Tangle - Biden proposes major Supreme Court reforms.

Starting point is 00:00:00 From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a comedy about mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. A Real Pain was one of the buzziest titles at Sundance Film Festival this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Oh, that coffee smells good. Can you pass me the sugar when you're finished? Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? That's salt, not sugar. Let's get you another coffee. Feeling distracted? You're not alone. Many Canadians are finding it hard to focus with mortgage payments on their minds. If you're struggling with your payments, speak to your bank.

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Starting point is 00:01:33 Learn more at flucellvax.ca. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, the place where we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about President Biden's proposed reforms for the Supreme Court. A pretty interesting little update on where Biden stands on this stuff. Before we get into it, we do have a couple of things I want to call out. First of all, yesterday we had a massive milestone, one that I've been waiting for for a long

Starting point is 00:02:33 time, striving for for a long time, and we finally hit. We broke $1 million in annual recurring subscription revenue on our newsletter yesterday. I don't really know how to grapple with that number or think about it. You know, when I started Tangle, I was just one guy and my goal was literally to make $1,000 to $2,000 a month so I could actually save some money or pay my rent or move out of my six-bedroom apartment I was living in because I was a broke journalist. To be here now, five years later, is totally bonkers. Our five-year anniversary is coming up. I'm going to be writing about that anniversary in the next week or so. I'm going to talk about where we're going, this unbelievable milestone, how this all started. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:26 as always, I am working to improve this podcast. I know many of you are not newsletter readers, you're just podcast listeners. And so we have that stuff on the roadmap and I'm really excited for it. But right now, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am overwhelmed. I never dreamed of this. It was a wild day yesterday to do this a little bit ahead of schedule earlier than we thought. And I'm just so appreciative for all the people who support this project, support this work, have allowed me to hire a full team. This podcast doesn't exist without those subscriptions. We're going to offer some podcast subscriptions soon. I keep saying that. I swear we're working on it. We were really close. And then we ran into this huge technical problem, which is basically that the platform we're using right now for our podcast no longer supports paid subscriptions when that was part of the reason we moved to this platform. We're trying to figure it out. But I just wanted to say thank you. I love you guys. I appreciate everybody's support getting us here. And it's really awesome to be

Starting point is 00:04:25 here. We're building a sustainable media company that I think has a really good mission in North Star. So that's great. Number two, for those people who do read the newsletter, I want to give you a heads up. We started sending our emails from staff at readtangle.com instead of my email, Isaac at readtangle.com. This definitely seems to have created some issues, including delays in the email getting to people. It's landing in some people's spam or promotions folder. We're trying to make some changes to resolve this issue working with a tech team. But in the meantime, the simple trick you can use is just look up Tangle in your email inbox. Find staff at readtangle.com and just reply to the email. Say hi or thanks. One word. It's all it takes.

Starting point is 00:05:05 Teach your inbox you like us. And then to be certain your emails get through, you can whitelist the readtangle.com domain with your email client, which we have instructions to do with a link in today's episode description. You can also just add staff at readtangle.com to your contacts. Do whatever you need to do. Just make sure we're getting your inbox. And if on a weekday, Monday through Thursday, noon comes around, noon Eastern, and you don't have a newsletter from us, maybe 12, 15 Eastern, it's probably because we're in your spam or junk folder. So go find it and mark it as important and that'll be really helpful. All right. With that out of the way, two big, important, very different announcements. I'm gonna pass it off to John for today's main story,

Starting point is 00:05:45 and then I'll be back for my take. Thank you, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, the U.S. national debt broke $35 trillion for the first time on Monday, and current spending projections show the debt totaling $56 trillion for the first time on Monday, and current spending projections show the debt totaling $56 trillion by 2034. Number two, the White House expressed serious concerns about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's claim that he won re-election after polls showed he trailed

