This is an interesting comment by Bob Dole. He knows more than anyone in politics about the V.A. hospital systeml having been a patient of them for most of his life. As a mental health professional I interacted frequently with V.A. hospitals advocating for patients to get services. Each facility has enormous autonomy and the director is like lord of the manor, deciding policy about admissions and so on. The American people don’t understand this, and perhaps it should be changed, but this is the long tradition of the V.A. system. I’m thinking it probably would take major legislation from Congress to change the structure of the V.A. to make it more accountable. The other thing that people don’t understand is that only veterans who have a service connected disability are entitled to medical services. And it is up to the individual veteran to apply and prove they have a service connected disability.
As far as I know it didn’t use to be. It may have changed for a Veterans going forward. I’ll ask my SIL. She’s a nurse at one. She has an Administrative role but I’m not sure doing what.
I saw the “whistleblower” on CNN last night. His comments were that the VA does a good job treating vets with long term problems like hypertension, diabetes, etc. He says the problems are with those in need of emergency treatment and it was due to the shortage of pcps. He says the problems have just spiraled out of control in the last couple of years; not that there were not problems before but they’ve really gotten bad. He might’ve mentioned vets coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and a change in the law regarding Vietnam vets. He says he really didn’t care about Shinseski getting fired; he just wanted to see the problem fixed.
Hi, no – as to only service connected disability entitled to medical at the VA. Certain era’s of enlistees are entitled to lifetime va medical care. I enlisted in 1975 and a part of our enlistment ‘package’ was lifetime medical care. Although I never utilized my va healthcare until I was hurt and disabled and could no longer get civilian healthcare due to “pre-existing” conditions.
I did still have to apply for my va healthcare- that was in 2008- and though my disability was not service related, I still rcvd a rating.. which of course is lower/ less than someone with service related problems. But thus far- these past 6 yrs, I’ve received all the healthcare needs that I required.
I should modify my comment here. What I have to say pertains to my experience with the Roseburg Oregon VA hospital prior to the Iraq/Afghanistan era. So obviously some things have changed. But I believe it still is true that all veterans do not have access to compete health care needs from the VA. Much of the waiting lists were about persons applying to qualify for services. If all veterans qualified for complete health care then their access to expanded Medicaid in red states would not be the issue that it is. So just being a veteran does not entitle you to total health care. My older brother is a veteran. He qualified for some help with a hearing aide due to his impairment after working on B52 bombers. But he did not qualify for total health care, although he came from the Vietnam era.
Something looks off – his head is too big for his body, and his face looks way older than any one in their 20’s, much less a 17-yr old. He may have an underlying but undetected physical/genetic disorder.
The jackals are salivating for heads to roll. I think we are up to three jackals asking the same question about members of congress saying Secretary Shinseki should be fired. Jay has responded to all variations in the same way. Pointing back to what President Obama said from the podium last week.
Jon Karl goes to the ‘does President Obama have confidence in Secretary Shinseki’ well again. Looking for a soundbite. And Jay is now reading what President Obama said last week. Again. His response to the same question has not changed.
Jon Karl is now wringing his hands about which Democrats are calling for Sec Shinseki to resign. Says’s it very troubling. He wants to know why outrage is more notable for those Dems in tough elections.
Does anyone know if Sec Shinseki has a hearing problem ? I am almost positive he wears hearing aids……
The reason I ask is…..Ronan Farrow said that Sec Shinseki has turned ” a deaf ear ” to calls for his resignation….maybe he needs to make an appointment….but those wait lines “.
It’s possible that he does. I recall PBO saying last week that Shinseki himself is a disabled vet – so it’s possible that he lost some of his hearing in combat-related injury.
As for that little twerp Ronan – it’s obvious that he is in danger of getting the axe on MSNBC and he’s valiantly trying to please his bosses. I don’t know of anyone who likes his show.
Even before his show debuted, I was wondering why he was getting a show. He may be smart but being smart does not mean that you should have a tv show. Perhaps his talents could be utilized better elsewhere.
