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
To Kat's point, I have always said that the easiest thing to do in the face of reports of gendered violence is nothing. People desperately want to do nothing. And pushing them to do literally anything is seen as an attack.
It has always been so obvious that the backlash to MeToo isn’t about whether the abuse is happening but whether people are allowed to want it to stop
November 17, 2025 at 9:51 PM
To Kat's point, I have always said that the easiest thing to do in the face of reports of gendered violence is nothing. People desperately want to do nothing. And pushing them to do literally anything is seen as an attack.
It has always been so obvious that the backlash to MeToo isn’t about whether the abuse is happening but whether people are allowed to want it to stop
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 PM
It has always been so obvious that the backlash to MeToo isn’t about whether the abuse is happening but whether people are allowed to want it to stop
Something I don’t see acknowledged much about X versus its alternatives is that now that you can make money by stoking discourse between verified X users, so much of the content over there is completely inauthentic rage bait—and non-verified users engaging with it are basically suckers
November 17, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Something I don’t see acknowledged much about X versus its alternatives is that now that you can make money by stoking discourse between verified X users, so much of the content over there is completely inauthentic rage bait—and non-verified users engaging with it are basically suckers
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
With the House returning, Adelita Grijalva will have to be sworn in, potentially resulting in the release the Epstein files.
In this essay, @mjcasper.bsky.social and I explain why this matters a lot:
"Replace betrayal with courage: Release all of the Epstein Files"
thehill.com/opinion/whit...
In this essay, @mjcasper.bsky.social and I explain why this matters a lot:
"Replace betrayal with courage: Release all of the Epstein Files"
thehill.com/opinion/whit...
thehill.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:34 PM
With the House returning, Adelita Grijalva will have to be sworn in, potentially resulting in the release the Epstein files.
In this essay, @mjcasper.bsky.social and I explain why this matters a lot:
"Replace betrayal with courage: Release all of the Epstein Files"
thehill.com/opinion/whit...
In this essay, @mjcasper.bsky.social and I explain why this matters a lot:
"Replace betrayal with courage: Release all of the Epstein Files"
thehill.com/opinion/whit...
The comparison isn’t perfect but I kind of think Olivia Nuzzi is to journalism what Jake Paul is to boxing. Influencer culture usurping institutions and turning outrage and negative engagement into maximum clicks and therefore value, plus it flatters elite interests
November 17, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The comparison isn’t perfect but I kind of think Olivia Nuzzi is to journalism what Jake Paul is to boxing. Influencer culture usurping institutions and turning outrage and negative engagement into maximum clicks and therefore value, plus it flatters elite interests
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
This thread. I think it's incredibly important to remember that the TERF fragility/rabidity started to take off right around the height of me too, and the main message they had was "men are inherently violent."
They targeted trans WOMEN, while at the same time excusing actual violence from cis men.
They targeted trans WOMEN, while at the same time excusing actual violence from cis men.
MeToo was intentionally co-opted by the type of 'feminist' that berates and abuses people for not conforming to gender, while insisting that a uterus makes a woman...
1/2
1/2
This idea that #metoo was a temporary piece of insanity that happened because America was too woke...
Fuck you. It was a temporary moment in time when people decided, for the first time, that 20 women were finally equal to one man.
Fuck you. It was a temporary moment in time when people decided, for the first time, that 20 women were finally equal to one man.
November 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
This thread. I think it's incredibly important to remember that the TERF fragility/rabidity started to take off right around the height of me too, and the main message they had was "men are inherently violent."
They targeted trans WOMEN, while at the same time excusing actual violence from cis men.
They targeted trans WOMEN, while at the same time excusing actual violence from cis men.
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
She’s working at all the prestige places, and I don’t mean to be arch about it, but it feels like the only place with a strong enough taboo to find this disqualifying in white America is on social media among mixed company.
The complete racism is breathtaking. How is she a journalist writing today? Who would hire this?
November 17, 2025 at 4:12 PM
She’s working at all the prestige places, and I don’t mean to be arch about it, but it feels like the only place with a strong enough taboo to find this disqualifying in white America is on social media among mixed company.
Despite being on this Earth for 28 years it still feels like a huge betrayal every time the sun sets at 5 pm. How can they keep getting away with this
November 16, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Despite being on this Earth for 28 years it still feels like a huge betrayal every time the sun sets at 5 pm. How can they keep getting away with this
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
not to beat a dead horse but they do this not out of some belief about maximizing electoral returns but out of an aversion to rhetorically committing themselves to doing something about epstein/corruption/ICE/whatever other issue they’re avoiding, should they win power back
The usual suspects are telling Dems that Epstein won’t win elections, get back to “affordability” and I think my head might explode. www.offmessage.net/p/force-a-re...
Force A Referendum On The Epstein Coverup
It divides Republicans much more than "affordability" or any other economic issue.
www.offmessage.net
November 15, 2025 at 5:29 PM
not to beat a dead horse but they do this not out of some belief about maximizing electoral returns but out of an aversion to rhetorically committing themselves to doing something about epstein/corruption/ICE/whatever other issue they’re avoiding, should they win power back
“The government is allowed to post real death threats on social media but you’re not allowed to post sarcastic death threats on social media” is actually a pretty apt distillation of power and violence
November 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
“The government is allowed to post real death threats on social media but you’re not allowed to post sarcastic death threats on social media” is actually a pretty apt distillation of power and violence
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
this is a far more explicit death threat from people with the actual means to carry it out
November 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM
this is a far more explicit death threat from people with the actual means to carry it out
People employ absurd, grotesque victim-blaming logic that even they don’t really believe as part of a global gaslighting effort to make victims blame themselves first and foremost and not even seek accountability or expose these crimes in the first place. And it works like a charm
November 14, 2025 at 4:42 PM
People employ absurd, grotesque victim-blaming logic that even they don’t really believe as part of a global gaslighting effort to make victims blame themselves first and foremost and not even seek accountability or expose these crimes in the first place. And it works like a charm
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Hopefully people are remembering that sexual assault victims can read what they’re saying
November 13, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Hopefully people are remembering that sexual assault victims can read what they’re saying
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Silenced. Undermined.
