The association representing journalists who cover the U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday condemned a new press access policy that could see reporters lose their access as early as next week. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/09/world/politics/press-us-defense-media-access/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #journalism #pressfreedom #censorship #newspapers #magazines #pentagon #petehegseth #us #donaldtrump

OCTOBER 8, 2025
MAGA’s Little Helpers: Sinclair, Nexstar and the Consolidation of Broadcast TV
PETE TUCKER

“That’s because the local ABC station in the DC area, WJLA, is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Network. And the right-wing network refused to air the Jimmy Kimmel Show! on any of its 38 ABC affiliates.”

https://fair.org/home/magas-little-helpers-sinclair-nexstar-and-the-consolidation-of-broadcast-tv/

#sinclair #media #tiktok #jimmykimmel #trump #freespeech #censorship #usa #oligarchy #autocracy #politics #press #journalism #democracy #education #antitrust

OCTOBER 8, 2025
MAGA’s Little Helpers: Sinclair, Nexstar and the Consolidation of Broadcast TV
PETE TUCKER

“That’s because the local ABC station in the DC area, WJLA, is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Network. And the right-wing network refused to air the Jimmy Kimmel Show! on any of its 38 ABC affiliates.”

https://fair.org/home/magas-little-helpers-sinclair-nexstar-and-the-consolidation-of-broadcast-tv/

#sinclair #media #tiktok #jimmykimmel #trump #freespeech #censorship #usa #oligarchy #autocracy #politics #press #journalism #democracy #education #antitrust

BANNED BOOKS WEEK
5–11 October 2025

Tom Leonard’s 1984 poetry collection INTIMATE VOICES was banned in Scotland’s Central Region school libraries. The Education Committee said

“There are some harmful words in it … Sometimes the naked truth has to be clothed”

But Leonard had anticipated this sort of reaction…

1/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

This newspaper hoarding – hung by Tom Leonard here on his bookcase – was described by the author as

“the only ‘trophy’ I ever got for my poetry that continues to give me some pleasure, when I remember it.”

3/3

https://www.tomleonard.co.uk/journal/blog-march.html

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

would thi prisoner
in thi bar
please stand

fur thi aforesaid crime
uv writn anuthir poem
awarded the certificate of safety
by thi scottish education department …

—Tom Leonard, published in GHOSTIE MEN (Galloping Dog Press, 1980)

2/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

BANNED BOOKS WEEK
5–11 October 2025

Tom Leonard’s 1984 poetry collection INTIMATE VOICES was banned in Scotland’s Central Region school libraries. The Education Committee said

“There are some harmful words in it … Sometimes the naked truth has to be clothed”

But Leonard had anticipated this sort of reaction…

1/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

Instagram has suddenly removed the account of Lebanese journalist Ghadi Francis without explanation.

The Lebanese journalist previously had over 400k followers. She is one of the most influential journalists reporting in the English language on Israel’s war on southern Lebanon.

Francis has since created a new account and goes by the following username: @ghadifranciss

#InstaGram #Lebanon #Censorship #Meta #Israel

In a move criticized by rights groups, U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will give police new powers to place limits on repeated protests, after weeks of demonstrations have strained law enforcement. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/06/world/uk-limits-protests-synagogue-attack/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #uk #terrorism #censorship #religion #israel #israelhamaswar

New rabbit hole: There's apparently been a full-blown panic among law enforcement and corrections officers about fentanyl exposure for the past 3 or more years. Large numbers of LEOs believe that merely touching fentanyl is fatal. There are multiple online videos of officers touching something confiscated in an arrest and then collapsing. There are reports of dozens of correctional officers being rushed to the ER after reportedly touching fentanyl soaked into envelopes in the mail room--one even died last year (summer 2024).

Meanwhile, there are MDs and substance use experts on record saying that literally cannot happen: nobody even gets a buzz from fentanyl by just touching it, let alone dying. There is now scholarly research documenting the widespread false beliefs about fentanyl in LEO circles, and at least one suggesting that all the incidents represent a "culture bound syndrome" in law enforcement; essentially a mass delusion, which triggers panic attacks and perhaps some hypnosis-like states of consciousness.