Part of the reasons why he got a show (not sure) may include the fact his mother is Mia Farrow and there’s talk his biological father is Frank Sinatra. At MSNBC, if you’re young and nobody knows anything about your credentials, all you have to have (think Luke Russert) is connections. Only a guess.
While serving in the military, Sec Shinseki stepped on a landmine and blew half his foot off. I think it’s entirely possible that he may have damaged hearing.
Farrow must think he’s awfully cute with this kind of immature snark.
First Lady Michelle Obama is so cool, hip, creative, smart, cute, progressive, talented, kind, funny, sweet, loving, giving – have I left anything out.
Hay I’m willing to make a donation for Snowden to come back to the U.S. But Sec. Kerry said if the patriot wants to come back home to face the music there will be a plane waiting for him..Well Sec. Kerry didn’t call him a patriot. Come on back home Snowden.
Thanks for posting such important information, GB. How are you today? Today for me, I am dealing with lower back pains so severe that I could not go to work. Hope it is not a sign of more serious things to come. Stay well.
NCLB, I’m so sorry you are in pain. I agree with gobrooklyn you should definitely get it checked out. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you feel better soon.
The toddlers at Jay Carney’s Press briefings are in full hyper mode today. They seem not to understand English and will not take Jay’s answer. Like toddlers, they only understand a few words of the English language: Yes or No.
To their repetitive questions, if Jay doesn’t answer with a simple Yes or No to complex questions, they become irritable and hyper. What a pathetic flock.
Good Afternoon, TODVille! Blessings from my chair where I am trying to go through some lower-back pain.
However some on the left want to portray Snowden, the facts are pure and simple:
1) this guy went to work at the NSA with a clear goal: espionage
2) if he was troubled by unethical and/or illegal practices, there were many avenues he could have used to voice his concerns
3) he accessed files and documents that were not immediately germane to what he was working on
4) he copied/downloaded them for private use
5) he traveled with stolen and classified documents (in the gazillions) to unfriendly countries, China, then Russia, having lost a bid for Cuba and Chavez’ s Venezuela
In conclusion, this Snowden is a traitor that needs to be brought to justice. The sooner, the better.
President Obama Baits Karl Rove By Saying He Might Have Had a ‘Mild Concussion’
Before the awareness was out there, when I was young and played football briefly, there were a couple of times where I’m sure that that ringing sensation in my head and the need to sit down for a while might have been a mild concussion, and at the time you didn’t think anything of it.
President Obama is the King of Invisible Baiting, especially when he’s got someone’s number and he has Karl Rove’s number. He always comes out looking incredibly innocent, because he bides his time and drops the bait in the middle of something else, almost as if by accident.
He played Senator John McCain and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin so perfectly, you just knew he would be a shrewd diplomat. Lipstick on a pig, anyone?
Before anyone makes much of HRC on Fox on 6/17, bear in mind her book comes out on 6/10.
Look for hype to go into overdrive in an effort to sell a book practically nobody will read.
The sales figures, just as with Sarah Palin’s masterpieces will be tremendous, reflecting the PACs buying up ginormous quantities so that #1 on N Y Times best-seller list can be splashed across the book in ad copy.
A few months after release the books wind up as favors at campagn events or on the 75% off tables.
Not cynical enough, from my POV! Ha! I’d say the HRC people should start a “PUMA Book Club,” so they can give her book to each other for their birthdays. Or maybe her birthday. After they buy them from the 75%-off tables, of course.
If we’re lucky, maybe it will take up the usual August vacuum to fill with more non-stop chatter and hysteria.
We know so much about her life already, I can’t imagine wanting to read another tome but then I’m not a raging PUMA.
Any idea when she’s expected to announce her candidacy?
Indeed. If truth be told I have such little respect for the Clinton’s campaigning character that it wouldn’t surprise me if she chose this venue to drop a hint.
