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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

Justin Ellis

Hasan Piker, Streamer &amp; Creator, Night, at a press conference during day two of Web Summit Vancouver 2026 at Vancouver Convention Centre. The Reds Week logo is at right.

Reds Week

We Are Living In The Dumbest Age Of Red-Baiting

Tom Ley

Matt Calkins being interviewed on News Nation

Journalismism

Seattle Times Dipshit Quits Because His Editors Were Smart Enough To Spike His Stupid Columns

Dave McKenna

AUSTIN, TEXAS - JULY 28: From left, Brandon Creighton, chancellor of the Texas Tech University System; Wynn Rosser, commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Michael Williams, chancellor of the University of North Texas System; and Brandon Simmons, ombudsman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, testify during a Texas Senate Committee on Higher Education hearing on Senate Bill 37 at the Capitol in Austin, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

College Football

Texas Tech’s  Administration Is Just As Embarrassing As Its Football Program

Mychal Denzel Smith is the author of Stakes Is High, winner of the Kirkus Prize for Non-Fiction.

Mychal Denzel Smith

Politics

The Crazy Thing About “Woke 1” Was How It Was Exploited

Albert Burneko

Studious robot on an ocean liner cruising the North Sea.

With The Power Of AI, Information Can Pour Straight Through Your Skull And Onto The Ground Without Ever Slowing

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (R) looks on as President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order

Science

Three Vaccines Is Less Vaccine Than One Vaccine, According To Donald Trump

Samer Kalaf

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks

The “Ground Zero Mosque” Strategy Makes An Even More Pathetic Return

Sarah Borus

Asylum seekers, who entered Israel illegally via Egypt, lean at the fence of the Holot detention centre in Israel's southern Negev Desert, on February 17, 2014.

Alligator Alcatraz Isn’t Just An American Fantasy

Patrick Redford

ILLUSTRATION - 17 May 2024, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne: A person works at a computer with an illustrative image generated by artificial intelligence on the screen, showing code from various programming languages and a neural network diagram. At the meeting of telecommunications ministers on May 21, the EU countries are expected to finally adopt the AI law in the EU. The European Parliament had already given the green light for the project beforehand. Photo: Oliver Berg/dpa (Photo by Oliver Berg/picture alliance via Getty Images)

This Is So Stupid

Defector Also Investigating How Our Super Powerful AI Tool Broke Contain

A general view of a "Google" logo and a WNBA logo on seats

The Mystery Of Google’s Fixation On “The Transwoman In The WNBA”

Sohini Desai

A huge crowd of protesters marching in support of Black families. As the Black Lives Matter and Defund The Police movements are gaining momentum, activists are pushing to get rid of institutions that police and oppress black people. Activist in Brooklyn gathered at MetroTech plaza for a march to defund the Administration for Children's Services (ACS)

New York’s Use Of AI For Family Policing Summarizes The Last 30 Years Of City Politics

David Roth

Aaron Rodgers being unbearable during an interview with Pat McAfee in front of a bunch of Steelers fans at training camp. McAfee looks pink and kind of boiled; Rodgers is slouching and pinching his fingers together.

We’re Just Going To Keep Doing 2020 Again Until All The Wrong Stuff Is True

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 16: David Ellison, CEO of Paramount, speaks onstage at the Paramount Pictures presentation at The Dolby Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, on April 16, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

David Ellison’s Bid To Control Warner Bros. Hits The Rocks

Lauren Theisen

Sophie Cunningham #8 of the Indiana Fever speaks during a press conference before a game against the Portland Fire at Moda Center

WNBA

The Right Has Created Its Perfect Trans Athlete

Heather Chen is a former Defector intern and the managing editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator. She loves hockey, photography, and the good ol’ state of Michigan.

Heather Wei-Xi Chen

Michigan Democratic candidate for Senate Abdul El-Sayed takes the stage at The People V. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan.

Abdul El-Sayed’s Campaign Believes The Many Can Defeat The Money

Former Dublin GAA star David Hickey and former Donegal player Brendan Devenney, right, during a protest march outside Croke Park in Dublin as the 2026 GAA Annual Congress was in progress.