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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 April 13, 2017 18 Comments
I have previously noted that many of California's legal citizens were extremely unhappy with the Democratic super-majority in Sacramento ramming through unpopular legislation, such as the "Sanctuary State" measure or the new gas tax. Now, the first signs of a substantial political fallout are on the horizon as citizens are organizing a Golden State version of the Resistance.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 12, 2017 23 Comments
Last weekend President Donald Trump and China’s president Xi Jinping met at Mar-a-Lago. The state dinner featured a side of tactical bombing of Syrian airstrips and a bit of Sound of Music diplomacy from the First Daughter. Knowing the room would be tense, she deployed her charming children to serenade the Chinese President and his wife...in Chinese.
Ivanka assumed, or rightly knew, that there is nothing like having the children or grandchildren of a host put on a cute performance to cut down tensions in a room full of VIPs with competing agendas.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 11, 2017 15 Comments
When I wrote about California's senate mulling over a law that would repeal the state income tax for teachers, I predicted a new tax on fuel and electric cars was poised to slide through our legislature and become law. It did!
Faced with a personal appeal by Gov. Jerry Brown, a Senate panel on Monday gave the first approval to a measure that would raise gas taxes and vehicle fees by $52 billion during the next decade for road and bridge repairs. The bill by Brown and legislative leaders was approved in a 5-2, party-line vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which sent it to the Senate floor, where it is proposed to come up for a vote on Thursday.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 10, 2017 3 Comments
The Trump administration is exploring the possibility of punching a hole in former President Obama’s 2015 ozone pollution rule.
Justice Department attorneys are asking the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to delay oral arguments scheduled for later this month in a lawsuit challenging the Obama rule, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviews the regulation and its position on it. “EPA intends to closely review the 2015 rule, and the prior positions taken by the agency with respect to the 2015 rule may not necessarily reflect its ultimate conclusions after that review is complete,” the attorneys wrote. Under the Obama administration, attorneys were defending the pollution rule against a coalition of business groups and conservative states, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 09, 2017 25 Comments
The year, as we mark the season of Passover, there has been a discovery of the remains of a pyramid in Egypt that was reportedly built around the time of the Exodus:
Ahead of the Passover holiday, an unknown pyramid was discovered in Egypt, dating roughly to the time of Jews’ exodus from bondage. A top antiquities official says an Egyptian excavation team has discovered the remains of a pyramid dating back to the 13th Dynasty, some 3700 years ago.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 09, 2017 4 Comments
As Holy Week begins for Christians around the world, some intriguing information on the faith has been released by the Pew Research Center.
Christians remained the largest religious group in the world in 2015, making up nearly a third (31%) of Earth’s 7.3 billion people, according to a new Pew Research Center demographic analysis. But the report also shows that the number of Christians in what many consider the religion’s heartland, the continent of Europe, is in decline. Christians had the most births and deaths of any religious group in recent years, according to our demographic models. Between 2010 and 2015, an estimated 223 million babies were born to Christian mothers and roughly 107 million Christians died – a natural increase of 116 million.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 06, 2017 3 Comments
As the weather gets warmer, public health officials are bracing for more outbreaks of Zika virus infections in this country. Cooler weather temporarily stemmed the spread of the virus, which hit over 5100 Americans in 2016. However, in the interim since my last report on this topic in November, researchers have made a troubling discovery. Based on reports from South America, the pathogen is believed to cause a wide array of neurological birth defects when women become infected when pregnant. Now, reports from women in this country who have given birth after infection confirm the potential health impact.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 06, 2017 9 Comments
While President Donald Trump was holding a joint news conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein describing his new approach to Syria and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad after suspected chemical attacks killed dozens of civilians, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley was at a Security Council meeting blasting Russia over its support of the regime. It was epic. The full video is a must-see:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 05, 2017 51 Comments
One of my favorite TV shows airing this season is "Feud", which depicts the legendary rivalry between Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) during their collaboration on the psychological thriller, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Another legendary feud is currently taking place between President Donald Trump and California's political leaders. The policy conflict has now substantially escalated after the state senate approved "Sanctuary State" legislation bill that bars local and state law enforcement from using their resources to help federal immigration authorities.
The 40-member body approved Senate Bill 54, introduced by Sen. President Pro Tem Kevin de León, on a 27-12, party-line vote. It now heads to the Assembly.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 03, 2017 3 Comments
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was slated to begin her tour of Australia on Monday with an ABC Australia's "Q and A" issues discussion program. The show's tweet indicated that plans had changed abruptly, and it seems the reason is based on security concerns.
Hirsi Ali’s Hero of Heresy tour was due to begin in Brisbane on Thursday, before taking her to Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 02, 2017 11 Comments
One of the industries that has been most impacted by the aftermath of the 2016 election has been the tattoo removal business. At the end of last year, Kemberlee Kaye noted that many millennials were consulting plastic surgeons to remove now unwanted body art. As we head toward President Trump's 100th day in office, and it is apparent he is continuing his policies of having Immigration and Customs Enforcement actually enforce federal law, tattoo removal experts are now seeing a different kind of client: Illegal aliens.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 01, 2017 20 Comments
The election of President Donald Trump continues to have a profound influence on this country in nearly every area of government. The upcoming census of the American people is a good example of a Trump-era change that is going mostly unnoticed. In 2012, Legal Insurrection reported that the Obama administration was proposing sexual orientation/gender identity questions for the 2020 census.  Such questions have never been included in any U. S. Census.
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