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California Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 25, 2017 13 Comments
As a teenager, one of the books I recall reading during that formative phase in my life was Helter Skelter, written by killer cult leader Charles Manson's determined prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, who won death sentences for Manson and his band of butchers. The tenacious lawyer, who passed away in 2015, was interviewed by Time Magazine about his book in 2009 about his book and the country's continued fascination with the cult. His explanation centered on the era in which the slaughters occurred.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 24, 2017 15 Comments
We have been following the outbreak of Hepatitis A as it has spread among the homeless and drug-users of California, into Utah, Michigan and Colorado. Public health officials are now reporting a significant uptick of cases of the disease in Kentucky. Genetic tests indicate the strain of the virus, which is transmitted via fecal matter and cause life-threatening effects on the liver, is the same strain as the one from Southern California.
Kentucky has become the fifth state to declare an outbreak of hepatitis A, reporting the 31 cases so far this represent a 55 percent increase over the annual averages for the past 10 years.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 24, 2017 17 Comments
As Professor Jacobson recently noted, California Governor Jerry Brown occasionally has moments of sanity and clarity. In what can only be described as a Thanksgiving miracle, it is being reported that Brown is endeavoring to tackle the looming employee pension crisis by reforming the pension benefits for current government employees.
Gov. Jerry Brown got most of what he wanted when he carried a proposal to shore up the state’s underfunded public employee pension plans by trimming benefits for new workers.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 21, 2017 8 Comments
Yesterday, Professor Jacobson noted that the long-overdue purge of sex predators from the progressive body politic, following the defeat of enabler supreme Hillary Clinton, has begun. As I noted in a previous post, the Democrats in Sacramento are scrambling to address allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. The West Coast purge has now claimed an Assemblyman.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 18, 2017 13 Comments
California's politicians and bureaucrats are veritable Einsteins when it comes to finding creative ways to squeeze more money from their citizens. With Sacramento sucking even more money from tax payers, recently in the form of a new gasoline tax, city governments have had to become quite imaginative. Therefore, some of the state's desert communities are now hitting up residents with "prosecution fees". For example, when homeowners are hit with code enforcement violations such as dirty backyards, they are charged a "prosecution fee" in addition to the fine and cost of repairing the problem.  The total cost to them can be staggering...and raised if they challenge the initial charge.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 11, 2017 14 Comments
Shortly after Donald Trump was elected President, I noted that California Governor Jerry Brown essentially designated himself as President of the Left Coast. So it is with some amusement that I noted the headline in Politico discussing Brown's European "Climate Change" tour: Jerry Brown, President of the Independent Republic of California.
...In the raw balance of power between a governor and a president, Brown has almost no standing abroad. What he does have is a platform, and a proposition: Crusading across Europe in his Fitbit and his dark, boxy suit, Brown advances California and its policies almost as an alternative to the United States—and his waning governorship, after a lifetime in politics, as a quixotic rejection of the provincial limits of the American governor. In the growing chasm between Trump’s Washington and California—principally on climate change, but also taxes, health care, gun control and immigration—Brown is functioning as the head of something closer to a country than a state.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 11, 2017 11 Comments
California's officials have been worried that tourists may contract Hepatitis A as a result of being exposed during the outbreak that has hit the state's homeless community. It appears that their fears have been realized, as two concert goers from Utah were struck with the disease that appears to have its origin in San Diego.
Three friends from Salt Lake City visited San Diego in early August for the Metallica concert at Petco Park. Two of them unknowingly brought home an unwelcome souvenir.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 10, 2017 23 Comments
As Fuzzy noted when Alexandria's famous Christ Church removed the plaque honoring George Washington (a founding member of that institution):
First, they came for the Confederate flag, but I didn’t fly a Confederate flag, so I did not speak out.  Then they came for Confederate statues, but I didn’t feel strongly about Confederate statues, so I did not speak out.  Then they came for statues of George Washington...

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 07, 2017 27 Comments
Late in October, California Governor Jerry Brown threatened to sue the administration of President Donald Trump for implementation of environmental policies focused more on real pollutants (e.g., heavy metals) and less on contrived ones (e.g., carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion. I noted Brown would be taking a European "climate change" tour that would include a stop at the Vatican. His presentation at the seat of the Catholic Church focused on climate, alright...the political one.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 01, 2017 22 Comments
We have been following the efforts to contain the outbreak of Hepatitis A in California. Hepatitis A virus attacks the liver, causing yellowing of the skin or eyes, diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain and fatigue. It extreme cases, it can be fatal. The pathogen is often spread through person-to-person contact and consumption of food or water contaminated with fecal matter. The fears of public health officials that the disease would spread to other states seem to have been realized, as 2 cases linked to the San Diego outbreak have been treated in Colorado.
An outbreak of hepatitis A in Southern California raised concern among Colorado health officials after two homeless people who apparently contracted the disease in San Diego were treated here.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 27, 2017 27 Comments
It is difficult to keep track of all the #WINNING that I enjoyed this past week, between the implosion of RussiaGate and the IRS apology to Tea Party groups. Personally, I am savoring President Trump's efforts to reverse course on Obama's toxic domestic and foreign policies. Trump's regulatory rollbacks, as well as his nixing of the Paris Climate Accord and EPA head Scott Pruitt's ending the "Clean Power Plan", has already helped fuel the American economic engine.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 25, 2017 36 Comments
The mysteries continue to pile up when it comes to Stephen Paddock, the man who slaughtered over 50 people in Las Vegas earlier this month. Authorities still have no motive and it seems that everything new that pops up brings more questions. ABC News has reported that Paddock's laptop does not have its hard drive, meaning the authorities don't have access to a possible direction to a motive. Also, authorities in Los Angeles arrested his brother Bruce on child porn charges.
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