[guest post by Dana]

Every big city has its share of problems stemming from large populations, housing shortages, homeless encampments, unemployment – you name it. But a report released yesterday about the city of Los Angeles and its piles of rotting trash and rat infestation was shocking nonetheless:

Rat-infested piles of rotting garbage left uncollected by the city of Los Angeles, even after promises to clean it up, are fueling concerns about a new epidemic after last year’s record number of flea-borne typhus cases.

Even the city’s most notorious trash pile, located between downtown LA’s busy Fashion and Produce districts, continues to be a magnet for rats after it was cleaned up months ago. The rodents can carry typhus-infected fleas, which can spread the disease to humans through bacteria rubbed into the eyes or cuts and scrapes on the skin, resulting in severe flu-like symptoms.

The NBC4 I-Team first told Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office about the piles of filth in the 700 block of Ceres Avenue in October. At the time, he promised to make sure trash doesn’t pile up like that.

The garbage was cleaned after the interview, but conditions have worsened over the next seven months.

They’re not kidding. But sadly, city government doesn’t seem to regard the “humanitarian crisis” with the same level of urgency as the residents. Consider, that after a reporter made a call to the city’s service hotline to request a massive cleanup of rotting trash, food, and waste on Cerres Street, the reporter was told that it would take up to 90 days before it would be cleaned. That means in the middle of summer when the heat will have already provided an even more robust breeding ground for bacteria and rot.

Shockingly, unlike New York City and Washington D.C. where designated teams are charged with focusing solely on aggressively keeping the rat population under control, Los Angeles has no such plan in place. Nor are there any plans in the offing.

When confronted about the lack of a designated team to attack the problem, as well as the lack of an overall long-term (or even short-term) plan, a local official breezily dismissed the inquiry:

“It’s something that we’ll look into,” said Pepe Garica, of Los Angeles’ bureau of sanitation.

I’m guessing Garcia, and even the Mayor himself have absolutely no clue how to gain control over this disaster.

And most disturbingly:

Rats carrying typhus-infected fleas were found around LA last fall, according to county health department records… The agency did not provide details about where the fleas were found, saying that information would cause confusion and unnecessary alarm, but… typhus-infected fleas were found on animals waiting to be adopted at the North Central Animal Shelter.

Between 2013 and 2017, county residents reported a yearly average of nearly 60 cases. That’s twice as many the number reported in the previous five years.

Last year, a record 124 cases were reported in Los Angeles County.

This speaks directly to why Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, of UCLA, believes there is no time to waste. As he said, the trash and rat problems in Los Angeles rate right up there with slums he has seen in the third world.

One of the reporters involved in writing this piece, Joel Grover, was interviewed on a local Los Angeles radio station tonight. He said that the report garnered an avalanche of comments on Twitter and Facebook, and that the overwhelming majority of comments expressed anger at Mayor Garcetti and city officials for allowing things to deteriorate so badly, and that they have been completely unresponsive to concerns of the city’s residents. Grover then followed up saying that he had attempted to contact Mayor Garcetti for a comment about the story when it was published, and was told by his spokesperson that he was currently traveling out of the city. Funny though, as Grover noted, the Mayor had plenty of time to tweet about climate change.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[Headlines from DRJ]

The Post and Courier (May 18, 2019): Frothy Beard Brewing Co. deals with fallout from co-owner’s social media posts on abortion.

Charleston City Paper (May 20, 2019): [Frothy Beard co-owner] Wesley Donehue to leave Frothy Beard Brewing Co. after backlash over social media posts

What did he say, you ask?

This is a taste from the first link:

Wesley Donehue, a political operative who describes himself as a “pro-life and pro-gay rights conservative Republican,” in a now-deleted Facebook post expressed his exasperation with the belief that men shouldn’t control abortion legislation. He wrote, “For the remainder of the day, I am self-identifying as a woman so I can have an opinion on abortion. #liberallogic.”

Plus this from the second link:

Fri. May 17, Frothy Beard issued an apology on Facebook after Donehue posted on Facebook and Twitter, reacting to sentiment that Alabama’s recent abortion ban is a result of not enough women running for office. “We need more women running for office,” Donehue wrote. “Until then, men will and should control legislative bodies.”

— DRJ

[guest post by Dana]

What an absolute sleaze. But then we already knew that…

As you may recall, Democrat Brian Sims harassed and bullied a woman who was quietly praying in front a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood. He videotaped himself haranguing her, and then posted it on line. Notable was his attempt to find out her home address so that he could continue his bullying in front of her home. See video below:

Sims also harassed 13 year old and 15 year old Catholic sister who were praying in front of Planned Parenthood with their mother. He offered to pay $100 to anyone who could identify them:

In an effort to turn an ugly situation into something positive, the girls’ parents, Joe and Ashley Garecht began a GoFundMe page after the “shameful and unacceptable” harassment and attempted doxxing of their daughters. As a result, they raised over $100,000 for a Philadelphia pro-life organization.

Joe Garecht told Sims:

“Brian, if you have a problem with my wife and daughters praying outside of an abortion clinic, I’m the one you can talk to… instead of harassing teenage girls.”

Confirming that he is but a little, wormy pustule on the ass of society, Sims, feeling the heat over his bullying, apologized … to Planned Parenthood:

“My emotions took over because I was, and am, angry,” said Sims. “I’m angry that despite abortion being legal everywhere, anti-choice zealots are causing panic, anger, confusion, and rage for so many women.”

I should not have disrespected Planned Parenthood’s policies of not engaging with protesters. For that, I’m absolutely sorry,” said Sims.

Before Sims’ non-apology, it was reported that “Democratic leaders addressed the matter with Sims privately and are satisfied it will not be repeated.” The public silence from Democratic women after the videos were posted online was deafening. Now, after Sims has refused to apologize directly to the women he stalked, offended, bullied and threatened to dox, there is still a wall of silence. Why isn’t Sims’ egregious abuse of power enough to compel a public condemnation by his female colleagues? After all, it seems that every few days the patriarchy is being blamed for yet another misery, or perceived misery. And yet no one seems disturbed enough to publicly shame Sims, who behaved in an undeniably disgusting manner toward women. Further, with a record number of Democratic women seeking the presidency, Sims is clearly the ultimate poster boy exampling what utterly unacceptable treatment of women looks like. But no, Democratic women who fairly continuously rage about the evils of men – and white men at that – just don’t have the honesty it takes to be even-handed in their condemnation of men behaving badly, or the grit necessary to honor their principles by taking a public stand against one of their own. For the thousandth time, this is a huge reason why women on the left side of the aisle, who claim to be fighting for the continued protections of women’s rights, are now seen as little more than panty-twisting, whiny harridans. Because when push comes to shove, they can’t even make a solid, public stand against a bullying male lawmaker. On the upside, this is a teachable moment for girls and young women everywhere as they see for themselves that those talking the talk does not mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that they will also walk the walk. Especially not when it’s inconvenient.

Of course, we know that what unites the women on the left side of the aisle and the pathetic Sims is their shared worship at the altar of baby killing. Hypocrites!

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana