Months have now elapsed since the unusual U.S. embassy shooting here in Toronto.

To refresh, in March of this year a vehicle pulled up in front of the United States embassy on University Avenue, two people got out, opened fire on the building, returned to their SUV, and sped off to the south. At the time the cops were calling it a “national security” issue.

On May 19^th an update on the incident was reported by CTV news in which an Iraqi national by the name of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi was implicated. It’s alleged that Al-Saadi was associated with a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), translated as the “Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand” (or something like that).

It’s claimed that HAYI was unknown until March of this year although, ostensibly, a dormant Telegram group existed for it as far back as 2024, maybe earlier. The history here is a bit murky.

Nevertheless, the narrative has since widened, implicating a parent Iranian group by the name of Kata’ib Hezbollah in the recent killing of Toronto Police Services Constable Marc Pinizzotto.

According to reports of the time, a co-conspirator named Nicholas Bennett was shot by TPS during a related takedown and a 19-year-old male going by Zara Jabbi (below) escaped.

Four other people were in the apartment at Martha Eaton Way near Trethewey and Black Creek at the time of the coordinated raids. Additional details remain scarce, with the exception of the alleged supplier of stolen transport equipment, Sheldon Tracy-Stewart.

It’s recently come to light that the final suspect (Jabbi), has been arrested. To wit, “He is charged with theft of a motor vehicle, possession of property obtained by crime, discharging a firearm at a place, attacking premises of internationally protected persons, and multiple firearms offences.”

Here’s where it gets weirder…

I meticulously analyzed and questioned the timeline of the shooting which was reported as beginning at around 4:29 a.m. Yet the current record claims that, “Police allege Jabbi and another suspect drove a stolen white Honda CR-V to the consulate around 5:29 a.m., exited, and fired multiple rounds at the building before fleeing.“

Not the way I remember it. Maybe it’s a Mandela Effect?

I have some history with this subject.

A little over 16 years ago I posted about the start of the St. Market North redevelopment project. If you’re not familiar, the north building sits directly across the street from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market — an adjunct, if you will.

Initially, five teams identified only by colour put forward their proposals for the upgrade. About 2 months later, City Council chose the “Red Team” consisting of Adamson Associates Architects and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

The following is a panorama I took of the north market at the time. For comparison, below it is the original “Red Team” design from about the same angle:

I stand by my earlier description of the then-existing market as “a stripped-down school gymnasium”. Built in 1968 as a “temporary” measure, it was basically a concrete enclosure into which folding tables, camping chairs, and local farm products (antiques on Sundays), were dragged on a weekly basis.

No matter which team’s design was chosen, the redevelopment was bound to be an aesthetic improvement.

The new north market finally opened about a year ago, in early April 2025. The following image is probably also a rendering (too many suits in the area!) but this is pretty much exactly how the building looks today — same angle as that initial 2010 pano:

A budget for the redevelopment was estimated at $58 million and the building was expected to be finished in 2014. Unofficially.

The official budget was nearly $75 million, revised in 2013 to about $95.5 million, and the final approved cost in 2024 was about $128 million.

An official timeline for the project’s completion may exist but I haven’t yet found it. There was the whole “archeological finds” thing but that accounted for only a couple of years of delays.

In short, based on the available metrics the St. Lawrence Market North project was close to a decade behind the estimated schedule and close to 70% more expensive than the official outlook.

Sounds familiar.

As I work my way down the quickly dwindling roster of the Raisin Gang, it’s understandable that its members should become more elusive and difficult to track down.

And my penultimate target has proven to be an exceptionally slippery one: James Boyd

To the best of my knowledge, he only ever orchestrated various Gang activities from behind the scenes so tracking him by physical characteristics like face or voice wasn’t possible.

Nevertheless, I started with a simple search and hit on a matching profile nearly right away: a James Boyd of Toronto, currently production manager at Brown Bag Films with a bunch of experience in audio production and the music business.

Gotcha!

But … hmm … no mention of Ryerson/Metro University. In fact, this James claims to have studied music at Keele University about a decade earlier.

An expanded search produced more numerous but less likely candidates, everything from realtors to VPs at gold mining outfits. It took me a while to dig through the pile but I’m fairly certain that I’ve found our elusive Mr. Boyd.

As may be expected, he’s presently hiding out as a lawyer with Siskinds, LLP in London (Ontario).

The tip-off was a small mention at the bottom of his profile: “Prior to pursuing a legal career, James owned and operated a corporate video production company in Toronto for five years…“

The “corporate video production company” is ostensibly “Single Space Productions” which lists Ryerson University as a client. Accordingly, James studied at Ryerson from 2004 to 2009, starting out in film and going on to major in “Radio and Television Arts”.

In the summer of 2009 his story goes dark but we can infer that the he and the Gang probably sat around stewing in the hot juices of their own malevolence until mid-August when the first Raisin Gang video was uploaded. I discovered them about ten months later.

