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Chris Barton

@chrisbarton.bsky.social
259 followers 263 following 189 posts

Writer in San Francisco. Recovering ex-LATimes word person still yammering on about music, books, and whatever this is.

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Reposted by Chris Barton
Oakland Review of Books @oaklandreviewofbooks.org · 10h
You may have noticed that while the vibes in San Francisco are fucked beyond all belief, Oakland is still good and chill. We dispatched @redford.bsky.social to make sense of it. www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/the-great-vi...
oaklandreviewofbooks.org
The great vibes divergence
Why does San Francisco feel so weird during this tech boom while Oakland is more or less still Oakland?
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 27/09/2026
Every three weeks it’s like but white supremacists who mostly care about testosterone and killing minorities were supposed to fix the economy
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Oakland Review of Books @oaklandreviewofbooks.org · 16/09/2026
The Oakland designer who gave us the spinning "lol nothing matters" gif died this summer.
oaklandreviewofbooks.org
Why Cat Frazier matters
The late designer and Animated Text creator made the word go 'round.
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ACLU @aclu.org · 15/09/2026
BREAKING: The Supreme Court blocked USPS from enforcing key parts of a new rule that would've restricted mail-in voting for the November election. This is a major win for voting rights.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Shit. Cassandra Wilson.
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Andromeda @ulveheksa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Questionnaire by Wendell Berry
Questionnaire by Wendell Berry

1. How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade?
Please name your preferred poisons.

2. For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to do?
Fill in the following blanks with the names of your favorite evils and acts of hatred.

3. What sacrifices are you prepared to make for culture and civilization? Please list the monuments, shrines, and works of art you would most willingly destroy.

4. In the name of patriotism and the flag, how much of our beloved land are you willing to desecrate? List in the following spaces the mountains, rivers, towns, farms you could most readily do without.

