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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

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Kelsey McKinney

President Trump Speaks Alongside Tesla Vehicles At The White House

Politics

There Should Be Consequences For Filming A Tesla Ad At The White House

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Tom Ley

(L-R) Bari Weiss, The Free Press Founder, Peter Thiel, and Matt Danzeisen attend Inauguration Eve hosted by Uber, X and The Free Press at Cafe Riggs on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Uber, X and The Free Press host Inauguration Eve

Journalismism

They Should Call It The Free Piss

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Samer Kalaf

A protestor with a sign that reads "Release Mahmoud Khalil."

US-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-EDUCATION-PROTEST

Mahmoud Khalil Is The Target Of A Desperate Agenda


<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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An Interview With A Fired NOAA Budget Analyst

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

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

<p>Staff Writer</p>
<p>Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.09</p>


Profile Pic

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?

a photo of Kaesee Bourne, a former fish and wildlife biologist at the USFWS, holding a shovel in front of a wetland

kaesee bourne

Science

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Biologist

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Lauren Theisen

Gays Against Guns contingent at the pride march.

Gays Against Guns contingent at the march. Pride March NYC

Don’t Buy A Gun, Even If It Comes In Rainbow

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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

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, behind a podium at a press conference, looking like doofuses.

Schumer Jeffries DOGE Presser

Margin Of Error

This Is Uvalde

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Patrick Redford

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Donald Trump (C) and Vice President JD Vance (R) meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) in the Oval Office at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump and Zelensky are meeting today to negotiate a preliminary agreement on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources that Trump says will allow America to recoup aid provided to Kyiv while supporting Ukraine’s economy. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

President Trump Hosts Ukrainian President Zelensky At The White House

JD Vance Screamed Out Of Planned Ski Vacation In Vermont

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Ray Ratto

(Original Caption) 3/22/1989-Plant City, FL-Cincinnati Reds' manager Pete Rose reacts to a reporters question 3/22 in the dugout prior to their contest against the Cards. Rose is under scrutiny by the baseball commissioners office for gambling.

Pete Rose Reacts To Reporter’s Question

Pete Rose Will Spend The Afterlife As A Cudgel

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).

uchicago-getty-image

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

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

Yellowstone National Park Exteriors And Landmarks – 2021

The Great Outdoors

What Are Public Lands For?

Palestinians walk through the destruction in Gaza.

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Interviews

Pankaj Mishra On Gaza, The Memory Of The Holocaust, And The “Very Dark World” To Come

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Israel Daramola

West & Trump In The White House

Arts And Culture

How Donald Trump Won Rap Back

A screenshot of a graphic including a photo of Sam Nordquist, a Black transgender man with a moustache, wearing a backwards cap and staring at the camera. The top of the graphic says "Gone But Not Forgotten" with two doves on either side. And the rest of the image states: Sam Nordquist. Canandaigua, NY. Last seen: January 1, 2025. Age: 24

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Who Gets To Determine A Hate Crime?

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Chris Kluwe Arrested At City Council Meeting For Calling Out Garish MAGA Plaque

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

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

The Country That Was Here Is Gone

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Giri Nathan

US Vice President JD Vance, standing alongside President Donald Trump (R), speaks about the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter in Washington, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Divers pulled bodies from the icy waters of Washington's Potomac river Thursday after a US military helicopter collided midair with a passenger plane carrying 64 people, with officials saying there were likely no survivors. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP) (Photo by OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images)

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JD Vance Would Throw His Own Kids Under A Bus If Donald Trump Were Driving It

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David Roth

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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<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

President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Charlie Baker testifies before the Senate Judicary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on December 17, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Committee held a hearing to investigate sports gambling. (

Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing On Sports Gambling In U.S.

Death To The NCAA

Charlie Baker And The NCAA Roll Over For Donald Trump

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