Forward is no more. They burned through hundreds of millions of dollars to chase terrible concepts of automation.
“So we just said, let’s build health care in the same way that you would build a Tesla….” Citing conversations with 11 former employees, Business Insider wrote that Forward was burning through its cash and had cut costs by laying off workers and removing services from its clinics. Reportedly, the company also was struggling to set up more CarePod kiosks, which four employees said cost more than $1 million each, and the kiosks that were open occasionally trapped patients inside.
The big difference from Tesla, of course, is that this company didn’t kill anyone let alone burn them to death after being trapped inside.
The nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary reveals multiple layers of extremist signaling — from overt actions and affiliations to coded language and historical echoes. Let’s examine the clear hate group evidence, loudly signaling a national security threat, starting with the most direct concerns.
Immediate concrete evidence of concern
CNN says the announcement about the infamously divisive and toxic Army National Guard veteran signals “support for troops… convicted of war crimes”.
Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth has railed against women in combat, voiced support for troops accused and in some instances, convicted of war crimes, and advocated for the firing of the military’s most senior officers accused of supporting so-called woke policies.
Hegseth has been flagged basically everywhere lately for having “white crusader” tattoos because he apparently is unapologetic about branding himself as someone who hates others (and wants to kill them) based on race and religion.
Hegseth’s tattoos, political views and religious affiliation and background are consistent with an extreme strain of Christian nationalism, according to Matthew Taylor, a scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies. Specifically, he appears to belong to a fringe denomination known as Reformed Reconstructionism, which believes in applying biblical Christian law to society, exclusively male leadership, and actively preparing the world for the prophesied return of Jesus. The denomination has an affinity for the Crusades, the military campaign waged during the Middle Ages by European Christians to rid Muslims from the Holy Land.
To put it plainly, extremist hate group memes by 2017 made it abundantly clear that a Jerusalem Cross and the phrase “Deus Vult” symbolized their brand of white nationalist violence.
Source: Princeton
Hegseth, only after hearing the prominent news about the rise of extremism, had it tattooed prominently on his chest and bicep. Notably, Hegseth claimed Norwegian descent while adorning his body around 2021 with domestic terror symbolism of the 2011 Norway tragedy.
The Independent says his nomination announcement signals a patronage system choosing the “least qualified nominee… most overtly political”.
Hegseths’s nomination is “the most hilariously predictably stupid thing” that Trump could do, according to former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, a former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. Hegseth “is a highly effective and ferocious media, culture and political warrior for MAGA. And beyond loyal to and trusted by Trump,” according to Paul Rieckhoff, an Army veteran of the Iraq War and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He is “undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for [defense secretary] in American history. And the most overtly political,” Rieckhoff said. “Brace yourself, America.” Hegseth graduated from Princeton University in 2003 and received his master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University.
This pattern of concerning behavior extends beyond ideology. Hegseth accidentally threw an axe that hit someone in West Point, and then hunched over and walked away as if to avoid responsibility for rash thoughtless acts.
Some officials expressed concern that Hegseth might come into the building with a hatchet aimed at axing programs without getting a lay of the land first.
I don’t know who would really mix up a hatchet and an axe, but generally it sounds like they’re on the right path about this guy’s lack of thoughtfulness.
Pete Hegseth denies existence of germs, saying: “I can’t see them, therefore they’re not real.”
Uncoordinated, selfish, and dangerous. His actions demonstrated a kind of attention-seeking person unaccountable and unreliable, who disgraces himself and those around him.
Military resignation context
Particularly telling is how Hegseth proudly says he decided to back down from the military because they allegedly called him on white supremacist affiliations. He literally quit after his “political and religious views” were flagged by the very reasonable standards prohibiting hate groups in the military.
The feeling was mutual – I didn’t want this Army anymore either.
That’s what he wrote in his book, as if to foreshadow a nomination to lead the thing he doesn’t want anymore. He wrote that he is a man who backed down.
I can’t emphasize this enough, that he says he is someone who backs down, and then he’s nominated to be someone exact opposite to who he really is. Quitter won’t quit? Dog-whistler.
