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
Didn’t do to well on the “How big is the national budget?” Question, either. I wrote a review/assessment of the interview. Will include it tomorrow in Rip. It is on reynolds.com now.
The DSA MYTH EEXPOSED. The Jesse Waters interview Monday night with Commie Elect proved your definition of The DSA. When Waters pressed Abdul on how His group would pay for free everything, He deflected the answer to another unanswered question for the whole show. Lacks any knowledge of basic American History. Yet he could define the history of Sharia Law?