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Optimi Health Appoints Melanie Pump to Board of Directors
Seasoned finance executive brings more than 25 years of leadership experience across technology, digital infrastructure, software, fintech and emerging growth companiesVANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optimi Health Corp. (NASDAQ: OPTH) (CSE: OPTI) (FSE: 8BN) ("Optimi" or the “Company"), a commercial-stage manufacturer and clinical-stage developer of regulated psychedelic drug products, today announced the appointment of Melanie Pump to its Board of Directors (the "
The Beclowning of Scott Bessent
One iron law of current politics is that nobody who associates themselves with Donald Trump emerges with a shred of credibility. For some, that’s not a big loss — it’s not as if anyone respected Pete Hegseth even before he decided that the key to military success in an age of drones and AI was more testosterone. For others, however, the costs are real. I’m old enough to remember when Marco Rubio was widely considered a reasonable, thoughtful politician. Right now, however, my candidate for the biggest loser is Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury. Bessent started out with significant reputation to lose: When Trump selected him, this was the headline in the Financial Times: Jason Furman, Barack Obama’s chief economist, described him as a “credible Treasury secretary who has a real understanding of the global economy”. But Bessent has now transformed himself into the Baghdad Bob of bonds. Three weeks ago, after intervening (for reasons that remain somewhat unclear) to support the Japanese yen, Bessent boasted about his ability to move markets and dared investors to bet against his, declaring “I am the house now.” He then tried to push long-term interest rates down, buying 30-year U.S. Treasuries in a move some have compared to paying down part of your mortgage by running up your credit card balance. Here’s how that’s going so far: To get some perspective on how high interest rates have gone, here’s a longer-term perspective: We haven’t seen interest rates this high since the fading days of the dotcom bubble. Why are interest rates hitting new records? The backdrop, as I argued in last Sunday’s primer, is the huge AI-driven investment boom; more on that next week. But the immediate cause of the latest interest rate spike was Trump’s rejection of an Iranian proposal to end the war. This rejection sent crude oil prices, which for a while had fallen considerably, shooting back up: It’s notable, by the way, that oil prices remain high even though a significant amount of oil is now being shuttled through the Strait of Hormuz by night, on smaller vessels. That’s an interesting story, which has a lot to do with the fact that oil from the Hormuz shuttle runs must be transferred to larger vessels before being shipped to markets in Europe and Asia; around 15 percent of the world’s large crude carriers are now parked off the coast of Oman, waiting to be tanked up. This is creating a shipping crunch: But that’s a topic for another day. For now, the point is that with oil still high and refined products, especially diesel, still close to record levels, inflation will remain elevated. And this in turn means that the Federal Reserve will keep short-term interest rates high, an expectation that is feeding into longer-term rates. Hence Bessent’s bond-market humiliation. The truth is that Bessent might not have been able to get interest rates down even in the best of circumstances. But he certainly won’t get anywhere as long as Trump keeps believing that he can somehow convert his Iran debacle into a triumphant victory. And Trump will keep believing that as long as he is surrounded by sycophants who tell him what he wants to hear. Sycophants like, for example, Scott Bessent, who is predicting the imminent collapse of the Iranian economy, possibly within two weeks. Bessent is right to say that the embargo on Iranian oil exports is placing the country under great economic strain. But his implicit prediction that this will quickly produce a deal that Trump can call victory looks no more plausible than his boasts about the bond market. The big question now is, why would anyone with a reputation to lose work for Donald Trump? As the beclowning of Bessent shows, joining the Trump team won’t just damage your reputation; it will utterly destroy it.
Newcastle United duo nearing returns after rejoining team training
Nico Gonzalez and Joelinton have handed Newcastle United a boost after returning to first-team training.Gonzalez missed the win over Hull City before the international break after taking a knock, whil...
