Rip’s Catch of the Day

Theme: Dolly Parton

Selected by Jim Reynolds

Wednesday, August 26

Note: We’re experimenting with a special format for theme-aligned articles: a curated catch of stories built around one subject. These specials will appear only occasionally. This first edition fittingly honors a national treasure: Dolly Parton.

America Can’t Make National Treasures Like Dolly Parton Anymore

Madeline Osburn, Federalist

Dolly Parton Was The Ultimate Southern Woman

Elle Purnell, Federalist

Dolly Parton’s Greatest Legacy Is Her Family

Jordan Boyd, Federalist

Dolly Parton’s Apolitical Nature Was One of Her Many Iconic Assets

Ben Sellers, Redstate

Dolly Parton, RIP

Daniel J. Flynn, Spectator American [you made need to hit the 🔽 button to clear]

Watch: How Dolly Parton Handled ‘Classless’ Barbara Walters During 1977 Interview Has People Talking

Sister Toldjah, Redstate

States Move to Cut Funding to Dolly Parton’s ‘Imagination Library’

Jennifer Oliver O’Connell, Redstate

Age As Gracefully As Dolly Parton

Eddie Scarry, Federalist

I found this very touching video on YouTube last night. As a musician myself, I found Rick’s tribute especially moving. He speaks with obvious love and deep appreciation for Dolly’s extraordinary musical talent. It may make you cry.

Speaking of catches of the day.

Here’s Rip with a steelhead caught somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Rip loved to fish. And for perspective, Rip was a large man. Ashley tells me 6’3” and 230 pounds.

That’s a linebacker holding a very big fish.

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 26, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - Were the Bombs of August 1945 ‘Demonic’?

Kathleen Brush - Dividing America On Race: Russia’s Enduring Geopolitical Strategy

Jay Rogers - Faith Is Free. A Second Legal System Isn’t.

Jim Reynolds - Damage Control in Real Time

Overview

This set is about power, memory, and the lies people tell to keep both.

One piece goes back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and says Truman faced a brutal choice, not a cartoon villain’s decision, because the invasion of Japan would have cost staggering American and Japanese lives.

Another shows how Russia has spent decades turning America’s racial wounds into a weapon, pushing the idea that the country is irredeemably racist so it can be weakened from within.

The other two pieces are about the present-day fight over Islamism and the left’s habit of dodging plain questions, and both make the same point: if you refuse to name the threat, you end up defending it.

Were the Bombs of August 1945 ‘Demonic’?

By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-25 · Words: 2,642

• Critics again debate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with some calling the bombs demonic or unnecessary.

• Hanson argues Truman faced Okinawa-scale casualties, a likely invasion, and Japan’s refusal to surrender.

• He says the bombs likely saved lives, while conventional bombing and blockade were already devastating Japan.

• The deeper danger now is rogue regimes and new technologies, not America’s 1945 decision.

This debate matters because it shapes how we judge wartime necessity, nuclear deterrence, and today’s proliferation risks.

🅱️ It starts as a history lesson and ends like a fever dream. It tries to bridge the gap between 1945 and modern electioneering, but the transition is as bumpy as a dirt road. A heavy-handed defense of hard choices, though it loses the thread in the final scramble.

Reader Experience: Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Dividing America On Race: Russia’s Enduring Geopolitical Strategy

By: Kathleen Brush American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-21 · Words: 1,315

• Russia and the Soviet Union weaponized American racism to weaken U.S. power.

• Soviet propaganda recruited Black intellectuals, framing capitalism as inherently racist and irredeemable.

• Civil rights gains were recast as propaganda failures, while racial tensions were amplified.

• Modern race discourse, media, and academia still echo these Soviet-origin narratives.

This story matters because it argues America’s racial divisions are not just domestic failures, but a long-running foreign influence operation.

🅱️ It’s a long-form history lesson disguised as a warning shot. The author connects the dots between old-school Soviet agitprop and today’s academic outrage, showing how a century-old playbook is still being read from the same script. It’s heavy on context, but it hits the mark on how a nation’s own fractures become its greatest export.

Reader Experience: Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

Faith Is Free. A Second Legal System Isn’t.

By: Jay Rogers American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-25 · Words: 1,435

• Federal prosecutors accused Jessica Bowie of plotting an ISIS-inspired Capitol bombing in Albany.

• The article distinguishes Islam from Islamism, arguing personal faith is not the threat.

• It rejects parallel legal systems, insisting one civil law must govern everyone equally.

• Examples from Minneapolis, Hamtramck, Britain, and DFW illustrate accommodation versus legal surrender.

The story matters because it defends religious freedom while warning against any ideology that challenges constitutional supremacy.

🅱️ This isn’t a screed; it’s a map of the fault lines. It separates the neighbor from the ideology with surgical precision, making a case for the rule of law that doesn’t blink. A solid reminder that common sense isn’t a conspiracy theory—it’s the baseline.

Reader Experience: Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Damage Control in Real Time

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-25 · Words: 1,116

• El-Sayed’s Jesse Watters interview was framed as serious debate, but looked evasive.

• He repeatedly dodged direct questions on ICE, Iran strikes, minors’ surgeries, and sports.

• The article argues his interruptions and pivots signaled insincerity, not policy confidence.

• For Michigan voters, the interview may have created damaging clips, not reassurance.

The story matters because one televised non-debate may have exposed El-Sayed’s weakest political liability: trust.

🅱️ A clinical autopsy of a political meltdown. It tracks the pivot from policy to personality perfectly, showing how an ‘operator’ trips over his own shadow. Sharp, but the low-hanging fruit on the medical credentials could have been a heavier hammer.

Reader Experience: Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

You may also be interested in the following selected stories:

• The Cowardice of Dobbs — Spyridon Andrews, American Greatness

• Trump’s Canada Tariffs Aren’t the Betrayal Ottawa Claims — Brabim Karki, The American Spectator

• ☕️ GOING HOME ☙ Tuesday, August 25, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠 — Jeff Childers, www.coffeeandcovid.com

• The Assassination of Our American Philosopher — Aaron Shuster, FrontPage Magazine

• The Seven Years of History behind Seditious Six — DataRepublican, datarepublican.substack.com

• The 10 Most Iconic Baby Boomer Movies — Jack Cashill, jackcashill.substack.com

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 24, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Kevin D Freeman - Texas And Florida Are Reviving The Stability Of The Gold Standard

Ben Smith - After Trump’s Reelection, DEI Became Résumé Baggage, and LinkedIn Users Started Scrubbing It

Charlton Allen - When Lenin Lost An Election, He Abolished Democracy

Jim Reynolds - A Brief Discussion of the DSA Platform

Overview

I’m seeing the same fight in every piece this morning: who gets to define reality, and what happens when the people in power stop pretending to respect the rules.

Texas and Florida are pushing hard against the paper dollar with gold and silver payment rails, while the left’s DEI branding is being scrubbed off résumés now that Trump has made it toxic.

Lenin’s old trick is back in view too: lose an election, then declare democracy obsolete.

And the DSA’s platform is the same fantasy in modern clothes—big promises, no accounting, and a total disregard for what actually works.

Note: Some stories may interrupt with a “View Ad to continue” message. If that happens, tap the button, then quickly close the “pre-ad” using the tiny X in the upper-right corner. You’ll be returned to the story.

Easy, and usually worth it. I try not to send you to articles behind paywalls. I hate when that happens. A nice thing about reading the original article is that you are free to roam the publisher’s site while you are there.

Texas And Florida Are Reviving The Stability Of The Gold Standard

By: Kevin D Freeman The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-24 · Words: 1,254

• Texas will recognize gold and silver as legal tender starting Sept. 1.

• Florida’s legal tender law already took effect, using private custodians and electronic transfers.

• Both states are creating payment rails for metal-backed transactions, not replacing the dollar.

• The move responds to debt, inflation, and central banks’ growing gold accumulation.

• Even voluntary metal alternatives could discipline the dollar by giving Americans an exit.

Texas and Florida are turning gold from a collectible into a credible monetary alternative.

🅱️ This isn’t just a policy update; it’s a blueprint for an exit strategy. It lays out the math of the coming collapse and shows exactly where the door is located.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

After Trump’s Reelection, DEI Became Résumé Baggage, and LinkedIn Users Started Scrubbing It

By: Ben Smith RedState

Date: 2026-08-24 · Words: 681

• LinkedIn users began quietly removing DEI language from old job entries in early 2025.

• The shift followed Trump’s return and executive orders dismantling federal DEI programs.

• NBER researchers analyzed 29.4 million profiles and found retroactive edits were common.

• About 19.7% of established users changed past titles or descriptions, often years later.

• The paper suggests workers rewrite résumés to match employer preferences, not job reality.

This story shows how political shifts can rapidly reshape what professionals choose to advertise about themselves.

🅱️ The data shows the performance artists are finally scrubbing the stage makeup before the new management arrives. It’s a quiet, digital retreat from the cult of virtue—proof that when the wind shifts, even the ‘woke’ start looking for an exit ramp.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

When Lenin Lost An Election, He Abolished Democracy

By: Charlton Allen American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-21 · Words: 1,571

• Russia’s Constituent Assembly was elected to decide the post-imperial political order.

• Bolsheviks lost the vote, winning only about a quarter of the national tally.

• Lenin argued Soviet rule was a “higher form of democracy” than elections.

• Guards dissolved the Assembly after one sitting, ending Russia’s parliamentary experiment.

• The episode set a precedent: revolutionary legitimacy would override voter choice.

Lenin’s shutdown of Russia’s elected assembly shows how revolutions can turn democracy into a tool, then discard it.

🅱️ A sharp history lesson on how the ‘will of the people’ becomes a weapon once the winners decide they don’t like the actual results. It’s a sobering reminder that you can vote all you want, but it won’t matter if the people in charge have decided they own the truth. Good bones, clear warning.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

A Brief Discussion of the DSA Platform

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-21 · Words: 1,354

• Jim Reynolds critiques the DSA’s 2026 platform as utopian, expansive, and detached from practical constraints.

• He highlights proposals for shorter workweeks, universal healthcare, reparations, and public ownership.

• Reynolds argues these policies ignore costs, incentives, scarcity, and administrative limits.

• He says abolishing police, prisons, borders, and constitutional checks would concentrate power dangerously.

• The piece frames the platform as sincerity-driven ideology that mistakes abolition for governance.

This story matters because it spotlights the clash between sweeping progressive ambition and the hard limits of economics, institutions, and human behavior.

🅱️ A surgical autopsy of a fantasy. It takes the ‘wish list’ and shows the empty pockets underneath. Sharp, steady, and reminds you that gravity doesn’t care about your feelings.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

You may also be interested in the following selected stories:

• Conspiracy Theories Are an Exercise in Flawed Thinking — Lipton Matthews, American Greatness

• Who Benefits From Americaâs Political Bundles? — Tsahi Shemesh, American Thinker

• A Teachers’ Union Hits the Wrong Target — Stephen Soukup, American Greatness

• Repurposed Jihadists: Palestinian Terrorist Organizations Reborn as Political Parties — Khaled Abu Toameh, The Gatestone Institute

• Trump Should Help Struggling Farmers Grow Their Herds — Sean Davis, The Federalist

• On psychosis, psychopathy, and the insanity defense — Alex Berenson, alexberenson.substack.com

Leave a comment

Share

Lagniappe

“A little something extra”

August 22, 2026

Note: Since I own the content of this article, I can freely publish it here in its entirety. It is also available on www.reynolds.com.

Ten Habits That Actually Predict Longevity

By: Jim Reynolds

www.reynolds.com

August 22, 2026

There is an enormous industry devoted to helping us live longer.

Supplements. Powders. Cold plunges. Oxygen chambers. Wearable monitors. Exotic diets. Expensive blood panels measuring things most of us had never heard of five years ago.

Some of it may help.

But if you step back and ask a simpler question — what habits actually show up consistently in people who live longer? — the list becomes remarkably ordinary.

Almost disappointingly so.

🅱️ Bob: “You mean I don’t need a $900 stainless-steel bathtub full of ice?”

Not yet, Bob.

Here are ten habits that matter.

1. Don’t smoke.

Nothing clever here.

Smoking remains one of the most effective ways ever devised to shorten a human life. It damages the cardiovascular system, lungs and nearly everything supplied by blood.

If you don’t smoke, don’t start.

If you do, stopping is probably worth more than almost anything else on this list.

🅱️ Bob: “There goes the wellness seminar.”

2. Keep moving.

You do not have to become an athlete.

Walk. Work in the yard. Climb stairs. Carry things. Ride a bicycle. Move your body often enough that it remembers what it was designed to do.

The official recommendations generally call for around 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week.

But the important dividing line may be much simpler:

Moving is better than sitting.

3. Stay strong.

This becomes more important as we age.

Muscle is not merely cosmetic equipment for young men taking photographs of themselves at the gym.

Strength helps us walk, balance, recover from illness, control blood sugar and avoid the cascade that begins when an older person becomes physically fragile.

You don’t need to bench press your Buick.

But you should still be able to get out of a chair, carry groceries and pick something up from the ground.

4. Control your blood pressure.

High blood pressure is boring.

It also damages arteries, kidneys, the heart and brain for years without announcing itself.

That combination makes it dangerous.

We pay enormous attention to diseases that frighten us while sometimes ignoring the number quietly appearing on the blood-pressure cuff.

The cuff may be telling us something important.

5. Keep your metabolic machinery working.

Normal blood sugar matters.

So does avoiding severe obesity and insulin resistance.

Diabetes is not an isolated problem. It travels with cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve damage and a collection of other things most people would prefer not to collect.

Once again, the prescription tends to be irritatingly familiar:

Move more. Eat reasonably. Don’t get enormously fat.

🅱️ Bob: “This article isn’t selling anything very well.”

Exactly.

6. Eat mostly real food.

There is no shortage of people prepared to tell you that one particular food will save your life.

It probably won’t.

A sensible diet looks suspiciously like food your grandparents would recognize:

Vegetables. Fruit. Beans. Nuts. Fish. Meat in reasonable amounts. Whole foods. Not too much sugar. Not too much highly processed junk.

You can argue about carbohydrates until everyone at the table dies of old age.

The larger point survives.

7. Sleep.

Human beings require sleep.

This apparently came as a surprise to the modern productivity industry.

Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with worse cardiovascular health, poorer metabolic function and a variety of other problems.

There is no magic number that applies to everybody, but most adults function best somewhere around seven or eight hours.

If you routinely get five, convincing yourself that you are the exception may not make you one.

8. Keep other people in your life.

This may be the least appreciated item on the list.

Strong social relationships are repeatedly associated with longer survival. Isolation is associated with earlier death.

Human beings appear to require other human beings.

