The Sunday — September 20

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 right is doodling.

What the left is doodling.

Suspension of the Rules.

For this week’s Suspension of the Rules, Kmele defends his position on AI deregulation as Ari channels some reader criticisms to him. Then, Isaac asks, “Am I the idiot?” over one of his recent takes and reacts to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent return to the Senate, before Kmele gives a touching tribute to the passing of a literary giant. Check it out here:

Monday, September 14.

Trump’s $5,000 dividends. At the Republican Party’s inaugural midterm convention on Wednesday, September 9, President Donald Trump said that his administration will send $5,000 to every U.S. adult citizen if the GOP retains control of the House and Senate in November’s elections. The president called the “Trump Dividend” a way for Americans to share in the economic strength that would result from Republican governance.

Our take: “Pundits and experts seem opposed to this idea across the board, which made me wonder what the best case for it would be. Payouts derived from tariffs would almost certainly be popular, and offering them as a campaign promise isn’t illegal. However, the pledge leaves me feeling uneasy — and not just because it’d be economically unwise.”

Reader Survey:

Tuesday, September 15.

Calls for an AI slowdown. On Saturday, September 12, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay arguing that artificial intelligence (AI) development is advancing at an unsafe pace and should be moderated. Executives at other leading AI companies endorsed Amodei’s post, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying “we need to pace the frontier.” In recent months, AI systems have allegedly hacked other companies’ platforms without their immediate knowledge, and former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon publicly resigned in early September, citing the company’s purportedly insufficient AI-safety policies.

Our take: “Even as a techno-optimist, I remain skeptical of the visions of doom professed by some of AI’s truest believers. Jacob Coxon and Dario Amodei sound far less compelling than Cal Newport, who describes AI’s issues as a matter of mismanagement. Regulation in this space strikes me as performative and likely to give the illusion of a control we cannot attain.”

Reader Survey:

Wednesday, September 16.

The mail-in ballots ruling. On Monday, September 14, the Supreme Court denied a request from the Trump administration to allow the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to carry out parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order placing new regulations on mail-in voting. The president had issued the order in March to address alleged voter fraud, and the Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s block on parts of the executive order in August. The Court’s most recent decision prevents the order from taking effect before the November midterm elections.

Our take: “The Court got this one right. We might be numb to President Trump’s response, but presidential criticism of the Court was once taboo. This outcome further demonstrates the Court’s independence.”

Reader Survey:

Thursday, September 17.

Changes in carbon emissions regulations. On Monday, September 14, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the repeal of Biden-era emissions regulations for power plants and proposed rolling back all remaining greenhouse gas standards for the power sector. The agency said the move will create an estimated $310 billion in savings and lower energy prices for consumers. On Thursday, September 17, environmental advocates sued the EPA for this week’s power plant deregulatory actions.

Our take: “Environmental policy is complicated, and emissions regulations are no different. The underlying fight in this case is about whether to extend the life of coal plants or accelerate their demise. I think legal challenges to this repeal will eventually succeed.”

Reader Survey:

Friday, September 18.

Ideological diversity is a core tenet of Tangle’s mission. As Executive Editor Isaac Saul watched the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) with healthy skepticism, he decided to find a writer who’d put forward a defense of the DSA. Ross Barkan answered the call. You can read Barkan’s essay advocating for the DSA here.

What just happened.

Here’s a rundown of the major stories that have broken since our newsletter on Thursday.

• On Thursday, President Trump withdrew his nomination of former Oklahoma law enforcement official Lance Schroyer to serve as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (The withdrawal)
• On Thursday, a United Nations group published a report finding “reasonable grounds to believe” that the United States committed war crimes when it struck an Iranian school and sports center in separate airstrikes in the early days of the Iran war. (The report)
• On Thursday, an F-16 fighter jet crashed in northern Michigan during a training flight. The pilot ejected before the crash and was not seriously harmed. (The crash)
• On Friday, President Trump announced that he is barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from the White House, claiming that their reporting about his administration has been inaccurate and saying he was “sick of it.” (The ban) 
• On Friday, Semafor reported that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) has blocked a $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel since July over concerns about how the Israeli government will use the weapons. (The report)
• On Friday, CNN reported that, this spring, the U.S. military was prepared to carry out an operation to board a Chinese ship believed to be transporting components of a nuclear weapons program before discovering that the initial report was the result of a mistaken assessment by an artificial intelligence chatbot. (The report)
• On Friday, President Trump announced a security agreement with Greenland and Denmark that he said gives the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland” and bars any U.S. adversary from establishing a base on the island. Greenland and Denmark confirmed an agreement had been reached. (The announcement)

Reader essay.