Sued.
I will forever remind people that just saying I believed an accuser resulted in a nightmare legal battle that effectively gagged me on the issue for years.
Sued.
I will forever remind people that just saying I believed an accuser resulted in a nightmare legal battle that effectively gagged me on the issue for years.
The idea that sexual abuse is part of “private” life instead of a public crisis has done incalculable damage. Anti-rape activists have to fight to even make it possible to expose sexual abuse as a wrongdoing in public without being silenced and undermined. That fight is far from won
November 12, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Silenced. Undermined.
Sued.
I will forever remind people that just saying I believed an accuser resulted in a nightmare legal battle that effectively gagged me on the issue for years.
Sued.
I will forever remind people that just saying I believed an accuser resulted in a nightmare legal battle that effectively gagged me on the issue for years.
The idea that sexual abuse is part of “private” life instead of a public crisis has done incalculable damage. Anti-rape activists have to fight to even make it possible to expose sexual abuse as a wrongdoing in public without being silenced and undermined. That fight is far from won
November 12, 2025 at 8:19 PM
The idea that sexual abuse is part of “private” life instead of a public crisis has done incalculable damage. Anti-rape activists have to fight to even make it possible to expose sexual abuse as a wrongdoing in public without being silenced and undermined. That fight is far from won
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
As I sometimes like to mention, s the only reason you know who Jeffrey Epstein is (that is, if you weren't one of his friends/clients/beneficiaries) is because Ms Brown, below, broke the story of his sweetheart deal to get out of the 2008 trafficking charges.
BREAKING: (Gift) New Epstein emails reveal that Epstein claimed he had kompromat on President Trump. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...
New Epstein emails claim Trump ‘spent hours’ with victim
Democrats on the House Oversight say the emails provide evidence of a cover-up by the White House
www.miamiherald.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:35 PM
As I sometimes like to mention, s the only reason you know who Jeffrey Epstein is (that is, if you weren't one of his friends/clients/beneficiaries) is because Ms Brown, below, broke the story of his sweetheart deal to get out of the 2008 trafficking charges.
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 5:51 PM
The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Freud abandoned the seduction theory because it was simply too hard to confront the reality that childhood sexual abuse was endemic in Vienna society. Thinking about that today amid the flood of Epstein emails, and the silence among the MAGA child sex abuse conspiracy theorists.
November 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Freud abandoned the seduction theory because it was simply too hard to confront the reality that childhood sexual abuse was endemic in Vienna society. Thinking about that today amid the flood of Epstein emails, and the silence among the MAGA child sex abuse conspiracy theorists.
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far
November 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
My takeaway from every new Epstein revelation is that some powerful people victimized many powerless young women, many more knew, some actively enabled it--and we're still being told that MeToo and accountability for sexual violence have gone too far
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
BREAKING: (Gift) New Epstein emails reveal that Epstein claimed he had kompromat on President Trump. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...
New Epstein emails claim Trump ‘spent hours’ with victim
Democrats on the House Oversight say the emails provide evidence of a cover-up by the White House
www.miamiherald.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:27 PM
BREAKING: (Gift) New Epstein emails reveal that Epstein claimed he had kompromat on President Trump. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Can't help thinking of the communities that sprang up from young ppl sharing their experiences being autistic, ADHD, AuDHD as well as with mental health & yes, abuse (all interconnected). Limiting online speech = preventing these communities from forming = isolating young ppl = enabling abuse.
It’s disturbing and discomforting to examine but there are several anti-phone and anti-social media initiatives weaponizing murders and suicides of teens, leveraging grieving parents, and exaggerating or inventing causation to try and limit speech online and restrict tech freedoms
November 11, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Can't help thinking of the communities that sprang up from young ppl sharing their experiences being autistic, ADHD, AuDHD as well as with mental health & yes, abuse (all interconnected). Limiting online speech = preventing these communities from forming = isolating young ppl = enabling abuse.
It’s disturbing and discomforting to examine but there are several anti-phone and anti-social media initiatives weaponizing murders and suicides of teens, leveraging grieving parents, and exaggerating or inventing causation to try and limit speech online and restrict tech freedoms
November 11, 2025 at 2:34 PM
It’s disturbing and discomforting to examine but there are several anti-phone and anti-social media initiatives weaponizing murders and suicides of teens, leveraging grieving parents, and exaggerating or inventing causation to try and limit speech online and restrict tech freedoms
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Today is the publication day for WITHOUT CONSENT, a book I am so proud to share with the world, and that the New York Times Book Review says "is years — decades — overdue."
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Today is the publication day for WITHOUT CONSENT, a book I am so proud to share with the world, and that the New York Times Book Review says "is years — decades — overdue."
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
November 11, 2025 at 1:42 AM
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
Reposted by Kat Tenbarge
Yo, @support.bsky.team, bring back @sarahkendzior.bsky.social.
November 11, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Yo, @support.bsky.team, bring back @sarahkendzior.bsky.social.