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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 18, 2016 18 Comments
If California's general election votes were ignored, President-Elect Donald Trump would have won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College count. Perhaps inspired by the "different direction" taken by its citizens, California Governor Jerry Brown feels inspired to conclude his political career by taking the role of President, an office for which he campaigned several times during his lengthy career? This would align with development of the the California secession movement.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 14, 2016 7 Comments
There are significant updates to the lawsuits against the EPA related to the Gold King Mine spill that released millions of gallons of wastewater into the Animas River. The first development is that the Navajo Nation has filed a claim seeking more than $160 million from the federal government for damages.
Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch said in the release that the spill transformed the river from a "life-giver and protector" to a "threat" to the Navajo people, crops and animals.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 14, 2016 28 Comments
The recent report issued about the relationship between fracking and drinking water is a classic example of how the elite media generates fake news, in the effort to virtue signal and get readers. In June of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a report indicating that fracking isn’t causing widespread damage to the nation’s drinking water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—after a four-year study that is the U.S. government’s most comprehensive examination of the issue to date—concluded that hydraulic fracturing, as being carried out by industry and regulated by states, isn’t having “widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 11, 2016 18 Comments
California Tea Party activists have long battled the bureaucrats and politicians over policies related to water. One of the most well-known of the myriad of issues is the diversion of water from farms in the Central Valley (a major source of this nation's fruits and nuts....outside of San Francisco, that is). One goal of this reallocation of a prime agricultural resource is the protection of a bait fish known as the Delta Smelt. Last week, the House of Representatives easily passed a major water bill that includes emergency aid for Flint, Mich., and boosts U.S. ports, dams and waterways. This bill, known as the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), was initially co-authored by the notorious Senator Barbara Boxer, who infamously derided a Brigadier General for referring to her as "ma'am".

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 11, 2016 23 Comments
Because I write so much about climate change, I am constantly barraged by fake news about the hoax-based science. The good news: The mainstream media has finally noticed the fake news problem. The bad news: The main stream media hasn't recognized it's a significant source of the problem. The ugly news: There are policies proposals being bandied about that are suppose to prevent the spread of "fake news" (i.e. news found on conservative and other sites that the progressive left want silenced).

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 10, 2016 38 Comments
Few signals could have been clearer that President-Elect Donald Trump is intending to undo the Obama administration's business-crushing energy policies than the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency...after he spent a good portion of his career battling it. Another signal is now coming from his Department of Energy transition team, which is seeking the identities of climate change alarmists who permeate that agency.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 07, 2016 13 Comments
When Donald Trump makes his final cabinet nomination, it will be hard to pick out which of the bold selections is most golden. Retired Marine General James Mattis as Secretary of Defense was in the running for my top choice. However, it appears that Myron Ebell, the climate change "criminal" who is spear-heading Trump's EPA transition team, was busy identifying a nominee for EPA Chief who just bumped "Mad Dog" Mattis down a notch on my list.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 06, 2016 15 Comments
The flood of Wikileaks emails that were released in late October featured several involving Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr., who is on the faculty of the University of Colorado as a professor in the Environmental Studies Program. Pielke is no skeptic of man-made warming; however, he did challenge a cherished climate alarmist talking point that global warming was making extreme weather more severe. The Wikileaks emails made it clear that he was Climate Justice Enemy #1 and was being targeted by an organized campaign to smear his reputation and his ability to advocate for sound science-based policies by ClimateProgress (which is part of the Center for American Progress Action Fund created by John Podesta).

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 06, 2016 61 Comments
On the morning of Nov, 9th, California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, both Democrats, issued the following statement about Donald Trump's Presidential victory:
“Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views on a pluralistic and democratic society that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.
That same election created a Democratic Party super-majority within out state legislature, pretty much enabling it to pass any progressive policy Democrats can dream up.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 06, 2016 10 Comments
Investigators are working to determine the cause of a massive warehouse fire that claimed the lives of over 30 young adults who were attending a party.  The facility housed a community of artisans in Oakland, California.
The warehouse where at least 36 people died in a massive fire Friday night has been deemed too unsafe and unstable for emergency workers, prompting fire officials to temporarily halt search efforts that have now stretched into a fourth day. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said a criminal investigation team is involved, which means the site of the warehouse fire is a potential crime scene. Melinda Drayton, battalion chief for the Oakland Fire Department, said at a news conference Monday morning that crews stopped searching overnight after noticing that a wall at the back of the building was leaning at an alarming angle. The search was halted just after midnight, Drayton said, adding that once it resumes, “we absolutely believe that the number of fatalities will increase.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 04, 2016 9 Comments
Tennessee officials are now reporting that at least 13 people have died during the current wildfire disaster.
The fires, described as the state's largest in 100 years, are believed to be human-caused, authorities said. Twelve of the victims died as a direct result of the firestorm, and one victim died of a heart attack while trying to escape a blaze, officials said at a news conference this morning. The briefing was held in Gatlinburg -- one the worst-hit cities in Sevier County.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 03, 2016 21 Comments
In October, I reported that thousands of California soldiers in the National Guard soldiers were being forced to repay over-paid enlistment bonuses and student loans. Many of these brave men and women were struggling financially to meet the repayment terms. Shortly after the Department of Defense took a substantial P.R. hit once the details behind this travesty became widely known, Secretary Ash Carter announced he was suspending this program.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 01, 2016 39 Comments
Our talented Mary Chastain blogged on the deal reached between President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence and HVAC company Carrier. Rather than exporting jobs, Carrier will remain in Indiana, saving approximately 1,000 jobs. Mary expressed concern that if this was a firm-limited approach, Trump would be simply picking winners. The exact details about the deal have been slow to emerge.
"The incentives offered by the state were an important consideration," to staying, Carrier said in a statement Wednesday. Pence is the governor of Indiana. Carrier didn't specify what the incentives were. Trump threatened Carrier with stiff tariffs during the campaign, but Carrier's statement depicted a friendlier negotiation.
However, it must be noted that another Indiana plant is closing...and that Pence did not hesitate to act to take back incentives previously given.
Carrier’s announcement in February that it was eliminating the 1,400 jobs was paired with grim news from another Indiana company, United Technologies Electronic Controls, that 700 jobs would be eliminated at its facility in Huntington. ...After the [original] February announcements, Gov. Mike Pence and the state legislature went after the two companies to claw back hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-state agency that made grants to the companies to train new and existing workers and to keep jobs in the state.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 01, 2016 8 Comments
There are several disturbing updates to the report on the wildfires roaring through Tennessee I prepared earlier this week. It seems that arson is suspected in more than half of the blazes that are still burning in the region.
Fire investigators said more than half of the 67 fires burning right now have been deliberately set. And so far, seven suspects have been arrested for arson state-wide, but more arrests could be made in the near future.
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