Kat Tenbarge
@kattenbarge.bsky.social
Independent journalist covering internet culture, politics, and media @spitfirenews.com. Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/kattenbarge
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Kat Tenbarge
@kattenbarge.bsky.social
· Feb 5
Spitfire News
A newsletter from Kat Tenbarge about internet culture, politics, and media.
spitfirenews.com
Almost two weeks ago, I found out I was one of 40 people getting laid off from NBC News.
Those who know me know I’ve wanted to go independent for a long time. Later this month, I’m launching @spitfirenews.com. We need journalism that is louder than ever.
spitfirenews.com/p/an-introdu...
Those who know me know I’ve wanted to go independent for a long time. Later this month, I’m launching @spitfirenews.com. We need journalism that is louder than ever.
spitfirenews.com/p/an-introdu...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
In this 9-minute presentation I touch on betrayal trauma, betrayal blindness, institutional betrayal, DARVO, institutional courage, and what the theories and research findings suggests for responding to our current situation.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFTb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFTb...
Jennifer Freyd 2025 - Institutional Betrayal and the Path to Courage
YouTube video by jjfreyd
www.youtube.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:56 PM
In this 9-minute presentation I touch on betrayal trauma, betrayal blindness, institutional betrayal, DARVO, institutional courage, and what the theories and research findings suggests for responding to our current situation.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFTb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFTb...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
I'm single. No kids, no claims, no pre-existing conditions. The cataclysmic leap from paying $50 a month to $1,228.28 a month is a level of devastation the depth of which I'm struggling to articulate. I wasn't going to be able to afford when I thought it was going up to $350 a month. And now...😵
I thought my new health insurance premium was going to be $350 per month until I got this letter informing me that it would be $1,228.28 PER MONTH. I CURRENTLY PAY $50. Is my math mathing? Is that.... a 2,356.42% increase?
2256.42%????
TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SIX POINT FORTY TWO PERCENT😩
2256.42%????
TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SIX POINT FORTY TWO PERCENT😩
November 10, 2025 at 1:54 AM
I'm single. No kids, no claims, no pre-existing conditions. The cataclysmic leap from paying $50 a month to $1,228.28 a month is a level of devastation the depth of which I'm struggling to articulate. I wasn't going to be able to afford when I thought it was going up to $350 a month. And now...😵
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
They caved in March so they could get a better deal now. They’re caving now so they can get a better deal in some indeterminate future. The better deal is always just beyond their reach, but continuing to cave will get them there. And if you don’t agree with that, you don’t understand Politics,
November 10, 2025 at 2:44 AM
They caved in March so they could get a better deal now. They’re caving now so they can get a better deal in some indeterminate future. The better deal is always just beyond their reach, but continuing to cave will get them there. And if you don’t agree with that, you don’t understand Politics,
Senators on the brink of retirement who lived full, wealthy lives and never feared the loss of their own healthcare voting for their constituents to die from their inability to afford the same is treasonous
November 10, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Senators on the brink of retirement who lived full, wealthy lives and never feared the loss of their own healthcare voting for their constituents to die from their inability to afford the same is treasonous
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
This is really good to see: Miki Sherrill just put out a statement sharply criticizing the Senate Dems' pending cave in the government shutdown, ripping it as "malpractice" and a betrayal of the people who are "counting on us to fight for them." Sherrill knows what drove her victory. Wake up, Dems.
November 10, 2025 at 1:38 AM
This is really good to see: Miki Sherrill just put out a statement sharply criticizing the Senate Dems' pending cave in the government shutdown, ripping it as "malpractice" and a betrayal of the people who are "counting on us to fight for them." Sherrill knows what drove her victory. Wake up, Dems.
A cautionary tale in being a woman who appeals to a conservative audience: While MAGA has co-opted Sydney Sweeney as their new star, her latest film debuted in the top ten worst box office openings and the same MAGA crowd brutally attacked her appearance in 2024 while she was training for the role
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
A cautionary tale in being a woman who appeals to a conservative audience: While MAGA has co-opted Sydney Sweeney as their new star, her latest film debuted in the top ten worst box office openings and the same MAGA crowd brutally attacked her appearance in 2024 while she was training for the role
Incredibly bittersweet to be published in Teen Vogue this weekend after devastating layoffs, including my editor for this piece. It’s about how beauty influencers have fallen into and become part of the alt-right pipeline targeting girls and women
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls
How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.
www.teenvogue.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Incredibly bittersweet to be published in Teen Vogue this weekend after devastating layoffs, including my editor for this piece. It’s about how beauty influencers have fallen into and become part of the alt-right pipeline targeting girls and women
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
It is genuinely hard for most people to grasp how poor the past was.