Starting point is 00:06:17 by 8%, yet won by 7%. Thousands of Venezuelans are protesting the election results. Number three, the Park Fire in California is now the fifth largest wildfire in the state's history and the largest active fire in the U.S. Number four, new details from the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump show law enforcement had noticed a suspicious person 90 minutes before the shooting. Trump will be interviewed by the FBI as part of the investigation. a shooting. Trump will be interviewed by the FBI as part of the investigation. And number five, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new blood test to screen for colon cancer, likely making preventative screenings more accessible to at-risk patients. President Biden, as you know, has been busy today touting his newly unveiled proposal to reform the Supreme Court. He did so in Austin, Texas. In doing so, he criticized the court's recent ruling granting former President Trump and any president's immunity for official actions while in office.

Starting point is 00:07:25 office. President Biden is calling for sweeping changes on the Supreme Court, saying yesterday that extremism on the court is undermining public confidence in the institution. The president is urging Congress to impose term limits, capping justices at 18 years on the high court. He's also calling for a binding code of conduct focused on financial disclosures and conflicts of interest. This nation was founded on the principle there are no kings in America. The court is not self-policing. The court is not dealing with the obvious conflicts of interest. We need a mandatory code of ethics for the Supreme Court, and we need it now. On Monday, President Joe Biden proposed a set of reforms for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Starting point is 00:08:06 The proposal recommends two new laws, one that sets an 18-year term limit for justices and another that creates an enforceable code of conduct and ethics rules for the court. Additionally, Biden called for a constitutional amendment ensuring that presidents do not have immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing upon leaving office. Biden suggested term limits for the Supreme Court would have the president nominate one justice every two years, while capping the length of each justice's term at 18 years. Currently, presidents appoint Supreme Court justices whenever there is a vacancy on the court

Starting point is 00:08:38 to serve for life or they voluntarily retire. Justices can also be impeached. Under this system, former President Donald Trump nominated three justices to the court during his four-year term. President Biden has nominated one. The proposed ethics code would require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. In November 2023, the court voluntarily adopted its first-ever Code of Conduct, which prohibits justices from publicly speaking at political events, recommends against the appearance of impropriety, and encourages recusal against conflicts of

Starting point is 00:09:16 interest. Biden's plans would go further, making these rules enforceable and more in line with the ethics standards for all other federal judges. Either of these reforms would represent some of the most significant changes to the court in its history. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Biden argued that the court's recent decisions and controversies require bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy. Biden suggested constitutional amendment would be the first ratified federal amendment since the 27th amendment in 1992. The no one is above the law amendment states that former presidents do not

Starting point is 00:09:50 have immunity for crimes committed while in office. In his op-ed, Biden wrote that the court's July decision to grant presidents immunity for conduct deemed to be within their official duties means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. Since the court proposals require a vote of Congress and the constitutional amendment requires the states, the president has no formal power to advance them. Republican lawmakers have signaled their opposition to the legislation, and Congress is unlikely to vote on the issue before the election, meaning they won't be considered before Biden leaves office. Still, the reforms outline a potential platform for other Democrats to run on, as polling

Starting point is 00:10:25 shows Democratic voters overwhelmingly favor changes to the court like those in Biden's proposal. We previously covered Democrats' efforts to reform the Supreme Court, and there are links to those articles in today's episode description. Today, we'll explore reactions to the proposed reforms from the right and the left, and then Isaac's take. We'll be right back after this quick commercial break. Are you sure you parked over here? Do you see it anywhere? I think it's back this way. Come on. Do you see it anywhere? I think it's back this way. Come on. Hey, you're going the wrong way.

Starting point is 00:11:09 Feeling distracted? You're not alone. Whether renting, considering buying a home, or renewing a mortgage, many Canadians are finding it hard to focus with housing costs on their minds. For free tools and resources to help you manage your home finances and clear your head, visit Canada.ca slash ItPaysToKnow. A message from the Government of Canada. From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year.

