brinson demery on her biography of madame nhu the former first lady in south vietnam. steam welcome everyone. it's good to see you here this morning is my pleasure to welcome today monique brinson demery the author of the amazing book finding the dragon lady the mystery of vietnam's madame nhu. demering holds a master's degree from harvard university and east asian regional studies and which you may contact with madame nhu who was the unofficial first lady of the south vietnamese government in 2005. you were the first journalist to interview her in almost 20 years. demery is based in chicago and we were happy to welcome you. >> thank you for having me and thank you for coming today. >> is such an interesting book. i'm curious how you first came to be interested in writing a book about two what a lot of people might be an unlikely an unknown subject someone who is known to scholars in the history of vietnam war but probably not well-known to other people. how did you become interested in madame nhu? >> is started by omission so my mother's friends and my dad is american so vietnam wa

known to so many other people. how did you become interested in madam nu? >> it started first by omission. my mother is french and my dad is american, so it was hard to talk about in our family. it wasn't clear to me what happened there, and every time i tried to ask the adults around me, it was really too controversial to talk about. so there was this nagging question, okay, what happened in vietnam? every time i looked at the books, there were the gory pictures you've seen of vietnam or sort of the napalm apocalypse now pictures. and then i turn the page and there is this beautiful, stylish, sort of cosmopolitan woman and they're calling her the dragon lady. what is not to be interested in? so i started digging around, and i actually just, out of curiosity, wanted to read a book about this woman because her life sounded interesting to me. putting the pieces together, i would have known she grew up during the french colonial period, and i thought, someone has written maybe a great historical book about this woman, but there was nothing. there were these articles from the '60s th

very aristocratic family. we need to step back and say exactly who madam nhu was. he brother-in-law, the brother of her husband became president of south vietnam in 1956 or '55. >> '54 he becomes premier. >> so madam nhu was the de facto first lady, because the president of south vietnam and there's a few titles before that, but for simplicity we'll calm him the president. he was a bachelor. that makes him sound like he was going to vegas on the weekends, but he was really very moral, he slept on a hardwooden cots. he signpersonally signed entry visas. there's this kind of very catholic austere man who needs a first lady, someone to host the parties and go to the orphanages, host the flower shows. so madam nhu, his younger brother's wife becomes this woman and she's perfect for it. she looks great for the cameras, likes to be out there, and this sort of gives her a voice. all of her life i think she had been looking for this purpose. she was the second child. she had been overlooked as a child. i believe she always had a bit of a chip on her shoulder, so for her to be handed there,

. [laughter] >> madam foreperson please read your verdict. >> yes we the members of the jury find the defendant not guilty. [applause] >> oh no you did. you are totally undefeated. you are the floyd mayweather of freedom fest. [applause] all right, mr. d'souza you and your friends have been found not guilty and therefore you are free to go and enjoy a night in the city of las vegas, the most lascivious and succulent entertainment city in the world known as sid city where you are free from the taliban were you may enjoy life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and its many forms. congratulations. case closed. president obama's second inauguration. up next he talks about his memoir of growing up in miami. from bookexpo america in new york city, this is 15 minutes. >> host: richard blanco what is los cocuyos? >> guest: it's a firefight. technically it's a beetle but it's a kind of a firefly that's very, it's very mythical in cuba as well as in south florida where i grew up and there is sort of a folktale or a folklore that the women used to pen the click beetles on their dresses and the

midday and lasted nearly an hour and a half. objection. mr. rogers: madam speaker, i yield myself six months. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for six minutes. mr. rogers: i rise today to present h.r. 5230, which provides immediate short-term funding to address the southwest border crisis. in total this bill provides $659 million to meet urgent border security and humanitarian needs for this fiscal year ending on september 30. thousands of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied children, have flooded our borders and overwhelmed our current facilities and personnel this includes a staggering number of children arriving with no family, who are being smuggled across our borders by criminal organizations. subject to abuse and violence. we need to put safeguards in place to prevent them from taking this dangerous squour nee , as well as provide the resources needed to take care of them and process them appropriately. the president must take the lead on this. by mitigating the crisis. turning back the tide of illegal immigrants, and fully enforcing our laws. this pr

i'd like to yield now the floor, madam president, to the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: first, i would like to ask for unanimous consent to speak for up to four minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: i want to thank my distinguished colleague from oregon for his courtesy in allowing me to do so. i agree with everything my colleague from florida, senator rubio, has said about this issue, and i appreciate his leadership alongside with us. he has been following venezuela intimately. so many people in the state of florida have exiled there, and so he personally understands and has been a tremendous champion. let me just say, since february of this year, hundreds of thousands of venezuelan citizens have protested the lack of security from rampant crime and violence, an inflation that is highest in the world, a scarcity of food and bawsk consumer goods, but instead of listening to legitimate concerns of people, the government of venezuela has responded with a deplorabl

