Kelsey McKinney
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mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
Kelsey McKinney
@mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
20K followers 310 following 1K posts
NORMAL GOSSIP dowager queen, Defector Media, books and shit
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Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
thomaslstrickland.bsky.social
Missed this entirely last week, but @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social goes deep into exactly why Del Toro’s Frankenstein didn’t quite work for me.
November 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
brandyjensen.bsky.social
two dumb bitches saying exaaactlyyy
accountablegop.bsky.social Republican Accountability @accountablegop.bsky.social · 4d
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
greenwell.bsky.social
Yes, and: There are lots of reporting jobs at startup nonprofit local news organizations doing really important work outside of corporate ownership, for any journalists willing to consider living outside of the nation's three largest cities!
November 12, 2025 at 2:06 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
having read both versions of frankenstein and a book of criticism and a novel based on frankenstein in the last month… i am happy to release my creature (this blog)

defector.com/guillermo-de...
Guillermo del Toro's ‘Frankenstein’ Is Flawed Because His Creature Is Not | Defector
Guillermo del Toro has devoted much of his career to sanctifying monsters. In his first feature film, Cronos, an aging antique dealer stumbles into eternal life, becoming a vampire who, rather than be...
defector.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
greenwell.bsky.social
What a thrill to be part of @talkingpointsmemo.com's series about the past 25 years of digital media! I wrote about why private equity goons destroyed Deadspin and why it matters.
There Are No Weird Blogs Anymore Cause It’s More Fruitful to Drive Them Out of Business
I learned many surprising lessons from my 20 months as editor-in-chief of...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
christhompson.bsky.social
contribute to our tip jar and enter the raffle to journey on our dime and either watch us flail around in a rented professional kitchen (option 1) or flail around in a rented professional kitchen alongside us (option 2) defector.com/help-secure-...
Help Secure Our Financial Independence By Infiltrating The Great Blogger Bake Shop | Defector
Last year, Defector’s operations geniuses submitted our annual Tip Jar drives for consideration in the Online Journalism Awards category of “Innovation in Revenue Strategy” for mid-size newsrooms. We ...
defector.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:05 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
if you still use goodreads please vote for my book for readers choice awards if you liked it!!!

www.goodreads.com/choiceawards...
Opening Round: Vote for the Readers' Favorite Nonfiction of 2025!
Discover the Readers' Favorite Nonfiction in the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards.
www.goodreads.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
marisakabas.bsky.social
I received this email about Democrats caving to end the shutdown from one of the SNAP recipients I spoke to:
I'm sorry, I know this is not your problem, but I just felt like screaming into a void seeing that now Dems may cave and end the shutdown without getting anything they were supposedly fighting for. We've been put through hell for weeks, constantly having our ability to simply feed ourselves dangled in front of our faces, our survival used as a bargaining chip, told it was for a reason. Our suffering would prevent even more suffering and that it would be temporary and worth it to save healthcare for millions. And now it's all for nothing. They stood for nothing. They caused suffering for no reason. They'll cause even more suffering for no reason. It wasn't 40 million people starving that made them cave. They were willing to put up with that. But the threat of holiday traveling being disrupted seems to be the thing to push them to give in. They have failed everyone. I'm so angry.
November 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
"Within this amorphous framework, men’s biggest problem is, likewise, a feeling—an unreachable itch, or a marrow-deep belief—that men should still rank above women in the social hierarchy, just not as much as before. "
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
What Did Men Do to Deserve This?
Changes in the economy and in the culture seem to have hit them hard. Scott Galloway believes they need an “aspirational vision of masculinity.”
www.newyorker.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:11 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
John Fetterman retire bitch.
November 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
jenee.bsky.social
Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- [email protected] or dm me.

RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
marisakabas.bsky.social
i haven't heard back from portnoy yet, but here's an update from @defector.com: "When reached for comment Thursday, Portnoy declined to say whether he'd follow through on his company relocation plans, but sent this instead: 'Suck my cock Samer'"
Let's Check In With People Who Threatened To Leave Zohran Mamdani's NYC | Defector
When Zohran Mamdani upset Andrew Cuomo to win the New York City Democratic mayoral primary in June, it led to a lot of histrionics. The usual fear tactics against a young Muslim democratic socialist h...
defector.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
obergs.bsky.social
my favorite author and my favorite album is the mashup i needed
October 30, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
brosandprose.bsky.social
"The songs are not built with pop choruses and meant for radio play. The album is a story, and the story is about getting fucked over so badly that you have no choice but to exorcise the demon from your body with art." @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
Lily Allen Takes The "Fuck It" Approach To A Breakup Album | Defector
All couples in love are alike; each shattered couple, however, has been shattered in its own way. When you fall in love with someone, your friends tolerate you talking about them and fawning over them...
defector.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
brandyjensen.bsky.social
good review of Werner Herzog’s book, which is about the dangers of AI, going on long walks, and a cube-shaped translucent pig stuck in a sewer grate
Werner Herzog’s New Book Tackles The Problem Of Truth | Defector
You might think of Werner Herzog’s new book, The Future of Truth, as the story of two animals.  On the front cover, you see the silhouette of a lone penguin, somewhere in the middle distance, setting ...
defector.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:07 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
wrote about lily allen defector.com/lily-allen-t...
Lily Allen Takes The "Fuck It" Approach To A Breakup Album | Defector
All couples in love are alike; each shattered couple, however, has been shattered in its own way. When you fall in love with someone, your friends tolerate you talking about them and fawning over them...
defector.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
seankuhn.bsky.social
NBA media is not built to cover a gambling scandal, but Defector is: defector.com/products
When the FBI arrested Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups, the basketball-watching public turned to sports media to help make sense of the story. What explanations were on offer? Before disclosing its own BetMGM partnership, The Athletic called “all of sports” complicit in the scandal. Bill Simmons dismissed the episode as ”a couple bad apples,” growing pains typical of a growth industry. Zach Lowe had ESPN's betting guy on his podcast; together they concluded that these issues can be tinkered out of existence by limiting prop bets and changing how teams report injuries. Lowe's podcast, like Simmons's, began with a FanDuel ad. The takeover of sports media by gambling companies imposes hard boundaries on the domain of these conversations. Most importantly, these captured discussions always obscure the social and political choices that enable the gambling industry to entrench itself. Allowing people to gamble on their phones and allowing sports gambling companies to spend untold sums on lobbying and advertising are choices. These choices, not some law of nature, are why millions of people have started gambling in recent years. Likewise, other sports media companies have chosen to offer up their audiences as prey to gambling outfits. Defector has chosen something else: We never have and never will take money from gambling companies. Subscribers fund our operations, which allows us to remain independent, critical, and uncompromised. Consider making that choice.
October 28, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
redemmas.org
With a lot of people already hungry, and many more about to lose SNAP benefits, here's a timely piece from @baltimoremagazine.com on Baltimore's growing network of community fridges, including the one we host inside our store: www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/comm...
October 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
emmabaccellieri.bsky.social
A great detail from Verducci www.si.com/mlb/shohei-o...
https://www.si.com/mlb/shohei-ohtani-prepares-mythical-world-series-feat-game-3
October 28, 2025 at 1:46 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
i love when someone asks me why someone is my enemy and I have to pull up source material that is so unimportant that no one else even knew to be mad about it
October 27, 2025 at 9:37 PM
mckinneykelsey.bsky.social
this week in my exclusive email only newsletter, i found so many good things for you to read/listen/look at.

this one online only as a preview! buttondown.com/mckinneykels...
*The Week in 15 Selections*
It was a great week for reading! And yelling about stuff you’ve read. For the first time in god knows how long, the main topic of discussion online was a...
buttondown.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
theautumnwright.bsky.social
i really appreciate hellgate's interviews asking people why they're voting the way they are. enlightening and maddening. mostly maddening.
Renée Gomes, 38, a social worker, said the same. "I know Cuomo's face," she explained. She knows he's a Democrat, despite now running as an independent after losing the primary, and she believes he will run the city as a Democrat. What does she want the next mayor to do? Provide better social services for young people and mentally ill New Yorkers, she said, as well as prioritize the needs of "Americans who live here first." "The other guy, I never knew about him," said David Joseph, 65, a machinist at a City agency, about Mamdani. "I know about Cuomo. I'm going to give my vote to Cuomo." Travis Francis, 60, works as a consular agent for the Saint Lucia consulate. He plans on voting for Cuomo as well. Mamdani is too much of a "radical" for him, he said, adding, "I can't take any chances." As for Cuomo, he said that he wanted him to stand up to the president, "unlike Mayor Adams, who just fizzled out to Trump." For Francis, safety for immigrants is the most crucial issue. "I still don't feel safe," Francis, who recently obtained American citizenship after living in New York for 37 years, said. "Because I wasn't born here, and with these guys, even though you're born here, look like they're gonna get rid of you anyway. These guys are mad men." Jemma Kennedy, 65, a paraprofessional at a school, agreed. "I'm going to vote for Mr. Cuomo. I think he knows what he's doing. I mean, he's been in leadership for so long," she said. "Cuomo's not perfect.  But I mean, he would learn from before. You know what I mean? So I would give him a chance." She added, "And he's not making promises that sound way out like Mr. Mamdani." Mamdani, Kennedy continued, is making promises he can't keep. " He's talking about he's going to freeze the rent. He can't do that. Why do people believe that?" she said.
October 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
albertburneko.bsky.social
What can't the president do? defector.com/what-cant-th...
What Can't The President Do? | Defector
Donald Trump bulldozed the East Wing of the White House this week, so that he can build a ballroom with a footprint nearly twice the size of the existing White House, financed by blatant graft. The Wh...
defector.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Kelsey McKinney
raxkingisdead.bsky.social
if someone took me aside and said hey rax that dumb flash tattoo you got for $50 when you were 19 is actually a nazi symbol. i would be at the shop getting it covered before they got the sentence all the way out. i would blow red lights the whole way there
October 22, 2025 at 5:41 PM