Tangle

The social media hearings in Congress. On Wednesday, a group of executives from Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, X (formerly known as Twitter), and other social media companies testified in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the threats of social media and child exploitation. The hearing began with testimony from victims who said they or their children had been exploited on these platforms. Pa...

The death of U.S. soldiers. On Sunday, U.S. Central Command confirmed that three U.S. Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured in an overnight drone attack on a small outpost in Jordan. It was the first time U.S. troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the war in Gaza. You can read today's podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ , our “Under the...

The latest economic news. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the U.S. economy grew much more rapidly than expected while inflation continued to slow. The Commerce Department said the U.S. has avoided the recession many forecasters thought was inevitable, and in 2023 the economy grew faster than any other advanced economy in the world. You can read today's podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ , our “Under the Radar” s...

The Texas border standoff. On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government has the authority to access a park abutting the Rio Grande and remove razor wire installed by the state of Texas. The Department of Homeland Security told Texas to give it access to the fencing, which is in Eagle Pass, by Friday, but Texas has refused. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton demanded proof that the...

The genocide charges against Israel. On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, issued a 29-page interim ruling on the charges of genocide being levied by South Africa against Israel. You can read today's podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ , our “Under the Radar” story here , and today’s “Have a nice day” story here . You can also check out our latest YouTube video about...

On this week’s podcast, Isaac Saul (Founder) and Ari Weitzman (Managing Editor) talk about Isaac’s recent adventure in Bolivia and how he can’t park a motorcycle, some breaking news regarding a former Fox News host coming to the Tangle podcast and the New Hampshire Primary and how Nikki Haley could win, but probably won’t. They also discuss the recent layoffs at legacy media companies and last, bu...

The Israel-Hamas hostage negotiations. This week, Israel and Hamas have been exchanging offers in their negotiations to enter a ceasefire and release the remaining hostages being held by Hamas. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected an offer from Hamas to release its remaining 130 hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war and a total withdrawal of Israeli troops fr...

The New Hampshire primary. Last night, former President Donald Trump won New Hampshire's Republican primary in decisive fashion, earning 54.4% of the vote to Nikki Haley's 43.3%. President Joe Biden, despite not appearing on the ballot in New Hampshire, won 53.8% of the Democratic vote via write-in (with 13,581 unprocessed write-in ballots still outstanding as of 11 am ET), easily besting...

The Chevron doctrine. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, two challenges to the so-called Chevron doctrine (or Chevron deference). The conservative-leaning court seems poised to limit or strike Chevron deference down, reversing 40 years of judicial precedent that was once championed by conservative...

Ron DeSantis. On Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, just two days before the New Hampshire primary. In his announcement, DeSantis endorsed former President Donald Trump as the 2024 nominee. You can read today's podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ , our “Under the Radar” story here , and today’s “Have a nice day” story here . You can also check out o...

A reader mailbag. As we mentioned in yesterday's newsletter, Tangle founder and Executive Editor Isaac Saul is currently on a trip through Bolivia. We decided to use that small disruption to our daily coverage to catch up on a bunch of reader questions we've been trying to respond to. Isaac and the team worked on these questions together over the last week or two. Let us know what you thin...

The Iowa caucuses. On Monday, Donald Trump scored a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, kicking off the 2024 Republican presidential primary with a big win. Polls closed in Iowa at 7:00 pm CT/8:00 pm ET, and by 8:32 pm ET The New York Times , 538 and ABC News , and Fox News Decision Desk had all declared Donald Trump the winner. The former president began his third presidential campaign by win...

The Houthi attacks. On Thursday, the United States and Britain — with support from Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain — bombed more than a dozen Houthi rebel sites across Yemen in retaliation for a series of attacks on commercial ships crossing the Red Sea. On Saturday morning, the U.S. hit an additional site in Yemen it said was putting ships at risk. The Iran-backed Houthis had disregarded wee...

Welcome to a new era in Tangle! Today will be the first episode with my Friday co-host, our Managing Editor, Ari Weitzman. We are working towards releasing Friday subscriber only content in the near future and this will be one of our new offerings. We'll be presenting the a few episodes for free. In an attempt at the virtue of accountability, I like to dedicate the first Friday edition of ever...

Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization. 70-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin disappeared from public view on New Year's Day, later disclosing that for three days he had been hospitalized in intensive care without the public being informed. On Tuesday, it was revealed that Austin ended up in intensive care after suffering complications from a surgery required to treat his prostate cancer , a diag...

The new spending deal. On Sunday, top Democrats and Republicans in Congress said they had come to an agreement on a $1.65 trillion spending deal . Now, lawmakers will attempt to pass appropriations within the limits specified by the deal. Otherwise, Congress will need to once again push through a short-term spending bill, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), to keep the government from shut...

Gov. Mike DeWine and trans legislation. Just one week after vetoing a ban on gender-reassignment surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued an executive order that prohibits gender-transition surgeries for anyone under 18 at state hospitals or ambulatory clinics. Gov. DeWine also directed Ohio health agencies to propose rules that require a mu...

Biden's January 6 speech. On Friday, President Joe Biden delivered his first campaign speech of 2024 just outside Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, telling Americans that democracy itself hung in the balance heading into the 2024 election. The speech focused heavily on former President Donald Trump, whose name Biden invoked 44 times in the roughly 30 minute address. You can read today's podcast...

Dear listeners, Christmas is around the corner, which means we are preparing for our annual break over the New Year here at Tangle. 2023 has been exciting, grueling, and life changing. Every year since I started Tangle, I've taken a couple weeks off right after Christmas and through the New Year. And every year, I encourage our readers and listeners to do the same. Following the news closely i...

Trump and the Colorado Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Donald Trump cannot appear on the 2024 presidential primary ballot because of his actions on January 6, 2021. In the first ruling of its kind in American history, the court sided with a group of voters who argued that Trump is disqualified from elected office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. You can r...

The Texas immigration law. This past Monday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed SB4 , a state bill creating a process for state officials to deport migrants who have crossed the border without legal authorization. The law authorizes Texas law enforcement to stop, arrest, and jail migrants suspected of entering the country illegally. SB4 was passed by the legislature earlier this year and is set...

The deaths of three Israeli hostages. On Saturday, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said it mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza during a firefight, raising domestic pressure on the government to work toward a ceasefire and more hostage releases while ramping up international criticism of Israel's ground invasion. You can read today's podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ , our “Under the Radar” sto...

Biden's impeachment inquiry. On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House voted to formally authorize its impeachment inquiry into President Biden, likely increasing its ability to enforce subpoenas and throwing Congress into its third presidential impeachment of the last seven years. You can read today's podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ , our “Under the Radar” story here , and today’s “Have a nice day”...

The fundamental promise of Tangle is to share the best perspectives from across the political spectrum on the most divisive issues of the day. For the last few weeks, we’ve been covering the Israel-Palestine conflict and everything that has happened since October 7. Throughout that time, you have gotten several Tangle editions that included a wide range of perspectives on this conflict: Israeli, P...

Trump and the Supreme Court. On Monday afternoon, the Supreme Court granted Special Counsel Jack Smith's request to bring before the court the question of whether Trump can be tried on criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election. On Wednesday, the court also said it would hear an appeal to an obstruction of an official proceeding charge that could upend hundreds of cases t...