Among James’ earliest recorded experiences, from late 2007 to early 2009, is the role of “Equipment Distribution Centre staff” at Ryerson where, “I tested and maintained the department’s audio and video equipment & facilities and authorized & supervised the rental of equipment … also one of the senior staff in charge of supervising the other staff on-duty and overseeing daily operations of the centre.”

I believe that’s how you spell “smoking gun”.

And just like the rest of the Raisin ne’er-do-wells, in 2015 he desperately tried to cover his tracks by spending a few years Doctoring a Law degree at Western University (also in London).

Thus physically removed from repercussions of the Gang’s history, he was able to freely oscillate between studying his filthy trade and working his way up the legal ladder. He now splits his time between spreading his undoubtedly vile doctrine at the university and putting it into practice at the firm.

Raisin Gang/corporate video straight to lawyer; the man is pure villainy. Enough said.

And with that I turn my attention to the last remaining Gang member: Dan Ramos.

You’ve seen it with your own eyes, Dan. My exposés are merciless. The curtain sets. I await your imminent contact.

A while ago in another place.

^(larger)

If you go back a little bit through the history of TCL posts you’ll find that I’m no stranger to edgy software and modern technologies. I also tend to interpret such things through a particular lens.

Yet, despite the inherent incredulity of my purview, I was surprised to discover this obscure tidbit of homegrown PC history: the MCM/70 portable computer by Micro Computer Machines Inc.

Here’s their 1973, totally undercover “Executive” edition:

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a spring-activated blade ready to shoot forth from within a well-placed cooling vent in there somewhere … strictly for personal defense, of course.

Originally, MCM Inc. operated out of a desolate area of what is now Toronto called Willowdale. Founded in 1971, the company had a roughly 10-year production run before shutting down operations. One of the most notable names behind the effort was Professor Mers Kutt. Other participants are less well known.

It’s safe to say that the MCM/70 is considered to be among the first, if not the first, in the field of personal/portable computing. In other words, this is a very early version of the thing you carry around with you whenever you vacate your domicile, bowels, etc.

More extensive histories and galleries of the machine exist online but projects involving subsequent products, such as the results of the Department of National Defence’s war games simulations using the MCM/800, remain unavailable.

May was a busy month. Let’s just have a stiff drink or two and leave it at that, okay?

June is presenting its own unique set of challenges but thankfully it’s also presenting some low-hanging fruit:

In case you can’t or don’t want to watch the video, it can be summarized thusly: a cyclist is recording their trip along a waterfront biking trail when they spot a group of cops tackling another cyclist, ostensibly for running through a stop sign, and seemingly trying to escape the orders of the same officers; basically a traffic stop that ended in an aggressive takedown. At one point up to three cops are piled on top of the guy, apparently in order to restrain him.

Understandably, this has generated some online debate about excessive force but since we can’t see what happened prior to the tackle we should probably wait a bit longer to get the full story. Maybe the guy had a gun? Maybe he just stole some old lady’s purse? It’s not as if I’m a fan of state coersion but at this point I don’t have enough information to pass judgement.

It’s worth noting that the video is not actually taken on “Lakeshore”, it’s a little farther south along Queens Quay at Little Norway Crescent. Were the person recording the video to pedal their conveyance a few seconds longer they would quickly reach Bathurst Street and the southern edge of 545 Lake Shore Boulevard West, a Homes First project that straddles both streets, and an interesting juxtaposition to the events in the video.

Although 545 Lake Shore is billed as a homeless shelter, in reality it’s more of an open-use drug site and repository of often shady, sometimes nefarious characters. Of course there are some genuinely down-and-out folks there but between the ubiquitous meth-heads, leaners, and those who supply them, the truly needy are far outnumbered by those who need not be there.

Right across the street is the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre which houses various preschool programs and a JK-to-grade-8 public school.

Given this context, does the recorded incident simply represent a determined decision to enforce the law or is it something along the lines of performative theater, perhaps in advance of certain events? Hard to say.

Six months of spooky silence … I bet you thought it was over, didn’t you, Raisin Gang?

Wrong!

I even remember who was next on the list: Mary Kelly

Back when the Gang was in its public phase, Mary styled herself as an audio expert. It seems she liked to surreptitiously record and listen to certain conversations and other “ambient sounds”. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but so did the Stasi.

The dots connect just a little too well. After all, blackmail is used primarily by people pulling strings from behind the scenes, and I can’t help but notice Mary’s nearly ubiquitous absence from the Gang’s productions. To the best of my knowledge, she only makes two appearances in their videos.

One is a walk-through role, almost as if some sort of subliminal trigger, in the ultra-violent “Precision Elevator”.

The other is a hallucinogenic, MKUltra-esque nightmare called “Frasierberry Soda”.

While Mary is one of the more elusive background members of the Gang, I was able to find what seems like her abandoned online profile. The face fits. The timeline fits. The city fits. And to add more credence, I note that although the profile is clandestinely sparse, even then it boasts managing people from behind the scenes.

Understandably, details are thin.

