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Should neo-cons and Zionists be expelled from America Or is that a violation of free speech and free association? MR. RAVEN JAN 31

Should neo-cons and Zionists be expelled from America for their endless war mongering, which foments global hate against Americans and makes us less safe? POLL Should neo-cons and Zionists be expelled from America? Yes No You're currently a free subscriber to Whisper from the trees. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2024 Mr. Raven 10531 Java Road, Irons Mi, 49644

Which way MAGA paleo-con or neo-con? MR. RAVEN JAN 22

Yes it’s bad AI “art,” may Jesus have mercy on my soul Authors note, I rarely write about horse race politics as I feel it is where real ideas go to die, but this subject is important enough that I am going to break that rule and perhaps even bump into a substantive idea or two along the way. I What is a paleo-con and why did I become one? In the late fall of 2011 when Occupy Wall St. ended I decided I had, had enough of the left, the local Occupy I had been a part of had infiltrated from the hard left by Trotskyite Communists and from the establishment by mainstream Democrats. Further what was then called political correctness was beginning to swamp a class analysis and anti-war activism on the left. Already there was something called “the progressive stack,” where women, what was then LGB people, and racial minorities got to jump the line when speaking to people. I was finding dealing with emotion driven left “activist,” politics to be draining and highly unsatisfying. Still I was opposed to Bush’s ongoing war in Iraq, and wanted some kind of worldview that accommodated being against the war. Fortunately I had an out, I was reading antiwar.com at that time a paleo-libertarian anti-war website, where I was able to delve into the history of the anti-war paleo-conservatives, and how the conservative movement was hijacked by the neo-cons in the early 80s. Considering the resurgence of neo-cons now with people like Victoria Nuland in the Biden administration those articles on antiwar.com are still relevant today. Sadly, then as now being anti-neo-con got you labeled an “anti-Semite,” everything old is new again. Anyway here are a couple of classic articles on antiwar.com to give you a feel for what I was reading then. I highly recommend reading them before proceeding if you are not familiar with the battle between neo-cons and plaeo-cons. https://www.antiwar.com/orig/lind1.html See also: “The idea that the major media have been taken over by neo-Nazis, and that the campaign to identify who and/or what got us involved in an unnecessary and ultimately futile war is all part of "the new anti-Semitism," is the rather implausible theme of the neocons' defense.” Sound familiar from today’s headlines? Guess what this was written in 2003, over 20 years ago! So all very well, perhaps you understand where I am coming from a little better in my essays now, but what relevance does this have to today? Well guess what the neo-cons are on the march again in the form of people like Victoria Nuland, Nikki Haley, and Elise Stefanik, and in AIPAC’s harassment of dubious free speech hero Elon Musk. II The establishment strikes back resurrecting neo-cons from the dead When it became obvious to everyone the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started by Bush and his gaggle of neo-cons were going south and were unwinnable around 2014 or so, the neo-cons slithered underground and kept a low profile, while also conspicuously not apologizing for the 200,000 to 1,000,0000 dead Iraqis, or the 1 in 4 American soldiers who participated in that war who were seriously injured, psychologically traumatized, or killed. Just because they weren’t writing op-eds doesn’t mean they weren’t doing damage though. Victoria Nuland the husband of Robert Kagan of PNAC fame and deputy foreign policy adviser to Dick Cheney was one of the major forces behind the 2014 coup in Ukraine in the Obama years, and she was caught on the phone picking the government of Ukraine after the coup. She is currently second in command at the state department and one of the major instigators for continued funding of the disastrous war in Ukraine and for supplying weapons and diplomatic cover for Israel. Neo-cons have no party loyalty as you can see from Nuland’s career, she is perfectly content to work for Republicans or Democrats as long as there are constant attacks on Russia and support for Israel’s repression of the Palestinians. Here are some links with background on all this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Nuland https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957 (Telephone transcript of Nuland’s participation in selecting Ukraine’s government after the coup) John Bolton another notorious neo-con manged to weasel his way into the Trump administration as National Security Adviser, but Trump also wound up firing him. Trump also ousted Victoria Nuland, who as I mentioned before was later picked up by Biden, and is a major player in Biden’s disastrous war mongering foreign policy. After the October 7th terror attacks on Israel, and Israel’s disproportionate response that has led to the bombing and compete destruction of dozens of hospitals and the deaths of thousands of women and children the neo-cons have been fully resurrected from the dead, and are on the march in full public view now. Currently the neo-cons are demanding broad censorship of any criticism of Israel’s conduct of their war and neo-con adjacent politician Elise Stefanak recently claimed the scalp of Harvard President Claudine