Lesbian Bar Project Co-Founder: Purity Politics Could Destroy Our Remaining Spaces
Subscribe As a professional lesbian and Massachusetts native, I’ve recently been asked by a lot of folks what I think about the saga unfolding at Last Ditch. The now-viral story, first reported by The Boston Globe, centers on a Western Massachusetts lesbian bar that lifted its mask requirement for one night a week to help drum up business. The decision ignited an intra-queer controversy that has been feasted on by media outlets across the political spectrum—from the New York Post to LGBTQ Nation—and is even reportedly being eyed for a Hollywood adaptation. Apparently nothing is more entertaining than a bunch of lesbians and queers fighting with each other over KN-95s. What has been lost in all of the chatter and media coverage is the very real possibility that Last Ditch, which just opened in April 2025, will have to close its doors. The venue’s one remaining founder, Jackie Matellian, revealed in a community Zoom meeting that she’s working four jobs, is now solely responsible for the bar’s $50,000 business loan and is struggling to keep up with the bills. So as we laugh about the controversy’s similarity to a “Portlandia” skit and how one of the bar’s founders left to enroll in clown school, we forget that yet another lesbian bar is facing an existential crisis—and this time the call is coming from inside the house. In 2020, my friend Elina Street and I created The Lesbian Bar Project, an Emmy-, Webby- and GLAAD Media Award-winning docuseries and initiative that tells the stories of lesbian queer bars around the world. We were moved to act because at the time there were only an estimated 16 lesbian bars in the United States, and the pandemic threatened to bring that number down even further. There are now more sapphic bars than there were just before the pandemic—about 36 of them in total—but this is down from approximately 200 in 1980. Maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but for the millions of sapphics living in the U.S., this number is calamitous. As the world laughs at lesbians and sapphics, I want to take a second and tell you what I feel when I walk into one of these bars, which are all unique and irreplaceable in their own way: I feel seen. Sometimes I think Cubbyhole in New York City’s West Village neighborhood knew I was gay before I did. When I walked in there for the first time, before I was even out, I was transfixed by the colorful array of tchotchkes hanging from the ceiling and how the women standing next to me were completely unafraid to express their desire for one another. I knew the minute I was ready to come out, I had a home. I also felt the joy of a new couple falling in love at Seattle’s Wildrose, the quiet confidence of a short king lining up her shot at the pool table at Ginger’s in Brooklyn and the kick of cayenne pepper in Julie Mabry’s crawfish at Houston’s Pearl Bar. Subscribe Lesbian bars don’t just serve lesbians; they serve queer folks across the spectrum, including bisexual, pansexual and trans people. As Elina and I traveled across the U.S. and Europe and to parts of Latin America to document the bar owners, staff and patrons that make up the ecosystems of these spaces, we also became uniquely acquainted with the factors that threaten their existence: gentrification, wage gaps, sexism, environmental disasters, gun violence, rising insurance premiums and political administrations working to annihilate queer people and their families. Lesbian bar owners, like all leaders and entrepreneurs, are imperfect. There have been significant issues over the years at lesbian bars: employee harassment, racism, lack of accessibility, sexual assault and transphobia. All bar owners should be held accountable and should listen to their communities to evolve into safer and more equitable spaces. I also acknowledge my privilege: I am able-bodied, white, cis and from a family system that loves me for who I am. Not everyone has that. Queer people, especially trans and bisexual people, are suffering from disproportionately high levels of depression, and our mental health system isn’t equipped to support them. Immunocompromised people and long COVID are real, and many of my friends are suffering to this day. The people with the least safety net are often the ones for whom a bar closing costs the most. And yet, as we’re seeing with Last Ditch, the queer community often lashes out at each other. It’s also the mainstream media taking the internal conflict and making a mockery out of it, distracting from the real possibility that this bar could close due to financial pressures. A bar that many people loved and needed is facing extinction. Perhaps it’s safer to dissent with one another than with the larger forces trying to eradicate us, but in doing so, we risk destroying the few spaces we have left. Due to the constraints of purity politics—some in good faith, some not so much—lesbian bar owners, almost all of whom are queer women themselves, are forced to be everything for everyone, similarly to how women are forced to be everything for everyone. By asking these bars to uphold impossible standards—standards very few other third spaces are asked to consider—we all end up losing. I want to move as a community toward dialogue, compassionate dissent and collaboration to make our spaces better with the goal of keeping them OPEN and thriving, rather than destroying them from the inside with expectations that are arguably unattainable. Subscribe While I have your attention—for this fleeting second of the news cycle—may I urge us to spearhead a way to keep these small businesses afloat without attacking our own community along the way? Bar owners are left with an impasse: They want to be community-centered, but they also have to make money to keep their doors open. Sometimes they might make business decisions that don’t work for everyone—and that’s partly because different patrons have different priorities and want different things—but these owners deserve the opportunity for productive dialogue**.** We have to work with them and with each other to keep our spaces open, to keep them growing. Lesbian bars raised me into the queer woman I am today. One thing I think about as I reflect on the six years of work we’ve done to document these spaces is that shared, unspoken language I have with a stranger the moment we both walk into one of these bars: the nod, the ease, the not having to explain ourselves. I don’t want to lose that, and neither should you. If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button: Donate
Ex-Trump prosecutor Smith will tell senators he won't 'be silenced' by threats of prosecution
The former Justice Department special counsel who brought two federal indictments against President Donald Trump will tell lawmakers he “will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the Trump administration and believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before
Ex-Trump prosecutor Smith will tell senators he won't 'be silenced' by threats of prosecution
The former Justice Department special counsel who brought two federal indictments against President Donald Trump will tell lawmakers he “will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the Trump administration and believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before.
