The great Rachelle Hampton is my co-pilot today, and she wrote a great bit about what felt familiar and what felt new after checking in with Claude Monet at The Met: defector.com/monet-throug...

Happy Survivor 50 day! Ahead of tonight's premiere, the Defector jury got together to explain every player's deal and pass judgement on their chances of winning. You can read our (massive) preview here: defector.com/an-extensive...

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Malala? On Normal Gossip? In this economy? defector.com/who-said-mal...

Honored to be a panelist for Noella's panel at NEW YORK COMIC CON! We'll be talking about the subject of her upcoming book — Misogynoir and Multiverses: A Black Girl's Guide to Fandom Culture — as part of NYCC's professional programming in partnership with NYPL! Come see us! Oct. 9 at 5pm @ NYCC!

would love to hear from as many people as possible

Sabrina Imbler spoke to Mary Giovagnoli about the idea that children are children first, her fears for the Office of Refugee Resettlement's future, and the principle that the government exists to serve the public. defector.com/an-interview...

The Summer (Game Fest) Before The Fall (Of America) aftermath.site/summer-game-...

Folks, @rpavelko.bsky.social & I need your help. If you or someone you know listens to NORMAL GOSSIP, we'd love you/them to take this survey. More info attached. @defector.com @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social @heyydnae.bsky.social pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

so Trump just wrapped up his "Liberation Day" conference on the massive new "reciprocal" tariffs he's imposing on many of our key trading partners. if you're wondering what exactly this means for prices and the economy, I've got a comprehensive guide for you right here: slate.com/business/202...

Just read everything by Sabrina Imbler. Who's always swimming upstream and into interesting channels.

laying off @methsaxon.bsky.social is one of the dumbest decisions slate could've made

The point of excluding categories of people from the military like this is to send the message that they are unworthy of citizenship, it is pure bigotry and the assumptions behind it are disproven by the honorable service of the people being targeted in the first place bsky.app/profile/bran...

"Gaza is not something that can be seen most purely in terms of Middle Eastern politics, or through the politics of Palestinian resistance, or through the politics of the state of Israel. It is now a world-historical atrocity..." defector.com/the-world-af...

Gonna need more non-disabled people to see stuff like this and understand that ableism is also one of the integral -isms the right is devoted to, so it should be jettisoned whenever and in whomever you encounter it

"...Black politics is on life support. By Black politics we mean politics that unapologetically advocates for the needs of Black people. The presence of Black politicians is not necessarily evidence that Black politics are being asserted." www.blackagendareport.com/eric-adams-a...

jon caramanica doesn't need defenders but dude basically said the same thing as craig jenkins just under a shittier headline and professional writers who refuse to read are calling him racist for it

“Israeli police have raided a leading Palestinian-owned bookshop in Jerusalem and detained two of its owners, citing a children’s colouring book as evidence of incitement to terrorism.”

www.vox.com/culture/3990... Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was more concerned with Drake than politics

LA STUDENTS WALK OUT AGAIN- High school AND middle school students have taken over the streets in front of LA city hall for the 5th straight day of anti-ICE, immigration rights protests. This won’t be slowing down anytime soon When is the rest of LA going to start joining them?

Really fits that the guy who's like "we have conquered the globe and so by rights we must rule it" leads his online bio with the fact that he was the first employee at Roblox. "Yeah, I'm kind of the Alexander The Great of working at the video game with all the sex offenders in the chat."

"The delay in receiving its federal funds forced the Appalachian Center for Independent Living, which has operated in the Charleston, West Virginia, area for four decades, to lay off its employment training specialist – one of its five staffers – and halt its job placement services."

Use. Precise. Language. "Any official, including the president, who chooses to blame everything from plane crashes to wildfires on non-White, non-male people should be asked whether they believe that desegregation is to blame. Whether they believe resegregation is the answer."

Hi - If you rely on federal data and websites and are now unable to access them, I would like to talk with you. You can reach me at [email protected], or on signal at lizzieohreally.31 Thanks!

It's Free Friday at Defector! From now until Sunday night, all of our posts on here will include free-to-read gift links, so you can check out all of our blogs, even if you're not a subscriber. Just look for the gift emoji and enjoy. 🎁🎁🎁

I always feel strange doing this sort of thing but Defector.com has had an incredible January, just a ton of really good stories on a wide range of topics, and I suggest subscribing to it. I am biased, obviously, but I am really proud and grateful to get to do this the way we're doing it.

The FUNBAG is just a tad late this week because guest host @heyydnae.bsky.social was sick, but now she’s better and has delivered a perfect rendition. defector.com/why-didnt-or...

Defector staff writer Rachelle Hampton (@heyydnae.bsky.social) is guest-hosting this week's Funbag. There's still time to send her questions at [email protected].

I’m still off but the FUNBAG will be back tomorrow with @heyydnae.bsky.social at the wheel. Get your questions into Rachelle tout suite! FUNBAG at defector dot com

“The impermanence, both on streaming and in theaters, shows how much power consumers have ceded to corporations and their shareholders.” TL;DR — buy discs, they are your last, and only, hope at continued access to the films you love *and* proper presentation www.avclub.com/death-of-dvd...

My colleagues in @nytguildtech.bsky.social donated what remains of their strike fund to the striking workers in Pittsburgh - a whopping $114K. That’s what solidarity is www.unionprogress.com/2024/12/19/s...

"I am tired of hearing that the other side is worse. They are; I already know this; that is not enough." @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social with an absolute banger defector.com/the-american...

Brush fire burning in Inwood Hill Park. FDNY now on scene. Please use caution if you are in area.

wrote about the weather in brooklyn, wildfires and baldwin’s another country

1) very good review of Entitlement! 2) and this is why I did not enjoy reading it (I don't think it was meant to be enjoyed by Black people, much less a Black woman)

james baldwin in “transition” journal in 1972. www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...

This one is a little heavier, obviously, but if I'm going to do my little sports blogs I am going to need to get all this dread out of the way first. (It's about all the bad stuff.) defector.com/beyond-belief

Rachelle wrote the post of the day, though. Really good stuff here imo: defector.com/it-was-too-w...

wrote about the weather in brooklyn, wildfires and baldwin’s another country

“There is a real poverty of imagination when it comes to people’s perceptions of what Black life looks like. It’s this idea that ‘I don’t understand how this represents Black people if there’s not some misery associated with it.’ I reject that.” — Cord Jefferson

If you share Trump’s mugshot today please share that the Fulton County Jail where it was taken, is at 3x it’s capacity, infested with bugs, holding 87% Black people, most of whom haven’t even been convicted of a crime. 6 people have died in custody this year alone. Fuck cops, shut down jails.

you’re living in it, baby

repeating the words "barbie themed security forum" to myself as i contemplate the imminent heat death of all life on earth

a tiktok account dedicated to worshipping judy hopps (the bunny cop from zootopia) just IDed a january 6th protestor on a conservative dating app who admitted to bringing a hacksaw to murder AOC/biden. He was pretending to be a human version of Judy Hopps on the app, btw

so your company just failed at 90’s era content moderation. you probably have a lot of questions