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Sister's ex-boyfriend says Ford arranged it to keep him quiet (Newser) – Just another day in the life of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford: He's being sued by his sister's ex-boyfriend for allegedly conspiring to have the man beaten in jail. A lawsuit submitted by Scott MacIntyre alleges the mayor was behind an assault at a Toronto jail in March 2012 that was intended to keep MacIntrye quiet about Ford's abuse of alcohol and drugs. The lawsuit alleges MacIntrye knew about Ford's alcohol and drug use and claims he was threatened with "dire consequences" if he did not remain quiet....

CNN) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted to drinking again after a video posted on social media showed him babbling about the city's police chief Monday night while he was at a fast food restaurant. The mayor, who had pledged to refrain from alcohol, stopped briefly to talk to reporters Tuesday when he was asked about the video that shows him incoherently talking to customers at a Steak Queen in Rexdale.

Old-timers may recall the old days when Canadian politics were not just dull but almost blank. As empty as a modern white-on-white canvas depicting some vast snow belt in the featureless depths of Arctic winter. But that was before Toronto's mayor and buffoon-in-chief changed Canada's image all by his outrageous self. Rob Ford seems a politician made for the times and tabloids -- like Anthony Weiner or Eliot Spitzer, a couple of New Yorkers who might be a better fit for New Orleans, or at least some of its seamier wards. (Would those two be allowed anywhere near the...

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine, has been in "drunken stupors," and was caught on camera in an expletive-laced rant. But he's still having a better month than President Barack Obama. Ford has the approval of 42 percent of 1,049 Toronto voters surveyed by Forum Research. The poll results, released on Friday, came as Ford saw most of his powers stripped by the city council in Canada's largest city. South of the border, Obama must wish he were doing that well. Ford, who was elected in 2010 on a pledge to cut government spending, also has said...

Toronto’s crack-smoking Mayor Rob Ford is the most famous Canadian in the world. The Charlie Sheen of politics opens his mouth simply to change feet. He’s certainly worked over the Canadian brand, which isn’t all bad. Americans think that Canadians are boring, nice and polite folks who apologize to machinery. In a way, it’s gratifying to be noticed for something other than the weather. But if Americans think Ford is an anomaly, they’re giving Canada way too much credit. In truth, the country is awash in scandal. Most unnerving is Quebec, Canada’s Tammany Hall. Since 2011, a government commission has...

Was someone holding Mika Brzezinski's shoe collection hostage? Because something obviously forced the Morning Joe host, against her will, to devote two lengthy segments today, totalling more than 2.5 minutes, to the story of scandal-ridden Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. With Joe Scarborough away, Mika was in charge. After airing the second long segment she complained "I can't believe he's still in the news. It doesn't make sense." Hmm. Kind of reminds me of another liberal complaining about what was done on his own watch. View the video here.

Toronto's crack smoking mayor got his own TV show - and finally could speak his mind without all those pesky reporters asking questions. The hour-long "Ford Nation" show that aired Monday on Canada’s Sun News Network gave Rob Ford a pressure-free environment to tell his side of the story after spending the last week sticking his foot in his mouth in front of the press and being attacked politically after admitting to drinking too much - and sometimes smoking crack cocaine.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was caught on video Monday bum-rushing a female Councillor as the council voted to strip the admitted crack smoker of most of his mayoral powers.

Toronto’s crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford warned Nov. 13 yet more scandals may come out as he faced a grilling by the city council but denied he was an addict. ~snip~ Ford said he could not assure council that there were no more skeletons in his closet. “I don’t know. I don’t know, there might be like a coat hanger left in my closet. I don’t know. I don’t know what is left,” he said.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he is taking legal action against the former staffers who made stunning allegations about the mayor in a police document, saying he consorted with escorts and used sexually explicit language to a woman working for him. In a profane media scrum aired live on television that left journalists gasping, Ford, wearing a Toronto Argos jersey, denied many of the allegations laid forth in the court documents, although he admitted to occasionally drinking and driving. He was particularly angry about his staffers telling police that they thought a young friend of his was a prostitute. “I...

Toronto's embattled mayor, Rob Ford, professed a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and gangs on Wednesday, but he also admitted he has bought illegal drugs in the past two years. Speaking after Toronto City Council almost unanimously urged Ford to take a break from his duties, Ford said he could not change the past and would continue his efforts as mayor to save Toronto money.

Former Clinton advisor James Carville pointed out Monday that President Obama, whose approval rating has sunk to 41 percent because the U.S. economy “is not growing for a lot of people,” is not even as popular as the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show, Carville told host Joe Scarborough that the president’s numbers are so low that “the best thing he can do is take a toke on the mayor of Toronto’s crack pipe, because his numbers are about 48.” …

Even Mayor Rob Ford needs insurance, bro. (cc @Will_Antonin.) pic.twitter.com/v2HcOopCEX— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) November 12, 2013

To a liberal, what's worse than smoking crack? Opposing higher taxes! Admission: I'm libertarian when it comes to drug laws. I believe the War on Drugs has been a big bust, excuse the pun, just like Prohibition was. That said, I still found hilarious Chris Hayes' statement on his MSNBC show tonight, commenting on the admission by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford that he had smoked crack cocaine, that Ford had done worse things. Among the litany of Ford's failures that were worse than getting on the pipe? Opposing higher taxes and privatizing garbage collection! View the video here.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is doubling down against calls for his resignation amid reports that police have a video showing him smoking crack. In a whirlwind radio show on Sunday, the embattled mayor apologized for getting drunk in public and said he would try and make sure it didn't happen again. "I shouldn't have got hammered down at the Danforth [festival]," Ford said on his weekly radio show Sunday, according to Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper. "If you are going to have a couple drinks, you stay at home. You don't make a public spectacle of yourself." But Ford did...

Ford friend Alexander Sandro Lisi charged with extortion related to the video, police chief says Toronto Police have recovered the video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said Thursday. “The video files depict images that are consistent with what has previously been reported” in the media, Blair said at a news conference on the heels of a release of documents used by police to obtain search warrants during their summer investigation. Ford has since May refused to comment on the video “that I have never seen or does not exist.” Blair...

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told “the whole truth” and another calling on him to resign. The mayor of Canada’s largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack. He did not take questions from reporters at a news conference at City Hall, held after close allies released a letter urging him to address the reports of the...