ESnowden is a certifiable Liar. The more he talks, the more he exposes himself and the More Most in US see the MSM as the corrupt Lame, Lazy and Useless.
Yes nena and hopefruit and as was pointed out on previous threads, Snowden and Greenwald with NBC news are GOP propagandists.
Also as on earlier threads I re-state my belief that MSNBC has become the Democratic broadcasting arm of the GOP. As Opposed to Fox, the Republican broadcasting arm of the GOP and CNN the too dumb to matter broadcast arm of the GOP.
All one now. With same goals.
Am I the only one to notice that fewer and fewer elected Democrats appear on MSNBC these days?
Bernie Sanders (I) is on everyday, but where are the Dems?
Some like Debbie Stabenow come on Ed’s show to give a pitch—uninterrupted long schreech for Hillary.
Yep. Their hateful act brings out feelings of inclusion, not exclusion, in my book.
But I wouldn’t call them Christians. Christians are taught to “Love one another.” Don’t remember anything like “Love one another, except for LGBT folks who have commemorative stamps with their names on them.”
Not ‘blank’ envelopes, JO’B! Envelopes with meaningful messages on them, like ‘God is love’, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, ‘Whatever you sow, you will reap’ etc. etc. and maybe a scripture verse or two inside.
(CNN) — Robert De Niro says it was his “responsibility” to make a documentary about his father, artist Robert De Niro Sr., he told Out magazine in an interview.
De Niro’s father was a gay man who divorced De Niro’s mother when the actor was a child. The elder De Niro is the subject of a new documentary, “Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr.,” which premieres on HBO June 9. (HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.)
In a chat with Out, De Niro says that though he and his father weren’t close — he grew up with his mother — the senior De Niro had a profound influence on his actor son. De Niro wants to pay tribute in the documentary, partly for the sake of his own children.
The city has a new mayor with a progressive mandate, but its schools are reeling from the market-based reforms Cory Booker introduced.
Owen Davis
May 28, 2014
Every time Newark shows up on the national radar—from Cory Booker’s celebrity turn to Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to Ras Baraka’s victory in the mayoral race earlier this month—its schools have been in the spotlight. In Mayor-elect Baraka, the school reform project inaugurated under Booker and Governor Chris Christie has met its most formidable opponent yet. But despite Baraka’s win, not to mention a flurry of sit-ins, walk-outs, protests and pickets, the transformation of the school system into a showcase of neoliberal ideas about education is unlikely to stop anytime soon.
That’s troubling news for students in the district schools, such as those at the Hawthorne Avenue School.
Hawthorne could have been a model for urban education. The Newark, New Jersey, K–8 school has raised its test scores in each of the last three years. The hallways that teachers describe as “chaos” four years ago are now quiet, save occasional bursts of laughter. Its performance on last year’s tests, on which it met all state benchmarks, compelled an assistant superintendent to make a personal visit to congratulate the faculty.
So the community was stunned when the district leveled the educational equivalent of a death sentence on the school.
At a public forum last December, the Chris Christie–appointed superintendent Cami Anderson announced that about a quarter of Newark’s schools would be closed, repurposed, consolidated or otherwise transformed. Hawthorne would lose grades 5–8, and two outside operators would assume management of younger grades. Every teacher would have to reapply.
“It won’t be Hawthorne anymore,” says Grace Sergio, a Hawthorne parent association leader whose eighth-grade son plays basketball and often stays at school till well after six. “This is a village.”
The Obama Diary 
Yum!
Congrats Vetivera! Also Congrats again to the Seattle Seahawks.
Thanks Carol
🙂
Indeed! 🙂 Congrats vet24 on #1.
Must send this to Sheriff Fruitfly.
Is he a Seahawks fan or a foody? Never mind I think the answer is in his avatar now that I think about it.
Yep, Seahawks fan.
Thanks LL. Great essay a day or two ago.
Snowden has the mentality of a narcissistic 8th-grader.
