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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

<p>James Greig is a journalist and the Political Editor at <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/user/jamesgreig">Dazed</a>.</p>


James Greig

Politics

Sally Rooney Dares The British Government To Follow Through

Dave McKenna

The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) agents walk on patrol near Nationals Park on August 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. An increased presence of law enforcement has been seen throughout the nation's capital since U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to deploy federal officers and the U.S. National Guard.

Notes From The D.C. Clampdown

Albert Burneko

James Dobson poses for a portrait in 2011 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

James Dobson Is Dead, Was A Monster

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


Chris Thompson

Never Attempt To Bribe Me With Snacks Unless They Are The Good Snacks

Kathryn Xu

Commuters ride a SEPTA bus on October 10, 2017, in the Philadelphia, PA Suburbs.

Transit

Doomsday For SEPTA Is Bad News For Everyone

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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 Taylor

Kim Jong Un, Girl Dad

Kelsey McKinney

Starving Palestinians including women and children holding pots wait to receive food distributed by a charity organization as Israel continue to block humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip on August 10, 2025.

The Free Press Reports Gaza’s Starving Children Have Pre-Existing Condition Of Being Bombed By Israel


<p>Corey Atad is a freelancer writer based in Toronto with an unhealthy Air Bud obsession.</p>


Corey Atad

Zohran Mamdani smiling with a megaphone in the park

Selling Zohran

David Roth

David Brooks making a surprised face while being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on the OWN Netwrok.

Journalismism

David Brooks: Wearing A Mets Hat Might Just Save Our Democracy

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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

The Apartheid Museum, featuring collections of photographs, documents and materials exhibited in its galleries.

Tyranny Is Managed Into Existence

A screengrab of Alan Dershowitz on his Dershow podcast's mailbag segment. He is literally saying the words "Jeffrey Epstein" at this moment.

Life's Rich Pageant

Are You Aware Of The Alan Dershowitz Martha’s Vineyard Pierogi Situation?

U.S. President Donald Trump looks at (L-R) golfer Bryson DeChambeau, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, and WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque as he speaks during an executive order signing ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on July 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump signed a series of orders that will expand on his council on sports, fitness and nutrition, including by reviving the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools.

Report: Harrison Butker’s PAC Coffers Are As Empty As His Head

Tom Ley

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever looks on prior to the game against the Chicago Sky during the first half at the United Center on July 27, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. 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.

Media Meltdowns

Wall Street Journal Calls For Congressional Investigation Into Caitlin Clark Getting Fouled

<p>Maggie Mertens is a freelance journalist in Seattle, and the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/better-faster-farther-how-running-changed-everything-we-know-about-women-maggie-mertens/20674936?ean=9781643753355" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/p/books/better-faster-farther-how-running-changed-everything-we-know-about-women-maggie-mertens/20674936?ean%3D9781643753355&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1754022936515000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1qsnDemLKZppvFS2kpVCTH">BETTER FASTER FARTHER: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women</a>. She also sometimes writes and sends the newsletters <a href="https://maggiemertens.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://maggiemertens.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1754022936515000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0lAUeT18_qV95dy9jg9Sg0">My So-Called Feminist Life</a> and <a href="https://gilmorewomen.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://gilmorewomen.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1754022936515000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1hLBDLFWCAWpJsqvPzljRr">Gilmore Women</a>.</p>
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Maggie Mertens

High School Sports

Minnesota Softball Has A Title IX Problem

Brandy Jensen

The front of the New York Times building on 8th Avenue during sunset

The New York Times Clarifies That A Starving Child In Gaza Also Needs Medical Care

Ray Ratto

Washington Commanders logo displayed on a phone screen and photo of Donald Trump taken on June 25 in The Hague displayed on a laptop screen in the background. It's a photo illustration.

Donald Trump Is Trying To Extort The Washington Commanders Into Making It 1989 Again

From left, American real estate developer Donald Trump and his girlfriend (and future wife), former model Melania Knauss, financier (and future convicted sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000.

Collective Amnesia

Bills Week

William F. Buckley’s Bill Never Came Due

What Are The Epstein Files, And How Much Should You Care About Them?

<p><a href="http://pjmaciak.substack.com">Phillip Maciak</a> is the TV critic at <em>The New Republic</em> and the author of <em>Avidly Reads Screen Time</em>. He&#8217;s working on a book about dad culture.</p>


Phillip Maciak

Cultural Capitulation

Barry Petchesky

The Space Shuttle Discovery, aboard a specially modified NASA Boeing 747, flies over the Washington, DC, April 17, 2012, as seen from Arlington, Virginia. NASA is transferring the Shuttle, which completed 39 missions and spent 365 days in space, to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The “Big Beautiful Bill” Is Trying To Steal A Space Shuttle


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<div>Hallie Lieberman is a historian and journalist. Her book <em>Gigolos: An Exploration of the Men Who Sell Sex and The Women Who Buy It</em> will be published by Beacon Press in January 2027. She is also the author of <em>Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy</em>. Her writing has appeared in <em>Esquire</em>, <em>The New York Times</em>, <em>The Washington Post</em>, and other outlets. </div>
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Hallie Lieberman

President Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. The executive order, which Trump signed on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, prohibits transgender women from competing in women’s sports and is the third order he has signed that targets transgender people.

How Trans Prisoners Are Dealing With The Trump Administration’s Attacks

Elon Musk account on X displayed on a phone screen with a Grok header

Elon Musk’s Idiot Chatbot Turns Into An Explicit Nazi

<p>Asher Elbein is <a href="https://www.asherelbein.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.asherelbein.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712179533443000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2CJ0U-vHMdK0s6sOdzlGGF">a journalist and fiction writer</a> based in Austin, Texas. Among other places, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, Undark Magazine, Audubon, and Texas Monthly.</p>