Trump denies offering Iran sanctions relief for nuclear concessions
President uses social media post to deny reports that he was willing to ease sanctions in return for ‘concrete’ steps over its nuclear program
About 8,000 lawfully present Pennsylvania immigrants face Medicaid health insurance terminations on Oct. 1
New federal Medicaid eligibility cuts for immigrants, including refugees and asylees, were passed by Congress and President Trump.
MD business leaders report AI expansion, not expected job cuts, in Moore’s office survey
Maryland business leaders expect AI to reshape jobs rather than eliminate them, a forthcoming report from the Governor’s Office of Innovation reads.
Commanders' Win vs. Seahawks Delivered Early-Season Statement Win
After an 0-2 start, the Washington Commanders needed a spark. They found it against the defending Super Bowl champions, forcing turnovers, capitalizing on Seattle's mistakes and pulling off a 33-31 statement win in their home opener.
Mexico vs. Peru 2026 livestream: How to watch International Friendly for free
Live stream all the action from the Sports Illustrated Stadium without spending anything.
Darby Fox warns of smartphone, AI dangers to youth mental health
Child and adolescent family therapist Darby Fox warns of youth mental health risks linked to early smartphone ownership and AI companionship. Fox explains studies connecting technology to higher eating disorder risks and loneliness.
Primetime Review: That’s Entertainment?
If you decide to see Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, it’s important to remember the title as you watch. Yes, this is a biopic of sorts about Chris Hansen and his work on To Catch a Predator, but it is more accurately about the quest for fame and using people’s trauma to attract ratings. True crime entertainment continues to have a prominent place in many people’s television habits, and this film asks us to examine what that means both for those whose stories have become our viewing pleasure and those of us watching. Primetime starts as Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) is told that his show, To Catch a Predator, is moving to a 9 PM spot opposite LOST. Chris and his producer, Andie (Merritt Wever), see this as an opportunity to make the program even more sensational, looking for bigger, more horrific predators. As part of their plan, they hire a young actor, Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo), to play “Decoy Dan,” the person who greets the would-be predators who were catfished by Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher). Oppenheim, along with writers Ajon Singh and Luke Dittrich, is less concerned with an accurate retelling of the show as much as they are interested in interrogating the why of it all. That decision sometimes leaves Primetime feeling less like a biopic and more like a satirical look at the nature of programming like this. Visually, the movie is impressive. Oppenheim uses light and color effectively to cast Hansen as both villain and savior. Pattinson plays Hansen in an almost comical manner, as we see him wake his two young sons to watch a clip of the show, just to brag that he was moving into a prime spot on television. Even Andie struggles to accept a “nice” job when there is so much more fame to be found producing salacious true-crime content. Wever does an excellent job showing how the hunger for fame is not just in front of the camera, but in every aspect of the production. The heart of the movie, and the standout performance, belongs to Gisondo as Dan Plum. He is someone who just wants to get enough hours to be admitted into the Screen Actors Guild, and stumbles into this job without really knowing what it is. Throughout the film, we watch him suffer one trauma after another, ending with him witnessing the suicide of a District Attorney who is about to become the next unwitting star of Hansen’s show. If there is a sympathetic character in Primetime, it is Decoy Dan, and Gisondo plays him brilliantly. If you’re a fan of programming like To Catch a Predator, then Primetime will probably make you feel uncomfortable, and I think it’s worth sitting with that feeling and examining why we turn on shows that display the worst of humanity while we judge from our couches. Yes, it is correct to want to see people who would hurt children brought to justice, but perhaps it shouldn’t be something that we watch as entertainment. Rating: 3.5/5 This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on September 25, 2026. MacGuffin or Meaning: Film & TV Reviews and Reflections is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Dietitian wins top science communicator award
A dietitian and researcher investigating the impact of plastics in our diet on health outcomes has won FameLab Australia 2026
How to watch 'Hokum': Where and when to stream one of the best horror films of 2026
Adam Scott is truly in his horror era.
