U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) continued his annual Festivus tradition recently.
Each year, Paul pays tribute to the fictitious December 23 holiday from the TV show Seinfeld with his own “Airing of Grievances.” On the Seinfeld episode called “The Strike,” it occurs right after dinner and presents an opportunity for people to complain to their friends and family to their faces.
Since 2016, Paul has done that with federal government spending. On Twitter, he creates a lengthy thread where he lists off what he thinks is the most egregious waste. His office also releases a report revealing and explaining government waste. Staff members pick what Paul thinks are the most egregious examples of government waste — and it never disappoints.
Here are five examples of how the federal government has wasted your tax dollars in the past year:
1. Tourism … in Egypt
Egypt might be an interesting place to visit if you want to see the pyramids. However, the United States Agency for International Development provided the country with $6 million this fiscal year for “value investment in sustainable integrated tourism” to Esna, Egypt.
If Egypt wants to promote tourism, Egypt should promote tourism. But why are we paying to promote tourism on the other side of the world?
2. Meth Monkeys
The National Institutes of Health spent $12 million on a study on how giving meth to monkeys affects their sleep habits. I’m not a scientist and haven’t taken a science class since I was a junior in high school, but even I can tell you that doing meth probably isn’t good for a monkey’s sleep habits.
Now that we got that out of the way, can we look at serious solutions to the drug epidemic in this country?
3. Transgender Monkeys
The United States government loves funding animal abuse.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spent $477,121 on a study where researchers forcibly injected male monkeys with female hormones to see if the monkeys became more susceptible to human immunodeficiency virus.
“Critics note that monkeys themselves are not susceptible to HIV, and argue that injecting the male monkeys with female hormones is unlikely to yield relevant information or help humans,” the report said.
Yup, that sounds like a waste of money — and a really weird one, I might add.
Where are the advocates for the bodily integrity of male monkeys?
4. Russian Treadmill Cats
The National Institutes of Health kept this animal abuse trend up.
It provided $2.7 million to a researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which then subgranted the money to researchers in St. Petersburg, Russia. Those Russian researchers snipped the brain stems of Russian cats and forced them to walk upright on treadmills.
Cats aren’t meant to walk on two legs — and we shouldn’t fund research in other countries, especially countries that are not allied with the United States.
And again: Where are the cat advocates?
5. Combatting COVID-19 Misinformation Online
The National Institutes of Health provided $3.8 million to the University of Pennsylvania to conduct a study about how it can identify and combat COVID-19 misinformation online in the black and rural communities.
Here is Paul’s take:
“When the study began in September 2022, much of what the government and social media called COVID ‘misinformation’ (relating to masks, vaccine efficacy, and the virus’s origins) is what is simply called ‘true’ this year.”
Also, do we want the government funding those calling for more censorship online?
Remember when liberals supported free speech?
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