November 9, 2025 at 6:23 PM
It is genuinely hard for most people to grasp how poor the past was.
Pluribus is amazing. It’s like a gay prestige inverse take on the good place
November 9, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Pluribus is amazing. It’s like a gay prestige inverse take on the good place
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
I always come back to how insulting the idea is that I need a plagiarism chatbot to help me “organize my thoughts” and “come up with ideas,” something I am perfectly capable of doing myself and never asked for any help with
November 8, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I always come back to how insulting the idea is that I need a plagiarism chatbot to help me “organize my thoughts” and “come up with ideas,” something I am perfectly capable of doing myself and never asked for any help with
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
I keep wondering how many cases of IPV the perpetrator has spent months talking to ChatGPT being told they are right and their partner is in the wrong and terrible. (Excuses nothing, obviously)
It won't be a small number. What order of magnitude?
How many levels is chatGPT use leading to violence?
It won't be a small number. What order of magnitude?
How many levels is chatGPT use leading to violence?
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
November 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I keep wondering how many cases of IPV the perpetrator has spent months talking to ChatGPT being told they are right and their partner is in the wrong and terrible. (Excuses nothing, obviously)
It won't be a small number. What order of magnitude?
How many levels is chatGPT use leading to violence?
It won't be a small number. What order of magnitude?
How many levels is chatGPT use leading to violence?
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Mentally ill people are largely seen as expendable and our deaths never preventable or meaningful
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
November 8, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Mentally ill people are largely seen as expendable and our deaths never preventable or meaningful
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
November 8, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
congrats to everyone for thinking this through before signing very big contracts to put it on every student’s device at the school or university you run
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
November 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
congrats to everyone for thinking this through before signing very big contracts to put it on every student’s device at the school or university you run
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Rosalind Franklin died at 37 of ovarian cancer attributed to radiation exposure from the methods she & her assistant used to photograph a cross-section of the DNA double helix.
Meanwhile, Watson won a Nobel off that work & survived to the ripe old age of 97 by simply: stealing those notes!
Meanwhile, Watson won a Nobel off that work & survived to the ripe old age of 97 by simply: stealing those notes!
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
DNA scientist James Watson has a remarkably long history of sexist, racist public comments
“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty,” he said in 2003. “I think it would be great.”
www.vox.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Rosalind Franklin died at 37 of ovarian cancer attributed to radiation exposure from the methods she & her assistant used to photograph a cross-section of the DNA double helix.
Meanwhile, Watson won a Nobel off that work & survived to the ripe old age of 97 by simply: stealing those notes!
Meanwhile, Watson won a Nobel off that work & survived to the ripe old age of 97 by simply: stealing those notes!
Watching Guillermo’s new Frankenstein and this really is reminiscent of AI lol
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Watching Guillermo’s new Frankenstein and this really is reminiscent of AI lol
Being sick and drinking some hot miso soup is like briefly being one with god
November 7, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Being sick and drinking some hot miso soup is like briefly being one with god
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
it is necessary to invent Hell so that Elon Musk can be sent there
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
November 7, 2025 at 1:16 PM
it is necessary to invent Hell so that Elon Musk can be sent there
OpenAI is well aware of how its products stoke manic, suicidal, psychotic, and other forms of unhealthy behavior, but company leadership insists publicly that the problem with the tech is that it isn’t reaching *enough* people. Bulldozing the vulnerable is corporate strategy
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
OpenAI is well aware of how its products stoke manic, suicidal, psychotic, and other forms of unhealthy behavior, but company leadership insists publicly that the problem with the tech is that it isn’t reaching *enough* people. Bulldozing the vulnerable is corporate strategy
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Call me controversial, but technology that leads vulnerable people into crisis and even holds their hand as they die by suicide should not be endorsed by schools and universities, we should not be giving discounted subscriptions to this monstrous tech to young people AT ALL
The boyfriend of a friend of my son's has spent several weeks in a psych ward due to Chat GPT induced psychosis. He isn't suicidal but AI encouraged him down a toxic and paranoid wormhole until he became completely delusional. Evil stuff.
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Call me controversial, but technology that leads vulnerable people into crisis and even holds their hand as they die by suicide should not be endorsed by schools and universities, we should not be giving discounted subscriptions to this monstrous tech to young people AT ALL