Remember that airline commercial that asks “Want to get away?” for those embarrassing moments in life. In the internet age, there is no getting away when somebody comes up with a truly dumb, ridiculous or just plain bad idea. Obama the opaque
1| No transparency when it matters
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The details: President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services will not release specifics on companies and groups that have been denied waivers from certain provisions of Obamacare. The news came just as HHS issued about 200 new waivers.
More killings
2| Syria cracks down on protesters
The details: Agence France-Presse reports that Syrian security forces killed five this week, firing into a crowd of unarmed pro-democracy protesters. The demonstrators were calling for an end to the despotic rule of President Bashar al Assad.
Alienating allies
3| Israeli PM fumes over Obama speech
The details: President Obama urged the formation of a Palestinian state along the borders that existed before the Six-Day War of 1967. The statement, which appeared to represent a change in U.S. policy, drew protests from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
You’re funding the Left
4| EPA gave $4 billion to enviros
The details: A study of Environmental Protection Agency grants by the Heritage foundation found that the government agency has given nearly $4 billion in grants to nonprofit environmentalist groups in just the last 10 years. There are no plans to stop this gravy train.
Socialized medicine
5| Patients wait and wait in the U.K.
The details: The British National Health Service has seen the number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for care rise by 26 percent in the last year. The NHS has been repeatedly praised by President Obama’s Medicare director.
Teenage thugs
6| Juvenile violent crime spikes
The details: Serious crime by juveniles under 18 is up 10 percent in the District, with arrests of teenagers for robberies soaring 173 percent. Young people are also victims: Thirteen of the first 34 people slain in D.C. were under 21.
Below grade
7| Local grads need remediation
The details: Of the 19 percent of public high school graduates in Northern Virginia who enroll in the local community college, 55 percent need remedial classes. At Montgomery College, 60 percent of public high school graduates are unable to do college-level work.
Unaccredited
8| Criminal cases jeopardized
The details: After several waivers, the D.C. medical examiner’s office lost its national accreditation because Chief Medical Examiner Marie Pierre-Louis is not board-certified. The loss of accreditation jeopardizes criminal cases and delays a move to the city’s new forensics lab.
Never say never
9| MWAA begs feds for $1b
The details: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Chairman Charles Snelling wants the federal government to make up the $1 billion difference between the original $2.5 billion estimate for Phase 2 of Dulles Rail and the current $3.5 billion price tag.
Not seeing Purple
10| Opening delayed
The details: Maryland transportation officials now concede that the 16-mile Purple Line linking Bethesda and New Carrollton will take four years longer to build, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more and carry fewer riders than originally estimated.
