It’s been over a couple of months since I last focused on the topic of espionage in Toronto and with the recent release of CSIS’ 2024 Public Report (download the PDF or read it online), it seems the perfect time to revisit the topic, especially since Toronto is mentioned a number of times.

I’m just gonna skip over the contentious introductory pleasantries and jump right to the heart of Dan Rogers‘ (the new CSIS boss), intro:

We continually re-evaluate and re-deploy resources to ensure we remain focused on the highest priorities in safeguarding Canada.

If this isn’t a smokescreen then the vibe I’m getting is that the Service is stretched a little thin and, if I’m being honest, it all sounds a little familiar.

Dan has been on the job for about 8 months at this point so if I’m to trust what he’s saying then I’d have to trust his opinion to be well-informed. He also claims:

As states and citizens alike adopt new technology, such as encryption and generative artificial intelligence, Canada must keep pace in understanding the varied impacts, opportunities and risks. These advancements can offer opportunities for Canada’s growth, while simultaneously equipping those who would seek to do us harm. In response, CSIS has implemented new processes and structures to review and shift resources as priorities emerge.

Again, there’s that “we can’t do it all” tone right at the end.

Also of concern is the claim that encryption and generative AI are new. While it’s true that generative AI is making spectacular leaps and bounds forward, for the Service it should’ve been on the radar for some time. Maybe that’s just my own assessment.

I’ve incorporated neural networks into /sectionb because the underlying concepts, at this point, have a lengthy history that predate most living people. In other words, it’s not really that new. You’d think the Service would have at least a couple of people on staff to keep track of this sort of stuff.

Moving on, Deputy Director of Operations Vanessa Lloyd notes:

In 2024, CSIS actively investigated espionage, foreign interference and terrorist threats, and for the first time in many years, also made concerted efforts to counter sabotage.

For the “first time in many years”? Yikes!

She also states:

In 2020, CSIS acknowledged that it had observed espionage and foreign interference levels not seen since the Cold War.

That’s reassuring. So is her grasp of “new” technologies:

This perspective remains true today as the threat environment evolves at an ever more rapid pace with the advent of new technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Again, AI and quantum computing are not particularly new.

However, in her writing she notes a 1996 bust of two bona fide Russian spies, a 1999 investigation that “included CSIS”, a 2006 bust of a GTA terror cell (five of who resided in Toronto), the preemption of a bomb plot in 2023, the arrests of Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi in 2024, and the interception of another bomb plot in the same year.

Extremism surrounding the Khalistan movement is specifically singled out as a long-term problem.

Other ostensible threats include “a variety of extremist beliefs, including militant accelerationism (advocating for the violent destruction of society), neo-Nazism, and satanic occultism”, but as far as CSIS knows these groups were “… not actively organizing a mass casualty attack.”

White supremacy is not mentioned once, which is quite a pivot from just a few years prior. With CSIS apparently playing cheerleader at that time, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair maintained that:

“There’s been an escalation, not only in rhetoric, but security and planning … countering this group [The Proud Boys] has become an important priority for the government of Canada.”

This was all happening at the same time as terms like “Sikh extremism” were being purposefully removed from government communications on extremist activities.

One thing that the report makes crystal clear is who CSIS is presently focused on, namely elements from:

PRC, India, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Pakistan

In the meantime:

… certain foreign states are attempting to interfere in Canada’s electoral processes and democratic institutions, and that foreign interference had an impact on the electoral ecosystem and has undermined public confidence in Canada’s democracy.

Presumably, when it comes to those “foreign states” it’s more than just interference:

CSIS assesses that RMVE [Religiously Motivated Violent Extremism] actors will continue to pose a domestic threat to Canada in 2025.

Specifically, as relates to Pakistan between 2018 and 2023:

… CSIS conducted a threat reduction measure to reduce the Pakistan foreign interference threat, which was later assessed as effective.

What is that “thread reduction measure” that was used between 2018 and 2023, you may ask?

CSIS has had the authority to undertake threat reduction measures (TRMs) since 2015. A TRM is an operational action that is intended to reduce a threat to the security of Canada as defined in Section 2 of the CSIS Act. Given its mandate and collection capabilities, CSIS is at times the best placed Government of Canada entity to confront a national security threat. Generally speaking, TRMs fall into three broad, but non-restrictive categories that include:

• Messaging: Directly or indirectly pushing information to a threat actor or person impacted by the threat in an attempt to influence their behaviour or reduce the threat.
• Leveraging: Disclosing information to a third party to enable them to take action, at their discretion, against the identified threat-related activities.
• Interference: Directly affecting the ability of a threat actor to engage in threat-related activity.

Basically, anything from an indirect suggestion to “directly affecting” the target … got it 😉.

Unfortunately, the feeling I’m left with is that the Canadian security forces are behind the times and behind the eight ball. So what now … corner pocket? 🎱😎

Both Rob and Doug have been going all out in putting the blame primarily on the media for all of their current woes. While the stories become more and more outrageous, it would certainly seem that they’re being exaggerated were it not for the piles of corroborating evidence and the personal testimony of the mayor’s former staff.

True, I wasn’t there and I don’t know any of the people mentioned in the police reports. My closest personal interaction with off-the-cuff statements and public officials involved newly-appointed mayor Norm Kelly in a brief conversation he had with Sarah and me at a doctor’s office about six months ago — his wife was there to treat a recurring medical condition. It seemed like an odd thing to blurt out to what to Norm must have been just two random strangers; but not exactly scandal material.

For the most part, I can only depend on inference and corroborating documents in reaching my conclusions. But increasingly, and perhaps as a result of ramped-up public pressure, one or the other of the Ford brothers makes a public statement that makes inference entirely unnecessary.

The latest such statement came courtesy of Rob himself, the “I wanted to eat her pussy” admonition — the “her” being former Ford staffer Olivia Gondek to whom, it is claimed, Rob made the proclamation during one of his infamous drunken stupors. Despite mentioning this in a closing aside during a press conference  (“oh, and one more thing”), this will probably be traced by future historians as the statement that pushed Rob Ford over the edge.

Problem is, no one actually said this. The real alleged statements included:

“I’m going to eat you out”
“I banged your pussy”
“I’m going to eat your box”

Apparently Ford said this to not only Gondek but also a female security guard (the final quote), and if the reports are to be believed, this isn’t completely out of character:

xxx) Mayor FORD tried to hit-on a woman that was at the [subway] station which was unusual behaviour for him. He asked her out to dinner.

…

eeee) Mayor FORD wanted to go to the Esplanade that night.

ffff) RANSOM described Alana as:

i)a female
ii) white,
iii) blonde hair,
iv) younger than RANSOM,
v) blue eyes,
vi) thin,
vii) petite and
viii) attractive.

gggg) RANSOM has a photo at home that he can provide to the police.

hhhh) Alana may have been an escort or prostitute. There have been rumors that Mayor FORD has used escorts or prostitutes. Alana has also been seen with Mayor FORD at a stag party. Alana approached PROVOST that night. This upset Mayor FORD because Alana recognized PROVOST. RANSOM thinks that Mayor FORD was upset because PROVOST was not being discreet about Alana. Alana didn’t seem intoxicated that night.

…

hhhh) Alana may have been an escort or prostitute. There have been rumors that Mayor FORD has used escorts or prostitutes. Alana has also been seen with Mayor FORD at a stag party. Alana approached PROVOST that night. This upset Mayor FORD because Alana recognized PROVOST. RANSOM thinks that Mayor FORD was upset because PROVOST was not being discreet about Alana. Alana didn’t seem intoxicated that night.