Gay. While I do not have much pity for Claudine Gay as a plagiarist lazy “scholar” making a million dollars a year at Harvard, I am concerned that a portion of the right that was previously united against woke censorship is now all on board with censorship and cancellation of anyone who offends Zionists. As usual the neo-con clique is acting in an authoritarian fashion when it comes to protecting the interests of the foreign country of Israel, putting the feelings of Zionists and American Zionist sympathizers above the free speech rights of Americans who oppose Israel’s war. We can also add into this mix odious war profiteer Nikki Haley who has never seen a war she doesn’t love, and who has called for a ban on anonymous posting on the internet, which would destroy American political discourse. Fellow Substacker Lee Fang documents Haley’s rise being closely tied to defense contracting and advocacy for pro war Zionist policies. “Haley became wealthy in large part from her ties to a network of defense interests and hawkish advocacy organizations tied to U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials. In one of her first reported private sector jobs after leaving her last government post, Haley joined the board of Boeing, a defense contractor, a position that paid around $300,000 a year in cash and stock. Haley, according to disclosures, still owns up to $250,000 in Boeing stock.Haley’s primary income, aside from speaking engagements, is from United Against a Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group shrouded in secrecy.” Lee Fang Nikki Haley's Sudden Wealth Rooted in Weapons Industry, Pro-War Advocacy Network When should America deploy its armaments and forces to conflicts around the globe? And how much of the American military intervention abroad is shaped by genuine humanitarian and U.S. interests versus the tangled web of foreign alliances, special interest groups, and defense contractors… Read more 5 months ago · 412 likes · 62 comments · Lee Fang So Nikki Haley whether she directly identifies as a neo-con or not, is in essence a neo-con. And as I noted earlier Joe Biden’s foreign policy has been captured by neo-cons as well in the most obvious form of Dick Cheney protege Victoria Nuland, and also IMO in the form of the head of the State Department Antony Blinken. While this article labels him a neo-liberal and not a neo-con in foreign policy terms there is very little difference between neo-cons and neo-libs. Our only apparent hope of avoiding the neo-cons dreams of expanded war in the middle east, continuing the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, and war against China i.e. in total WWIII seems to be Trump defeating Nikki Haley in the primaries, and Joe Biden in the general election. And yet... III Which way MAGA Paleo-con or neo-con? ...this is reliant on Trump being solidly America First and not caving to establishment demands he appoints neo-cons to his VP and other key cabinet positions like National Security adviser, Sec. of Defense, and Secretary of State. Can Trump be trusted to show good judgment on this crucial issue? Sadly I have my doubts considering in his first term he appointed John Bolton at least for a while as National Security Adviser, and he also appointed other people who sabotaged his policy agenda like Mike Pence. Further Trump seemed flummoxed when deep state stay behinds like Michael Hayden who signed the infamous letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was “misinformation,” and stay behind FBI head James Comey conspired against his agenda. Trump is extremely susceptible to flattery and will overlook almost anything his underlings do as long as he considers them to be loyal to him as an individual. Further lets not kid ourselves he is a womanizer and thus susceptible to a woman younger than himself whispering poison in his ear. Normally this is just gossip rag fodder but unfortunately in this case it has deadly serious policy implications. If Trump isn’t imprisoned by the deep state, and manages to have a fair primary where he defeats Nikki Haley, he will be under tremendous establishment donor class pressure to appoint Haley or Stefanik as his VP pick. His ring of hangers on will tell him having a woman and a “moderate” will “balance” the ticket and please the donor class and his media critics. Further running along side a younger woman would stroke his vanity. If this happens it will be an utter disaster, not only would a Haley, Stafanik or some similar person whisper terrible advice in his ear regarding a neo-con endless war based foreign policy, they would work behind the scenes with deep state stay behinds to sabotage any kind of America First freedom and paleo-con friendly policy agenda. Finally a Haley or Stefanik as VP would be the MAGA heir apparent for the 2028 election. This would make a mockery of MAGA and would simply mean a return to neo-con control of the state. OTH if Trump does the both ethical and smart thing and picks Tucker Carlson or Vivek as his running mate I believe we at least have a fighting chance at vanquishing the neo-cons and deep state stay behinds. God speed America, the bible says good wins in the end, let’s hope and pray that’s true. If you would like to help a poor wilderness paleo-con hermit keep the neo-cons at bay, you can support me with a direct subscription here, or 3 other ways. On Ko-Fi which is nice because they currently aren’t charging any fees At Buy Me A Coffee with an individual donation, or a 2 dollar a month membership. Buy Me A Coffee I also take PayPal raven200@gmail.com Whisper from the trees. © 2024 Mr. Raven 10531 Java Road, Irons Mi, 49644

