Tangle - Thank you. For everything. And I'll see you soon.

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

Dear listeners,Christmas is around the corner, which means we are preparing for our annual break over the New Year here at Tangle.2023 has been exciting, grueling, and life changing. Every year since I started Tangle, I've taken a couple weeks off right after Christmas and through the New Year. And every year, I encourage our readers and listeners to do the same. Following the news closely is hard, as is being an engaged citizen, and it's important not to burn yourself out. If you are able, step away from the news for at least a few days, spend some time with family, get your feet back on the ground, and try to hit the reset button for the New Year. I’ll be doing my best to unplug, reset, evaluate the year, and enjoy some much-needed time with my wife and family — to whom I have a massive debt of quality time to repay accrued over the past couple months of unprecedented work. Our team is taking off from December 25th until January 5th. You'll hear from us at least once over that break when we release our newest YouTube video (which I think is one of our most important videos yet), then potentially again in the event of a major news drop. Tangle members are also going to get a special edition of the Sunday newsletter on New Year’s Eve. Until then, happy New Year, Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and please take our annual end-of-year survey and/or become a member before our prices go up!With much gratitude,Isaac & the Tangle teamYou can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tanglenews/message Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Breaking news happens anywhere, anytime. Police have warned the protesters repeatedly, get back. CBC News brings the story to you as it happens. Hundreds of wildfires are burning. Be the first to know what's going on and what that means for you and for Canadians. This situation has changed very quickly. Helping make sense of the world when it matters most. Stay in the know. CBC News.

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 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+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to

your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Well, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, the place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul. Today is December 22nd. It is a Friday, and ladies and gentlemen, this is it. We are putting a bow on the year. Today's podcast

is not our normal podcast. It is a little bit of a end of year wrap. Some news about what to expect the next couple of weeks and some reflections on what just happened the last 12 months. So let's jump right in. As many of you obviously are aware, Christmas is around the corner. That means that we are preparing for our annual break over the new year here at Tangle. If you are a new listener or this is your first podcast you've ever gotten from us, I apologize for the odd timing, but please hang around for a little information about the community you just joined. And don't forget, you can always just scroll back to yesterday's podcast or the last couple from this week for an idea of what we are all about.

2023 has been an exciting, grueling, and life-changing year. Every year since I started Tangle, I've taken a couple weeks off right after Christmas and through the new year, and every year I encourage our listeners and readers to do the same. Following the news closely is hard, as is being an engaged citizen, and it's important not to burn yourself out. engaged citizen, and it's important not to burn yourself out. This year, more than any I can remember, I feel like I need the break. The war in Gaza has brought our country's divides to a boiling point over the last few months, and it has brought a collection of deeply personal issues to the forefront of our discourse for me, which is always challenging. But we haven't just been challenged by Israel, Palestine, and Gaza.

The abortion case in Texas brought one of the most emotionally charged issues in America back to the front pages. Colorado's Supreme Court just threw a curveball into the 2024 election, intensifying the often divisive Trump effect that influences so much of our politics. And before that, we've had mass shootings, record heat waves, House speaker battles, and arguments about immigration, vaccines, affirmative action, and term limits, all while the 2024 presidential race, with all of its inherent nuttiness, has begun in earnest. This nonstop stream of emotionally charged news feels overwhelming for me to wade through, and I'm sure it does for many

of you to engage. But for us, it is also an opportunity, and a rather big one. Trust in the media is at an all-time low, and a recent poll found that voters believe media bias is worse than it has ever been. That means people are turning to independent outlets like Tangle, looking for balance and nuance, and gives us the chance to chart a new path forward for readers and listeners like you. We believe we're providing that, and the last year is proof others think so too. Our mailing list grew from 54,000 readers to over 88,000 as of this morning. Our newly launched YouTube channel already has over 7,000 subscribers. This podcast broke 1 million downloads and is now well above that number. We finally launched our members-only Sunday edition

featuring weekly roundups, comics, puzzles, and more, which has been a hit with readers. Two of my long-term goals for Tangle, 100,000 newsletter subscribers and $1 million in annual revenue, are on the horizon. In the last year, I hired three new members of the team to join Magdalena and me, Ari, John, and Will. Magdalena continues to run our social channels, shepherding our Instagram page across the 20,000 follower mark, and this year she stood up an advertising business to go with it. Ari took over as managing editor and launched the Sunday edition. John started running the YouTube and this podcast, and Will has fallen into the grueling research, guest booking,

and jack-of-all-trades role. My father Bailey and our copy editor Sean continue to put the finishing touches on our daily podcast and newsletter as our mom-and-pop bona fides live on, and we had a rotating cast of interns who helped us throughout 2023. We also had some firsts. We had our first live event in Philadelphia, which was a smashing success, and we are already planning another one this spring in New York City. I also had my first speaking engagement on a college campus to discuss media bias, and we concurrently launched our first ever college ambassador program, both of which are putting us in front of a younger audience of new and future voters. We also had our first-ever Instagram post removal,

