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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

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Patrick Redford

A float for the Cochonou brand in the Tour de France caravan, with spectators reaching out to it as it passes.

tdf cochonou float

Cycling

There Is No Tour de France Without The Tour de Brands

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Tom Ley

NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell discusses the state of the union and its direction for the upcoming year before fielding questions from the media on February 05, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Super Bowl LIX Previews

The NFLPA Is Having Communication Issues

Jen Ramos Eisen is a Central California-based minor league baseball writer.

Jen Ramos Eisen

Minor League Baseball: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Austin Hamilton (14) in action, pitching vs San Jose Giants at San Jose Giants Excite Ballpark. San Jose, CA.

San Jose Giants vs Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

Private Equity Now Owns More Than 40 Minor League Baseball Teams, And The Number Keeps Growing

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Giri Nathan

Bill Ackman, Founder and CEO, Pershing Square Capital Management, attends the 28th annual Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on May 6, 2025. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

bill-ackman

Capital

Bill Ackman Gets To Play Pretend In Sanctioned Tennis Farce

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

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Dan McQuade

A long white mall hallway with empty storefronts and a sign for an AMC movie theater in the distance

amc-neshaminy-empty

A Mall I Loved Is Going Pitch Black

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

DFM New Headshot

Diana Moskovitz

A protester holds a backwards American flag outside of Dodger Stadium during a protest against the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and ICE immigration raids on June 21, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

Dodgers/ICE Protests

The Dodgers Are Disappointing The People Who Want To Love Them The Most

Dave McKenna

A Washington Post logo is displayed on top of the newspaper's editorial headquarters on May 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Washington Post Exterior

Journalismism

Update: The Washington Post Is Still Dying

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David Roth

Photo taken on Jan. 12, 2023 shows a closed store of Big Lots at King Square Center in Arvada, Northwest of Denver.

U.S.-ARVADA-BIG LOTS-CLOSED STORE

Podcasts

A Fine Balance Between Evil And Stupid, With Kelsey McKinney And Megan Greenwell

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Albert Burneko

AI-Powered Robot interacts with People during the Italian Tech Week 2024 at OGR Officine Grandi Riparazioni on September 26, 2024 in Turin, Italy.

cyborg roose

Toward A Theory Of Kevin Roose

The author can be reached at postpostdoc@protonmail.com.

Post-Postdoc

This photo taken on January 4, 2022 shows a vehicle with Luminar LiDAR based Proactive Safety pre-collision braking crash avoidance technology (R) stopping to avoid a child-sized test dummy as it is demonstrated on a test track, while a Tesla Model Y collides with the test dummy (L) at the Las Vegas Convention Center ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. - As it pursues the goal of fully autonomous driving, Tesla has bet entirely on cameras and artificial intelligence, shunning other commonly used tools such as laser detection.

US-AUTOMOBILE-IT-TESLA

The Machines

When An AI Agent Tries To Kill You, Who Goes To Jail?

A Toys R Us store that was shuttered in 2018 is seen on June 21, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. The company was bought and destroyed by private equity.

Toys R Us Store In Orlando

Interviews

Megan Greenwell On Living Under And Outside Of Private Equity, The Invasive Species Eating American Life

<div>Jen Kinney is a journalist and audio producer with a troubling fixation on debris, detritus, and discard.</div>

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Jen Kinney

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Seven Days At The Bin Store

A large bitcoin guy regards the world they will take over

Bitcoin

Politics

What World Does Bitcoin Want To Build For Itself?

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Kelsey McKinney

image of the screen at the Wells Fargo center displaying the words WORSHIP, WISDOM, WORK, WEALTH

lifesurge

Saquon Barkley Lured Me To An Arena Where I Learned Passive Income Is Holy

Chicago Sun Times newspapers are sold from of a dispenser near their editorial offices on May 15, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The box is yellow and people are walking around and in front of it.

Chicago Sun-Times

Journalism’s Slop Crisis Started Long Before That AI-Generated Summer Insert

Humanoid robot practices typing at the Data Collection Center of AgiBot on March 20, 2025 in Shanghai, China.

robot writer

Chicago Sun-Times And Philadelphia Inquirer Publish Huge Summer Insert Of Pure, Uncut Chatbot Slop [UPDATE]

The obnoxious Grok logo, on a phone screen, in a hand silhouetted against a neon green background.

Grok logo ugh so corny fuck off Elon

Elon Musk’s Idiot Chatbot Goes Full Boer

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Typing

Sabrina Imbler

a photo of Chuck Sebian-Lander, a fired CFPB web manager. He is wearing a a shirt from my union, NTEU 335, and b) a lapel pin with the CFPB seal that he was given as part of a Director's award

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An Interview With A Fired Web Content Manager At The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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Ben Goldfarb

A bulldozer moves a pile of dirt, which features two hoofs sticking out of the top

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An Abundance Of Concrete

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Kate Wagner

Zuck-House

Mark Zuckerberg Still Can’t Buy Taste

AI Gig Work

How I Became Highly Educated Grist For The AI Mill

John Semley is a writer and researcher based in Philadelphia.

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John Semley

People queue outside indie record store Flashback Records to shop for vinyls on Record Store Day in London on April 20, 2024.

BRITAIN-CULTURE-MUSIC-RECORD STORE DAY

Music

How Record Store Day Became The Stupidest Day In Music

The front of a U.S. Department of Education building.

US Dept of ED

Title IX Is Now A Weapon In The Trump Administration’s Culture War

Striking Touchstone route setters demonstrate in front of a California climbing gym.