Family. Friends. Neighbors. Church. Clubs. Workmates. Somebody who notices when you don’t show up.

The mechanism is probably complicated.

The result isn’t.

🅱️ Bob: “Apparently yelling at your brother still counts as social interaction.”

Within limits.

9. Don’t drink too much.

For years we were told that a glass of wine might be practically medicinal.

That proposition has become increasingly difficult to defend.

Heavy drinking clearly shortens lives. Lower consumption is safer than higher consumption. And if you don’t drink now, there is no medical reason to begin.

This does not require Puritanism.

It requires arithmetic.

10. Keep having a reason to get up in the morning.

This one is harder to measure, but I think it belongs here.

People need something to do.

Work. Family. Writing. Gardening. Building things. Fixing things. Learning something. Taking care of somebody. Arguing with people on the Internet, although I would place that somewhat lower on the list.

Retirement from a job is one thing.

Retirement from life is another.

The body seems to understand the difference.

Now look back at that list.

Do you see something missing?

Can you think of anything that makes the rest of the items worth doing?

I can.

Laugh every day.

It is usually missing from the medical lists because it is hard to measure.

You can measure blood pressure.

You can measure glucose.

You can count steps, cigarettes, drinks, hours of sleep and pounds around the waist.

Humor does not fit very neatly into the spreadsheet.

That does not make it unimportant.

In fact, it may be one of the most important things in the whole discussion.

People who laugh tend to be engaged with other people. Humor reduces tension. It gives us distance from trouble. It makes bad days more survivable and good days considerably better.

And there is something else.

Suppose you do everything right.

You eat properly.

You exercise.

You sleep eight hours.

You monitor your blood pressure.

You avoid cigarettes and excess alcohol.

You preserve your muscle mass and carefully shepherd yourself toward ninety-five.

Then what?

🅱️ Bob: “Congratulations. You have successfully extended the warranty.”

Exactly.

Longevity by itself is not the objective.

The objective is to remain alive in a way that makes being alive worth extending.

That is where humor comes in.

Laughing does not merely belong on the longevity list.

It may be the thing that gives the rest of the list a reason to exist.

Longevity gives you more years. Humor gives you something to live for.

So laugh every day.

Laugh at yourself.

Laugh with your spouse.

Laugh with your friends.

Laugh at politicians. They have certainly done their part.

And when life gets particularly absurd, appreciate the fact that it has at least provided fresh material.

My mother often said:

“Life ain’t nuthin’ without humor.”

She really didn’t use the word ain’t in her normal speech.

But it added a little Bakersfield grit to the pronouncement.

At any rate, here I am quoting her years after she left this earth.

I guess that was the point.

🅱️ Bob: “Sounds like she got the last word.”

She usually did.

Please go to www.reynolds.com to see more of Jim’s articles.

It’s free.

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Rip’s Newsletter

August 21, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - Hamas or Israeli Values?

Jay Rogers - ICE Keeps Arresting Predators. Sanctuary Cities Keep Calling It Fearmongering.

Jay Rogers - ‘The View’ Can’t Be Both Neutral And A Leftist Propaganda Foghorn

Jim Reynolds - California Reinvents the Laws of Traction

Overview

This set is about the same old fight over who gets to define reality: the left’s reflexive hostility to Israel, the sanctuary-city lie that ICE is hunting innocents, and the media’s demand to be treated as neutral while it runs left-wing propaganda.

California is back at it too, turning another basic product into a regulatory science project and pretending the costs won’t land on ordinary drivers.

What ties it all together is power—who gets protected, who gets punished, and who gets to call the shots while everyone else pays.

Note: I now tell you how long the article is. Check it out.

Hamas or Israeli Values?

By: Victor Davis Hanson Townhall

Date: 2026-08-20 · Words: 2,815

Victor Davis Hanson argues that the obsessive hostility toward Israel in U.S. politics and media reflects a selective, irrational hatred that ignores Israel’s status as the Middle East’s only genuine democracy and a uniquely tolerant society. He says the left has normalized anti-Israel and antisemitic politics, while parts of the right have revived conspiratorial attacks on Jews and pro-Israel institutions, despite evidence that Gulf states, China, and others have far greater financial influence in the U.S. Hanson defends Israel’s Gaza campaign as a war forced by Hamas’s October 7 massacre and argues that civilian casualties are inflated, manipulated by Hamas, and worsened by Hamas’s use of human shields and tunnels under civilian sites. He also contends that accusations of genocide, apartheid, settler colonialism, and war crimes are applied hypocritically to Israel while far worse abuses by China, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Azerbaijan, and others are ignored. The column closes by portraying Israel as America’s most reliable Middle Eastern ally and warning that the post–October 7 surge in antisemitism reveals a dangerous moral inversion in Western politics.

This story matters because it frames the Israel debate as a test of whether the West will defend democratic allies or normalize selective hatred and double standards.

🅱️ Hanson isn’t just making an argument; he’s laying out a ledger of historical reality against modern delusion. It’s a heavy read, but it hits the mark by pointing out that while the Left chases ghosts, the real monsters are standing in plain sight. A sharp reminder that facts don’t care about your feelings, even when the feelings are screaming.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

ICE Keeps Arresting Predators. Sanctuary Cities Keep Calling It Fearmongering.

By: Jay Rogers Townhall

Date: 2026-08-20 · Words: 1,007

The article argues that DHS and ICE’s repeated “worst of the worst” arrests show sanctuary-city criticism is misleading, because most ICE arrests involve people already charged with or convicted of crimes. It uses California as the central example, saying SB 54 blocks jails from notifying ICE about criminal aliens with detainers and has allowed thousands of offenders, including homicide and sexual-predation cases, back onto the streets. The piece contrasts that with Memphis, where a multi-agency task force is said to have cut violent crime sharply while making thousands of arrests, seizing guns, and recovering missing children. The author acknowledges concerns about overbroad enforcement in Memphis but says that is an oversight issue, not a reason to stop cooperation that is reducing serious crime. It concludes that federal funding should be tied to honoring ICE detainers for violent and sexual offenders and that local sheriffs, not state lawmakers, should control cooperation decisions.

This story matters because it frames immigration enforcement as a public-safety test of whether local governments will help stop repeat violent offenders before they strike again.

🅱️ This isn’t just a policy debate; it’s an autopsy of broken accountability. Rogers uses the math and the tragedy to show that when you break the chain of command, someone always ends up on the floor. Sharp, heavy-hitting, and hits right where the paperwork meets the pavement.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

‘The View’ Can’t Be Both Neutral And A Leftist Propaganda Foghorn

By: Jay Rogers The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-20 · Words: 1,128

Disney and ABC have sued the Trump administration in federal court, accusing the FCC of retaliatory pressure over content the White House dislikes, while separately arguing that The View should qualify as a bona fide news program under the FCC’s equal-time rules. The article says those positions are hard to reconcile because The View is plainly a left-leaning daytime opinion show, not a neutral newscast, and its guest bookings have been overwhelmingly one-sided. A NewsBusters count cited in the piece found the show’s 29th season featured 87 liberal guests to 5 conservative ones, and the prior year was 128 to 2. At the same time, the author argues the FCC’s accelerated license review and any license threats tied to jokes or disfavored commentary are still dangerous government overreach. The core dispute is whether ABC can claim First Amendment protection as a partisan talk show while also seeking regulatory treatment reserved for legitimate journalism.

This story matters because it exposes how both government coercion and media spin can distort the rules meant to protect free speech and fair broadcasting.

🅱️ This isn’t just a complaint about daytime TV; it’s an indictment of institutional hypocrisy. The author catches them trying to play both sides of the law, and he does it without letting his own side off the hook. Sharp, surgical, and hits exactly where the math doesn’t add up.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

California Reinvents the Laws of Traction

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-20 · Words: 1,558

California is imposing phased-in efficiency standards on replacement tires sold in the state, targeting lower rolling resistance while also requiring minimum wet grip. The article argues that this is not a simple win for consumers, because tire performance is a bundle of tradeoffs involving traction, braking, cornering, tread life, noise, cost, and heat resistance. It warns that pushing rolling resistance down can reduce grip and other desirable characteristics, and asks why consumers should lose the option to choose a tire with better handling or stopping power in exchange for marginal fuel savings. The piece also notes that California’s calculations emphasize projected gasoline and emissions benefits while largely ignoring possible safety and performance costs, including accident risk and stopping distances. It frames the policy as part of a broader regulatory philosophy that elevates one efficiency metric over consumer choice and market variety, with likely advantages for manufacturers already positioned to meet the new standard.

This story matters because it shows how a well-intentioned efficiency rule can quietly reshape product safety, consumer choice, and market competition.

🅱️ A sharp takedown of the ‘efficiency’ trap. It strips away the bureaucratic gloss to show the trade-offs they hope you never notice. Clear, punchy, and hits exactly where the rubber meets the road.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

You may also be interested in the following selected stories:

• They Wanted Him Dead. Now They Want Him. — Kevin McCullough, Townhall

• The Mohammunist ManifestoâTransnational Loyalty Overrides National Borders — Milli Sands, American Thinker

• ☕️ VALUABLES ☙ Thursday, August 20, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠 — Jeff Childers, www.coffeeandcovid.com

• Gesundheit! US Policymakers Finally Want to Stop Germans Robbing Us to Pay for Their Healthcare — Jared Whitley, Townhall

• Why Trees Can’t Have Rights — Ward Clark, RedState

• Hey Pal, Can I Borrow $40 Trillion? — Nate Jackson, The Patriot Post

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 19, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - Hating Israel Fatigue

Sasha Gong - A Chinese in Havana

Jay Rogers - Use Of National Defense Resources To Protect The Border Is Legal

Jim Reynolds - The Left That Scared William F. Buckley

Overview

This set keeps circling the same fault lines: how far political hatred can be normalized, what a free society owes to its allies and its borders, and how much decay follows when ideology outruns reality.

I’m struck by the contrast between the hard-edged defense of Israel and border enforcement and the more reflective look at Cuba’s long collapse under revolutionary myth.

There’s also a reminder that style still matters in politics, with Buckley standing as proof that wit and discipline can be as powerful as outrage.

Together, these pieces ask whether our public life still rewards clarity, restraint, and moral seriousness.

Hating Israel Fatigue

By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-18 · Words: 3,672

Victor Davis Hanson argues that Israel has become the target of an irrational, selective, and politically useful hatred in U.S. public life, especially on the left and among some on the right.

He contrasts Israel’s democratic freedoms and relative tolerance with the repression common across the Middle East, then says critics ignore far worse atrocities by Islamist regimes and other states while fixating on Israel.

Hanson frames post–Oct. 7 outrage as a surge of old antisemitic tropes repackaged as anti-Zionism, citing campus celebrations of Hamas, Democratic Party hostility to pro-Israel candidates, and conspiracy claims about Jewish influence.

He also defends Israel’s Gaza campaign by arguing Hamas used civilians as shields, casualty figures are manipulated, and the civilian-to-combatant ratio is lower than critics claim.

The piece concludes that America’s turn against its closest regional ally is both morally inverted and strategically reckless.

This story matters because it argues that the fight over Israel is now a test of whether the U.S. can distinguish democratic allies from propaganda-driven hatred.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

A Chinese in Havana

By: Sasha Gong American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-18 · Words: 977

Cuba’s 100th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s birth prompted Sasha Gong to revisit Havana in 2024 and view the island through the lens of her upbringing in Maoist China and decades in America.

She describes a city of striking colonial beauty shadowed by decay, ration books, subdivided homes, broken infrastructure, and a daily economy shaped by scarcity and improvisation.

Gong argues that the embargo has imposed real costs but cannot explain Cuba’s deeper failures, which she traces to a dependent command economy that collapsed with Soviet support and never recovered.

She highlights the distortions of a multi-tiered system in which wages, rationing, open markets, and dollars coexist, making tourism tips more valuable than professional salaries and pushing young people toward emigration.

The article contrasts the tourist-friendly image of vintage cars, music, and revolutionary icons with the lived reality of policing, shortages, and stagnation, underscored by her brief detention near the U.S.

Embassy.

This story matters because it challenges romanticized views of Cuba and shows how socialist systems leave lasting damage in everyday life, not just in ideology.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Use Of National Defense Resources To Protect The Border Is Legal

By: Jay Rogers The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-19 · Words: 1,160

The article argues that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel correctly concluded troops may detain illegal border crossers a short distance beyond a National Defense Area boundary without violating the Posse Comitatus Act, because they are protecting federal property rather than acting as a civilian police force.

It traces the legal and historical basis to Theodore Roosevelt’s 1907 border reservation and says the Trump administration’s conversion of border segments into National Defense Areas simply applies longstanding military trespass authorities to federal land.

The piece says the policy has helped drive apprehensions sharply lower, from about 2 million in fiscal 2023 to roughly 81,000 so far this year, while also noting that courts have already thrown out some charges where the government failed to show adequate notice.

It acknowledges civil-liberties concerns about mission creep and accidental trespass by hikers or ranchers, but argues those are due-process issues to be fixed with better signage and tighter zone placement, not reasons to abandon the approach.

The author frames the broader point as a demonstration that the government already has the tools to secure the border if leaders are willing to use them.

This story matters because it shows how a century-old legal framework can be used to tighten border control without new legislation, while testing the limits of military authority and due process

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Left That Scared William F. Buckley

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-19 · Words: 1,688

William F. Buckley Jr. is presented as a uniquely formidable television intellectual whose style—witty, combative, and precise—made him both memorable and effective at challenging liberal guests without ever raising his voice.

The essay argues that Buckley’s real significance was not that he predicted the exact future, but that he recognized the direction of American liberalism: toward greater centralization, secularization, egalitarianism, and elite confidence in social engineering.

It contrasts the mainstream liberalism Buckley opposed in the 1950s and 1960s with today’s progressive Left, suggesting that what once seemed like modest liberal drift has since expanded into a much more transformative political project.

The piece also notes that while conservatives have adapted culturally, their core philosophy has remained comparatively stable, unlike the Left’s evolving assumptions about equality, speech, sex, merit, and state power.

Buckley’s old warning to “Stop” is reframed as less quaint than prophetic, because the article sees his real insight as identifying a movement with no clear limiting principle.

This story matters because it uses Buckley as a benchmark to show how far modern American politics has moved—and how early some of today’s conflicts were already visible.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

You may also be interested in the following selected stories:

• China’s Ongoing Threat to Our Elections — Peter Navarro, peternavarro.substack.com

• Acknowledging Everything, Solving Nothing — Brian C Joondeph, American Thinker

• Socialism in the Open and on the Right — Veronique de Rugy, FrontPage Magazine

• Iran’s Real Battlefield is the 2026 Midterms — Aynaz Anni Cyrus, FrontPage Magazine

• NeverVance Is The New NeverTrump. And It’s Just As Dishonest — John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist

• The Long Rise of the New Democratic Party — Michael Barone, FrontPage Magazine

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Rip’s Newsletter

August 17, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Editor’s Note

The survey sent out last week was a complete success if success is measured by participation and by the clear guidance you, the reader, provided. More than a thousand responses came in, which suggests that the polling system does in fact work on Substack. I also received 50 comments, about 100 replies, and an inordinate number of likes.

