Tangle

Over the weekend, several countries around the world implemented new Covid-19 travel restrictions over fears of the newest variant, despite little knowledge of how contagious it is or where exactly it is present. Omicron was first detected in South Africa, which has one of the most sophisticated screening systems in the world (it's a presumption to say it "originated" there — more likely, they wer...

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...

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 gu...

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 car...

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...

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 no...

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 se...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 wo...

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 Ma...

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...

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...

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...

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 th...

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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 ad...

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 go...

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...

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...

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 t...

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 spendin...