What the CDC chose to highlight — and omit — in its 2025 teen health report
The CDC’s latest youth survey highlights wellness gains but quietly sidelines long‑tracked risks.
Notre Dame Opponent Preview: North Carolina Tarheels
Marcus Freeman chases a historic 5-0 start as the Irish face Bill Belichick’s revitalized squad. Explore how a high-powered offense and defensive shifts have transformed the Tar Heels.
How elite universities got tangled up in politics and petroleum
Half a century of corporate influence set the stage for Trump's attacks, a new study argues.
How elite universities got tangled up in politics and petroleum
Half a century of corporate influence set the stage for Trump's attacks on higher education, a new study argues.
The last ‘breakthrough’ devices to get special treatment from Medicare
New medical devices deemed "breakthrough" by the FDA are no longer automatically eligible for extra Medicare payments.
Liverpool star Jeremy Jacquet delivers honest verdict on France debut
Liverpool centre-back Jeremy Jacquet was not satisfied with his performance in France’s 1-0 victory at Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on Monday.The 21-year-old enjoyed a solid debut performance ...
Canada Goose Teams Up with Elixir Films and Lief Entertainment on Documentary Series Starring Ewan McGregor
The performance brand brings its legacy in exploration to the open ocean, setting sail with Ewan McGregor and his crew on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean
Morrison extends Bristol City stay until 2028
Bristol City defender Elijah Morrison signs a new deal to stay at Ashton Gate until the summer of 2028.
Public Speaking Without the Panic
Glossophobia – the fear of public speaking – is often cited as the most common fear. Here’s how I finally achieved feeling calm and confident behind a mic.
China’s Wang Yi delivers high-level warning to Japanese business delegation
The top diplomat urged Tokyo to learn from historical lessons, in highest-ranking official reception since bilateral relations soured in November.
4 Auburn Standouts Who Made the Difference Against Vanderbilt
Auburn football earned its first SEC home win in nearly two years with a 21-15 victory over Vanderbilt. Keshaun Singleton, Chas Nimrod, Xavier Atkins and Omar Mabson delivered crucial plays as Alex Golesh's Tigers improved to 3-1 ahead of a road test at Tennessee.
Children's museum emphasizing fun and science
A plan to find a permanent home for a traveling children’s museum is moving along and funds are being raised to create a permanent home for the STEM focused project,
Case Keenum Shines as Bears Dominate Eagles in Statement Win!
The Chicago Bears delivered one of their biggest performances of the young season Monday night, taking down the Philadelphia Eagles 27-7 at Soldier Field. With starting quarterback Caleb Williams sidelined by a hamstring injury, Chicago turned to veteran Case Keenum, and the longtime NFL quarterback delivered when his team needed him most. Keenum threw for…
Case Keenum puts on masterful performance with on Caleb Williams sidelines for MNF
Case Keenum put on one of his career's more masterful performances in the Chicago Bears' "Monday Night Football" win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Brad Pitt’s daughter Zahara drops his last name, keeps mom Angelina Jolie’s
The couple’s eldest daughter is their third child to make the change.
Senate passes the Protect College Sports Act
Report says there's a "0.0 percent chance" the House passes it before election day in November.