Some readers mentioned that the poll responses sometimes did not appear on their screen. The same thing happened to me at times. That was the only bug I am aware of.

Truthfully, here is the raw result:

So, by the conservative logic of our conservative readers, the answer is: four articles per edition. Understood. That said, nearly 150 of you prefer six, and almost 20 percent think I should decide each time. About 20 readers would prefer more links and less talk. I may have found a solution for them.

I still have the problem of staring at 100 strong, well-written stories every day, knowing that many of you would love the chance to read them.

So I snuck something new in. At the end of the newsletter, you will find simple, unadorned links to six more great stories. They will not clutter your screen, but they will be there for the adventurous and curious. In the most recent newsletter, I included these bashful links, and you would be surprised how many readers have already found them.

Thanks for participating. We have now proved one more important concept: Rip’s Newsletter is a vehicle for two-way communication. I think Rip McIntosh would be delighted by that meaningful transformation.

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Jordan Sekulow - California Admits It Doesn’t Track Noncitizens On Voter Rolls

Aaron Shuster - Have We Forgotten How to Live?

Scott Mechkowski - The Fed’s Huge Paperwork Backlog Is A Mass Migration Loophole

Jim Reynolds - Does Having a Different President Result In Less Crime?

California Admits It Doesn’t Track Noncitizens On Voter Rolls

By: Jordan Sekulow The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-17 · Words: 1,052

• California says its voter system lacks any cancellation reason for noncitizenship.

• The state tracks deaths, felony convictions, and address changes, but not citizenship.

• California DOJ says it has no policy for illegal-voting investigative referrals.

• Federal law requires states to retain and disclose voter-roll maintenance records.

• ACLJ may pursue further demands or litigation over recordkeeping noncompliance.

California’s admissions raise serious questions about election integrity, transparency, and compliance with federal law.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Have We Forgotten How to Live?

By: Aaron Shuster FrontPage Magazine

Date: 2026-08-17 · Words: 1,644

• The essay contrasts 1940s nightlife’s vitality with today’s hyper-managed, self-surveilled existence.

• Modern health culture turns ordinary pleasures into risks, fostering apprehension over enjoyment.

• Steiner’s view of culture links civilization to mortality, meaning, and how death is understood.

• Medicine extends life impressively, but longevity is not identical to flourishing or happiness.

• The author argues civilization must protect life without making people afraid to live.

This story challenges a health-obsessed culture to recover courage, pleasure, and flourishing.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

The Fed’s Huge Paperwork Backlog Is A Mass Migration Loophole

By: Scott Mechkowski The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-17 · Words: 870

• USCIS receipts can pause unlawful-presence clocks, even for weak applications.

• Congress assumed four-month decisions, but USCIS now faces multi-year backlogs.

• More than 11 million cases are pending, with over 6 million agency-controlled.

• Filing early can bank years of protected presence before a denial arrives.

• The article urges Congress to end automatic tolling and tighten screening.

The backlog isn’t just inefficiency; it’s a built-in incentive that rewards delay and weak filings.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Does Having a Different President Result In Less Crime?

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-16 · Words: 1,375

• U.S. violent crime is falling sharply, including murders, robberies, carjackings, and auto theft.

• Reynolds argues Trump’s crime agenda coincides with the decline, though causation remains disputed.

• He cites tougher federal enforcement, border closure, and revived prosecution as likely contributors.

• Progressive prosecutors and lenient policies are portrayed as having weakened consequences for offenders.

• The article says crime’s drop is real, and Trump-era enforcement may be restoring deterrence.

America’s crime decline could reshape debates over borders, prosecution, and public safety policy.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

You may also be interested in the following selected stories:

• America and the Europoor — John Hinderaker, Power Line

• The Unmaking of Jason Arday — Roger Kimball, American Greatness

• The Astonishing Windfall of Tariffs — Gregory Lyakhov, The Patriot Post

• Is Your Home Really ‘Stolen Land’? The Case for Property Rights — Peter E. Ricciardi, The American Spectator

• Blue-On-Blue Fight Over First Amendment — M Walter, American Thinker

• Woke 1 Gives Way to Woke 2 — Douglas Andrews, The Patriot Post

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 14, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - Who’s Been Destroying Norms?

Katy Faust - If You Want Grandbabies, Raise Your Kids To Get Married ASAP

John Hinderaker - Heat Wave

Jim Reynolds - PART III — THE CHOICE

Overview

Today’s set keeps circling the same fault lines: who gets to define the rules, and what happens when institutions stop feeling neutral.

I see a sharp clash between claims of norm-breaking and counterclaims that the other side built the playbook first, alongside a broader argument over whether politics, media, and law have become tools of power rather than restraint.

There’s also a quieter but no less urgent thread about what kind of society we’re building—one that delays family and tradition, or one that still makes room for them.

And beneath it all runs a grim insistence that public language and public institutions can no longer be allowed to soften hard truths.

Note: Sharp-eyed readers will notice something new. Also, only four featured stories.

Who’s Been Destroying Norms?

By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-13 · Words: 1,195

• Democrats accuse Trump of norm-breaking while echoing tactics they normalized first.

• Hanson cites Kennedy, Holder, and others to show long-standing partisan closeness.

• He argues lawfare, IRS targeting, and election denialism began on the Left.

• The article says FBI, subpoenas, and spying were weaponized against conservatives first.

• His core claim: Democrats destroy norms, then condemn Trump for the wreckage.

This story matters because it frames today’s political battles as a fight over who broke the rules first.

🅱️ A systematic catalog of hypocrisy that reads like a closing argument. It doesn’t just argue; it holds up a mirror to the people who broke the glass and then complained about the mess.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

If You Want Grandbabies, Raise Your Kids To Get Married ASAP

By: Katy Faust The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-14 · Words: 1,140

• The author argues early marriage and parenthood are essential for future grandchildren.

• Modern culture delays family formation with degrees, careers, travel, and debt payoff.

• Pew data show parents prioritize independence and careers over marriage and children.

• Children model what they see; family joy should normalize marriage and babies.

• College, dating, and fertility should be treated as pathways to spouse and family.

Grandchildren start with how today’s children are taught to view marriage, fertility, and family life.

🅱️ A sharp reality check for parents who traded legacy for lifestyle. It moves from personal anecdote to a cultural autopsy without losing its footing. It’s not just advice; it’s a blueprint for building something that actually lasts.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Heat Wave

By: John Hinderaker Power Line

Date: 2026-08-14 · Words: 612

• Northern Europe’s heat wave is fueling renewed climate alarm and “worst ever” headlines.

• Hinderaker argues media claims ignore historical extremes, especially Europe’s 1540 megadrought.

• He cites research showing 1540 likely exceeded recent European heat and drought events.

• Global temperature trends, he says, show no unusual spike beyond the Hunga Tonga effect.

• He also highlights Great Barrier Reef growth as evidence against one-sided environmental doom narratives.

This story matters because it challenges climate alarmism with historical context and contrary environmental data.

🅱️ A sharp reality check against the ‘unprecedented’ playbook. It uses history as a scalpel to show that today’s apocalypse is often just yesterday’s weather, rebranded for the headlines.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

PART III — THE CHOICE

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-14 · Words: 2,975

Note from Jim: This one goes into great depth. Be prepared to sit for a while.

• Democratic socialism is gaining power even as some 2020-era ideas lose legitimacy.

• Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan primary win was narrow, signaling both strength and vulnerability.

• Francesca Hong nearly won Wisconsin, showing socialist candidates can still lose swing-state tests.

• Voters, not ideology, now decide whether insurgent Democrats can keep the old coalition.

• Money, media, and redistricting favor Republicans, making Democrats’ 2026 path harder.

This story matters because it shows Democratic power rising just as its coalition, message, and electoral math begin to fracture.

🅱️ This isn’t just a political forecast; it’s an autopsy of a coalition in real-time. It captures that precise moment when the ‘inevitable’ wave hits the jagged rocks of reality. Sharp, sobering, and holds the receipt for every broken promise.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

You may also be interested in the following selected stories:

• Woke 2.0 Will Be Worse — Spencer Klavan, American Mind

• ☕️ LOOK OUT BELOW ☙ Thursday, August 13, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠 — Jeff Childers, www.coffeeandcovid.com

• L’affaire Blair — Lwebb, City Journal

• 7-Year-Old’s Preventable Death Demands An End To Polite Silence — Mark R Weaver, The Federalist

• The Electoral Integrity Issue Isn’t Israel — It’s Islam — Josh Hammer, The American Spectator

• SPLC Top Dog Arrested for Fraud and Money Laundering — Robert Spencer, FrontPage Magazine

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment

Now I want your straight answer.

How many stories do you want in each edition?

Rip’s newsletter usually ran only four stories per issue. That was a lot of work. He included the full text of each piece, which meant copying every story into Word and then formatting it in his style: the scrolly separators, the greeting image, the Plato quote, the salutation, and the uniform type.

When I sent my articles to him, I tried to make his job easier by sending pieces already proofread and formatted in Word. I don’t think many others did. My impression is that Rip got most of the stories directly from the original publishing sites and then did all the assembly work himself.

For my part, I’ve kept the number of stories down to six. Why? Because I download about 100 articles a day, and many of them are worth your time. But “worth your time” is not the same as “worth republishing in full.” By including summaries and opinions, I can give you a way to choose what you actually want to read. Time is scarce. I’d rather not waste yours. And long articles also mean more scrolling when you decide not to read them.

It’s also simpler to include more articles when they’re condensed.

One other point: Rip ran an email newsletter. This is not exactly the same thing as running an email-and-web operation. Without dragging you into the weeds, copyright law works differently on a website. I can post my own work because I own it. For everyone else, I can summarize and link, but I can’t just republish their text.

So again, that’s the question: how many stories do you want?

Please respond so I know what you like. I’m hoping for at least 2,000 votes either way.

Sincerely,
Jim Reynolds
Editor of Rip’s Newsletter

Share

Leave a comment

This is something different — and a bit of an experiment.

This is the first poll I have ever sent out.

Please respond and then give me our comments if you please.

The format is pretty rudimentary but may be useful with 22K+ subscribers.

Thanks for your participation.

Jim

Share

Leave a comment

Read more

Rip’s Newsletter

August 12, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - Not Winning? Just Change the Rules

Jim Reynolds - THERE MAY BE NO MIDDLE

The Heartland Institute - AI and the Quiet Surrender of Human Agency

Aaron Shuster - The Hidden Curriculum of Islamic Schools

Thomas Gallatin - Trump’s Pro-America Patriot Games

Don Surber - Trump finds a use for the press

Overview

I see the same fight running through this set: who gets to set the rules, who gets to define reality, and who gets to keep control when the old playbook stops working.

The left keeps reaching for institutional power when it can’t win cleanly, whether that means rewriting norms, hollowing out agencies, or teaching kids a worldview before they can question it.

At the same time, AI is offering real help while quietly training people to hand over their judgment, and Trump is using spectacle, security, and the press to turn power into theater.

The common thread is simple: every one of these pieces is about influence, and every one shows how fast Americans lose ground when they stop paying attention to who is shaping the game.

Not Winning? Just Change the Rules

By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-11 · Words: 1,382

Victor Davis Hanson argues that the modern Democratic Party and Democratic Socialists are united by a habit of blaming “the system” whenever they lose, then trying to rewrite rules, institutions, and norms rather than persuade the public. He says this impulse has driven attacks on the Electoral College, the filibuster, the Supreme Court, the border, law enforcement, and even the presidency, while also encouraging lawfare, censorship alliances, and demographic change through mass immigration. Hanson uses California as his example of the Left’s preferred model, arguing that its foreign-born population, dependence on public benefits, and weak civic assimilation reflect a deliberate strategy to transform politics by changing the electorate. He extends the critique to higher education and the military, saying the Left’s abandonment of standards like the SAT and combat fitness tests has produced lower performance, grade inflation, and institutional decline. His broader claim is that the Left cannot win durable majorities for its agenda, so it seeks mandated equality, altered rules, and eventually coercive social engineering instead of accepting limits imposed by public opinion.

This story matters because it frames today’s political fights as a struggle over whether America will preserve its institutions and standards or let activists rewrite them to secure power.

🅱️ Hanson isn’t just making an argument; he’s laying out the blueprint of a heist. It’s a heavy read on the mechanics of how institutions get gutted from the inside, but it hits the nail on the head regarding why the rules keep shifting.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

THERE MAY BE NO MIDDLE

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-12 · Words: 2,644

The essay argues that the Democratic coalition is being strained not by ordinary policy differences but by a deeper clash between reform and abolition, where some activists define institutions like ICE, the Senate, and U.S. support for Israel as inherently oppressive rather than merely flawed. Once that moral framing takes hold, compromise stops looking like statesmanship and starts looking like complicity, leaving little room for middle positions such as reforming ICE or limiting, rather than ending, military aid to Israel. Jim Reynolds uses Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the clearest test case: DSA initially embraced her insurgent profile, then judged her insufficiently aligned when she would not fully endorse an arms embargo and opposition to Iron Dome, and later she moved further toward DSA’s position. The broader claim is that the left’s “floor” keeps moving, so yesterday’s radical can become today’s moderate without changing much at all, simply because the movement’s standards have shifted. The essay closes by asking whether the real burden in a big tent falls on establishment Democrats to tolerate the socialist left, or on the socialist left to tolerate the institutions and compromises that still govern the party.

This story matters because it shows how changing the moral language of politics can redraw the boundaries of what a major party can realistically hold

🅱️ This isn’t just a political breakdown; it’s an autopsy of the disappearing middle. It tracks the movement from ‘reform’ to ‘abolition’ with surgical precision, showing exactly how the floor moves under your feet while you’re busy arguing over the thermostat.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

AI and the Quiet Surrender of Human Agency

By: The Heartland Institute RedState

Date: 2026-08-12 · Words: 1,351

The article argues that AI life coaches and predictive systems can genuinely help people improve health, productivity, and decision-making, but warns that the deeper risk is not bad advice so much as the quiet transfer of human agency to institutions that design the systems. It cites examples such as Google’s Fitbit coach, BetterUp, and emerging assistants that manage schedules, finances, and wellness, noting that these tools may align users with goals set by employers, insurers, tech firms, or governments rather than the users themselves. The piece extends the concern to public policy, saying AI forecasting can improve planning but cannot determine what is morally right, since it may favor outcomes like lower crime or reduced unrest without weighing privacy, liberty, or other values. It points to political leaders already using AI for second opinions and to government plans for agentic AI as signs that machine recommendations could become de facto authority, shaping what officials and citizens feel able to choose. The author calls for transparency about who built AI systems, what interests they serve, and meaningful rights to challenge consequential decisions, especially when the same institution advises, monitors, and penalizes users.

This story matters because it warns that AI’s greatest danger may be not error, but the normalization of machine-guided control over human choices.

🅱️ It’s a solid warning about the velvet glove of tech-driven control. It moves from the living room to the halls of power smoothly, but it lacks that sharp, jagged edge that makes a reader sit up and check their own locks.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

The Hidden Curriculum of Islamic Schools

By: Aaron Shuster FrontPage Magazine

Date: 2026-08-12 · Words: 2,415

Aaron Shuster reviews Elaine Ellinger’s nearly 300-page study of an English-language Islamic Studies curriculum used from Grades 1 through 12, arguing that it exposes how Islamic schools systematically shape belief, identity, and behavior rather than merely teaching private faith. Ellinger’s method is to compare textbooks and exercises with the Quran, hadith, classical commentaries, biographies of Mohammed, and Islamic jurisprudence, showing how lessons are selected, softened, or omitted to create a particular worldview. A central claim is that Mohammed is presented not just as a historical figure but as normative precedent, so stories about conquest, loyalty, unbelief, law, and jihad carry continuing religious significance for students. The curriculum also frames Islam as a deen—a comprehensive way of life involving law, authority, and social order—rather than “religion” in the Western sense of private belief. Shuster says the book is important because it challenges Western assumptions about religious education, integration, and the civic implications of what children are taught in Islamic schools.

This story matters because it argues that the real debate over Islamic education begins with the textbooks shaping children’s beliefs long before those ideas surface in public life.

🅱️ This isn’t just a book review; it’s a map of a minefield we’ve been walking through blind. It moves from the classroom to the real world with surgical precision, showing exactly how ‘private faith’ becomes public policy. Sharp, sobering, and avoids the easy trap of hysteria to focus on the harder truth of systemic formation.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

Trump’s Pro-America Patriot Games

By: Thomas Gallatin The Patriot Post

Date: 2026-08-12 · Words: 523

As part of America’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration has launched Freedom 250, including a forthcoming IndyCar race in Washington, DC, and the Patriot Games, a three-day youth sporting competition featuring boy-girl pairs from each state and U.S. territory competing for a $250,000 scholarship. The athletes, ages 14 to 17, will take part in events like a 100-yard dash, tug-of-war, and dodgeball, and participants have pushed back on media comparisons to The Hunger Games as exaggerated and insulting. The article says mainstream outlets have framed the event through a political and DEI lens, highlighting that many competitors are white, homeschooled, Christian, and supportive of Trump. It argues that such criticism reflects hostility toward unapologetic patriotism and a broader media tendency to treat positive expressions of American identity as suspect. The piece presents the games as a celebration of youth, freedom, and national pride aligned with Trump’s America First message.

This story matters because it shows how America’s 250th anniversary celebrations are becoming a flashpoint in the fight over patriotism, culture, and the meaning of national pride.

🅱️ It’s a straightforward defense of the status quo against the usual media outrage. It identifies the target, but it lacks the teeth to do more than just shrug at the critics.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Trump finds a use for the press

By: Don Surber donsurber.substack.com

Date: 2026-08-12 · Words: 930

The article argues that the Secret Service secretly moved President Trump from Air Force One to a smaller C-32A after a NATO summit in Turkey because new intelligence suggested a credible Iranian missile threat. Reporters and some staff were left on the original plane as decoys, a decision the author says was sensible because an empty aircraft would not have fooled attackers. The piece mocks media outrage over not being informed, citing CNN’s David Axelrod and others who argued the public should have been told sooner. It also notes that the C-32A’s configuration and visibility made it a practical security choice, while emphasizing that the press was still in danger because the threat targeted whatever plane Trump was on. The author uses the episode to argue that reporters are often hostile to Trump, yet were useful here only as decoys, and that they can always choose not to travel if they dislike the risk.

This story matters because it shows how presidential security can override press access, and how Trump’s critics in the media can become part of the protection plan they usually attack.

🅱️ A sharp jab at the media’s sudden interest in ‘transparency’ now that they’ve been played. It turns the press from a watchdog into a decoy, and it’s a lesson in reality they won’t like. Brutal, but honest.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Share

Leave a comment

Rip’s Newsletter

August 10, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Gregory Lyakhov - Netanyahu’s Rejection of the Gaza Deal Is Understandable

Brian C Joondeph - The Stopwatch Doesnât Lie: Why Biology â Not Gender Identity â Defines Womenâs Sports

Luis Gonzalez - The Democrats Gave Us Today’s Inflation

Spyridon Andrews - London, the Red Telephone Box, and a Civilization Losing Its Memory

Nate Jackson - The Burrito Food Fight on the Right

Jim Reynolds - OIL AND WATER

Overview

This set is about the fights that actually matter: who pays for inflation, who gets to define women’s sports, and whether the right can keep its eye on affordability instead of turning every argument into a food fight.

I see a party still trying to sell the public on the same spending habits that helped drive prices up, while the other side keeps pretending biology is negotiable and reality will politely step aside.

There’s also a harder warning here: nations and parties rot when they lose memory, discipline, and a shared sense of what they are.

And beneath all of it is the same question—whether leaders are solving problems or just managing the damage they caused.

As always, if you do not want to read the summary, just skip to the link.

Note: The American Thinker pieces are great articles but they occasionally make you jump through a hoop. I’ll tell you more down below. If you don’t feel comfortable navigating through this territory — just skip them. There are plenty of others.

Netanyahu’s Rejection of the Gaza Deal Is Understandable

By: Gregory Lyakhov The Patriot Post

Date: 2026-08-10 · Words: 637

Netanyahu’s reported rejection of a Trump-backed Gaza proposal is framed as a dispute over conditions for safe withdrawal, not over peace itself.

The article argues the key issue is whether Hamas is truly disarmed, noting that “decommission and store” weapons is far weaker than permanently destroying them.

It says Israel’s concern is rooted in October 7: any deal that leaves Hamas able to rebuild would merely recreate the prewar threat.

The piece contrasts the newer proposal with an earlier framework that called for Gaza’s demilitarization, destruction of military infrastructure, and a weapons buy-back program.

It concludes that a durable agreement must prevent Hamas from emerging with enough military capability to threaten Israelis again, even if that means tougher terms now.

This story matters because it shows that the fate of Gaza peace talks hinges on whether any deal can actually prevent the next war, not just pause the current one.

🅱️ It’s a sober look at the difference between ‘peace’ and just putting the guns in a closet for a rainy day. The logic is sound, but it lacks the teeth to really bite into the political theater surrounding the deal.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Stopwatch Doesn’t Lie: Why Biology - Not Gender Identity - Defines Women’s Sports

By: Brian C Joondeph American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-10 · Words: 1,115

The article argues that women’s sports must be defined by biological sex, not gender identity, because performance data consistently show male puberty confers enduring athletic advantages.

It uses Florence Griffith-Joyner’s still-standing sprint records as a benchmark, noting that American high school boys and collegiate men routinely beat women’s world marks in sprinting, long jump, and swimming.

The author says this gap reflects structural differences in muscle mass, bone density, heart and lung capacity, limb proportions, and explosive power that testosterone suppression does not erase.

He frames sex-based categories as the same kind of fairness mechanism as weight classes, age divisions, and the Paralympics, and says changing terminology cannot change biology.

The piece also cites a shift in institutional policy, including the IOC’s move toward biological-female eligibility standards, as evidence that the science is forcing a reset.

It closes by warning that if women’s categories are not protected by objective sex-based rules, the achievements that define female sport will be erased.

This story matters because it argues that fair competition in women’s sports depends on preserving biological categories, not political language.

🅱️ He uses the stopwatch to cut through the fog of identity politics. It’s a clean, hard-hitting case that reminds you reality doesn’t care about your feelings or your pronouns.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions. If they ask you to “View Ad to continue” then hit that button. But don’t hit the big red Open button. Look in the upper right and you will see a (tiny) “close”. Hit that and continue reading. like I said above, skip to the next article if you don’t want to maneuver through the weeds.

Read the original article HERE

The Democrats Gave Us Today’s Inflation

By: Luis Gonzalez American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-10 · Words: 1,267

The article argues that today’s inflation was largely caused by Democratic policy choices, especially the American Rescue Plan’s roughly $2 trillion in spending and the Federal Reserve’s prolonged low-rate stance, rather than by unavoidable pandemic shocks alone.

It says Washington has obscured the issue by focusing on slowing inflation rates instead of the higher prices families actually pay, leaving households stuck with permanently elevated grocery, housing, and insurance costs.

The piece frames the political fight as one between consequences and causes, contending that Democrats are now trying to shift blame for affordability problems onto the current administration after denying responsibility for years.

It also rejects explanations centered on transitory inflation, Putin, or corporate greed as evasions that mask the role of policy.

The author argues the coming elections will hinge on whether voters remember who made the decisions that produced the current economic pain.

This story matters because it turns inflation from a vague economic complaint into a direct test of political accountability and voter memory.

🅱️ A solid autopsy of the ‘transitory’ lie. It moves past the usual partisan bickering to point at the actual check-writers, though it leans a bit heavy on the oratorical flourishes. It’s not just an economics lesson; it’s a reminder that you can’t outrun the math forever.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions. See above for instructions.

Read the original article HERE

London, the Red Telephone Box, and a Civilization Losing Its Memory

By: Spyridon Andrews American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-09 · Words: 2,411

Spyridon Andrews argues that London has become a “zombie British city,” retaining the outward symbols of national life while losing the historical memory, religious confidence, and civic spirit that once gave those symbols meaning.

He contrasts the London of the 1970s and 1980s—expensive, culturally self-assured, and rooted in wartime memory—with today’s more diverse, vibrant, but less distinctly British metropolis.

The essay links this change to the fading of the World War II generation, the decline of Anglican public life, the rise of anti-American and neo-Marxist attitudes, and a population increasingly detached from the civilization that built the city.

Andrews uses London’s monuments, from the Cenotaph to Nelson’s Column, to argue that modern residents benefit from sacrifices they no longer understand or honor.

The red telephone box becomes his central metaphor: a preserved shell whose original function is gone, like Britain itself.

This story matters because it frames London’s demographic and cultural transformation as a warning about what happens when a civilization keeps its symbols but forgets the beliefs and sacrifices that made them meaningful.

🅱️ A eulogy for a ghost town that still looks like a city. It’s a heavy read about the difference between keeping the furniture and keeping the soul, delivered with the weary eyes of a man watching the lights go out.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Burrito Food Fight on the Right

By: Nate Jackson The Patriot Post

Date: 2026-08-10 · Words: 979

The article argues that the conservative “burrito debate” is really a proxy for the 2026 election’s central issue: affordability.

It says Trump has largely delivered on immigration, but his economic record is undercut by tariffs and the Iran war, both of which have pushed up costs and given Democrats an opening to campaign on rising prices.

The piece frames the online fight between conservatives like Matt Walsh, Andrew Kolvet, Ben Shapiro, and Marc Thiessen as a clash between factual defenses of the economy and the lived reality of voters who feel squeezed by food, housing, and everyday expenses.

It cites data showing wages have risen since 2019 but prices have nearly kept pace, leaving only modest real gains, and uses fast-food price increases as a vivid example.

The author concludes that Republicans are losing the sentiment battle even when they have the policy argument, and that they need to speak more credibly to voters’ economic pain. This story matters because it shows how inflation and affordability can override partisan talking points and shape the outcome of the next election.

🅱️ It’s a solid breakdown of the math versus the mood. The author correctly identifies that you can’t win an election on spreadsheets when people are staring at empty wallets, but he needs to sharpen the edge so it doesn’t read like a polite lecture.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

OIL AND WATER

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-10 · Words: 2,400

The essay argues that Democrats’ repeated “big tent” defense obscures a deeper problem: some factions in the party are not merely debating tactics but pursuing fundamentally incompatible end-states.

To test that claim, it compares the Democratic Socialists of America’s explicit 2026 program with the records of prominent Jewish Democrats on Israel, Iran, immigration, policing, and constitutional structure.

DSA’s platform is presented as a sweeping redesign of the U.S. system, including ending aid to Israel, abolishing ICE and the Senate, defunding the military, replacing the presidency and Supreme Court, and writing a new constitution for a democratic socialist republic.

By contrast, figures such as Chuck Schumer, Brad Schneider, Josh Gottheimer, Jamie Raskin, Elissa Slotkin, Jon Ossoff, Adam Schiff, Bernie Sanders, and others may have moved left on Gaza or immigration, but they still operate within the existing constitutional order and accept core premises DSA rejects.

The piece’s central claim is that coalition language like “healthy debate” and “room for everyone” no longer explains the scale of the divide when one side wants reform and the other wants replacement.

**This story matters because it frames the Democratic Party’s internal conflict as a clash over the country’s future architecture,

🅱️ This isn’t just a political breakdown; it’s an autopsy of a dying consensus. It lays out the receipts clearly, showing that ‘big tent’ is just a polite way of saying ‘we’re ignoring the fuse.’ Sharp, surgical, and hits right where the structural cracks are widening.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 7, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - The Long View of Iran

Jeff Childers - FRANKENSTEIN’S SOCIALIST ☙ Friday, August 7, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS

Mark Davis - Princeton Study Shows How Bad Actors Can Exploit Georgia Elections To Expose How You Voted

Luis Gonzalez - Groceries Illustrate That Communists Can’t Do Math

Dave Ball - Election Integrity Is Not Voter Suppression

Jim Reynolds - Medicare For All and the Trade-Off Machine

Overview

Today’s set is about the hard limits of ideology when it runs into reality.

Medicare for All, city-owned groceries, and the binary politics of Islamism and Marxism all collapse under the same pressure: incentives, arithmetic, and human behavior do not bend just because activists demand it.

On the political front, the Fauci contempt fight, the autopen pardon mess, and the Georgia ballot-record warning all point to the same thing: institutions are being tested, and the people in charge are not handling that test cleanly.

Iran is also getting hammered, and that matters because the regime’s weakness is now visible in dollars, infrastructure, and time.

The Long View of Iran

By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-06 · Words: 1,152

• Iran is losing under bombing, sanctions, embargoes, and financial isolation.

• The regime bleeds over $400 million daily while stalling for midterm politics.

• U.S. and allied airpower overwhelmingly outmatches Iran’s depleted military capabilities.

• Iran’s damaged economy and nuclear infrastructure will take years to rebuild.

• Trump faces a narrow choice: negotiate or intensify pressure before elections.

Iran’s long-term weakness, not its bluster, will shape Middle East stability and Trump’s political calculus.

🅱️ Reads like a field report from the grown-ups’ table—no hand-wringing, just receipts. Hanson’s got the receipts on Iran’s slow bleed, but I’d like a little more bite on who’s cashing in while the regime limps. The media’s asleep, but this piece keeps the lights on. Not a rallying cry, but a cold ledger—sometimes that’s what you need.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

☕️ FRANKENSTEIN’S SOCIALIST ☙ Friday, August 7, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

By: Jeff Childers www.coffeeandcovid.com

Date: 2026-08-07 · Words: 4,507

• Rand Paul’s committee held Fauci in contempt after he invoked the Fifth 111 times.

• Fauci’s sweeping pardon may backfire if courts deem it invalid or ineffective.

• The Biden autopen raises doubts whether late pardons reflected presidential intent.

• Trump issued new orders targeting birthright citizenship and birth tourism loopholes.

• The article argues Trump keeps finding legal windows after Supreme Court setbacks.

This story matters because it shows how legal technicalities could reshape accountability, citizenship, and executive power.

🅱️ This one doesn’t just pull the curtain back—it yanks it down and uses it to mop up the mess. Fauci’s ‘get out of jail free’ card might be a boomerang, and the Democrats are getting mauled by the monsters they bred in their own basement. The jokes land, the receipts are stapled to the door, and the moral is clear: play stupid games, win socialist prizes. If you don’t remember history, don’t worry—the author does, and he’s got the bill.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Princeton Study Shows How Bad Actors Can Exploit Georgia Elections To Expose How You Voted

By: Mark Davis The Federalist

Date: 2026-08-06 · Words: 1,375

• Princeton researchers showed Georgia ballot order can be reconstructed from public election records.

• The method linked roughly 1.5 million in-person ballots across 139 counties.

• In small jurisdictions, matching was nearly complete, exposing individual voters’ choices.

• Georgia’s predictable scanner Record IDs create traceable ballots, despite legal secret-ballot requirements.

• Officials have limited public access, but the underlying vulnerability remains inside election systems.

Georgia’s ballot-secrecy flaw threatens voter privacy, election trust, and the integrity of future audits.

🅱️ Turns out ‘secret ballot’ means ‘secret—unless you know a guy with a spreadsheet.’ Georgia’s running elections like a leaky boat, and the fix is sitting in the toolbox while the crew argues about optics. The real scandal? The folks in charge act like plugging the hole is optional. If you ever wondered how sausage—or elections—get made, here’s your answer: with a side of data breach and a shrug.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Groceries Illustrate That Communists Can’t Do Math

By: Luis Gonzalez American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-07 · Words: 1,176

• The article argues grocery stores expose the hard limits of political promises.

• It targets government-run grocery stores, especially Zohran Mamdani’s 30% discount plan.

• Grocery retail runs on thin margins; deep discounts must be absorbed somewhere.

• The likely hidden payer is taxpayers, through subsidies or shifted costs.

• Past public grocery experiments, like Baldwin, Florida, struggled against scale and reality.

Cheap groceries sound appealing, but the article says economic reality always bills someone.

🅱️ This is a grocery receipt for every utopian promise that ends up on your tax bill. The banana joke lands because it’s true—politicians can’t repeal arithmetic, no matter how many spreadsheets they wave. The essay’s got memory, bite, and a punchline that sticks. If only the folks running the show had to shop where we do.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

Election Integrity Is Not Voter Suppression

By: Dave Ball American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-07 · Words: 1,235

• The article argues election safeguards are mislabeled by the left as “voter suppression.”

• It defends the SAVE America Act’s citizenship proof and photo ID requirements.

• The author says the bill allows multiple documents and alternative attestation processes.

• He argues reasonable voting rules protect both eligible voters and ballot integrity.

• Studies and polling, he says, show voter ID laws do not suppress turnout.

Election integrity measures protect lawful votes and deserve debate based on evidence, not partisan slogans.

🅱️ This one’s a cold shower for the ‘voter suppression’ crowd—lays out the receipts, not just the slogans. No fog, no weasel words, just the plain mechanics of how the sausage gets made. Could use a little more bite, but the point lands: calling every safeguard ‘suppression’ is just a magic trick for lazy thinking. If only the news read like this, maybe folks would trust the process again.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

Medicare For All and the Trade-Off Machine

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-06 · Words: 1,503

• The essay evaluates Medicare for All as a system design, not a slogan battle.

• It grants best-case assumptions, then tests how ordinary incentives reshape behavior.

• Zero point-of-service costs could raise demand, lengthen waits, and revive private speed markets.

• Fixed reimbursements may push doctors, hospitals, and students toward lower-load, higher-margin choices.

• Centralized controls can trigger patchwork regulation, administrative growth, and slower innovation.

The story matters because it shows health reform’s real stakes are trade-offs, incentives, and unintended consequences.

🅱️ This one reads like a blueprint for spotting the con before you sign the dotted line. Cuts through the Medicare-for-All sales pitch and shows you the gears grinding underneath—no saints, no villains, just the math and the mess. The punchline? Every fix spawns a new headache, and the only thing more permanent than a government program is the line at the MRI machine. If you want fairy tales, call a lobbyist—this is the owner’s manual they never hand out.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 5, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Editor’s Note

In today’s edition of Rip’s Newsletter, I’d like to share a quick note on where I’m drawing material from. I pull from a mix of outlets so readers can see the broader conversation around a topic, not just one isolated take. Some are fast-moving news and opinion sites, while others are places I go for longer, more in-depth reporting and analysis. If you like the deeper reads, you’ll find them especially at City Journal, The Federalist, The American Mind, Issues & Insights, and The American Spectator. The point is simply to give you more context, more perspective, and more choice in how you follow along.

Here’s a quick look at the kinds of sources I use:

• MS NOW / ms.now/opinion: Mainstream left-leaning news and opinion. I use this site exclusively to see how the other side is framing today’s stories.

• American Greatness: Conservative, populist commentary.

• Townhall: Big conservative news and opinion site.

• Power Line: Old-school conservative blog commentary.

• FrontPage Magazine: Hard-edged conservative culture-war commentary.

• The Federalist: Polished conservative commentary on politics, culture, and religion.

• RedState: Combat-ready conservative political commentary.

• Patriot Post: Constitutional, patriotic conservative digest. One of Rip’s favorites.

• The American Spectator: Long-running conservative magazine with a sharp voice.

• Gatestone Institute: National security and foreign policy commentary.

• City Journal: Policy-heavy, center-right analysis from the Manhattan Institute.

• Issues & Insights: Pro-market, limited-government commentary with a data-driven tone.

• American Thinker: Broad conservative opinion site.

• Washington Free Beacon: Investigative conservative reporting and commentary.

• The American Mind: Claremont Institute commentary on politics, culture, and American identity.

And now to today’s stories ...

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - Is ‘Communist’ No Longer a Slur?

John C Eastman - 1776, Not 1608: What the Supreme Court Got Wrong on Birthright Citizenship

Lars Moller - Socialist Revival In Academia

Jack DeVine - Looking Back

Jared Stepman - The Fall of a DEI Darling Reveals Why Universities Won’t Reform Themselves

Jim Reynolds - Why Socialism Will Never Work Voluntarily

Overview

I’m seeing a common thread in today’s pieces: a growing alarm that institutions are drifting leftward while insisting they’re merely evolving.

Several of these essays argue that socialism is no longer a fringe label but an increasingly open political project, whether in the academy, in activist rhetoric, or in the assumptions shaping public debate.

At the same time, there’s a strong countercurrent of institutional critique, from the Supreme Court’s historical reasoning on citizenship to the failures exposed by COVID-era leadership and university self-policing.

What ties it all together is a deeper question about whether our major institutions still correct themselves—or whether they now protect the very ideas and errors they once claimed to resist.

Is ‘Communist’ No Longer a Slur?

By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-04 · Words: 1,772

Victor Davis Hanson argues that the Democratic Party’s socialist wing has stopped hiding its radicalism and now openly embraces policies he characterizes as communist: rejecting capitalism, seizing private property, dismantling constitutional institutions, and expanding state control over major sectors. He singles out New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed surtax on second homes as a punitive, quasi-revolutionary measure that publicly targets property owners, reverses the presumption of innocence, and could force a fire sale in the housing market. Hanson also points to Kamala Harris’s support for court-packing, adding states, ending the filibuster, and abolishing the Electoral College as evidence that mainstream Democrats are adopting the same anti-constitutional playbook. He extends the critique to immigration and voting rules, arguing that the Left uses border chaos and election changes to build a dependent voting bloc and accelerate social transformation. The article concludes that once socialists gain power, they abandon moderation and move toward destruction of borders, norms, and institutions in pursuit of a fundamentally different America.

This story matters because it frames today’s left-wing politics as a direct threat to property rights, constitutional order, and the stability of American civic life.

🅱️ This one’s got receipts and a memory like an elephant—calls out the Marxist cosplay for what it is, with names and numbers. It’s a wake-up slap for anyone pretending the new boss isn’t the old commie in a fresh suit. If you’re not worried after reading this, you’re not paying attention.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

1776, Not 1608: What the Supreme Court Got Wrong on Birthright Citizenship

By: John C Eastman American Mind

Date: 2026-08-05 · Words: 1,820

John C. Eastman argues that the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling in Trump v. Barbara asks the wrong historical question by tracing citizenship to English common law in 1608 rather than to the American Revolution in 1776. He says Chief Justice Roberts correctly shows that England recognized jus soli, but fails to prove that the United States intended to constitutionalize royal subjectship after rejecting monarchy and allegiance to the Crown. Eastman contends the Declaration of Independence established a new theory of political membership grounded in consent of the governed, and that the 14th Amendment should be read as restoring that American principle after Dred Scott, not reviving British doctrine. He emphasizes that the Citizenship Clause’s phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” was meant to require complete political allegiance, not mere obedience to U.S. law, and argues that the majority’s reading makes the clause do too little work. He also says Wong Kim Ark is narrower than the Court suggests and did not decide the status of children born to temporary visitors or those unlawfully present.

This story matters because it frames birthright citizenship as a foundational fight over whether American membership is defined by revolutionary consent or inherited imperial law.

🅱️ Roberts is playing British lawyer while the country he’s judging for was built to ditch kings and their rules. This piece remembers what the black robes forgot: America’s not just England with better teeth, it’s a whole new deal. The essay’s a history lesson with a backbone—reminds you why the Founders didn’t want us stuck with the old world’s baggage. If only the Court read this before they started quoting monarchs.

Read the original article HERE

Socialist Revival In Academia

By: Lars Moller American Thinker

Date: 2026-08-05 · Words: 1,290

The article argues that elite universities are fostering a revival of socialist and anti-Western ideology among students who are detached from the historical record of communist mass death and repression. It cites estimates of tens of millions killed under Soviet, Maoist, Khmer Rouge, North Korean, Ethiopian, and other Marxist regimes, framing these outcomes as inherent to forced collectivism rather than implementation errors. The piece also links campus leftism with anti-colonial politics and tactical alliances with Islamist movements, saying both share an authoritarian impulse that subordinates the individual to a larger collective or divine-political order. It points to 2024 campus protests and encampments at schools like Columbia, Harvard, and UCLA as evidence of growing hostility toward Israel, liberal norms, and free expression, while noting accusations of antisemitism and administrative crackdowns. The author warns that historical amnesia, cancel culture, and curriculum trends are producing a generation more likely to repeat the failures of socialism and to erode academic freedom and liberal democracy.

This story matters because it frames campus ideology as a direct threat to historical memory, free speech, and the durability of liberal institutions.

🅱️ This one reads like a wanted poster for every utopian who ever got a faculty lounge. No weasel words, just a body count and a warning: forget the past, and you’ll get to live it again—gulags included. The only thing missing is a list of the tenured who’d call this ‘problematic.’ History’s not just repeating, it’s being graded on a curve—and the curve’s a mass grave.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

Looking Back

By: Jack DeVine The Patriot Post

Date: 2026-08-05 · Words: 1,163

The article argues that looking back at past failures is essential for learning, using the COVID-19 response and the 2020 election as case studies. It says Dr. Anthony Fauci, though a respected infectious-disease expert, was overmatched when elevated into a broad policy role during the pandemic, where his judgment, openness to dissent, and candor allegedly fell short. The piece also contends that Joe Biden’s rise exposed a deeper problem in how the political system selects leaders, portraying him as a weak executive propelled by party maneuvering, media support, and a Senate career that did not prepare him for the presidency. The author frames both episodes as evidence that the country repeatedly elevates the wrong people for high-stakes jobs, with damaging consequences for public health, immigration, and governance. The central lesson is that leadership selection matters more than rhetoric, and that bureaucratic or political longevity is no substitute for executive competence.

This story matters because it argues that America’s biggest failures often begin long before a crisis, when the wrong people are put in charge.

🅱️ Reads like a post-mortem for the last decade’s clown show. Nails the bureaucrat problem—Fauci and Biden both got promoted for surviving, not leading. Could use more bite, but the receipts are there. If only the folks in charge looked in the rearview before driving us off a cliff.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Fall of a DEI Darling Reveals Why Universities Won’t Reform Themselves

By: Jared Stepman American Greatness

Date: 2026-08-05 · Words: 1,070

A scandal at Cambridge involving professor Jason Arday, long celebrated as a DEI success story, has raised serious questions about plagiarism and the accuracy of his personal biography. The Telegraph reported that his PhD thesis contained 188 sentences identical or highly similar to another student’s work, and it also found his claim that he appeared on the original “Seven Up” documentary was impossible. Arday has not denied the plagiarism allegations, attributing mistakes to autism, while saying the scrutiny is racially motivated and aligned with ableism; Cambridge has called the accusations a “vile smear campaign,” and thousands of academics have signed a solidarity letter. The article argues that the episode shows how DEI culture prioritizes identity over merit, discourages internal criticism through fear of being labeled racist, and allows fraud to flourish. It says real reform in universities comes only from outside pressure, pointing to U.S. funding threats and legal enforcement under the Trump administration as the reason DEI has retreated there, unlike in the U.K. and Canada.

This story matters because it argues that universities will not police DEI excesses on their own, making external accountability the only force capable of restoring merit and integrity.

🅱️ DEI’s not dying of natural causes—it’s getting dragged out by the heels, and only when someone outside cuts the funding. The essay nails the scam: institutions won’t fix themselves because the grift is the point. If you think the system’s embarrassed, you’re not paying attention—they’re just mad you noticed.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Why Socialism Will Never Work Voluntarily

By: Jim Reynolds www.reynolds.com

Date: 2026-08-04 · Words: 1,010

The article argues that socialism cannot remain stable if participation is truly voluntary, because people naturally seek opportunity, respond to incentives, compare outcomes, and leave systems that feel unfair or restrictive. It frames this as a “voluntary test”: if a political philosophy requires penalties, police, or barriers to exit in order to survive, the flaw lies in the system rather than in the people. Using the United States as the clearest example, the piece says mobility across states makes it especially hard to sustain redistribution, since workers, entrepreneurs, investors, and retirees can relocate when taxes, regulations, or burdens rise. It contends that attempts to stop this “leakage” usually lead to tighter controls, which further undermine voluntariness and fairness. The core claim is that socialism may be imposed, but it cannot endure as a free choice because human nature eventually reasserts itself.

This story matters because it argues that the real test of any economic system is not whether it can be enforced, but whether ordinary people will still choose it when they are free to leave.

🅱️ This one doesn’t just poke holes—it lets the air out of the whole balloon. Cuts through the academic fog with a crowbar and a punchline. Reminds you why people pack up and leave, not just their wallets. If you need a SWAT team to keep folks in paradise, maybe it ain’t paradise.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

August 3, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Brent Ramsey - A Tribute to Master Chief Brenton M. Ramsey (USN)

Stu Cvrk - The Strategic Architecture Behind ‘Trump’s Luck’

Christopher Jacobs - How Obamacare Pushes Big Pharma To Overcharge You

Nate Jackson - Blanche Rescinds the Anti-Weaponization Fund

Douglas Andrews - Root for the Muslim in Tomorrow’s MI Dem Primary

Peter Navarro - Why Fauci Chose to Lie to the American People

Overview

Today’s set keeps circling the same fault lines: power, trust, and who gets to define the story after the fact.

I’m seeing a mix of personal sacrifice, bureaucratic abuse, and the lingering fight over whether institutions serve the public or protect themselves.

There’s also a sharper political edge running through it all, from the battle over Trump’s legacy to the way Democrats and their allies are portrayed as normalizing radicalism and rewriting recent history.

What ties these pieces together is a familiar tension between public virtue and private incentives, and the cost when those two drift apart.

A Tribute to Master Chief Brenton M. Ramsey (USN)

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Brent Ramsey

Date: 2026-08-03

• Ramsey rose from an abusive, impoverished childhood to become a decorated Navy Master Chief.

• He joined the CCC, then enlisted after Pearl Harbor to support his young daughter.

• Serving aboard USS Hobson, he endured major Atlantic and Pacific combat operations.

• Hobson rescued survivors at Normandy and Okinawa, earning a Presidential Unit Citation.

• His life exemplified faith, family, service, and America’s promise of opportunity.

A powerful reminder that resilience, duty, and faith can transform hardship into lasting national service.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Strategic Architecture Behind ‘Trump’s Luck’

Site: American Greatness

Author: Stu Cvrk

Date: 2026-08-03

• Critics call Trump lucky, but the article argues preparation repeatedly produced results.

• Media and Democrats allegedly reframe economic gains as Biden’s inheritance, not Trump’s policy.

• Border crossings plunged after rapid first-week actions: emergency declaration, app shutdown, troop deployment.

• Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal are presented as planned diplomacy, not accidental timing.

• The core claim: Trump’s America First doctrine is strategy, and “luck” avoids debating it.

This story matters because it challenges a dominant narrative and reframes Trump’s wins as deliberate statecraft.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

How Obamacare Pushes Big Pharma To Overcharge You

Site: The Federalist

Author: Christopher Jacobs

Date: 2026-08-03

• The author spent a year battling CVS Caremark over a 90-day prescription supply.

• CVS repeatedly reduced the prescription to 30 days, citing vague plan limits.

• The real issue was maintenance-drug classification and an obscure exceptions process.

• CVS’s notices obscured who made the decision and omitted appeal instructions.

• Cash prices from discount pharmacies were far lower than insurance-based CVS pricing.

Obamacare’s pharmacy rules can reward opaque middlemen, leaving patients overpaying unless they shop cash.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Blanche Rescinds the Anti-Weaponization Fund

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Nate Jackson

Date: 2026-08-03

• Blanche formally rescinded Trump’s anti-weaponization fund to secure Senate confirmation support.

• The fund aimed to compensate Trump allies allegedly targeted by prior Democratic administrations.

• Critics called it a taxpayer-funded slush fund and a conflict of interest.

• Senators Tillis and Cornyn opposed Blanche’s nomination until the fund was officially ended.

• Trump signaled he may revive compensation efforts if Blanche is confirmed.

This fight shows how Trump’s grievance politics and Senate leverage are colliding over government accountability.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Root for the Muslim in Tomorrow’s MI Dem Primary

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Douglas Andrews

Date: 2026-08-03

• The article argues Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is likely to win Tuesday’s primary.

• It portrays Democrats as courting radical Muslims and socialist politics for electoral gain.

• The piece says El-Sayed’s Muslim identity and anti-Israel politics will hurt him statewide.

• Polling cited shows El-Sayed would trail Republican Mike Rogers more than Haley Stevens would.

• The author argues an El-Sayed nomination would effectively doom Democrats’ Senate hopes.

This race could expose the Democrats’ electoral ceiling and reshape the Michigan Senate contest.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Why Fauci Chose to Lie to the American People

Site: peternavarro.substack.com

Author: Peter Navarro

Date: 2026-08-03

• Navarro says Fauci’s diary contradicts his public statements on COVID origins.

• He claims Fauci privately considered a Wuhan lab origin likely, then denied it publicly.

• Navarro argues Fauci reversed himself on hydroxychloroquine after Trump endorsed it.

• He says Fauci’s NIAID funded gain-of-function work via EcoHealth Alliance at Wuhan.

• Navarro predicts contempt proceedings after Fauci’s Senate testimony and Fifth Amendment invocation.

Navarro’s account frames Fauci as a politically driven deceiver whose decisions may have shaped the pandemic’s deadliest outcomes.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

July 31, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - The Iran War at the Crossroads

Douglas Andrews - Unaccountable Anthony Fauci

Emmy Griffin - WNBA Attack on Women’s Sports Reaches ‘Fever’ Pitch

Kristen Ziccarelli - 1776 and 1789: A Tale of Two Revolutions

Nate Jackson - KBJ Doesn’t Understand or Practice Impartiality

Jim Reynolds - Over the Line

Overview

Today’s mix keeps circling the same fault lines: power, legitimacy, and who gets to define the rules.

I’m seeing a hard-edged debate over whether America’s institutions are still capable of accountability, from Fauci and the courts to the culture wars around women’s sports.

At the same time, the foreign-policy pieces frame Iran as weakened but not finished, while the revolution essay reminds me how much hinges on whether a society preserves its inherited order or tries to remake itself from scratch.

Note: Frustrating day up here in the mountains. PGE cut our power for the day, so I had to switch to backup power: a propane generator. The push-button start wouldn’t do anything, so I tried the rope starter. It looked a little frayed, and on the next yank it split in two. I tried another battery, but no luck. Then I disassembled the rope starter assembly. By then the sun was beating down, and it was shaping up to be another 95-degree day. So I went to Plan B, or maybe D or F: I brought the backup to the backup online. I happened to have an extra generator, though it runs on gas. No problem. I hooked the trailer up to the 4Runner, rolled the generator in, brought it up to the house, and got it working. Eventually I made it down to Rip and Reynolds. I also received an intriguing article about race, the Russians, and American Marxists. You’ll see it soon.

The Iran War at the Crossroads

Site: American Greatness

Author: Victor Davis Hanson

Date: 2026-07-30

The article argues that the Iran war has entered a “Stage III” of alternating strikes and negotiations, but says the conflict has not failed and has instead badly weakened Tehran’s military, nuclear, and regional position. Hanson contends Iran will need years to recover, while Russia has been sidelined, China’s influence is waning, Gulf states are more pro-American, and Israel has emerged stronger after humiliating a much larger enemy. He says the regime is using a familiar “theocratic rope-a-dope” strategy to wait out Trump, exploit political pressure over gas prices, and preserve its own survival while its infrastructure is destroyed. The piece outlines a possible U.S. endgame: continued strikes on dual-use and uranium sites, forceful reopening of the Strait of Hormuz if needed, sanctions enforcement, and then disengagement with a small regional deterrent force. Hanson also urges Western support for an Iranian opposition government in exile, arguing that only a credible provisional alternative can replace the theocracy and guide a transition to consensual rule.

This story matters because it frames the Iran conflict as a test of U.S. resolve, regional stability, and whether military pressure can create the conditions for a post-theocracy Iran.

🅱️ Bob: Same old sermon, new crater—mullahs bluff, everybody talks, and the bill keeps landing on the people who can’t duck.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Unaccountable Anthony Fauci

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Douglas Andrews

Date: 2026-07-30

Douglas Andrews argues that Anthony Fauci’s 111 invocations of the Fifth Amendment before Congress were less a defense than an admission that he wants to avoid scrutiny over alleged lies about COVID-19 policy, the origins of the virus, and his public testimony. The piece says Fauci’s autopen pardon may shield him from some federal exposure, but not necessarily from state investigations or a possible contempt fight in the Senate, where Rand Paul and other Republicans are pressing the issue. It frames the hearing as useful mainly for building a public record of Fauci’s contradictions, even if it produced no apology or immediate accountability. The article broadens the critique to a wider culture of elite impunity, naming other former officials it says were never meaningfully punished for false testimony.

This story matters because it captures the growing demand for real consequences when powerful officials mislead the public and Congress.

🅱️ Bob: When a man answers “I plead the Fifth” 111 times, he’s not protecting the truth—he’s hiding from the bill.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

WNBA Attack on Women’s Sports Reaches ‘Fever’ Pitch

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Emmy Griffin

Date: 2026-07-31

At a Seattle Storm game, two 16-year-old girls supporting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and women’s sports were booed, mocked, and allegedly cursed at by fans and even by Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton. The girls held signs backing Cunningham after she defended the integrity of women’s sports, while the arena also featured a counterprotest and a Storm warm-up shirt reading “Trans Rights are Human Rights.” According to the article, the confrontation escalated when Keaton approached the teens, invoked Jesus, and called them obscene names, leaving one in tears and both hiding their signs. The Storm later apologized, saying fans should feel welcome, and Keaton was fined and banned from the next five home games. Cunningham then praised the girls for standing up for what they believe and criticized the co-owner’s behavior as embarrassing. The piece frames the incident as evidence that backlash against women defending sex-based sports categories is growing more visible and more politically costly. This story matters because it shows how the fight over women’s sports is now playing out in public, with real consequences for young athletes and the institutions that claim to support them.

🅱️ The mask slipped and the ‘tolerant’ crowd booed two girls for wanting fair play—then the boss lady dropped F-bombs in Jesus’ name. You can’t make this up. The essay lands the receipts, but could use more bite—less Sunday school, more street fight. Still, it nails the hypocrisy: the only thing ‘inclusive’ is the ban on common sense.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

1776 and 1789: A Tale of Two Revolutions

Site: American Mind

Author: Kristen Ziccarelli

Date: 2026-07-31

Kristen Ziccarelli contrasts the American and French Revolutions as rival civilizational models: 1776 preserved inherited liberties rooted in natural law, biblical morality, and a Christian civic order, while 1789 sought to remake society by severing authority from God, tradition, and the church. She argues the American Founding was conservative in character, aiming to protect pre-political rights and a prudent republican hierarchy rather than abolish inherited institutions. By contrast, the French Revolution is portrayed as ideological and anti-Christian, culminating in the suppression of the church, the Reign of Terror, the Festival of Reason, and even attempts to remake time and public life. The essay extends that critique to later movements—communism, the sexual revolution, and expressive individualism—casting them as descendants of the same self-creating anthropology. Ziccarelli concludes that the central question for the West is whether liberty means freedom within an inherited moral order or emancipation from all inherited authority.

This story matters because it frames today’s cultural and political conflicts as a choice between preserving a Christian moral inheritance and embracing a revolutionary logic that dissolves it.

🅱️ This one draws a line in the sand—inheritance or emancipation, pick your poison. Nails the difference between revolutions: one kept the faith, the other guillotined it. Could use a little more bite, but the receipts are all here. History lesson with teeth, not just a flag-waving rerun.

Read the original article HERE

KBJ Doesn’t Understand or Practice Impartiality

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Nate Jackson

Date: 2026-07-31

Patriot Post argues that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s remarks about judicial impartiality on Michelle Obama’s podcast were undermined by the venue and by her own record. The piece says Jackson’s appearance on Obama’s left-leaning “IMO” podcast, after signing the Supreme Court’s Code of Conduct, clashes with her warning that judges must avoid any appearance of partiality. It portrays Jackson as a self-promoter whose opinions and public appearances reflect a broader ideological agenda rather than neutrality. The article further claims her jurisprudence is driven by radical leftist and “oppressor/oppressed” thinking, often drawing rebukes from fellow justices. It also ties her comments to broader Democratic and DSA efforts to reshape or weaken the Supreme Court.

The story matters because it frames a sitting Supreme Court justice’s public messaging as evidence of the ideological bias critics say is eroding trust in the Court.

🅱️ KBJ talking impartiality on Michelle Obama’s podcast is like a fox giving a TED Talk on henhouse security. The essay doesn’t just call out the hypocrisy—it drags it into the daylight and makes it do jumping jacks. Could use a little more scalpel and a little less sledgehammer, but the receipts are there. If you ever doubted the game was rigged, this is your reminder.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Over the Line

Site: www.reynolds.com

Author: Jim Reynolds

Date: 2026-07-31

Jim Reynolds reflects on how childhood sports were improvised around whoever showed up, from basketball and football to a stripped-down baseball variant called Over the Line. He argues that Over the Line solved baseball’s logistical problem by removing catcher, umpire, baserunning, tags and waiting, while preserving the core skills of pitching, hitting, fielding and teamwork. The game depended on precision rather than raw power: pitchers had to place hittable balls, batters had to drive line drives to the open field, and defenders had to read and react quickly. Reynolds presents the game as both honest and complete because its simple rules made outcomes visible and minimized argument. He also frames it as a better teaching tool than organized drills, because it forced players to learn control, anticipation and adaptability through play.

Jim: Sometimes you get tired of reading and writing about politics. Have a great weekend!

This story matters because it shows how kids can turn scarcity into a better, leaner version of the game—and a sharper lesson in how sports actually work.

🅱️ This is a memory with teeth. No lectures, just a blueprint for how kids—and maybe a country—used to solve problems without a committee. Every line’s a quiet rebuke to the clipboard crowd. Makes you miss when rules fit the game, not the other way around.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

July 29, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

John Daniel Davidson - America Can’t Recover From Covid Until Fauci Is Held Accountable

Nate Jackson - California Dems Rig the Game Against Voter ID

Edward Ring - Global and U.S. Reliance on Fossil Fuel Unchanged in 25 Years

Douglas Andrews - The Anguish of the DNC

Emmy Griffin - An Unholy Matrimony of Destructive Worldviews

Jim Reynolds - Fauci Takes the Fifth

Overview

I’m looking at a political week built around accountability, fraud, and failure.

Fauci is back in the dock over COVID lies and the cover-up around Wuhan, while California Democrats are openly fighting voter ID because they know it makes cheating harder.

At the same time, the DNC is broke and disorganized, and the energy story is just as blunt: after 25 years of green rhetoric, the world still runs on oil, gas, and coal.

I watched the Fauci hearing this morning. My brief report can be found below.

America Can’t Recover From Covid Until Fauci Is Held Accountable

Site: The Federalist

Author: John Daniel Davidson

Date: 2026-07-29

• Rand Paul’s released Covid documents renew demands to hold Anthony Fauci accountable.

• The article alleges Fauci repeatedly lied about origins, vaccine effects, school closures, and funding.

• Fauci’s Senate testimony could expose perjury if he repeats claims about Wuhan research funding.

• His diary and emails reportedly show awareness of gain-of-function work and lab-leak doubts.

• The piece argues accountability is essential to restore trust in government after Covid.

• Fauci’s testimony could finally force a reckoning over the lies that shaped America’s pandemic response.

🅱️ Fauci’s got more cover than a mob boss, and the receipts are piling up. This piece doesn’t just point fingers—it names names and shows the playbook. The rage is earned, but a little more gallows humor would’ve made the medicine go down sharper. Still, it’s a reminder: you can’t heal a wound if you keep letting the guy who caused it write the medical report.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

California Dems Rig the Game Against Voter ID

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Nate Jackson

Date: 2026-07-29

• California Democrats are campaigning against Proposition 39, a voter ID initiative backed by 56% of voters.

• Xavier Becerra and Robert Rivas frame voter ID as Trump-style “election rigging” and voter suppression.

• The article argues Democrats oppose ID because it would make winning elections harder.

• Attorney General Rob Bonta changed Prop 39’s ballot language to sound more restrictive and alarming.

• The piece says ballot wording manipulation misleads voters and undermines election integrity.

This fight matters because ballot language can shape voter perception and determine whether election rules become law.

🅱️ This one’s got receipts and a memory—reminds you California used to have Reagan, now it’s got ballot word games. The con’s right there in the fine print, and the author’s not shy about calling it. Could use a little more scalpel, but the punch lands: the folks yelling ‘democracy’ are the ones rigging the rules. If you ever wondered why trust is gone, here’s your answer in plain English.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Global and U.S. Reliance on Fossil Fuel Unchanged in 25 Years

Site: American Greatness

Author: Edward Ring

Date: 2026-07-29

• Global energy use rose nearly 60% since 2000, yet fossil-fuel dependence barely changed.

• In 2025, fossil fuels supplied 86% of global energy, down only one point from 2000.

• U.S. fossil-fuel reliance fell from 89% to 83%, mainly by replacing coal with gas.

• Global fossil-fuel consumption surged in absolute terms, with oil, gas, and coal all growing.

• Renewables expanded, but remain too small and storage-limited to replace fossil fuels soon.

• The story matters because it shows net-zero ambitions are colliding with stubborn global energy realities.

🅱️ This is the energy report card the climate priests don’t want you to see. Trillions spent, and the fossil fuel needle barely budged—guess the planet didn’t get the memo. The numbers do the talking, and they don’t care about your hashtags. If you still think we’re one solar panel away from utopia, I’ve got a wind farm to sell you.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Anguish of the DNC

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Douglas Andrews

Date: 2026-07-29

• DNC chair Ken Martin faces fundraising collapse, debt, and internal party dysfunction.

• FEC reports show $16 million cash, $18 million debt, and headquarters collateralized.

• Republicans hold a massive financial advantage, with $128 million cash on hand.

• The article highlights Democratic infighting, including Martin’s alleged phone-throwing complaint.

• Polling shows Democrats’ favorability sinking as voters increasingly see them as too liberal.

• Democratic chaos, weak fundraising, and collapsing public support could shape the coming midterms.

🅱️ This is a roast with receipts—DNC’s broke, the circus is in town, and the ringleader’s throwing phones. The jokes land, but the punchline’s the numbers: red ink and red faces. Could use a little more scalpel on the media’s spin, but you walk away knowing who’s losing and why. Feels like déjà vu, but the mess is fresh.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

An Unholy Matrimony of Destructive Worldviews

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Emmy Griffin

Date: 2026-07-29

• Berlin Pride parade attack killed one and injured dozens; suspect was Islamist Abdul Ballout.

• Ballout had ISIS ties, prior arrests, and a suspended sentence despite radicalization warnings.

• German authorities favored deradicalization counseling; he completed only two of six sessions.

• Some LGBTQ+ activists blamed a hypothetical white Christian attacker instead of Islamist violence.

• Author argues leftist delusion and lenient policy endanger lives and shield dangerous extremists.

  This story matters because it argues Western denial and soft policies are helping violent extremists keep killing.

🅱️ This one doesn’t mince words—lays out the receipts on who does the killing and who gets blamed. The punchline’s clear: the folks screaming ‘tolerance’ can’t see who’s actually swinging the knife. Could use a little more scalpel and less sermon, but the point lands like a brick through a cathedral window. The real delusion is thinking therapy fixes jihad.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Fauci Takes the Fifth

Site: www.reynolds.com

Author: Jim Reynolds

Date: 2026-07-29

• Fauci appeared before the Senate committee on COVID origins, Wuhan research, and pandemic response.

• Rand Paul released 1,000-plus pages of Fauci journals, alleging hidden doubts and inconsistencies.

• Fauci attacked Paul, then invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused over 100 questions.

• He declined to address lab-leak theory, gain-of-function research, NIH funding, and key policy decisions.

• The hearing yielded no testimony, but intensified scrutiny of Fauci’s legacy and accountability.

Fauci’s silence turned a legal defense into a political liability, deepening doubts about pandemic-era power.

🅱️ Fauci spent years barking orders—now he can’t even name his tie. Funny how the science dries up when the subpoenas start flying. The only thing more contagious than COVID was his sudden case of amnesia. Legacy? He left it in the hearing room, right next to his backbone.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

July 27, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Brian C Joondeph - The More They Said ‘Trust Us,’ the Less America Did

Gregory Lyakhov - The Left Is Losing Its Grip on Its Greatest Advantage

EJ Antoni; Ph D - If It’s Good Enough for Wartime, It’s Good Enough for Peacetime

Douglas Andrews - The Trump Show Goes on at WHCD

Nate Jackson - Trump’s Middle East Chess Match

Jim Reynolds - The House Divided

Overview

I see a country still split between institutions that demand obedience and a public that no longer gives it freely.

The COVID trust collapse, the Left’s grip on universities and media, and the Democratic Party’s own civil war all point to the same problem: the old gatekeepers are losing their power to define reality.

At the same time, Trump is forcing the other side to live with the consequences of its own chaos, from Iran and energy prices to the spectacle of politics after an assassination attempt.

What ties this set together is simple: Americans are done being managed, and the people who built their power on control are finding out too late.

Remember, if you would rather just cut to the chase then ignore the summaries and hit the link at the bottom. That will take you directly to the article. It’s your choice.

The More They Said ‘Trust Us,’ the Less America Did

Site: American Thinker

Author: Brian C Joondeph

Date: 2026-07-27

The article argues that COVID-era public health messaging damaged trust because officials demanded belief while often failing to show transparency, acknowledge uncertainty, or welcome independent scrutiny.

It cites Rasmussen polling showing nearly half of Americans think COVID vaccines likely caused a significant number of unexplained deaths and about one-quarter believe someone they knew died from a vaccine, using those results not as proof of harm but as evidence of a deep credibility gap.

The author says science should be built on reproducibility, open data, and investigation of anomalies, not dismissal of questions as misinformation, and contends that changing guidance on masks, origins, and vaccine effects was less damaging than the refusal to admit uncertainty as recommendations evolved.

He compares public trust to a marriage strained by secrecy, arguing that suspicion grows when institutions appear to hide records or shut down debate.

The piece concludes that future pandemic guidance will only work if officials earn trust through sunlight, data release, and open rebuttal of critics rather than authority or censorship.

This story matters because public health depends on credibility, and without transparency, even valid guidance can fail when the next crisis arrives.

🅱️ This one reads like a post-mortem for trust itself. The doc remembers when ‘I don’t know’ was a sign of brains, not heresy. If only the experts had kept their mouths as open as their minds, maybe folks wouldn’t be flipping coins on who to believe. Sunlight’s free—so why all the blackout curtains?

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

The Left Is Losing Its Grip on Its Greatest Advantage

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Gregory Lyakhov

Date: 2026-07-27

The article argues that the Left’s long-standing advantage has come from dominating America’s key institutions — universities, media, entertainment, and nonprofits — and using them to normalize its worldview as fact rather than opinion.

It says this institutional capture helped spread ideas like radical gender ideology, DEI bureaucracies, and activist race politics without broad public demand.

But confidence in those institutions is now eroding as Americans grow more skeptical of media, higher education, and ideological activism, especially amid rising tuition, debt, and declining trust.

The piece frames this as an anti-establishment shift that is affecting both parties, though it poses a greater threat to the Left because its influence has depended more heavily on institutional authority.

It argues conservatives should not replace one monopoly with another, but should push to restore institutions as places for open debate and truth-seeking.

If institutions lose their ideological monopoly, the political balance of power could shift in a way that reshapes American culture and public trust for years to come.

🅱️ Finally, someone remembers the institutions weren’t always blue church pulpits. This piece calls the con: the Left built the house, but now the roof’s leaking and folks are noticing. Could use a little more bite—maybe name a few of the usual suspects—but it lands the point: trust is gone, and the old tricks aren’t working. The real punch is in the hope that maybe, just maybe, we get the house back.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

If It’s Good Enough for Wartime, It’s Good Enough for Peacetime

Site: Townhall

Author: EJ Antoni; Ph D

Date: 2026-07-27

The column argues that the recent Iran-related spike in energy prices shows why wartime emergency deregulation should be made permanent in peacetime.

It says gasoline is back above $4 a gallon, diesel above $5, and Brent crude has topped $90, underscoring how quickly families are hit by supply shocks.

The main target is the Jones Act, which requires U.S. coastal shipping to use American-built, -owned, -flagged, and -crewed vessels; the author says this has shrunk the compliant fleet, created artificial shortages, and raised costs even though the U.S. produces abundant oil.

He points to the administration’s March 17 waiver for energy commodities and fertilizer inputs, claiming it added 149 vessels, enabled 180 voyages, moved about 13 million barrels each of gasoline and crude, and expanded Gulf-to-West Coast fuel shipments beyond all of 2020-2025 combined.

The piece also backs the EPA’s summer E15 waiver and warns against temporary fixes like draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or suspending the gas tax without spending cuts, arguing those merely shift costs to future taxpayers.

It concludes that repealing the Jones Act and the Renewable Fuel Standard would lower fuel, fertilizer, and grocery costs without new spending, and that only entrenched

🅱️ This is a straight shot at the sacred cows nobody wants to touch—Jones Act, ethanol mandates, the whole racket. Author’s got the receipts, but the voice is more think-tank than barstool. Could use a little more bite, but the point lands: if the rules are dumb in a crisis, they’re dumb all the time. Funny how the ‘emergencies’ always show us which laws are just protection rackets.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Trump Show Goes on at WHCD

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Douglas Andrews

Date: 2026-07-27

Donald Trump used the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner to blend comedy, political attacks, and defiance after an assassination attempt forced the original event to be postponed.

He framed the night as proof that political violence would not silence the country, then spent more than an hour mocking the press, Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, AOC, Adam Schiff, Rosie O’Donnell, and Bruce Springsteen.

The speech also highlighted Trump’s ongoing White House construction projects, including a bulletproof ballroom, a rooftop drone port, and an underground shelter, which he said would serve future presidents as well.

The article portrays Trump as improvisational and entertaining, contrasting him with Biden and arguing that the media’s business model depends on Trump’s presence.

This story matters because it shows how Trump continues to dominate the political and media agenda even in the face of violence, turning every stage into a referendum on his power and the press’s dependence on him.

🅱️ Reads like a highlight reel for the Trump Show—hits the right notes, but plays it safe. Good jabs at the media, but nothing you couldn’t catch on a late-night rerun. Reminds you who the real audience is, but could use more bite and less play-by-play. Next time, less recap, more receipts.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Trump’s Middle East Chess Match

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Nate Jackson

Date: 2026-07-27

Trump is juggling military pressure, ceasefire pauses, and negotiations with Iran while trying to avoid a full-scale war and still claim success on the nuclear issue.

The article says he launched Operation Epic Fury after concluding earlier strikes were insufficient, but now appears constrained by rising oil and gas prices, political risk, and uncertainty over U.S. munitions stockpiles.

Trump has alternated between threatening a “massive attack” and signaling that a deal remains possible, while UN Ambassador Mike Waltz says he is giving talks “some space.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in Washington and backs Trump’s approach if it avoids renewed heavy fighting.

The piece also frames Saudi Arabia as a key lever in Trump’s broader strategy, with a potential nuclear power deal tied to the Abraham Accords and meant to counter Iran without enabling weapons development.

This story matters because it shows how Trump is using military force, diplomacy, and regional rivalries together to shape the Middle East and influence U.S. energy and election politics.

🅱️ Reads like a play-by-play for folks who remember when presidents actually tried to win. Nails the ‘Trump plays chess, media plays checkers’ bit, but could use more bite—less recap, more receipts. Good at showing the moving parts, but I wanted a little more fire and a little less sports commentary. Still, it’s a handy map for anyone tired of the official fog machine.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The House Divided

Site: www.reynolds.com

Author: Jim Reynolds

Date: 2026-07-27

[Jim’s Note: If you choose to “Read in the App” then you will also have the choice of listening to the piece. Upper right hand button says “Listen”. ]

The Democratic Party is facing a deeper crisis than a possible 2026 midterm defeat: a widening split between a traditional center-left wing and a socialist faction that sees capitalism and core American institutions as illegitimate.

Reynolds argues that Democratic leaders want the energy, turnout, and organizing power of the DSA without publicly owning its agenda, creating a party that tells different stories to different audiences.

He says this contradiction is becoming harder to hide as socialist victories in dense urban enclaves prove little about national appeal, while governing experiments like Zohran Mamdani’s in New York expose the limits of activist promises.

The article also warns that Democrats can no longer rely on racial identity politics, labor rhetoric, or institutional trust to hold together a coalition that is shifting beneath them.

In Reynolds’s view, weak leadership from Schumer and Jeffries is allowing the conflict to harden into an avoidable but increasingly destructive internal rupture.

This story matters because it argues Democrats are not just at risk of losing elections—they may be losing the ability to define what their party stands for.

🅱️ This is a coroner’s report for the Democratic Party, written before the body’s cold. No weasel words, no safe takes—just receipts and a shovel for the grave. The punchlines land because the setup is all facts, no fog. If you’re still pretending the party’s just having a family squabble, you’re not paying attention—or you’re cashing a check.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

July 25, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Victor Davis Hanson - The Left-Wing Unicorn Hunt for the White Male Working-Class Voter

Larry Elder - Trump’s War Critics Discuss Everything — Except the Point

Colin Redemer - The College Replacement Economy

Lars Moller - Principles And Perseverance In Roger Scruton

Jeffrey C Reynolds - THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

Overview

I’m seeing a set of arguments that all circle the same fault line: what happens when institutions lose touch with the people they claim to serve.

The pieces on Democrats and the white working class, Trump’s Iran critics, and the “college replacement economy” each wrestle with elites, incentives, and the stories we tell ourselves about progress.

There is also a deeper cultural thread here, from Scruton’s defense of rooted conservatism to the reminder that talent and migration can overturn the assumptions of any system.

Taken together, this is a newsletter about abandonment, overconfidence, and the cost of confusing slogans with reality.

I believe you will find the true story written by my brother, Jeffrey Reynolds, especially heartwarming.

By the way, I missed my normal publishing day yesterday. Life intervened.

In California, our vehicles must pass a smog inspection. My Jeep did not.

The test equipment detected an emissions-system problem, which began a small but expensive adventure. Jeff had to drive me forty miles to Auburn to get it repaired.

Why a $5 Part Cost Me More Than $400

When I took my Jeep in for its California smog inspection, it failed with Diagnostic Code P0455: EVAP System Large Leak.

The EVAP system captures gasoline vapors and prevents them from escaping into the atmosphere. To find the leak, the shop filled the system with smoke and watched to see where it escaped.

The culprit was a leaking rollover check valve on top of the fuel tank.

Here is the frustrating part.

The valve itself costs about $5.

Unfortunately, it sits on top of the fuel tank, where it cannot simply be reached and replaced. The entire tank has to be lowered before the tiny plastic valve can be accessed.

That is why I did not do it myself.

The final accounting was simple:

Diagnostic code: P0455 — EVAP Large Leak
Cause: Failed rollover check valve
Part cost: About $5
Labor: Lower the fuel tank, replace the valve, and reinstall the tank
Total repair bill: More than $400

Modern vehicle repairs are often expensive not because the failed part costs much, but because of the labor required to reach it.

In other words, I did not pay $400 for a plastic valve.

I paid $400 to get to it.

The Jeep’s primary purpose is to get me out when the snow gets deep and everything else fails. We receive a great deal of snow up here in the Sierras.

So the Jeep needs to be ready.

Even if it takes a $400 expedition to replace a $5 part.

Back to the Newsletter….

The Left-Wing Unicorn Hunt for the White Male Working-Class Voter

Site: Townhall

Author: Victor Davis Hanson

Date: 2026-07-23

• Democrats have largely lost white working-class voters since Bill Clinton’s era.

• Hanson says demographic overconfidence and open-borders politics drove that abandonment.

• He argues progressive social issues and DEI alienate working people.

• The party’s socialist figures are portrayed as privileged, inauthentic populists.

• Democrats need these voters, but their messaging and messengers repel them.

The story matters because it argues Democrats cannot regain power without winning back a crucial, culturally alienated voting bloc.

🅱️ This is a demolition job on the Democrats’ cosplay working-class routine. Hanson’s got the receipts and the memory—he names the phonies, the trust-fund socialists, and the DEI grifters. The punchlines land because the setup’s all true. Only thing missing is a little more gallows humor, but the moral fury’s right where it should be.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Trump’s War Critics Discuss Everything — Except the Point

Site: Townhall

Author: Larry Elder

Date: 2026-07-23

• Critics say Trump’s Iran war risks a “forever war,” but miss the war’s origin.

• The central unanswered question is whether Iran was close to a nuclear weapon.

• Trump and NATO’s Rutte argued Iran’s nuclear and missile threat was imminent.

• Elder says analysis is incomplete without weighing sanctions, inspections, negotiations, or containment alternatives.

• He argues public debate must assess both Trump’s strategy and Iran’s capabilities.

• The war’s legitimacy hinges on whether Iran was truly nearing a bomb.

🅱️ Elder’s not splitting hairs—he’s pointing at the elephant the press keeps painting invisible. The whole circus is arguing about the cost of the fire truck, but nobody asks if the house was actually burning. Clean, sharp, and just dangerous enough to make the right people squirm. Could use a little more bite, but the receipts are all here.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The College Replacement Economy

Site: American Mind

Author: Colin Redemer

Date: 2026-07-23

• The essay argues climate panic can justify a radical economic agenda.

• Young Americans seem prosperous in statistics, but lost social capital makes life costlier.

• College is framed as a replacement purchase for eroded labor-market sorting and certification.

• Tuition, debt, and bureaucracy rose while instruction and learning quality declined.

• International students and labor competition intensify college’s role as a defensive moat.

• Higher education now sells back what society once provided free, masking decline as growth.

🅱️ This one’s a bill for what got stolen while we were told it was progress. Nails the scam: pay more, get less, call it growth. Could use a little more bite on who profits, but the receipts are all here. If you ever wondered why your kid’s drowning in debt for a piece of paper, here’s your answer—straight, no chaser.

Read the original article HERE

Principles And Perseverance In Roger Scruton

Site: American Thinker

Author: Lars Moller

Date: 2026-07-25

• Blair’s premiership is framed as a cultural revolution, not pragmatic modernization.

• Scruton’s Salisbury Review advanced “rich” conservatism rooted in tradition, place, and beauty.

• He rejected Thatcherite economism, defending family, locality, church, nation, and inherited forms.

• The magazine backed dissidents abroad and challenged multiculturalism, political correctness, and elite orthodoxy.

• Scruton’s legacy endures as principled resistance to cultural erosion and managerial progressivism.

Scruton matters because he gave conservatism a moral and philosophical backbone when Britain’s institutions were changing fast.

🅱️ Scruton took the punches and kept swinging—while the rest of the so-called conservatives handed out medals for surrender. This piece remembers the man who said what everyone else was too scared to mutter, and it doesn’t let the cowards off the hook. The rot’s mapped out, the receipts are stapled to the door, and the lesson’s clear: you don’t save a country by apologizing for it.

Reader Experience: ★★★☆☆ Moderate ads and interruptions.

Read the original article HERE

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

Site: www.reynolds.com

Author: Jeffrey C Reynolds

Date: 2026-07-24

• Late-1970s Los Angeles Philharmonic auditions were dominated by Russian expatriate violinists.

• All four section violin openings went to Russians, surprising the audition committee.

• Soviet emigration had released elite Jewish musicians, many from top orchestras and quartets.

• The newcomers quickly assimilated, buying homes, learning English, and raising American families.

• Their stories linked wartime survival, musical excellence, and America’s gain from immigration.

This story shows how immigration can transform a great orchestra—and a country—through talent, resilience, and assimilation.

🅱️ This one’s got receipts and a soul. Shows what happens when you trade communism for a shot at the real thing—no lectures, just lived proof. The punchline? They didn’t come here to make America Russia. They came to become Americans. Maybe we should remember that next time someone tries to sell us a borderless utopia.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Leave a comment

Share

Rip’s Newsletter

July 22, 2026

Compiled and Edited

by

Jim Reynolds

Articles in This Issue

Nate Jackson - How Now Can They Love Mao?

Michael Smith - Finding Dory

Peter Demos - Let’s Put Democratic Socialism to the Test

Kurt Schlichter - ‘The Odyssey’ Is Woke and Worse

Jim Reynolds - The Band That Never Played

Overview

I’m seeing a set of pieces that circle the same uneasy question: what happens when ideology outruns memory, judgment, and reality.

Several of these essays warn that old warnings about communism, socialism, and authoritarian power are being softened or forgotten just as new generations flirt with them again.

Others push back through culture and politics alike, arguing that slogans and symbolism are no substitute for results, whether in government, history, or art.

Beneath all of it is a familiar tension between the seduction of grand ideas and the stubborn facts that eventually test them.

How Now Can They Love Mao?

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Nate Jackson

Date: 2026-07-22

The article argues that Hasan Piker’s appearance dressed as Mao Zedong at a College Democrats convention is a revealing sign of how openly some young American progressives now embrace communist symbolism and rhetoric.

It contrasts the left’s outrage over alleged Nazi imagery with its relative silence on Mao, whom the piece frames as responsible for tens of millions of deaths, and says mainstream media has normalized Piker despite his extremist views.

The author cites Piker’s praise of Mao, his dismissal of Holocaust comparisons, and his violent anti-capitalist rhetoric as evidence that his politics are not merely rhetorical but revolutionary.

It then links Piker to Democratic Socialists of America leaders and other left-wing activists who want to abolish institutions like the Senate, expand state ownership, and reject constitutional limits on wealth and power.

The article concludes that these figures are not fringe curiosities but part of a broader movement seeking to remake America along Maoist lines, while the media wrongly frames concern about them as a “Red Scare.”

This story matters because it argues that communist ideas are moving from the margins into mainstream youth politics, with real implications for American institutions and civic stability.

🅱️ You want to know why kids are wearing Mao shirts? Because nobody in charge ever paid the butcher’s bill. The essay’s got receipts, but it could use a little more bite—less play-by-play, more scalpel. Still, it’s a wake-up call: the folks who fled communism are now lecturing us about democracy. You can’t make this up.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Finding Dory

Site: The Patriot Post

Author: Michael Smith

Date: 2026-07-22

The article argues that public memory is as short as Dory’s, allowing societies to forget hard-won lessons and repeat old mistakes.

It says the World Wars remain reference points, but even those warnings are fading as history is increasingly sanitized or rewritten.

The piece contends that totalitarian movements depend on controlling the past, and that 20th-century communist regimes offer overwhelming evidence of what happens when ideology overrides reality.

It criticizes American education for teaching history as grievance-driven activism rather than a balanced account of cause and effect, leaving people with resentment instead of perspective.

That historical amnesia, the author argues, makes citizens easier to manipulate with manufactured crises, expanded state power, and recycled utopian promises.

This matters because a society that forgets its past becomes far more vulnerable to political deception and the return of failed ideas.

🅱️ This one hits like a brick through a memory hole. Reminds you why the same old cons keep working—because the marks forget the last round. Could use a little more bite, but the receipts are all here. History’s not just repeating, it’s being laundered, and the essay calls the cleaners out.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

Let’s Put Democratic Socialism to the Test

Site: Townhall

Author: Peter Demos

Date: 2026-07-22

Peter Demos argues that democratic socialism should be judged by voluntary real-world tests in industries that already champion progressive economics, rather than imposed first on small businesses or broad sectors like Wall Street and grocery stores.

He says Hollywood, Broadway, television, and even the New York mayor’s office are better proving grounds because they feature extreme pay gaps, concentrated wealth, and large numbers of essential workers whose compensation lags far behind top earners.

Demos frames Zohran Mamdani’s rise as a renewed spotlight on democratic socialism, but contends the movement should start by capping top compensation and redistributing more broadly within its own cultural strongholds.

He suggests that if the model truly improves fairness, security, and performance, these industries should be able to demonstrate stronger businesses, better government, and broader prosperity without coercion.

The piece closes by challenging supporters to “lead by example” and prove the system works before asking the rest of America to follow.

This story matters because it turns a political slogan into a concrete test of whether democratic socialism can deliver better outcomes where its advocates already have the most influence.

🅱️ Finally, someone asks Hollywood to eat their own cooking. Funny how the loudest preachers for ‘fairness’ never pass the plate in their own pews. This piece calls their bluff—no more sermons, just show us. If the stars won’t walk the walk, maybe the rest of us shouldn’t buy the talk.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

‘The Odyssey’ Is Woke and Worse

Site: Townhall

Author: Kurt Schlichter

Date: 2026-07-22

Kurt Schlichter’s review argues that Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is a long, dull, visually muddy, and emotionally exhausting film that wastes a potentially great story.

He says the movie is weighed down by “woke” stunt casting, including Ellen Page as a Greek warrior and racially diverse casting that he считает distracting and ideologically motivated.

Schlichter also criticizes Nolan for turning Odysseus into a whiny, guilt-ridden figure instead of a cunning hero, stripping the story of adventure, humor, and memorable set pieces.

He contrasts the film unfavorably with Nolan’s earlier work and with older fantasy films, while complaining that the theater experience itself has become unpleasant.

This story matters because it captures the cultural backlash against prestige filmmaking that many conservatives see as preachy, joyless, and more interested in signaling than storytelling.

🅱️ This is a roast, not a review. Schlichter swings at Hollywood’s woke piñata and doesn’t miss, but the real punch is how joyless and hollow the whole circus feels. The jokes land, the outrage is earned, but it could use a little more scalpel and a little less sledgehammer. Still, you walk away knowing exactly why you don’t want that ticket stub.

Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.

Read the original article HERE

The Band That Never Played

Site: www.reynolds.com

Author: Jim Reynolds

Date: 2026-07-22

Jim Reynolds recounts how Finland’s Winter War defense in 1939–40 shattered Stalin’s expectation of a quick victory and exposed the Red Army’s weaknesses.

At Suomussalmi and along Raate Road, Finnish ski troops used the motti tactic to slice Soviet columns into isolated pockets, cutting off movement, communications, fuel, food, and warmth until entire divisions collapsed.

The article emphasizes that Stalin’s purges had already crippled Soviet command, making the army rigid and vulnerable in Finland’s forests, lakes, and deep winter conditions.

Finland ultimately lost territory in the peace settlement, but it preserved its independence and inflicted a humiliating defeat that became a strategic lesson for the wider war.

Reynolds also argues that Hitler drew the wrong conclusion from Finland’s success, underestimating the Soviet Union and helping set the stage for the disastrous invasion of 1941.

This story matters because it shows how a small, resource-poor nation can reshape world history by turning terrain, discipline, and strategy into decisive force.

🅱️ This one swings the axe and leaves the stump. No fat, no fog—just a cold lesson in how the little guy cuts the bully down to size. The band never played, but the punchline lands like a frozen log. If you don’t get sisu after this, you never will.

Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.

Read the original article HERE

Subscribe now

Share

Leave a comment