Starting point is 00:11:35 Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a comedy about mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. A Real Pain was one of the buzziest titles at Sundance Film Festival this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. Only in theaters November 15th. All right, first up, let's start with what the right is saying.

Starting point is 00:12:15 The right opposes Biden's proposal, calling it a move to limit the independence of the Supreme Court. Some say the effort is driven by Democrats' frustration with the court's recent rulings, not concerned for its legitimacy. Others say the proposals are reasonable in theory, but unlikely to be enacted. In Fox News, William Barr and Kelly Shackelford wrote about the growing threat behind Biden's Supreme Court proposal. Americans need to understand that the campaign to radically change the court is coming. While current proposals like term limits for the longest-serving justices and an imposed code of ethics threaten the Constitution and the separation of powers, the far left is demanding that court be packed with additional liberal justices. Whoever the Democratic nominee for president is, if they win, that is exactly what will

Starting point is 00:12:54 happen, and it will only take a majority vote and the signature of the president. Court reform is nothing more than a desperate attack to subvert the legitimacy of the Supreme Court because it contains a majority of justices committed to the Constitution and originalism. If this coup succeeds, the rule of law will be over as the judiciary will become little more than a political tool of whomever holds power, Barr and Shackelford said. Congress has no business interfering with the actions of the judiciary. It is the separation of powers into three distinct branches of government that makes our nation strong. In National Review, Dan McLaughlin argued, the plan attacks the most fundamental basis of the American system. Since 1789, we've also had a rules-based system for

Starting point is 00:13:36 controlling who sits on the Supreme Court. You win presidential elections, and you get to nominate justices. You win Senate elections, and you get to confirm them, and they serve for life, McLaughlin wrote. Now, Biden and Harris want to break that bargain. This is a calculated multi-front effort to destroy the legitimacy of the rules-based outcomes of our democracy in order to overturn those outcomes. Article 3 could not be clearer that justices have life tenure. Limits on the judiciary come not from political accountability, but from judicial fidelity to written rules, McLaughlin said. Biden notes that the United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court justices. That's a good thing. We're America. Our system is the best. Our constitution has lasted longer

Starting point is 00:14:20 than any others. Why would we want to imitate the constitutional histories of Germany or France? In reason, Ilya Somin said, Biden's reforms are potentially good ideas, but the devil is in the details. All three ideas are potentially good, but Biden is short on details and term limits can only be properly adopted by a constitutional amendment. There is also an obvious political dimension to this announcement, Somin wrote. When these ideas were first floated a couple of weeks ago, Biden was still trying to salvage his own presidential campaign. Now they could help bolster that of VP Kamala Harris, who has endorsed them. Now that they have been endorsed by the current and future leaders of the Democratic Party, the chance that they might eventually be enacted in some form has

Starting point is 00:15:02 significantly increased. Biden doesn't tell us whether term limits should be enacted by amendment or statute. He also doesn't address the difficult issue of how to handle current justices. Including them in the term limit plan, effectively forcing some of them to retire soon, would anger the right. Not doing so would likely offend the left, Soman said. Unlike with term limits, Congress has broad, though not unlimited, power to enact ethics restrictions on the Supreme Court. I'm fine with requiring justices to disclose gifts. However, much depends on what qualifies as an other conflict of interest. I don't think the mere fact that Espresso has been active on an issue in the political arena qualifies.

Starting point is 00:15:52 All right, that is it for what the right is saying, which brings us to what the left is saying. The left supports the reforms, praising Biden for putting them forward before the end of his term. Some say the proposals have a chance of passing a future Congress. Others say the reforms are reasonable but not politically viable. In New York Magazine, Ed Kilgore wrote, Biden is opening the door to Supreme Court reform. Biden's new set of proposals for reforming the U.S. Supreme Court are not going to be enacted anytime soon. But is Biden's initiative destined to become a footnote in the 2024 presidential contest, or worse yet, a right-wing talking point for those frantically trying to make the case that Democrats pose a greater threat to our legal system than the infamous scoff law Donald Trump.

Starting point is 00:16:29 Maybe not, Kilgore said. Biden's tardy embrace of major Supreme Court reforms is an authentic reflection of how toxic SCOTUS has become since its transformation into the conservative activist institution, long underway but consummated by Trump's three court appointments. That a hardcore institutionalist like Biden, for many years a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the great defender of SCOTUS prerogatives, is proposing a major restructuring of the court shows how significantly its reputation has eroded during the tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts, Kilgore wrote.

Starting point is 00:17:02 The big picture perspective is that the reforms Biden is proposing are no longer remotely as controversial as they once were, proving that conservatives could pay a big price for the radical policy gains they achieved by their recent domination of the court. In the Los Angeles Times, Harry Lippman argued Biden is playing the long game. With Congress hopelessly polarized and the Supreme Court hopelessly polarized, there is no chance of action on Biden's proposals in the coming months, and the administration well understands that point, Lippman said. Why then choose now to introduce them? After all, Biden has steadfastly resisted pleas from progressives to try to reform the court, and he has been under pressure since he took office because President Trump had just tilted the court to the right by appointing three

Starting point is 00:17:43 justices. The straightforward explanation for the timing is to make the Supreme Court, now quite possibly the most unpopular of all federal government institutions, a focus of the election, which would presumably nudge voters towards Vice President Kamala Harris. But the proposal shouldn't be dismissed as mere political gesture. Biden and the Democrats are also playing the long game, looking in particular to make the court a campaign issue. If they win control of both chambers and the White House, they can portray their election as a mandate for substantial reforms, Lippman wrote. Today's proposals only reinforce the grave loss of confidence it has brought on with its own

Starting point is 00:18:18 overreaching. Supreme Court history teaches that whatever its recognized authority in individual cases, it is untenable for it to operate indefinitely so against the grain of the American people. In the New York Times, Erwin Chemerinsky said, The election is crucial to the Supreme Court's future. Biden's reform plans are not. Biden's reforms are unquestionably desirable, but they have little chance of being enacted. The laser focus for Democrats and others alarmed by the direction of the court should be instead on the November election, Chemerinsky wrote. The most important proposal by Mr. Biden is to impose term limits of 18 years for Supreme Court justices, which would allow a president to make two regular appointments in a single term.

Starting point is 00:18:58 That idea makes enormous sense. The problem with term limits for Supreme Court justices, and certainly ones that would apply to the current justices, is that they would require a constitutional amendment. I agree with Mr. Biden's proposed reforms and hope that eventually they would be adopted. But the central challenge right now is to prevent Mr. Trump's return to office and what it could mean for the court and the rule of law, Chemerinsky said. No Supreme Court reform that has a chance of being adopted anytime soon is likely to make a difference in the court's composition. But the presidential election will, and the focus in the months ahead should be on the enormous difference between who Mr. Trump and Kamala Harris would appoint to the high court. All right, let's head over to Isaac for his take. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take.

Starting point is 00:19:58 All right, so I've written a lot about ethics rules for the Supreme Court. I understand the risks, but I'm mostly in favor of them. And I've written a lot about presidential immunity, and I don't think presidents should have absolute immunity. So I'm not going to re-establish my positions here. Instead, I'm going to focus on the novel part of this proposal, which is term limits for Supreme Court justices. A few years ago, I wrote critically about Democrats' attempt to expand, read, pack, the court, and more favorably about term limits, which I viewed as a separate idea. That was before the court became the ideological battleground it has become over the last three years. We didn't really explore term limits very closely, but I said it was a solid idea, more of a new paint job than a remodeling. Back then, I had a theory. First,

Starting point is 00:20:43 justices had started to retire their positions following the election of an ideological-aligned president, which is a pretty new phenomenon. Two, Congress has been historically dysfunctional, so the court is often settling legislative disputes, which is another recent trend. Three, the court today is composed much more by luck or political timing than by a representative government nominating and confirming justices. A properly designed solution to these issues would create an equal number of openings during every presidential term, allowing presidents to pick more experienced justices rather than the youngest, minimally qualified candidates who

Starting point is 00:21:20 could sit on the bench the longest, and it would remove the Supreme Court as an on-again, off-again election issue. Right now, any time an ailing justice seems to be on the way out, it becomes a centerpiece of that election. There even seemed to be a sliver of bipartisan support for these ideas. Some conservatives, like Ilya Somin above, still seem to support it. But there are also strong counterpoints to my arguments. Term limits would ensure that the Supreme Court seats were a part of every election rather than a select few, which could actually compound the issue I'm worried about. Congressional dysfunction is not the Supreme Court's fault, and it shouldn't be solved by reforming a different branch of government, but by reforming how we elect members

Starting point is 00:21:58 of Congress. And while justices retiring their seats at politically advantageous times is a sticky issue to solve, the downsides of fixing it with a system that limits experience on the bench, forces out justices who could still do the job well for years to come, and sends an antagonistic signal to the judiciary from the president are all too much for me to swallow. Even if you think the original arguments withstand the counterpoints, the proposal looks much different in practice than it did in theory, and much different when it's being pushed by a lame duck president for partisan reasons. Notably, the Biden administration isn't even pursuing these reforms for the reasons I laid

Starting point is 00:22:36 out. Instead, they're pursuing it for worse, more partisan, more fabricated reasons. In National Review, Dan McLaughlin raised the salient points to explain why the idea falls short. First, he noted that Biden is doing this for the wrong reasons. In National Review, Dan McLaughlin raised the salient points to explain why the idea falls short. First, he noted that Biden is doing this for the wrong reasons. Let me explain why that matters. For starters, he's embracing this idea because he does not like the rulings from this court, which he has called an extreme threat to democracy, not to address the systemic issues laid out above. But that's not the problem term limits would solve, and this court isn't all that predictable. In the last term, 45.8% of the cases were decided

Starting point is 00:23:11 unanimously, a relatively high rate for the court in recent years. Of the 22 cases decided 6-3, only 11 were along ideological lines. Given these stats, it's easy to see Biden's motivations as blatantly partisan. When that's the case, there's a to see Biden's motivations as blatantly partisan. When that's the case, there's a strong possibility the solution ends up being temporary or destabilizing, and it opens the door to future Republican administrations, quote-unquote, reforming the court when there is a streak of rulings they don't like. Republicans certainly see it this way, with Speaker Johnson, the Republican from Louisiana, calling Biden's plan dead on arrival in Congress. Nothing in this proposal says the 18-year term limit is prospective, which implies that Justice

Starting point is 00:23:49 Clarence Thomas, confirmed in 1991, and Chief Justice John Roberts, confirmed in 2005, would be forced out immediately. Justice Samuel Alito, January 2006, would be next. Do I think Biden would be doing this if three liberal justices were the first in line to be pushed out? Of course not. When other leaders do something like this, we rightly cringe. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms in Israel divided the country and started nationwide protests. He, too, seemed to be trying to change a high court because he doesn't like how it rules, and the political left, both in Israel and the United States, rightly excoriated him for it. Number two, our founders' intention was for Supreme Court justices to sit for life, because that intention is clear, and acting this reform would probably

Starting point is 00:24:36 require a constitutional amendment, which isn't happening. For what it's worth, I do think Congress has the authority to impose ethics rules, but those are much different than term limits. I do think Congress has the authority to impose ethics rules, but those are much different than term limits. Alexander Hamilton wrote that a system of lifetime tenure would produce older, more experienced justices who don't have to worry about the length of their terms. And if we're concerned about justices hitting an age where they can't do their jobs any longer, which hasn't happened recently, term limits aren't the right remedy for that affliction. Most importantly, the fix for impropriety isn't term limits, it's to limit impropriety. Limits on the judiciary come not from political

