On Monday, closing arguments began in the trial of his killers, and are expected to end on Tuesday before the jury begins deliberations. Arbery's case is the third in a series of politically and racially charged murder/homicide cases that rocked the nation last year to go to trial — the murder of George Floyd, the Kyle Rittenhouse shooting, and now the Arbery trial. You can read today's newsletter here . Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitzman, an...
Nov 23, 2021•26 min
On Friday, Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges related to his shooting of three people during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year. The jury deliberated for three and a half days and found Rittenhouse not guilty on all five counts, including charges of reckless homicide in the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber, 26. As the not guilty verdicts were read, Rittenhouse collapsed into the arms of his lawyer. Experts largely expected...
Nov 22, 2021•22 min
Yesterday, the House voted to censure Gosar by a 223-207, mostly party line vote. Just two Republicans, Liz Cheney (WY), and Adam Kinzinger (IL), voted for the censure. Gosar was also stripped of his committee seats. The controversy started when Gosar posted a video on Twitter asking if he had any "anime fans" out there. In the video, Gosar's head is photoshopped into an animated scene where a cartoon character attacks an animated giant, this one with Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's he...
Nov 18, 2021•24 min
On Friday, the U.S. government released its latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data, showing an estimated all-time high of 4.4 million workers who quit their jobs in September, up from 4.3 million in August, indicating the pace of employees quitting their jobs is still increasing. The percentage of resignations relative to total employment was 3%, also the highest such figure on record. The "quits rate" data came along with a more encouraging jobs report, as September numbers ...
Nov 17, 2021•24 min
Last week, a group of donors, scholars, writers and political activists announced the launch of a new college: The University of Austin. The people behind the school say that fundamentally, it will be dedicated to free speech, citing concerns about “the illiberalism and censoriousness prevalent in America’s most prestigious universities.” The school will go by UATX for short, and is launching a noncredit program called "Forbidden Courses" as a kind of soft launch, which the creators say will enc...
Nov 16, 2021•26 min
On Wednesday, the government said its consumer price index rose in October 6.2% from a year ago — the largest 12 month jump in 31 years, since 1990. Because of the unique economic recovery we've been living in, economists have been debating whether inflation is "transitory" or not — fundamentally unsure if it will pass on or settle in. Many on the left have argued that the inflation we're seeing is due primarily to things like supply chain snarls , and will resolve itself on its own as the econo...
Nov 15, 2021•27 min
In this edition of Tangle, we are going to take a detailed look at the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Because covering this case requires more extensive background information — like detailing the events of Kenosha and what has happened at the trial to date — we are going to focus solely on this topic for today's newsletter. As always, we will include views from the left and right, then my take. But this should be the only thing you need to read about the Rittenhouse trial for a comprehensive understan...
Nov 11, 2021•33 min
On Thursday last week, a Russian analyst who was a primary source for the opposition research about former President Donald Trump compiled in the "Steele Dossier" was arrested and charged with lying to the FBI. Russian-born Igor Danchenko was charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI about, among other things, the sources of information he fed to Christopher Steele, according to an unsealed indictment in a Virginia federal court. Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, edit...
Nov 10, 2021•25 min
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a challenge to a 108-year-old New York gun law that requires someone who wants to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense to show "proper cause" for doing so, and to apply for a special permit. The law is being challenged by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA), which says it is an overburdensome restriction on the Second Amendment. Our newsletter is written by Isaac...
Nov 09, 2021•23 min
On Friday, the House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill after months of negotiations. The bill had already passed the Senate 69-30, and will now head to President Biden's desk to become law. The bill passed by a 228-206 vote, with six progressive Democrats voting against it and 13 Republicans voting for it. Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitzman, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena B...
Nov 08, 2021•24 min
On Tuesday night, 18 months after the murder of George Floyd, Minneapolis voters went to the polls to vote on a ballot amendment to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new public safety organization. The ballot measure was rejected by voters by a 12-point margin . While that was happening in Minneapolis, voters in Cleveland cast ballots to approve a civilian commission to oversee the police department. Voters in Austin, Texas, voted to reject a proposal that called for expanding the...
Nov 04, 2021•22 min
Last night, Glenn Youngkin (R) defeated Terry McAuliffe (D) in Virginia's highly-watched governor's race. With more than 95% of the vote tallied, Youngkin was leading McAuliffe by a full two percentage points. Jason Miyares, the Republican state delegate who ran on a tough-on-crime campaign, won the race for attorney general, becoming Virginia's first Cuban-American AG. Republican Winsome Sears won the race for Lt. Governor, becoming the first Black woman ever elected to a statewide post in Virg...
Nov 03, 2021•21 min
In today's Tangle, we're taking a break from our usual format to take a look at some of the elections happening today. We're also answering a reader question and we have your usual quick hits, a story that matters, and have a nice day sections. Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitzman, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo. The podcast is edited by Trevor Eichhorn, and music for t...
Nov 02, 2021•19 min
On Thursday, the president announced a new framework for Democrats' reconciliation bill, also known as his Build Back Better plan, that he said would garner the support of moderates in the Senate and progressives in the House. The legislative text is still being negotiated, but the framework wasn't rejected out of hand by any members of the Democratic party — which is a sign of progress after many months of negotiations. Democrats need every member of their party to support the bill in the Senat...
Nov 01, 2021•23 min
Earlier this week, Democrats released a new proposal that they said will help them pay for their infrastructure and reconciliation bills: A billionaire income tax (BIT). The legislation was drafted by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), who said the new bill would impact about 700 billionaires who earn "over $100 million in annual income for three consecutive years or who have more than $1 billion in assets," according to CNBC. Wyden says the changes would raise hundreds of billi...
