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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 November 27, 2016 14 Comments
Scientists reviewing the logbooks of polar explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton show there has been no significant melting of the continent's ice sheets.
Experts were concerned that ice at the South Pole had declined significantly since the 1950s, which they feared was driven by man-made climate change. But new analysis suggests that conditions are now virtually identical to when the Terra Nova and Endurance sailed to the continent in the early 1900s, indicating that declines are part of a natural cycle and not the result of global warming.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 26, 2016 14 Comments
The protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline took another disturbing turn, as demonstrators blocked the entrance of a local mall on Black Friday.
More than 30 activists protesting plans to run an oil pipeline beneath a lake near a North Dakota Indian reservation were arrested on Friday at a retail mall during a rally timed to coincide with the busiest shopping day of the year. The demonstrators, including members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, walked into the Kirkwood Mall in downtown Bismarck and formed a prayer circle just inside the entrance, defying demands by mall management that they leave the premises.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 24, 2016 22 Comments
It's as predictable as the sun rising in the east: A Democratic candidate loses the presidential election and progressives begin complaining about how the unfair Electoral College. This Thanksgiving Week, I would like to discuss how Americans everywhere should be thankful our Founding Fathers established this system by using California as an example of what would happen if the presidency rested on popular vote totals.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 22, 2016 42 Comments
It has been fascinating to watch the the elite media and Washington insiders reactions to the speed and efficiency of Trump's transition team organization and appointee selection. With so much happening so quickly, I wanted to keep an eye on one of the most troubling agencies under the Obama Administration: The Environmental Protection Agency. The response of the big government bureaucrats in the EPA is likely to offer a clue about how they are going to behave in other federal organizations. Legal Insurrection readers may recall that 27% of federal employees claimed they would quit their jobs if Donald Trump was elected. However, instead of quitting, it's more likely they'll exit a little less gracefully.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 21, 2016 26 Comments
Recently, there has been one bright spot for me remaining a California resident: The sheer entertainment value offered by the dramatic response of our leading politicians to President-elect Trump. For example, our state's representatives are lining up to work actively against our new President. The apparent goal is to make California to Trump what Texas was to Obama.
In the early morning hours after Donald Trump became president-elect of the United States, California Senate leader Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon were on the phone grappling with what comes next.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 20, 2016 17 Comments
As a safety professional, one of the most chilling books in my job-based collection is Death in Yellowstone. The work offers many cautionary tales about one of our most famous and treacherous national parks, many of which stem from tourists ignoring the numerous warning signs about intense heat of the colorful pools of highly acidic water. Many visitors, unused to the great outdoors, fail to recognize the serious safety hazards associated with the park's volcanic features and wild animals. This lack of awareness has claimed another victim, as reports are now emerging about a tragic incident that occurred this summer that claimed the life of a young man, Colin Scott. It appears that he and his sister were hoping to use one of the area's hot pools as a natural jacuzzi.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 19, 2016 5 Comments
We have been following the mosquito-borne Zika virus epidemic, which had been declared an international medical emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). The good news: The organization has officially ended the emergency status. The bad news: The virus is now a permanent addition to our nation.
By lifting its nine-month-old declaration, the UN's health agency is acknowledging that Zika is here to stay. The infection has been linked to severe birth defects in almost 30 countries.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 18, 2016 41 Comments
Once upon a time, soccer and piano lessons were the preferred extra-curricular options for teens. Now social justice warfare may be the thrilling, new, after-school activity. A group of American kids are suing the federal government demanding "climate action."
“We are standing here to fight and protect everything that we love—from our land to our waters to the mountains to the rivers and forests,” Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a 16-year-old plaintiff in the case told supporters after a hearing in Eugene, Ore. this fall. “This is the moment where we decide what kind of legacy we are going to leave behind for future generations.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 14, 2016 42 Comments
I just blogged that Donald Trump picked Myron Ebell, Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute and a noted climate change skeptic, to head his transition team at the Environmental Protection Agency. The current head of that agency is feeling the chill wind of change, and is heating up the implementation of environmental regulations ahead of Trump's inauguration.
