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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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 09, 2018 2 Comments
When reporting on the landmines removal from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, I noted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way for a meeting with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un to discuss denuclearization of the peninsula. It appears the meeting was a success.
The U.S. and North Korea agreed Sunday to hold a second summit between leaders Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un "as soon as possible," according to a statement by South Korea's presidential office, with the American side saying that Kim had also invited inspectors to a key nuclear facility.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 08, 2018 10 Comments
First Lady Melania Trump has spent the last week in Africa, touring during Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt. The trip was designed to enhance the First Lady's public profile, generate goodwill, and strengthen the connections between the Trump administration and the leaders of these nations. The normally-reserved Mrs. Trump used a photo-op at the Giza complex, set in front of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, to comment on her husband's tweets and the Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Reporters traveling with her as she traversed Africa this past week asked her about the news back home of the confirmation of the president’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and the allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 07, 2018 15 Comments
While the American press has been singularly focused on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's youth and the specialty cocktails he enjoyed while boofing, there have been intriguing news developments elsewhere. For example, it seems the Korean peninsula peace process is continuing apace, after its start with the Singapore Summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un. Troops from North and South Korea have started removing landmines buried in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the countries.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 03, 2018 29 Comments
As a Catholic, I have been following the response of the Catholic Church to the detailed testimony of former Vatican diplomat Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò that the Vatican knew about the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by an American cardinal and covered it up. So far, American Catholics are giving the pontiff low marks for his handling of the scandal.
Just 3 out of 10 American Catholics say the pope has done an “excellent” or “good” job handling the church’s sex abuse crisis. The approval percentage is the lowest that Catholics in the U.S. have given the pope since the Pew Research Center began tracking views of his performance more than four years ago.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 02, 2018 5 Comments
Clearly, one of the industries helped most by the election of President Donald Trump is the book publishing business.
"Fire and Fury," "A Higher Loyalty," "Fear": three books about Donald Trump have each sold more than a million copies in the United States, a first that reflects Americans' fascination with their ever-surprising president. The great majority of successful books on politics have been written by politicians themselves -- or by ghostwriters working with them.
The latest entry in the political genre is from Townhall columnist, California lawyer, and witty conservative pundit Kurt Schlichter. Fun fact: He attended University of California - San Diego as an undergraduate at the same time I was a graduate student in chemistry there. Perhaps his writings in the campus newspaper (The Koala) affected me subconsciously, as I became an independent conservative 5 years after my graduation.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 01, 2018 12 Comments
This past June,  my colleague Mary Chastain noted that the internet was still working after the Trump administration ended Obama-era "net neutrality" rules with the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order. However, tinkering with working systems until they no longer function is a feature of the California state legislature, so it created its own "net neutrality" rules that were recently signed into law. This action triggered the Trump administration to file a lawsuit to stop the implementation.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 15, 2018 21 Comments
As the week draws to a close, a new analysis shows that California is actually leading the nation . . . in the poverty rate.
Newly released federal estimates show California’s poverty rate remained the highest in the nation, despite a modest fall, and the state’s falling uninsured rate slowed for the first time since before Medicaid expansion.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 15, 2018 2 Comments
Next week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in is expected to head to Pyongyang for the first time with the goal of accelerating international efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
"At this stage, I believe it is most important to put a complete end to military tensions between North and South, or possibility of military conflict, or war threat," Moon told reporters Thursday.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 14, 2018 26 Comments
Pope Francis has just concluded an emergency summit with U.S. bishops over the growing sex abuse crisis and cover-up scandal that has impacted the Roman Catholic Church in the wake of the revelations in by a Pennsylvania grand jury and the details offered in a letter recently published by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served a a Vatican diplomat in Washington D.C. from 2011 to 2016.
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