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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.

Defector

Capital

Climate

Margin Of Error

Policing

The Machines

Politics

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

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.

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.

Journalismism

Update: The Washington Post Is Still Dying

David Roth

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

Podcasts

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

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.

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.

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.

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>

Jen Kinney

Seven Days At The Bin Store

Patrick Redford

A large bitcoin guy regards the world they will take over

What World Does Bitcoin Want To Build For Itself?

Kelsey McKinney

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

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.

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.

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.

Elon Musk’s Idiot Chatbot Goes Full Boer

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

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

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

Ben Goldfarb

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

An Abundance Of Concrete

Kate Wagner

Mark Zuckerberg Still Can’t Buy Taste

How I Became Highly Educated Grist For The AI Mill

John Semley is a writer and researcher based in Philadelphia.

John Semley

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

Music

How Record Store Day Became The Stupidest Day In Music

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

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.

Climbing

There’s No Climbing Without Route Setters, And They’re On Strike

Kathryn Xu

Arts And Culture

KiiiKiii And The Dawn Of K-Pop’s Process Era

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 17: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hands majority owner Wyc Grousbeck of the Boston Celtics the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after Boston's 106-88 win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Group Led By Private Equity Ghoul Buys Boston Celtics For $6.1 Billion

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

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

Samer Kalaf

Fanatics And Ticketmaster Announce Plan To Get Even Worse, Together

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

Boxing

The Tale Of The Early-Round KO Of Muhammad Ali’s Champburger

A canyon and waterfall in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.