America's annual rituals and observances include days we usually celebrate together (July Fourth, Memorial Day, Veterans Day), or as members of special groups (Passover, Easter and Christmas).

The one annual ritual it can be safely said most Americans despise is April 15, when the half of us who pay federal income taxes must "render unto Caesar" portions of our hard-earned money to a government that wastes much of it and dislikes exposure and accountability. It's why Elon Musk and his band of DOGE warriors are despised by the Left and the misspenders.

The federal government began the process of firing several hundred employees at the Federal Aviation Administration just weeks after a fatal collision occurred at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration carries out mass layoffs at various federal agencies amid large-scale budget-cutting efforts.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and the Cyber Safety Review Board were both on the president’s recent chopping block.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding Wednesday to a question about a right-wing conspiracy theory, announced that the federal government would cancel $8 million worth of Politico subscriptions.

At 84 years old, Evelyn Paternostro spends her days working part time as a cashier at Dollar Tree. For decades, she dedicated her life to education, serving as a teacher and principal in Louisiana. But despite years of her public service, she now struggles to make ends meet.

The Senate advanced a bill extending billions of dollars in Social Security benefits to some public-sector workers whose payments are currently limited, a near-final step in a drawn-out, bipartisan push. 

As Congress was rending itself over the government funding deadline, and the entire political press was focused on the spectacle of it, lawmakers passed a different bill that communicates the fundamental unseriousness with which our elected leaders approach government spending.