Toronto Mayor Rob Ford: The Distraction Express.

Rob Ford was elected Mayor of Toronto in 2010, and ever since then, it's been one piece of silliness or scandal after another.  Rob Ford is The Distraction Express when it comes to Toronto politics.

Today's story is no different.  Apparently the Toronto Star and Gawker have been offered a video that reportedly shows Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.  And apparently, the sellers wanted a 6 figure sum for the video.

Now, I haven't seen or been offered the video.  But, I always have my suspicions on stories like this.  It is said that everybody has doppelganger somewhere, and I've seen enough evidence to support that thought.  Also, these days computer editing software can make just about anyone look like anyone else.  So even though it might look like Rob Ford, there's no guarantee that it actually is.

He shouldn't be in office really, after being convicted of a conflict of interest back in November 2012, though Rob Ford successfully appealed against being removed from office.  That case isn't over though as the lawyer who brought the case is seeking leave to appeal to Canada's Supreme Court.

But this quite frankly, is a piece of silliness, just another one in a long line of silliness surrounding this Toronto Mayor, who has never helped himself, ever since being elected. 

Viewpoint Update: TSX technical glitch

BNN is now reporting that the TSX will not trade today due to the computer crash that happened earlier today.

The good thing is, with the Dow and US markets having only slightly moved at this point, Dow down about 36 points, there is little in the way of catch up to do. However, I do expect to see some extra trading tomorrow, or whenever the TSX next opens.

TSX in Toronto closed after computer crash.

BNN in Canada is one of the few online places that is reporting the Toronto Stock Exchange has halted trading after a computer crash. I'm looking out for more information on this, but a lot of other sources are not reporting this story. Fox Business Network seems to be the only one so far, with neither CNBC or Bloomberg seemingly acknowledging the story.

There's currently no information on when the TSX will resume trading, or indeed if it will resume today. The market closes for the day at 4pm EST, same as the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ. I will keep monitoring this story, but I'm surprised this is not regarded as much of a story in the global business media. The exchange trades around half a billion shares a day, so although it is not a large exchange, it does some serious trading. And all too often, it doesn't get much coverage as it's New York neighbours do.

This is the third time this year that the TSX has halted due to technical issues, and it is a situation I will continue to keep a close eye on.

Toronto Dominatrix challanges criminalising prostitution

Toronto's all news radio station 680 News reports that a Toronto dominatrix who was raided back in 1994, is pushing for a review into the criminalisation of prostitutionm in Canada.  She talks about her time as a streetwalker and as a dominatrix, and how she felt safer working out of her "bondage bungalow"

Whilst I certainly don't feel prostitution should be promoted, I feel that the women caught up in prostitution are sometimes victims and should not be criminalised.  Those who force women into prostitution however, should face the full weight of the law and justice on their shoulders.

The world of the Dominatrix is different again.  These women are providing a diferent kind of service, which by the way does not involve sex usually.  These are people who are in control of their lives and are not engaging in criminal activity.  I see no reason to attempt to criminalise them at all.

A form of legal prostitution should be considered, one that keeps both the workers and the clients safe from prying eyes of the more unscrupulous parts of the media and away from unwanted prying eyes of other kinds.  It also needs to keep the workers out of the hands of pimps who seek to profit from the workers and keep them poor. 

It's a complex matter, and has to be handled delicately, not with the usual political mentality of a bull in a china shop.  Whilst I support her aims, I fear that the usual political point scoring mentality will prevent a real solution to the problem emerging.  I have been wrong before, and I would love to be proved wrong this time, but I won't hold my breath waiting...

US stock markets in the red

Well, I had a look at CNBC and the markets in the US do not look great. Everything in the red by around 1% with Dow Transports the worst performer down 1.76%

There were no climbing sectors today, as far as the Dow Jones sector indicies went, but the best performers were Automotives and Parts which were only slightly in negative territory. Worst performer was Construction and Materials, which fell alomst 2%.

The AMEX Composite actually did better than the major markets, being down just over 0.5%.

In Toronto, the stock exchange there didin't fare any better, with their composite index down alomst 1.5% on the day.