One Step Closer to Kafka

 

Starting with a post from almost two years ago: Please, No DOGE.  Several months before DOGE blew up, but after noting that there is no chance that the bureaucracy and those who live off its fat would allow Musk to take $2 trillion (or even $2 million) out of government spending, I offered:

But there is a bigger problem: do I want the government to more efficiently kill innocents overseas; more efficiently spy on me; more efficiently incarcerate perpetrators of victimless crimes; more efficiently process illegal aliens?  Oh, the list can go on.

Concluding with:

At most, Musk and his buddies will make some aspects of government more efficient – Blackwater will fix the DOD, Palantir will fix the CIA and FBI, etc.  You get the idea.  

I want none of that.

Well, the “good” parts of DOGE disappeared very quickly, and look what we are left with:

Beginning next year, U.S. citizens can apply for their first passport fully online, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"By the end of 2027, our goal is for the vast majority of Americans to be able to apply for a passport or a passport card on America.gov," Rubio said during a Sept. 29 remark at an event launching the America.gov platform.

Now, setting aside the wisdom of such an idea (not my subject for today), this is just one step in a larger plan to make the government more “efficient.”  There is an entirely new platform being developed, consolidating every bit of federal government data into one location:

The America.gov platform was launched by President Donald Trump on Sept. 29.

Trump signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to integrate their services with the platform.

The new web portal is aimed at making it easier for people to find government-related information, enabling people to ask questions and get guidance on how to procure various services.

The portal serves as a landing page that consolidates almost 30,000 federal government websites into one chatbot.

To the extent any of this is accomplished (also not my subject today), I suspect Russian and Chinese hackers are giggling with glee at how much easier this will make their work (and…also not my subject today). 

This is my subject:

Answers to questions about government services come directly from official government websites with links to sources, according to the platform.

If anywhere close to accomplished, this could reach all aspects of interaction with government.

Next year, the site is scheduled to offer assistance in finding Medicare coverage and enrollment.

Already a bankrupt program, but now we will make it go bankrupt even more efficiently?

The site will also make it easier for Americans to find a job in the federal government.

What?  If you are making the government more efficient, why make this part of the government more efficient?  Wouldn’t we require fewer government employees, not more?

Citizens will submit their resumes, and the platform will match them with positions fitting their experience.

If there was any true intent to make government more efficient (there isn’t), the government would do fewer things (say, start by looking at the actual Constitution for a blueprint); it wouldn’t work to do everything it does and more even more efficiently.

Conclusion

Now, if I believed this would result in some reduction in government spending due to a reduced need for wasteful hiring (say, at least $1 trillion), I might be willing to make the tradeoff.

And who knows what else they are planning to make more efficient (which, of course, they aren’t telling us about until it goes live – if then).  It is the “what else” that is the really scary stuff…assuming they could actually do any of this (although, there is always a bright and evil someone willing to trade their evil for a few coins).

To this end, returning to my post from two years ago:

Almost all that the government does are things that I do not want the government to do.  So why would I want the government to be more efficient at any of these?

I want none of this.

I am certain they will make the stuff I don’t want more efficient.  There are dozens of tech companies already serving or lining up to serve these ends.  Some of the brightest (and most dangerous) minds in the western world are telling us loudly what they intend in this regard.

How Well did These Hold Up? (Part Two)

 

More from my posts on politics since Trump’s second election.

 

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Time to Pack Your Bags

In the context of the twelve-day war:

Now, am I suggesting that the nukes are going to start flying before Friday?  No.  But Trump has made clear that there is no off switch, no off ramp, no making America great.  First, he exploded the budget, then he exploded World War Three.  This empire is going to die with the biggest bang ever, this is now perfectly clear.

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Quo Vadis MAGA?

Trump is the most confusing president in my lifetime (just see my last post, and compare it to several of my earlier posts).  Some people see him playing 4-D chess or call it his negotiation strategy, others just see it for chaos.

In this post, I did a reset to focus my thinking, looking through two lenses which ground me in a geopolitical landscape.  The first one:

To summarize [Mackinder’s] thesis: whoever controls the Pivot Area [basically Central Asia] controls the world.  Britain at that time, and the United States certainly since World War Two, have controlled the seas – the Lands of the Outer Crescent.  But this will be irrelevant to whoever brings under control and tames the Pivot Area.

For those in the Pivot Area, bring those in the Inner Crescent onto your side, providing a buffer along with technologies and other advantages.  For those in the Outer Crescent, create chaos in the Inner Crescent – and, while you’re at it, do what you can to create chaos in the Pivot Area.  In other words, at all costs, don’t let the Pivot Area develop by sidetracking the Pivot Area with internal and regional chaos.

The second one:

November 22, 1963: I don’t have to say nearly as much here.  Let’s just say that every President since then has got the message: play ball or you’re out.

Through these two lenses, it is clear where we are headed.  My conclusion: the best one could say for Trump is that he is working to get the US out of the empire business in the only way he could, given the deep state.  The worst one can say?  I think we are living it.

 

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Can America be MGA*?

*Made Great Again

Suppressed truth.  JFK, nine-eleven, who did Epstein work for.  These three events strike me as the most significant events for exemplifying and enabling the unrighteous condition of America today.

