Politics/Religion Consolidated Megathread Extravaganza

[Herman]

[DKG]

Rand Paul of Kentucky is ringing in the New Year with his annual Festivus Report, highlighting all the government's pet projects taxpayers have been funding.

Paul's 11th annual waste report totaled up a whopping $1.6 trillion, including $1.22 trillion in interest payments on the $38.5 trillion national debt.

The report features a roundup of the government's most egregious spending, including experiments dosing dogs with cocaine and teaching ferrets how to binge-drink. One program taught monkeys how to play a video game inspired by "The Price Is Right" for a whopping $14.6 million.

Some spending was directed toward actual people, not just pets. One program from the Department of Health and Human Services spent $1.5 million on an "innovative multilevel strategy" to reduce drug use in "Latinx" communities by using influencers and celebrities in TikTok campaigns, which the report dubbed "TikTok therapy." Other programs spent $2 million on "gender-affirming care" in Guatemala through USAID, as well as $2.8 million in DOD grants for implanting humanized mice with aborted fetal tissue.

Other funds were just misused entirely, with nearly $200 billion in COVID funds for schools being wasted on excessive amenities like ice cream trucks, rooms at Caesar's Palace, and renting out MLB stadiums.

[Herman]

[Herman]

[Herman]

[Herman]

[Herman]

Thomas Jefferson said, "If serving in an elected office ever becomes a career, corruption will surely follow."
I think he nailed it.
TERM LIMITS!!!

[Herman]

Democrats are floating a Kamala Harris–AOC ticket for 2028... claiming it would "win every state."
Seriously?
The same Kamala Harris who lost in a historic landslide to Donald Trump?
The same Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose socialism, open borders, and Green New Deal ideas are rejected by most Americans?
This is peak Democrat delusion.
While Democrats fantasize about 2028, Trump is delivering real results in 2025:
Economy booming, wages rising, inflation tamed
Manufacturing surging, unemployment at historic lows
Gas and grocery prices down
Border secured, illegal crossings crushed
Energy independence restored
Crime falling, law and order back
No new wars, America respected again
A Harris–AOC ticket wouldn't unite America — it would hand Republicans an easy win.
Trump built the strongest coalition in modern history, with record gains among working-class, Black, Hispanic, and young voters who know life is better under America First leadership.
2028? Democrats can keep dreaming.
MAGA will keep winning — whether it's JD Vance or the next America First leader carrying the torch.

[Herman]

Congress worked 87 days this year with full pay ($174k) AND benefits. You want to talk about 'government waste'?
Let's pay Congress HOURLY. Problem solved.

[DKG]

Silence and denial are turning Biden's inflation into Trump's problem.

Midterm elections go one of two ways. They are either a validation of the sitting president or a repudiation. Historically, they have almost always been a repudiation.

The 2026 midterms are shaping up to be no different — a firm rebuke to Donald Trump. That's obviously bad for him. Congress will spend two straight years investigating and likely impeaching him.

Can Donald Trump turn the midterms around? Only if he, his fellow Republicans, and their allies on the right make immediate changes. If they do, they could stem the losses in November — and maybe even defy the odds to expand their majorities in the House and Senate.

Democrat politicians, their allies in the media, and their associated army of activists and nonprofits have rallied around a single word: affordability. They're tricking voters into thinking that all the inflation and financial pain that Joe Biden caused is really the fault of Donald Trump. The call to action writes itself: If voters want to make ends meet, their only hope is to vote the GOP out.

This message works, but only because Republicans are letting it work. They are largely silent in the face of Democrat attacks. Worse, in the president's case, he is calling affordability a "hoax." For voters who supported him because of Joe Biden's inflation, nothing could be worse. It's tantamount to saying their problems don't matter.

Republicans must reclaim the economic high ground. They need to relentlessly hammer the point that Joe Biden's enormous failures will take time to fix. They need to point to the relief they've given, especially the tax cuts the president signed in July. Most importantly, they need to lay out a unified agenda that speaks to Americans' deep concerns, convincing voters that the GOP will, in fact, make life more affordable.