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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 15, 2018 21 Comments
As the week draws to a close, a new analysis shows that California is actually leading the nation . . . in the poverty rate.
Newly released federal estimates show California’s poverty rate remained the highest in the nation, despite a modest fall, and the state’s falling uninsured rate slowed for the first time since before Medicaid expansion.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 15, 2018 2 Comments
Next week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in is expected to head to Pyongyang for the first time with the goal of accelerating international efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
"At this stage, I believe it is most important to put a complete end to military tensions between North and South, or possibility of military conflict, or war threat," Moon told reporters Thursday.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 14, 2018 26 Comments
Pope Francis has just concluded an emergency summit with U.S. bishops over the growing sex abuse crisis and cover-up scandal that has impacted the Roman Catholic Church in the wake of the revelations in by a Pennsylvania grand jury and the details offered in a letter recently published by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served a a Vatican diplomat in Washington D.C. from 2011 to 2016.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 13, 2018 2 Comments
It was my pleasure to interview Legal Insurrection's Antonio Branco during the Canto Talk show today, with host Silvio Canto Jr. We began the show remembering where we were during the events of September 11, 2001. I recounted walking to my local swimming pool that morning, and hearing the TV broadcasts from all the homes I passed through the open windows. Both Antonio and I agreed that it was the first major event that we followed more closely through the internet and new media than through traditional news sources.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 12, 2018 29 Comments
Many pundits, including myself, have warned that the increasingly vitriolic tone of Democratic Party leaders will eventually lead to even more actual attacks on supporters of President Trump and Republicans....in addition to the ones we have already recorded. This warning has gone unheeded, as the Democrats have continued to gin up their base using edited videos, staged camera shots, and outright hostility. It appears that the fear-and-loathing approach has worked, inasmuch as a Republican congressional candidate in California District 15 was attacked by a man uttering curses at President Donald Trump and wielding a knife.
A Republican congressional candidate in California fended off a knife attack on Sunday — and an election sign helped the candidate keep the attacker at bay, authorities said.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 11, 2018 16 Comments
Today marks the 17th anniversary of the 911 attack on this nation, which hit New York's iconic World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a farm field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The heroes of United Airlines flight 93, who brought down the plane before it could return to Washington D.C. and slam into the White House, are being honored with an innovative memorial.
In a field amid the rolling hills of central Pennsylvania stands the "Tower of Voices." Ninety-three-feet tall, it honors the heroes of Flight 93.

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.
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