Obviously it beats working but I can't believe how many words I have written in my life about The Famous Crimes Guy, the man who only does crimes and also completely sucks at doing crimes. Probably fine!
https://defector.com/so-its-a-crime-now-to-have-boxes-full-of-cool-folders-with-various-words-printed-on-them
So It's A Crime Now To Have Boxes Full Of Cool Folders With Various Words Printed On Them? | Defector
About the most that can be said for Donald Trump, as a politician and as a person, is that he didn’t let being President of the United States change him. This is not really a compliment, to be clear. Trump’s public persona was grandiose enough that he tended to talk about becoming president as if […]
I don't get stuff right that often, so I want to let myself have this one. But also I'm not sure that "a bunch of unprincipled people/institutions will eventually reveal their lack of principles when the money is good enough" qualifies as prescient, even when it beats the actual news by a year or so.
https://defector.com/the-saudi-golf-leagues-big-bet-is-on-gravity
The Saudi Golf League's Big Bet Is On Gravity | Defector
The Saudis do not really need LIV Golf to succeed in any of the ways that new gambits generally try to succeed, whether in terms of generating interest or profit or ratings or anything else. It just needs to exist.
I wrote about one of my favorite dumb sports stories of the last year, which is legendary Duke basketball irritant Brian Davis and his quest to buy the Washington Football Team with billions of dollars he absolutely, positively does not have.
https://defector.com/in-praise-of-brian-daviss-very-possibly-fake-7-billion-bid-for-the-washington-commanders
In Praise Of Brian Davis's Very Possibly Fake $7 Billion Bid For The Washington Commanders | Defector
There are a number of good reasons why most people do not pursue sprawling and ambitious high-stakes financial grift as a career. Just off the top of my head, and speaking only for myself, I’ve got “my personal values” and “don’t like talking on the phone.” But another reason that I think is at least […]
I have been kind of morbidly fascinated by Twitter Blue Mentality and tried to pin it down. I didn't, but I did lose my mind in trying to do it.
https://defector.com/burning-down-the-house
Burning Down The House | Defector
The overheated register in which Silicon Valley types have tended to talk about Twitter is how they always talk about whatever they are selling, right before they move on to selling something else.
Drew's mic was screwed up and Adam had a very serious case of Picket Line Voice but I think this episode came out really good. We talked about recent labor history, the current WGA strike, and the current apocalyptic mode in capitalism. I learned a lot.
https://defector.com/a-symphony-of-solidarity-honks-with-adam-conover
A Symphony Of Solidarity Honks, With Adam Conover | Defector
Everywhere, every day, in every way imaginable and a great many beyond that, people that own things are devising new ways to fuck over the people that make things. That strikingly elegant sentence is not the first time that observation has been made; it is, by now, something like the basic condition of everyday life […]
We had Michael Schur, of Being Michael Schur From TV fame, on the Distraction podcast back in March and he gave what I still think is one of the more lucid explanations of the various factors contributing to the WGA strike. We broke it out as a little mini-episode, and it is here.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/youre-not-making-jet-engines-youre-making-art/id1525039108?i=1000611484159
The Distraction: A Defector Podcast: You're Not Making Jet Engines, You're Making Art on Apple Podcasts
Show The Distraction: A Defector Podcast, Ep You're Not Making Jet Engines, You're Making Art - May 2, 2023
It feels like kind of a sad time online overall, just in terms of seeing a bunch of the last decade's stuff either resolving towards zero or eating shit because of idiotic ownership. I think there's a future for this, and I hope Defector and Popula both will be part of that. I don't know what it will look like, but I sense it's going to have to be a No Venture Capitalists Allowed affair.
In the name of being the change we want to see re: bringing back the Blog Era,
@maria and I did an Awl-style yakkin' post about AI prose and the cretins who want to make it the future, and I guess also what is to be done about all that.
https://popula.com/2023/04/30/yakkin-about-chatgpt-with-david-roth/Yakkin’ About ChatGPT, with David Roth
plus a SURPRISE BONUS
I poured one out for Mr. Demographics, a vile and empty person who I'm sure will never actually go away.
https://defector.com/who-could-mistake-tucker-carlson-for-anything-elseWho Could Mistake Tucker Carlson For Anything Else? | Defector
The writer Stephen Rodrick opened his 2017 GQ feature on Tucker Carlson with a story from Carlson’s days at Trinity College. The CIA was coming to campus to recruit, which some students protested; other students, who disliked the first group, protested against that protest. “The students decided to hold a debate,” Rodrick writes. First the […]
Maria Bustillos