As long as America continues in this condition, it will never be made great again.  If there is any consistency with God (and you know that it is not possible for God to be anything other than consistent), America cannot be made great again – not in any meaning of “great” that is good.

God is showing America His back, not His face; He has removed America from His sight.  For this reason, there is only one way for America to go – that is the way of Babylon.

Healing can only come through Jesus Christ.  And, unfortunately, many of His (so-called) servants are leading the charge of corruption.

Those so-called servants?  Evangelical Christians of the warmongering persuasion.

 

Friday, September 12, 2025

A Turning Point for the USA

The day after Charlie Kirk was killed.

A 31-year-old young man, a husband, a father of two, was assassinated for talking.  This word combination can’t be real, but it is.

Christ or chaos.  We each face this choice in our personal lives, and as a society the choice is no different.  I pray we move toward Christ, but it seems we are being ever-increasingly pushed (manipulated) toward chaos.

 

Saturday, November 22, 2025

Some Clarity

Observations and thoughts about how things are going with MAGA.

Whatever the reason that Trump isn’t get most of what he said he wanted to do get done, he isn’t.  Whether he wants to but can’t, or if he doesn’t want to and never wanted to, it doesn’t make a difference.  It just proves, perhaps more powerfully than ever – given the wave of support Trump had – nothing meaningful will change based on who you vote for.

The best way to kill a movement?  Give it what it wants.  Trump, with a majority in both houses of congress; some of the best anti-war / pro-transparency people in his cabinet.  Then prove that nothing important changes; they laughingly put your impotence right in your face.

But, a reminder to not forget what has changed.  Yes, the border seems to be reasonably closed – except for more H1-B visas and more foreign college students.  And yes, we don’t hear as much openly about how terrible you are if you are a straight white male.  So, that’s something.

 

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Our Present Age

We live in a wicked land, ruled by wicked people.  God’s judgment is true.

 

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Biblical Prophecy in Action

A few days after the launch of the current phase of the war on Iran:

But what is this moment?  Well, I am terrible at writing about current events.  But is seems to me that there is a greater than zero-percent chance that Iran will outlast Israel and the United States in this war.  And if they do, there is a greater than zero-percent chance that either Israel or the United States will launch a nuke against Tehran.  Once that happens, the Middle East goes poof.

Sadly, this is aging well.

 

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Is There an Offramp?

Now, for the offramp.  Park three nuclear-weapon equipped submarines off the coast of Tel Aviv.  Tell Netanyahu to stand down, else they launch and turn Israel into glass.  Tell Tehran that this is what will happen, but they are free to keep firing until they see that Israel has stood down.

If Isreal doesn’t stand down, fire.  If Israel launches a ballistic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear payload, fire – everything, the entire payload.

I hate this answer.  But I see no other offramp.  I see no reason that Iran will stop, as they know that they will be destroyed unless they bring an end to the madness of Israel and the United States. 

It is still the only way I see this ending somewhat peacefully.  It isn’t going to happen.

Or, maybe, the sadistic murderers will suddenly become rational.  I guess that could happen. I would be thrilled to be wrong.

That isn’t going to happen.

 

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Catastrophe or Chaos…or both.

I see no offramp in Iran – yes, maybe in the short-term, but not in the medium term.  And sooner or later, nuclear weapons are most likely involved here.  Whether it’s the US or Israel is irrelevant.

It is interesting to me how calm I remain in this circumstance. When I truly can do nothing about the geopolitical situation, all I have is Christ. Yes, that’s all I always have, but there is something about my total impotence in the face of this current evil that in a way brings me calm and peace.

 

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Trump Inflation 2.0

Which brings us to Trump Inflation 2.0.  He’s done it again, this time via the Iran war.  Since the start of the war in Iran ten weeks ago, Year-over-Year CPI went from 2.4% to 3.8%, and few see any end in sight, at least regarding oil, gas, and dependent or related products (which means pretty much everything we buy).

“I did that!”  They already have the stickers.

 

 

Thursday, June 18, 2026

MAGA Update

Well, let me start with a big “if”: if what we are reading about this MOU to end the war in Iran is accurate, or even approximate, it represents a total capitulation by Trump and the United States government.  Of course, there was no choice but to capitulate, because it would have taken total annihilation of Iran to avoid this – and total annihilation of Iran would have meant half the world’s population dies.

Well, that MOU didn’t last but a few days.

Many who voted for Trump – again, call it his working-class base – wanted the US out of foreign wars, bring the troops home, shut down the foreign military bases, get out of these international institutions like the UN, the EU, NATO, etc.

Trump is doing that.  I certainly don’t like the way he is doing it, but what if he is doing it the only way it can be done in Washington: give the neocons and all associated with wanting more war everything they want? 

So, who knows if this was by Trump’s design.  But it certainly looks like it will be one effect.  With that said, I still don’t see this empire dying without a fight.  It remains very dark before the dawn…if we survive until dawn.

Conclusion

We are a few weeks away from the mid-terms.  Nothing important will change, no matter who wins.  But the theater of politics could get much more entertaining if the democrats win.