New Translink CEO says he will listen

Kevin Desmond has been named the new CEO of Translink to become the public face that will help heal the bruised brand Translink has incurred. I'm not worried about the fact that he is an American. This doesn't represent foreign ownership like Harper selling our oil rights to Communist China. He has good reviews in Seattle and has experience in New York City.

The Globe and Mail reported that "Mr. Desmond conceded it would be a mistake to come to his new job with a fixed strategy. Instead, he said he will listen to customers, workers, his board, mayors and the province to decide on directions for TransLink." Well that's a good step if sincere. When Moya Greene came to Canada Post she did the exact opposite.

After crashing bombardier's stock and derailing CN she came to Canada Post with zero experience in the field claiming to know everything and that all her existing managers who had been at the job for years were stupid. She started recklessly making ridiculous changes anyone in the field could tell her wouldn't work. So yes, Kevin Desmond is indeed a breath of fresh air.

So if you really want to listen, hear this: Translink is over budget over a billion dollars a year. That's how much they consume in a regional gas tax above and beyond all the other federal and provincial gas taxes. That's why the public voted no to burning more tax dollars in a referendum on raising sales tax to help Translink waste taxes.

This isn't New York. New York City and London England have the best subway systems in the world. They are built and paid for and are very efficient. You don't need a car in those cities because the subways are much more efficient. Not here. Not at all. This is more like LA on a smaller scale. People have cars just like they do in Seattle. Tax payers are getting upset about having to keep bailing out a failing system they don't even use.

They used to have a bus that went from Guildford Mall in Surrey to the PNE in Vancouver. It went along the freeway and would take about 15 minutes. After they built Skytrain they refused to run that efficient route and made the public bus, skytrain and bus to the same destination taking a ridiculous amount more time. When they reintroduced an express bus from Langley to Vancouver along the freeway they refused to let it stop at Guildford. That is bad business.

The Mayors' tax and spend glutins council keeps rewarding political contributors by giving them contracts to over budget Skytrain expansions that we don't need. Let the existing system pay for itself before you keep going further in debt expanding it and stop giving the contract to corrupt firms banned for money laundering. That is irresponsible.

The contract for the Evergreen line was awarded to SNCL after the World Bank banned SNCL from World Bank projects for the next 10 years because of massive fraud in Quebec. Giving SNCL the contract for the Evergreen line was a criminal act.

The Compass card isn't so bad. I was hesitant at first but they offer the same discount on it as with Faresavers so I'm happy with it. Having to scan out when you leave the bus is a bit big brother but installing turnstiles in the Skytrain is a must. How much money would New York city lose every day if they got rid of turnstiles and let everyone ride on the honour system?

Executive extravagance, excessive skytrain expansion to corrupt construction companies and giving everyone free rides on the bus and Skytrain are the main sources of lost revenue. Cheers.

The De evolution of the 420 movement

Gordon Clark from the Vancouver Province wrote an excellent colomb about the 420 movement. He said It’s time for Vision to stop pandering to the 4/20 crowd. He stated that "4/20 is already making headlines. This time it’s the war of words between Sarah Kirby-Yung, the Non-Partisan chairwoman of the Vancouver Park Board, and Mayor Gregor Robertson, her political foe, about where the city’s annual pot protest/excuse to fry your brain in public should be held."

The rest of the column goes off about the Mayor's public affair with a Chinese pop star. No wonder his foster son sells drugs. Yet the heart of the matter is the stark reality about how public perception towards stoners has change but not completely. The next day a couple of reader wrote into the paper stating: If we can’t drink in public, why do they allow pot smoking? Good question.

George Pearson from Surrey went on to say: "I’m sorry, but when did smoking pot become legal, especially in public? If it is not legal, why are thousands of marijuana allowed to have their smoke-ins in public places like in front of the art gallery in downtown Vancouver? I just don’t get it. If I were caught drinking alcohol in a public place to the point where I was intoxicated I would be arrested and placed in jail. Yet here we have thousands of potheads smoking up and having a grand time and creating a public nuisance without anyone raising a hand against such activity."

He raises a valid point which brings up to Gordon Clark's opening statement about how the 420 protest is simply an excuse to fry your brain in public. We need to remember that. 300 years ago, when I was a kid, we used to make fun of stoners. Now all of a sudden they are held up as activists. Something went wrong in the evolution of civilized society. We have devolved.

Now we have young kids that insist pot's good for you. Pot cures cancer. They get all agitated if you disagree with them and insist anyone who doesn't think smoking pot is good for you are stupid. Oh really. If we don't like frying our brain and getting stoned we are the ones who are stupid? I think not. Smoking anything is bad for you. That's why the leading cause of death in house fires is smoke inhalation.

When I was in highschool I had a friend who was a long distance runner. He didn't smoke pot because he knew smoking was bad for you and he didn't want it to adversely affect his running so he ingested it in food which is still problematic but is better for you than smoking it.