The military resignation narrative is particularly telling — claiming to leave due to “political and religious views” being challenged, only to later seek top leadership. It suggests an attempt to frame enforcement of anti-extremism policies as persecution. This fits a common pattern where extremist groups attempt to portray basic standards against discrimination as attacks on their rights.
These modern signaling techniques didn’t emerge in isolation – they draw from a long history of military segregation and white supremacist infiltration of American institutions. The parallels between current rhetoric and historical patterns are particularly striking when examining military leadership’s role in enforcing racial hierarchies.
While his individual actions paint a damning picture, understanding their full significance requires examining the environment that shaped them. The regional context of Hegseth’s upbringing provides crucial insights into how such extremist viewpoints develop and persist.
To examine how these extremist views develop and persist in a family that immigrated to America, let’s scratch the surface of where Hegseth was raised – Forest Lake, Minnesota. This region has a deeply troubling history of institutional racism and white supremacy that continues to this day. The pattern of racial violence, discrimination, and attempts to dismantle protective institutions provides crucial context for understanding current signals and intentions:
Forest Lake school district apologizes for 2016 blackface incident
In Lake Forest and America, lighter is still better
North Lakes Academy in Forest Lake, hired a coach accused of statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl
Forest Lake Republican council members campaigned to dissolve their entire 25-officer department claiming it would save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year
…Police Chief Mike Tusken was an adult when he learned his family’s shameful connection to the most racist chapter in his city’s history. Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie were lynched by a mob on June 15, 1920 without any police protection, because Irene Tusken lied about being raped.
[Forest Lake news] articles repeat almost every anti-Semitic canard, from the allegation that Jews run Hollywood to the claim that Jews were behind communism.
This background of institutional racism and attempts to dismantle protective structures helps explain the coded language used in Hegseth’s nomination announcement. To those familiar with white supremacist messaging patterns, the carefully chosen words and phrases carry clear significance.
Encoded hate language deciphered
Many, many years ago, before it was rebranded with a Swastika, I used to use Twitter.
Against this backdrop, Trump’s announcement takes on even deeper significance, notably publicly dog-whistling Hegseth’s strong “America First” association:
“Pete is…a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.” […] Hegseth has said he left the military in 2021 after being sidelined for his political and religious views by an Army that didn’t want him anymore.
As a long-time expert of information warfare and disinformation tactics, let me break down what’s going on with these capitalized phrases, which are setup to be recognized slogans within certain groups. Trump has combined militaristic themes with nationalist rhetoric, using “America” twice to emphasize nationalism. The phrasing “at the helm” evokes authoritarian leadership
“America’s enemies are on notice” echoes “enemies within” rhetoric historically used against minorities. It creates a threatening stance and implies crimes like President “America First” Wilson’s use of federal troops to kill black workers in 1919 Arkansas. The “on notice” suggests similar imminent escalation into violent confrontation without hesitation or negotiation.
“Military will be Great Again” is using the classic white nationalist phrase, where unusual capitalization of “Great” signals it as the known slogan. It links military power with ethnic/racial dominance, common in supremacist ideology.
“Never Back Down” is capitalized as a known slogan because it shouts out race-based dominance with resistance against perceived threats from non-whites, common in militant white nationalist rhetoric.
The phrase “true believer” (often capitalized as a signal) has significant meaning in context of white supremacist groups:
Historical usage: Implies exclusive membership in an “enlightened” in-group. Used to distinguish “real” members from “pretenders”. Suggests possession of special knowledge others don’t have (e.g. Invisible order and “Know nothings”)
Messaging function: Creates artificial scarcity/exclusivity. Reinforces group identity and loyalty. Implies others are “fake” or “traitors”. Often paired with phrases like “patriots” or “real Americans”
Operational purpose: Used to test loyalty/commitment. Creates pressure to prove one’s status as a “True Believer”. Helps identify fellow extremists while maintaining deniability. Often used in recruitment to make people feel special/chosen.
The “true believer” phrase thus is meant both as a recognition signal between members and a recruiting tool — it flatters potential recruits by suggesting they could be part of an elite, enlightened white nationalist group wearing costumes who “see truth” that others can’t.
Connecting to historical patterns
President Wilson campaigned as “America First” and then spread propaganda about “crusaders” costumed in white robes with the X as their symbol, sometimes with hooked ends known as a swastika.
