{"id":2524349,"date":"2025-12-23T14:29:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T19:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/festivus-report-exposes-government-waste-on-cocaine-dogs-and-covid-influencers\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T14:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T19:31:46","slug":"festivus-report-exposes-government-waste-on-cocaine-dogs-and-covid-influencers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/festivus-report-exposes-government-waste-on-cocaine-dogs-and-covid-influencers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Festivus Report\u2019 Exposes Government Waste on \u2018Cocaine Dogs\u2019 and COVID Influencers"},"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\">22<\/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%2Ffestivus-report-exposes-government-waste-on-cocaine-dogs-and-covid-influencers%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=2524349&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--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >article criticizes federal government spending<\/a> using Sen. Rand Paul&#8217;s annual &#8220;festivus Report&#8221; as evidence of waste and irresponsibility. It notes the national debt has climbed from about $36 trillion to nearly $40 trillion in a year and highlights alleged examples of questionable expenditures &#8211; such as millions spent on vaccine influencers, NIH funding for drug experiments on dogs, VA funding described as teaching ferrets to binge drink, NSF programs promoting insects as food, and USAID money for gender-affirming initiatives abroad. The piece frames these items as emblematic of a bloated, out-of-control bureaucracy, calls the spending obscene and offensive, and argues for stronger fiscal oversight.It also references Paul&#8217;s pledge to continue airing &#8220;grievances&#8221; about government waste, foreign aid, and other priorities.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>While it may have been tongue-in-cheek at the time, there&rsquo;s a reason that one of former President Ronald Reagan&rsquo;s most enduring quotes is, &ldquo;The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I&rsquo;m from the government and I&rsquo;m here to help.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>And that&rsquo;s because it&rsquo;s unquestionably, irrevocably true.<\/p>\n<p>One of the GOP&rsquo;s leading fiscal hawks, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, has proven that true yet again.<\/p>\n<p>In what&rsquo;s become both a funny and horrific annual tradition, Paul released his &ldquo;Festivus Report,&rdquo; exposing all the ways in which the government grossly and irresponsibly handles taxpayer money.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/rand-paul-releases-annual-festivus-report-airing-grievances-excess-government-spending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In the past<\/a>, the &ldquo;Festivus Report&rdquo; has exposed the government wastefully funding things like research about lizards on a treadmill, studies on hot tubs, and yacht subsidies.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s shameful, and hasn&rsquo;t gotten much better as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/erickson-the-truth-behind-the-cheney-story\/\" title=\"ERICKSON: The Truth Behind The Cheney Story\">federal government continues<\/a> to become a bloated caricature of what our founding fathers had originally envisioned.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I am BACK, and I&rsquo;m ready to air more grievances against government waste, Congress, Fauci, endless wars, foreign aid, and many, many others.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rand Paul (@RandPaul) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/2003529343272948055?\">December 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsgac.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/FESTIVUS-2025-FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This year&rsquo;s report<\/a> is just as obscene &mdash; and infuriating.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Last Festivus, we clamored over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-voices-support-for-government-shutdown-if-conservatives-get-bad-deal\/\" title=\"Trump supports ... shutdown if conservatives receive unfavorable deal.\">national debt reaching<\/a> over an astronomical $36 trillion. Shockingly, in one short year, the career politicians and bureaucrats in Washington have managed to reach nearly $40 trillion in debt, without so much as a second thought,&rdquo; Paul wrote. &ldquo;When asked who&rsquo;s to blame for our crushing level of debt, the answer is &lsquo;Everyone.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>How&rsquo;s this for starters?<\/p>\n<p>Paul uncovered that the Department of Health and Human Services had previously spent over $40 million on influencers to help push the COVID vaccine, particularly for racial or ethnic minority groups.<\/p>\n<p>(You know, the vaccine that the current FDA just slapped with an ominous &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/fda-set-give-covid-vaccines-serious-black-box-designation-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Box<\/a>&rdquo; label.)<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s an especially absurd one, lifted verbatim from the report: &ldquo;Coked-Up Canines Redux: NIH spent $5,215,216 to dose dogs with cocaine. Again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and for some reason, the Department of Veteran Affairs spent over a million dollars &ldquo;teaching teenage ferrets to binge drink alcohol.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The National Science Foundation was blasted several times in the report, including for nearly $2.5 million for programs designed to push insects as &ldquo;food for humans.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, some classic leftist causes ate up a ton of money, as well.<\/p>\n<p>The now-defunct USAID had earmarked $2 million to help for &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/god-loves-me-10-year-old-trans-child-quotes-bible-to-tell-tx-legislators-why-they-shouldnt-ban-trans-surgeries-procedures-for-minors\/\" title=\"\u2018God Loves Me\u2019: 10...Year...Old Trans Child Quotes Bible To Tell TX Legislators Why They Shouldn\u2019t Ban Trans Surgeries, Procedures For Minors\">gender-affirming care<\/a>,&rdquo; activism, and influence campaigns&hellip; in Guatemala.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and one more from the Department of Health and Human Services: They saw fit to spend $22.6&nbsp;<em>billion&nbsp;<\/em>on &ldquo;things like furniture, car repairs and home down payments, as well as welfare for illegal immigrants.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>(Remember when the left screeched that illegal immigrants weren&rsquo;t getting benefits?)<\/p>\n<p>And so on, and so forth. If you really want to get your blood boiling this Christmas season, that whole report is worth a read.<\/p>\n<p>Look, I understand that certain parts of MAGA (including President Donald Trump himself) aren&rsquo;t especially big fans of Paul at the moment, but <em>someone&nbsp;<\/em>needs to be a genuine fiscal hawk in the age of studying whether or not aborted fetal tissue can be implanted in &ldquo;humanized mice&rdquo; at the cost of $2.8 million.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s obscene. It&rsquo;s offensive. It&rsquo;s&nbsp;<em>expensive<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>And it&rsquo;s the sort of bloated government that our forefathers explicitly warned us about.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reagan warned: &#8220;Gov&#8217;t help&#8221; is truly terrifying<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2524350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-12-23T141055.057.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[69330,69331,69329,49985,36355],"class_list":["post-2524349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-cocaine-detection-dogs","tag-covid-influencers","tag-festivus-report","tag-government-waste","tag-investigative-journalism"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-12-23T141055.057.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524349","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2524349"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2524353,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524349\/revisions\/2524353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2524350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2524349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2524349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2524349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}