Spitfire News
@spitfirenews.com
A newsletter from @kattenbarge.bsky.social about internet culture, politics, and media. Subscribe today for free!
Reposted by Spitfire News
It has now been a year since I stopped posting on X. For @spitfirenews.com, I wrote about watching the platform I loved become a conduit for the worst extremism I've ever witnessed. I don't regret leaving. In fact, I wish I'd left even earlier.
spitfirenews.com/p/x-bluesky-...
spitfirenews.com/p/x-bluesky-...
I'm glad I stopped posting on X
A year ago, I abandoned my account. It was the right thing to do.
spitfirenews.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:27 PM
It has now been a year since I stopped posting on X. For @spitfirenews.com, I wrote about watching the platform I loved become a conduit for the worst extremism I've ever witnessed. I don't regret leaving. In fact, I wish I'd left even earlier.
spitfirenews.com/p/x-bluesky-...
spitfirenews.com/p/x-bluesky-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Last week's election and last night's betrayal prove that the Democratic base has rightfully moved to the left of its establishment politicians and their status quo. Voters won't accept it anymore, so the party either follows them or fails. Me for @spitfirenews.com
spitfirenews.com/p/establishm...
spitfirenews.com/p/establishm...
Establishment Democrats have already lost
On healthcare affordability, Zohran Mamdani, and radical change—now.
spitfirenews.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Last week's election and last night's betrayal prove that the Democratic base has rightfully moved to the left of its establishment politicians and their status quo. Voters won't accept it anymore, so the party either follows them or fails. Me for @spitfirenews.com
spitfirenews.com/p/establishm...
spitfirenews.com/p/establishm...
Reposted by Spitfire News
For @spitfirenews.com I wrote about "ChatGPT induced psychosis," how the chatbot distorts reality for all of its users, and why, despite what feels like growing pressure to conform to the hype, I still won't use it (and I'm not missing out)
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-stil...
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-stil...
Why I Still Won't Use ChatGPT
This technology easily manipulates your perception of reality. Who is that useful for?
spitfirenews.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:31 PM
For @spitfirenews.com I wrote about "ChatGPT induced psychosis," how the chatbot distorts reality for all of its users, and why, despite what feels like growing pressure to conform to the hype, I still won't use it (and I'm not missing out)
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-stil...
spitfirenews.com/p/why-i-stil...
Reposted by Spitfire News
The types of viral DARVO rhetoric that have been leveraged against celebrity women like Amber Heard are now being weaponized against everyday, working-class women who report sexual violence. And AI is helping accelerate these narratives. My latest dispatch from hell:
spitfirenews.com/p/doordash-a...
spitfirenews.com/p/doordash-a...
DoorDash and DARVO attacks on working-class women
A woman said her customer exposed himself to her. How did she become the villain?
spitfirenews.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:54 PM
The types of viral DARVO rhetoric that have been leveraged against celebrity women like Amber Heard are now being weaponized against everyday, working-class women who report sexual violence. And AI is helping accelerate these narratives. My latest dispatch from hell:
spitfirenews.com/p/doordash-a...
spitfirenews.com/p/doordash-a...
Reposted by Spitfire News
A bright spot of news I’m excited to share is that I was honored this past weekend by SPJ as a Fellow of the Society. I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me and @spitfirenews.com and I got to talk to student journalists about the future of our profession!
spitfirenews.com/p/we-yes-we-...
spitfirenews.com/p/we-yes-we-...
We (yes, we) won a big award!
And I talked to student journalists about all of our futures.
spitfirenews.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:38 PM
A bright spot of news I’m excited to share is that I was honored this past weekend by SPJ as a Fellow of the Society. I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me and @spitfirenews.com and I got to talk to student journalists about the future of our profession!
spitfirenews.com/p/we-yes-we-...
spitfirenews.com/p/we-yes-we-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
For @spitfirenews.com, I found that increasingly realistic AI-generated videos are being deployed to harass, smear, and create endless offensive content of influencers, whose likenesses are already readily available online. It’s happening to private figures, too.
spitfirenews.com/p/ai-generat...
spitfirenews.com/p/ai-generat...
AI-generated influencer scandals are here
Now anyone can play with the hyperrealistic likenesses of public figures.
spitfirenews.com
October 16, 2025 at 6:03 PM
For @spitfirenews.com, I found that increasingly realistic AI-generated videos are being deployed to harass, smear, and create endless offensive content of influencers, whose likenesses are already readily available online. It’s happening to private figures, too.
spitfirenews.com/p/ai-generat...
spitfirenews.com/p/ai-generat...
