The Sunday — July 13

This is the Tangle Sunday Edition, a brief roundup of our independent politics coverage plus some extra features for your Sunday morning reading. 

What the left is doodling.

What the right is doodling.

Monday, July 7.

The floods in Texas. On Friday, July 4, flash flooding caused catastrophic damage in Texas Hill Country, a region of Central and South Texas, killing at least 129 people. As of Sunday morning, at least 161 people are still missing, and rescue operations remain underway. The majority of the fatalities occurred in Kerr County, where 103 deaths have been reported. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the Guadalupe River rose about 26 feet in 45 minutes Friday morning, and the city of Kerrville said the river reached its second-highest height on record. On Sunday, July 6, President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration for the county, activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist local officials with the disaster response.

Our take: “The tragedy in Texas is staggering and the political reaction is distasteful — but it’s also common. Evidence suggests that alert-system failures contributed more than NOAA cuts. We can still learn from this event and put a high value on forecasting systems.”

Reader Survey:

Tuesday, July 8.

Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton. On June 27, the Supreme Court voted 6–3 to uphold a Texas law requiring pornography websites to verify the age of their visitors. The law, HB 1181, compels sites that contain more than one-third “sexual material harmful to minors” to use “reasonable age verification methods” (such as government identification or other personal documents) to determine whether users are over the age of 18. The challengers argued the law violates the First Amendment by creating an unfair free-speech burden on adults. HB 1181 passed the Texas legislature in 2023, but a federal judge blocked it from going into effect. Texas appealed the decision, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with the state. Free Speech Coalition, Inc., a nonprofit representing the adult film industry, then petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case; the court heard oral arguments in January.

Our take: “I think access to porn is a legitimate threat to children’s wellbeing, and I think this ruling will have a mostly positive effect. Legally speaking, I think the court should have applied strict scrutiny. Obviously this ruling creates trade-offs, but on balance, I think it does more good than bad.”

Reader Survey:

Wednesday, July 9.

The Epstein files. On Monday, July 7, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a joint memo with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affirming prior findings in the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The memo concludes that materials related to the Epstein case prove that he had committed suicide in 2019, that Epstein did not have a “client list,” and that no other parties were materially implicated as a result of the government’s investigation. Additionally, the memo stated that the federal government would keep materials relevant to his case sealed to protect victims. The DOJ and FBI memo contradicts previous statements and commitments made by leaders in both agencies.

Our take: “Many of the same people who stoked theories about Epstein are now targeted by the people they misled. We don’t have any strong evidence that the government is hiding a ‘client list’ or covering up a murder. I feel some catharsis here, but am mostly concerned about what comes next.”

Reader Survey:

Thursday, July 10.

The America Party. On Saturday, July 5, Elon Musk announced his intention to create a new political party, called the “America Party.” The announcement follows Musk’s public fallout with President Donald Trump over Musk’s exit from the administration and spending provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill enacted on July 4. While the America Party is not yet an official political entity, Musk says that he hopes to “crack the uniparty system” and represent “the 80% in the middle” in the United States.

Our take: “Musk has identified a smart way to reform the system with a new party. However, fixing the debt has a lot of practical problems preventing it from being a unifying party stance. I love real political disruption, but I doubt Elon Musk will be the one to provide it.”

Reader Survey:

Friday, July 11.

In Friday’s members-only edition, Isaac answered the question, “What have I gotten wrong about Trump’s second term so far?” In an effort to exercise constructive self reflection and accountability, he wrote about five things he’d gotten wrong about the Trump administration through the first six months. You can read the piece here.

What just happened.

Here are a few stories that have broken since our last newsletter on Thursday.

• On Thursday, Angela Paxton announced that she intends to file for divorce from her husband, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on “biblical grounds.” Paxton currently holds a sizable polling advantage in the Texas Republican Senate primary over incumbent John Cornyn; President Donald Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the race. (The drama)
• On Thursday, a federal judge issued a new nationwide block on birthright citizenship. The ruling was issued on a class-action lawsuit, which the Supreme Court recently ruled is a viable pathway for challenges to President Trump’s executive order. (The challenge)
• On Thursday, former Columbia University student and pro-Palestine protester Mahmoud Khalil sued the federal government for $20 million in damages for false imprisonment. (The lawsuit)
• On Thursday, federal agents raided two cannabis farms in Southern California, arresting about 200 suspected undocumented immigrants. The immigration sweeps prompted a heated standoff between protestors and government agents, and one farmworker was reportedly injured. (The sweeps)
• On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. will charge Mexico and the European Union a 30% tariff on all of their imports, effective on August 1. (The tariffs)

Reader essay.

From the outside looking in, Cameron Stout showed all the signs of a successful and stable man. However, that projection belied the fact that Cameron’s family had a history of alcoholism and depression — a history that gripped him. In a deeply personal and vulnerable essay, Cameron describes the darkness he was overtaken by, and how he found a way to the light. You can read the full piece here.

Have a personal story or local issue you want to write about? Pitch us! Fill out this form or reply to this email, and we’ll get back to you if we’re hooked.

Reader review.

