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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 June 02, 2017 32 Comments
I have been involved in the fight against climate alarmists and their economy crushing policies since 2009 when I reported on the flaws in the climate models during an informative lecture given in San Diego. Eight years later, I nervously awaited the announcement on the Paris Climate Accord, as I wasn't certain that President Donald Trump would follow through on his promise to withdraw because of the intense pressure he was under. But withdraw he did, with a historic address that should be on list of best presidential speeches in American history.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 31, 2017 10 Comments
America recently marked the 40th anniversary of the debut of the blockbuster movie, Star Wars. In 1983, in homage to the movie's popularity, Ronald Reagan's "Strategic Defense Initiative" was rechristened "Star Wars". While the original goal of the program was to build a network of ground-based and space-based systems to shield the country from a massive intercontinental ballistic missile attack, Reagan's successors have scaled back on his original plans substantially. Since President Donald Trump took office, North Korea has launched 9 separate test ballistic missiles, with the goal of developing one that could reach the United States with a nuclear payload.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 29, 2017 13 Comments
While President Trump was working to have the Muslim nations drive out terrorists and negotiating to have NATO nations pay-up for their defense, First Lady Melania Trump was dazzling the world with grace, class, and dignity. The First Lady has not yet moved into the White House, so seeing her in formal venues has been rare until now. However, if the past 9 days have been any indication, Americans will soon be under the spell of President Trump's beautiful wife.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 28, 2017 13 Comments
Last week, I reported that Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers had decapitated the brutal El Salvadoran gang MS13 in Southern California after they arrested more than 40 members using racketeering statutes. This week, they followed it up with a series of raids that brought in 188 illegal immigrants, most of whom were connected with crime in this region.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 28, 2017 2 Comments
Egypt has launched an air assault on terror training camps in Libya, following the deadly bus attack that claimed the lives of over two dozen Coptic Christian men, women and children.
On Friday, Egyptian fighter jets struck eastern Libya just hours after a shooting that killed 29 and wounded 24 in the southern Egyptian province of Minya when masked militants boarded vehicles en route to a monastery and opened fire at close range. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest directed at Egypt's increasingly embattled Christian minority following two church bombings last month that killed more than 45, also claimed by the group.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 28, 2017 21 Comments
President Donald Trump concluded his first trip abroad as Commander-in-Chief with a speech at the Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily before returning to Washington, D.C., saying that his the nine-day international tour was a home run.
“But we have been gone for close to nine days. This will be nine days. And I think we hit a home run no matter where we are,” Trump said in Italy. ...The president is heading back to Washington, D.C. following a trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, and Belgium. After meeting with the Pope, Trump traveled to Brussels for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit and concluded his trip in Sicily at the G7 summit.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 27, 2017 7 Comments
Manchester suicide bomber's Salman Abedi's father and brothers have been arrested in Great Britain, all of them suspected of having links to ISIS and Al Qaeda. New details are emerging about recent arrests that indicate Minneapolis police may have averted another family-based terror plot in this country.
There are growing concerns about the arrest of two brothers with ties to the Middle East who authorities say had an arsenal with bomb-making materials, guns and ammunition in their car.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 27, 2017 18 Comments
Hillary Clinton returned to her alma mater to give a commencement address that matched the tone and content of her 2016 campaign speeches: Full of attacks on Donald Trump and interrupted by coughing.
Hillary Clinton didn’t pull any punches Friday when she took several jabs at President Trump – at one point even comparing him to Former President Richard Nixon - as she delivered the commencement address at her alma mater, Wellesley College.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 26, 2017 22 Comments
Before I begin the review of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama by David J. Garrow, I feel the need to make a confession in the interest of full disclosure. Barack Obama has been very inspirational to me personally. He inspired me to help co-found the SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition. He inspired be to become an independent conservative blogger. He inspired me to re-register as "No Party Preference" in my home state of California. So, why did I order this 7-pound book on Obama?