Starting point is 00:25:10 accountability but from judicial fidelity to written rules, McLaughlin wrote. It's a true and musical line, but it opens him up to reasonable criticism. McLaughlin seems opposed to more stringent ethics rules, like the one Biden is proposing that are the kind of written rules I think justices should have fidelity to. So while I agree that the court's accountability should come from judicial fidelity to written rules, I don't think there are enough written rules governing this court, which is why it's fair to raise the idea, absent term limits or other reforms, of creating more accountability for the court. Not because of how they have ruled, but because of how they have behaved. All this is to say, Biden's term limits proposal is being

Starting point is 00:25:50 put forward for the wrong reasons at the wrong time, would create a political maelstrom, and has downsides and roadblocks the president does not seem to consider. I still support term limits for Congress, but I can recognize that the Supreme Court is a different entity that would be impacted in a different way by a similar system. Ultimately, I don't see any chance this proposal gets legs, which is probably a good thing. We'll be right back after this quick break. From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a comedy about mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when

Starting point is 00:26:43 the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. A Real Pain was one of the buzziest titles at Sundance Film Festival this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. Whether renting, renewing a mortgage, or considering buying a home, everybody has housing costs on their minds. For free tools and resources to help you manage your home finances, visit Canada.ca slash it pays to know. A message from the Government of Canada. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about

Starting point is 00:27:21 a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. Thanks, Isaac. We are going to skip today's reader question and head straight to our under-the-radar story. Officials in West Texas have declared a state of emergency due to earthquakes they believe to be caused by oil drilling. Scurry County has experienced more than 100 earthquakes in the last week alone, with one registering a magnitude of 4.9. Texas is not a seismically active part of

Starting point is 00:28:07 the country, but new forms of drilling in local oil fields release saltwater that is subsequently pumped back into the earth, which can cause earthquakes. The oil fields and the earthquakes are almost 99% likely to be linked, according to Justin Rubenstein, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California. USA Today has this story and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. The percentage of registered voters who approve of the job the U.S. Supreme Court is doing is 38%, down from 58% in 2017, according to a July 2024 Fox News poll. The percentage of registered voters who say they favor establishing a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices is 81%, up from 71% in 2022. The percentage of registered voters who

Starting point is 00:28:59 say they favor limiting justices to an 18-year term is 78%, up from 66% in 2022. The percentage of voters who believe an independent judiciary is a crucial safeguard of civil liberties is 91%, according to a 2023 poll from Mason Dixon. The percentage of voters who think a mandatory retirement age for justices would not reduce the polarization of the Supreme Court is 49%. The percentage of voters who said they approved of a binding code of ethics for the justices is 75%, according to a September 2023 Morning Consult political poll. Of the constitutional amendments passed by Congress in U.S. history, the number that have been ratified by the states is 27 of 33, and the number of constitutional amendments ratified in the last 100 years is 8.

Starting point is 00:29:49 All right, and last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. The 2024 Paris Olympics are underway, with athletes at the height of their sport competing for their nations. Nada Hafez, an Egyptian fencer and three-time Olympian, competed in the individual saber competition this past Monday. After winning her first match, she was eliminated in the round of 16. However, she made an exciting announcement on Instagram after competing. She is seven months pregnant. What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three. It was me, my competitor, and my yet-to-come-to-the-world little baby, she posted.

Starting point is 00:30:24 CBS News has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, go to readtangle.com and sign up for a membership. As Isaac mentioned at the top, we've reached an incredible milestone, and we just want to say again from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for continuing to support us. We're all very excited for the next stages of what Tangle will become, and we appreciate you being on board and joining us in this journey all the way to the top.

Starting point is 00:30:58 We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by John Law. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman, Will Kedak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady.

Starting point is 00:31:21 The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bokova, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was designed by Magdalena Bokova, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. And if you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.

Tangle - Biden proposes major Supreme Court reforms.

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