Nearly three weeks ago, hundreds of middle-aged QAnon fanatics gathered in Dallas to witness the return of John F. Kennedy, Jr. This group believes that JFK Jr. and many other deceased celebrities — including his father, President John F. Kennedy — are not only alive, but part of a decades-long …
Read More »The Problem With How We Talk About Grooming
Last month, a 25-year-old named Brie Lynn posted a TikTok about her alleged experiences with the Broadway performer Alice Ripley. “Growing up is realizing I was groomed by a Tony-Award winning Broadway actress,” Lynn said in the caption of the video, before recounting some of their experiences with Ripley: how …
Read More »Torrey Peters on Publishing the Most Subversive Book of the Year
This piece originally appeared as part of Rolling Stone’s 2021 Hot List, in the July/August issue of the magazine. When Torrey Peters, 39, was writing her debut novel, Detransition, Baby, she imagined how “trans girls talk to each other” — about sex with bad men, jobs, babies — and used …
Read More »The Secret History of the 'WORST Legally Blonde Musical Production EVER'
The video starts with an enthusiastic preteen girl stampeding onstage in a jewel-toned V-neck to an infectious pop beat, inexplicably holding a jumbo-sized pencil. “Dear Elle, he’s a lucky guy/I’m like gonna cry/I’ve got tears coming out of my nose,” she belts off-key, before she’s immediately followed by a bevy …
Read More »John McAfee and the Birth of Modern American Paranoia
John McAfee was a genius, a scoundrel-criminal, a gun fanatic, a possible murderer, and a man who liked to mix morning tequila sunrises with hands dirtied by throwing mattresses against his windows to ward off imaginary hit men. He also ran for president. Yesterday, he finally ran out of road. …
Read More »Noir and Nineties Slasher Films Collide in Riley Sager's Thriller 'Survive the Night'
Riley Sager has been writing thrillers for over a decade now, but each time he starts penning another, he’s gripped by the same terrible thought. “There’s always this moment where I sit there and look at my blank page and think, ‘I don’t know how to do this,’” says Sager, …
Read More »The Rise and Fall of the Proud Boys
& ldquo;Let’s take the fucking Capitol.” A burly, bearded man in a ballistic vest and a baseball cap that says “God, Guns, and Trump” is trying to rally members of the crowd. The man’s name is Daniel Lyons Scott, but he goes by Milkshake. It’s around noon on January 6th, …
Read More »Understanding the Covid-19 Lab-Leak Theory
After more than a year of scientific hypotheses, baseless conspiracy theories, and a lack of transparency from China, we still don’t know Covid-19’s origin story —the precise route SARS-CoV-2 took to end up as the cause of a global pandemic. And thanks to the country’s deep partisan divides, even the …
Read More »George Floyd's Murder Showed Our Pain to America. His Killer's Conviction Gives Many of Us a Shred of Hope
The government center in downtown Minneapolis — where people gathered outside after the guilty verdict was brought down on Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd — is sandwiched between skyscrapers. I look up at the buildings, taking in their pointless grandeur. I don’t often find myself in this …
Read More »QAnon and the Assault on Planned Parenthood
On January 7th, a day after a photograph of her breaching the Senate chamber during the Capitol riot went viral, Christine Priola quit her job as an occupational therapist with the Cleveland Municipal School District. In the photo, Priola, dressed in a red winter jacket and blue tights with the …
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