Ensuring DC as a Safe Place to Visit

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The U.S. State Department’s law enforcement arm is joining forces with police in the crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., in a bid to make the city safe for visiting foreign leaders.

“As our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., is often the first place foreign leaders, dignitaries, and officials see when they come to the United State,” principal deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott told The Daily Signal. “It is a representation of our country to the rest of the world, and it is our duty to ensure that it is safe and clean.”

The Diplomatic Security Service is actively partnering with the Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement to support the president’s mission of reducing and deterring crime in Washington.

“[Secretary of State Marco] Rubio is proud to have members of the Diplomatic Security Service helping to implement the president’s priority to ensure D.C. is a safe place for our fellow Americans and guests to visit,” Pigott said in an exclusive statement. “Thank you to the brave men and women of the Diplomatic Security Service and to all officers who are supporting this important mission.”

Trump Strikes Skeptical Tone on his own Covid Vaccine Record

Just the News 

By Amanda Head  

President Donald Trump on Monday shot holes in the COVID-19 vaccine accomplishments of his first term, posting on Truth Social that, "They [Pfizer] show me GREAT numbers and results, but they don’t seem to be showing them to many others. I want them to show them NOW, to CDC and the public, and clear up this MESS, one way or the other!!! I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as “BRILLIANT” as many say it was. If not, we all want to know about it.  

Trump has been reticent to show any dissatisfaction with Operation Warp Speed, which was announced in 2020 and produced the COVID-19 vaccine in short-order at the onset of the pandemic in 2021, and for the last half-decade, has declined to refer to the public-private partnership as anything other than a success. 

He frequently highlighted the unprecedented speed of development, which produced the vaccine in under nine months as opposed to the typical five to ten years. Trump also repeated claims of the effectiveness of the vaccines and the program’s role in allegedly saving millions of lives. He credited the program’s success to his administration’s funding (over $18 billion, including $10 billion redirected from hospital funds), deregulation, and partnerships with private companies like Pfizer and Moderna. 

As recently as August 28 in his cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump touted the vaccine, citing it as a "medical miracle" that saved millions of lives. "Operation Warp Speed people say is one of the greatest achievements ever in politics or in the military ... Everybody, including Putin, said that 'Operation Warp Speed, what you did with that, nobody could believe it.' We did a great job."

Not very cult-like, Trump's base disagrees

While his detractors criticize his base for being in lock-step with the president on all issues, even going as far as calling them a "MAGA Cult," even his most ardent supporters have abandoned the notion that the vaccines were "safe and effective." 

Trump visits with DC National Guard

President Donald Trump on Thursday evening met with federal law enforcement officers in Anacostia, including the Washington, D.C. National Guard, who are responding to an ongoing "crime crisis" in the nation's capital.

Trump announced on Thursday morning that he would patrol with the guard in order to review the effects of his crackdown on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration in the federal city. D.C. crime has decreased in recent years but the city still has one of the highest crime rates in the country. 

The president visited the United States Park Police headquarters to meet approximately 300 federal employees and officers, where he thanked them for their work and said that he and D.C. residents feel safer now.

Police Union Backs Trump DC Takeover: “Immediate Action Is Necessary”

DailyWire.com

By Zach Jewell, 08/13/25.

The police union that represents over 3,000 officers with D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department came out in support of President Donald Trump’s decision to take federal control of law enforcement in the nation’s capital.

The D.C. Police Union said in a statement on Monday that it agrees with President Trump “that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety,” according to Fox 5. The union’s positive statement toward Trump was released as Democratic D.C. leaders criticized the administration’s move to take control of the police department.

“The DC Police Union, representing over 3,000 officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), today acknowledges and supports the President’s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC,” the union said. “The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety. However, we emphasize that federal intervention must be a temporary measure, with the ultimate goal of empowering a fully staffed and supported MPD to protect our city effectively.”

Trump Puts DC Police Under Federal Control

President Donald Trump has ordered Washington’s police force to be put under federal control. He’s vowing a crackdown on violent crime. What do the changes mean for the nation’s capital?

Could Congress step in to back up Trump’s crackdown on crime in Washington DC?  And will other cities start to repeal their no-cash bail policies, as the president is urging? We hear from Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) [pictured right].*

According to Wikipedia, Representative Self served in the United States Army from 1975 to 1999. He was a member of the Army Special Forces and Army Rangers. He was deployed to Qutar, Egypt, Germany, Afghanistan, and Belgium.

Deal Reached for Vote on US Funding Bill

By Joseph Lord

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that lawmakers had reached a deal for a vote on a package to keep the [US] government funded through March 14.

