Plagues in California are turning the Golden State into a third-world hell hole

In your typical Third-World megalopolis, basic city functions fall into disrepair, while once-eradicated diseases run rampant -- and the local bigwig boasts about saving the world.

Los Angeles is quickly becoming a typical Third-World megalopolis, and the rest of the state isn't far behind.

Yesterday the New York Post reported "rats running everywhere among piles of decaying garbage," in a "sprawling 50-block area that is believed to be the base for around 4,200 homeless people."

Local columnist Steve Lopez called his city a "giant trash receptacle" and asked, "Did someone turn back the calendar a few hundred years?” No, Steve, the city government turned hard left is all. Although debate fans might note that that's a distinction without a difference.+