Rip’s Newsletter
September 4, 2026
Compiled and Edited
by
Jim Reynolds
Articles in This Issue
Victor Davis Hanson - The Elephant in the Canadian Room
Gabriel R Llanes - The Wealth Gap Is Real, And Washington Created It
Victor Davis Hanson - Progressive Regression and the New Medievalism
Jay Rogers - The US Can Use Maritime Prize Law Against Iranian Oil Tankers
Overview
Today’s pieces circle around a familiar frustration: institutions that were supposed to preserve order and prosperity are instead deepening disorder, inequality, and resentment.
I see a common thread of systems failing under their own contradictions, whether that’s Washington’s role in widening the wealth gap, the West’s drift into a kind of modern decay, or the legal tools now being revived to confront hostile regimes.
Even the U.S.-Canada trade fight fits the pattern, with old allies discovering that shared history does not erase hard economic and political grievances.
Note: I run two websites, Rip’s Newsletter and my own site, www.reynolds.com. I usually publish a new original essay on Reynolds.com and then assemble the newsletter. I got confused today and accidentally published the essay directly to Rip’s Newsletter.
That explains what you’re seeing in your inbox.
The Elephant in the Canadian Room
By: Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness
Date: 2026-09-03 · Words: 795
U.S.-Canada trade tensions look absurd given shared history, language, and close cultural ties.
Both sides have real grievances: surpluses, Chinese transshipment, digital taxes, and broken deals.
The deeper issue is asymmetry: America is surging while Canada is stagnating.
Canada increasingly depends on U.S. markets, defense, and goodwill while underinvesting in strength.
Immigration, green policies, and provincial infighting have weakened Canada’s economy and cohesion.
This dispute matters because it exposes Canada’s decline and America’s growing leverage.
🅱️ Hanson isn’t just talking trade; he’s performing an autopsy on a declining neighbor. It’s a clear-eyed look at how much easier it is to lose a country than to build one. Sharp, sobering, and hits the nail on the head regarding the cost of managed decline.
Reader Experience Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the full original article here
The Wealth Gap Is Real, And Washington Created It
By: Gabriel R Llanes The Federalist
Date: 2026-09-03 · Words: 994
The article argues Washington, not markets, created America’s widening wealth gap through inflation and debt.
Fed data shows the top 1 percent holds nearly 32 percent of wealth; the bottom half holds 2.5 percent.
Massive borrowing and quantitative easing inflated assets first, enriching owners while wages lagged behind.
Federal student lending also fueled tuition inflation, leaving Americans with $1.65 trillion in debt.
The author urges a new Republican “Contract for America”: balanced budgets, sound money, deregulation, and loan reform.
Washington’s policies have quietly transferred wealth upward, and reversing them is framed as essential to preserving the middle class.
🅱️ This isn’t just a policy paper; it’s a warning from someone who actually knows what happens when the floor falls out. It connects the dots between the printing press and the political firestorm with surgical precision. A necessary reality check for a party that often forgets how to fight the real battles.
Reader Experience Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the full original article here
Progressive Regression and the New Medievalism
By: Victor Davis Hanson Townhall
Date: 2026-09-03 · Words: 2,222
Hanson argues the modern West is regressing into a “new medievalism” despite technological progress.
He contrasts advanced science with urban filth, crime, disease, and collapsing public order.
Progressive ideology, he says, excuses lawlessness while punishing the law-abiding and overregulating industry.
He cites border chaos, unsafe trucking licenses, and celebrated political violence as symptoms.
His core claim: moral narcissism and utopian politics are eroding civilization’s hard-won gains.
This story matters because it frames today’s social disorder as a civilizational choice, not an accident.
🅱️ Hanson isn’t just writing an op-ed; he’s reading a death warrant for the status quo. He connects the high-tech lab to the street-level filth with a precision that makes the ‘progress’ crowd look like they’re playing in a sandbox. It’s a heavy-hitting indictment of a civilization losing its grip while checking its reflection in a smartphone.
Reader Experience Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the full original article here
The US Can Use Maritime Prize Law Against Iranian Oil Tankers
By: Jay Rogers The Federalist
Date: 2026-09-04 · Words: 997
DOJ is reviving maritime prize courts to seize Iranian oil tankers.
Prize law lets federal courts condemn captured vessels and transfer title.
The process is faster than civil forfeiture and reduces third-party delays.
The article says the same logic could pressure Venezuelan oil assets.
Main legal fight: whether an armed conflict exists without a formal war declaration.
The revival could give Washington a faster, older legal weapon against sanctioned oil flows.
🅱️ Turns out the Constitution has teeth after all; it just took a century of apologizing to remember where they were. This isn’t just legal theory—it’s the sound of the playground rules finally catching up to reality.
Reader Experience Minor clutter but easy reading.
Read the full original article here
You may also be interested in the following selected stories:
They Can Read This Someday — Kevin McCullough, Townhall
Saving Lives Should Not Require Permission — Joseph Varon, Brownstone
The Retreat From Net Zero, Part II — Jim Reynolds, www.reynolds.com
The Mutation of Womanhood — Sasha Gong, American Greatness
Agents of Chaos — Bill Glahn, Power Line
Californiaâs War on Consumers — Jim Cardoza, American Thinker
VDH did a nice job on this one. I sense he is getting a bit more aggressive and less scholarly. He sounds completely fed up.
Hanson's comments on progressivism is excellent !