“I have very good news for my colleagues and the country. Democrats and Republicans have reached, just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight, before the midnight deadline,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Washington Post Opposes the Expansion of Canada's Euthanasia Law

By Lisa Blumberg

The broadening of eligibility under the Canada’s euthanasia law to include people who are deemed to suffer from “untreatable mental illnesses” has been delayed once again. The expansion had been scheduled to take effect in March. According to the New York Times, the postponement occurred because a parliamentary committee concluded that there are not enough doctors, particularly psychiatrists, in the country to assess patients with mental illnesses who want to end their lives and to help them do so. The Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland stated that “the system is not ready, and we need more time.” He did not give any new effective date for the expansion, although a committee member expressed the hope that the delay would be indefinite.

Shortly before the delay was announced but when there were already signs that the Canadian Government was having “second thoughts”, the Editorial  Board of the Washington Post wrote a sharply worded piece opposing voluntary euthanasia for psychiatric survivors in Canada and elsewhere. The importance of a major newspaper taking such a stand cannot be overestimated.

My Mum Didn't Die

Good morning. I’m Anita Cameron, Director of Minority Outreach for Not Dead Yet, a national, grassroots disability organization opposed to medical discrimination, healthcare rationing, euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide laws are dangerous because though these laws are supposed to be for people with six months or less to live, doctors are often wrong about a terminal diagnosis. In 2009, while living in Washington state, my mother was determined to be at the end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I was told her death was imminent, that if I wanted to see her alive, I should get there in two days. She rallied, but was still quite ill, so she was placed in hospice. Her doctor said that her body had begun the process of dying.

Though she survived 6 months of hospice, her doctor convinced her that her body was still in the process of dying, and she moved home to Colorado to die.

My mum didn’t die. In fact, six weeks after returning to Colorado, she and I were arrested together in Washington, DC, fighting for disability justice. She became active in her community and lived almost 12 years!

New Office of Inspector General Report: Hospice Deficiencies Pose Risks to Medicare Beneficiaries

WHY WE DID THIS STUDY  

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has identified significant vulnerabilities in the Medicare hospice benefit and found that hospices did not always provide needed services to beneficiaries and sometimes provided poor quality care.  Click here to view report.

Closet Euthanasia Act May Be Moving

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Five days ago, an op-ed appeared in the New York Post advocating for Congressional passage of the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act."[1] The Act has not been introduced in the current (116th) Congress.[2] There are, however, rumors that it will be or that passage will occur by packaging it with other legislation. With the appearance of the op-ed, the veracity of these rumors may be well founded.

The Act was introduced in the last (115th) Congress as H.R. 1676 and S. 693. Its stated purpose was to provide financial support for palliative care and hospice education centers, including direct patient care. The Act easily passed the House on a voice vote.[3]

There was and is, however, a catch.

US Euthanasia Bill All But Dead - For Now

Margaret Dore &
Dawn Eskew

This year, the US Congress considered the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693. The Act seeks to provide financial support for palliative care and hospice education centers, including direct patient care.

The Act was viewed as noncontroversial. Indeed, H.R. 1676 passed the House on a voice vote without opposition.

There is, however, a catch.

This is because US euthanasia advocates are currently promoting "medical aid in dying" (euthanasia) as "palliative care."[1] There is a similar situation in Canada, where "lobbies are trying to influence the government to include so-called Medical Aid in Dying ... in palliative care."[2]

The significance is this: If the Act is passed into law and the above advocacy efforts are successful, medical aid in dying (euthanasia) will become part of palliative care and therefore part of the Act. More to the point, the Act will legalize and also finance euthanasia in government funded centers throughout the US. The Act is a closet or "springing" euthanasia bill.

Proposed U.S. Palliative Care Act Is a Potentialy Springing Euthanasia Bill

By MARGARET dORE, Esq., MBA

In 2012, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that many doctors object to physician-assisted suicide.[1] The article's authors, Dr. Lisa Lehmann and Julian Prokopetz, added that assisted deaths need not be physician-assisted.[2] They argued that a central government mechanism should provide the assistance instead:

We envision the development of a central state or federal mechanism to confirm the authenticity and eligibility of patients' requests, dispense medication [the lethal dose], and monitor demand and use.[3] 

Press Release: "Proposed Federal Hospice Act Must Be Defeated to 'Stop the Waste, Bleeding and Heartache'

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/465588180/proposed-federal-hospice-act-must-be-defeated-to-stop-the-waste-bleeding-and-heartache

Washington DC

Dore: "Existing federal hospice programs, such as the Medicare hospice benefit, are plagued by fraud, poor quality care, rampant abuse, arguably murder, and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars. Enacting another federal hospice program, when existing programs are far from being under control, makes no sense and will only cause more of the same."

