Free Republic

Five firefighters and four emergency dispatchers will face discipline over the poor handling and lack of response to an incident in which firefighters did not come to the aid of a man who collapsed across the street from a D.C. fire station, according to a report released Friday. The 13-page internal report issued by Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Paul A. Quander Jr. lays the blame on both the trained medical personnel inside the fire station who refused to come to the aid of a man who was suffering from a heart attack as well as on emergency...

Feeling chipper about the economy? Think the future looks so bright, you gotta wear shades? Chances are, you’re either stuck in a 1980s time warp or … you live in Washington, DC. Gallup published its polling on economic confidence by state, and the only “state” to have a positive rating is the one where all the cash is going. Instapundit refers to this as a “Hunger Games update,” and it’s difficult to dispute that characterization: Although scores on Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index improved in most U.S. states in 2013, the index remained negative in all 50. Only the District of...

Gallup’s latest economic findings are seemingly straight out of the dystopian novel “The Hunger Games.” That is to say, every state in the nation boasted a negative economic index score; only the District of Columbia -- the capital city -- is seemingly prospering. Surprise: The pollsters posit some interesting takeaways for us to consider: (1) the disparity between the most economically confident state (Massachusetts) and the least economically confident state (West Virginia) is 43 percentage points. (This excludes the District of Columbia, of course, which is not a state).That’s an enormous gap, and one that doesn’t appear to be shrinking,...

Harry Reid and his Democrat Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) are launching all out send me some money pleas to combat those old meanies, the Koch Brothers who “have already severely outspent the Democrats” in six battleground states that hold the key to a Senate takeover in November. Saying the consequences could be “ABSOLUTELY DIRE,” Reid and Senate Dems are warning that recent polls favor a Republican control shift because the math already is baked in. “That’s why it’s absolutely critical that 10,000 folks step up in the next 96 hours to respond. . .if we can’t fill the gap in...

77-year-old collapsed across street from DC firehouse (Newser) – Marie Mills' father collapsed Saturday afternoon in a shopping center parking lot across the street from a Washington, DC, firehouse—but firefighters didn't rush to his aid, despite repeated pleas for help, and Medric "Cecil" Mills, 77, died of a heart attack. Marie Mills tells WTTG that bystanders were "screaming and hollering" at a firefighter across the street, and three people even ran over to Engine 26, but they were told rescuers could not respond until 911 was called, the Washington Post reports. Sources say that when 911 was called, an...

Vice President Joe Biden told NBC's Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday that he believed that he would make a good president. "In my heart, I'm confident that I could make a good president," Biden said. "It's a very different decision to decide whether or not to run for president." Biden indicated that he had not made a decision to run for president or not but would focus on his job as President Obama's vice president.

High levels of natural gas are escaping from the aging pipes beneath the streets of the nation’s capital, creating potentially harmful concentrations in some locations, a new study has found. Natural gas leaks pose explosion risks, health concerns, and contribute to climate change. The paper, which appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, also provides information that could help companies justify additional financial incentives for fixing leaks quickly. Robert Jackson and colleagues note that natural gas leakage is a serious problem on multiple levels, including impacts on the economy and climate. Property damage is estimated at $133 million...

Nellie Gray, a steadfast opponent of abortion who for almost 40 years led a yearly protest march in Washington that drew tens of thousands of supporters, and whose battle cry was “No exception! No compromise!,” was found dead on Monday at her home in Washington. She was 88.

Washington, they say, is Hollywood for ugly people. It’s also debate club for the logically impaired. The past year included its share of fallacies, sophistries, oversimplifications and utter absurdities. But a few prominent arguments committed the worst offenses against rational thought. Below are the three worst arguments made in Washington in 2013. These weren’t illogical brain freezes or odd beliefs spouted by backbenchers. These arguments were deliberately devised, promulgated and repeated by prominent politicians, which makes them all the more embarrassing. 1. “If we can save only one life…” The demagoguery started early in 2013, as Democrats tried to push...

Here in Washington DC a national prayer service was originally scheduled for the National Cathedral (which is still closed due to the earthquake damage – see photo, right). It is now slated for the Kennedy Center. Yet, the “national” quality of the service is disputed by some, including Washington Examiner columnist Ken Klukowski who writes the following commentary. His remarks are bold, black italic text. My remarks are normal text red. The article here is excerpted the full text can be read here: Washington Examiner The National Cathedral is an Episcopal church, which is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion...

