Every year, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul tries to lighten the mood a bit even while taking of a serious topic with his annual “Festivus Report” on government waste, and this year, he has highlighted an astounding nine hundred billion dollars in waste.
Yes, that is billions with a “b.”
This year, Sen. Paul trenchantly notes, “No matter how much money the government has already wasted, politicians keep demanding even more.”
Ain’t it the truth?
Festivus, of course, is the joke “holiday” created by the legendary 1990s sitcom Seinfeld. And Sen. Paul has been invoking Festivus for a fun Christmas-time tradition.
This year, Paul found “a whopping ~$900,000,000,000 of waste – nearly double last year’s report – including an NIH grant to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill, Barbies used as proof of ID for receiving COVID Paycheck Protection Program funds, $6 million to promote tourism in Egypt, and $200 million to ‘struggling artists’ like Post Malone, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne.”
Paul’s report goes on:
“Twitter is now X, what we thought were UFOs were actually Chinese Spy Balloons, Barbie battled Oppenheimer at the box office, and a missing F-35 jet flew for over 60 miles without a pilot. It’s safe to say that some big changes have occurred since last year’s Festivus Report.”
Last Festivus, we lamented over the national debt reaching an astronomical $30 trillion. Shockingly, in one short year, the career politicians and bureaucrats in Washington have managed to approach $34 trillion in debt, without so much as a second thought.
Who’s to blame for our crushing level of debt? Everybody. This year, members of both parties in Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling, which empowered the government to borrow an unlimited amount of money until 2024. As Congress spends to reward its favored industries and pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay the price through record high inflation and crippling interest rates.”
The Senator’s report identifies the following examples of waste:
The Waste of 2023
- Barbie Doll Photo Used to Get COVID PPP Funds…….portion of $800,000,000,000
- In the RED: Interest on Our National Debt is Expensive…….$659,000,000,000
- Dr. Fauci’s Monkey Business on NIH’s “Monkey Island”…….$33,200,000
- USAID Fund to Boost Egyptian Tourism…….$6,000,000
- USDA’s Cutting-Edge Research: Walking Dogs in the Summer…….Unknown
- DHS Training Employees to Be Their “Authentic & Best Selves”…….Unknown
- Russian Cats-On-A-Treadmill Studies Funded by NIH……..portion of $2,700,000
- The Government Pays Dead People … Again!……..$38,000,000
- DOD’s Lobster Tank…….$8,395
- How to Ruin Expensive Military Equipment Part 1: Engines…….$89,000,000
- How to Ruin Expensive Military Equipment Part 2: Transmissions…….$12,600,000
- How to Ruin Expensive Military Equipment Part 3: Tank Treads……..$68,000,000
- “Real Fake”: DHS’s 1st Graphic Novel About Disinformation…….Unknown
- DHS’s 2nd Graphic Novel: COVID Disinformation…….Unknown
- NIH’s Meth-Head Monkeys…….portion of $12,000,000
- Treasury’s Pot of Cash for Political Campaigns…….$400,000,000
- NIH’s Monkey Casino: Gambling for Drinking Water…….portion of $3,700,000
- SBA’s Ticket to Backstage…….$200,000,000
- Studying COVID-19 “Misinformation” On Social Media In Black & Rural Communitie…….$3,800,000
- Dr. Fauci’s Transgender Monkey Study…….$477,121
- Whoopsie: Improper Federal Payments…….$236,000,000,000
- FLASHBACK: The Government Likes Its Gambling Monkeys…….$171,000
Paul also mentions how the “intel services” have been warped into just another way for our out-of-control government to abuse our rights and spy on us all.
While Festivus was a hilarious bit on Seinfeld, there isn’t anything funny about how far off track — even being dangerous to our freedoms — the. federal government has become.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
