Divers rescue soccer team trapped in Thai cave - Update

The Independent is reporting that "Divers have begun the operation to rescue 12 Thai boys and their football coach, who have been trapped in a flooded cave for more than two weeks. Officials on Sunday morning said that “today is D-Day” as they face a race against time to extract the children from the narrow Tham Luang cave complex before more monsoon rains arrive."

New Zealand Stuff is reporting that "A specialist Australian doctor had gone into the cave on Saturday to check the medical health of the boys and had given them the all clear for the rescue to proceed." CNN is posting live updates. Thai government releases graphic about the rescue.



Video of the boys found alive in the cave. They still need to be rescued to get out.

A diver died Friday while placing compressed-air tanks along a route through the vast complex.



Six Thai schoolboys rescued from flooded cave

Reuters is reporting that "Six of 12 schoolboys have been rescued so far from a flooded Thai cave after divers launched a daring and dangerous mission to free the children and their soccer coach, who were trapped underground for more than two weeks, Thai officials said. A helicopter flew some of the boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai where they were taken by ambulance to hospital. Rescuing them all could take three to four days and depended on the weather, an army commander involved in the mission had said earlier."

Update: New York Times: Thai Boys Rescued After 18 Days in Cave

The Evening Standard is reporting that "The 12 Thai boys and their football coach who were trapped in a cave in Thailand got through the ordeal by practicing meditation, family members have said. The coach who was rescued from the cave on Tuesday, trained as a Buddhist monk for 12 years before he decided to coach the Wild Boars soccer team."

Surrey's Yaletown: Whalley’s World Transformed

Today Bruce Ralston and Bruce Hayne spoke at the Whalley street festival. Whalley is indeed transforming. The changes to the Surrey Strip are astounding. Getting the homeless into modular housing and getting rid of the tents is a huge step forward for everyone. Surrey supports Gentrification. Adding zoning for rental housing will make the transformation complete.

Two years ago Tom Zytaruk from the Surrey Now reported that "Big plans afoot for Flamingo Hotel site as developer eyes creating Surrey's Yaletown." This is good news for everyone. We have already started to see the transformation. Getting rid of the Dell show lounge was a huge step forward. That place was a dive. Now Planet Fitness and a new grocery store under construction in a new strip mall has been a real upgrade.

Panchos's is a sh*t hole. So is the Byrd and the Flamingo hotel. Aside from being a Hells Angels drug dealing cesspool, the hotel was also the HQ for the Hells Angels exotic dance industry monopoly. Everything the HAs touch in Surrey turns to trash. If Randy Jones wants to sell Dank and legal pot feel free but his involvement in selling crack, crystal meth and fentanyl along with drug addicted prostitution, has to come to an end. Natural justice will not condone that kind of exploitation in Surrey any more. Getting rid of the Flamingo Hotel along with Pancho's and the Byrd is exactly what we all need. That is progress.

Invest in Surrey is a website devoted to progress. Last year they held a Invest in Surrey Launchpad. Aside from Linda Hepner, every single person in that group is a keeper.

US and China prisons: Two different extremes

The problems with the prison system in China are obvious. China has political prisoners. They put you in jail for being Buddhists. That violates a fundamental right. Then they execute prisoners for organ harvesting. That is obscene. It's all about making money. Yet the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world. That is a serious flaw within the land of the free.

In the US private for profit prisons are slave labour traded on the stock exchange. Giving inmates the opportunity to work for early release is a good thing. Keeping people incarcerated to fund cheap labour for corporations is not. Private prisons traded on the stock exchange is insane. That is simply human trafficking.

Clearly China and the US are two opposite extremes that we do not want to emulate. Norway is obviously the better model. Private for profit prisons have no motivation for rehabilitation. Their motive is keep people in prisons and working for cheap labour. In 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that private prisons are an unconstitutional violation of basic human rights.

Millions of American adults are not allowed to vote due to a felony conviction.

MI 6 launch nerve agent attack in England

The fake news has become absurd. We've been through this before. Russia had no motive to use a nerve agent on a former KGB Agent in England. He was convicted of treason in a Russian prison. If they wanted to kill him they could have easily done so then. There was absolutely no motive to kill him years later. He had no new secrets to reveal. Now we hear news of two more victims in Salisbury that may have come in contact with left over poison from the previous attack. It just doesn't get any more ridiculous than that.

Russia is hosting the world cup and it has been a very successful event I might add. There is no motive for them to launch a nerve gas attack in England during the world cup. There is no motive there whatsoever. When Dr David Kelly blew the whistle on MI 6 for knowingly and intentionally sending false information to the media about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction in Operation mass appeal, MI 6 murdered him on British soil. When the corporate media blindly prints every press release MI 6 sends them they lose what little credibility they had left.

Travel Vloggers fall to their death at Shannon Falls

Tragically the three hikers who fell to their death at Shannon Falls in Squamish were popular travel vloggers. I'm all for travel and I'm all for the outdoors but thrill seekers are to be shunned because they are reckless and unsafe. Swimming above Shannon falls is simply unwise. A tragic end to the lives of three wonderful young people that could have easily been avoided.

CBC is reporting that in one of his last Instagram posts, Vancouver-based Gamble said "Life isn't about responsibilities, tough decisions and hard work, it's about feeling bliss and living in the moment." He obviously didn't have kids. He never came to learn what duty, responsibility, obligation and sacrifice are. Those are characteristics of real men. Hard work is a fundamental principle in life. His motto is something a drug addict would say. It is misdirected.

Fatal West Kelowna house fire a suspected drug lab

CBC is reporting that "Police suspect a house that exploded in flames in West Kelowna Wednesday night, killing one person and leaving two more in critical condition, was being used for the production of drugs. The incident began in the 3000 block of Elliot Road around 9:30 p.m. PT, and fire crews worked through the early morning hours to extinguish the fire, ultimately tearing the house down to soak the flames. On Friday, West Kelowna RCMP announced the province's RCMP Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response Team (CLEAR) was supporting local police investigators."

Inmate writes Human Rights Commission before comitting suicide

CBC is reporting that Five days before Chris Sutton took his own life at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, he wrote a letter to the human rights commission asking for help. In the one-page letter, Sutton requested that the commission send him a copy of "all the guidelines that fall under your department." "I would like to know about our rights to fresh air, and what the minimum requirement of fresh air a person should receive per day when inside an institution," he wrote. "Also along with the amount of exercise per day, I [would] like to know how long a person can be confined to a cell that has 24-hour lighting or if that's even allowed at all??"

"In October 2017, the provincial government announced changes to the way it segregates prisoners for disciplinary reasons. The changes included a reduction in maximum segregation time from 15 days to 10. Inmates will also have visitation privileges, as well as access to programs and services." Clay Roueche was in solitary for two years.

CNN is reporting that "Year after year, the United States beats out much larger countries - India, China - and more totalitarian ones - Russia and the Philippines - for the distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world." CNN posted some video clips. China is totalitarian BTW.

110 Pounds of Fentanyl From China Seized at Philadelphia Port

The Epoch Times is reporting that "U.S. customs officials recently seized 110 pounds of fentanyl originating from China at a Philadelphia port. Fifty bags of the deadly synthetic opioid were found in a shipment of barrels containing iron oxide and had an estimated street value of $1.7 million, according to a press release by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on June 28. The bags were first detected by customs officers using a narcotics dog."

Blaze's Abbotsford charges in court July 16th

Castanet is reporting that flysh*t was sentenced to five and a half years in jail in Kelowna court last week, but he still faces firearms charges in Chilliwack later this month. He went to the wrong house with a shotgun to collect a drug debt. McWhirter was prohibited from possessing firearms at the time, stemming from two domestic assault convictions in 2012. Two domestic assault convictions. "On July 16, McWhirter is scheduled to begin a trial in Chilliwack Supreme Court on two weapons charges, and a breach of bail charge. McWhirter was out on bail on his other drugs and weapons charges at the time of these alleged offences." You are such a Loser.

Linda Hepner asks Trudeau for $10 million

The Peacearch News is reporting that "Surrey mayor asks feds for $10M to combat gang problems." Yeah right, she wants $10 million alright. To go on another junket before she leaves office. She hasn't done a thing to combat gang violence while in office so why is she going to start on her way out? This is just more smoke and mirrors. She's going to say we tried to combat gang violence but the federal government wouldn't fund it. It doesn't take any extra funding to arrest the drug dealers in Shakerz or on the Surrey Strip. You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Good riddance to Surrey's Worst.