This is an interesting comment by Bob Dole. He knows more than anyone in politics about the V.A. hospital systeml having been a patient of them for most of his life. As a mental health professional I interacted frequently with V.A. hospitals advocating for patients to get services. Each facility has enormous autonomy and the director is like lord of the manor, deciding policy about admissions and so on. The American people don’t understand this, and perhaps it should be changed, but this is the long tradition of the V.A. system. I’m thinking it probably would take major legislation from Congress to change the structure of the V.A. to make it more accountable. The other thing that people don’t understand is that only veterans who have a service connected disability are entitled to medical services. And it is up to the individual veteran to apply and prove they have a service connected disability.
Are you sure only vets with a disability can use the VA? That’s not what I thought.
That’s not true. I was a patient at the VA long before I was awarded my disability rating.
As far as I know it didn’t use to be. It may have changed for a Veterans going forward. I’ll ask my SIL. She’s a nurse at one. She has an Administrative role but I’m not sure doing what.
AS LONG AS YOU HAVE SERVED IN THE MILITARY…YOU CAN USE THE VA.
I saw the “whistleblower” on CNN last night. His comments were that the VA does a good job treating vets with long term problems like hypertension, diabetes, etc. He says the problems are with those in need of emergency treatment and it was due to the shortage of pcps. He says the problems have just spiraled out of control in the last couple of years; not that there were not problems before but they’ve really gotten bad. He might’ve mentioned vets coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and a change in the law regarding Vietnam vets. He says he really didn’t care about Shinseski getting fired; he just wanted to see the problem fixed.
Hi, no – as to only service connected disability entitled to medical at the VA. Certain era’s of enlistees are entitled to lifetime va medical care. I enlisted in 1975 and a part of our enlistment ‘package’ was lifetime medical care. Although I never utilized my va healthcare until I was hurt and disabled and could no longer get civilian healthcare due to “pre-existing” conditions.
I did still have to apply for my va healthcare- that was in 2008- and though my disability was not service related, I still rcvd a rating.. which of course is lower/ less than someone with service related problems. But thus far- these past 6 yrs, I’ve received all the healthcare needs that I required.
I should modify my comment here. What I have to say pertains to my experience with the Roseburg Oregon VA hospital prior to the Iraq/Afghanistan era. So obviously some things have changed. But I believe it still is true that all veterans do not have access to compete health care needs from the VA. Much of the waiting lists were about persons applying to qualify for services. If all veterans qualified for complete health care then their access to expanded Medicaid in red states would not be the issue that it is. So just being a veteran does not entitle you to total health care. My older brother is a veteran. He qualified for some help with a hearing aide due to his impairment after working on B52 bombers. But he did not qualify for total health care, although he came from the Vietnam era.
I need these in green.
Two very important questions, whose jeans are they, and simply why.
I need a pair in red shades.
Something looks off – his head is too big for his body, and his face looks way older than any one in their 20’s, much less a 17-yr old. He may have an underlying but undetected physical/genetic disorder.
Yeah, he does NOT look 17.
I have no idea how old this man in, but I can tell you that HE IS NOT 17!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Shorter Carney: Shineski ain’t going anywhere.
The jackals are salivating for heads to roll. I think we are up to three jackals asking the same question about members of congress saying Secretary Shinseki should be fired. Jay has responded to all variations in the same way. Pointing back to what President Obama said from the podium last week.
Chuck Todd must be creaming himself every 20 minutes just fantasizing about an announcement of a Shinseki’s resignation…
Jon Karl goes to the ‘does President Obama have confidence in Secretary Shinseki’ well again. Looking for a soundbite. And Jay is now reading what President Obama said last week. Again. His response to the same question has not changed.
Jon Karl is now wringing his hands about which Democrats are calling for Sec Shinseki to resign. Says’s it very troubling. He wants to know why outrage is more notable for those Dems in tough elections.
