Joshua Hunt

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protestor A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the ...

New from 404 Media: Proton Mail, the privacy-focused email service, gave authorities data that let the FBI unmask an anonymous 'Stop Cop City' protester. It was payment data linked to the anonymous email account. From that, FBI ID'd them, then tracked their movements www.404media.co/proton-mail-...

Lords of the Ring, by Joshua Hunt The cultural politics of sumo wrestling

“Watching arguably the greatest rikishi in history at the peak of his powers was all that kept many fans from abandoning the scandal-plagued sport, though some still struggled with the fact that he wasn’t Japanese.” — @viajoshhunt.bsky.social

Lords of the Ring, by Joshua Hunt The cultural politics of sumo wrestling

“When the referee signals the start of the match, they rush toward each other and collide with the same force that a person might absorb after falling from a height of two or three stories.”

@viajoshhunt.bsky.social reports on the cultural politics of sumo wrestling.

Lords of the Ring, by Joshua Hunt The cultural politics of sumo wrestling

“Decades of Mongolian dominance have revealed a peculiar strain of ethno-nationalism among sumo fans, one defined less by an explicitly nativist derision of foreign-born rikishi than by an enthusiasm for Japanese-born yokozuna that sometimes feels a bit too unbound.” — @viajoshhunt.bsky.social

I also wrote about some other plus-size gentlemen for the March issue of Harper’s: harpers.org:2053/archive/2026...

Thanks, that’s so kind of you to say.

What Ozempic Taught Me About Style and Self-Worth I have always loved clothes. Gaining 100 pounds robbed me of my sense of style, but not my interest in fashion. Nine months on GLP-1s and a diary changed everything all over again.

For the March issue of GQ I wrote about my nine months—and counting—on Ozempic. www.gq.com/story/what-o...

Lords of the Ring, by Joshua Hunt The cultural politics of sumo wrestling

Joshua Hunt (@viajoshhunt.bsky.social) reports from Japan on the cultural politics of Sumo wrestling.

harpers.org/archive/2026...

We Found Two Theaters With Sold-Out ‘Melania’ Opening Day Screenings A WIRED analysis of nearly 1,400 Friday showtimes of Melania found only two with no tickets available. Both are before 3 pm.

If you were hoping to catch the Melania premiere via matinee this Friday at the AMC in Vero Beach, Florida — I am so sorry, but that particular showing is one of two that’s sold out among more than 1,300 analyzed by @wired.com

Three people familiar with the situation told Semafor that Hurley reached out to an email address the reporter believed belonged to the former mayor of New York. It's unclear where he got the address, or who it actually belongs to. In a state nent shared with outlets including Semafor, a News UK spokesperson blamed the debacle on whoever that email address belongs to, saying the paper had "apologised to Bill de Biasio and removed the article immediately after discovering that our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor."

Part of the push came from the top. As the New York mayor's race approaches, The Times of London has accelerated its push for more, and largely hostile, coverage of Mamdani. That campaign has been driven internally by Margi Conklin, a New York Post veteran who was most recently managing editor at The Free Press, and who assigned the de Blasio piece, per two people with knowledge of the situation.

This colossal Times of London/de Blasio screwup gets more amazing at every turn.

Scoop via @maxtani.bsky.social

www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.

For Businessweek’s November issue, I have a feature about the high-fee premium credit card war being waged by American Express and Chase for the hearts, minds, and swipes of America’s affluent supershoppers. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Portland weighs taking over lease at ICE facility The ramifications of the city taking over the federal facility lease were not immediately clear Wednesday.

Among the endless fire hose of news, there was an interesting nugget buried in Mayor Keith Wilson's statement today.

The city of Portland is considering taking over the lease of the ICE facility and the city said it has no intention of being ICE's landlord.

Getting Away with Murder | David Cole During his first presidential campaign Donald Trump famously claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose

"But never before has a US president asserted the authority to order the cold-blooded execution of civilians outside any even arguable military conflict. And never before has a US president then turned around and boasted about his own crimes to the public at large." www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Journalists at 3 Alaska Newspapers Quit Over Charlie Kirk Story The publications in Alaska lost significant staffing after the owners made changes to an article that had drawn criticism from a Republican state lawmaker.

Several journalists resigned this week from three newspapers in Alaska after the publications’ corporate owner made significant edits to an article about Charlie Kirk’s death, after pressure from a Republican state lawmaker who had criticized the coverage.

Dollars and Demons Demon Slayer's success shouldn't surprise. We're all otaku now.

There are 10,000 manga artists working in Japan today. The extraordinary success of "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" is due to Shonen Jump's knack for spotting talent.

Its success abroad is due to a more singular factor.

We're all otaku now.

blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/dollars-an...

Aug. 26: Stephen Miller says "the Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization."

Sept. 25: Miller put in charge of coordinating a federal campaign to prosecute "domestic terrorist organizations."

Truly my pleasure.

There are other great critics at The New Yorker, but I'm seldom surprised by any of the stuff they write. Your writing does surprise me, which is one of the reasons I love it.

Jesus

How Podcasts (and Plastic Surgery) Are Shaping Male Beauty Standards What comes after supplements, testosterone, and mouth exercises? We visited the Beverly Hills office of the manosphere’s favorite plastic surgeon to find out.

For the October issue of @gqmagazine.bsky.social, I went to Beverly Hills to spend time with the manosphere's favorite plastic surgeon, who helped me make sense of how podcasts dictate male beauty standards and why Joe Rogan is Goop for guys. Read it here: www.gq.com/story/how-po...

Always read Katy Waldman! The New Yorker's most reliably interesting critic.

How Podcasts (and Plastic Surgery) Are Shaping Male Beauty Standards What comes after supplements, testosterone, and mouth exercises? We visited the Beverly Hills office of the manosphere’s favorite plastic surgeon to find out.

For the October issue of @gqmagazine.bsky.social, I went to Beverly Hills to spend time with the manosphere's favorite plastic surgeon, who helped me make sense of how podcasts dictate male beauty standards and why Joe Rogan is Goop for guys. Read it here: www.gq.com/story/how-po...

Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches.

An @nytimes investigation finds staggering levels of insider dealing: The Trump administration confers benefits on the UAE (despite security concerns) as the UAE confers riches on the Trump family. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

Pure speculation but I wouldn't be surprised if Trump sent the FBI after John Bolton because he learned this story was coming and suspects his former national security director is the one who brought it to the New York Times. Hence searching his home for classified documents.

Joe Rogan claims study shows Earth cooling – but report’s authors say he’s wrong Scientists say ‘old-school denier nonsense’ isn’t helpful as podcaster repeatedly airs false claim on his show

“It’s almost impressive how incorrect he’s able to be about an article he’s looking directly at… It’s also an incredible example of how climate misinformation sneaks into extremely popular media and then gets absorbed into the brains of millions of Americans.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This story about a failed SEAL Team 6 operation in North Korea is fucking nuts. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...

This is a great dive: by turns technical and cultural, with a nice arc about how Americans struggled to comprehend, let alone localize, anime for Western audiences.

How Anime Took Over America: From Pokemon to Demon Slayer and Dragon Ball Z (Gift Article) Netflix’s “Demon Slayer” is just the latest confirmation of how Japan’s once-distinctive animation style has become a global visual language.

For The New York Times Magazine I wrote about How Anime Took Over America. (Gift link). www.nytimes.com/interactive/...