook 19m
Well what do you know?

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18oz6s4ciuqdyjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Dizzy, Bizzy, and Etobicoke Bone.

Ford's Greatest Hit possibly leaked and out there:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/27/rob-ford-video-copies-robyn-doolittle_n_3343234.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

this is all just so amazing.

yep, please let there be copies out there. i just really want to see rob ford smoke crack, his ruination would just be gravy.

This Star story from today lays out a pretty clear narrative:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/28/rob_ford_crack_scandal_fears_fords_aide_sought_video_spark_police_probe.html

http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2013/05/28/rob_ford_crack_scandal_fears_fords_aide_sought_video_spark_police_probe/rob_ford_1.jpg.size.xxlarge.promo.jpg

he's looking well

a little paler than usual, i suppose.

xposts

If that story is correct and Toewy goes public with it all, the tape might not need to come out to force a resignation.

Toewy is an ex-military guy and a straight arrow - plus Ford fired him over wacko football stuff, so he'll eventually spill it all. Will be hugely damning coming from Ford's right-hand man.

He fired him over football?!?

wacko football

a little paler than usual, i suppose.

― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, May 28, 2013 10:26 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

withdrawal?

wacko football firing:

...sources told the Star that Ford was so emotional after losing his beloved post at Don Bosco that he ordered Towhey to go to the school and retrieve thousands of dollars worth of football equipment he had donated. When Towhey told Ford that this was a bad idea, the sources said, Ford fired him.

The sources said Towhey implored other aides not to answer any phone calls from Ford that night because the mayor was so upset. Accustomed to Ford's mercurial behaviour, Towhey, who thought he had experienced a "phantom" firing, then returned to city hall the next day — at which point Ford asked him to help arrange a party next week with Don Bosco players and other friends.

Towhey, incredulous, calmly explained that the mayor's office had more urgent business. This so infuriated Ford, the sources said, that he reminded Towhey that he had been fired the night before and had him escorted from the building by security.

Happy 44th, Mr. Mayor!

that is pretty wacko

crack seems pretty wack

I'm guessing Ford will not be using Whitney Houston's "where are the receipts?" defense

crack is for poor people (not mayors)

I am imagining that entire interview happening with Rob Ford subbed in for Whitney, holding Bobbi Cristina on his lap

lol 'where are the receipts' miss you whitney

http://media.tumblr.com/87730f62856f5e331f6b61ccdcb1a100/tumblr_inline_mlbkkkAYkz1qz4rgp.gif

http://media.tumblr.com/87730f62856f5e331f6b61ccdcb1a100/tumblr_inline_mlbkkkAYkz1qz4rgp.gif duh

A timeline for interested out-of-towners:

http://www.thegridto.com/blog-post/the-emerging-ford-drama-in-chronological-order/

Check the first photo!

The saddest thing is the Fords are right that the media is a bunch of downtown elitists who are out of touch with much of the city - and this whole saga proves it.

Local reporters seem to have next to no contacts in the 'burbs or with the cops - the sources who could actually break this story wide open... When a couple of rexdale dealers tried to hand the Star the story on a silver platter, the reporters at the Star and at Gawker fumbled it so bad we may never see the tape. When they tried to dig on Doug in Etobicoke the best they could do was junkies spilling 30 year old common knowledge.

Weeks into it, this is the FIRST story I've seen that I've seen from the neighbourhood where the action went down, and of course it's in The Sun:
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/28/rexdale-neighbours-of-rob-ford-video-holder-nervous

reporters...at gawker?

what were they supposed to do to get the video other than ponying up 200k?

I think if Gawker hadn't fucked it up - by calling CNN Canada who called the mayor's office - the Star reporters could have negotiated a more reasonable price or found a way to verify it without buying the tape

or just pony up the 200K, fair price for 2-3 guys who have to split town

and, possibly, risk murder or arrest

don't see how cnn being a bunch of fuckwits reflects poorly on gawker.

also i mean regardless of how much we'd like the tape, ford seems pretty well hosed at this point?