New Report: The All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy as a Path to Sustainable Economic Growth
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/05/29/new-report-all-above-energy-strategy-path-sustainable-economic-growth
Does anyone know if Sec Shinseki has a hearing problem ? I am almost positive he wears hearing aids……
The reason I ask is…..Ronan Farrow said that Sec Shinseki has turned ” a deaf ear ” to calls for his resignation….maybe he needs to make an appointment….but those wait lines “.
Farrow is a piece of sh_t. !
It’s possible that he does. I recall PBO saying last week that Shinseki himself is a disabled vet – so it’s possible that he lost some of his hearing in combat-related injury.
As for that little twerp Ronan – it’s obvious that he is in danger of getting the axe on MSNBC and he’s valiantly trying to please his bosses. I don’t know of anyone who likes his show.
Even before his show debuted, I was wondering why he was getting a show. He may be smart but being smart does not mean that you should have a tv show. Perhaps his talents could be utilized better elsewhere.
Part of the reasons why he got a show (not sure) may include the fact his mother is Mia Farrow and there’s talk his biological father is Frank Sinatra. At MSNBC, if you’re young and nobody knows anything about your credentials, all you have to have (think Luke Russert) is connections. Only a guess.
He got the show because Phil Griffin liked his tweets. I read it in a story somewhere. Go figure.
While serving in the military, Sec Shinseki stepped on a landmine and blew half his foot off. I think it’s entirely possible that he may have damaged hearing.
Farrow must think he’s awfully cute with this kind of immature snark.
Jay Carney just advised Chuck Todd that this letter will be released today.
The letter has been released. I’m posting it downthread. 🙂
thanks hf.
GB has posted it. See her comment downthread! 🙂
First Lady Michelle Obama is so cool, hip, creative, smart, cute, progressive, talented, kind, funny, sweet, loving, giving – have I left anything out.
Oh, and I just love her!
Thanks NW – great post!
I concur!
Thanks, GGail.
I agree with you Nerdy Wonka and GGail. 100%
Hay I’m willing to make a donation for Snowden to come back to the U.S. But Sec. Kerry said if the patriot wants to come back home to face the music there will be a plane waiting for him..Well Sec. Kerry didn’t call him a patriot. Come on back home Snowden.
Even with all the blocking of his judicial nominees:
Bless President Obama!
Thanks for posting such important information, GB. How are you today? Today for me, I am dealing with lower back pains so severe that I could not go to work. Hope it is not a sign of more serious things to come. Stay well.
Oh, no NCLB. If you can’t get to work you should get that checked out.
I’m doing fine. YOU have to go to the doctor.
NCLB, I’m so sorry you are in pain. I agree with gobrooklyn you should definitely get it checked out. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you feel better soon.
This is so cool! One of the issues I’ve been paying attention to thankfully, not in vain.
judiciary going blue is what’s cool—-obvously. and yes, nclb get thee to a doctor.
Appointment made! Thanks.
This graph explains why the GOP kept blocking the presidential judicial appointments.
Ready to eat? ALWAYS ready to eat!! LOLOL Love FLOTUS!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
What a cool PSA!! And salmon cakes? I NEVER had that for lunch when I was a kid!! LOLOL
isonprize, we used to have salmon croquette patties for dinner – but they were mixed with more mackerel than salmon. They are mmmmm good!
The toddlers at Jay Carney’s Press briefings are in full hyper mode today. They seem not to understand English and will not take Jay’s answer. Like toddlers, they only understand a few words of the English language: Yes or No.
To their repetitive questions, if Jay doesn’t answer with a simple Yes or No to complex questions, they become irritable and hyper. What a pathetic flock.
Good Afternoon, TODVille! Blessings from my chair where I am trying to go through some lower-back pain.
I love this #ListentoReggaeMusic hashtag. 🙂 Better for the soul than the Snowden hashtag!
So true!
Hmmm…..as Jodi Kantor would say….Hmmm….
If I were a Snowden supporter, I’d be real quiet from now on.