The Senate passes the Protect College Sports Act, but the bill's future is unclear
The bill's supporters, which include the NCAA, say it will tame what they call a "Wild West" era of college sports as litigation chips away at long-held rules around eligibility, transfers and pay.
NYT Strands hints, answers for September 29, 2026
Every hint, nudge and outright answer you need to complete today's NYT Strands puzzle.
How loud is too loud? Dubuque County weighs health risks of data center hum
Under the county’s moratorium timeline adopted in July, supervisors plan to complete town hall sessions in October and release an initial public draft of the data center ordinance by early November.
U.S. Bank Launches Cards to Meet Small Business Rewards Demand
U.S. Bank has launched two new small business credit cards that are designed to deliver “straight-forward rewards” on everyday business purchases, the
Andy Dalton's first pass of 2026 season was an interception
Former Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton entered the Eagles-Bears Monday Night Football game in relief of Jalen Hurts, and threw a pick in the end zone.
Chris Young to address Rangers' 'health, reliability' in offseason
The Rangers dealt with a slew of injuries to key players in 2026 and changes are coming in that department for 2027.
Could psychedelic therapy become NHS treatment for mental health?
Could hallucinogenic drugs become part of mainstream NHS care to treat depression?
Zach Charbonnet might return to practice soon
Seattle Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet, on the PUP list, is eligible to return to practice
Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce plans Women's Leadership Summit
The daylong event will feature a theme of “Bold Optimism,” the belief that change begins with the courage to imagine what is possible.
Braves Postseason eve chat and discussion: September 28
Happy Wild Card eve to all who celebrate. How are we feeling? Firstly, a hype video for you. This year’s campaign theme and accompanying hashtag? LET IT FLY. Are you hype enough yet? Let us know the creative ways you’re playing hooky with work or school for tomorrow’s 2 pm ET contest. We can write […]
Mat3ra and the University of Tsukuba’s Center for Computational Sciences Sign MoU to Expand Access to Cloud-Based Materials Modeling in Japan
Mat3ra Japan K.K., the Japan entity of Exabyte Inc., the developers of Mat3ra.com, and the Center for Computational Sciences (CCS) of the University of Tsukuba today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that establishes a framework for the use and dissemination of the Mat3ra.com computational materials platform within CCS and associated academic institutions in Japan. Under the MoU, Mat3ra provides CCS with free access to the platform for research and educational p...
Grand County Rural Health Network honors 2026 health service award recipients
Grand County Rural Health Network has named Mara Pacyga, Dr. Eliza Buyers and Hannah Wynd recipients of its 2026 Award for Excellence in Health Service, recognizing their leadership and contributions to health care access and...
[NAC] FNCS Solos Qualifiers in NA Central: Qualifier 1 Day 1 Round 1
Drop into the FNCS Solos! The competition kicks off with Round 1, featuring two three-hour sessions—Day 1 and Day 2—with up to 11 matches per session. Eligible players must rank within the top 200,000 on the overall Power Rankings Leaderboard. Players ranked in the top 2,000 may skip Round 1 and automatically qualify for Round 2; however, choosing to compete in Round 1 forfeits that automatic qualification. After both Round 1 sessions conclude, scores from Day 1 and Day 2 will be combined. The top players on the cumulative leaderboard will advance to Round 2: Top 8,000 EU; Top 4,000 NAC; and Top 2,000 OCE, ASIA, ME, BR, and NAW. Round 2 consists of one three-hour session with up to 11 matches. At the end of the session, the top 1,000 players in each region will advance to Round 3. Round 3 also features one three-hour session with up to 11 matches. In Qualifier 1, the top 100 players on the Round 3 leaderboard will advance to Fast Track. In Qualifier 2, the top 108 players will advance to Heats. Good luck and have fun!
“Yeah. I really do believe that,” he said, when asked …
“Yeah. I really do believe that,” he said, when asked …
UCF’s Scott Frost Believes Caden Piening Has NFL Potential
Caden Piening is mirroring program legends as he emerges as a cornerstone of the Knights' high-powered offensive future.
PSA: 'Avengers: Endgame Encore' features one less 'Doomsday' tease in non-IMAX theaters
Only certain "Avengers: Endgame Encore" formats will show you every "Avengers: Doomsday" tease.