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 26, 2017 16 Comments
I have been following the aftermath of the California legislature's massive gas tax hike, which is slated to be implemented in January. The Democratic Party supermajority swore up-and-down that the new funds would totally go to road repair and the essential infrastructure maintenance that this state desperately needs. The skeptical among us, recognizing that the state is facing an epic pension fund shortfall, suspected that the politicians were offering #AlternativeFacts.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 24, 2017 34 Comments
The last time we ran an "insanity check" on the state of California, our state's legislators were laying out plans for a single-payer healthcare system. Subsequently, the state's money crunchers processed the numbers and the price tag is twice the state's annual budget!
Creating a single-payer health care system in California would cost $400 billion a year — including $200 billion in new tax revenue, according to an analysis of legislation released Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 23, 2017 44 Comments
The theory of "consensus science reliability" seems to have taken another hit, as a new report has been released that asserts government-based dietary fat guidelines "have no evidence base". Publishing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr Zoë Harcombe of the Institute of Clinical Exercise and Health Science of the University of the West of Scotland researched both the origins and the results of following the dietary fat guidelines that have prevailed in the US and the United Kingdom for almost 40 years. The evidence provides no support for the assertion that low-fat diets are healthier, especially as the incidences of obesity and diabetes have escalated dramatically during the same four decades of the guidelines' implementation.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 21, 2017 17 Comments
We recently reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed to target the nation's law enforcement efforts on the barbaric and brutal El Salvadoran gang, MS13. While the elite media has been attempting to stage a coup-d'-press, it has nearly ignored significant developments that highlight exactly how effective President Donald Trump's administration has been.  For example, Sessions' plans were initiated during an early morning sweep of MS13 gangsters that hit its leadership.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 20, 2017 20 Comments
The last time we checked in on Colorado after it legalized marijuana, the intoxicant was raking in $1.3 billion worth of sales for the state. Yet, as predicted, there have been some unintended consequences of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use. Recently, the residents of Durango have noticed a change in the type of visitors the lovely Colorado resort town attracts.
The town suddenly became a haven for recreational pot users, drawing in transients, panhandlers and a large number of homeless drug addicts, according to officials and business owners. Many are coming from New Mexico, Arizona and even New York.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 19, 2017 23 Comments
When it comes to blocking President Donald Trump's plans for the Border Wall, the Democratic Party has displayed imagination, creativity, and enthusiasm rarely surpassed in the annals of human history.
Democrats opposed border wall funding in the latest government spending debate and the White House eventually backed off of its demand to secure the money this month. When the funding fight comes up again in September, Democrats are still likely to deem it a non-starter in negotiations. "I have said repeatedly and consistently, I will not support an omnibus that includes funding for a wall; not going to do it," said Rep. Joe Crowley, D-New York, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, at a recent press conference.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 19, 2017 19 Comments
The last time we checked on Crazy California, many of its taxpayers were rebelling against the legislature-created gas tax and were mounting a recall challenge against one of the Democrats who made that hike possible. During a speech in Orange County earlier this month, and in response to taxpayers angered by the massive increase and those who are supporting the recall of State Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, Governor Jerry Brown had this to say (hat tip, conservative pundit Kira Davis):
“The freeloaders — I’ve had enough of them,” Brown said, adding that the approved tax and fee hikes bring those charges to the level they were 30 years ago if adjusted for inflation. “They have a president that doesn’t tell the truth and they’re following suit.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 16, 2017 20 Comments
By now, every Legal Insurrection reader will likely have been exposed to a deluge of media related to the Washington Post's assertions about President Donald Trump disclosing highly classified information in his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador. However, the intense media focus on the White House has meant substantially less ink, electrons and time have been spent covering two, significant class action lawsuits against the Democratic National Committee: 1) It's shenanigans during the primary to weigh the nomination in Hillary Clinton's favor. 2) Failure to pay its campaign workers for overtime. I was registered as a Democrat for a significant portion of the primary season, and voted for Bernie Sanders in the California primary. So, I thought I would spend a little time on each of these cases.
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