Please welcome ben mezrich. Hello everybody, thank you for coming out on a friday night. Its getting getting a little chilly but its still nice out and i appreciate everyone coming on a friday night. I will get to once upon a time in russia in just a few minutes but i know whenever i go see a band i always hate it when they never play the hits. I want to do a little bit of the hits first and how i got to the story. I never set out to be a nonfiction writer or a journalist. As a kid i always hated nonfiction and i didnt read much of it. I was obsessed with television and bad tv like say by the bell m3s company and all of that crap. My parents, fearing the worst, made a rule at home that we had to read two books a week before we were allowed to watch tv. So at a very young age i became a speed reader so i could watch tv. I watched everything. By the time i graduated from college i knew i wanted to be a writer. I wrote and i wrote and i wrote nine novels in a year. I dont recommend that f
Others. But you are doing a great job sitting here tonight. On that note, thank you for taking the time to come out tonight. [applause] would you be willing to stay and sign some books . We would be happy to sign. Thank you very much. Ben has written the most exciting stories of our times. From the founding of facebook to grow and mit card counting his books have taken the reader to different heights of wealth and power once upon a time in russia time in russia this is most extraordinary story yet the fall of the soviet Union Created immense financial opportunity in russia and the billionaire oligarchs that seized the opportunity changed the history. With corruption, cash cases in the car and car bombs, once upon a time in russia reads like a fastpaced fictional thriller but it is all the more impressive and important because its true. Ben mezrich is the number one best times selling author of 16 books including bringing down the house which was turned into the movie 21 in the accident
Starting at eight eastern on cspan. Cspan2, providing live coverage of the u. S. Senate floor proceedings and key Public Policy events. And every weekend, booktv. Now for 15 years the only Television Network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2, created by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Iraq war veteran Travis Fugate says he may have gone p blind because his v. A. Center doctor didnt have the right information. Mr. Fugate says the v. A. s failure to fix issues was depressing. Veterans Affairs Department officials also testified at this hearing with members questioning why it was taking so long for the departments records to mirror the defense departments. This is just over two hours. [inaudible conversations] good morning. This hearing will come to order. I want to welcome everybody to todays hearing titled assessing inadequacies in v. A. Dat
This system . I mean, i see a number of things, obviously Electronic Medical records didnt happen and ill have a follow up question for mr. Mini and other items in that vein. Did the va ever contact you after this or after your testimony and say, hey, this is where we failed . This is the doctor. This is where the system failed for you . No. No one no one ever from that i can recall explained to me where the failure occurred or held themselves accountable or provided an apology. Ive stuck with the va, and ive had great medical care and met and became friends with a lot of medical professionals within the va, but the system clearly, clearly failed in my case. And no one ever has explained to me what happened. Do you still travel 2 1 2 hours to the Va Care Center for your current va care or you found one closer that they would let you or did you move . Can you describe that more . I come from a rural district. Plenty of veterans have to drive 100, 200, 300 miles one way for care often th
Parenthesis, on my first try. I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius, dot, dot, dot, and a very stable genius at that. Boris sanchez is in nashville where the president is set to speak. Boris sanchez are we expecting this controversy to come up at all in his address and or is it all about look at me and taxes and what were about to accomplish in this country. Reporter brooke, when it comes to President Trump in front of friendly crowds you can expect the unexpected. You know when hes around his supporters in an atmosphere like this one he is prone to relish the moment and to go offthecuff and to attack his political opponents, whether it be democrat decs, and other republicans and potentially his former white house chief strategist steve bannon or the auth are on of fire and fury hes here to deliver a message to the American Farm bureau which is the first time that a sitting president will address this group in more than 25 years and that really underscores his messaging t