“Bubonic Plague In Los Angeles? Is California On The Verge Of Becoming A Third-World State? - Townhall” plus 1 more

Bubonic Plague In Los Angeles? Is California On The Verge Of Becoming A Third-World State? - Townhall

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:15 PM PDT

A lot has happened. We're still dealing with the border crisis, the Democratic debates are about to begin, and Iran is rattling the war sabers. The city of Los Angeles should be thankful there are so many distractions. The Democrat-run urban center has become a total disgrace. And that's very common among the Left coast.

Tucker Carlson had historian Victor Davis Hanson on last week, where the latter said that California is on the verge of becoming the nation's first Third World state. From trash being illegally dumped to city hall becoming a rat-infested den in the city of LA, it all points to the decay suffered when Democrats run things. Even police stations in the city are loaded with rats; one was fined $5,000 over its conditions that left one officer stricken with typhoid fever. It's to the point where there is a possibility that bubonic plague—yes, the black death—may be present in the city. This isn't new. Typhus outbreaks were being reported in February (via NBC Los Angeles):

The full scope of the flea and rodent problem inside City Hall is still unclear amid a downtown outbreak of flea-borne typhus…

Staff from the General Services Department, the Personnel Department and others gave updates to the council on actions taken … when the council approved a motion seeking options on combating the problem of rodents and fleas in the building, which may include removing all of the carpets.

Department representatives told the council a vendor is still in the process of inspecting every floor of City Hall and City Hall East as it prepares a full report to identify where the flea and rodent problems are. Staff also said cleanup efforts around the exterior of the building have increased and work is being done to identify rodent entry points and have them sealed.

[…]

Typhus is not transmitted person-to-person, and flea-borne typhus can spread to people from infected fleas and their feces. Typhus infection can be prevented through flea control measures on pets, using insect repellent to avoid flea bites, and clearing areas that can attract wild or stray animals like cats, rats and opossums, according to the Department of Public Health.

Symptoms of typhus include high fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and rash and can be treated with antibiotics.

Health officials in October announced there was a typhus outbreak in Los Angeles County, including in the downtown area of Skid Row, where an estimated 2,000 homeless people sleep.

And it goes without saying; these burgeoning homeless camps are not oases of hygiene. Dr. Drew Pinsky said this month that there has been a total and complete breakdown of services in the city that has placed the population at risk of infection and other health-related issues. The mayor's office has sought to shift blame away from the homeless, citing the illegal dumping of trash, which only adds to the narrative that deep blue California and LA are just Democratic cesspools. I mean, how does this sound any better?

'It's not the homeless, it's just all the trash that's everywhere.' You cannot make this up (via CBS News):

The city of Los Angeles is grappling with deteriorating sanitation problems, as an increase in homeless camps and illegally dumped trash have created conditions for rats and other vermin to infest L.A. City Hall. … the Los Angeles Times reported an assessment from a private pest control company placed the blame for the rodents in City Hall squarely on the city's homeless population living in the nearby Civic Center.

[…]

The Los Angeles Times obtained the assessment last month through a public records request. Los Angeles' City Hall building has been plagued by a rodent problem for most of the year. The Los Angeles Times reports there were pest complaints — rats, mice or fleas — made in 20 different locations within City Hall for a five-month period through February.

According to the newspaper, Elena Stern, spokeswoman for the city's Bureau of Sanitation, said cleanups of homeless camps currently take place every weekend in the Civic Center and include the disposal of hazardous materials, the removal and storage of items owned by homeless people, and the power washing of sidewalks.

The rodent and homeless problems affecting City Hall and the Civic Center are part of a larger problem of trash and sanitation in the streets of the city, which has been profiled by an LA Times photographer. Last month, multiple LAPD police officers contracted typhoid fever, and others contracted hepatitis A and staff infections, while working at a police station in an area filled with hundreds of homeless encampments.

Oh, yeah, and bubonic plague could be roaming the streets (via Daily Wire):

"We have a complete breakdown of the basic needs of civilization in Los Angeles right now," Pinsky told Fox New host Laura Ingraham. "We have the three prongs of airborne disease, tuberculosis is exploding, rodent-borne. We are one of the only cities in the country that doesn't have a rodent control program, and sanitation has broken down."

Pinsky said bubonic plague — also known as the "Black Death," a pandemic that killed off millions in the 14th century — is "likely" already present in Los Angeles. The plague is spread by infected fleas and exposure to bodily fluids from a dead plague-infected animal, with the bacteria entering through the skin and traveling to lymph nodes.

[…]

"This is unbelievable. I can't believe I live in a city where this is not Third World. This is medieval," Pinsky said, according to Fox News. "Third World countries are insulted if they are accused of being like this. No city on Earth tolerates this. The entire population is at risk."