People argue that smoking pot is no worse for you than drinking alcohol. Which brings us back to the original question: if we aren't allowed to drink alcohol in public, why should we be allowed to get stoned in public? A very valid question.

Another reader from Burnaby wrote into the paper and said: "Get 4/20 off the streets. Gordon Clark’s column Thursday nailed it on all points, from narcissism to moonbeams to 4/20. Get the hempfest off the street. If they need a park, how about Crab Park?" I believe his sarcastic reference to Crab Park was the fact that it was recently in the news for being rezoned industrial. Yet his letter expressed his sentiment that the 420 crowd are rejects. People we should tolerate not hold up as role models. I agree. When I look at pictures of the protest all I see is a sea of losers strutting around like idiots. Bragging about frying their brains in public. Real smart buddy.



I agree smoking pot is a lot less harmful for you than smoking crack or crystal meth. I agree mandatory minimum sentences for smoking pot are stupid. We should have mandatory minimum sentences for selling not smoking crack. I acknowledge that Justin Trudeau was elected on the promise to legalize pot. Smoking pot in private is different than smoking pot in public. If we can't drink in public we shouldn't be able to smoke pot in public. A lot of people don't like second hand cigarette smoke. Second hand pot smoke is worse and those rejects just don't care about that.

THC vs CBD - Fact vs Fiction

Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock

Someone said Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock are fighting tonight. Not a rerun but a new fight. That is awesome. These are two legends that put MMA on the map. Now they're old and still busting sh*t out. Live results.



Ken Shamrock was buff with a background in shootfighting and was one of the few guys in the beginning that could execute ankle locks. Royce Gracie was the one who put everything on the map. Taking a striker to the ground and choking him out from a million different angles. Royce wasn't that big but he was skillful and took out guys much bigger then him before they had weight classes. Mad harsh respect to them both.

Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro were in a movie called Grudge Match where two former boxing rivals finally go at it in their old age. It wasn't a five star move but it was well done. I liked it. Everything Stallone does is classy with a good moral. Rocky Balboa was awesome when he went up against a much younger kid in his prime. The young kid takes one look at Rocky and says it's over. Rocky says it ain't over until it's over. The kids scoffs and says what's that from the /80's? He pauses thinking for a second then embarrassed answers naw I think that's from the /70's. Stallone's most recent movie Creed is a classic. Hard to imagine he was born in 1946.



Deadpool is out. It was filmed here in Vancouver and has several Canadian jokes.

Surrey taxi peppered with bullets

The Surrey Leader is reporting that "On Feb. 18 at approximately 5 a.m., Surrey RCMP responded to reports of gunshots being fired in the area of 143 Street and 109 Avenue. Numerous 911 calls had been received as well as a call from a male advising he had been shot. The victim, who had been riding in the taxi, attended hospital on his own and Surrey RCMP met him there and confirmed he had suffered a minor wound to the leg."

"Further investigation revealed that several gunshots had been fired at the cab, shattering the window and grazing the victim. The man was treated for his injuries and released from hospital. The taxi driver was not injured. The investigation is still in its early stages, but RCMP say this incident is likely targeted. Surrey RCMP's Major Crime Unit has conduct of the investigation."

Drug Trafficking in Chilliwack

The Chilliwack Times is reporting that "fifty criminal charges have been approved against five more Chilliwack men in connection with a local crime syndicate's drug trafficking activities in the north. And arrest warrants were issued this week for two men, Dana Mikael Hendrick Schaper-Kotter and Lucas Benjamin Thiessen."

Two L.A. police officers charged with sexual assault

Reuters is reporting that "two Los Angeles Police Department officers have been charged with repeated sexual assaults on four women while on duty in their squad car and elsewhere, prosecutors and police said on Wednesday." That is messed up.

Cops who commit rape and bikers who sell crack are BOTH bad. Which brings us back to the Dianne Rock story. Dianne Rock claimed she was gang raped on the Pickton farm. That would imply more than one suspect. Janice Edwards testified that she picked up her friend Dianne Rock hysterical from a gas station with visible injuries after she was gang raped.

Dianne Rock claimed she was gang raped by bikers and police. Just ask Bob Paulson. He didn't believe her and that's why she left police custody and ended up dead. Will there ever ben a real missing womans inquirey? I doubt it. Too many people have too much to hide and I'm not just talking about Jim Brown. The media reported that off duty police officers attended parties at Piggy's Palace. Wally Oppal shut down the Missing Women Inquiry and turned it into a panel discussion where he could more easily censor evidence. Consequently we never did find out which police officer attended parties at Piggy's Palace. In fact, we'll never know.

Update: CBC is reporting that "The RCMP is scrambling to contain the fallout from bungled internal investigations into allegations of unwanted sexual touching, bullying and rampant nudity in the workplace at the explosives training unit of the Canadian Police College in Ottawa."

"In 2012, after a long investigation, the RCMP public complaints commission found rampant bullying in the police force. It unearthed 718 complaints filed by employees between 2005 and 2011, and found almost half the complaints were from men."

"In February 2013, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson vowed to take action in the face of growing public disgust with the conduct of some of his officers."

