The word “FREEDOM” is among the list of banned vanity license plate slogans for Washington D.C., according a government file obtained by a Freedom of Information Request filed by the transparency website GovernmentAttic.org. -Charlie Spiering Go To Site

Public schools in Washington D.C. spend more per pupil than all but one U.S. state (New York), yet only about 56 percent of children graduate from high school. In our nation’s capital, a city flanked by six suburban counties that rank among America’s 10 richest, only 15 percent of eighth-graders read at grade level. -Arthur C. Brooks Go To Site

In the Town That Thinks It’s More Sophisticated Than The Rest Of America, Washington D.C., the natives are reverting to something a trifle more primitive than the rest of America: they’re throwing rocks. At buses. With people on the buses. The way that Washington police are dealing with the violence against Metrobuses in Southeast Washington? They have put out fliers warning people not to throw rocks because it’s a crime. - William Bigelow Go To Site

Democrat, Liberal, Crime, Violence, Government, Incompetence, Degeneracy, Law, Theft

Authorities in Washington, DC, have provided a list of tips for residents as carjackings rise in the city, urging people to “drive in the center lane to make it harder for potential carjackers to approach the car” and to “GIVE UP YOUR CAR” without argument in the event of a criminal issuing a threat with a weapon...

  One of those tips encourages a victim to “GIVE UP YOUR CAR!” and “Don’t argue” in the event of a carjacker issuing a threat with a weapon. Police are also urging people to refrain from rolling their windows completely down “no matter how short the distance” of the destination and no matter “how safe the neighborhood is.”...

  Additionally, authorities say people should think ahead and “leave enough room to maneuver around other cars, especially if you sense trouble and need to get away” when coming to a stop.

Liberal, Crime, Election, Violence, Character, Metaphor, Murder

A still-incarcerated convicted murderer made history in the nation’s capital when voters recently elected him to one of the District of Columbia’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, which advise the local government on neighborhood issues such as police protection, parking, zoning, liquor licenses, and trash collection.

  Joel Caston, 44, has been imprisoned for 26 years after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the Aug. 14, 1994, ambush slaying of Rafiq Washington, 18.

Liberal, Violence, Government, Incompetence

A deadly gang war is in progress in one of the most gentrified neighborhoods in the nation’s capital, and police say it will likely pursue through the summer.

  Many of the shootings in Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C., this year were related to drugs, which are typically run by various gangs in Columbia Heights, according to Capt. Ralph McLean of the 3rd District Police Department. He confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation that there is an ongoing gang-based drug war in the D.C. neighborhood...

  “We’ve been lucky so far that only one innocent bystander was hit,” McLean told TheDCNF.

  According to McLean, four gangs operate in Columbia Heights: the Columbia Heights Village Crew, the Mount Pleasant Gang, G-Rod and F-Mob.

Liberal, Crime, Government, Character, Degeneracy, Financial, Waste

They say crime doesn't pay, but that might not be entirely true in the District of Columbia as lawmakers look for ways to discourage people from becoming repeat offenders. The D.C. Council unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that includes a proposal to pay residents a stipend not to commit crimes.... The bill doesn't specify the value of the stipends, but participants in the California program receive up to $9,000 per year.

District of Corruption: Federal prosecutors took down two members of the D.C. Council, and obtained guilty pleas from a half-dozen political players, including top aides to Mayor Vincent Gray's campaign. D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown pleaded guilty to lying on bank loan to buy a luxury boat, while Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. ripped off taxpayer money meant for children's athletics. -Scott McCabe Go To Site

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Government, Incompetence, Character, Oops, Greed

In the rapidly gentrifying nation's capital, real estate investors aren't the only ones flipping houses for profit. The city's public housing authority is getting in on the action — moving aging tenants out of homes where they've lived for decades, renovating them and selling them to wealthy buyers.

  The renovations, at a cost of more than $300,000 per home, are outfitting the houses with luxury amenities, and some of the houses have sold for nearly $900,000. Others, however, have sat vacant for a year or longer after tenants were forced out.

Liberal, Government, Financial, Greed

A new report shows that the average price of a new vehicle is out of reach for people in medium-income households in all but one of the 25 largest metro areas in the U.S. The report by Interest.com shows that Washington, D.C. is the only American metropolitan area in which a family earning the city's median income can afford the average price of a new vehicle...

Liberal, Government, Character, Theft

For the second year in a row, residents of our nation’s capital have proven themselves the most likely to steal a dollar from your pocket. At least, that’s according to one unusual new study, which found Washington, D.C. to be the least honest city or state in the nation. The makers of Honest Tea conducted the survey, which involved setting up an unmanned booth with bottles of their product on display. Customers were asked to use the honor system and leave $1 for each bottle of tea they took. In the end, 80 percent of Washingtonians paid for their beverage. But that was still far less than the national average of 92 percent.

2021: Admitting That They Have A Problem...

  And progressives—I count myself as one of them—do ruin cities.

Democrat, Liberal, Crime, Incompetence

Police in Washington DC frequently fail to investigate reports of rape, and treat victims so dismissively at times, that they experience fresh trauma while the chances of the perpetrator being caught are undermined, according to a comprehensive report due out next week.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight subcommittee that oversees the District of Columbia expressed dismay about the mounting corruption scandals shrouding the capital city's government. "It's unsettling and disturbing that this much chicanery might be taking place. It causes people to lose confidence in their government," said Rep. Danny Davis, D.-Ill., the ranking Democrat on the panel. Go To Site

Liberal, Incompetence, Oops, Education

Washington, D.C., had the worst high school graduation rate in the country in 2011, according to state-by-state statistics released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education. Only 59 percent of high school students who started as freshmen in the 2006-2007 school year graduated four years later from District of Columbia schools, according to the data, which details state four-year high school graduation rates in the 2010-11 school year. That compares with a 76 percent rate during 2009-2010.

Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Oops

In the town that launched the War on Poverty 48 years ago, the poor are getting poorer despite the government's help. And the rich are getting richer because of it. The top 5 percent of households in Washington, D.C., made more than $500,000 on average last year, while the bottom 20 percent earned less than $9,500 - a ratio of 54 to 1. That gap is up from 39 to 1 two decades ago. It's wider than in any of the 50 states and all but two major cities. This at a time when income inequality in the United States as a whole has risen to levels last seen in the years before the Great Depression.

Liberal, Character, Funny, Protest

“We’re being evicted without tear gas,” said Melissa Byrne, a protester from the District. “It’s just not as glamorous” as high-profile closures at Occupy Wall Street and other camps, she said.

Liberal, Character, Protest

Dozens of people were arrested Wednesday during a chaotic and often tense day of protests in downtown Washington as protesters from the Occupy movement blocked intersections and snarled traffic around K Street for hours.

The District of Columbia after more than a decade of revival and shedding its reputation as one of the county’s most deadly and financially mismanaged cities is amid arguably its worst spate of corruption in modern history. Last week, a campaign consultant to Mayor Vincent C. Gray admitted in federal court the Democratic mayor was elected in 2010 with the help of roughly $650,000 in illicit funds from a city businessman. Go To Site

Liberal, Crime, Character, Protest

WASHINGTON – District of Columbia police on Saturday evening arrested 11 protesters and planned to charge them with unlawful entry after officers entered and cleared an abandoned city-owned building that had been occupied by a group inspired by Occupy D.C.

Liberal, Incompetence, Funny, Protest

Attempting to emulate the Occupy Wall Street protests, Washington activists and some out-of-town guests set themselves the lofty goal of occupying the Hart Senate Office Building. “We are there to shut the place down!” organizer David Swanson told his small band of followers. But how to do this with only a few dozen demonstrators? Well, Swanson said, they could push all the buttons on the elevators — the way naughty children sometimes do in apartment buildings. “There are people who are wanting to go into the elevators and fill them and not get out and push all the buttons,” he said. “If you like that, do it.”

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Tax, Crime, Greed, Corruption

D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. has been charged with stealing more than $350,000 in government funds and filing false tax returns. The two felony counts against Mr. Thomas, Ward 5 Democrat, are detailed in a criminal information document filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Degeneracy, Waste

A Metro rider found an unpleasant surprise on his daily commute at the Franconia-Springfield station on Monday: human feces smeared on the pedestrian bridge into the station. And making matters worse, it was still there Tuesday and Wednesday. No one had cleaned it up. Austin Lasseter said he spoke to the Metro station manager on Monday, then each day thereafter. But she told Lasseter it wasn't Metro's problem. The stairs belong to Virginia Railway Express even though it was on the Metro side of the bridge.

From drug possession to tax fraud, city officials in Washington, D.C., are notorious for being less than law abiding. This week that cloud of corruption descended on Mayor Vincent Gray after a woman who worked closely with his campaign pled guilty to funneling money from a wealthy D.C. businessman into Gray's 2010 mayoral campaign. While Gray has not been charged with a crime, the calls for him to resign over the campaign snafu are mounting. Gray is running a city notorious for shady politicians. In the past four years half of D.C.'s top government officials have been under investigation by either federal authorities or the D.C. board of elections. Two have resigned, two have served prison time and two have been closely connected to staff members who pled guilty to felonies. Go To Site

Liberal, Funny

The live television coverage of a D.C. Council news conference was cut on Tuesday as Council Chairman Kwame Brown was being asked a question about the council's ethical lapses and poor approval ratings last year.

Crime, Fraud

About 90 current District employees face dismissal and criminal prosecution after collecting unemployment benefits while on the government's payroll, the city announced Monday. An additional 40 former D.C. workers are also facing the possibility of a criminal probe for their role in the scheme that cost taxpayers up to $800,000.

Liberal, Government, Degeneracy, Brilliance, Crazy, Regulation

Cuccinelli said D.C.'s new rat law--the Wildlife Protection Act of 2010 (Wildlife Protection Act of 2010.pdf) --is “crazier than fiction” because it requires that rats and other vermin not be killed but captured, preferably in families; no glue or snap traps can be utilized; the rodents must be relocated from where they are captured; and some of these animals may need to be transferred to a “wildlife rehabilitator” as part of their relocation process.

Crime, Government, Financial, Fraud, Corruption, Jobs

Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration has fired 61 city employees for collecting unemployment benefits while working for the District government, city officials said Tuesday. The city’s Department of Employment Services, which oversees the jobless-compensation program, said in February that dozens of current and former city workers had received the fraudulent payments.

A former senior FBI lawyer who falsified a surveillance document in the Trump-Russia investigation has been restored as a member in "good standing" by the District of Columbia Bar Association even though he has yet to finish serving out his probation as a convicted felon, according to disciplinary records obtained by RealClearInvestigations.

  The move is the latest in a series of exceptions the bar has made for Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in August 2020 to doctoring an email used to justify a surveillance warrant targeting former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

-Paul Sperry Go To Site