"Festivus Awards."

[moguldreamer]

Just released: the 2023 Festivus Awards, typically released this time of year.

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-cont...tivus-2023.pdf

Each year for the past decade or so, US Senator Paul Rand (R-KY) puts together a humorous - but sadly true - list of government waste. He calls it the "Festivus Awards".

MODERATORS: please note this is not political as it does not single, reference, or blame any political party or point of view. The below are my brief summaries:

On this year's list of government wastes:

1. During the Pandemic, the Federal Government implemented the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by creating an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that evaluated photographs of applicants to verify applicant's identities. This expensive AI system accepted photographs of Barbie Dolls as proof of identity. (Congressional estimates are that $200 Billion was wasted)

2. "Monkey Island" in South Carolina - since the 1970s, the US Government has maintained an island populated by monkeys. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $33.2 million last year to house, feed, and care for these monkeys.

3. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has spent $100 Million to date paying to promote tourism - in Egypt.

4. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) allocated “cutting-edge” research funding to support a summer study that walked 16 dogs—of two different colors — and measured their rectal temperatures. Researchers found the Labradors’ fur color did not affect their body temperatures after a hot summer’s walk. That’s it. That’s the taxpayer-funded, cutting-edge study. Amount spent: "undisclosed."

5. The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) gathered employees for a federally funded
workshop, where attendees focused on “effective strategies to build and sustain psychological safety that allows individuals to show up to work as their authentic and best selves..."

6. The NIH funded $2.7 Million to Russia to have purposefully crippled cats walk on treadmills.

7. $38 Million in COVID payments to known dead people - people the Federal Government already knew to have been dead.

8. The U.S. Army officials “improperly stored 80 gas turbine engines” outdoors for 3 years, and the weather destroyed them. The engines are valued at $89.16 million.

9. U.S. Army “improperly stored 135 hydraulic transmissions valued at $12.60 million" in standing water & oil & high humidity, destroying the transmissions.

Above are some of line items on the list.

[moguldreamer]

Some more:

SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) helped finance the criminal enterprise of the violent Crips street gang.

More than $3 million from SBA given to a convicted ********* claiming to own three bogus businesses paid for guns, bling, private jets, and luxury vehicles.

A felon used the $400,000 he received to pay for a car, boat, vacation, and tickets to sporting events.

Another ex-con out on probation spent $20,000 from SBA on cosmetic surgery and a junket to a resort in Florida.

A woman who claimed to have never been convicted on her applications received multiple payments from the SBA while she was serving time in prison for embezzlement.

A man claiming to operate a food truck while he was behind bars managed to collect nearly $50,000.

A drug trafficker on probation collected more than $50,000 from two separate SBA programs.

And a gang member with a long, violent criminal history was given more than $40,000 for which he did not qualify.

[StarlaJane]

#2 does deserve an award, just not a “Festivus” award. Per Wikipedia re: Monkey Island:

The island is owned by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). The monkeys that live on the island are owned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and used for public health research.

These animals exist so that diseases that affect humans can be cured or mitigated. And it might be cheaper to house these monkeys in cages in some laboratory basement but I much prefer that these animals are afforded at least some semblance of a decent life.

[springfieldva]

We can add in the nearly expired Covid tests that the government mailed out en masse with a limit per household. How many of those tests wound up in the garbage?