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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.

After having my car keyed during the Bush era for a pro-president bumper sticker, I have avoided those with political slogans. As I live in California, in a veritable sea of soccer mom mobiles, having a distinguishing feature on my Honda is critical. So I chose "Star Trek Valedictorian".

The big news from California that Democrats are trying to promote is that there is over $6 billion in an unexpected budget surplus.
"We have to be on our guard. It's not exciting, it's not funding good and nice things, but it's getting ready" for the next recession, [California Governor Jerry] Brown said. But in the five months ahead of a budget revision in May, when the governor's Finance Department will offer updated revenue and spending figures, Democrats in the state legislature are likely to offer their own ideas about how to spend the state's $6.1 billion surplus, beyond the constitutionally mandated $1.5 billion contribution to the rainy day fund.

I have a startling admission to make: I do believe global warming is making a comeback.  Why? Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Administrator Scott Pruitt's rollback of senseless regulations warms my heart so much that I am sure it has raised the global temperature average! To begin with, the EPA is now scrapping Obama-era rules tightening restrictions on the disposal of coal ash, the byproduct from coal-fired power plants.

It appears that over 200 illegal immigrants in Northern California ignored the warnings of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who warned on Twitter of impending ICE raids.
Federal immigration officials concluded Wednesday a days-long sweep of Northern California in the days since a warning of their raid was blasted out by a public official — a move which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says “created another magnet for more illegal immigration.”

President Donald Trump's administration has already implemented nearly two-thirds of the 334 agenda according to the conservative Heritage Foundation, which is a pace faster than former President Ronald Reagan. One of Trump's biggest promises was to roll back regulations, especially those promulgated under the behemoth of the Environmental Protection Agency. New reports indicate that the agency's enormous power, magnified under Obama, is steadily receding.

The last time we visited Stockton, California, the city was gearing up to test "Universal Basic Income". Let it not be said that the municipality's insanity is confined to fiscal matters. The educational system has a heavy emphasis on social justice, so it is little wonder that hundreds of the area's school students turned out for anti-gun protests.

California's politicians claim they want to stop pollution, but it appears the bureaucrats who actually implement the regulations our representatives promulgate have different priorities. California's attorney general has charged five former and current employees of Panoche Water District in central California with felonies fraud, abuse . . . and hazardous waste violations.

The last time we visited the San Diego area at Legal Insurrection, all eight border wall prototypes had passed extensive security tests. The first contact for the border wall has been awarded, and work on the project has begun.
The federal government began work Wednesday to replace a section of border wall in California, the first wall contract awarded in the Trump administration outside of eight prototypes that were built last year in San Diego.

The numbers for carbon emissions are in for nations across the globe and prove irrefutably that...President Trump was right for withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Two years after the historic agreement was signed, global emissions of carbon dioxide are rising again after several years of remaining flat.

I had a wonderful time in Memphis, Tennessee, during my Presidents' Day weekend stay. The people were charming, the barbecue was outstanding, and the Memphis Pyramid was a joy to behold. There were a few things the streets of Memphis were lacking: Used needles and human excrement. For those treasures, you have to head over to my home state of California and the city of San Francisco.