Phil Free
@philfree.bsky.social
📤 934
📥 890
📝 10535
Politics, economics, planet - I live in Essex, UK.
The Holy Grail of Science
rwer.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/t...
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The Holy Grail of Science
from Lars Syll Traditionally, philosophers have focused mostly on the logical template of inference. The paradigm-case has been deductive inference, which is topic-neutral and context-insensitive. …
https://rwer.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/the-holy-grail-of-science/
about 2 hours ago
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The precariat election: Ignoring class & insecurity imperils Labour
www.opendemocracy.net/the-precaria...
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The precariat election: Ignoring class and insecurity imperils Labour
A fractured ‘dangerous class’ has spoken. If Labour cannot offer them real security, the damage may be permanent
https://www.opendemocracy.net/the-precariat-election-ignoring-class-and-insecurity-imperils-labour/
about 2 hours ago
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“The columnist’s art is a cold & opportunistic one. She writes of the Nowak family’s ‘dignity & restraint’ & then casts all thoughts of following their example to one side.” Trading dog whistles for klaxons -
@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...
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Trading dog whistles for klaxons
Right-wing columnists and politicians are exploiting the murder of Henry Nowak, turning him into a symbol to serve their grim ambitions.
https://open.substack.com/pub/brokenbottleboy/p/trading-dog-whistles-for-klaxons?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
about 3 hours ago
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“Many of the New Right see Israel as performing the role the British military governor of Palestine, Ronald Storrs, envisioned for it: ‘loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism’.” The Worst of All Possible Worlds -
@lioneltrolling.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/johnganz...
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The Worst of All Possible Worlds
The Nationalist Embrace of Israel
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnganz/p/the-worst-of-all-possible-worlds?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
about 3 hours ago
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“The reflexive demonisation of China serves to normalise American exceptionalism, making it appear neutral, inevitable & righteous. Gramsci reminds us that these narratives are neither neutral nor inevitable—they are constructed, contested & can be changed.”
www.theglobalcurrents.com/p/when-hegem...
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When hegemony masquerades as “common sense”: the US narrative war on China
US discourse casts China as a villain to sustain its global dominance
https://www.theglobalcurrents.com/p/when-hegemony-masquerades-as-common?r=da5yr
about 3 hours ago
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“Capitalism is a parasite that jumps from host to host, taking control & swaying the host to act in capitalist interests, until those interests completely sever from the host altogether.” A Crisis of Meaning & Purpose: There's No Such Thing As Society
open.substack.com/pub/jaredyat...
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A Crisis of Meaning and Purpose: There's No Such Thing As Society
A Crisis of Meaning and Purpose Part I: The individualization of society through capitalism created a vast and seemingly inescapable loneliness
https://open.substack.com/pub/jaredyatessexton/p/a-crisis-of-meaning-and-purpose-theres?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
about 4 hours ago
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Data Center Developers Want to Build Their Own Power Plants. How Many Actually Will?
open.substack.com/pub/michaelt...
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Data Center Developers Want to Build Their Own Power Plants. How Many Actually Will?
Trying to separate hype from reality when it comes to behind-the-meter data centers
https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelthomaswrites/p/data-center-developers-want-to-build?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
about 5 hours ago
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Where Did the 40,000 Iran Protests Death Toll Number Come From?
open.substack.com/pub/zeteo/p/...
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Where Did the 40,000 Iran Protests Death Toll Number Come From?
An in-depth look at the numbers and why the reliance on them by Donald Trump and some media could ultimately undermine accountability for the extreme violence that took place.
https://open.substack.com/pub/zeteo/p/where-did-the-40000-iran-protests?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
about 5 hours ago
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Rethinking self-importance in a time of social & ecological collapse
countercurrents.org/2026/04/reth...
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Rethinking self-importance in a time of social and ecological collapse | Countercurrents
There is a direct line that runs through human history, connecting unchecked self-importance to elitism, domination, and the worst of brutalities. Can it really be that simple?
https://countercurrents.org/2026/04/rethinking-self-importance-in-a-time-of-social-and-ecological-collapse/
about 7 hours ago
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‘An equal & habitable world is possible’
#PostCapitalism
#Degrowth
#PostGrowth
#Sufficiency
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
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‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival
Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/world-inequality-lab-equality-academics-planetary-survival
about 11 hours ago
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Waste Not
life-in-the-21st-century.ghost.io/waste-not/
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Waste Not
Life in the 21st Century is reader supported, please subscribe to make sustainable: Long ago, I came across an idea attributed to Gandhi that there was no such thing as waste only misplaced matter. W...
https://life-in-the-21st-century.ghost.io/waste-not/
about 21 hours ago
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Ivanka discovers a New Land.
open.substack.com/pub/tanag/p/...
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Ivanka discovers a New Land.
In a different world, Ivanka Trump would be Lady Diana-ing all over the place to whitewash the horrors perpetrated by her father.
https://open.substack.com/pub/tanag/p/ivanka-discovers-a-new-land?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
about 21 hours ago
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Israel moves to annex Palestinian historical sites in the West Bank
mondoweiss.net/2026/05/isra...
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Israel moves to annex Palestinian historical sites in the West Bank
The Israeli Knesset is considering a bill that would place Palestinian historical sites in the West Bank under direct Israeli civil law, stripping them of their protected status under international la...
https://mondoweiss.net/2026/05/israel-moves-to-annex-palestinian-historical-sites-in-the-west-bank/
about 22 hours ago
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A Low-Income Housing Program Is Pouring Billions Into Housing Many People Can’t Afford
www.propublica.org/article/low-...
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A Low-Income Housing Program Is Pouring Billions Into Housing Many People Can’t Afford
The federal tax credit provides up to $15 billion in subsidies a year to help developers build apartments. It’s created housing that’s often no more affordable than the market rate.
https://www.propublica.org/article/low-income-housing-tax-credit-portland
about 22 hours ago
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“However, the biggest cost is the prediction that an additional 330,000 people in the UK could die by 2036 because of the deal drawing much needed money away from other parts of the NHS.” At the Mercy of Big Pharma
www.truthdig.com/articles/at-...
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'Pharma Monopoly' Details Why Trump’s Claims About Tackling the Prescription Drug Price Crisis Are Bogus
A new book explains why drugs cost so much in the United States — and why Trump’s claims about addressing the crisis are bogus.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/at-the-mercy-of-big-pharma/
about 22 hours ago
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Capitalism Was Built on the Ruins of the Commons
jacobin.com/2026/05/comm...
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Capitalism Was Built on the Ruins of the Commons
The Industrial Revolution’s chief product was not goods but a new class of laborers who owned nothing and worked to survive. Historian Peter Linebaugh traces the creation of this working class through...
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/commons-enclosure-working-class-history
about 23 hours ago
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Deregulation Will Make Europe Poorer, Not Stronger
www.socialeurope.eu/deregulation...
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Deregulation Will Make Europe Poorer, Not Stronger
Three former European Commissioners warn that scrapping social protections in pursuit of competitiveness will leave the Union weaker, not stronger.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/deregulation-will-make-europe-poorer-not-stronger
1 day ago
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The War on Abstraction (Part IV): The Golden Cage
open.substack.com/pub/theuaob/...
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The War on Abstraction (Part IV): The Golden Cage
How the Amiga’s Brilliance Became Its Trap
https://open.substack.com/pub/theuaob/p/the-war-on-abstraction-part-iv-the?r=da5yr
1 day ago
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“It’s a way of saying, ‘this is bollocks, but I’m sure it’s bollocks that you, the reader, will be happy to accept as basically true’.” Desert Island Dickhead -
@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...
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Desert Island Dickhead
A single source in as yet unpublished biography written by a retired Tory peer starts a debate about Nigel Farage being banned from the BBC's Desert Island Discs.
https://open.substack.com/pub/brokenbottleboy/p/desert-island-dickhead?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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The Mysticism & Ecological Sensibility of John Moriarty
open.substack.com/pub/backloop...
