Tangle

On Wednesday, Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and commentator, was shot and killed at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. According to university officials, Kirk had been speaking for about 20 minutes when a single shot rang out, appearing to strike him in the neck. Officials said they believe the shot was fired from a building about 200 yards away, and the ...

On Friday, August 22, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a light-rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Police arrested 34-year-old ex-convict Decarlos Brown Jr. as a suspect in Zarutska’s death and charged him with murder. On Tuesday, the Justice Department also charged Brown with a federal crime. 

Warning: Today’s topic involves descriptions of graphic ...

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 22,000 in August, while the unemployment rate rose from 4.2% to 4.3%. The healthcare sector accounted for roughly 31,000 new jobs, but declining employment in the federal government, manufacturing, and professional services offset some of those gains; the BLS also revised June’s em...

On Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before the Senate Finance Committee about his efforts to overhaul U.S. health agencies and change federal vaccine policy. The hearing was at times combative, as Senators asked Kennedy about the Trump administration’s firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, subsequent resignations of other CDC ...

“What does the government know about you?”

A few weeks ago, Tangle staff member Russell Nystrom brought up this question in a team meeting. How much? How little? Where do they get the information and what, possibly, could they do with it?

It’s an evocative question and the truth was, I only had a rough idea of the answer. Russell wanted to explore it for a story and I encouraged him to do so — and then he enlisted help from t...

Isaac, Ari, and Kmele talk about the implications of recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela, the controversial Gaza reconstitution plan, and the ongoing challenges in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conversation also touches on the personal side of life, with reflections on parenthood and the societal structures that support it. And, as always, the Airing of Grievances.

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On Wednesday, the U.S. military sank a small boat in the southern Caribbean Sea, killing 11 people. U.S. officials claimed the boat was transporting drugs to the United States from Venezuela and alleged the 11 people on board were narco-terrorist members of the international gang Tren de Aragua (TDA). The Trump administration has not produced evidence to support its assertion, but Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth&...

In recent years, several U.S. states and a number of countries have legalized Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), also known as physician-assisted suicide or physician-assisted death. While definitions vary, the practice generally allows people facing imminent death from a terminal illness to end their lives by administering drugs with support and supervision from a doctor (or team of doctors). In some...

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in a 7–4 decision that President Donald Trump had overstepped his authority in imposing tariffs unilaterally, upholding a lower court decision. The appeals court’s decision targeted the tariffs Trump justified by declaring a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), including the “reciprocal t...

A version of today’s newsletter was originally published in 2022 after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. We are republishing that piece today in light of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which killed two children (an eight- and ten-year-old) and injured 18 others. 

The details of the two shootings differ in some places. The att...

Isaac, Ari, and Kmele talk about the tragic Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis. Then we discuss how the world and press is revolving around Trump like it's 2017 again. They then talk about how the Ghislaine Maxwell testimony and how it didnt get nearly enough attention. Lastly, some chatter and grievances about clankers and ai robots destroying the world.

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Many listeners have been asking for an...

On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing the attorney general to prosecute unlawful acts that involve desecrating the American flag. The order directs the attorney general to refer acts involving flag destruction that may violate state or local laws to the relevant local authorities; it also calls for litigation to clarify the extent of First Amendment protections for such acts. Thoug...

In a letter posted to Truth Social on Monday night, President Donald Trump ordered the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her position for alleged mortgage fraud. Citing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and his powers under Article II of the Constitution, Trump stated that he was removing Cook “for cause.” Cook responded by saying that “no cause exists under the law” and that the pre...

On Thursday, a New York appeals court threw out a $527 million penalty against President Donald Trump resulting from a 2024 civil fraud judgment. The five-justice panel unanimously agreed to dismiss the fine but disagreed on other points, ultimately deciding to leave the other penalties against Trump in place — including barring Trump from serving in top roles at any New York company for three year...

On Friday, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents raided the Maryland home and Washington, D.C. office of John Bolton, former national security adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term. According to a senior U.S. official, the search was connected to an investigation into Bolton’s possible use of a private email server to share classified documents with his wife and daughter while h...

Last week, we released a documentary on the 72 hours we spent with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA).

Immediately, questions started coming in about what happened behind the scenes — what you didn’t see on camera, how the shoot came together, and what our impressions were about different elements of what we saw. 

We wanted to respond to those questions, and also follow up on the story since there was so much that we weren’t ...

It's a new day and a new name for the Sunday podcast. Literally. We are moving our fan favorite podcast from Sundays to Fridays, and giving it a new name. SUSPENSION OF THE RULES.

Isaac, Ari, and Kmele talk the latest with Trump, Putin and Zelensky. They also get into it about a very interesting report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Lastly, they pivot to a deep discussion about medical assistance in dying, specificall...

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed reports that the Trump administration is working on a deal with Intel that would grant the U.S. government a 10% stake in the computer technology company. The possible agreement, first reported on August 14, may involveconverting roughly $10.86 billion in federal grants issued to Intel during the Biden administration int...

In a social media post last Monday, August 11, President Donald Trump announced that he was nominating economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Earlier this month, Trump fired the previous commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, after the agency released a weaker-than-expected July jobs report and revised May's and June's numbers downwards. 

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