In this section, we like to highlight reader comments that respond to our coverage from different angles. Several readers disagreed with Isaac’s take on the FBI and DOJ memo about the “Epstein list.”

Roger argued there may not be a “client list,” but there are clients:

There may not have been a client ‘list.’ But were there any ‘clients?’ The fact that Ghislaine Maxwell is sitting in prison suggests there were and being told to remember the victims suggests there were crimes committed by ‘clients.’ If there's not a ‘client list,’ the DOJ needs to either make a ‘criminal list’ or come out and say that they cannot find any evidence that the claims of these alleged victims are true.

If people want to argue about whether or not there was a list, that's fine. But some attention should be paid to whether there were any crimes. And if there were crimes, then who were the criminals other than Epstein and Maxwell?

Matthew Piatetsky questioned some of Isaac’s beliefs:

One of your sources, Julie K. Brown, has publicly said she’s not convinced Epstein took his own life, and believes his ties to intelligence agencies — like those of Robert Maxwell — are worth investigating (source). You cite her to shut down conspiracy claims about the client list, but conveniently ignore the parts of her reporting that raise legitimate questions, that's basic journalism principles.

You’re also overly focused on debunking the ‘client list’ as if that disproves the broader concern. That’s not the heart of it. The real issues are

1. No one has been held accountable. We know Epstein trafficked girls to powerful men. Even without a list, victims exist and some could still testify. Yet, no prosecutions. Why? No charges isn’t the same as proving no crimes were committed. Even if there is no ‘list’ we know for a fact there are numerous sealed or redacted files. Trying to prove there is no bulleted list when it might be the same core information in multiple PDFs seems to be missing the point.

2. The origin of Epstein’s wealth and connections remains unexplained. He was a math teacher who ended up managing hundreds of millions and network with very powerful world leaders. That’s not a conspiracy theory — it’s an unanswered question. Lack of information doesn’t disprove suspicion.

Calling all skepticism ‘nonsense’ ignores real gaps that deserve investigation. The 2020 election conspiracies should have been put to bed because there was plenty of public evidence to explain what actually happened. Here we have plenty of sealed evidence or information that is simply not public. We simply don't know a lot about what happened, so saying there are many open questions is not the same as just dismissing any theories about them.

Again to quote Julie K. Brown who you quoted to call some of this nonsense ‘It just boggles my mind that there is only one person paying the price for this horrific crime.’

Recommended reading.

“After the spirits spot that Dante is alive at the foot of Mount Purgatory, they gather around him. In awe at the novelty of life. A body. Then Dante’s dear departed friend, Casella, rushes to the front to embrace Dante. ‘Ah shadows, with substance only on the surface!’ Dante says. ‘Three times my arms closed up behind him, / and passed straight through him, back on to my chest.’ The love is there, but the physical humanity is gone… We reach out to departed loved ones, feeling their presence fleetingly, and then we are faced with our own bodies, our own realities. And we are asked a question: How best to spend our remaining days?”

After a close friend’s suicide, professor of medieval literature Sebastian Langdell found comfort not in poetry but in weightlifting. As he undertook his own journey to better connect with his body, he found himself returning to the literature he’s always loved — and the strange blend of physicality and spirituality found within. You can read Dr. Langdell’s piece here. 

On the channels.

INSTAGRAM: Is it time for a third party in America? And what about one run by Elon Musk? Tangle Senior Editor Will Kaback discusses the America Party in an Instagram reel here. 

PODCAST: Isaac, Ari, and Kmele discussed the Epstein files and the latest with Elon Musk and his Grok AI in the latest weekly podcast. It’s a special occasion, as this episode is the last one before the weekly podcast takes its new official name, and you can listen to it here.

BONUS: In April, Isaac sat down with Nick Troiano, the executive director of election-reform nonprofit Unite America. We thought you would enjoy their conversation, so we released the full interview on YouTube video here!

 Post of the week.

Watch out, Churchill Downs. A racetrack in Auburn, Washington, hosted the T-Rex World Championship races — and the result is can’t-miss TV:

Tangle’s favorites.

Infotainment.

The Guinness World Record recently recognized María José Fuster of Spain for having the world’s largest collection of egg cups. Fuster has 15,485 of the tableware items in her collection, which spans a huge array of designs, colors, and histories. In honor of her achievement, Guinness highlighted several other egg-related records:

• 2. The height, in feet, of the Argyle Library Egg, the world’s largest jewelled egg (it's also made up of 37 lb of gold and 20,000 pink diamonds). 
• 10,008. The number of individual samples in the world’s largest collection of dinosaur eggs at the Heyuan Museum in Guangdong Province, China. 
• 2,039. The number of people who took part in the world’s largest egg and spoon race in Jalisco, Mexico, in 2024. 
• 50. The approximate number of years it took María José Fuster to amass her collection of 15,485 egg cups. 

Ask the readers.

Last week, Stacy asked why we don’t just cash in our change and have the government stop making coins.

Since we chose his answer, we gave Bob the opportunity to ask our readers a question in today’s newsletter: 

You can let us know your thoughts by replying through this form.

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