St. Cecilia I went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception here in Washington DC  last week to celebrate Mass the TV Mass. Afterward I went to the crypt church and took a series of pictures of the beautiful mosaics of the women of the Scriptures and early Church. Among them are Agatha, Agnes, Anastasia, Anne, Brigid, Catherine, Cecilia, Lucy, Margarita, Perpetua, Felicity, and Susanna.At the right is a mosaic of St. CeciliaThe Mosaics date to 1927 and were designed and installed by Ravenna Mosaic Co, of St. Louis. They are  the backdrops for the...

ABC This Week viewers were treated to a classic conservative versus liberal debate Sunday. When former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich tried to blame the increase in poverty in the past five years on Republicans, former Speaker of the House and current CNN host Newt Gingrich called it "baloney" firing back, "Every major city which is a center of poverty is run by Democrats" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary): Gingrich Schools Reich: 'Every Major City Which Is a Poverty Center Is Run By Democrats' JONATHAN KARL, SUBSTITUTE HOST: And let me ask you, Mr....

Amid a number of scandals that have made national headlines, the elected officials running Washington D.C.’s perpetually corrupt local government have come up with another winner—a bill to allow non U.S. citizens vote in elections. It’s simply business as usual for local government in the District of Columbia, still renowned for the appearance of Mayor Marion Barry in an FBI surveillance video smoking crack. Since being convicted—and serving time—for cocaine possession Barry has been elected to the D.C. Council multiple times and has been embroiled in a number of scandals, including taking cash payments from city contractors, failing to pay...

Federal law enforcement authorities have charged nearly 50 past or present Russian diplomats and their spouses in a $1.5 million Medicaid fraud scheme, an unusual twist in what has become a familiar criminal story line in New York. An F.B.I. investigation revealed “the systemic fraudulent submission of falsified applications for Medicaid benefits” by the diplomats and their spouses, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday in United States District Court in Manhattan. The diplomats and their spouses obtained the benefits for pregnancies, births and first-year-of-life medical needs, generally applying at the same New York hospital, which was not identified,...

DCRTV hears that Laurel's WILC, 900 AM, will be flipping to conservative English language talk on January 1st. Taking many of the shows now heard on Northern Virginia's WTNT, 730 AM/102.9 FM, which flips to Spanish contemporary on December 1st. More soon.....

The 1,800 or so criminals who have killed, robbed or assaulted innocent people with guns in the District of Columbia so far this year were hauled into the police station to be fingerprinted, photographed and to undergo a criminal-background check. Now, legal gun owners who have committed no crime are getting the exact same treatment. That is neither constitutional, nor fair. The latest gun-control scheme that starts on Jan. 1 will force every legal firearm owner in the nation’s capital to go in person to police headquarters to renew their registration certificates. The Metropolitan Police Department filed proposed rules last...

Regular readers know I complain about the army of overpaid bureaucrats in Washington, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The larger problem is that Washington also is filled with hundreds of thousands of other people who get rich thanks to big government. And these politicians, lobbyists, crony capitalists, interest groups, contractors, and influence peddlers almost surely are a bigger net drain on the economy’s productive sector. When you combine the official bureaucracy with these other over-compensated beneficiaries of big government, it’s easy to understand why Washington, DC, is now the richest region of America, with 10 of the...

Martha Rigsby collapsed to the ground for the first time in 1977. The spells continued, and she began calling 911 for help. She hasn’t stopped. In the past year alone, she’s accounted for 226 calls to 911 and been whisked by an ambulance to a hospital 117 times. Among firefighters in the District, she’s a dreaded legend. They can recite her date of birth and Social Security number from memory. Over 30 years, Rigsby has become the most frequent 911 user in D.C. history, totaling thousands of emergency calls and trips to the hospital after falling down, court papers say....

Members of the Allied Forces Foundation Pipe and Drum Corps play bagpipes in Union Station in Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com/James Beattie) (CNSNews.com) - An organization that serves British and American soldiers and its families was told by Union Station security in Washington, D.C., Saturday that it could not play its bagpipes, because it did not have a permit. The Allied Forces Foundation (AFF), which helps wounded soldiers and their families in the United Kingdom as well as the United States, had a luncheon at Pizzeria Uno’s on Saturday for their families and supporters in the buildup to the Marine Corps...

The pots and pans are clanging for the ouster of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as the Obamacare website rollout takes on the aspect of that of the Edsel. Yet, though it is a website that has America laughing, Obama's legacy legislation itself could, in its entirety, be in peril. As ex-pilot George W. Bush used to say, this thing looks like a five-spiral crash. Republicans are clamoring for Sebelius's firing. Herewith, a dissent. Why not leave her right where she is? After all, Sebelius's continuance testifies more eloquently than any attack ad just how far Obama's beliefs...