memeorandum: Privatizing VA still appeals to Boehner (Jessica Wehrman/The Columbus Dispatch)

6:45 PM ET, May 24, 2014

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Beth Farnsworth / KEYT-TV:

Sheriff Confirms Seven Dead in Isla Vista Shootings — “Mass Murder Situation” — ISLA VISTA, Calif. - — Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown revealed new details about Friday night's drive by shootings in Isla Vista during a Saturday morning news conference, including a new death toll …

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Daily Mail:

‘I will slaughter every single blonde s**t I see’: Seven people killed as son of Hunger Games assistant director carries out drive-by shooting ‘because women rebuffed his advances and he was a virgin at 22’ — Rodger also died of gunshot wound to the head; authorities have not confirmed if it was self-inflicted

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CNN:

7 dead in California shooting rampage called ‘premeditated mass murder’ — (CNN) — A gunman described as mentally disturbed and possibly bent on retribution sprayed bullets from a slow-moving car in a small Southern California college town, killing six people in a rampage called …

Discussion: Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, ABC News and The Moderate Voice

Sam Foote / New York Times:

Why I Blew the Whistle on the V.A. — PHOENIX — MY decision to become a whistle-blower after 24 years as a physician in a Veterans Affairs hospital was, at first, an easy one. I knew about patients who were dying while waiting for appointments on the V.A.'s secret schedules, and I couldn't stay silent.

Discussion: Liberaland

Jessica Wehrman / The Columbus Dispatch:

Privatizing VA still appeals to Boehner — WASHINGTON — More than two decades ago, House Speaker John Boehner said, he floated an idea that was controversial: Why not privatize the Department of Veterans Affairs? — The idea was soundly rejected by veterans' organizations.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Veterans aren't the only ones waiting for health care — TWEET SHARE LINKEDIN EMAIL PRINT — In 2005, Phillip Longman, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, published an article entitled “Best Care Anywhere” in the Washington Monthly. The article, which later became a book …

Discussion: msnbc.com and Booman Tribune

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Is Piketty All Wrong? — Great buzz in the blogosphere over Chris Giles's attack on Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. Giles finds a few clear errors, although they don't seem to matter much; more important, he questions some of the assumptions and imputations Piketty uses to deal …

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Financial Times:
Central bank blog

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Chris Giles / Financial Times:
Piketty findings undercut by errors

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Elias Isquith / Salon:

Greenwald's haters, exposed: The real reason Michael Kinsley hates him — In his New York Times attack, the former “Crossfire” star reveals some of the elite media's deepest insecurities — People tell me — they insist, in fact — that there was a time, long ago, when Michael Kinsley wrote …

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George F. Will / Washington Post:

The 2016 presidential candidate we need — All modern presidents of both parties have been too much with us. Talking incessantly, they have put politics unhealthily at the center of America's consciousness. Promising promiscuously, they have exaggerated government's proper scope and actual competence …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Washington Monthly

Larry Rohter / New York Times:

Eduardo Galeano Disavows His Book ‘The Open Veins’ — For more than 40 years, Eduardo Galeano's “The Open Veins of Latin America” has been the canonical anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist and anti-American text in that region. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's populist president …

Associated Press:

New president Robert Gates: I would have allowed gay men in Boy Scouts — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks during a news conference in New York.AP — DALLAS - Robert Gates, the new president of the Boy Scouts of America, said Friday that he would have moved last year …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay and Scouting Newsroom

Dave Philipps / Gazette:

Accusations cloud Sheriff Terry Maketa's future: Commanders' complaint alleges affairs, budget improprieties — Updated: — El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa is embroiled in accusations of sex with subordinates, abusive treatment of employees and dismantling oversight of the office budget …

Discussion: Daily Surge, American Spectator and Twitchy