Fox News' Tucker Carlson noted how California was once a gem, an example of the American dream in action and how it has now become hollowed out with decay thanks to liberal policies. It's a state that's loaded with illegal aliens, has a population where 40 percent live in poverty, and apparently has its cities falling into a terrible state of disrepair. California is blue state trash. Period. So, could, or rather should, we classify the Golden State as a third-world state?

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BONUS: Don't forget to check out the latest episode of Triggered.

Review: 'A Plague Tale: Innocence' (PS4) should burrow into best-of-2019 lists - Santa Ynez Valley News

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:59 AM PDT

Beauty from horror, calm from chaos, hope from despair — take your pick of unlikely provenance. In "A Plague Tale: Innocence," Asobo Studio makes it all so like a master alchemist.

The French developer, a veteran of licensed games like "Toy Story 3" and "Disneyland Adventures," finds inspiration for its best and most visionary work yet in its native countryside. There, "Innocence" tells a story about a family, the de Runes, riven by the Black Death in 1349. As seas of rats spread the plague across the continent, the Inquisition comes calling at the family's estate in search of a cure. Siblings Amicia and Hugo, who've been estranged because of the young boy's mysterious health problems, must evade the rodents and religious zealots alike to survive.

It's the kind of 10-hour single-player game that makes you mourn what increasingly feels like the imminent death of them. As the de Runes cross France, past X'd village doors and piles of casualties on the battlefields of the country's Hundred Years' War with England, "Innocence" transports you to history. But the game also transforms it: Eventually, Amicia and Hugo discover that supernatural forces motivate both their human pursuers and the rats that would devour them all. And that fun pivot toward speculative fiction lets Asobo gradually widen the game's possibilities of play.

As Amicia, you must lead her brother by the hand past those threats, in spaces both linear and open. The humans can be snuck by the same way as most stealth games — by making use of tall foliage and manipulating line of sight — but their sharp AI and ability to kill Amicia in one blow keeps your pulse raised. Though she can ask Hugo to stay put at any time, which runs the risk of him suffering a mental attack and alerting their enemies, it almost never proves necessary. So "Innocence" isn't quite an escort game, even if it isn't clear why it includes the mechanic.

The rats, meanwhile, require more puzzle solving, as only light can repel them. Using torches that burn out, lanterns staked into the ground and movable braziers, you must constantly illuminate the path ahead of the siblings. It's like the floor is lava, but with rats. Later, you find some creative ways to deal with them in the form of alchemy, through which Amicia can craft items with cool Latin names that ignite embers, divert the hordes and more. And toward the end of the game, the rats and the Inquisition often inhabit the same spaces, which can lead to some truly devious solutions.

Other craftable items help Amicia take down humans. That's when "Innocence" pays off its name by showing the plucky teen losing hers. The first time a rock from her sling snuffs a life, she cries in remorse. As she continues to kill, the game never stops showing how much the cost of her and Hugo's survival weighs on her. Still, you won't need to loose too many projectiles: Safe passageways are everywhere. And whether it's encroaching rat-nados or the few bosses Amicia faces, you're never too endangered to think through your next move. So the least violent path is always viable.

For that reason, some may consider "Innocence" too easy. But I found the deliberate action a perfect vehicle for the game's atmosphere. It lets you soak in the tour de force of imagery Asobo has created, from the soft pastoral sunsets and castle ruins to the carpets of mutilated corpses and rat nests. The animation of the thousands of plague carriers sharing the screen at any given time is astoundingly sophisticated, too — and you can't really appreciate it if you're always running for your life. The sound design is just as spellbinding, a din of screeches and frenzied violin.

Asobo's most impressive efforts, however, are reserved for the game's narrative interludes. The facial animation and voice acting are some of the best I've experienced in years. Charlotte McBurney betrays the resentment Amicia feels that Hugo monopolized their mother's attention, the burden she nonetheless feels to keep her brother safe, and the abject terror of their surroundings — sometimes within one scene. And as Hugo, Logan Hannan lends depth and, even more impossibly, actual likability to a character so young most directors wouldn't have bothered with second takes.

Some supporting characters the siblings meet along the way are voiced just as well, particularly Tabitha Rubens as world-weary thief Melie. But not all of those characters make it to the end of "Innocence." And Asobo ensures their last moments are meaningful. So it's genuinely touching to see those who remain form a new family after the events of the game, just as the world rebuilt itself after the devastation of the Black Death. It seems the studio knows that creating something special and lasting — like one of the best games of 2019 so far — takes a cruel kind of balance.