Rip’s Newsletter
July 17, 2026
Compiled and Edited
by
Jim Reynolds
Articles in This Issue
Victor Davis Hanson - The World Made Anew
Jordan Schachtel - The New American Industrial Revolution Runs on Data Centers
Victor Davis Hanson - The Odyssey Hullabaloo
Nate Jackson - Trump’s Blockbuster Election Speech Was a Mixed Bag
Don Surber - Modern time began in 1883
Jim Reynolds - The Definitive Guide to Trump Accounts
Overview
I see a country trying to rebuild its footing while the old gatekeepers keep pretending they still run the place.
Trump is back on offense, talking election security and releasing declassified material, while the left and its allies keep losing ground abroad and at home.
At the same time, the real machinery of modern power is shifting into data centers, industrial capacity, and ownership stakes for ordinary families, not the slogans the media keeps selling.
Even the culture fights, from Hollywood to the calendar on your wall, show the same thing: the fight is over who gets to set the terms of American life.
Speaking of changing lives, one of the most consequential ideas in this issue has received surprisingly little attention. Trump Accounts could give millions of young Americans a meaningful financial head start. Jim Reynolds explains how they work—and why they may prove to be one of the most important long-term policy initiatives in years. You will want to forward this one along to others.
The World Made Anew
Site: Townhall
Author: Victor Davis Hanson
Date: 2026-07-16
Victor Davis Hanson argues that the world has been reordered since Trump left office in 2021, with U.S. power and allied strength rising while adversaries weaken.
He says Latin America has swung sharply toward pro-American, anti-communist governments, illegal immigration has largely stopped, and Washington now has far more leverage over Canada and Mexico.
In the Middle East, he claims Iran has been humiliated, Hamas and Hezbollah have been crippled, the Houthis are constrained, and Israel is more secure and regionally dominant than ever.
He also contends that Russia is badly degraded in Ukraine, China is stagnating and increasingly isolated, and Europe is being forced to rearm after years of complacency.
Hanson concludes that despite elite criticism of Trump, the United States and its allies now occupy a level of global preeminence not seen since World War II.
This story matters because it frames Trump-era pressure as having reshaped the strategic balance across multiple regions, with major implications for U.S. security, trade, and deterrence.
🅱️ Turns out the world didn’t end when the mean tweets stopped—just got quieter while the mess piled up. Hanson remembers what the press forgets: results matter more than feelings. The receipts are all here, but the punchlines could hit harder.
Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the original article HERE
The New American Industrial Revolution Runs on Data Centers
Site: American Greatness
Author: Jordan Schachtel
Date: 2026-07-17
Data centers are the physical backbone of the modern economy, powering everything from texts and hospital records to AI, and the article argues they are central to America’s ability to reindustrialize and compete with China.
It frames the current backlash as a familiar NIMBY fight, warning that blanket opposition could repeat past policy mistakes that slowed nuclear power and other infrastructure buildouts.
The piece says the main objections about water and electricity are being addressed by engineering fixes, citing Microsoft’s reduced water use, Google’s water-restoration efforts, and tech firms’ move toward dedicated power generation, including nuclear.
It also argues data centers deliver major local benefits through property tax revenue, construction work, and permanent jobs, while acknowledging that individual projects still deserve scrutiny and better negotiation.
Finally, it claims some anti-data-center activism is tied to a network funded by Neville Roy Singham and aligned with Chinese interests, with federal and congressional investigations now examining those links.
This story matters because the fight over data centers is really a fight over whether the U.S. will build the infrastructure needed to lead the next era of economic and technological power.
Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the original article HERE
The Odyssey Hullabaloo
Site: American Greatness
Author: Victor Davis Hanson
Date: 2026-07-16
Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey opens amid controversy over claims that it is being framed as a feminist revision of Homer and over the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as a black Helen.
Victor Davis Hanson argues that the backlash misunderstands the poem, which he says is foundational Western literature and already contains a rich array of capable women, including Penelope, Circe, Calypso, Athena, Eurycleia, and Nausicaa.
He contends that Homer is not sexist but rather presents women as loyal, cunning, independent, dangerous, and essential to Odysseus’s return.
