{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-highlights-1-million-taxpayer-funded-variety-show-afghanistan/", "Sen. Rand Paul Highlights $1 Million Taxpayer Funded Variety Show in Afghanistan", "2016-05-02", "2016", "2016-05", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released the latest edition of \u2018The Waste Report,\u2019 which is an ongoing project cataloguing egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government.\n\nSen. Paul highlights, in the latest edition of \u2018The Waste Report,\u2019 the Department of State spending $1 million taxpayer money to produce 12 episodes of a variety show in Afghanistan. The Department of State claims the main purpose will be to teach English, however, the variety show will still be primarily written and performed using Dari, Afghanistan\u2019s primary language.\n\n\u2018The Waste Report\u2019 can be found HERE or below.\n\nWhole generations of Americans have fond memories of tuning in to the Ed Sullivan Show or the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Others might identify more with the late-night derivation of the variety show embodied by Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Conan O\u2019Brian. Now Uncle Sam is hoping a new generation will fall in love with the variety show\u2026in Afghanistan.\n\nThat\u2019s right!!! The Department of State, through the U.S. Embassy-Kabul, recently issued a $1 million funding opportunity to produce 12 episodes of a variety show in Afghanistan with the ultimate purpose of teaching English.[1]\n\nOf course the show will be filmed before a live studio audience and include performances in English. But, \u201c[t]he show should be written and performed using Dari (Persian) as the primary language. Episodes will have a considerable amount of English, but primary communication and explanation should be in Dari.\u201d\n\nSo, since the show is mostly in the native language, to reinforce English learning there will be 60-second cutaways with English lessons on such things as how to read a menu or make a contraction.\n\nTaking a page from American late-night, the show will also include an \u201con-the-street element were people practice their English.\u201d Kind of a Jaywalking, Kabul edition; maybe they will ask Afghanis what they think about The Waste Report or if anyone has used the $43 million gas station Uncle Sam paid for.\n\nBut perhaps the most intriguing element of the show is borrowed from another genre of American TV, the game-show. In fact, the grant opportunity is very explicit that the show should include a competition element and notes exactly what should go into these games. Competition, \u201cshould involve games played in a team. The team can be two members of our target demographic (15- 25), or one member of the public playing with a local celebrity.\u201d Local celebrities? Perhaps an all-star from the U.S. taxpayer funded cricket league?\n\nWhile English learning is the primary objective, the Department of State hopes the show will expand its message to other topics. They recommend the competition portion focus on specific themes such as, \u201cenvironmental preservation, access to education, or volunteerism\u2026\u201d We recommend a theme of not wasting taxpayer\u2019s money.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T20:51:40Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-highlights-1-million-taxpayer-funded-variety-show-afghanistan/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7648731116205454, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}