Collegiate sports reform bill is expected to pass in Senate, but House is unclear
The Senate is expected to pass the Protect College Sports Act to allow the NCAA to reinstate limits on athlete transfers and eligibility, opponents say it doesn't do enough to address rising spending.
Kindle rumors: A new basic Kindle might be coming, according to leaked pictures
Amazon finally moved the power button on the Kindle.
Health policy polling shows similar feelings across party lines
New polling shows Michigan Democratic and Republican voters are not all that different when it comes to their views on health policy.
Should UNC be Three-Touchdown Home Underdogs vs. Notre Dame?
Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels face a massive test as three-score home underdogs against unbeaten Notre Dame.
Apple Releases watchOS 27.0.1 for Additional Models
After releasing watchOS 27.0.1 for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 last week to address a bug that was causing devices to restart unexpectedly, Apple has now released the update for all eligible watches, which includes Series 9 and later.
MTA axes G train shutdowns planned for December after outcry from small businesses
The dreaded December G train shutdowns have been scrapped, to the relief of business owners and residents in North Brooklyn. Long-overdue repairs initially scheduled to stretch through the end of the year have been finished ahead of schedule, according to the MTA, and though the G still needs some work, it will run like…
The annual Pumpkin Festival Pageants
The annual Pumpkin Festival Pageants were held Saturday, Sept. 26 at the DeKalb County Complex. The pageants honored the memory of Eli Harvey, the son of Chad and Kayla Harvey
AI is fueling a new battle over health care costs
The growing adoption of artificial intelligence in the health care system is creating another source of pressure on costs that are already climbing.
AI is fueling a new battle over health care costs
The growing adoption of artificial intelligence in the health care system is creating another source of pressure on costs that are already climbing.
Commanders QB Jayden Daniels traveling to London, possibly playing Colts
Jayden Daniels will return to Commanders practice this week in London, though playing prospects vs. Colts are uncertain
49ers Trade Pitch Brings Back History-Making Wide Receiver
Sports Illustrated's Grant Cohn believes the 49ers should bring back history-making wide receiver. The post 49ers Trade Pitch Brings Back History-Making Wide Receiver appeared first on HEAVY.
The Hope Gap: Why Hope Is A Business Metric, Not A Feeling
Hope isn’t a soft leadership concept. Gallup data suggests it’s a critical business metric, shaping belief, engagement, resilience and performance.
Bobby Kotick’s lawyers sent me a bad email (and later apologized)
The message I had received was unsettling—for a moment. Then it was just really confusing. Back on January 20 of this year, at 5:15pm ET, I received an email with the subject line “Legal Correspondence re Bobby Kotick.” It was from the law firm Clare Locke, a firm I’d heard had been emailing reporters in recent years about their coverage of Kotick, the former, longtime CEO of Activision Blizzard. The letter was threatening. A lawyer from the firm introduced themselves as “defamation counsel to Bobby Kotick.” They issued a “demand” that I “correct” a Game File article I’d published a week prior. The article that had irked them had been a scoop of sorts. I’d written about a a 2022 lawsuit brought by a Swedish pension fund, AP7, over Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. The suit wasn’t news, but I was first to review and report about Kotick’s extensive pushback to the fund’s claims. The pension fund’s core contention was that the sale had been rushed by Kotick to avoid the consequences of sexual misconduct scandals swirling around the company in 2021. (He’d not been accused of misconduct himself in those suits, to be clear.) As I wrote at the time, Kotick had denied the allegations of the rushed sale. Beyond that, Kotick used a December 2025 reply to the Swedish fund’s lawsuit to assign blame for those workplace scandals, the bad press and even for the AP7 lawsuit. I’d found Kotick’s arguments novel and newsworthy. Across nearly 3,000 words, I explained Kotick’s take: that a Swedish gaming company was behind the Swedish fund’s lawsuit (the Embracer group; they denied it); that the Microsoft-Activision deal was not rushed and was secured at what Kotick felt history had proven to be an optimal price for shareholders; that he believed a conspiracy of people at unions government agencies, PR firms and the media had spun up claims of widespread workplace misconduct at Activision Blizzard in 2021. The article gave context for all of this, letting readers assess the claims and weigh their credibility. As I’d later write to Kotick’s lawyers: I would be surprised if you could point to any news article about Bobby Kotick in the last five years that has spent more of its wordcount articulating his point of view. He is welcome to do an interview with