…

nn) CHRISTOPOULOS had enough of dealing with the personal life of the Mayor. That was not his job.

oo) In the past women have come to the office and told staffers that they have smoked a joint with the Mayor on the street outside of the bar. These women were told by the Mayor that they could have a job. CHRISTOPOULOS would have to interview these women and try and talk them out of a job. These women would state that the Mayor provided the marihuana. One women’s names was “Blair”. They would be contacted by email. Apparently this woman had put a picture of her and the Mayor on Twitter and she was contacted by the Toronto Star asking questions. That is when she contacted the office of the Mayor. The emails may have come into the Mayor’s account in June to August of 2012.

What’s genuinely interesting to me is how Rob managed to conflate certain statements made to the police (while ignoring other and, to me, considerably more serious allegations), to create something that was ultimately much worse.

Had he used an actual quote, his on-camera statement probably wouldn’t have been as bad. Yeah, making public statements about eating out boxes (first thing on a Monday morning to boot), probably also would’ve gotten some cockeyed looks, but I think we all agree that the way that Rob Ford decided to phrase it was probably the worst possible way.

The fact that these allegations were made is secondary to Rob’s almost mythical ability to take bad situations and make them just that much worse. To date, neither Rob, his brother, or anyone else has thought to correct this error, but regardless of whether there was a “pussy” or a “box”, or some sort of combination of the two, this latest incident just further proves what Ford critics have been saying all along: the man doesn’t have the judgement to correctly string together a sentence let alone run a city.

In my mind, that alone is an excellent reason for cutting Ford off at the knees. Sound judgement is probably the top attribute required of Toronto’s mayor, and neither Rob nor Doug have shown that they have any.

Why is the weather report such a secret?

It really doesn’t matter which station you watch; CTV, City, Global, Omni; there’s an incredible coverup underfoot to hide the truth about the weather from the public. How in the world was this conspiracy allowed to happen?!

Need proof? Just think to the last time you watched the 11 o’clock news…

…but, sadly, the kitten couldn’t be saved.

Tragic story.

It certainly is, Anne. Now we switch over to Michael to tell us what the weather will be like tomorrow. Michael?

Thanks, Gord. I’ll be telling you all about the doozie of a weekend we’ll be having. But first, here’s Kathryn Humphreys with the sports, and I must say, Kathryn, you look like you’ve gained some muscle.

Sure have, Michael. But enough about me. The Leafs. Whole team: dead. Plane crash. More after the messages…

Yadda yadda. Buy stuff, etc. Back to the news…

…police are now looking for the fugitive infant. If you have any tips, call Crime Stoppers. Gord?

Thanks, Dwight. Boy, is it me or are they getting younger and younger?

Hard to understand. Now we go over to Michael with the weather. How’s our weekend shaping up, Michael?

Well, Anne. It was looking a bit dodgy around noon but from the data we’re receiving from our two-hundred-thousand weather stations around the GTA, I would revise my earlier estimate. Things are going to change drastically!

Uh oh! Sounds ominous, Michael. Or is it swinging to extreme good weather?

Well, Anne, now you know I can’t tell you at this moment otherwise I’d have to sneak into your bedroom while you sleep and place a single drop of poison on your lips via a suspended thread, being held by me, a vague shadow somewhere on your ceiling. That is, if I was even there at all. It’s not like I would leave any evidence behind. How about I tell you the full weather picture after the commercial?

Sounds good, Michael. Please join us after the commercial break as we unveil the weather forecast for your weekend.

I’m pretty sure I missed a couple of breaks and segments in there, but you get the idea.

When the weather finally comes, it’s an orgasmic explosion of weather facts. Michael tosses them to the camera benevolently. Ahhh. Now, at long last, we will know whether to hang on for one more weekend or just end it all on Friday.

Wow. Imagine the power in that guy’s groin. He’s probably the belle of the ball everywhere he goes. Women would go to great lengths just to spend one night with him and, perhaps, bring news of the following week’s weather back to their people.

How was this allowed to happen? The weather should be free for everyone! We should all have the right to know whether to wear galoshes or sandals to work tomorrow.

Or tune into the Weather network where they apologize out their ass for not having that shit in front of you, on a silver platter, every ten minutes.

Stone cold pimpin’