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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


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Typing

Sabrina Imbler

a headshot of Laura Mata López, a psychiatric nurse and doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University

Laura Mata Feb 2025-15

Interviews

An Interview With A Psychiatric Nurse Whose Research Funding Was Cut By The Trump Administration

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David Roth

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.

Toys R Us Store In Orlando

Megan Greenwell On Living Under And Outside Of Private Equity, The Invasive Species Eating American Life

Joy Binion, formerly a social science analyst at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMSHA

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An Interview With A Terminated Analyst At The Substance Abuse And Mental Health Administration

a photo of Patrick Kelly, a Doctoral Candidate at Brown University School of Public Health, whose NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse funded doctoral research was terminated

An Interview With A Public Health Researcher Whose Funding Was Terminated By The Trump Administration

Mamta Patel Nagaraja, a fired NASA associate chief scientist for exploration and research, giving a keynote at the Department of Transportation for a White House event

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An Interview With A Fired NASA Associate Chief Scientist

a headshot of Becca Beckham, a former AmeriCorps portfolio manager

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An Interview With A Fired AmeriCorps Portfolio Manager

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Kelsey McKinney

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Arts And Culture

Swole Woman Casey Johnston Has Written A Swole Book

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An Interview With A Fired Contract Specialist At The Office Of Personnel Management

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

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

A photo of fired EPA program analyst Amanda Cronin holding the text of Executive Order 14096

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An Interview With A Fired EPA Environmental Justice Program Analyst

a headshot for Charla Burnett, a fired science for development fellow at USAID

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An Interview With A Fired Science For Development Fellow At USAID

Claire Sneed, a recently fired US Forest Service hydrologic technician

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An Interview With A Fired U.S. Forest Service Hydrologic Technician

A headshot of Madyson Miller, a fired NOAA program analyst, in a blue sweater and golden light

Miller-Headshot

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Program Analyst

a photo of matt o'malley, a fired USDA agricultural engineer, smiling in front of mountains

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An Interview With A Fired USDA Agricultural Engineer

a headshot of fired CDC health communications manager Sarah Boim

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Politics

An Interview With A Fired CDC Health Communications Manager

A photo of a USAID education officer, Joel Runnels, standing in a field

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An Interview With A Fired USAID Education Officer

A photo of Jules Reynolds, a fired USDA program coordinator, sitting near a valley of farmland

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An Interview With A Fired USDA Program Coordinator

a photo of Tara Kerin, an infectious disease epidemiologist who lost her job as a result of the DOGE layoffs

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An Interview With An Epidemiologist Who Lost Her Job Because Of The DOGE Layoffs

a photo of Veronica Correa, a fired EPA public affairs specialist, standing in snowy woods by a stream

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An Interview With A Fired EPA Public Affairs Specialist

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


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Nicholas Russell

On a gradient background going from tan-ish to pink-ish, the front cover of the book Trauma Plot by Jamie Hood. The book is black with a statue of a woman with wings in the center. It also identifies Hood as the author of How to Be A Good Girl.

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“Rape Is Political”: Jamie Hood On Trauma Narratives, Writing The Self, And Ethical Obligation

A photo of Sara Hugentobler, a USFWS fish biologist, in the lab extracting DNA

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An Interview With A Fired USFWS Fish Biologist

a photo of Kate Wheeler, a former USDA farm to school specialist. Kate has short brown hair and is smiling in front of several painted planks

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An Interview With A Fired USDA Specialist

a selfie of Sarah Cooley, the former director of NOAA's ocean acidification program, with an orange life vest on a river

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An Interview With A Fired NOAA Director

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Mark Asch

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‘Eephus’ Director Carson Lund On Baseball As A Way Of Being

a photo of Sabrina Valenti, formerly a budget analyst for NOAA. Sabrina has brown curly hair and is standing against a floral background.