comment on item 4 seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk item number 5 >> item 5 allocate $5 million plus in prop k funds with conditions for 6 requests subject to the trichoid schedules with the prop plan this is an action item. >> colleagues any discussion seeing none, is through any public comment on item 5 seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk please call the roll >> supervisor avalos absent. supervisor breed. supervisor campos. supervisor chiu. supervisor cohen. supervisor farrell. supervisor jane kim. supervisor mar. supervisor tang. supervisor wiener. supervisor yee. that item passes. item 6 >> item 6 appoint ramona smith to the advisory committee. >> seeing no names on the roster we'll go to public comment any public comment on that item on item 6. if there's a medical cannabis please come forward >> sometimes in the western they ponder the chinese map i mean, of course, about 7 times 7 is 49 actually, it's the 15 body 349 usage application and wonders in the charge 7 charge and 7 enforcement yeah. >> they make a mighty professional. >> is there any fu

unable to be here our clerk is erica chang >> thank you to jessie larson and jennifer lowe. madam clerk call roll >> supervisor avalos absent. supervisor breed. supervisor campos. absent. supervisor chiu. supervisor cohen. supervisor farrell. supervisor kim. supervisor mar absent. supervisor tang. supervisor wiener. supervisor yee. we have quorum. thank you. item number 2 >> item 2 approval of the meeting of the june 24th. >> can you have is a motion to approve the june 24th meeting minutes and can we same house, same call? - you want to we'll take a roll call. >> on item - public comment. >> public comment on the minutes seeing none, public comment is closed. if you have public comment please come forward you don't need to raise your hand >> man has only the sole purpose even if existence no matter what isthe position in life all pertains to the wholly mission. everywhere in time and in status thank you. >> okay is there any additional public comment on item two the minutes seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk call roll >> supervisor avalos absent. supervisor breed. super

raufrtd madam clerk call the roll. >> not to disclose the content. >> supervisor avalos absent. supervisor breed. supervisor campos. supervisor chiu. supervisor cohen. supervisor farrell. supervisor kim. supervisor mar. supervisor tang. supervisor wiener. supervisor yee. that item passes. >> okay. that motion is approved. item number 9 >> introduction of new items. >> actually before we get there do we need public comment on item 8. >> okay with that, should we resend that vote and do public comment? okay. there's no public currently in the board chambers is there any public comment on that item on item 8 okay. seeing none we'll close. and do we need to resend that vote and revote we don't need to? okay item 9 a introductions of new items this is an informational item >> colleagues are there any introductions of new items. seeing none, is there any public comment on item 9 seen none, public comment is closed. . madam clerk item 10 >> general public comment. is there any general public comment seeing none, public comment is closed madam clerk number 11 adjournment >> we're adjou

two the minutes seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk call roll >> supervisor avalos absent. supervisor breed. supervisor campos absent. supervisor chiu. supervisor cohen. supervisor farrell. supervisor kim. supervisor mar absent. supervisor tang. supervisor wiener. supervisor yee. that item passes >> thank you item number 3. >> item 3 the chairs report an informational item. >> i'll be providing this report on behalf of the supervisor avalos. fall first of all, thank you to the board of supervisors for unanimously voting to place the $500 million for transportation on the ballot it is tremendously important to invest in the transportation for all modes of transportation across the city is will learning four or five times the value for recreational fined for example, the metropolitan transportation committee will consider exploring the new local transportation revenues that includes the transportation one day the restoration of the vehicle license fee we hope will go into the ballot in 2016 those recreational and state partnerships will help with the investment that i

additional public comment on item 3 seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk item 4 >> item 4 the executive director's report on informational item. >> thank you, ms. chang. >> thank you for your attention to this month we'll have great pro tem developments on the federal side last between us the house of representatives is k3e789d to vote on this this week the president will be willing to support a short time to transform the fund and some folks in the senate are hoping to keep pressure on the congress and the president to reach a long term bill this is incomes for the infrastructure to avoid a shut down of the multi transit that are funded by $11 billion of highway projects we're pleased of this development and hope to see it before the end of the month so the projects can avoid demobilizing our infrastructure this is the president obama initiative to encourage the project delivery much appreciated as far as the federal government's roll to support the private-public partnership through the 0 program we benefit in san francisco suck as you the loan on the ideally project and the