The only established claims are that Mary was a literary administrative assistant with GLAM for a couple of years after splitting from the Gang. After that, the timeline has her landing a production coordinator gig at Nelvana for just over a year. Then, on May 2014, she disappears.

Maybe I’ve got the wrong Mary Kelly. Maybe there never was a “Mary Kelly”. Doesn’t matter. If the Raisin Gang are going to start a Frasierberry, they’d better be prepared to finish a Frasierberry. If some innocent people get caught in the crossfire, well, that’s just more sticky liquid on the Gang’s hands as far as I’m concerned.

So here we are. By my count, only Dan Ramos and James Boyd remain. Still willing to roll the dice on your covert operations, fellas?

You know where to reach me.

Perhaps you think that I’m engaging in cynical hyperbole but I assure you that I’m not: City Hall is going to demolish the most iconic section of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. Sure, they plan to rebuild it again afterwards but it’ll look and feel much different — the old Yonge Street of today will be gone.

The push for this started back in the summer of 2011. At the time it was considered a long shot since the concept was mainly just a pedestrian-friendly facelift put forward by gay, lefty-pinko junior Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam and Pride-avoiding, right wing, penny-pinching, newly-elected businessman Rob Ford (remember him?) who, it may surprise you to learn, wasn’t really a big fan of walking or running, wasn’t onboard. So the idea simmered on the back burner for about a decade.

At some point it was determined that a length of Yonge would need century-old water mains replaced and, since this requires wrecking and rebuilding the street anyhow, the proposal resurfaced, congealing early in 2021 into something called yongeTOmorrow. I don’t know to what extent the Wong-Tam’s plan has morphed over the years but right now City Hall is eyeing the portion between Queen Street and College/Carlton for the first phase of a Yonge makeover.

As of 2024, the most current design by engineering firm Parsons splits up the initial stretch into three themed sections.

Each of these sections are clustered around what the project calls Anchors, defined as “existing landmarks that contribute towards the identity of Yonge Street.”

While the “Green Gateway” is indeed quite green and the “Performance/Retail” portion is also aptly named, I’m hesitant to use the word “Innovation” for its designated section simply because of that area’s proximity to Ryerson/Metro University. Some of their innovations are dubious if you ask me.

Nevertheless, the practical result of the current plan would be the reduction of the street to one lane in each direction, to be shared by both motor vehicles and bikes. The design includes “Designated Short-Term Areas”, presumably short bits where the road flares out to two lanes for drop-offs/pick-ups. Along with this there’s a speed limit reduction to 30 km/h.

The resulting space will be used to widen sidewalks and include strips with greenery and street furniture, sort of like permanent curb lane cafés à la CaféTO. How much of these strips will be for public use and how much will be designated for adjoining businesses (i.e. private, à la CaféTO), remains to be seen.

Tenders for the construction are expected to begin in 2030 and construction itself is expected to take about 5 years — with the proviso that this is dependent on the progress of Doug Ford’s unspoken tribute to his late brother Rob, the Ontario Line.

If the timelines of something like Union Station Revitalization or the new St. Lawrence North Market are anything to go by, it’ll be a miracle if any projected costs haven’t at least doubled by the time shovels are in the ground, or whatever futuristic digging implements will be in use at the time, which will likely be 2040 at the earliest.

That gives us at least 14 years to experience and capture the downtown Yonge Street of future yesteryear.

The design is still undergoing public review and there’s a scheduled public drop-in event next Tuesday at the central YMCA that, “will provide an opportunity to view the project information panels and speak with members of the project team one-on-one.” In other words, if you want to meet some of the people who will eventually be responsible for astronomical cost overruns, extensive delays, and assorted disruptions to the surrounding community, this might be the event for you.

Maybe I’m just trafficking in hyperbolic cynicism. Maybe they’ll have coffee and doughnuts. Whatever the case, a “pt.2” is inevitable.

Unfortunately, further productions by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are no longer welcome around here.

Shame because I enjoyed Nirvana The Band/Nirvanna The Band The Show. I mean, it got a bit long in the tooth near the end but the premise was fun: two lifelong buddies try creative ways to get booked to perform at the Rivoli. The execution/production of the show was great, they had good chemistry, and the ubiquitous backdrop of Toronto circa 2007/2017 was gratifying.

Besides, they clearly worked hard on it.

However, having sat through Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie I can now confidently say that the shark has been thoroughly jumped. Aside from the quirky humour, one of the appeals of the original series was the captured reality of urban Toronto. In other words, the earlier episodes didn’t feel like they needed a whole studio production crew.

Unfortunately this feeling has been lost. The budget’s grown, the jokes feel tired and hackneyed, and then there’s the time-traveling RV with a contrived plot involving spilled Orbitz. Even the movie poster’s kinda lame.

If you’re looking to see a recorded slice of Toronto and get in a few chuckles then I can recommend (most of) Matt and Jay’s old series. The movie … not so much.

Section B’s Mirabelle Saint-Juste. Just like ze ‘oney badger, she do not care.