Reposted by Spitfire News
J.K. Rowling's anti-trans bigotry and the alt-right pipeline she's personified require her to undermine and perpetuate real misogyny, so she's browbeating a woman almost half her age who has already been subjected to plenty of sexual violence for playing Hermione
spitfirenews.com/p/jk-rowling...
spitfirenews.com/p/jk-rowling...
J.K. Rowling is wrong about Emma Watson
Anti-trans activism covers up the reality of gender-based violence.
spitfirenews.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:55 PM
J.K. Rowling's anti-trans bigotry and the alt-right pipeline she's personified require her to undermine and perpetuate real misogyny, so she's browbeating a woman almost half her age who has already been subjected to plenty of sexual violence for playing Hermione
spitfirenews.com/p/jk-rowling...
spitfirenews.com/p/jk-rowling...
Reposted by Spitfire News
State-sanctioned abuse and control of pregnant people is never acceptable, and Trump lying about pain relief and autism is another step toward eugenics as national policy. This is not, contrary to what Ezra Klein thinks, the time to capitulate
spitfirenews.com/p/tylenol-sa...
spitfirenews.com/p/tylenol-sa...
Restricting women's healthcare isn't a game
Trump's Tylenol announcement, like anti-abortion policy, is a matter of life and death.
spitfirenews.com
September 23, 2025 at 6:12 PM
State-sanctioned abuse and control of pregnant people is never acceptable, and Trump lying about pain relief and autism is another step toward eugenics as national policy. This is not, contrary to what Ezra Klein thinks, the time to capitulate
spitfirenews.com/p/tylenol-sa...
spitfirenews.com/p/tylenol-sa...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Not enough people are paying attention to a major target for Brendan Carr and the Trump admin’s crackdown on free speech: social media. It’s under bipartisan attack, even though it’s a crucial forum for reaching the public and fighting back.
spitfirenews.com/p/is-anyone-...
spitfirenews.com/p/is-anyone-...
Is anyone going to defend free speech online?
Government censorship on social media is already here. But it can get so much worse.
spitfirenews.com
September 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Not enough people are paying attention to a major target for Brendan Carr and the Trump admin’s crackdown on free speech: social media. It’s under bipartisan attack, even though it’s a crucial forum for reaching the public and fighting back.
spitfirenews.com/p/is-anyone-...
spitfirenews.com/p/is-anyone-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Mainstream institutions, including some of the biggest news outlets, have rushed to sacrifice their journalists and the meaning of words like "debate" to placate the people behind clickbait YouTube videos with titles about woke libs and Karens
spitfirenews.com/p/mainstream...
spitfirenews.com/p/mainstream...
Mainstream media surrenders to conservative influencers
Charlie Kirk didn't fight for unity. He fought to silence the truth.
spitfirenews.com
September 15, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Mainstream institutions, including some of the biggest news outlets, have rushed to sacrifice their journalists and the meaning of words like "debate" to placate the people behind clickbait YouTube videos with titles about woke libs and Karens
spitfirenews.com/p/mainstream...
spitfirenews.com/p/mainstream...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Since Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, people on the left have been censored, punished, and targeted with more violence for telling the truth about Kirk's legacy. The cycle continues: mainstream whitewashing of violence begets more violence and the victims are blamed.
spitfirenews.com/p/the-nation...
spitfirenews.com/p/the-nation...
The national gaslighting about Charlie Kirk
Another pattern of censorship that only hurts the left—and emboldens political violence.
spitfirenews.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Since Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, people on the left have been censored, punished, and targeted with more violence for telling the truth about Kirk's legacy. The cycle continues: mainstream whitewashing of violence begets more violence and the victims are blamed.
spitfirenews.com/p/the-nation...
spitfirenews.com/p/the-nation...
Reposted by Spitfire News
For @spitfirenews.com, I wrote about how the social media trend of hoping that Trump is dead or dying is linked to both his administration's deadly unraveling of rights and institutions and how hard it is for actual news about it to reach people over memes and vibes.
spitfirenews.com/p/is-trump-d...
spitfirenews.com/p/is-trump-d...
The push alert everyone is dying to get
This administration wants Americans to die. The feeling is mutual.
spitfirenews.com
September 2, 2025 at 5:47 PM
For @spitfirenews.com, I wrote about how the social media trend of hoping that Trump is dead or dying is linked to both his administration's deadly unraveling of rights and institutions and how hard it is for actual news about it to reach people over memes and vibes.
spitfirenews.com/p/is-trump-d...
spitfirenews.com/p/is-trump-d...
Reposted by Spitfire News
I wrote about how Harry Potter slop is inescapable and fueling JK Rowling’s anti-trans bigotry—but pushback seems to be growing, too. Case in point: I just opened Reddit and saw another reboot cast announcement, but most of the comments were about boycotting it spitfirenews.com/p/harry-pott...