5. State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes, the energy sources, the kinds of security, for which you would kill a child. Name, please, the children whom you would be willing to kill.
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Drew Magary @drewmagary.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Soraya has gone but of course her work lives on, here there and everywhere. Spend your day reading some of it! defector.com/author/soray...
defector.com
Soraya Roberts | Defector
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Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
LMAOOOOOOOOOO somebody finally asked the transphobes if they know any WNBA players besides and NOPE
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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Neko Case is doing very raw and very important writing about the allegations against Glen Hansard, and about how people respond to learning this information about someone they admired: open.substack.com/pub/nekocase...
open.substack.com
GARBAGE DISPOSAL
It’s been a few days since my last post about lionizing a horrible man who has died.
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Veerender Singh Jubbal @veerenderjubbal.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Sam Altman
@sama •7h
cool use case of chatgpt work i heard last night:
connect your family calendars and explain your kids' interests.
every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid's soccer game that afternoon, one kid's upcoming birthday, some news, etc.
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Alex Hirsch & AlexHirsch
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What if you just talked to your children
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This is VERY bad. Congressional investigation immediately. They’re trying to use Palantir to figure out who you voted for. 0% chance this ends well. Stop it ASAP.
axios.com
Exclusive: FBI gets voter's IP address in new fraud probe tactic
The move offers a glimpse into how authorities are now digging into voter rolls and registration practices.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This is a really wonderful piece of writing.
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Jean Hyams @mama-jean.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
"A blues rivered its way through the two of us during that drive.” Read this piece. Gratitude to author and human being Saeed Jones.
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San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 27/07/2026
The exhibition, which uses dirt from all 50 states to colorize flags, draws the curious out onto a pier at Fort Mason.
bit.ly
Here’s the dirt on S.F. exhibition: Andy Goldsworthy’s flags turn earth into art
The exhibition, which uses dirt from all 50 states to colorize flags, draws the curious out onto a pier at Fort Mason.
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Natalie Weiner @natalieweiner.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Exciting new work alert: I spoke with the inimitable @colsonwhitehead.com about his latest, COOL MACHINE, in my first piece for @defector.com! defector.com/colson-white...
defector.com
Colson Whitehead Talks About Embracing Change, Pulling Off A Heist, And Finding A Good Coffee Table | Defector
“The city was question and answer in one,” Colson Whitehead writes early on in Cool Machine, the final novel of his Harlem Trilogy. “Cause and effect and everything else, too.” You can forgive the lif...
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I don’t know, seems like England should’ve been playing teams that don’t give a shit all along.
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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
if i were a man who was, you know, normal, well i'd be mad as hell every time some guy got on a microphone to talk about what a big stupid lunkheaded alcoholic rapist i am
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 13/07/2026
With two people dead in Memphis in four days and one the same week in Houston, that's four people federal agents have shot and killed over just nine days. July 5: Tyrin Johnson July 7: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo July 8: Alfonso Ivy July 13: name not released yet
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
France is a steamroller, man.
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Rachel Holliday Smith @rachelholliday.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I'm been wondering if it would come to this and apparently it has. huge move from cloudflare, which hosts a fifth of all websites on earth.
adweek.com
Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search
The nuclear option is gaining traction as web traffic collapses and Google refuses to negotiate with content creators
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The ICE murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo deserves the same fury as Renee Good and Alex Pretti
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Ah there’s the vibes of president shitfingers coming back through.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
MALIK TILLMAN
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Goddammit!
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Genuinely one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen. Cape Verde forever.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
OH MY GOD
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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
WEAK SHIT
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Ken Tremendous @kentremendous.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
This is a very funny joke and I had a great time laughing at it!
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I hate it here.
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Rob Delaney @robdelaney.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
If you or someone in your house is not trans, the only thing you should ever think about trans kids is “How might I brighten their day should I come across one?” Beyond that, you’re a fucking weirdo who is extremely useful to nazis.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I’m pretty sure the Telemundo broadcast team traded Gladiator impressions after showing Poch so I’m never watching an English language match again.
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Kevin Foster @kevinhfoster.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Seems worth noting how no Democratic Congress member (as far as I can tell) has actively spoken out against the political persecution of the Prairieland anti-ICE protesters. It should go without saying that treating antifascism as terrorism is a serious threat to Democracy.
theguardian.com
Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison
Activists accused of being part of antifa get long prison terms in case seen as test of Trump’s crackdown on dissent
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David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Like many people who have worked in politics for decades, I am baffled and upset to see candidates who say they are going to try to make things better defeating candidates who say they are trying to make it more or less like it was in the years before things tipped over into Oaf-Style Fascism.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Everyone on the Australian side looks like they’re from San Diego.
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Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
What a difference 48 hours makes. Seems like fire season is really here. National Preparedness Level 3.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I’m watching the ENG-CRO match late, but every four years we’re reminded that there’s nothing worse than the sight of happy British people.
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McCovey Chronicles @mccoveychronicles.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
these assholes didn't deserve this many words written about them
mccoveychronicles.com
Bad and bigoted
The Giants told fans exactly who they are on Friday.
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
without birthright citizenship and help from foreigners USA is scoreless
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
What is this proper aggressive and inventive football from a US team? Where am I? What year is this?
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
My LA roots are seldom felt more acutely than while watching the Telemundo feed of a South Korea match in the World Cup.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Her Le Monde obituary at least seems to be about her as a person and an artist. How lucky we were that she gave us what she could. www.lemonde.fr/en/obituarie...
lemonde.fr
Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis,' dies at 56
The French-Iranian artist and film director 'died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,' people close to her said.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
So close: 79-3. www.82-0.com/share?id=LxL...
82-0.com
82-0
Build the ultimate NBA all-time team and see if you can go 82-0
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Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
These people are captives of a concentration camp fighting back against their heavily armed captors with only their bodies. Their heroism is extraordinary. Thank you to all of the protesters standing with and for them.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
RIP Sonny Rollins, a great jazz talent and the last surviving musician in one of the best photos of men in suits during the 20th century
The black-and-white photo A Great Day in Harlem shows 57 musicians gathered around the steps of a Harlem brownstone, while some kids sit on the curb. The photo was originally shot for an August 1958 issue of Esquire Magazine.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I think the reason I've been a little ambiently mad all day is because January 6th rioters are statistically the most likely group of pedophiles in the world and they clubbed a guy to death and they're going to be rich from the tax money that I give to the country I live in.
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
I want it on a t- shirt.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
slightly increase a band Joy Addition
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Turns out there is no bad time to listen to Prince.
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Top 15 shows ever, unranked and gut-based: Atlanta High Maintenance Twin Peaks The Kids in the Hall The State The Simpsons The Wire Reservation Dogs Insecure Cheers 30 Rock SportsNight Strangers With Candy NewsRadio Fleabag
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Chris Barton @chrisbarton.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
An American tradition like no other: texting with your educator spouse while their middle school is on lockdown for a goddamn gun threat.
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