When Tangle reader Lucas Seuren was first diagnosed with eczema, his family doctor waited too long to change his medication dosage, costing him pain relief. A few years later, when his condition worsened, a new doctor failed to identify that the apartment he’d recently moved to might be the culprit. Now working as a medical researcher, Lucas considers how AI might help fill gaps in the medical profession.

You can read Lucas’s essay 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 comments.

In this section, we like to highlight reader comments that respond to our coverage from different perspectives. Our Friday guest essay from writer Ross Barkan about the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) drove a lot of commentary about the political organization, as well as Ross’s defense of it.

LCalamar said DSA candidates are offering something Democrats fail to offer.

Just like any organization there are some fringe players who tend to drag others down, but geez this is normal and critical thinkers know enough not to let the fringes eat away at the meat.

At the end of the day — the Democratic party isn’t looking out for the middle and lower classes any more than the Republican party... Yeah — they say the right things but the Dems are just as complicit in creating this plutocracy as the Republicans (either by action or inaction, doesn't matter which.)

DSA is to the mainstream democrats what MAGA was/is to mainstream Republicans... it succeeds not so much what they stand for but as much what they DON’T stand for.

People just want a party that is looking to help the majority of Americans... we may not all agree on how to do that, but at least the DSA’s are sincere in wanting to do that.

Alida J Heidelberg said DSA’s goals are unrealistic and worried about limits on power.

It's not that I don’t find attractive the description of what the DSA will be, according to the author. But all these goals will cost far more money that we can currently afford under our current tax system. Just raising taxes on the 1 percent won't come close to paying for the costs of these programs, given our current national debt. The dollar has declined drastically in value, thanks to fiat money. So printing money won’t be feasible.

Besides, the DSA, as far as it has expressed itself, seems to want the destruction of the system of checks and balances that is enshrined in our Constitution, which, I will grant, are no working as they were designed to do.

And when it gets right down to it, what limits would they put on governmental power?

Recommended reading.

Countless individuals have amassed bigger fortunes than Teddy Yip, but few people enjoyed their riches more. “He absolutely lived up to his reputation,” says son Teddy Yip Jr. “The parties, the events, and especially the racing. He lived life to the fullest.”

The Macau man of many talents, Teddy Yip, who made his name manning race cars — while swinging swords and building a business. Read Tim Struby’s piece here.

On the channels.

VIDEO: Food recalls in the United States seem to be constantly happening as of late. But is our food actually getting more dangerous, or is the media just paying closer attention? We broke down the situation in a YouTube video here. 

INSTAGRAM: An F-16 fighter jet crashed in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, with the pilot safely ejecting. We covered the incident in an Instagram reel here.  

BONUS: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. We covered the story in an Instagram reel here. 

A beta test: Games corner.

Last Thursday, Senior Editor Will Kaback found an incredibly fun browser game: Krillion. Our whole editorial staff had a fun time playing around with it, and eventually came to a prevailing feeling about the game: Managing Editor Ari Weitzman was frustratingly good at it.

Behind the scenes, we’re also considering adding a game back into our Sunday edition. So we figured we’d use this space, for one week only, to test out the demand. 

Would you be interested in us adding a game to the Sunday edition? Try out Krillion and let us know how you did. Ari posted his score as a comment to today’s edition on our website — try to beat it. Please! Don’t let him win, it’s so annoying…

Beat Ari!

Tangle’s favorites.

Post of the week.

Katie Dippold just won two Emmys for her work on Widow’s Bay. She’s come a long way:

Ask the readers.

Last week, Josephine from Athens, OH, asked readers about something they loved that others think is “cringy.”

This week’s reader question comes from Mary from Cincinnati, OH, who asked:

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

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