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The Mysticism and Ecological Sensibility of John Moriarty
By Anthony Behan
https://open.substack.com/pub/backloop/p/the-mysticism-and-ecological-sensibility?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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Hondurasgate: Key Leaked Audio Files, Revealing U.S. Intervention in Honduras, Found Authentic "With Moderate Confidence"
open.substack.com/pub/dropsite...
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Hondurasgate: Key Leaked Audio Files, Revealing U.S. Intervention in Honduras, Found Authentic "With Moderate Confidence"
Analysis by Earshot found that three leaked Hondurasgate audio files, revealing a complex plot by Washington to sideline leftist governments in Mexico and Colombia, are likely to be authentic.
https://open.substack.com/pub/dropsitenews/p/hondurasgate-leaked-audio-files-juan-orlando-hernandez-likely-authentic?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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Getting Yelled at By Dumbasses
open.substack.com/pub/howthing...
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Getting Yelled at By Dumbasses
The defining experience of fascism.
https://open.substack.com/pub/howthingswork/p/getting-yelled-at-by-dumbasses?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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“In short, it’s a great time to be a capitalist & a shitty time to be a worker. If you rely more on wages for your income than wealth, you’re pretty scared for the future.” Why are Workers so Scared for the Future? -
@graceblakeley.substack.com
open.substack.com/pub/gracebla...
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Why are Workers so Scared for the Future?
In both the US and the UK, workers have been left out of the post-pandemic economic bonanza - and they know things are about to get worse.
https://open.substack.com/pub/graceblakeley/p/why-are-workers-so-scared-for-the?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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“Do the rioters really want the ‘racist police’ to treat them like the police treat Black & Asian people? I’m not sure they’d actually like the reality of that very much.” Nigel Farage got the "rage" he was demanding -
@anotherangryvoice.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/anothera...
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Nigel Farage got the "rage" he was demanding
Nigel Farage demanded "rage" and then the rioting broke out
https://open.substack.com/pub/anotherangryvoice/p/nigel-farage-got-the-rage-he-was?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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You have 100 'energy slaves'
open.substack.com/pub/theclima...
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You have 100 'energy slaves'
They pump your water, toast your bread, and move your car: Understanding the 'embedded energy' that powers our modern lives.
https://open.substack.com/pub/theclimatebrink/p/you-have-100-energy-slaves?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
1 day ago
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“If the economy is embedded in the biosphere, its scale cannot expand without limit. Eventually the costs of growth exceed its benefits. Ignoring this truth does not remove the constraint; it simply delays when ecological limits assert themselves.”
#degrowth
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/04...
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Economic questions: the Herman Daly question
This is one of a series of posts that will ask what the most pertinent question raised by a prominent influencer of political economy might have been and what its relevance is today. A list of all pos...
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/04/07/economic-questions-the-herman-daly-question/
1 day ago
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Renewing Dependency Theory: The Case of Walter Rodney
developingeconomics.org/2025/04/28/r...
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Renewing Dependency Theory: The Case of Walter Rodney
The failure of mainstream development policy to deliver on the promise of eradicating global poverty is increasingly difficult to deny (World Bank 2024). As a result, theories of global development…
https://developingeconomics.org/2025/04/28/renewing-dependency-theory-the-case-of-walter-rodney/
1 day ago
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“Walter Benjamin’s motto comes to mind: for every beggar, there is a myth. The toddler in rags is the other side of the religion of capital: a life reduced, exposed, & dispossessed so that the implosive systemic conditions that produced it can be extended.”
open.substack.com/pub/savagemi...
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When Images Judge Us
What a Viral Video Reveals About Our Civilisation's Moral Collapse
https://open.substack.com/pub/savageminds/p/when-images-judge-us?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
2 days ago
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Israel’s Gaza offshore gas plans condemned as illegal resource grab
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels...
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Israel’s Gaza offshore gas plans condemned as illegal resource grab
Rights groups say exploration licences violate Palestinian sovereignty, while environmental advocates warn of risks
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-gaza-offshore-gas-plans-condemned-illegal-resource-grab
2 days ago
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'I feel like I lost my life': Gaza amputees fight for mobility amid shortages
www.middleeasteye.net/news/i-feel-...
