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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 September 09, 2018 50 Comments
My son has been actively involved in fencing since he was 7, and he is a junior coach for Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) camps during the summer. While his current arsenal of weapons consists of epees, we are in the process of ordering him a long sword to use in his historic weapons program. Therefore, it was with great interest that I learned that a new Texas law will permit the open carry of swords and other long-blade weapons.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 08, 2018 21 Comments
When I read Michael Crichton's famous Jurassic Park in the 1990's, I knew enough about the approach to sense that cloning could be used to bring back extinct animals. It appears that Crichton's novel was indeed prophetic, as scientists are attempting to extract cells from the mummy of a 40,000-year-old foal from Siberia in an attempt to use the sample to clone the extinct species back into existence.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 06, 2018 7 Comments
This week's developments on the Korean Peninsula following June's Singapore Summit have been fascinating. First, North Korean media is now reporting that Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
The statement from the Korean Central News Agency wasn't new information — Kim has repeatedly declared similar intentions before — but allows hopes to rise that diplomacy can get back on track after the recriminations that followed Kim's meeting in June with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. The impasse between North Korea and the United States, with neither side seemingly willing to make any substantive move, has generated widespread skepticism over Trump's claims that Kim is intent on dismantling his nuclear weapons program.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 01, 2018 64 Comments
In-N-Out Burger is a California institution. In fact, my family recently capped off a college tour of that state, and we all ordered Double Double meals! Yet after it was discovered that the business committed the Democratic Party designated sin of donating to the Republican Party for the upcoming election, the chair of the California Democratic Party thought the smart move was to call for a boycott.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 30, 2018 26 Comments
Governor Jerry Brown has just signed a sweeping reform bill that makes California the first state in the nation to abolish bail for suspects awaiting trial.
An overhaul of the state's bail system has been in the works for years, and became an inevitability earlier this year when a California appellate court declared the state's cash bail system unconstitutional. The new law goes into effect in October 2019.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 29, 2018 72 Comments
A shocking 11-page letter by a former apostolic nuncio (a papal diplomat) to the United States has rocked the Catholic world after it was widely released last week. The testimony offered by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, 77, who served as apostolic nuncio in Washington D.C. from 2011 to 2016, accuses several senior church officials of complicity in covering up allegations of sexual abuse of minors and young men by former Archbishop of Washington D.C., Theodore McCarrick. Viganò also claims that Pope Francis knew about sanctions imposed on then-Cardinal McCarrick by Pope Benedict XVI, chose to ignore those sanctions, and allowed McCaarrick to become a power-player in determining church appointments in this country.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 24, 2018 12 Comments
There is a fascinating new analysis showing that despite the American unemployment rate at historically low levels, there has not been a significant drop in food stamp use.
But while the economy has improved dramatically, food-stamp enrollment has not, declining just 17 percent while the unemployment rate fell three times faster — 62 percent. Why the disconnect? Critics say states are milking the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), overstating their needs, while the Trump administration is approving state “work waivers” it doesn’t have to.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 23, 2018 33 Comments
The last time we checked on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the group was at the center of a blue-vs-blue drama after it hired a bikini clad women to hand out non-dairy treats to the crowd at Wimbledon. Feminists were angry, claiming the organization was objectifying women. Now, in response to pressure from PETA, Mondelez International (the parent company of Nabisco), has redesigned the packaging of its Barnum's Animals crackers to "free" them from cages.
PETA, which has been protesting the use of animals in circuses for more than 30 years, wrote a letter to Mondelez in the spring of 2016 calling for a redesign.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 22, 2018 28 Comments
Tuesday was a big day for the American court system, as the Paul Manafort trial concluded with verdicts and Trump's personal attorney plead guilty to an assortment of charges that are still being analyzed. While the media focused on the legal drama on the East Coast, a Congressman from the Southern California area and his wife were indicted on campaign finance charges and fraud.
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