However some on the left want to portray Snowden, the facts are pure and simple:
1) this guy went to work at the NSA with a clear goal: espionage
2) if he was troubled by unethical and/or illegal practices, there were many avenues he could have used to voice his concerns
3) he accessed files and documents that were not immediately germane to what he was working on
4) he copied/downloaded them for private use
5) he traveled with stolen and classified documents (in the gazillions) to unfriendly countries, China, then Russia, having lost a bid for Cuba and Chavez’ s Venezuela
In conclusion, this Snowden is a traitor that needs to be brought to justice. The sooner, the better.
President Obama Baits Karl Rove By Saying He Might Have Had a ‘Mild Concussion’
Before the awareness was out there, when I was young and played football briefly, there were a couple of times where I’m sure that that ringing sensation in my head and the need to sit down for a while might have been a mild concussion, and at the time you didn’t think anything of it.
President Obama is the King of Invisible Baiting, especially when he’s got someone’s number and he has Karl Rove’s number. He always comes out looking incredibly innocent, because he bides his time and drops the bait in the middle of something else, almost as if by accident.
He played Senator John McCain and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin so perfectly, you just knew he would be a shrewd diplomat. Lipstick on a pig, anyone?
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/29/president-obama-baits-karl-rove-mild-concussion.html
But shinseki…
Snowden’s email has been released (See GB’s post two comments up). No concerns raised about wrongdoing or any such.
Can a Capable Twitter TOD expert help make this Graph on Judicial POTUS appointment stats appear LIVE and accessible to TOD?
Thank You. Please pay Zero attention that Vox made the Graph possible. After all, a broken clock is Twice right in 24 hours.
http://www.vox.com/2014/5/29/5761680/obama-has-secured-democratic-majorities-on-most-federal-appeals-courts
Never mind……I should have known that TOD was on it already and our G ❤ B had it posted up thread.
I should learn by now to refresh before posting…..especially, after I have been gone for some minutes.
But this and that democrat said this about shinseki and…
Before anyone makes much of HRC on Fox on 6/17, bear in mind her book comes out on 6/10.
Look for hype to go into overdrive in an effort to sell a book practically nobody will read.
The sales figures, just as with Sarah Palin’s masterpieces will be tremendous, reflecting the PACs buying up ginormous quantities so that #1 on N Y Times best-seller list can be splashed across the book in ad copy.
A few months after release the books wind up as favors at campagn events or on the 75% off tables.
Too cynical?
Not cynical enough, from my POV! Ha! I’d say the HRC people should start a “PUMA Book Club,” so they can give her book to each other for their birthdays. Or maybe her birthday. After they buy them from the 75%-off tables, of course.
Jacqui and Vicki,
Corrections: Sarah Palin’s books did leave the 75% tables very soon. They were sold for 99 cts. And I am not kidding. 😈
Ha ha. Couldn’t happen to a creepier person!
Puma book club! hahahaha
No. You are absolutely correct!
If we’re lucky, maybe it will take up the usual August vacuum to fill with more non-stop chatter and hysteria.
We know so much about her life already, I can’t imagine wanting to read another tome but then I’m not a raging PUMA.
Any idea when she’s expected to announce her candidacy?
June 17….on FOX? 😉 😉 *my* idea
LOLz. Who knows?!
Indeed. If truth be told I have such little respect for the Clinton’s campaigning character that it wouldn’t surprise me if she chose this venue to drop a hint.
Yeah, and she’d probably be thinking how brave and radical she was being for it.
🙄 She would too think that.
.
I’m not sure what it is about her, and him, that just does not touch my ‘sincere’ meter.
ESnowden is a certifiable Liar. The more he talks, the more he exposes himself and the More Most in US see the MSM as the corrupt Lame, Lazy and Useless.
Yes nena and hopefruit and as was pointed out on previous threads, Snowden and Greenwald with NBC news are GOP propagandists.
