Laura Wagner

A Complimentary Profile Of Jason Lee That Was Surprisingly Difficult To Publish | Defector If you walked down Colorado Boulevard in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles at some point in the past three years, you might have noticed a modest, pueblo-style beige building with “PHOTO” pai...

After Jason Lee opened a camera shop in Eagle Rock, I thought, man, that'd be a fun story to do. I did not know that it would eventually lead to him threatening to take me to court. For @defector.com, the whole bloody affair:
defector.com/a-compliment...

I've been on a different team than this group for years but I've (greedily) tried to work with them as much as possible because they're an awe-inspiring group of journalists and so fun to work with. Hire them ASAP or you'll be sorry!

I remain as hungry as I have ever been to pursue deeply, consequential journalism. Please send any job openings, freelance opportunities, or news tips to naomi.nix.writes1@gmail.com or Signal at naominixwrites.66

What We Loved About Dan McQuade | Defector Today is Dan McQuade’s funeral. To celebrate our friend, we wanted to give the people he worked with a place to explain what they loved so much about him. If you would like to support Dan’s widow Jan,...

What we loved about Dan McQuade:

Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Cuts 30% of Staff, Laying Off More Than 300 Employees Including Amazon Beat Reporter The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is enacting layoffs that will eliminate "hundreds" of jobs.

"Those who were laid off include Caroline O’Donovan, the Post’s beat reporter covering Amazon"

Definitely worth noting since it wasn't announced in that way.

Most of the Washington Post’s tech reporters were laid off today, including me. I have loved my time at the paper, which is where I wanted to work from age 15. I take some consolation in not being among the survivors who will have to work harder with less for fewer readers. On to better things.

Lost my job at the Washington Post today, along with many of the best in the business. I want to keep covering tech and the internet. If you have leads on jobs for me or my colleagues, please reach out. I’m so proud of our work.

cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

Dan McQuade, 1983–2026 | Defector Dan McQuade, our friend and colleague, died this week at the age of 43. He is survived by his wife and young son. At the end of 2024, Dan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer. The news of his diag...

I’ve been thinking about Dan non-stop, and what I’ve come to understand is just how much I admired him. Dan built his life and moved through the world in a way I wish I could emulate more easily. I’ll keep trying, and in moments when I succeed I’ll think of him again. defector.com/dan-mcquade-...

Prediction Markets Are Betting On A Grim Future | Defector During last summer’s NBA Finals, a fully AI-generated commercial featuring people in man-on-the-street interviews yelling towards the camera about all the things they were going to bet on (football…

Prediction markets are betting on a grim future: defector.com/prediction-m...

Trump has ramped up lawsuits against the media. Here’s where they stand. While the president has settled some suits, and judges have dismissed others, his court fights continue with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets.

NEW: Trump has ramped up lawsuits against the media. Here’s where they stand.

A new lawsuit tracker from me and @laurawags.bsky.social for the @washingtonpost.com:

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Just reading the affidavits from the pediatrician and the kids' facepaint artist about what they saw when the federal agents killed the nurse outside the donut shop

Let Your Buyers Become Your Criers When You Pull The Rug Out From Beneath The Table Of Success | Defector I have some unsurprising news: Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched a memecoin to combat antisemitism, and someone connected to the coin’s launch appears to have executed a clean rug pull…

Former NYC Mayor Eric Adams launched a memecoin to combat antisemitism, and someone connected to the coin's launch appears to have executed a clean rug pull within an hour of its launch, making off with roughly $1 million. Maybe they felt antisemitism had been solved? defector.com/let-your-buy...

Medical examiner believes death of man in ICE custody was homicide, recording says A fellow detainee says he witnessed Geraldo Lunas Campos being choked to death by guards at the ICE detention center in Texas on Jan. 3.

Guards may have choked a man to death inside an ICE tent encampment on the Mexican border. Had three children, been in the U.S. for 30 years. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/... @douglasmac.bsky.social

Why ICE Can Kill With Impunity Over the past decade, US immigration agents have shot and killed more than two dozen people. Not a single agent appears to have faced criminal charges.