Harry Potter and the Oversaturated Offensive Franchise
There's a growing fight against J.K. Rowling's anti-trans power source.
spitfirenews.com
August 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
I wrote about how Harry Potter slop is inescapable and fueling JK Rowling’s anti-trans bigotry—but pushback seems to be growing, too. Case in point: I just opened Reddit and saw another reboot cast announcement, but most of the comments were about boycotting it spitfirenews.com/p/harry-pott...
Reposted by Spitfire News
I wrote about stunt influencer “Lil Tay” joining OnlyFans days after she turned 18, sparking calls to ban the platform. It’s a typical internet outrage cycle, fueled in part by the manosphere, that deflects from the real villains of misogyny and child exploitation.
spitfirenews.com/p/lil-tay-on...
spitfirenews.com/p/lil-tay-on...
When a child star joins OnlyFans
The Lil Tay saga is intentionally hard to follow, making it perfect outrage fodder.
spitfirenews.com
August 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
I wrote about stunt influencer “Lil Tay” joining OnlyFans days after she turned 18, sparking calls to ban the platform. It’s a typical internet outrage cycle, fueled in part by the manosphere, that deflects from the real villains of misogyny and child exploitation.
spitfirenews.com/p/lil-tay-on...
spitfirenews.com/p/lil-tay-on...
Reposted by Spitfire News
I went to a ChatGPT press event and it was just as dystopian and manipulative as I had expected—but it showed me that a lot of media executives have fallen for OpenAI's ruse that this will help the industry when it's making everything (for everyone) worse
spitfirenews.com/p/openai-cha...
spitfirenews.com/p/openai-cha...
An Afternoon of ChatGPT Propaganda for Journalists
A lot of mainstream media executives have taken OpenAI's bait.
spitfirenews.com
August 1, 2025 at 8:11 PM
I went to a ChatGPT press event and it was just as dystopian and manipulative as I had expected—but it showed me that a lot of media executives have fallen for OpenAI's ruse that this will help the industry when it's making everything (for everyone) worse
spitfirenews.com/p/openai-cha...
spitfirenews.com/p/openai-cha...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Pedro Pascal spoke up for trans rights and has been targeted with a smear campaign as a result. False allegations lobbed by TERFs have since become a meme and entered the YouTube podcast sphere—not unlike the previous anti-MeToo smear campaigns I’ve covered.
spitfirenews.com/p/pedro-pasc...
spitfirenews.com/p/pedro-pasc...
The Pedro Pascal smear campaign
And sexual harassment allegations against a leftist influencer.
spitfirenews.com
July 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Pedro Pascal spoke up for trans rights and has been targeted with a smear campaign as a result. False allegations lobbed by TERFs have since become a meme and entered the YouTube podcast sphere—not unlike the previous anti-MeToo smear campaigns I’ve covered.
spitfirenews.com/p/pedro-pasc...
spitfirenews.com/p/pedro-pasc...
Reposted by Spitfire News
The Nelk Boys are fratty podcast bros who helped get Trump elected with slobbering podcast interviews. Now they’re doing the same thing to Netanyahu. Their fans are furious, but this is the exact pseudo-journalistic podcast style they’ve helped grow into a monster.
spitfirenews.com/p/podcast-br...
spitfirenews.com/p/podcast-br...
Podcast bros are doing war propaganda now
Netanyahu on the Nelk Boys is the logical conclusion of the right's podcast culture.
spitfirenews.com
July 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
The Nelk Boys are fratty podcast bros who helped get Trump elected with slobbering podcast interviews. Now they’re doing the same thing to Netanyahu. Their fans are furious, but this is the exact pseudo-journalistic podcast style they’ve helped grow into a monster.
spitfirenews.com/p/podcast-br...
spitfirenews.com/p/podcast-br...
Reposted by Spitfire News
The conservative obsession with Jeffrey Epstein isn’t about justice for his victims—it does the opposite, deflecting from their testimony and perpetuating conspiracies and myths about sex trafficking. One “Epstein Files” influencer even undermined one of his victims.
spitfirenews.com/p/conservati...
spitfirenews.com/p/conservati...
Conservatives don't care about Epstein's victims
The QAnon-inspired panic is untethered from reality and justice.
spitfirenews.com
July 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
The conservative obsession with Jeffrey Epstein isn’t about justice for his victims—it does the opposite, deflecting from their testimony and perpetuating conspiracies and myths about sex trafficking. One “Epstein Files” influencer even undermined one of his victims.
spitfirenews.com/p/conservati...
spitfirenews.com/p/conservati...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Here's an excerpt about the kind of hate comments I get from women for writing about misogynistic smear campaigns and where it's coming from.
