{"id":1147526,"date":"2021-12-23T18:49:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T23:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1147526"},"modified":"2021-12-23T18:49:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T23:49:41","slug":"rand-pauls-annual-festivus-report-billions-wasted-on-pigeon-gambing-studies-fattening-eels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rand-pauls-annual-festivus-report-billions-wasted-on-pigeon-gambing-studies-fattening-eels\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand Paul&#039;s Annual Festivus Report: Billions Wasted on Pigeon Gambing Studies, Fattening Eels"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frand-pauls-annual-festivus-report-billions-wasted-on-pigeon-gambing-studies-fattening-eels%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1147526&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Taxpayer-Dollars-Pay-for-Fattening-Eels-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) this week released his annual Festivus Report detailing egregious, wasteful government spending over the last year. This year\u2019s list includes money spent on \u201ca study of pigeons gambling on slot machines, giving kids junk food, and telling citizens of Vietnam not to burn their trash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood morning everyone and welcome to everyone\u2019s favorite holiday \u2013 Festivus!\u201d Paul said, referring the day that centers in the airing of grievances, famously popularized by a 1997 episode of <i>Seinfeld.&nbsp;<\/i><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFestivus of course is highlighted by the airing of grievances. I\u2019ve definitely got a lot of problems with you people,\u201d Paul said, clarifying that he is\u201dmostly\u201d referring to the \u201cpetty tyrants who run your local, state and federal governments. \u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-rjixqe r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>\u201c2021 was a banner year for being a petty tyrant, with them all literally tripping over each other for the dumbest covid lockdown or mandate idea,\u201d he added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Good morning everyone and welcome to everyone\u2019s favorite holiday \u2013 Festivus!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/1474029003862335492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And by you people, I mostly mean the petty tyrants who run your local, state and federal governments. 2021 was a banner year for being a petty tyrant, with them all literally tripping over each other for the dumbest covid lockdown or mandate idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/1474029006823559182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This year\u2019s seventh annual list features $52,598,515,585 in wasteful spending. Paul took the total government waste detailed in the report, divided it by how much the average taxpayer pays ($15,332), and found that \u201cUncle Sam WASTED the taxes of: 3,430,636 people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He briefly detailed a handful of wasteful expenditures in a Twitter thread, which include $773,000,00 wasted as the result of foreign countries using U.S. aircraft for free for four years, $549,000,000 wasted on U.S.-purchased Afghan planes that were tossed out, $179,000,000 wasted on funding green energy programs in Africa, and $337,500 wasted on fattening eels for human consumption:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">1. Foreign countries use our aircraft for free for 4 years (DOD) $773,000,000<br \/>2. US bought Afghanistan planes that were later thrown away (DOD) $549,000,000<br \/>3. Funding Green Energy programs in Africa (State) $179,000,000<br \/>4. \u2022 Fattening eels for human consumption (FDA) $337,500<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/1474029028227129351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Other wasteful items complied in the Festivus Report include:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>COVID relief grant for NYC to display art projects across the city\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026$25,000,000<\/li>\n<li>Constructing border walls in the Middle East and North Africa (DOD)\u2026\u2026\u2026..$250,000,000<\/li>\n<li>Free trips for Korean kids to visit D.C. (USAID)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 $150,000<\/li>\n<li>Grinding up ferrets to develop COVID and flu vaccines\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.$4,500,000<\/li>\n<li>Tax Credit incentivizing CA residents to uninstall fireplaces\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..$2,100,000<\/li>\n<li>Teaching French people about US culture (State)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..$200,000<\/li>\n<li>Developing a film about dinosaurs to inspire middle schoolers (NSF)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 $2,500,000<\/li>\n<li>Pigeons playing slot machines (NIH)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..$465,339<\/li>\n<li>Telling people to not burn their trash (USAID)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.$11,300,000<\/li>\n<li>Funding Green Energy programs in Africa (State)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026$179,000,000<\/li>\n<li>Planting trees in New York City\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026$400,000,000<\/li>\n<li>Fattening eels for human consumption (FDA)\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.$337,500<\/li>\n<li>Social Security overpayments to beneficiaries in Fiscal Year 2019 (SSA)\u2026\u2026\u2026$4,200,000,000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Paul\u2019s entire report can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paul.senate.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/page-attachments\/Festivus%20Report%202021_0.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) this week released his annual Festivus Report detailing egregious, wasteful government spending over the last year. This year\u2019s list includes money spent on \u201ca study of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1147526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}