I haven't verified this point, yet, but I saw one online document alleging that in none of the alleged single-contact exposure reactions to fentanyl (or amphetamines, which are cited in many other incidents) has there ever been an investigation finding any drugs on the mail items, or finding that the officer's reaction really was from the drug they apparently touched. In almost all cases there is apparently no investigation at all, beyond interviewing the officers about their beliefs of what happened.

Anyway, these incidents are also being used by corrections and LE officers to justify #censorship and #torture of #prisoners.

https://evrimagaci.org/tpg/worker-dies-at-california-prison-amid-fentanyl-exposure-concerns-13173

#fentanyl #drugs #panic #prison #oppression

New rabbit hole: There's apparently been a full-blown panic among law enforcement and corrections officers about fentanyl exposure for the past 3 or more years. Large numbers of LEOs believe that merely touching fentanyl is fatal. There are multiple online videos of officers touching something confiscated in an arrest and then collapsing. There are reports of dozens of correctional officers being rushed to the ER after reportedly touching fentanyl soaked into envelopes in the mail room--one even died last year (summer 2024).

Meanwhile, there are MDs and substance use experts on record saying that literally cannot happen: nobody even gets a buzz from fentanyl by just touching it, let alone dying. There is now scholarly research documenting the widespread false beliefs about fentanyl in LEO circles, and at least one suggesting that all the incidents represent a "culture bound syndrome" in law enforcement; essentially a mass delusion, which triggers panic attacks and perhaps some hypnosis-like states of consciousness.

I haven't verified this point, yet, but I saw one online document alleging that in none of the alleged single-contact exposure reactions to fentanyl (or amphetamines, which are cited in many other incidents) has there ever been an investigation finding any drugs on the mail items, or finding that the officer's reaction really was from the drug they apparently touched. In almost all cases there is apparently no investigation at all, beyond interviewing the officers about their beliefs of what happened.

Anyway, these incidents are also being used by corrections and LE officers to justify #censorship and #torture of #prisoners.

https://evrimagaci.org/tpg/worker-dies-at-california-prison-amid-fentanyl-exposure-concerns-13173

#fentanyl #drugs #panic #prison #oppression

We're seeing requests to www.bbc.com return to normal-looking levels from Afghanistan - since about midday UTC today (1st Oct 2025).

#Afghanistan #Censorship #WebDev #InfoSec #Taliban

We're seeing requests to www.bbc.com return to normal-looking levels from Afghanistan - since about midday UTC today (1st Oct 2025).

#Afghanistan #Censorship #WebDev #InfoSec #Taliban

Imgur blocks access to UK users after [Ofcom] proposed regulatory fine | BBC News
https://alecmuffett.com/article/115312
#AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #imgur #ofcom #surveillance

What is going on in the #SDUSD ? #SanDiego #education #censorship

Afghanistan Has Been Cut Off From the Internet, Monitors Say https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/world/asia/internet-blackout-afghanistan.html #CommunicationsandMediaBlackouts #ComputersandtheInternet #Afghanistan #SocialMedia #Censorship #Taliban

What is going on in the #SDUSD ? #SanDiego #education #censorship

Disney reinstates Jimmy Kimmel after backlash over capitulation to FCC

This is a proof that boycotts matter. Make it more significant by staying unsubscribed.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/disney-abc-reinstate-jimmy-kimmel-amid-uproar-over-government-censorship/

#disney #abc #jimmykimmel #censorship

Apple TV postpones release of "The Savant" sparking criticism from star Jessica Chastain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkpgsih6Yc4

#apple #censorship #uspol

"If you care about free expression, it's not enough to ask yourself whether the government is violating the First Amendment. Any law that lets powerful people enlist the state to silence their enemies, from Scalia's changes to contract law to Clinton's changes to media ownership law, have a profound, detrimental effect on our free speech."

Another great post (read it in full) from @pluralistic.

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/22/one-throat-to-choke/#communicable-disease

#censorship #1A