Dore Memo to US Senate HELP Committee: Vote No on Bill S. 693

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

For a summary sheet including a similar House bill (H.R. 1676), click here. For a pdf version of this memo, click here.

I.  INTRODUCTION

I am an elder law attorney and president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.[1] Formed in 2010, Choice is an Illusion fights against assisted suicide and euthanasia throughout the U.S. and in other countries.[2] We also fight against hospice and palliative care abuse.

S. 693, the Palliative Care and Hospice Education & Training Act," amends the existing Public Health Service Act to require financial support for “Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers.”[3] This is a new program, which will include direct patient care.[4]

Existing federal palliative care programs, such as the Medicare hospice benefit, are plagued by fraud, poor quality care and a gross waste of taxpayer money.[5] S. 693 must be rejected unless problems with existing programs are resolved; Congress must not throw good money after bad. The bill must also be rejected for the reasons set forth below. 

Margaret Dore and Dawn Eskew Take the Lead Against Flawed Hospice Act

The "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693, were proposed in 2017 and viewed as noncontroversial.  In July 2018, H.R. 1676 passed the House. The bill was then received in the Senate and transferred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which was also considering S. 693.

A week later, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a portfolio highly critical of the Medicare hospice benefit. This alerted Dore to some of the bills' problems.

Problems with the proposed bills include:

• They do not require patients to be “terminally ill,” which is an eligibility requirement for hospice under Medicare. If the bills are enacted, this omission will create confusion in the law and/or undermine laws designed to prevent patient harm and fraud in the Medicare program.

• The bills describe hospice and palliative care as a benefit for patients and their families, who can have divergent interests. Patients may want to get well, while their families may want inheritances. This is a fundamental problem with the bills, that as written, they serve two masters. 

* In early October 2018, Dore, assisted by Dawn Eskew of New York Against Assisted Suicide, went to the US Capitol with a formal analysis of the bills' problems. The staff person at their first appointment told them that no other visitor had expressed opposition to the bills.

Margaret Dore and Dawn Eskew Take the Lead Against Flawed Hospice Act

Margaret Dore and
Dawn Eskew

The "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693, were proposed in 2017 and viewed as noncontroversial. 

In July 2018, H.R. 1676 passed the House. The bill was then received in the Senate and transferred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which was also considering S. 693.

A week later, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a portfolio highly critical of the Medicare hospice benefit. This alerted Dore to some of the bills' problems.

Inspector General Slams Hospice

https://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/media-materials/2018/hospice/anr-transcript.pdf

(Washington D.C., Tuesday, July 30, 2018) - Hospice use has grown steadily over recent years, with Medicare paying $16.7 billion for 1.4 million beneficiaries in hospice care in 2016. A decade before, in 2006, those numbers were $9.2 billion for fewer than 1 million beneficiaries....

In a new hospice portfolio released by the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG), the agency found that hospices do not always provide needed services to patients and sometimes provide poor quality care.

OIG also found that patients and their families and caregivers do not receive crucial information to make informed decisions about their care. And taxpayers are bankrolling much of this poor care and fraud through the Medicare hospice benefit....

Bi-Partisan Resolution Opposing Assisted Suicide Introduced in Congress

By Rebecca Duberstein

Congressman Wenstrup

Yesterday on September 27, Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) held a press conference announcing the introduction of a resolution (H.Con.Res.80) expressing the sense of Congress that assisted suicide “puts everyone, including those most vulnerable, at risk of deadly harm and undermines the integrity of the health care system.”

U.S. House Votes to Repeal D.C.'s Death With Dignity Law (Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia)

Rep. Tom Graves

To view the full article, click here:

By Jenna Portnoy, The Washington Post

The U.S. House on Thursday passed a spending bill that would block five laws affecting the District of Columbia, including the city’s new assisted-suicide law.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the District’s nonvoting representative in Congress, must now rely on the Senate to not take up and approve identical measures. If the Senate does not act, it would effectively stall for another year congressional efforts to rein in the District through spending-related measures.

Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the District, said Congress by law has extensive power over the District but has allowed the city to assume more power over time.

“The District of Columbia has plenty of autonomy,” he said in a floor debate Wednesday. “When it comes to spending, that is the role of Congress given to us through the U.S. Constitution.”

House Appropriations Committee Repeals DC Death with Dignity Act

Rep. Harris

Yesterday, the US House Appropriations Committee voted to prohibit funds for physician-assisted suicide in the District of Columbia, and to repeal the District's Death with Dignity Act. The vote was taken pursuant to an amendment proposed by Representative Andy Harris, which was approved 28 to 24.

For more information, see this Press Release: "Appropriations Committee Approves Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Services Bill."