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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 July 31, 2018 5 Comments
The wildfires are still raging in California, and six people are reported dead and at least 19 are missing. Tragically, the dead include a great-grandmother who was trying the save the lives of her two great-grandchildren. They were killed in the blaze that is burning near Redding, which has been named the Carr Fire.
The bodies of Melody Bledsoe, 70, and her great-grandchildren, James Robert, 5, and Emily Roberts, 4, were recovered from Bledsoe's home in Redding, relatives said.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 28, 2018 8 Comments
Wildfires are raging through California, and at least one is being blamed on arson.
A suspected arson fire that erupted in the San Jacinto Mountains near Idyllwild continued to spread Thursday as a second, smaller fire ignited just miles away and required the diversion of some firefighting resources.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 28, 2018 49 Comments
San Francisco has a public hygiene crisis of epic proportions, but city officials would rather focus on crappy laws instead of excrement-covered streets. It is so bad that San Francisco's new mayor London Breed recently told a local NBC affiliate that she's never seen as much human feces piled on the sidewalks as she did during a recent stroll through the city.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 27, 2018 23 Comments
North Korea has transferred the remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the Korean War, in keeping with the agreement made in Singapore signed by Chairman Kim Jong-un at the historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The remains were carried out of Wonsan, North Korea, on a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft headed for Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. The plane arrived at the base at around 11 a.m. (Korean time). A formal repatriation ceremony will be held Aug. 1 at the base.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 25, 2018 41 Comments
In April, we reported that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had taken steps to challenge California’s decades-old right to set its own air pollution rules, setting up a showdown between the federal government and the West Coast headquarters of the #Resistance. Since then, the administration has prepared its plan to revoke California’s authority to regulate automobile greenhouse gas emissions, included its mandate for electric-car sales, and is gearing up for its release.
The proposal, expected to be released this week, amounts to a frontal assault on one of former President Barack Obama’s signature regulatory programs to curb emissions that contribute to climate change. It also sets up a high-stakes battle over California’s unique ability to combat air pollution and, if finalized, is sure to set off a protracted courtroom battle.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 24, 2018 13 Comments
It's been 6 weeks since the Singapore Summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong Un, which ended with the signing of a joint statement,. As a reminder, the agreement included security guarantees for North Korea, a reaffirmation of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, recovery of soldiers' remains, and follow-up negotiations.  And while the first post-Singapore summit did not seem to produce significant results on any front, a new report indicates that there may be some real progress on the path to formally ending the Korean War.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 23, 2018 17 Comments
I was thrilled to be able to get in touch with my inner geek this week as I had the opportunity to join one of my dearest friends at San Diego Comic-Con 2018. While I had hoped to escape politics while I was at the Convention Center, the inability of progressives to move to the next stage of the Kubler-Ross grief cycle meant that it was thrust upon me at various times.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 21, 2018 11 Comments
The last time we visited the Environmental Protection Agency, its regulation-slaying head Scott Pruitt had resigned over “the unrelenting attacks” on him and his family, which “are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of” them. As I suspected, the left's victory over Pruitt was hollow. Acting EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler has directed the agency to ease Obama-era standards on the disposal of coal ash, a move expected to be the agency’s first revision of the standards.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 19, 2018 32 Comments
For Legal Insurrection readers looking forward to the chaos and drama of November's election in California, I have some heartbreaking news. The California Supreme Court unanimously decided to remove from the ballot the measure that would eventually lead to a division of California into three states.
In a brief order, the court said it acted “because significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity and because we conclude that the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 18, 2018 79 Comments
Despite the fact that millions of their citizens are enjoying the "crumbs" of the tax cuts, including bonuses from their now prosperous companies, four states are filing lawsuits against the IRS, claiming the tax law is unconstitutional.
New York, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming last year's tax overhaul violated the constitution by unfairly targeting Democratic states. The law puts a new cap on how much Americans are allowed to deduct for state and local taxes, or SALT, from their federal bill. Once unlimited, the deduction is now capped at $10,000. Deductions help reduce a person's overall tax bill.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 16, 2018 23 Comments
A new analysis from the June 2018 BP Statistical Review of Global Energy has some intriguing details on the annual emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 201. The global CO2 emissions from energy in 2017 grew by 1.6%, rebounding from the stagnant volumes during 2014-2016, and faster than the 10-year average of 1.3%. However, despite the dire predictions of extinction-causing climate change after President Donald Trump nixed the American participation in the Paris Climate Accord, the nation's C02 emissions plunged.
...Declines in CO2 emissions in 2017 were led by the US (-0.5% and 42 million tons, see chart above). This is the ninth time in this century that the US has had the largest decline in emissions in the world. This also was the third consecutive year that emissions in the US declined, though the fall was the smallest over the last three years.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 15, 2018 26 Comments
It appears that the recent and entirely unexpected defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), the number 4 Democrat in the House, at the hands of newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a far-left progressive who organized for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during his presidential run, has sent shock waves through the country that have finally hit California.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 10, 2018 14 Comments
A federal judge has just dismissed the federal government's claim that U.S. law overrules two of California's "Sanctuary State" laws.
U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez approved California's motion to throw out the lawsuit related to two of those measures: Senate Bill 54, the sanctuary state law, and Assembly Bill 103, which allows the state attorney general to inspect detention facilities.
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