Also as on earlier threads I re-state my belief that MSNBC has become the Democratic broadcasting arm of the GOP. As Opposed to Fox, the Republican broadcasting arm of the GOP and CNN the too dumb to matter broadcast arm of the GOP.
All one now. With same goals.
Am I the only one to notice that fewer and fewer elected Democrats appear on MSNBC these days?
Bernie Sanders (I) is on everyday, but where are the Dems?
Some like Debbie Stabenow come on Ed’s show to give a pitch—uninterrupted long schreech for Hillary.
Where are the supporters of the current POTUS?
Makes me want to buy some of the commemorative stamps and load them onto blank envelopes and mail.
It must be a reaction from the strange behavior of these Christians. I have the same feelings.
Yep. Their hateful act brings out feelings of inclusion, not exclusion, in my book.
But I wouldn’t call them Christians. Christians are taught to “Love one another.” Don’t remember anything like “Love one another, except for LGBT folks who have commemorative stamps with their names on them.”
You are absolutely right. I used the word simply because they go by. But they certainly don’t act as true Christians.
Understood totally!
Not ‘blank’ envelopes, JO’B! Envelopes with meaningful messages on them, like ‘God is love’, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, ‘Whatever you sow, you will reap’ etc. etc. and maybe a scripture verse or two inside.
Nice!
😉
LOLz, sounds like a juvenile temper tantrum. And a very ineffective one at that.
It’s a beautiful sunny day here in clearwater florida! 🙂
Bit but but Shinseki…
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/28/showbiz/movies/robert-de-niro-gay-father/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
(CNN) — Robert De Niro says it was his “responsibility” to make a documentary about his father, artist Robert De Niro Sr., he told Out magazine in an interview.
De Niro’s father was a gay man who divorced De Niro’s mother when the actor was a child. The elder De Niro is the subject of a new documentary, “Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr.,” which premieres on HBO June 9. (HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.)
In a chat with Out, De Niro says that though he and his father weren’t close — he grew up with his mother — the senior De Niro had a profound influence on his actor son. De Niro wants to pay tribute in the documentary, partly for the sake of his own children.
The Newark School Reform Wars
The city has a new mayor with a progressive mandate, but its schools are reeling from the market-based reforms Cory Booker introduced.
Owen Davis
May 28, 2014
Every time Newark shows up on the national radar—from Cory Booker’s celebrity turn to Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to Ras Baraka’s victory in the mayoral race earlier this month—its schools have been in the spotlight. In Mayor-elect Baraka, the school reform project inaugurated under Booker and Governor Chris Christie has met its most formidable opponent yet. But despite Baraka’s win, not to mention a flurry of sit-ins, walk-outs, protests and pickets, the transformation of the school system into a showcase of neoliberal ideas about education is unlikely to stop anytime soon.
That’s troubling news for students in the district schools, such as those at the Hawthorne Avenue School.
Hawthorne could have been a model for urban education. The Newark, New Jersey, K–8 school has raised its test scores in each of the last three years. The hallways that teachers describe as “chaos” four years ago are now quiet, save occasional bursts of laughter. Its performance on last year’s tests, on which it met all state benchmarks, compelled an assistant superintendent to make a personal visit to congratulate the faculty.
So the community was stunned when the district leveled the educational equivalent of a death sentence on the school.
At a public forum last December, the Chris Christie–appointed superintendent Cami Anderson announced that about a quarter of Newark’s schools would be closed, repurposed, consolidated or otherwise transformed. Hawthorne would lose grades 5–8, and two outside operators would assume management of younger grades. Every teacher would have to reapply.
“It won’t be Hawthorne anymore,” says Grace Sergio, a Hawthorne parent association leader whose eighth-grade son plays basketball and often stays at school till well after six. “This is a village.”
http://www.thenation.com/article/180044/newark-school-reform-wars#
So where are they Eddie?
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/in-search-of-the-proto-memex/371385/
The Internet “Inventor” in 1895?
Nerdy’s new post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/05/29/healthy-kids-and-safe-sports-concussion-summit/