Today’s read: 4 minutes.
Today is a special Friday edition of Tangle, so it’ll be abbreviated and brief. We’re covering the next move in impeachment, big news in Britain, and a few nutty stories.
Britain’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson. Photo: Flickr | Arno Mikkor
Impeachment inches forward.
This morning, the House Judiciary Committee voted over Republican objections to advance two articles of impeachment. Democrats settled on two charges: abuse of power and obstruction of justice. The vote came down to a party-line split, with Democrats claiming there was a plethora of evidence against Trump while Republicans insisted this was all a partisan witchhunt. President Trump becomes the fourth president in United States history to face impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” It’s expected that the House of Representatives will hold a full vote on impeachment next week. If the articles pass, which they likely will, the Senate (or upper chamber of Congress) will take up an impeachment trial. For a recap on how impeachment goes down, you can read this.
Boris Johnson takes over Britain.
In the most significant election of modern Britain, British voters overwhelmingly threw their support behind Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson is a deeply unpopular politician with a sordid history of racist comments and a public persona often described as a cartoonish. But his opponent, Jeremy Corbyn, was even more unpopular and considered a radical leftist who invited anti-Semitism into the party. Lots of Republicans and moderate Democrats in the U.S. took the election as a warning sign for the Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic party. In the meantime, Corbyn’s U.S. supporters said comparing the two was absurd because of the political structure in Britain, Brexit and the fact Corbyn was even further left than the most lefty Democrats. You can read a great explainer from Vox here.
Some quick hits.
- Bernie Sanders endorsed Cenk Uygur yesterday, a controversial decision that has set off a fiery debate on the left. Uygur is the popular progressive host of The Young Turks, a YouTube talk show, and he’s running for Congress. But he’s also got an ugly history of making demeaning comments about women and using the N-word on his show. Uygur has apologized for the comments about women, insisting it was from a time when he was trying to be a controversial Republican talking head. He also said his use of the N-word was meant to mock actual racists and clips were being taken out of context. You can read more here.
- Rudy Giuliani defiantly returned from Ukraine as the president faces impeachment. Giuliani, whose campaign to get Ukrainian officials to open an investigation into Joe Biden is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, was overseas filming a documentary he says will uncover Biden’s corruption. Allies of Giuliani have been pleading with him to stay out of the limelight, but he’s refused. Upon landing in the U.S., he told The Wall Street Journal the president called him as his plane was still taxiing down the runway. “‘What did you get?’” he said Mr. Trump asked. “More than you can imagine,” Mr. Giuliani replied. He is putting his findings into a 20-page report. Click.
- Betsy DeVos overruled Education Department findings that students defrauded by misleading, for-profit universities should be reimbursed in full. The news broke after a trove of emails and internal memos leaked to NPR, showing DeVos took the extraordinary step of overruling the Borrower’s Defense Unit ruling that the students should get their money back in full. Instead, DeVos said, the students should be paid back partially based on their income. She argued that refunding them in full put an unfair burden on taxpayers. You can read more here.
Numbers.
- 24.3%. The lowest share of Democratic primary voter support Joe Biden has had since April, according to a new dataset from FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
- 23.7%. The highest share of Democratic primary voter support Elizabeth Warren has had since April, according to a new dataset from FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
- 22.2%. The highest share of Democratic primary voter support Bernie Sanders has had since April, according to a new dataset from FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
- 16%. The percentage of private employees who had access to paid family leave in 2018.
- 3. The number of digits in a new suicide prevention hotline that will be coming to America soon, making the program more like calling 911 than ever before.
- 1,876. The number of TV mentions Joe Biden has gotten on all national stations, first amongst Democrats.
- 242. The number of TV mentions Bernie Sanders has gotten on all national stations, fifth amongst Democrats.
- 24%. The percentage of you who clicked on the secret link (see below) at the bottom of Tangle yesterday to prove to me that you read all the way to the end. Skimmers!
Have a nice weekend.
3D-printed homes are popping up in rural Mexico, and they could be a sign of a major disruption in the housing market. The homes are part of a project from New Story, which has partnered with 3D printing tech companies to create a giant printer that can spit out the foundation, floor and walls of a home in about 24 hours. Once the basics are complete, teams come in and finish the windows, roof and interior. The low-cost, 500-square-foot homes are then gifted to people in struggling communities to provide long-term shelter and wealth. As more governments bring the printer in, and production increases, New Story is hopeful this could be part of a solution for the global housing crisis. Click.
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