Hanson also says race-swapping minor characters can be acceptable in adaptation, but warns that it becomes distracting when a character’s identity is central to the story, and he suggests Helen’s role is too minor to break the film.
He closes by arguing that Hollywood should respect the Greek source material and avoid turning classic stories into ideological exercises.
This story matters because it turns a film controversy into a broader argument about fidelity to classic literature, cultural identity, and Hollywood’s habit of remaking stories through a political lens.
🅱️ Hollywood tries to fix Homer, but can’t even read him. The real epic is watching elites trip over 3,000 years of common sense. Maybe next time they’ll cast someone who finished the book.
Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the original article HERE
Trump’s Blockbuster Election Speech Was a Mixed Bag
Site: The Patriot Post
Author: Nate Jackson
Date: 2026-07-17
Trump used a primetime address to pair a defense of his economic record and broader agenda with a renewed push for election-security reforms, arguing that secure elections are essential to the country’s legitimacy.
He released declassified material alleging Chinese interference, vulnerabilities in voting systems, buried intelligence, and widespread registration problems, including claims of noncitizen registrations in several states.
The article treats some of Trump’s claims as plausible but unevenly substantiated, especially on voting machines and the extent to which fraud changed outcomes, while arguing that mail-in ballot weaknesses and Big Tech suppression were more consequential in 2020.
It also frames Democratic resistance to the SAVE Act as evidence that voter-ID and citizenship-verification measures would make cheating harder.
The speech’s practical aim, the piece says, was to build momentum for the SAVE Act and make election integrity a nonpartisan issue.
This story matters because it ties Trump’s fraud narrative to concrete legislation that could reshape how Americans vote and how future elections are contested.
Reader Experience: ★★★★☆ Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the original article HERE
Modern time began in 1883
Site: donsurber.substack.com
Author: Don Surber
Date: 2026-07-17
The article argues that Congress is once again meddling in a problem the market already solved, as lawmakers debate whether to make daylight saving time permanent, keep standard time, or stop changing clocks twice a year.
It says permanent DST was tried in 1974 and quickly abandoned after widespread backlash, and notes that opponents worry about children going to school in the dark.
The piece traces modern timekeeping to the railroad era, when more than 300 local times created confusion and accidents, prompting railroad leaders in 1883 to adopt standardized time zones at noon on November 18, 1883.
It also says Congress later imposed daylight saving time during World War I, repealed it after public resistance, and then reimposed it during World War II.
The article rejects the idea that Benjamin Franklin invented DST, calling his famous essay a satire about waking earlier to save candle costs.
This story matters because it shows how a routine clock change has become a recurring example of government fixing what people and markets already settled.
Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.
Read the original article HERE
The Definitive Guide to Trump Accounts
Site: www.reynolds.com
Author: Jim Reynolds
Date: 2026-07-17
Trump Accounts are a newly created child-focused retirement vehicle under Section 530A, designed to give eligible children an early ownership stake in the American economy rather than a conventional savings pot for a single expense.
Children born from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2028, can receive a one-time $1,000 federal seed deposit if the election is made, and families, employers, charities, and governments may add contributions subject to a $5,000 annual combined limit for ordinary deposits.
The account grows tax-deferred, generally bars distributions during the childhood growth period, and restricts investments to low-cost broad-market U.S. index funds, a design the author argues is meant to prevent the most common investor mistakes.
At age 18, the special restrictions largely end and the account generally transitions into traditional IRA rules, giving the young adult control but also exposing the balance to ordinary withdrawal rules and temptations.
The article contrasts Trump Accounts with custodial brokerage accounts and 529 plans, arguing that their main advantage is not just tax treatment but enforced simplicity, low costs, and decades of compounding.
**This matters because it could reshape how families build generational wealth for children by turning early, automatic market ownership into a default rather than a luxury.
Reader Experience: ★★★★★ Clean Substack. No ads. Fast loading.
Read the original article HERE
AI power centers. The challenge will be the much needed time to build such a massive nationwide project,while staying ahead of others. The many variables. Manpower, transportation,coordination and non stop money! A Tremendous undertaking to say the least.
Fantastic work, Jim ! Very grateful to you !