the brothers have not going to but finally they said okay, madame nhu, you've got to get out of vietnam. shut up and basically. so what is she go? she comes right to the united states and goes on it this press relations to. she doesn't understand, she was invited to speak at harvard and columbia and georgetown, and she's also invited by "meet the press" and all of these press organizations. she doesn't understand why she feels like the government hasn't rolled out the red carpet for her. was and she invited? she doesn't get this separation between the press and the government. because in her country of course like the government, the press can only see what the government wants them to see. for her it was really totally befuddling to the end of her days. they said to go home. why didn't they want me to? she goes, ghost in your comment goes to washington, d.c., comes to chicago. she stays in the blackstone hotel, and what my favorite poems of the trip is she goes to dallas and there's a ranch there and she gets invited to go shooting. so her daughter dresses up in like western ge

, we can take that motion without objection. [gavel] >> madam clerk, can you call item number 10? >> item number 10, resolution approving an amendment to the contract between the department of public health and health right 360 to provide outpatient and residential mental health and substance abuse treatment services to the residents of san francisco, increasing the total contract amount of $42,477,760 by $26,974,027 for a total contract amount of $69,451,787 for a five and one-half year term of july 1, 2010, through december 31, 2015. >> okay, thank you. welcome back. >> health right 360 is one of our larger contracts. they merged initially [speaker not understood] haight/ashbury free clinic, then haight/ashbury free clinic changedv their name to health right 360. so, this contract was a little bit confusing because it traveled through two different combined contracts. but our director of both the adult and children's program are here if you have any questions on the program they provide. we have reviewed the budget analyst report and we do concur. >> okay, thank you very much.

singh. commissioner rosales. madam chair the vote is 3 i's >> excellent. thank you. >> thank you. next item, please. >> the next order of business item 6 public comment on non-agenda items. madam chair >> any speaker cards. >> a no one. any members of the public that wish to address the commission on matters of public comment >> i'm sorry yes. i noticeed that the slink age of the members. >> we went on a diet. >> did the mayor wish to appoint anymore. also i notice on the looking on the forward calendar nothing mentioned about the very important senate bill 1404 that relates to the issues you've talked about housing. this is quite interesting and quite how can i put it in a way that we the community have to lobby not in this hall but in the state capitol with governor jerry brown because it looks like he'll be around if for the fourth time in a row but audio effectively this 1404 obviously is going to be in the business of mayor ed lee and what he's doing now but the bottom line i think there should be a special hearing on this in the community for which this impacts the communities. o

action resolution 682014. madam director. >> thank you madam secretary, commissioners and welcome to the members of the publing. thank you so much for joibing us. as you know, your former colleague, commissioner theodore ellington served as one of the founding members of the commission and he served since inception in december of 2012 through july 3, 2014, when he tendered his resignation to the mayor's office. during that time mr. ellington participated in a number of actions that are related to the mission bay south participation agreement implementation actions under that agreement, that is the approval of various for turned mission bay south own r par tisation agreement, your purchasing policy, which you have a clean and amended copy now actually on hand, does prohibit any agency employee, including former commissioners from working on matters in which the commissioner or employee had a direct and substantial interest, and in which that former employee or commissioner participated personally and substantially. and as a result of that, mr. ellington, who has now resigned from t

passes, madame clerk is there anything else on the agenda? >> no, that concludes our business >> meeting adjourned. good aft today is tuesday, july 1, 2014, this is the san francisco community investment & infrastructure commission i'd like to call this meeting to order at one 15. please call roll >> thank you, madam chair the first order. commissioner members please record >> commissioner ellington. commissioner mondejar. commissioner singh. commissioner rosales. chairperson johnson. all members of the commission are present. the next order of business is announcements a the next meeting will be held on tuesday july 15th at 1 o'clock at city hall room 416 and announcement of the prohibition of the please be advised the ringing of and use of cell phones, pagers and similar sound-producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. please be advised that the chair may order the removal from the meeting room responsible for the ringing or use of a cell phone, pager, or other similar sound-producing electronic devices. c nauchlt of the time allocate of the public members

comment is closed. . madam clerk item 10 >> general public comment. is there any general public comment seeing none, public comment is closed madam clerk number 11 adjournment >> we're adjourned thank you very >> good morning, everyone. welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors budget and finance subcommittee meeting for wednesday, july 23rd, 2014. my name is mark farrell. i will be chairing this committee. i am joined by supervisor eric mar. want to thank the clerk of the committee ms. linda wong as well the members of sfgtv covering this meeting jonathan gomwalk and jennifer low. madam clerk, do we have any announcements? >> yes,. [speaker not understood] be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today will appear on the july 29th board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> okay, thank you, madam clerk. can you call item number 1? >> item number 1 is a resolution approving a contract with brookville equipment corporation for the rehabilitation of 16 president's conference committee historic streetcars and related too