Oct 28, 2021•22 min
Virginia is considered a bellwether state, one that has been reliably blue in presidential elections over the last few cycles but can still tell us a lot about the mood of the country. Because its governor's races are in off-years, it is often the only major state race before the midterms and can shed light on how voters nationally might be feeling. This week, the latest polls show Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin are in a dead heat at about 45% each, with around 5% of vote...
Oct 27, 2021•25 min
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to hold Steve Bannon, the former Trump advisor, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena. Bannon was one of four former Trump officials subpoenaed by the January 6 committee in Congress investigating the riots at the Capitol. Members of the committee believe Bannon has crucial information about plans to obstruct the electoral college ratification of the vote on the same day a Trump rally in Washington D.C. ended ...
Oct 26, 2021•25 min
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Oct 18, 2021•2 min
Over the weekend, 136 nations officially agreed to enforce a corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent, and also pledged to institute better systems of taxing profits fairly, where they are earned. The agreement, announced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), included countries like Ireland that once opposed the deal but now support it. The overarching goal is to address multinational companies that have made a habit out of rerouting their profits through low tax ...
Oct 14, 2021•25 min
In the last two weeks, China has conducted several consecutive days of military exercises over Taiwan, sending a record number of fighter jets into Taiwan's airspace. This included a four-day period when it flew 150 military planes through Taiwan's airspace, which left the Taiwanese air force scrambling to respond. Taiwan's foreign defense minister Joseph Wu said "we are very concerned China is going to launch a war." In today's episode, we explore what's going on and what the U.S. role should b...
Oct 13, 2021•22 min
Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he would be deploying federal officials across the country to address instances where parents have threatened or harassed educators over issues like mask mandates, critical race theory education and other hot-button topics that are dominating classrooms and school board meetings. The move comes after the National School Boards Association (NSBA), a group representing school board members across the United States, sent a plea to Garland for help, c...
Oct 12, 2021•26 min
Did Mitch McConnell cave? He has said he would not support raising the borrowing limit because it would allow Biden to push through another $5 trillion of spending, something Republicans don't want. Then he instructed Republicans to sink a government spending bill that suspended the debt limit, forcing Democrats to remove the debt limit language from the legislation in order to keep the government open. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats and President Biden began openly floating the idea of abo...
Oct 07, 2021•25 min
On Monday, the Supreme Court began its fall term, which many experts on the court say could be the most consequential term in decades. After 18 months of remote activity, Justices returned to the bench for in-person oral arguments (with the exception of Brett Kavanaugh, who recently tested positive for Covid-19 and was calling in remotely). While the nine-month term began this week with a rather typical fight over water rights in Mississippi, the court is going to be hearing explosive cases on a...
Oct 06, 2021•23 min
The Arizona Democrat has been getting more and more attention as the debate over how to move forward on Joe Biden's agenda continues. While Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has owned much of the spotlight as a "moderate" or "conservative" Democrat who needs to be won over to advance some of Biden's top priorities, Sinema has frequently joined him as a pillar of opposition to some of Biden's largest spending plans. Attention on Sinema has reached a fever pitch in the last few days after several public enc...
Oct 05, 2021•25 min
Heading into Friday, there was a quiet confidence on Capitol Hill that Democrats in the House were going to be forced to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill by their leadership, which would’ve effectively detached it from the larger $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill and handed moderates a victory (if you need to catch up on this whole dynamic, you can read our coverage of this from last week). Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitz...
Oct 04, 2021•25 min
The president is trying to pass a $1.2 trillion, bipartisan infrastructure bill today. But progressive Democrats say they will only vote for that bill if it comes with a guarantee that the Senate passes its $3.5 trillion spending bill, also known as the reconciliation bill, which can become law without a single Republican vote. The problem: Moderate Democrats in the Senate, including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), say they won't support another three trillion dollars of spen...
Sep 30, 2021•25 min
Yesterday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, all testified before Congress. They were called up to testify about the withdrawal from Afghanistan and were slated to be questioned about the chaos and failures of the withdrawal. However, Gen. Milley also fielded questions related to several tell-all books about the Trump administration, in which he was often a central character and conceded to being ...
Sep 29, 2021•27 min
This week could determine the future of Joe Biden’s domestic legislative agenda — and is perhaps the most important week of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 44-year career in Congress (and her biggest challenge to date). Today, we're setting the table. Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitzman, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo. The podcast is edited by Trevor Eichhorn, and music f...
Sep 28, 2021•22 min
On Friday, Cyber Ninjas, the group that conducted the audit of Arizona's largest county, released its official results of their hand recount. The review actually yielded more votes for Joe Biden and fewer votes for Donald Trump. In sum, Biden picked up 99 votes and Trump received 261 fewer votes. However, the group also alleged that they unearthed evidence that tens of thousands of votes were potentially fraudulent. Today, we review those claims and examine what this all means. Our newsletter is...
Sep 27, 2021•28 min
John Seago is the legislative director of Texas Right to Live, the group that recently helped shepherd Texas’s anti-abortion law into existence. We sat down for a wide-ranging, 45-minute discussion about the bill, why it was crafted the way it was, and some of his thoughts about the ethical nuances of the pro-life position. Our newsletter is written by Isaac Saul, who conducted this interview. The transcript was edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitzman, and produced in conjunction with Ta...
Sep 27, 2021•48 min