![Some of the women told me they are survivors and that they believe Lively is lying. “Jessica” wrote “It is such a joke that MeToo couldn’t get justice for the women assaulted by Trump or Diddy or actual horrifying male predators, but the NYT is ok with it being used to take down a nobody director like Baldoni even though he is innocent until being proven guilty. […] We have to believe all women before the trial even fucking starts?”
This commentary, to me, illustrates the crux of the issue these women have with my coverage. They blame the injustices women experience on other women. Their misogyny is internalized, and they externalize it by joining smear campaigns against women like Lively and journalists like me who see their misogyny for what it is. They choose not to see the irony in blaming victims for victim-blaming.
I first encountered this pattern of women victim-blaming other women when I covered Depp v. Heard. Even before I publicly said I believed Heard, back when I was still trying to make sense of the global pile-on, some of the women who had previously applauded my work denounced me just for pointing out that Heard had some evidence for her claims. As the trial went on and I identified more of the smears against Heard, I noticed that some of my most aggressive detractors were women and self-identified survivors. I believed they were abused, but it took me a while to understand why they were using their victimhood as a sword to cut down other victims.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qgz7jtmlddfn3dikhimzlqu5/bafkreifkndko2w6qic2lrjrfxvh2vjnyqzcp3qvbu3wtqv343ol2amb5cu@jpeg)
July 10, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Here's an excerpt about the kind of hate comments I get from women for writing about misogynistic smear campaigns and where it's coming from.
Reposted by Spitfire News
Today’s piece for @spitfirenews.com members is about MeToo backlash. I’ve heard from women and survivors who spread hate toward other women like Blake Lively and say she’s hurting their cause, because they don’t believe her. I try to unpack the cognitive dissonance.
spitfirenews.com/p/blake-live...
spitfirenews.com/p/blake-live...
The hate mail I get about Blake Lively
It's mainly from other women.
spitfirenews.com
July 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Today’s piece for @spitfirenews.com members is about MeToo backlash. I’ve heard from women and survivors who spread hate toward other women like Blake Lively and say she’s hurting their cause, because they don’t believe her. I try to unpack the cognitive dissonance.
spitfirenews.com/p/blake-live...
spitfirenews.com/p/blake-live...
In today’s newsletter: When progressive media undermines the importance of high-profile sexual violence cases like the one against Sean “Diddy” Combs, it creates an opportunity for conservative media to ideologically capture the audience of these trials instead.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
Now Grok is lying about its own posts
Also, why covering the Diddy trial does matter—a lot.
spitfirenews.com
July 7, 2025 at 7:24 PM
In today’s newsletter: When progressive media undermines the importance of high-profile sexual violence cases like the one against Sean “Diddy” Combs, it creates an opportunity for conservative media to ideologically capture the audience of these trials instead.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
Yesterday Elon Musk’s Grok tried to rewrite history, falsely claiming that real screenshots of a deleted Grok post were fake. It was a high-profile, easily verifiable example of how AI chatbots can be weaponized to distort reality in favor of the people behind them.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
Now Grok is lying about its own posts
Also, why covering the Diddy trial does matter—a lot.
spitfirenews.com
July 7, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Yesterday Elon Musk’s Grok tried to rewrite history, falsely claiming that real screenshots of a deleted Grok post were fake. It was a high-profile, easily verifiable example of how AI chatbots can be weaponized to distort reality in favor of the people behind them.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-elon-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
In Florida, censorship efforts have scrubbed reports that detail the history of racist violence in the state, including alligator rhetoric and incarceration.
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
July 4, 2025 at 5:52 PM
In Florida, censorship efforts have scrubbed reports that detail the history of racist violence in the state, including alligator rhetoric and incarceration.
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
"I think that the population that they imagine housing in this detention, you know, we all look alike to them. These are brown people. I think the same impulse is very much at work,” Dr. Patricia Turner, who studied anti-Black folklore, told me. spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
AI alligators and rebranding Jim Crow
Fantasies of Florida alligators eating people of color are nothing new.
spitfirenews.com
July 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
"I think that the population that they imagine housing in this detention, you know, we all look alike to them. These are brown people. I think the same impulse is very much at work,” Dr. Patricia Turner, who studied anti-Black folklore, told me. spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
Reposted by Spitfire News
There's very little to celebrate about America today. Right now, immigrants are trapped in concentration camp cages. The threat of alligators eating them stems from over a century of racist rhetoric. With AI, racists can repurpose the imagery of the Jim Crow south.
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
AI alligators and rebranding Jim Crow
Fantasies of Florida alligators eating people of color are nothing new.
spitfirenews.com
July 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
There's very little to celebrate about America today. Right now, immigrants are trapped in concentration camp cages. The threat of alligators eating them stems from over a century of racist rhetoric. With AI, racists can repurpose the imagery of the Jim Crow south.
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...
spitfirenews.com/p/alligator-...