. >> we can take that without objection. [gavel] >> madam clerk, can you call item number 8? >> item number 8, resolution approving an amendment to the agreement between the department of public health and edgewood center for children and families to provide mental health serve is he for children, youth, and families, increasing the total not to exceed contract amount from $29,109,089 by $8,974,194 for a total contract amount of $38,083,283 for a five and one-half year term of july 1, 2010, through december 31, 2015. >> good morning. [speaker not understood], department of public health finance. we have reviewed the budget analyst report and we do concur. we have the director of -- the two directors for our mental health program, the children's director, max roka here if you have questions about the contract. it's for children's services at edgewood center. >> thanks. colleagues or supervisor mar, any questions here? >> we're on item number 9? >> 8 right now. >> excuse me. >> why don't we did to our budget analyst report, then, for item 8, please. >> yes, mr. chairman, supervisor mar

commissioner singh. >> commissioner mondejar. commissioner singh. commissioner rosales. madam chair the vote is 3 i's >> next item and the next order of business is 5 b authorizing an amendment amended and stated architecture with the l t unlimited partnership consisting of the, llc a california liberate company and the chinatown development center a california nonprofit corporation for a totally agree gait of $69 million plus for a development of no income artificial building on mission bay block 7 west pursuant to the quality control act and resolution number 63, 2014. >> thank you madam secretary and thank you to the members of the public for continuing to join us. commissioners we recently approved a schematic design for this particular development a few months ago i'm glad to report to uscf have paid their fees that's a recent development in our housing manage jeff white can provide you with the details it's fitting we're here to bring the final gap financing for this incredible project and the two developers are cdc related partnerships we're glad to bring this back and so with that, jeff

singh. commissioner rosales. madam chair the vote is 3 i's. >> the matter has passed next. >> the next order of business is 5 c continually authorized the executive director to consent to the lease on, llc to california limited liability company and the historical society a california nonprofit corporation consistent with an agreement for property at the 680 mission street former yerba buena project area d one discretion and action. madam director >> thank you madam secretary commissioners that came up in may before you and this consent to lease for the change for the california historical society. and at that time the commission had a number of questions related to the previous agreement that go back well over a decade that was recommended to the original developer for the paramount remain and commercial property and in light of the squeeze on nonprofit space citywide certainly, if anything else can be done that is shard between h c s f and ocii we've worked diligently with city partners to come up with a creative solution that we believe addresses our concerns. with that, i'd li

meeting and nothing out there >> madam chair there's no dust. >> i meant ground. >> i know what you meant. >> dirt you can what i mean very water down dust. >> (laughter). >> i wanted to keep the number 7 item moving by it's great to see the buildings coming up. i want to say a few things about the design and go to the d b.a. on the design itself i love purple but a real question as it relates to the color scheme what's our strategy for a color scheme for the entire hilltop in the hillside area i say that because i notice we're getting a lot of public input for the base north and south people wanted to see the variations in the mapping and in the color and not having just gray blocks of concrete and one of the ways the architects probability ms. hendricks another architect got around that by adding correspond to the typography to address their concerns but i notice the color schemes they kind of work in the same areas it wasn't a big deal but purple chairs and purple concrete and purple table i love it but i want to make sure that the building next to it isn't orange then it would b

take that without objection.. thank you. madam clerk call items 3, 4, 5 together >> item 3 is a resolution declaring the intention of the board of supervisors to order the ma copy for the plazas project. item 4 is an ordinance vacating the plaza project and item 5 is an ordinance submitting the ma could be i think plaza >> thank you supervisor kim is the author of those items actually i'd like to add my name as a koran exciting project. >> thank you, supervisor wiener this is the boundary line of the district 6 and 8 and so just to give you a history behind the ma copy i think hub i introduced the first series to kickoff the creation of the small business comments that the city mad as part of the market street plan to the ma copy i think neighborhood we've opened the dog and skate park under the freeway and now finally moving forward with the public improvement in the package making the sellingy project the creation of a plaza known as at ma copy even hub as the city staff says it's been a long process starting with the tireless advocate when the freeway was torn down and rebuil