Free Republic

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...

Police in Toronto, Canada have stated that a video showing Toronto mayor Rob Ford using crack cocaine is in their possession. Moments ago the mayor greeted a throng of reporters outside his office with the statement that although he would like to defend himself, he cannot, as the issue is before the court. The allegation of crack use and news of a video initially surfaced this past summer, with representatives of the US website "Gawker" alleging that they had seen the video. Since then, evidently, the video was lost or deleted. As part of an ongoing investigation Toronto police maintain...

As two dramas about the conflict vie for attention at TIFF, normally outspoken actors and filmmakers on hand for the fest remain conspicuously mum on the subject. The conflict in Syria and the increasing likelihood of Western involvement is occupying hearts and minds at this year’s festival. Still, when it comes to Hollywood voices publicly weighing in on the debate over U.S. intervention in the territory, the silence has been deafening. A number of high-profile Hollywood names on hand for the festival, who’ve been outspoken in the past on U.S. military intervention, have been uncharacteristically quiet on the issue. THR...

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As residents of Toronto express anger over the death of Sammy Yatim, who was shot dead on a downtown streetcar over the weekend, Police Chief Bill Blair has vowed to investigate the actions of his officers. "I want to assure all the citizens of the city of Toronto of our unwavering commitment to get the answers they seek," Blair said in a brief news conference on Monday. The comments come after the 18-year-old was shot dead in Toronto shortly after midnight on Saturday.

Signs that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack by hostage-taking Islamist militants on a remote gas plant in Algeria are of great concern to American authorities, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday. While Algerian authorities apparently have not yet provided Western governments with cast-iron proof, a senior U.S. intelligence official said: “We’re taking very seriously the reports of the two Canadians’ involvement.” ... Confirmation that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack on the In Amenas facility in the Algerian desert would raise concerns about a worrying nexus between North America and North African militants. At least 38 plant...

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...

The Toronto Star has seen the video in question. Much more to come on thestar.com

<p>BOSTON (CBS) — Clay Buchholz is off to a tremendous start for the Boston Red Sox this season, and his most recent impressive showing came at the expense of the Toronto Blue Jays. On Wednesday night, Buchholz silenced Jays bats, allowing just two hits and three walks over seven innings while striking out eight and keeping the Jays off the scoreboard.</p>

Two years ago today, SEAL Team Six sent Osama bin Laden on his way to Davy Jones’ Locker — but his Islamist terror machine is anything but sinking to the depths. It remains a vicious, global threat. Since Osama’s demise, the terror group’s strength has ebbed in some areas, but flowed strongly in others. Indeed, one current estimate concludes that al Qaeda affiliates and associates (i.e., groups, cells or operatives) are active in more than 30 countries (of some 190) on four continents. Including our continent. While we don’t yet know the whole story behind the Boston bombing, just last...

For seven minutes, five Dagestan rebels spoke into a video camera about killing infidels and how the “good deeds” they were doing would absolve them of “700 sins” committed during their lifetimes. Filmed by a Canadian jihadist fighter before he was killed by Russian security forces, the video offers a disturbing glimpse of the fanaticism of the rebels who may have inspired Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev does not appear in the footage, which was obtained by the National Post. But it was recorded and narrated by William Plotnikov, a Canadian whose alleged links to Tsarnaev are now under...

Radicalized Muslims do operate and recruit in Toronto and one Islamic leader warns we shouldn’t be surprised by news of more nefarious terror plots in the future. “There are a lot of people in our community that are a little rigid,” Muhammad Robert Heft, of the Paradise Forever Islamic Centre, said Wednesday. “Not thousands but hundreds.” Hundreds? In a week when one GTA resident, along with a Montrealer, have been charged by the RCMP in a terror plot to murder innocent people on a passenger train, it’s a troubling detail. But it’s not new for Heft, a Muslim convert who...

TORONTO — The Toronto imam who first brought forward concerns about one of the suspects in the alleged al-Qaeda-linked train plot wants to remain anonymous, his lawyer said Tuesday. Naseer Syed said the imam came to him more than a year ago about the suspect’s conduct. “It was enough of a concern and it passed a certain threshold than the imam felt comfortable with,” he said. The lawyer said he then notified the appropriate authorities. On Monday, the RCMP credited the imam’s tip with helping bring terrorism-related charges against Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier.

Canada to announce arrests after thwarting "major terrorist attack":CBCR Reuters – 19 mins ago TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police and intelligence agencies are to announce multiple arrests on Monday after an operation to thwart a "major terrorist attack," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Monday, citing unnamed "highly placed" sources.

Canadian authorities announced Monday they have broken up an Al Qaeda-linked terror plot to attack a passenger train as it crossed over a bridge in the Toronto area. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that two suspects have been arrested on terrorism charges. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, who live in greater Montreal and Toronto -- were conspiring to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack against Via Rail, but posed no immediate threat to the public. "It was definitely in the planning stage but not imminent," RCMP chief superintendent Jennifer Strachan told reporters at a news conference. Read more:...

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

A “foreign government” asked the FBI to look into one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect’s “possibly extremist ties” in 2011, CBS News reported on Friday. The FBI complied and spoke with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, to investigate any possible ties to extremism. The FBI determined Tsarnaev represented no threat, according to CBS News. Tamerlan, believed to be 26 when he was killed overnight in a shootout, dropped out after studying accounting at Bunker Hill Community College for just three semesters. He was an amateur boxer who had hoped to fight on the U.S. Olympic team, a man who said he...

When in Muslim countries, you must conform your behavior to Muslim sensibilities. When in non-Muslim countries, you must conform your behavior to Muslim sensibilities. "Toronto dad upset he's not allowed to watch daughter's swim class," by Jenny Yuen for the Toronto Sun, April 6 (thanks to all who sent this in): TORONTO - When a single dad signed his nine-year-old daughter up for female-only swim lessons, he didn’t realize he — as a man — was going to be banned from watching her practice. Chris (who didn’t want his last name published) was shocked when he had the blinds to...

Four women wanted in alleged sex assault of 19-year-old man in downtown Toronto Toronto police are looking for four female suspects who they say allegedly sexually assaulted a 19-year-old man. The incident happened during the early morning hours of Sunday, March 31, after the man met the four women at a nightclub near King Street and University Avenue. The man left the club with the women who offered to drive him home, according to a written statement from Toronto police. “The complainant was instead driven to a parking lot in the area of Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue where...