Game File any time. Nonetheless, there they were in my inbox that Tuesday evening: Clare Locke, the law firm that secured a $787.5 million settlement from Fox News over false statements about voting machines. They were emailing me, threatening that failure to comply with their demand could support a claim of “actual malice,” a legal standard for libel. Unless… Unless, they said, I added a key paragraph to my article. This was a paragraph that I already knew Kotick’s lawyers had been emailing reporters about for at least a year, and it was a paragraph that was already in my article. The paragraph they wanted is from a 2023 settlement that California’s Civil Rights Department struck with Activision Blizzard. The settlement had closed a two-year-old lawsuit over alleged sexual discrimination at the game maker. The paragraph basically said that claims of systemic or widespread sexual harassment—or of execs like Kotick tolerating such behavior—had never been proven. I’d already seen proof that Kotick’s lawyers had pushed for the settlement’s language to be added to reports about 2021 sexual discrimination and misconduct lawsuits brought against Activision Blizzard by California and, separately, by the U.S. federal government (both suits were since settled). I knew that Kotick and his lawyers felt that the California settlement language should be mentioned in the same breath as references to an article he hated and denied, a November 2021 Wall Street Journal article claiming Kotick knew “for years” of sexual misconduct at Activision Blizzard. So, in the Game File article that Clare Locke emailed me about, in the interest of ensuring I was being fair and balanced regarding the person I was covering, I had already included the following excerpt from the California settlement [emphasis added in bold]: (Kotick has repeatedly pushed back against that November article in the Wall Street Journal, citing among other things, language from a court-approved consent decree as part of Activision’s 2023 $54 million settlement over the California suit. It states: “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that: there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard [or] that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned, or tolerated a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation, or discrimination.”) On the evening of January 20, I was incredulous. How do you write a four page legal threat about a week-old article and miss this? While scrambling to also make my kids dinner, I wrote a lengthy reply to Clare Locke’s lawyers, basically asking them to cool it with the threats and to start making sense. In part, I wrote: I hope you can understand why I am having trouble understanding what you’re asking for, when the statement you’re demanding to see in Game File’s article already appears in Game File’s article. Actual malice, as you know, refers to a reckless disregard for the truth. I’m not sure what your argument is when my article already states your client’s position. Here is where I should remind you, the reader, that I am an independent journalist. I publish on Substack, and have availed myself of the Substack Defender program that provides writers on the platform with legal support. But I’m no Wall Street Journal or New York Times, nor even IGN or GameSpot when it comes to such things as, well, having a legal department. There are more fun things for me to do as an independent journalist than writing back to a powerful law firm representing a very rich person. On the evening of January 20th, I was just trying to cook some pasta, broccoli and chicken nuggets for hungry twins. Nevertheless, I wrote back to them. Two hours later, I got a reply. Summarizing: A lawyer for Clare Locke said they’d “reviewed an incomplete version” of my article and they “apologize for the confusion.” (My guess: Someone didn’t read past the piece’s paywall, even though they’d had a full week to scrounge up the funds to do so. What I’d published above the paywall was balanced, as was what came after.)1 That was almost that, but something about the situation bothered me. The letter had been marked “confidential.” I hadn’t agreed to that, and I disliked the idea that powerful people on the beat that I cover would act like they could unilaterally control what I might tell my readers about. On the morning of the 21st, having already gotten the powerful law firm to back off, I oh-so-wisely re-approached them with just one more thing. I thanked them for clearing things up the night before but noted that I’d never agreed to keep their letter confidential. I’m all for agreeing with a source to keep things off the record, but that’s the thing. We have to agree. You can’t just declare it. I’m not bound by that. I wrote to Clare Locke’s lawyer and said, in part: I trust the matter is resolved. It was disappointing to have to spend less time with my kids last night in order to address your legal letter. Family time’s precious. I will add, for clarity’s sake, that, while your letter stipulated that it was confidential, I did not agree to those terms. In the future, should