Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sarah O

Jon Murray @jonmurraydp.bsky.social · 4h

New: Billionaire Michael Bloomberg gives $1.5 million to help save Denver's flavored tobacco ban in election www.denverpost.com/2025/10/08/m... via @elliottwenzler.bsky.social

Michael Bloomberg gives $1.5 million to help save Denver’s flavored tobacco ban in election

During the last campaign finance reports in September, opponents of Denver’s ban had far outraised supporters. Bloomberg’s donation significantly shifts the dynamics of the ballot election.

www.denverpost.com

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 7h

Most of the time, ChatGPT is just burning the planet a little more slowly than it did in this case.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 7h

The suspect accused of igniting the fire that destroyed LA's Pacific Palisades neighborhood allegedly used a ChatGPT prompt to show "a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it," months prior, officials say

Man arrested, faces federal charge in connection with Palisades Fire: DOJ

The fire caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year.

abcnews.go.com

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 7h

Drunk sounding dinosaur costumed lounge act singing Tears for Fears and he brought a Subway sandwich with him

Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 8h

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 7h

And then there is my current era: restaurant pirate.

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 7h

Then came the "oops, I had twins, one of them is disabled, I almost died in childbirth, found out I have a heart defect, went through a mental health crisis, and academia didn't give a single fuck" era in which I was a SAHM and sorta-kinda writer. That one lasted a decade.

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 7h

Joked with a guest last night (who was shocked that I have teenage kids) that I am currently on like my third life. There was the "gonna be an English Professor" era of grad school and working as an admin assistant.

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 7h

You might be an English major if you see this person's name and are like "Aphra Behn?"

Democrats @democrats.org · 8h

Aftyn Behn will fight to lower costs for working Tennessee families and stand up for the people of the 7th congressional district.

Onward to the special election on December 2!

Graphic featuring Democrat Aftyn Behn with the following text:

BREAKING

Aftyn Behn wins Democratic nomination for Tennessee's 7th congressional district

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

This guy also won me over because he was like "I've been in twice as a guest, you took care of us both times, and I could tell that you really love this place."

Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Shoutout to the stagiere last night who was like: "do y'all have bees?"
Poor guy is ALLERGIC and spent his summer working at an outdoor bar where bees were a real problem.
Unfortunately we were like yeah, we can't open these big nice windows for most of the summer because of WASPS.

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Before we changed our salad, we used to have blue cheese dressing and I used to joke with guests that I could chuck a spoonful of that into their martini if they really wanted (no one took me up on that)

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

(I fucking love blue cheese. I even like blue cheese olives! But putting blue cheese olives in a martini is gross to me. While I love to see some expressed lemon oil on top of my martini, the fat globs from the blue cheese olives make me wanna barf. That's my truth!)

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Free leftist podcast name idea: Pinko and The Brain.

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 8h

since we are basically bringing back the red scare anyway i would like to also bring back ‘pinko’ as a slur for communist. maybe some extremely blue-for-blue’s-sake comedy routines where the comic gets arrested too. like let’s try and have a little fun while we’re getting immiserated

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Literally had a guest choose not to drink at all yesterday because the only thing she wanted from our bar was a blue cheese olive martini and we do not stock blue cheese olives. (We are tiny, we only have castelvetranos.) My martini: 3:1 gin, with a twist, olives on the side.

Jaya Saxena @jayasaxena.com · 8h

"Am I wrong not to want to brace? I am braced all day. I want to unclench. I want to slip into something comfortable." slate.com/life/2025/10...

It’s the Quickest Way to Ruin a Great Cocktail. Thankfully, Bartenders Are Finally Cutting It Off.

The era of bracing bravado is coming to an end.

slate.com

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

I want a notification of which post exactly someone hit the "follow" button on.

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Also the arc of my life on social media goes back to like, chat function in a webgames for middle school girls site (Purple Moon!) and AIM to forums to the Gawker/Jezebel comments to Wordpress blogging to Twitter/Facebook/Instagram and all the way here to Bluesky. Microblogging is the life for me.

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Presbyterian Outlook @presoutlook.bsky.social · 8h

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and partners offer a summit on incarceration

The half-day webinar focuses on ministering to and advocating for people in prison.

@pcusa.bsky.social

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and partners offer a summit on incarceration

The half-day webinar focuses on ministering to and advocating for people in prison.

buff.ly

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Made a lot of friends online that I am still friends with truly in some cases 20+ years later. Many became IRL friends (Little Rock Tweetups, RIP!) Have gotten jobs and housing. Had a briefly successful internet writing career that landed me on NPR and Nightline (not Dateline, Nightline). Learned!

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 19h

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

And then there's still the rabid core of fans who insist that any criticism of their favorite billionaire is antifeminist even when her newest album is just absolute whack shit.

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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 9h

Mike Johnson’s position is young pregnant American women shouldn’t have to wait before being turned away to die in the parking lot from an ectopic pregnancy the hospital is afraid to treat

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

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Ol' Chef Dan @olchefdan.bsky.social · 9h

Owner/Chef/Sommelier

We Call Them Water Dudes @jurisdudence.bsky.social · 10h

Corporate/ personal injury /criminal defense

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

Shoutout to the stagiere last night who was like: "do y'all have bees?"
Poor guy is ALLERGIC and spent his summer working at an outdoor bar where bees were a real problem.
Unfortunately we were like yeah, we can't open these big nice windows for most of the summer because of WASPS.

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 8h

And yet the surveillance state is using shit like Flock cameras to surveil both the young pregnant woman in need of emergency ER care like miscarriage management or abortion AND the immigrant from South America, and none of us can afford our care, and the GOP wants to raise everyone's premiums.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

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Sarah O @erniebufflo.bsky.social · 9h

They're repaving our street today so maybe the month+ saga of work on the water mains is coming to an end? Maybe? True to form, Jon got home before 8 this morning from his nigh shift, asked if we'd still be able to exit at 9, they said sure, we're starting at the far end. They started on our end.

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Denver Area Man @burleyzack.bsky.social · 10h

Turns out that whole slavery thing, not a settled issue

coloradonewsline.com/2025/10/07/c...

Colorado trial over coerced prison labor begins in Denver | Colorado Newsline

The lawsuit alleges Colorado prisons violate the law by punishing incarcerated people who refuse to participate in mandatory work programs.

coloradonewsline.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23h

thank you brett kavanaugh!

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 23h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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