America is clearly going back in time, so this should be no surprise to anyone who studied Woodrow Wilson’s screening of “Birth of a Nation” in the Whitehouse followed by racist policies of removing all non-whites from government… leading to a “Red Summer” of deadly white-supremacist attacks across the country, and then the 1921 racist militant campaign to murder Blacks and burn Tusla to the ground.
Each red dot represents a local KKK chapter (“Klavern”), which between 1915 and 1940 were spread across the country by by an “America First” platform. Source: Virginia Commonwealth UniversityTulsa was literally napalmed by “America First” crusaders who drove racist white mob violence into areas of Black prosperity (e.g. lynching WWI decorated military veterans for being Black).Tulsa officials immediately moved to competely erase their racist massacre and mass graves from public records, going so far as to drop the local KKK chapter (“Klavern”) directly on top of firebombed Black business and homes to prevent recovery.
Historical military context
The “crusader” iconography and Reformed Reconstructionism connection is especially concerning given American historical context. This ideology advocating biblical law and male-only white leadership while glorifying the Crusades has clear parallels to the racist Christian nationalism that Wilson promoted into widespread domestic terrorism campaigns through his “America First” campaign and propaganda.
Wilson’s hatred for non-whites, which drove his propaganda office of WWI and framed military service, used overt expressions of racist “Crusades” just like the tattoos that Hegseth selected in 2021 to decorate himself with.
General “Black Jack” Pershing was infamous for racism towards non-white soldiers
As Pershing infamously wrote in his day:
We must prevent the rise of any pronounced degree of intimacy between French officers and black officers. We may be courteous and amiable with the last but we cannot deal with them on the same plane as white American officers without deeply wounding the latter. We must not eat with them, must not shake hands with them, seem to talk to them or to meet with them outside the requirements of military service. We must not commend too highly these troops particularly in front of white Americans. Make a point of keeping the native cantonment from spoiling the Negro. White Americans become very incensed at any particular expression of intimacy between white women and black men.
In August 1917, Wilson pressured General John Pershing to issue a directive to the French military warning against decorating Black Soldiers to too great an extent for fear of “spoiling the Negroes.” The French largely ignored this directive, valuing Black Soldiers…
Wilson’s propaganda of the “Christian crusader” symbolism should serve as stark reminder of how racism was historically pushed upon American military leadership — particularly the explicit instructions to maintain racial hierarchies and prevent integration. The current signals about “taking back” the military and putting “enemies on notice” echo those same segregationist and supremacist goals.
From concrete evidence like war crimes support and white crusader tattoos, to the toxic environment of Forest Lake that shaped his views, to his carefully coded language echoing historical white supremacist movements – all signs point to an alarming pattern. This nomination isn’t just about one unqualified individual; it represents an attempt to restore the kind of institutional racism that General Pershing once openly enforced. The parallels between Wilson’s “America First” campaign and today’s signals are impossible to ignore – both used crusader imagery, both targeted military integration, and both wrapped white supremacy in patriotic language. Those who understand this history recognize exactly what’s being signaled about the future of military leadership and racial hierarchies in America.
The Whitehouse has announced it has plans for a new top DOG. Everything is soon expected to be half-baked, failing, undone, falling apart, rushed and…In what might be the most ironic government initiative of 2024, the newly announced Department of Government efficiency (DOGE) has managed to embody everything it claims to fight: bureaucratic bloat, inefficient processes, and vulnerability to fraud.
Let’s examine this comedy of barking mad failures and weakness.
Two Heads, No Brain
First, we have the obvious troll decision to appoint two leaders to do the job of one. Because nothing says “efficiency” quite like duplicating decision-making at the top to sow chaos and confusion. Everyone sees this rube error, as evidenced by widespread ridicule. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – both allegedly busy executives with numerous other alleged commitments – somehow agree to jointly lead this ill-conceived self-harm crusade. It’s like hiring two CEOs to run a cost-cutting consultancy branded the redundant partners of redundancy.
The “Brief Visual History of Weapons” should have been updated a long time ago to better illustrate why Russia giving Elon Musk money to buy Twitter was a public safety issue.
The World’s Worst Job Posting
But the real masterpiece of inefficiency, perhaps less obvious to most, is the announced hiring process full of security vulnerabilities that should be easily flooded due to its hugely inefficient system. DOGE claims to be seeking “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work 80+ hours per week for… wait for it… zero compensation. The application process? Just slide into their DMs on the “Swastika” platform with your CV. Yes, really.
Let’s count the ways the DOGE system already is hilariously weak and vulnerable:
Unqualified Applicants: When you offer zero pay for 80-hour weeks, guess who applies? People who either can’t actually take the job or have obfuscated (unknown) motives. It’s like posting “Free Ferrari” on Craigslist and expecting serious buyers to show up with boxes of cash. Come to think of it, that is in fact how Cybertruck fraud was setup to work. So many people killed by Tesla, so little accountability.
Fraud Paradise: Their vague qualifications (“super high-IQ” and “revolutionary spirit”) are impossible to verify. It’s a hidden loyalty test, natch. Anyone can claim to be a revolutionary genius in a DM. And with two high-profile “super low-IQ” executives (prove me wrong) saying they are committed to personally reviewing all these applications, there’s enormous incentive and opportunity for fraud.
Spam Heaven: Using X’s DM system for job applications is like making a vehicle that looks like dumpster and being surprised when raccoons try to move in. Any basic bot could flood the DOGE duplicative inboxes with millions of generated applications, each claiming to be the next Andrew Jackson of government efficiency.
The Ultimate Irony
The artificial cherry on top? The department tasked with finding government waste plans to have two extremely wealthy, busy executives manually review hundreds or thousands of applications together. Because nothing says “efficient use of resources” quite like having Elon Musk – who pretends to run multiple billion-dollar companies – spending his time reading stacks and stacks of CVs from imaginary unpaid volunteers.
A Numbers Game
Let’s do some quick math. If they receive a modest 10,000 applications (likely low given Musk’s ability to gather followers), the top 1% means 100 CVs to review. If they spend just 10 minutes per CV (being thorough efficiency experts, of course), that’s over 16 hours of combined executive time wasted – assuming they can even coordinate their schedules to do this together. And that’s a very low estimate, given how people can script a trivial bot to destroy this DOGE gambit.
The Real Waste
The true irony is that a hugely inefficient, fraud-prone process is supposedly the first step in making government more efficient. Up is down. Down is up. It’s like starting a diet by firing the kitchen staff and ordering twenty-seven of everything at McDonald’s “just to be sure.”
Conclusion
If DOGE were a private company’s efficiency consultancy, they’d fire themselves. But perhaps that’s the point – maybe this is actually a brilliant performance art piece demonstrating government inefficiency by example. If so, bravo! They’ve succeeded beyond a twelve-year old’s dreams. Next Elon Musk will prove how safe his Tesla design is by dousing himself with gasoline for self-immolation — burning himself to death like the constant tragic news stream about the predictable and unnecessary deaths of his unwitting followers.
Teslas notoriously “veer” uncontrollably and crash. Design defects (e.g. Pinto doors) trap occupants during an explosion of fire, burning everyone to death as witnesses and emergency responders struggle in horror. In one recent example in Korea, fire-fighters arrived almost immediately yet still were too late. The only way to stop the huge rise in deaths from “high-IQ efficiency experts” is to enforce basic standards of public safety (ban the waste of life inherent to these low-quality death-trap fraud schemes).
For now, we can only watch as this inefficient department of “efficiency” demonstrates exactly how not to run anything let alone a government organization. At least they’re teaching us something, even if it’s by counter-example like walking through a junkyard with hundreds of burned out Tesla that never made it to 10,000 miles.
In the spirit of efficiency, I’d write more, but I need to go submit my application to DOGE. I’m thinking of calling myself “Revolutionary McRevolutionface, IQ 250, efficiency supremacist willing to work 88 hours per week.” Think they’ll notice?
Between seat belts, air bags, collision warnings and automatic emergency braking, cars have gotten a lot safer over the years. Still, some models have higher fatal accident rates than others [on] iSeeCars’ review of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System data for most dangerous cars. Tesla topped its list of most dangerous car brands. […] The Tesla Model Y and Model S [have] fatal crash rates that are 370% and 200% higher than average.
Related: Tesla Deaths Rise in Stark Contrast to “vehicles with lowest driver death rates”