"Yet CBC News has spoken to four complainants, all former employees of the RCMP's explosives training unit, who maintain the information is not new at all. The men say they tried to share accounts of other disturbing behaviour at the school in 2014 and 2015, but RCMP investigators didn't want to hear it." So Bob Paulson is clearly full of sh*t.

Tell me again why the Main Stream Media hates the CBC and aren't running this story?

Kelowna shooting

Kelowna Capital News is reporting that a man sustained non-life threatening injuries to his leg following a shooting at the Esso-7/Eleven gas bar at the corner of Rutland Road and Highway 33 in Kelowna this afternoon.

Shuswap Shooting - Update

Global is reporting that a 59-year-old Celista man named Richard Allen Williams has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the triple shooting in the Shuswap town Sunday. The victim has died so it is now a murder investigation

Locals claimm Hells Angels associates are terrorizing these small communities whre there is little police presence. However, another source claims that both the primary shooter and one of the people shot were members of the Wanderers and that both were out in bad standing with the Rebels.



Rick was the former president of the Northshoresmen which was disbanded by the Hells Angels in 2012 after they patched over to Kingpin Crew. They were disbanded after the Britney Irving murder. Rick has been labeled N.G. Tragically one of the people shot was Darin Krawat.



Update. It appears that Rick didn't shoot Darin, he drove him to the hospital. Two commenters claim that Rick and Darin tried to rob one of Rick's neighbours but panicked and left when they saw a woman was home with her kids. The husband later brought some friends and confronted them. A struggle broke out where the husband was shot in the neck and Darin was shot and later died of his injuries. Very sad all way round.

Blaze back in court February 18 - Update

The CSO database is reporting that convicted woman beater Donnie McWhirter and his rock throwing co accused are back in court on their trafficking crystal meth charges 9:30 AM February 18th in Kelowna. Watch for it. Blaze is still with the Independent Soldiers who are a puppet club for the Hells Angels just like his pal Joey Verma was.



Joey was convicted of murdering Brittney Irving. She was shot in the back several times with a shotgun slug. During the trial the court was told Joey tried to make an older man he used to hunt with take the fall for him. Joey said I can't go to jail right now. I'm making too much money in the drug trade. You have to take the fall for me. When Joey said he was going to tell him how it was done to make it believable the man said he didn't want to know.

The judge cleared the jury from the court and said while he was in jail waiting for trial Joey was still trafficking drugs from prison. She was surprised at the quantity of drugs that changed hands and claimed Joey was a high level drug dealer. Since he was with the Independent Soldiers from the get go, we all know who he was selling drugs for. Joey was a Hells Angels associate.

During the trial the court was told Joey said he had to kill her and that he didn't have a choice. He killed her to have his own manufactured drug debt forgiven. Britney was not a rat. That was a lie. When her clone show was busted she was desperate to make some money so they could live. She was not a junkie as Joey and Blaze claims. She sold pot to pay for her oxy habit.

Joey was promised the position of Vice President in the Kingin Crew for her murder. While in prison he was recruiting for the KPC and got a tattoo that said VP. When that information went public, the KPC were disbanded. Joey's promise was never fulfilled. I saw a copy of a letter Joey wrote to Blaze in prison about the Omerta claiming he was serving time for someone else and all the promises made to him had been unfulfilled. Which brings us back to Blaze.

Blaze has a big mouth and the mentality of a child. He bragged about the fact that he lied about his whereabouts the night Britney was killed. He wasn't out of town like his sister claimed. He was in town. Gas receipts proved it. Someone pretending to be Blaze claimed he was with Joey when "they" killed Britney to make sure he got the job done. Joey didn't really want to do it. The court was told he was in a relationship with her and was paying for her and her brother's hotel when their clone show got busted. Although unsubstantiated, that claim passes the test of believability.

Update: There is now a publication ban on the trial. For trafficking crystal meth? More proof the BC courts are completely corrupt.

Edmonton Hells Angel arrested on drug charges

The Edmonton Sun is reporting that a Hells Angels member swept up in a 2014 police raid is facing new charges after a six-month police probe that also netted two-kilograms of cocaine. Global is reporting that Dominic DiPalma Jr. was arrested Feb. 10 at a southeast home, where police say they also found nearly two kilograms of cocaine. DiPalma was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, two counts of drug possession, and breach of recognizance.

Dominic is the small guy on the left in the top photo. He left Edmonton to help with the Kelowna chapter in 2012 but returned to Edmonton after the Kelowna Summer Jam bust when the chapter was charged in a huge stolen car and drug ring. Sean Jackson (fat mike ) who started the Whiteboy Posse in 2003 was an associate of Dominic DiPalma Jr.The Whteboy Poose sold drugs for the Edmonton Hells Angels and decapitated Bob Roth for a drug debt. Full patch Edmonton Hells Angel Blake Christie was arrested along with Dominic DiPalma for numerous drug and weapon offenses April 2014. Last summer Blake Christie was found dead.