NEW: It's not just Jonathan Ross—or even the Trump administration. Over the past decade, US immigration agents have shot and killed at least 25 people. Not a single one appears to have faced criminal charges. @lilahassan.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/why-ic...

You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof. What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out.

A few months ago, ICE hired me

I didn't sign and submit any paperwork. I almost certainly failed the drug test. I'm real outspoken about my opposition to the Trump administration, and I am extremely googlable

And yet, there it was, in plain English. "Welcome to ICE!"

My latest for Slate

DHS Is Lying To You About ICE Shooting a Woman At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.

use your eyes

www.404media.co/dhs-is-lying...

Turning Point USA’s Savanah Hernandez on her journalistic position. Turning Point USA’s Savanah Hernandez on her journalistic position.

"At Turning Point, she works for the 'Frontlines' division—which, she said, is dedicated to 'neutral,' fact-based reporting, providing the ostensible newsroom of an enterprise otherwise focused vociferously on opinions."

www.cjr.org/feature/sava...

Inside Mamdani’s Decision to Revoke Executive Orders That Backed Israel

Every major free speech org has said the IHRA definition suppresses constitutionally protected speech. Every major human rights group has said it suppresses legitimate advocacy. The scandal is that Adams adopted the definition, not that Mamdani rejected it. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/n...

Trump's Venezuela Attack: It’s All About the Oil, Stupid! Here are five times Donald Trump himself admitted that illegally attacking Venezuela and toppling Nicolás Maduro was aimed at seizing the country’s massive oil reserves.

In his 2019 memoir The Threat, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe quotes first-term Trump saying Venezuela was “the country we should be going to war with, they have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”

zeteo.com/p/venezuela-...

The NYT Recruiting Brochure for New College A failing Ron DeSantis higher ed experiment gets a boost

media criticism lives

donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...

beautiful ceremony

‘60 Minutes’ correspondent says CBS’s Bari Weiss abruptly pulled segment on Trump deportations CBS News pulled a ‘60 Minutes’ segment about a prison in El Salvador one day before it was set to air because the Trump administration declined to participate.

CBS News postponed a "60 Minutes" segment Sunday because it lacked a Trump admin interview, per an email we obtained from correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who said the decision by EIC Bari Weiss gave the White House a "kill switch." with @liamjscott.bsky.social

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Bari Weiss in Wonderland Her exile in Hollywood paved the way for a triumphant return to New York.

“It gave people cover — you could send her stuff around even if you wouldn’t be comfortable saying those things yourself." nymag.com/intelligence...

How Trump’s tech advisers overcame a MAGA rebellion over AI President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting states’ power to regulate AI split his supporters and highlighted Silicon Valley’s growing influence over his agenda.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Sources: The Opening Domino Of The 2025 Shamsy Selection Process Has Fallen Invariably, Will Spawn Numerous Pathways For Unique News | Defector The year is progressing along in its ramp-down process, according to the calendar. Fittingly, and justifiably, given the gulf between the iron-fisted thrall of winter and the honey-laden proceedings…

Sources: The opening domino of the 2025 Shamsy selection process has fallen invariably, will spawn numerous pathways for unique news defector.com/nothing-but-...

ICE is tracking pregnant women all the way to the delivery room: ‘She was so afraid they would take her baby’ Pregnant immigrants in ICE monitoring programs are avoiding care, fearing detention during labour and delivery

New: Pregnant immigrant women are showing up to deliver their babies w/ surveillance smart watches on their wrists as part of an ICE monitoring program. They’re too afraid of being detained to have the watch cut off even when it’s medically necessary. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘Train Dreams’ Is Afraid Of Its Own Shadow | Defector By now, you have probably heard about Train Dreams. Since premiering this past January at Sundance, Clint Bentley’s adaptation of the Denis Johnson novella has been lauded by critics, screened at…

'Train Dreams' is afraid of its own shadow: defector.com/train-dreams...

Review | Olivia Nuzzi tries and fails to save her reputation in ‘American Canto’ The flashy reporter who lost her job at New York magazine over a relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returns with a memoir light on gossip — and reckoning

www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...