which we responded to by doubling down on our mission, something our followers greatly appreciated. And we also had, for the first time, one of our own staff members featured in our Have a Nice Day section after Magdalena rescued an owl. Along the way, we've caught the attention of everyone, from Elon Musk to Adam Grant to Bill O'Reilly to Dan Carlin to Chris Anderson, the president of TED Talks. 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 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+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages 6 months and older,

and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. I got to appear on media platforms ranging from MSNBC to Sirius XM Radio to New York AM Talk Radio to Trigonometry's YouTube channel to Mike Peska's podcast. AM Talk Radio, to Trigonometry's YouTube channel, to Mike Peska's podcast. We interviewed presidential candidates like Marianne Williamson and Representative Dean Phillips, UFO experts like Mick West, economic experts like Ben Miller and Kyla Scanlon,

Palestinian academics like Yousef Mounir, and thought leaders like Chloe Valtteri. We had one of the most prominent feature articles ever written about us get published, and we also published our first ever anonymous reader essay from a Chinese dissident who had fled the country and shared their views on what was happening back home. The word is out, and the momentum is real. It is, truly, beyond my wildest dreams for what I thought Tangle could become, and the best part is that I know there is so much more to do. All of that starts here with our listeners. So thank you. Thank you for sharing our work, for telling your friends and family. And don't forget, you can still gift Tangle subscriptions or buy merchandise for the holidays.

There are links to do that in our episode description. Thank you for sticking with us, even if my take pisses you off. For remembering that the point of all of this is to expand your minds and have your views challenged. Thank you for your trust. It is the thing we value most, and something we treasure more than I can adequately say. We have a lot planned for 2024. We're going to start the year the same way we always do. For our first Friday edition in January, we'll be reviewing our biggest pieces from 2023 and then grading how well we did. In Q1, we're going to ramp up our focus on this, the podcast,

offering new subscribers-only content, introducing a co-host, and bringing on more high-profile guests. We'll also be rolling out our first-ever podcast series on undecided voters. For those of you who responded to our request, keep an eye out for an email from me. We're going to dive deep into the 2024 campaign, giving you the most holistic coverage of the candidates and issues that you'll be able to find in the media space. We'll continue to cover the happenings in Israel, Ukraine, Congress, and of course, all the news we can't imagine that is headed our way. We have new YouTube videos in the pipeline and a website redesign coming, and as always, we'll continue to tinker with the newsletter commiserate

with your feedback. To that end, here are a few end-of-the-year to-dos that are worth mentioning. For starters, it is time for our annual end-of-the-year survey. This is our way of getting to know who our audience is and getting to better understand what parts of Tangle you like and don't like. It is entirely anonymous anonymous unless you decide to enter your name or email address. If you can take five minutes to fill it out, it is a huge help for us and it is a great opportunity for you to offer your honest feedback about what we're doing. Please take it only once. There is a link to it in today's episode description. Second, I want to remind everyone that our membership prices are going up from $50 a year to $60 a year in 2024. Our Monday

through Thursday newsletters will always remain free, but if you want to unlock Friday and Sunday newsletter additions and generally just support our work, subscriptions make up 90% of our revenue, you can lock in a legacy subscription price for life by becoming a member now before 2024. Also, for all of you who said you want to pay $60 a year to support our work, thank you and please know there will be an easy way to do that when the switch happens. And if you are someone who only listens to the podcast, I would just hang tight as we'll be rolling out some of that subscribers-only podcast content in 2024. Third and finally is the break.

Our team is taking off from December 25th until January 5th. You'll hear from us at least once over that break when we release our newest YouTube video, which I think is one of our most important videos yet, and then potentially again in the event of a major news drop. Tangle members who are subscribed to the Sunday edition are also going to get a special edition of the Sunday newsletter on New Year's Eve. In the meantime, I encourage you all to take a break too. If you were able, step away from the news for at least a few days, spend some time with family, get your

feet back on the ground, and try to hit the reset button for the new year. I'll be doing my best to unplug, reset, evaluate the year, and enjoy some much-needed time with my wife and family, to whom I have a massive debt of quality time to repay, accrued over the past couple months of unprecedented work. Until then, happy new year, merry Christmas, happy holidays, and don't forget to take our survey and or become a member before our prices go up. With so much gratitude, this is Isaac and the Tangle team signing off for our annual break, and we'll see you guys in January 2024. Have a good one. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by John Wall. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman, Will Kabak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady.

The logo for our 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. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot.

Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages 6 months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. 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 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+.