Sports Rallies, Runaway Democrats, and Whatever Else Is on Fire This Week

Informed Dissent — Show Notes, Week of August 1, 2026

In this episode: LeAnne and Cori hold down the fort while Jamie and Lauren are on vacation, covering the Sophie Cunningham/WNBA firestorm, cracks in Democratic Party unity across two swing-state races, and new data on pediatric gender diagnoses in Oregon.

Sophie Cunningham & the WNBA rallies

* Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (a Missouri native — Rock Bridge High School, University of Missouri, most decorated player in program history) sparked national controversy with ESPN comments about protecting girls in locker rooms and sport from biological males.

* Seattle incident: Two teenage fans holding pro-Cunningham signs at the Fever-Storm game were allegedly confronted by Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton. The WNBA suspended Keaton for five home games and issued an undisclosed fine.

* Portland rally (Fri, July 31): Kara Dansky and many others to rally outside the Fever-Fire game.

* Minneapolis rally (Sun, Aug 2): Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics, will rally outside Target Center ahead of the Fever-Lynx game.

* Full remaining Indiana Fever schedule linked here.

Coming up

* Next week: the Mountain v. Liberty case on housing biological males in Maine women’s prisons, with attorney Cynthia Dill.

* Starting in August: our full series on libraries.

Find our merch here.

Informed Dissent is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe