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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Typing

Sabrina Imbler

a photo of Sabrina Valenti, formerly a budget analyst for NOAA. Sabrina has brown curly hair and is standing against a floral background.

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Interviews

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Budget Analyst

<p>Alex Prewitt is a writer in Brooklyn. He shoots free throws the normal way.</p>


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Alex Prewitt

ball-dont-lie-tattoo

How “Ball Don’t Lie” Became More Than A Basketball Mantra

Robert Pastore

New York correctional officers and sergeants continue their strike for a second week outside of the Coxsackie Correctional Facility on February 28, 2025 in Coxsackie, Greene, New York.

New York Prison Guards Strike Over Proclaimed Unsafe Working Conditions

Policing

What The Corrections Officer Strike Means To Incarcerated People Like Me


<p>Investigations Editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99</p>


DFM New Headshot

Diana Moskovitz

A photo of three women's basketball players. They all stand with their backs to the camera. On the back of their shirts are the 37 words that make up Title IX, the law that gave women equal access to school sports

Title IX

Politics

Women’s Sports Happened By Accident, And Could Be Taken Apart On Purpose

<p>Staff Writer</p>
<p>Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19</p>


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Chris Thompson

The Virgin River flows through the valley floor as viewed on November 9, 2019 in Zion National Park, Utah

Zion National Park

Why Bully The National Park Service?

Dennis M. Hogan

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 19: People including researchers from Chicago area universities gather on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) campus to voice concerns about the potential loss of federal funding for medical research on February 19, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. The researchers are worried about the future of their projects as the Trump administration cuts grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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The NIH Cuts Are Part Of An All-Out War On Higher Education

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Lauren Theisen

Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin during player introductions at the 2017 skills competition

NHL: JAN 28 All-Star Skills Competition

A Pittsburgh Pilgrimage

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Samer Kalaf

A news chyron that reads: Man arrested for shooting two people in Miami Beach

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Life's Rich Pageant

This Is The Logical Endpoint Of Zionism

<p>Eva Holland is a freelance writer and editor based in Whitehorse, Yukon. She&#8217;s a correspondent for Outside magazine and the author of the books <i>Nerve </i>and <i><a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/no-sleep-til-fairbanks#/">No Sleep &#8216;Til Fairbanks</a>.</i></p>


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Eva Holland

Alaskan Dogs In United States –

The Great Outdoors

What’s The Yukon Quest Without The Yukon River?

<p>Lindsey Adler is a writer based in Brooklyn. She exclusively covered sports for a decade but has other interests, too.</p>


Lindsey Adler

A woman stands in front of the Yoko Ono, »Cut Piece«, 1965, during a press preview at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Duesseldorf, western Germany on September 26, 2024. In cooperation with the Tate Modern, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is presenting the influential work of artist and activist Yoko Ono in a comprehensive solo exhibition taking place from September 28, 2024 to March 6, 2025.

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Arts And Culture

My Weekend With Yoko

<p><a href="http://www.ddavisla.com"><span style="font-weight: 400">David Davis </span></a>is the author of <i>Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation</i> and <i>Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku</i>. He lives in Los Angeles.</p>
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David Davis

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidget, learned to surf in Malibu, the surfing world has accepted her as surfing's early pioneers, mascots and avid promoters. April 27, 2006, (Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidg

Gidget The Survivor


<p>Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.</p>


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Dan McQuade

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David Roth

Ricky Jay, with his hair balding halfway up his head but black and tall, and a large black beard, in a black suit with a black tie and a dark purple shirt, looking at the camera holding a cut-in-half watermelon with two playing cards into the inside.

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Someone Has To Save The Film And TV That Studios Won’t

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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
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Tom Scocca

NYPD officers prepare to make arrests during a rally and a march in Manhattan to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recent raids and crackdown on migrants in New York. New York City, U.S., February 13, 2025.

Rally against ICE in New York

Margin Of Error

The Country That Was Here Is Gone

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Giri Nathan

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A Stinky Pilgrimage To The Corpse Flower, With Notes Of Rat, Sweat, And Cheese

a set of homemade toasted subs with ground beef, cheese, green pepper and onion

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Life Lessons

How I Got Comfortable With Cooking, And Eating

<p>Kit Fox is a writer, and former editor at Runner&#8217;s World and Men&#8217;s Journal, based in Emmaus, PA. He peaked in middle school after breaking sport stacking&#8217;s world record in the 3-3-3. He is also the co-author of the non-fiction book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374311605/mightymoe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374311605/mightymoe/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1739381570912000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3ixF1HpjLWDV7W39BiDUhA"><i>Mighty Moe: The True Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Women&#8217;s Running Revolutionary</i></a><i>.</i></p>


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Kit Fox

Cups stacked in the 1-10-1 formation, with a glowing eye on the top cup

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Stories

If You Ever Stacked Cups In Gym Class, Blame My Dad

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Patrick Redford

Screenshot 2025-02-11 at 10.05.31 AM

Capital

For Sale: The End, And The Means To Wait For It

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Barry Petchesky

Screenshot 2025-02-09 at 9.32.46 PM

Animals

What Did She See, At The End?

US President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump (L) watch the pre-game show before Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025. His hair looks all fucked up; there's a huge American flag on the field.

AMFOOT-SUPERBOWL-CHIEFS-EAGLES

Confused Brits Cause Severe Damage At The Donald Trump Propaganda Factory

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Alan Kluegel

The actor Matthew McConaughey looking slightly deranged while sitting at an outdoor restaurant table, in the dark, under a torrential downpour.

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The Machines

Salesforce Is Using A Hallucination To Sell AI

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<div>Casey Taylor is a writer living and working in Pittsburgh. He is currently writing a book for St. Martin&#8217;s Press about cannabis religions, Haile Selassie I, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. He also writes a free newsletter called <a href="https://weedchurch.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weedchurch.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709306863919000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mVH2xiID6S0zvlyj6yHco">Weed Church</a> covering foolish spiritual things that occur to him. His work has appeared in The New Republic, WIRED, New York Magazine, and a sports blog he can’t currently recall the name of. You can <a href="mailto:caseyt7@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a> him if you’d like.</div>
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casey

Casey Taylor

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History

The Last Living Bedwardite

<p>Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including <em>Point B</em>. Handsomest man in the world.</p>


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Drew Magary

Whilte House Chef Rene Verdon (L) and former chef Jacques Pepin preparing a salad for a picnic on Gardiners Island. (Photo by Mark Kauffman/Getty Images)

Salad Jamboroo

Jamboroo

I Want To Focus On My Salad

People organize a rally and demonstration against Elon Musk outside the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington D.C., United States on February 03, 2025.

Protesters rally against Elon Musk outside U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington D.C.

Billionaire Dipshit And His Strike Team Of Greasy Beavises Are Stripping The Wires From The Federal Government

The plasma cannon fires a bolt of plasma.

Plasma Cannon

Science

I Would Think Nothing Of Being Shot In The Chest With This Plasma Cannon

<p>Raphael Orlove is a freelance writer and editor with a few events under his belt as a rally co-driver. You may have seen his work on Robb Report, Road &amp; Track, Jalopnik, or the briefly-aired Car vs America TV show if you have a very extensive cable subscription.</p>
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