Mom yelled at me for getting something to eat.

 As the year draws to a close, we at the Gold Institute continue to pause and reflect on our significant accomplishments of 2023. This year has been marked by our deep involvement in various influential activities and initiatives.

In the wake of the Covid pandemic's ongoing impact, we find ourselves facing challenges from aggressive, autocratic powers and international Islamist terrorism. Despite the West's cohesive stance on issues like Ukraine, complexities arise as some allies maintain nuanced ties with Russia and Iran. These situations highlight the critical need for our sustained efforts in fostering resilience, optimism, and pride in the West’s contributions to humanity. It is imperative to defend the West, our allies, and our values against both internal and external threats across multiple fronts.

Our challenges are both domestic and international. The emergence of "Wokeism" has evolved into an attack on Western history, values, and achievements. The agitational Left, spurred by misinformation from foreign adversaries, is creating divisions and undermining confidence in our democratic institutions, particularly among the youth. The Gold Institute for International Strategy is committed to defending Western ideals through a variety of channels, including articles, television broadcasts, seminars, and discussions.

In the Middle East, our fellows have been instrumental in transforming existing and new media outlets into highly accurate sources, thereby significantly expanding their readership and viewership.

Politically, the strategic alliances established by our esteemed legislative fellows are key in upholding conservative values worldwide. Our events in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East showcase our capability to create meaningful connections with conservative entities globally. Academically, the Institute plays vital advisory roles with leading universities in the Middle East and Europe, enhancing collaboration and fostering academic partnerships.

Our work with Chinese dissidents, aiming to expose and counter Xi Jinping's and the CCP's global ambitions, reflects our dedication to opposing autocratic regimes. Our advocacy in the European Parliament for a shift in the European Institutions' approach towards China has been impactful. The EU’s recognition of the threat posed by China, as evident in the EU-China relations report, affirms our persistent efforts to address the challenges of the largest communist dictatorship.

Reflecting on these achievements, we acknowledge that our mission is ongoing. The support from individuals like yourself is crucial in addressing these pressing matters. Looking ahead to 2024, we aim to amplify our impact, forge new collaborations, and continue safeguarding the values fundamental to our societies.

We kindly ask for your continued support. Your contributions are vital to our research, education, and initiatives aimed at protecting the West and highlighting its positive global influence.

