Murjani Rawls

It was the most violent day ever on N.J. sports fields. Are we doing anything about it? Three unruly incidents erupted at three sports venues on a single day

For my first investigative piece as a sports enterprise reporter at NJ.com, I teamed up with Keith Sargeant to look into some of the root causes of violent outbursts at high school games across the state. We spoke to congressional leaders, coaches, athletic directors: www.nj.com/highschoolsp...

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated' The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

"Johnson said he was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours.

'I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up. I asked if they had a warrant and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.'"

'Good Boy' Will Make You Want To Give Your Pup An Extra Treat Ben Leonberg's directorial debut features a cute retriever navigating a Conjuring-like house of horrors.

We have a justifiable affinity to our dogs and “Good Boy’s haunted house-through-a-doggo’s-eyes certainly takes advantage of that anxiety. We’ll most likely outlive our pets…but what if the roles were reversed? My review: (subscribe for free) www.multipotentiality.net/good-boy-wil...

'The Smashing Machine' Pulls Back When It Should Have Landed A Knockout Blow - Substream Magazine Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson portrays the former MMA fighter in a great performance where the script becomes too scattered to hone in on what makes him interesting.

It’s undeniable that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is great portraying Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine.” Rather it’s the story choices that doesn’t allow the audience to forge a connection with what made Kerr the legend he was. My review:

substreammagazine.com/2025/10/the-...

ER doc here! This is a lie. Wait times are up because the American healthcare system is an unsustainable business model and a for-profit national healthcare system just doesn’t work. These problems will continue to get worse until we change that system. It literally has nothing to do with immigrants

"If I Had Legs I’d Kick You" Is A Gut-Punch of a Drama With A Career Best Performance From Rose Byrne Writer/director Mary Bronstein's second film takes the rosy filter away from the perception of motherhood and gets honest about it.

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” is unrelenting in the way it portrays the lowlights of motherhood. A job often celebrated for stress tests as a cop out in finding solutions for them:

www.multipotentiality.net/if-i-had-leg...

meet the engelberts

Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

The way Dems try to dance around Mamdani’s name concerning endorsements, you’d swear he was Beetlejuice.

The Man Calling Bullshit on the AI Boom Ed Zitron built a massive following by saying what tech journalists won't: that generative AI is an unsustainable bubble propped up by hype and bad math.

Had a great time talking to @parkermolloy.com about my work on the AI bubble

www.readtpa.com/p/the-man-ca...

'Him' Loses It's Way Around It's Own Imagery Stuffed Playbook - Substream Magazine In this story that pits legendary student against an upcoming star, "Him" invokes a lot of promise, but doesn't ultimately deliver.

‘HIM’ is what I would classify as the “Peele-ification” of films that strive to mimic the “Get Out” visual style and commentary, but don’t understand why it was successful: substreammagazine.com/2025/09/him-...

The $6.2 billion deal that could reshape local TV across America Indianapolis residents will see three of its biggest local stations under the same company if the FCC allows the biggest owner of local stations to buy another group.

I regret to inform you that in order to understand the Jimmy Kimmel situation you may have to familiarize yourself with very boring things like a broadcast station megamerger and FCC ownership rules. I wrote about the Nextar-Tegna deal last month www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

At Sea Hear Now, Blink-182 unloads pop-punk mayhem, gets goofy with massive N.J. crowd The pop-punk trio closed out the enormous Jersey Shore rock festival with jokes, heart and youthful gusto

For nj.com: wrote about Blink-182 and how they are still likable after 23: www.nj.com/entertainmen...

Sea Hear Now 2025 Review: Hozier shouts soul, love, and an urgent call to action The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter kicked off the first of two nights in Asbury Park, speaking to injustices and instilling hope to overcome them.

For nj.com: wrote about Hozier’s set at Sea Hear Now and why artists speaking out against injustice matters more than ever: www.nj.com/entertainmen...

N.J.’s hunger crisis intensifies amid cuts from ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ How pantries, farmers are surviving. Food banks that once served dozens now help hundreds daily as inflation and benefit cuts push more families to the brink

For nj.com: There’s a food insecurity crisis in New Jersey due to inflation, government cuts to affordability programs ahead of the Big Beautiful Bill. Spoke to four food pantries and farmers about what they are seeing: www.nj.com/food/2025/08...

System of a Down at MetLife Stadium: Power, chaos and massive N.J. return after 13 years At a sold-out show at MetLife Stadium, the California four-piece showed why they are worthy of carrying the metal veteran torch with the legacy they've built.

Wrote about System of A Down’s first NJ concert in over a decade and metal icons getting older after Ozzy’s passing: www.nj.com/entertainmen...

CapitalizeTheB becomes Multipotentiality It's a new day.

Hello world. I have a new (old) blog/newsletter called Multipotentiality. You can read about it and subscribe here: www.multipotentiality.net/capitalizeth...

"Night after night, the show gives airtime to political arsonists like Michaels and Jennings, whose contributions amount to provocation, misinformation, and hijacked conversations."

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, who used to work there, unloads on CNN. www.status.news/p/melania-tr... [wall]

Thank you for reading!

'Weapons' Presents It's Purpose Early. That's Why The Mystery Works - Substream Magazine Zack Cregger's second feature, "Weapons," captures the grief and the anxiety of a small town that manages to keep you guessing

‘Barbarian’ was a film that never wanted to settle the audience. Whereas Zack Creeger gives up the game early in ‘Weapons’. Its our natural inclination to find answers in tragedy that keeps us with it. My review: substreammagazine.com/2025/08/weap...

Hey, you! Yes! YOU! Help Kotaku reach 1,000 followers on BlueSky. Either follow us or share this post!

We want to spread our very good blogs to more people on this site. And we need your help.

bsky.app/profile/kota...

If you are one of the people just finding out about Kim Davis appealing to the Supreme Court to challenge Obergefell, you should follow @autonomynews.co! Her lawyer filed it on July 24 and the Lexington Herald leader covered it then. I see an ABC News story today that notes it happened “last month”

DC statehood is now an imperative. No more dicking around. Next Dem majority, get it done immediately.

Yall imma be real: this disaster season is gonna be bad.

Like, there might not be home to go back to bad. Like, the government might not be able or willing to help bad. Like, all we have is eachother bad.

Read this thread, then donate or snag the bundle to help us get ready.

🧵👇

Lollapalooza 2025: In Portraits - Substream Magazine The 2025 edition of Lollapalooza saw the return of Substream Magazine's backstage portrait sessions with Wild Rivers and more.

After seven years, I brought back my Lollapalooza portrait series with seven artists: substreammagazine.com/2025/08/loll...

Legitimately devastating

Jobs report is a real doozy

Apparently you can bet on anything. But a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score? Gambling (especially sports gambling) is everywhere ... except ironically in TV and film

I'm launching a newslettah! Please read/subscribe!

It's called Nina Watches Everything (well, not everything but a lot) about the way TV and film shape how we think and talk about the world

First up: Gambling on Rotten Tomatoes scores (and the absence of gambling in recent sports shows/movies)