January 11: Wastebook: Taxpayers Billed for Computers to Binge Watch…

The federal government spent millions of taxpayer dollars studying if women can pick Barbie out of a lineup, creating robot flowers, and building a computer that binge watches Desperate Housewives , according to a new report on wasteful spending. Sen. Jeff Flake on Tuesday released Wastebook: PORKemon Go , the latest chronicle of waste in a series started by former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn .

Commentary: Trump should target defense waste

Donald Trump has an opportunity to chart a new course for Republicans on defense spending — a course that would combine GOP hawkishness with a budget-cutter’s approach to Pentagon waste. Although falling as a percentage of the federal budget, defense is still the federal government’s largest single non-entitlement spending item — about 16 percent of the budget in 2016.