In another aspect of the Ford controversy, a number of people have angrily sent me copies of a letter that the disgraceful John Honderich — the chair of the board of Torstar Corporation (the Star’s owner) and a former Star publisher — assumedly approved for distribution to 70 prominent Torontonians, urging them to agitate for the mayor’s removal in mid-term, and taking them to task as moral outcasts of the community for not joining in the full Christmas revelry of the Star’s attempted putsch.
This is simply amazing.
The reason leftist nutters are always so paranoid of conspiracies is because they work so hard at creating them.
That article will have little impact on the Toronto Star and the various journalists who have have new bung holes ripped by Mr. Black.
They are just too much in the “Heads up there own arse” mode to figure it out. Speaks volumes for the legions of downtown Toronto voters who spend money to pay for such a waste of good trees.
Simply awesome. A well written, thoughtful deconstructing of a liberal rag. Kudos Mr. Black.
The Star is a festering genital sore on the crotch of Canada.. Called Toronto..
Well I suppose having sliced and diced the Star last week, Lord Black had to wait for another column before pureeing them in the blender. So he has, and he has. ‘Tis a joy to watch a master word-chef at work, even if the product of his work (the pureed Toronto Star) would be unpalatable in any form.
IMHO The ‘Star ‘ is sold by the pound — of newsprint, that is.
Conrad’s road-to-redemption is a wonder to behold.
MM
Best quote:
“It won’t fly — any of it. The mayor has been administratively competent but a behavioral embarrassment. the Star’s attempted coup was a failure, and the hare-brained effort to dragoon civic leaders, bankers and advertisers into the plot backfired. Rosie’s column of reply to me on Monday was so feeble, I take it as an olive branch in the last gasp of the Star’s failed attempt to purge the city’s elected mayor without any due process.”
See you all at the next election, in the meantime quit yammering…and bully for Lord Black for punting the Pharisees at the Star to confession.
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
The Star won’t be around for long. It’ll be interesting to see which dies first, the NYT or the Star. I go to the YMCA gym near where I live and they have piles of Stars there for the taking. I don’t think they can even give it away any more.
It is interesting to note than John Hoderich’s father was also publisher of the Toronto Star and president Of Torstar corporation.
“Just imagine if the mayor of New York, Chicago, or Boston had acted like Rob Ford.”
This statement by Honderich is not the least bit surprising, does anyone on the Left ever research history? Does he not know that the Democrat controlled administration of Chicago has been so corrupt for so many years,it’s been fodder for television series and dozens of movies?
Yes, he DOES know, he just doesn’t care about facts.
The remarks about Dimanno, joints and jumping are rather revelatory, too bad an insider doesn’t do a “tell-all” book on the secret life of Canada’s media elite, complete with all details on sex, drugs, alcohol, and mental illness. It would make “Peyton Place” look like “Alice in Wonderland”.
It’s disturbing that these people are allowed carte blanche to write or say anything they want about anyone in public affairs, but we have absolutely no idea of who they are or what their vices, foibles,and failures are, not to even mention their mental state.
I mean,if you’re being told that a Mayor is a drunk and drug addict, by someone who’s a drunk and drug addict, the accusations lose some of their righteousness, don’t they?
One of the best schadenfrued moments ever was watching a guy dressed in a suit one sunday afternoon at the bottom of an escalator 2 blocks (Loblaws on lakeshore) from The Star’s One Yonge St. head office loudly complain,
“These are free they won’t hurt you ” after being rejected by 4 different people as he tried to give away free copies of their pathetic rag. Everybody just laughed, but still nobody took a paper.
“F” the Toronto Star, good job Conrad Black!
That’s “good” inherited wealth, minuteman, like Al Gore’s.
Black is so good skewering the leftist idiots. I love to read his stuff!
When Rob Ford gets elected again next year I demand the head of that Jack! Layton statue be cut off and replaced by a faultily glued on one of Mayor Ford.
Conrad Black was a lazy blowhard. Carol Off had his number and he had no answers.
Who knew that Monty Python was an instruction manual.
The action of the Star is identical to the MP skit, Blackmail.
I hope enterprising operators invite the Star staff to play in the new year.
What a bald, blatant, graceless demonstration of social blackmail by Honderich. By openly trying to intimidate fellow members of the “crust” to either do his personal bidding or face the consequences, he betrays the privileged/entitled attitude of a 17-year-old rich-kid bully/asshole crossed with a junior high school bitch-queen, all dressed up in the trappings of self-considered authority:
Translation: “If you refuse to denounce this traitor as per our demand we will have no choice but to publicly denounce you.”
What a scumbag.
Credit and thanks to Conrad Black for exposing – on “the historical record” – the behaviour of this absolutely loathsome, appalling man.
Wow! Toronto Star down 41 % in 4 years. No wonder they keep inventing news. The only one worse is the Calgary Sun at 51 % percent decline which is odd that a lunchbucket paper is losing the battle with the Calgary Herald so badly. Must be local issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Canada_by_circulation
I don’t entirely agree with Lord Black. He isn’t as good a writer as George Jonas, which is no shame, but I do think he is as good as Barbara Amiel.
There is always a ying and yang in the publishing business. Black did a masterful cuisinart on Hondereich and The Star, but another raging Torleftist, Heather Reisman, will make money off the legions of Star stases who now have to run off to Indigo to buy dictionaries in order to understand the words Black used. They are Liberals after all, and counting beyond two syllables has always been difficult for them.
“Carol Off had his number…” Heh.
If that twitt had anyone’s “number” it must have been a first.
Another beauty from Lord Black, nobody can do a take down better, nobody deserves it better than the TorStar and their minions.
It’s long past time Carol Off took off.
I wouldn’t line my birdcage with the Red Star..
The choice remains Olivia Chow or Rob Ford.. Olivia cant beat Rob when it comes to saving the tax payer money so destroy him they must.. Its their only avenue to power..
Chow will raise your property tax by 20% over 4 years.. Ford closer to 7%..
Enough said..
What an unalloyed pleasure it is reading Conrad Black.
Before the culture wars, even a thoughtful leftist would enjoy this masterful piece.
Oh, and the nice touches: reminding them about the error vis-vis the number of graven images at Rushmore and the delightful baronial wishes at the end!
A big, generous man Black. A Canadian Gulliver.
From the Black column:
” (My clearer memory of that party is of another female journalist who offered me sexual intercourse in exchange for an interview, an offer I declined with thanks and a commendation for her enterprise.) …”
Is that where the term “presstitutes”, which I see used by some commenters here and elsewhere, come from?
I also wonder … how come most current scandals/controversies involve members of the press?
• Former journalists Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, and would-be Frank mag contributor Patrick Brazeau, feature prominently in the Senate controversy.
• Former Radio-Canada journalist Bernard Drainville is the Minister responsible for the so-called Quebec Charter of Values (official title: Charter Affirming The Values Of Secularism And The Religious Neutrality Of The State, As Well As The Equality Of Men And Women, And The Framing Of Accommodation Requests) !!
• Kevin Donovan, Robyn Doolittle, Rosie DiManno, Daniel Dale et al. involved in the Rob Ford saga.
Wrong Terry…I heard the “As it Happens” interview.
Her questions were nuanced. “If you call your self a journalist, why didn’t you ask those question?”…
It was nauseating considering the softie, cozy questions the CBC always carefully and intentionally ‘asks’ Trudeau, and Suzuki, to name a few.
I got the feeling Black was intentionally not answering her smarmy challenge.
Our own John Gormley must have got a copy of the letter too. He has happily joined the effort to slander conservatives everywhere. But especially Ford.
In Toronto, the star is now available, complements of the Toronto taxpayer, at many city-run spots (pools, rec centres etc).
What an amazing idea – read all about Mike Duffy and the daily attack on rob ford, all financed by my municipal taxes.
What a fantastic piece! So many digs at Di Manno, but so classy and subtle, kind of in a ‘burning coals on her forehead’ way.
And he ends it so well:
I accept her incoherent peace offering and I will not reinitiate hostilities. Merry Christmas to everyone, and baronial seasonal wishes upon the Star and all its Pharisees, that they may be shrived, and that grace may be restored to them.
I had to look up the definition of shrived.
His time in the gulag has sharpened this former political prisoners mind and wit. love his articles although he is rather dry to watch on TV.
although he is rather dry to watch on TV. Yes indeed. Lord Black’s forte is definitely the printed word.
I really appreciate Lord Black’s erudite style and elegant take-downs but, for me, the best part is reading the comments after the article and seeing the “progressives” peeing their panties one after another.
Yep…and I am picturing Rosie peeing her panties too.
And just imagine if Conrad himself had been caught pulling a stunt like that: when Mr. Black’s business empire was at its height, the usual condemnation of his management style emanating from the Toronto insurgency was that he was a “meddling control freak”. Sort of like what they say about Stephen Harper. I guess they feel that if they project their own behaviour enough times, that will make their assertion true. On the other hand, they could really use some new material.
And while we’re on the topic of gratuitous repetition for the purpose of establishing the veracity of something that is not true, I also noticed that both Ken Dryden and Ms. DiManno this week had to get it into their columns that Lord Black is a “convicted felon”. Leave aside the fact that the SCOTUS completely vacated both the entire indictment against Mr. Black and the Honest Services Act. Further still, leave aside the fact that of the two remaining charges that were resurrected by the Posner appeal court, one was a derivative stemming from an underlying charge of which Mr. Black was acquitted at trial (how, exactly, can one be guilty of a derivative charge but not be guilty of the underlying?), while the other involved an incident that happened in downtown Toronto — outside the jurisdiction of the United States government. One could ask where are all the allegedly edgy and “progressive” Toronto-based Canadian nationalists (many at the Star, supposedly) are on that particular extra-territorial application of American law, but it’s really not necessary, since we know where they are — over with the environmental foundations from the US who have no standing in this country but are nevertheless seeking to determine Canadian economic policy (particularly as it concerns the rise of Western Canada). What the parroting of “convicted felon” really shows is how much Mr. Black gets under the Toronto-based media’s skin — and I’d be fairly certain that Mr. Honderich will be having a little meltdown over multiple copies of his letter ending up in Mr. Black’s hands. Well, too bad — it looks good on Mr. Honderich.
Which gets to a final point from bluetech @ December 21, 2013 3:12 PM. Ms. Off prefacing a question to Mr. Black with the assumption that he’s a journalist was a mistake — the same one Ms. DiManno made in her response to Mr. Black on Monday. Neither one of them is sharp enough, evidently, to understand that Black is not a journalist. He’s a businessman, with keen strategic and presentational skills when it comes to the printed word and image. They are attempting to impugn Mr. Black’s skills by reference to what they think they know from their own low-level experience, and they come off as entirely amateurish. The reason Mr. Black’s take down of Mr. Honderich works so well is because one badly-behaving CEO, who’s outfit is more than a little self-righteous, has had his pants pulled down in public by another (former) CEO who’s supposed to be the bad guy. It would actually be quite funny, if it weren’t so serious.
Ken Dryden writes for the Star?
Wondered what happened to him.
Guess that is the same as disappearing…lol
Actually, he had a column in The Globe and Mail this past week (complaining about Ford supporters in some fashion or other), which I think was linked at Reader Tips. I don’t know if he’s a regular or not.
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