you wish to communicate with me confidentially, I am happy to agree to classifying our communication as “off the record” prior to the actual communication—as is standard with any professional journalist. The firm’s lawyer replied, not directly addressing the confidentiality issue but asserting that the matter was resolved. Why I didn’t write about this until now In May, I told this story on an episode of Simon Parkin’s podcast My Perfect Console, but I held off on sharing it directly with Game File readers. I held off to avoid stepping on the toes of another reporter, the journalist Mikhail Klimentov. He’d interviewed me in the spring of 2025 about an investigation he was working on regarding Bobby Kotick lawyers pressing the media to add the California settlement language to stories referencing the 2021 lawsuits. And about how some outlets had changed their stories and how some simply deleted them. Initially, I was a third-party source for Klimentov’s reporting, providing on-the-record context about the state of the games media. I’d heard about the letters but hadn’t put the time into pursuing the story. I thought it was interesting, and I was glad he was covering it. When the outlet that Klimentov was going to run his reporting in dropped the story, I began talking to him about potentially publishing his reporting on Game File. This was tentative. Then, in January, when I got my own Clare Locke letter, I told Klimentov that I didn’t think it would make sense for me to publish him, not with me now being part of the story. I had my own version of this situation to tell. But I wished him well and said I’d refrain from telling my tale until he could get his reporting out there. Last Friday, Klimentov finally ran his investigation, in a nearly 48-minute video report for People Make Games. It covers various Clare Locke letters, how media outlets reacted to them and what to make of all this. His video weighs the merits of Kotick’s request and looks at some of the articles that were changed (one of which had a glaring error). I highly recommend watching it: (Note, I did some editorial consulting for a People Make Games video last year but nothing to do with this report.) While many outlets haven’t left any public evidence that they updated their Kotick coverage at Kotick’s counsel’s request, at least one has. Back in October 2025, the mainstream outlet Reuters applied the most transparent article update I’ve seen. On the 3rd of the month, they published an article about the state of the Swedish pension fund’s lawsuit. Days later, they added this: In an October 7 letter sent after publication of this article, Kotick’s defamation counsel disputed claims of widespread harassment at Activision. “Not a single investigation, court finding, verdict, or ruling ever concluded that there was any merit” to the allegations of widespread harassment at Activision, Tom Clare and Nick Brechbill of Clare Locke wrote. I’ve never added a statement to my article on Game File, because none was needed. Not for fairness’ sake, nor to meet any demands of Kotick’s lawyers. I’ve nevertheless wanted to be transparent with Game File readers. If someone powerful is questioning my reporting, is threatening a lawsuit over it… if that threat is part of a pattern involving other games media outlets and if, in my case, the whole thing ran into a ridiculous ditch, I want you to know about it. I also share this as a real example of how I handle threats to Game File. I stand up for my own reporting, even when it’s not comfortable to do so. (In that same category of standing up for the work I do, I’ll point to an incident in late August. Asocial media post I published to X/Twitter regarding reporting I did about Take Two and GTA VI was hit by bogus copyright claim by a firm working for the publisher. I pushed back and got it reversed; even while a bigger games media outlet let themselves be censored. This is the other reason I’m sharing this story: To emphasize that dealing with threats from powerful people is one of the costs of covering the video game industry independently and as fearlessly as possible. This is where you come in. Your support, through free and paid subscriptions (sign up here!), can help me keep doing that. It can ensure that I’ve got the back-up I need. And it can help make fiascoes like this even less of a worry, so I can spend my evenings dealing with more important things, such as making sure I steam the kids’ broccoli just right. 1 That pension fund lawsuit I wrote about in January has all but gone away. In May, the fund and Activision Blizzard owner Microsoft agreed to settle. Lawyers for the fund brokered a $250 million settlement for former Activision Blizzard shareholders. In the settlement, the fund’s lawyers changed their rhetoric. Where once they’d questioned the meaning of the California settlement language, they adopted a version of it for themselves. Several weeks ago, while seeking to get a court to sign off on the terms of the settlement, they proposed their fee for their work in the case: $60 million.
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