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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 February 28, 2018 20 Comments
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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 28, 2018 34 Comments
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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 27, 2018 10 Comments
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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 24, 2018 14 Comments
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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 24, 2018 18 Comments
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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 21, 2018 22 Comments
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.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 14, 2018 35 Comments
One would not be faulted for wondering if the FBI's apparent role in Dossier Gate led the federal government to amend plans for the agency's offices. The Trump administration jettisoned a long-standing plan to build a new FBI headquarters in Maryland or Virginia in favor of demolishing the current building and replacing it with a new facility at the same address.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 14, 2018 77 Comments
Obama may have wanted to be a transformative President, but Donald J. Trump appears well on his way to owning this title. His administration is now proposing a food delivery program that would replace about half of food stamp benefits for households who qualify for the boxes. The program is referred to as "USDA America's Harvest Box".

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 13, 2018 41 Comments
When I visited the Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan Presidential Libraries during the Christmas season of 2016, I was struck by the appropriate scale of both facilities. The Nixon building was about the size of a metropolitan library and had his childhood home and the Marine One helicopter. Reagan's library was far grander, as befitted a great President with an impressive legacy.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 12, 2018 58 Comments
California is facing a new immigration crisis, this time in the form of large, swamp-dwelling rodents called nutria. Golden State officials are actually asking for help to deal with this unwanted population.
Wildlife officials are asking California residents to report any sightings of nutria — an invasive rodent that eats so much aquatic vegetation that it threatens wetlands and marshes.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 11, 2018 16 Comments
While following climate change news for the past year, I have marveled at the lack of attention given scientific specialties outside of "climate science", despite the fact the foci of those studies could significantly impact global weather patterns. Take, for example, heliology (the study of the Sun). A new study released by a team from the University of California San Diego has focused on our home star. It indicates that the Sun will experience a cold period where all solar activities will be reduced drastically.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 11, 2018 34 Comments
The last time we visited Stockton, California, the city residents were voting on a sales tax to help city finances after it filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The tax passed and the city exited bankruptcy in 2015. It appears few lessons have been learned in the interval. The city's 27-year old mayor is planning to launch its "universal basic income" plan, where its citizens are paid simply for being citizens.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 10, 2018 10 Comments
President Donald Trump and Congress are preparing for another round of negotiations over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), this time without the national budget being held hostage.
The program expires March 5, leaving the nearly 2 million people eligible for DACA vulnerable to deportation, unless Congress acts on immigration reform and secures them legal protection.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 09, 2018 20 Comments
Perhaps the two aspects of Donald Trump's presidency that I admire the most are is ability to go around supposedly immovable blocks to his proposals and the way he stiffens the spines of his fellow Republicans. After the humiliating Obamacare repeal failure of 2017, many weaker men would have moved on to other matters. However, as Trump continues to take a giant eraser to Obama's legacy, he has obviously moved Congress to take a more piecemeal approach to ending the onerous health insurance regulations promulgated under his predecessor.
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