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Two cheers for high modernism, the virtues and limits of high modernism Victim based identity politics, irony, pastiche, and cynical humor are played out MR. RAVEN DEC 31 Arguably the high water mark of American culture was between 1925 to 1965, this time period produced writers such as Hemingway, Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Gore Vidal, William Faulkner, etc. Also in this time period we saw triumph over the Nazis in WWII, the invention of the computer, the initiation of the space race, and the telecommunications revolution. It was a time period of immense culture achievement which we live in the shadows of today. Today we tweak and refine the inventions of the high modernist period but nothing really new has been brought to the table in almost 60 years, a time period almost 20 years longer than the high modernist time period itself. What was it that allowed such great achievements to flourish? To get to the root of this we must dig into the high modernist culture to see what values and standards it promoted that nourished excellence. One of the main values of high modernism was a very sharp distinction between our public lives and our private lives. In our public lives we were to strive for seriousness of purpose, universal secular values, and trying to be objective and neutral in dealing with people and to avoid rash emotional outbursts. This is opposite to the values promoted by postmodern identity based ideologies like feminism that posit “the personal is political,” and that emotion driven subjective “lived experience,” and ethnic and sexual identity trumps merit and other virtues. The public personae of the high modernist was based on individual character and the refined and highly educated expression of reason and unique intellectual insights, not what identity group one belonged to. Ones identity like ethnicity, religion, sex and sexual orientation were rightly seen as belonging to the private sphere of ones life, not the public sphere. While our identity in the private sphere is not unimportant, in fact it may be the most important thing in our sphere of intimate relations like friends and family, the high modernists correctly saw bringing these emotionally fraught identities into our public behavior would be wholly destructive of the harmonious social order that makes complex high culture possible. Having said that our intimate and personal lives are important, even sacred, I make an argument for the importance of private life over public life in the linked essay below, so this is an important caveat to keep in mind when I am praising high modernism. Are you sure you want to win the political  game? MR. RAVEN · SEP 10 Another value highly esteemed in high modernism compared to postmodernism is the value of individual character and individual excellence.  In the high modernist culture you were valued for what you produced and what innovations you created. This is in stark contrast to postmodernist, fascist, and communist ideologies in which your value comes from what group you belong to. It does not take much reflection to see how rewarding excellence will lead to better outcomes than rewarding all comers mediocre and great alike based on what group you belong to. Further it was expected that your status would be challenged by continuous vigorous debates from up and comers trying to knock you off your throne which was a hierarchy predicated on continuously demonstrated excellence. Again we see the contrast to non modernist ideologies like woke, Communism, and fascism that quash debate that might put a favored group in a bad light. All of this sounds refreshing compared to postmodernism, but is it anything different than classical liberalism?  I would argue it is because classical liberalism treated the market as an idol to be worshiped, where as there is much more dissent from market worship that you start to see even in proto-modernists like Nietzsche who saw the market as a leveling down to the level of the herd. High modernism is general is more elitist in a good way than classical liberalism, and that keeps a high modernist society from degenerating into a circus that caters to lowest common denominator base desires which can easily happen in a society based on classical liberalism. This regression of society to de-civilizing base desires is also seen in culturally relativist post modern societies that offer no foundational value to not engaging in addiction, and exhibitionist deviance. In fact I think it’s arguable postmodern decadence is simply the end game of the classical liberal “open society” in which unlimited personal autonomy is the only sacrosanct value. The moral exhaustion and sickness of postmodern society that valorizes deviance, transgression, pastiche, irony, and flattening of hierarchies is becoming increasingly obvious to many people. Having said this is there anything to be salvaged from the postmodern and pre-modern worldviews? Yes I think there are several things worth saving that run counter to the high modernist worldview. One would be vernacular local culture such as local forms of architecture, clothing food, religious belief, etc. These are very humanizing in our personal and family life, and one flaw of high modernism was a bland and brutalist architecture that prioritized function and large scale over comfortable pleasing to the eye living spaces that are in harmony with the local environment. The environment in fact was downplayed altogether in modernism and this alienation from our natural environment and promotion of urban living by the high modernists was bad for our psyches in my opinion. I also think that seeing high modernism as being most healthy for the west is a healthy perspective and in the coming multi-polar world we ought not try to impose high modernism on non-western cultures where people may not want to live in the bounds of the modernist paradigm. One way to try to square the circle of the conflicting demands of high modernism v.s. anti-modern world views is seeing the rigor and formality of high modernism as being most appropriate for our public personae at work, at educational institutions, when make a public presentation of our art or insights, etc, and seeing anti-modern views as being more appropriate to our personal and family life, where subjectivity, cultural history, and strong emotions are more appropriate. High modernity is a mode of thought that was rejected with too much haste, and ought to be re-evaluated as part of a life well lived if we want to stay the decadence and tribal based authoritarianism that is rapidly consuming western society. If you would like to help a poor wilderness modernist keep his virtual ink wells full, you can support me with a direct subscription here, or 3 other ways. On Ko-Fi which is nice because they currently aren’t charging any fees At Buy Me A Coffee with an individual donation, or a 2 dollar a month membership. Buy Me A Coffee I also take PayPal raven200@gmail.com