"As I've mentioned to you before, we're running — not walking — through the finish line of President Obama's presidency," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a staff memo obtained by the Washington Examiner after Trump was declared the winner of Tuesday's election.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 13, 2016 28 Comments
President-Elect Donald Trump is probably experiencing the shortest honeymoon in American political history. He is the target of massive protests and the focus of riotous mobs, before he even takes the oath of office let alone signs his first law or executive order. Furthermore, he is taking no time off when it comes to preparing his team to undo the Obama Administration's economy-crushing policies. Case-in-point: Trump is looking for ways to extract the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.
A source on Trump’s transition team told Reuters that the team was looking for ways to bypass the procedure to leave the Paris accord, which was agreed upon last December. Trump has previously stated his disbelief in global warming. Other global governments, including China, have expressed their reaffirming support for the deal. "It was reckless for the Paris agreement to enter into force before the election,” the source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 12, 2016 72 Comments
In June, I noted that interest in #CalExit, a #Brexit inspired movement in which California would secede from the union, was growing. National Review now reports on #CalExit, #OrgExit, #WasExit, and other secession campaigns coalescing within deep blue states where progressives are bemoaning the fact that billionaire businessman Donald Trump is now President Elect.
“Yes California,” a political action committee fighting for California’s independence from the union, is campaigning to qualify a secession initiative for the 2018 ballot, which in turn would force a special-election referendum on the question. The group had gained little traction since its founding in 2015, but received an outpouring of support for their movement in the aftermath of Trump’s victory.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 11, 2016 54 Comments
Mary Chastain reviewed the impressive list of candidates for Donald Trump's cabinet released by Buzzfeed, featuring well-known politicos such as Rudy Guiliani, Newt Gingrich, and Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Sarah Palin. However, via Don Surber, comes proof that Trump intends to dramatically change the political climate with his appointments by naming someone with a bit less notoriety to a fairly significant position.
Trump picked Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, to head his transition team at the EPA.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 10, 2016 42 Comments
While my friends across the nation are celebrating conservative and Republican domination and all the free market, fiscal goodness that it brings, my home state took a slightly different path. As I predicted, retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer is being replaced by Kamala Harris, one of the state Attorney Generals who planned to use RICO statutes to pursue firms that were "climate change deniers". I anticipate she will make Boxer look like a sane and reasonable politician in retrospect.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 08, 2016 37 Comments
A few weeks ago, I noted that the U.S. Navy's latest ship, a high-tech destroyer named the U.S.S. Zumwalt, sprung a leak on its maiden voyage. Now, it seems that there isn't enough money to fuel its big guns.
The U.S. Navy is slated to cancel the projectiles for the two big guns that outfit its newest and most advanced warship due to excessive costs that total an estimated $800,000 per round. The Long Range Land-Attack Projectile, or LRLAP, is the only guided precision ammunition designed to be fired by the USS Zumwalt, a land-attack destroyer that was created to hold two 155 millimeter/62-caliber Advanced Gun Systems that could, according to defense contractor Lockheed Martin, “defeat targets in the urban canyons of coastal cities with minimal collateral damage,” Defense News reported.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 06, 2016 7 Comments
At the beginning of 2016, I noted that the Ebola epidemic that began in 2014, which West Africa hard and resulted in several Americans being stricken by the often deadly virus, had subsided. Researchers are now reporting that the significant outbreak was the result of a mutation that made the virus easier to transmit and deadlier to human who were infected.
In one study led by 16 researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Broad Institute and elsewhere, genomic analyses pinpointed parts of the Ebola virus that changed during the west African outbreak. One genetic mutation, in particular, appeared to affect a key region of the pathogen where it binds to human cells.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 05, 2016 10 Comments
More troubling news is now coming from infectious disease experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting that the first cases of a drug-resistant and potentially fatal fungal infection have occurred within the United States.
The fungus, Candida auris, is known to occur in health care settings such as hospitals and nursing homes. Seven cases occurred between May 2013 and August 2016 in four states: Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. As of August 31, four of these seven patients, all with bloodstream infections, died, though it is unclear whether their deaths were due to C. auris. The remaining six cases were identified after August and are still under investigation.
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