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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 December 13, 2017 29 Comments
This weekend, I reported on the spate of fires that have erupted though Southern California, which included the Skirball Fire that threatened the famous Getty Center Museum, destroyed several posh Bel Air homes, and shut the 405 freeway. In a move that surprised nobody, Governor Jerry Brown was quick to blame all the infernos on climate change, but a cooking fire by a homeless person started the fire.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 09, 2017 13 Comments
When I reported on the Los Angeles area fire, threatening the famed Getty Center Museum, I was deeply worried that the Santa Ana winds would ignite another blaze somewhere in the vicinity of my hometown, San Diego. This fear materialized the day after that post, and a retirement community and equestrian center were the first victims in the area's rural community of Fallbrook:
Flames were practically on top of Dick and Joan Marsala's home when they got an urgent knock on the door and were told to leave.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 06, 2017 46 Comments
Despite its status as a blue state, a special set of entrepreneurs have figured out how to market one of Washinton's iconic products: Coffee. Perhaps inspired by the "Hooters" model for chicken wings, scantily clad women serve up delicious caffeinated drinks and a smile. The successful business model, however, was drawing concerns that criminal elements were attracted to bikini baristas.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 03, 2017 20 Comments
Public health experts are warning that the upcoming flu season may a rough one in this country, as data from Australia indicate the vaccine selected for this year's strain isn't effective against the virus.
The flu vaccine used this year in Australia — which has the same composition as the vaccine used in the U.S. — was only 10 percent effective, according to a preliminary estimate, at preventing the strain of the virus that predominantly circulated during the country's flu season,an international team of medical experts wrote in a perspective published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 03, 2017 33 Comments
Christmas is coming early for America's schoolchildren, as the Trump administration rolls back even more Obama-era lunacy. Chocolate milk will soon be back on public school lunch menus as new rules ease nutritional standards established by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and championed by former first lady Michelle Obama.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 01, 2017 13 Comments
Earlier this year, I noted that the latest pollutant being targeted by environmentalists was microplastics from polymer-based fabrics. This proved troubling to many climate justice warriors, as activist essentials such as yoga pants was contributing to the flow of small, plastic particulates to the ocean.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 30, 2017 30 Comments
Earlier this week, I reviewed that cases of California politicians who were charged with sexual harassment by numerous women who work with the state Assembly and Senate in Sacramento. I must admit, I was a little surprised that some comments seemed to indicate we were facing a new millennium version of the Salem Witch Trials. Therefore, I would like to offer another analogy.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 28, 2017 14 Comments
Environmental activists constantly accuse humanity of destroying the Planet Earth. A case can be made that the reverse is actually true. Take, for instance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's finding that there are is a mantle plume underneath Antarctica, which seems to explain much of the melting of the continental ice shelf.
Researchers at NASA have discovered a huge upwelling of hot rock under Marie Byrd Land, which lies between the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea, is creating vast lakes and rivers under the ice sheet. The presence of a huge mantle plume could explain why the region is so unstable today, and why it collapsed so quickly at the end of the last Ice Age, 11,000 years ago.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 26, 2017 13 Comments
There has been a fascinating developments in relations between North Korea and China over the past week. Just before Thanksgiving, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un appeared to have snubbed China by not agreeing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic envoy.
Song Tao, head of the Communist Party’s international department, wrapped up his four-day trip to North Korea on Monday, the first visit by a senior Chinese official since 2015.
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