Episode 85: D.O.G.E. - Department of Government Efficiency

The following source highlights the following examples of wasteful government spending:

* **$550,000 was spent by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on experiments on cat brains in a Russian lab**.

* **$3.7 million in funding went to an NIH study on monkeys and gambling**.

* **The State Department awarded tens of thousands of dollars for drag shows in Ecuador**.

* **The State Department awarded a grant to Ecuador to host 12 drag shows**.

* **The National Science Foundation funded a study of butterflies in Europe**.

* **An NEA grant was given to set up a display in Brooklyn for the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band**.

* **Almost $350,000 was awarded in a grant to study "smart toilets"**.

* **A grant was given to study colonial Mexican soundscapes**.

* **A study was conducted on helmets and seat belts in Ghana to determine their effectiveness in saving lives**.

* **$100,000 was spent to determine if Japanese quails are more promiscuous when given sugar**.

* **Over $200,000 was spent to make monkeys addicted to drugs**.

* **Money was spent to see if sunfish are more aggressive when given gin or tequila**.

* **$1 million was spent to determine if selfies make people happy**.

* **$1.5 million was spent to study the mating calls of country frogs to see if they are different from city frogs**.

* **The University of Mississippi spent $12 million on monkeys and meth**.

* **$620,000 was spent on armor and night vision equipment**.

* **The IRS had $50 million in unpaid taxes from its own employees**.

* **Anthony Fauci had a $15 million security detail**.

The video criticizes these spending projects as wasteful and irrelevant to the needs of most Americans. It suggests that this money could be better spent on projects that benefit a majority of Americans.