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Author: Leslie Eastman

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Leslie Eastman

I am an Environmental Health and Safety Professional, as well as a science/technical writer for a variety of news and professional publications. I have been a citizen activist since 2009, and am one of the co-founders of the San Diego-based group, Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.

Since President Trump has been elected, California Governor Jerry Brown acts like he is the President of California instead of a state official. Brown's recent executive acts and rhetoric have chiefly attempted to create a "climate change" legacy that will last after his final term as governor concludes. For example, Legal Insurrection has covered:

How bad are California's 2017 wildfires? The devastation is so bad that President Donald Trump and state politicians seemed to have called a temporary truce on their legal battling.
President Donald Trump says the federal government will be there for the people of California as devastating wildfires sweep across the state's famed wine country.

Over 20,000 Californians have fled raging wildfires in Northern California that have destroyed at over 1000 structures, the evacuation of 20,000 residents and claimed nearly one dozen lives so far.
At least 10 people have died and at least 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed as more than 14 fires ravaged eight counties throughout Northern California on Monday, authorities said. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office reported seven fire-related deaths late Monday. In addition, two died because of the Atlas fire in Napa County, said a CalFire spokesperson. One person died as result of the Redwood Valley fire in Mendocino County.

The last time we checked on California's outbreak of Hepatitis A, a liver-impacting disease transmitted through fecal matter, a 17th person in San Diego had succumbed to the disease. Public health officials warn that the outbreak could last for months, and possibly years.
Dr. Monique Foster, a medical epidemiologist with the Division of Viral Hepatitis at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Thursday that California’s outbreak could linger even with the right prevention efforts.

According to the most recent updates, 59 people were killed and 527 were injured after Stephen Paddock opened fire at a packed country music festival opposite the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Details on the victims have begun to emerge, as officials begin the daunting task of identifying victims and notifying the next of kin.

Long-time Legal Insurrection readers know I have a long-time fascination with ancient Egypt. Specifically, my area of study has been mummification and Egyptian burial rituals. This interest has led me to discover a wonderful website, Confessions of a Funeral Direction - Working the Crossroads and Life and Death, which is authored by Caleb Wilde. I thought to kick-off the month of October and the season of Halloween, it would be great to review Wilde's first book, Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life, which takes a look at the American way of death through insightful articles that run the gamut from hilarious to profound. This book is the next, natural phase in the "life cycle" of this gifted writer.

Californians certainly voted as if they were intoxicated last November. Not only did they pull the lever for Hillary Clinton and banning plastic bags, the Californians also approved the use of recreational marijuana. Now, officials are gearing up for the start of 2018, when the unintended consequences of the new rules begin to kick in.
...[T]he California Department of Public Health has created a website to educate Californians about the drug and its impacts, including how to purchase and safely store cannabis.

It seems the only law California follows is the one related to unintended consequences. In addition to voting overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, our state also approved a ban of single-use plastic bags being offered by stores to contain purchased items. This move may have been one of the factors that has contributed to San Diego's Hepatitis A outbreak. The virus is spread via human feces in San Diego, as those bags were a readily available sanitation article for the homeless.
“The reason the outbreak has spread so rapidly is because homeless are living in more concentrated areas,” said Dr. Jeffrey Norris, the St. Vincent De Paul medical director who has been managing the charity’s response to the public health threat. “They often have to defecate in their tent, or next to their tent, and that exposes their neighbors on the street. Hygiene becomes incredibly difficulty.”

Professor Jacobson is not the only one who is "tuning out" sports and entertainment venues because of social justice warrior activism. It turns out millions of American are joining him. Sunday Night Football ratings plummeted the night of the #TakeAKnee protests.
In metered market numbers, the primetime matchup that saw the Washington Redskins beat the Oakland Raiders 27-10 snared an 11.6/20, the worst SNF has performed this season so far. It’s an 8% dip from the early numbers of last week’s game, Atlanta’s 34-23 win over Green Bay. Amid cheers and boos from fans at FedEx Field in Maryland last night, the third week of the SNF season declined 10% from early numbers of the comparable game of last year on September 25, 2016.

I recently noted that San Diego has officially declared a Hepatitis A emergency. Hepatitis A is an illness that is spread by contact with an infected person’s feces. Since that initial report, a 16th person has succumbed to the disease and it has been revealed that the city had been warned repeatedly that a disease outbreak was likely to occur unless shortages in sanitation accommodations were addressed.

When Pope Francis became head of the Catholic church, many were hopeful that the dynamic and humble priest would blossom into a great leader. It appears now that the Pope's social justice agenda is not appealing to a good portion of the Catholic faithful. Several dozen Catholic clergy members and lay scholars have presented Pope Francis with a document known as a "formal filial correction", accusing him of propagating heresies concerning marriage, the moral life, and reception of the sacraments.