Karoline Leavit’s lip filler in Vanity Fair; Man Arrested for Charlie Kirk Meme; Heated Rivalry; WaPo AI slop – NEWS ROUNDUP

Bridget and Producer Mike cover the week's tech news that you might have missed in this final News Roundup of 2025. Vanity Fair Goes to the White House, takes some unflattering photos https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/vanity-fair-goes-to-the-white-house-trump-2-edition Washington Post release…

Bot Campaigns Turned Taylor Swift Into a Nazi and Cracker Barrel Into a Culture War

If you’ve ever looked at your timeline and thought “there’s no way this is real,” you’re probably right.  In this episode, Bridget and Mike speak to two data professionals about two recent reports from their companies that shed light on how bot networks attempt to hijack our online discourse: the …

Was the Taylor Swift ‘Nazi’ Controversy A Coordinated Bot Attack? EMERGENCY EPISODE!

Did you see the narrative claiming Taylor Swift is a secret “trad wife Nazi” take off across social media? In this emergency episode, we break down a new report from analytics firm Gudea that examines how this discourse spread online, the role bot networks may have played, and what it reveals about…

This Univ. of Oklahoma Essay is So Bad It Launched a Culture-War Career

In a psychology course at University of Oklahoma, junior Samantha Fulnecky was assigned to write a short essay responding to a research paper about social enforcement of gender typicality and children's mental health. Rather than engage with the assignment, she wrote a moralistic screed about demon…

Sabrina Carpenter shames Trump; ChatGPT bolstered misogynist stalker; Book festival's AI feud – NEWS ROUNDUP!

In this week's news roundup, Bridget talks with Producer Mike about all the tech news you might have missed. TRIGGER WARNING: One story is about a misogynistic podcaster who says and does some disturbing stuff. Sabrina Carpenter pushes back when the Trump admin uses one of her songs without permis…

Jeffrey Epstein's Creepy Emails with Harvard and OpenAI’s Larry Summers

The newly released Epstein emails offer a troubling look at the people who stayed in his orbit and the ways they interacted with him — including former Harvard president and influential public figure Larry Summers. You may not recognize his name immediately, but Summers has played a major role in s…

Why aren’t people boycotting Amazon like they’re boycotting Target?

Many people know about the call to boycott Target, but don't understand why Target has been specifically singled out. So we're re-airing this interview to help get everyone on the same page.  In 2020, Target loudly pledged to support Black creators and communities. Target spotlighted their product…

Soledad O'Brien Explores Stand Your Ground in Netflix True Crime Documentary The Perfect Neighbor

It’s not every day Bridget gets to talk to one of her heroes!    Soledad O’Brien has built her career on stories that hit hard and stick with you, winning multiple Emmys and Peabody awards along the way. Her work has inspired Bridget since she was a young girl, watching her coverage of the emergi…

Meg Thee Stallion fights deepfakes; Wicked's weird press; Welder’s murder highlights dangers for tradeswomen; AI fetish bear – NEWS ROUNDUP!

Bridget is joined by producer Joey Patt to cover the week's tech news that you might have missed.  Meg Thee Stallion targeted by racist, sexist deepfakes: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/megan-thee-stallion-responds-sexually-explicit-deepfake-x-rcna156424 Trump Administration planning exec…

Andrew Tate is facing sex trafficking charges. He’s getting help from the White House

Andrew Tate is back in the news. ProPublica reports that the White House may have been secretly trying to help him evade sex trafficking charges. Tate is also back on Meta platforms, all while he’s suing Meta for $50 million. Bridget revisits her conversation with Media Matters researcher Justin H…