Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 20h

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

Oct. 15, 2025
PENTAGON PRESS ASSOCIATION
STATEMENT
Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America. It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution.
The Pentagon Press Association's members are still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.
PPA

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piper @roodypatooti.bsky.social · 2d

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piper @roodypatooti.bsky.social · 2d

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Evil Orc Heart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 20h

This is a disaster.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 21h

NBC News has reportedly eliminated its NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT teams

NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams

The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

www.thewrap.com

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 20h

the president using the office to punish americans that didnt vote for him should really be one of the biggest scandals in americas history

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts.
We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump Halts Billions in Grants for Democratic Districts During Shutdown (Gift Article)

The Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion primarily located in Democratic-led districts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

www.nytimes.com

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Émi / vgen comms open! @emistarrynight.bsky.social · 21h

Almost 2 weeks left! If you got any questions you can ask on my vgen or DM me!

Émi / vgen comms open! @emistarrynight.bsky.social · Sep 6

Hello! It's been a while, but I'm bringing back Halloween icons commission on VGen! They are open until Halloween! Below are the two commissions I've done last year!

A drawing of blitzingz's character dressed up as a devil

A drawing of Rozen's character Azzy dressed up for Halloween with fake blood on the claws

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Émi / vgen comms open! @emistarrynight.bsky.social · Sep 6

Hello! It's been a while, but I'm bringing back Halloween icons commission on VGen! They are open until Halloween! Below are the two commissions I've done last year!

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Rob MacWolf, Werewolf Hitchhiker @robmacwolf.thevoice.dog · 1d

When we write or draw porn or erotica, we get banned from having a bank account and our livelihoods get seized even if we give it away for free.

When billionaires steal what we've written or drawn to churn out a slop-approximate of porn, they're allowed to charge for it.

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 2d

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

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Dieselbrain @dieselbrain.bsky.social · 2d

This is "debanking", and its a problem that has plagued sex workers for decades. It isnt right when its targetting sex workers and its not right when its targetting game devs and creators either.

Give paypros and your givt reps your grievances and demand that debanking of adult content stop

Ana Valens | 🔞 | Comms Open @acvalens.net · 2d

Per Reddit: Steam adult developer in the UK is sitting on a USD equivalent of six figures, can’t find a bank to take his money because the developer creates adult games

www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonal...

r/UKPersonalFinance
3 hr. ago
Previous-Camera1641

I develop adult video games on Steam. I can't find a bank that will actually let me withdraw my money from Steam. Can I get some advice?
Game has sold quite well on Steam. I've got almost £90,000 ready to withdraw after Steam's cut + VAT taken off.

However, it's been 2 months now and I can't find ANY bank in the UK who will let me withdraw my money from Steam.

I've been banned/refused/unable to get a business account with:

Wise
Revolut
Monzo
Monese
Chase
Starling
Nationwide
Halifax
Barclays
Lloyds
RBS

It always comes down to, "Where did you get this money from?"

"It's coming from games I sell on Steam."

"Can we see the store page?"

"Sure."

"I'm sorry, we can't do business with you at this time."

It keeps coming down to a commercial decision purely because I make adult content.

What the hell am I supposed to do? I've pretty much exhausted the whole banking system. I just want to be able to be paid for products I've sold.

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Cab @cabfolio.com · 2d

Hello #PortfolioDay! My name is Cab I'm a Montreal illustrator. Right now I'm inking and lettering a sci-fi comic called Pupilles in between various freelance gigs. I also write a nice little newsletter once a month, full of art and cool things :)

🏠 cabfolio.com
✉️ buttondown.com/Cabtastic

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Jessica @yamadoll.kawaii.social · 2d

this would have went so hard as a forum signature banner in 2004...

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they/them might be giants ☭ @babadookspinoza.bsky.social · 2d

“Israeli” ceasefires only ever apply to the other party. They’ll continue to kill whomever they want, whenever they want until they are stopped. They see themselves as occupying an altogether different moral plane than their enemies, like any colonizer.

Tweet from Quds News Network @QudsNen
BREAKING: Three Palestinians were killed after Israeli quadcopter drones opened fire on residents inspecting their homes in the Shujaiyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

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Wanderjegson @wanderjegson.bsky.social · 2d

Imagining Jack Frost, Pikachu, and Agumon having a conversation

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Dr. Ayla 🍉 @draylasays.bsky.social · 3d

This is what it’s like to be Palestinian: Israel threatening you with “severe consequences” if you express any joy at the homecoming of your loved ones from captivity in Israeli prisons, where they’ve been tortured for decades.

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 3d

While Israelis celebrated the return of captives from Gaza, Israel warned Palestinian families against holding celebrations over the return of prisoners – some who had been held for decades. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh explains.

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 2d

"Help us locate and commemorate our children who died while being forced by the government to attend boarding schools."

Dear white people: Here’s how to honor Native Americans

Help us locate and commemorate our children who died while being forced by the government to attend boarding schools.

www.motherjones.com

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Saki 🦄🪶✦Fae NTVtuber✦【NTVN】【V-Chunky】 @nightmaresakito.bsky.social · 6d

A beautiful native woman flipping the bird in response to Monday, Oct. 13th, Columbus Day. “Fuck Christopher Columbus.” Happy Indigenous People’s Day!

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M1NX 💾 ON VGEN ‼️ @minisoftm1nx.bsky.social · 3d

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!! ❤️

If you're able, consider supporting a Chickasaw/Nahua creator! I am disabled, my job cut my hours in half and I've been struggling overall lately ;w; Sharing also helps a ton!

vgen.co/MinisoftM1NX
ko-fi.com/minisoftm1nx
www.twitch.tv/minisoftm1nx

MinisoftM1NX (@MinisoftM1NX)

Check out MinisoftM1NX's commissions and portfolio! | Welcome to my VGen page! My name is Sadie (she/he), also known as MinisoftM1NX on Twitch. I stream games, art, and more! ...

vgen.co

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George Gantsoudes @pedsortho.bsky.social · 3d

Please remember that the disgust people have over Christopher Columbus is not based on some modern, 21st century “woke” ideology, but rather on contemporaneous accounts of atrocities that make many modern genocides appear quaint in comparison.

Below, are the accounts of Bartlomé de las Casas.

But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had in-vested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.

After each six or eight months' work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died.
While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.
Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides... they ceased to pro-create. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and fam-ished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desper-ation.... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk ... and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fer-tile... was depopulated... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write....

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 3d

Front page of Scottish newspaper The National today.

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piper @roodypatooti.bsky.social · Aug 26

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Émi / vgen comms open! @emistarrynight.bsky.social · 7d

teehee i wanna hop in too-

white text on black background all in caps "what is your favorite character created by this artist?"

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Dicefunctional | TTRPG Nerds, Actual Plays, and Streamers | 🦀 @dicefunctional.bsky.social · 7d

This is a great time to remind everyone that you should in fact, still be calling MasterCard, Visa, Stripe, and other payment processors to annoy the shit out of them.

Because I'll tell you right now, that shitheel? Not gonna have to worry about them accepting payment.

*Artists will.*

Phone Numbers
• Stripe (California): +1 888 926 2289 (Say you're based in California before continuing.)
• Stripe (Headquarters): +1 (888) 963-8955
• Stripe (US): +1 (877) 887-7815
• Stripe (France): +33 805-11-19-67
Mastercard (Headquarters): +1 914-249-2000 • Mastercard (US): +1 (800)-627-8372
Mastercard (US): +1 (800)-307-7309
• Mastercard (Int.): +1 (636)-722-7111
• Mastercard (AUS): +61 1800 120 113
• Mastercard (UK): 0-800-96-4767
All region numbers for Mastercard Visa (Headquarters): +1 (650)-432-3200
• Visa (US+ Can): +1 (800)-847-2911
• Visa (AUS): +61 1800 125 440 All region numbers for Visa
• PayPal (US): +1 (888)-221-1161
• PayPal (UK): +44 (0203)-901-7000
PayPal Customer Service: +1 (877)-569-1116

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Ferio - PRGE #1608 @feriowind.bsky.social · 4d

black materia...

#art #finalfantasyVII

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Ankle-biting Meerkat @techk.at · 7d

Not sure if many know, but considering it is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, this might just feel fitting.

If you ever come across a website that does a CloudFlare security prompt, and it asks you to "copy" something - DON'T. This is an attempt to get you to run malware. It's becoming more common.

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Dieselbrain @dieselbrain.bsky.social · 3d

Chat control's vote has been shelved for now, but the EU is still very intent on driving through this kind of legislation in the future if they can

If youre an EU resident, you need to contact your MPs and MEPs regularly and demand this be OPPOSED

🔞OnyxNuva🔞 @onyxnuva.bsky.social · 4d

Hey EU Citizens.

Between #savespeech and #fightchatcontrol, the current EU wants to STILL push to "protect the kids" in their own invasive way.

For as long as it lasts, they will keep pushing till they get what they want: control of you

danish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/eu-m...

EU ministers united: Minors must be protected better online

EU digital ministers have concluded two days of discussions on how to better protect minors online. The meeting resulted in a joint ministerial declaration on the need for further EU measures in the c...

danish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu

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