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'I feel like I lost my life': Gaza amputees fight for mobility amid shortages
Survivors of Israeli strikes face a severe shortage of prosthetics and rehabilitation as Gaza's health system struggles under siege
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/i-feel-i-lost-my-life-gaza-amputees-fight-mobility-amid-shortages
2 days ago
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reposted by
Phil Free
Nina
2 days ago
Heard on norwegian radio today: "The effect of PFAS on humans may have been underestimated."
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DOJ Just Shut Disabled People Out of Essential Online Services for Another Year
truthout.org/articles/doj...
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DOJ Just Shut Disabled People Out of Essential Online Services for Another Year
Disability rights advocates say everything from filing for unemployment to voting in the midterms just got much harder.
https://truthout.org/articles/doj-just-shut-disabled-people-out-of-essential-online-services-for-another-year/?utm_campaign=Truthout+Share+Buttons
2 days ago
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Trump’s EPA Rolls Back Protections Against PFAS in Drinking Water
truthout.org/articles/tru...
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Trump’s EPA Rolls Back Protections Against PFAS in Drinking Water
Years of testing and research have shown the cancer-linked chemicals to be widespread in drinking water in the US.
https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-epa-rolls-back-protections-against-pfas-in-drinking-water/?utm_campaign=Truthout+Share+Buttons
2 days ago
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Increased Tax Refunds Have Been Eaten Up by Iran War Price Spikes, Experts Say
truthout.org/articles/inc...
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Increased Tax Refunds Have Been Eaten Up by Iran War Price Spikes, Experts Say
Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” aimed to stimulate spending with bigger refunds, but inflation has swallowed the benefits.
https://truthout.org/articles/increased-tax-refunds-have-been-eaten-up-by-iran-war-price-spikes-experts-say/?utm_campaign=Truthout+Share+Buttons
2 days ago
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Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad & Sad
jacobin.com/2026/05/saad...
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Gad Saad Is Very Mad That His Books Are Bad and Sad
Gad Saad is a staple of the anti-woke dark web. But his new book, Suicidal Empathy, is proof that the supposedly “intellectual” wing of the New Right is running on fumes.
https://jacobin.com/2026/05/saad-empathy-conservatism-book-review
2 days ago
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Naming & Shaming Food Barons: A Q&A with Austin Frerick
inequality.org/article/food...
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Naming and Shaming Food Barons: A Q&A with Austin Frerick
Corporate consolidation in America’s food industry is making food more expensive and worse. What can we do about it?
https://inequality.org/article/food-barons-q-and-a/
2 days ago
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Family Economics
tribunemag.co.uk/2026/05/fami...
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Family Economics
Director Jim Jarmusch’s new film questions the purpose of the modern family, exploring economic dependency across generations amid widespread financial pressures.
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2026/05/family-economics
2 days ago
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“On March 4, Yazan’s body could no longer endure. He died quietly at home, in the arms of those who loved him. His short life ended not because of his condition, but because Israel denied Yazan what he needed to survive.” Life in Gaza
palestinenexus.com/articles/cer...
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Life in Gaza for children with Cerebral Palsy — Palestine Nexus
When the war forced our family to flee from Al-twam in northern Gaza to Khanyounis in the south, I carried him on my shoulders and walked over 13 kilometers, under bombing, fear, and thirst…”
https://palestinenexus.com/articles/cerebral-palsy
2 days ago
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The Entropy of Empire
open.substack.com/pub/thecompl...
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The Entropy of Empire: Viewing the Trump Administration's Attacks on the DOJ Through the Lens of Dissipative Systems
The Hidden Physics of Power: Why Norm-Shattering in DC is a Symptom, Not the Disease
https://open.substack.com/pub/thecomplexnow/p/the-entropy-of-empire-viewing-the?r=da5yr
2 days ago
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Speculations on Consciousness
open.substack.com/pub/towardse...
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Speculations on Consciousness
Our lives are full of experiences that should not be possible. What if we took them seriously?
https://open.substack.com/pub/towardseudaemonia/p/speculations-on-consciousness?r=da5yr
2 days ago
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“The only time they mention everyday people is to say that they must ‘inspire’ us. Not listen to us, but to help us see what the elite Abundists have decided is in our best interests.” “Abundance" Turns One — & Ezra Klein Still Doesn't Have An Answer
open.substack.com/pub/joewrote...
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"Abundance" Turns One — And Ezra Klein Still Doesn't Have An Answer
The Abundance authors look back on their movement. They still fail to recognize the power of capital is preventing the better world they seek.
https://open.substack.com/pub/joewrote/p/abundance-turns-one-and-ezra-klein?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
2 days ago
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How lawyers to the super-rich strangled Labour's Slapp bill
open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
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How lawyers to the super-rich strangled Labour's Slapp bill
Exclusive: A discreet lobbying campaign by lawyers who have acted for oligarchs and the super-rich told government that reforming England's libel laws was too difficult.
https://open.substack.com/pub/democracyforsale/p/how-lawyers-to-the-super-rich-strangled?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
2 days ago
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Oil worker says fracking waste eroded his jaw
open.substack.com/pub/heated/p...
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Oil worker says fracking waste eroded his jaw
An elementary school was built atop the site where the radioactive waste was spread, journalist Saul Elbein reports.
https://open.substack.com/pub/heated/p/oil-worker-says-fracking-waste-eroded?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
2 days ago
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Pesticide lobby instrumentalising farmer protests in its attack on EU health regulations
corporateeurope.org/en/2025/12/p...
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Pesticide lobby instrumentalising farmer protests in its attack on EU health regulations | Corporate Europe Observatory
The pesticide lobby is opportunistically planning to use farmers’ protests, in order to create political momentum to slash EU safety rules for its products. But the free trade deal EU-Mercosur that is...
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/12/pesticide-lobby-instrumentalising-farmer-protests-its-attack-eu-health-regulations-0
2 days ago
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Narratives of Disruptive Economic Change: Claiming & Contesting the Social Order
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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Narratives of Disruptive Economic Change: Claiming and Contesting the Social Order - Till Hilmar, 2025
This article develops an analytic framework composed of six narrative forms through which disruptive economic change is interpreted and legitimized. Drawing on ...
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07352751251362172
2 days ago
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“Free market fatalism requires a belief in economics as a simple set of laws - rather than a complex, contested, often inexact science… As the late Samuel Brittan, one of the Financial Times’ most worldly commentators, once said: ‘All economics is a construct’.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Despite what the UK right will tell you, appeasing bond markets has actually led to instability | Andy Beckett
Austerity has benefitted bond traders but impoverished UK society and led to the rise of populism. Is it right that we carry on adhering to their interests, asks Guardian columnist Andy Beckett
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/02/uk-right-bond-markets-instability-austerity-populism
2 days ago
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“Tony Blair is the personification of everything that is & was wrong with British politics, an unwanted revenant, a harbinger of a cancelled future. That he is lauded as a man of common sense—the dreaded adults back in the room—is just a sign of how broken we are.”
open.substack.com/pub/fiftysix...
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Heat Waves
The sound outside changes as the heat rises.
https://open.substack.com/pub/fiftysixdegreesnorth/p/heat-waves?r=da5yr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
3 days ago
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Israel is reviving a 58-year-old government order to seize vital Palestinian properties in Jerusalem
mondoweiss.net/2026/05/isra...
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Israel is reviving a 58-year-old government order to seize vital Palestinian properties in Jerusalem
Israel is reviving an obscure 1968 government order to unilaterally seize some 50 properties directly adjacent to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Residents say the move is an effort to remove Palestinian...
https://mondoweiss.net/2026/05/israel-is-reviving-a-58-year-old-government-order-to-seize-vital-palestinian-properties-in-jerusalem/
3 days ago
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Palantir Gets an Initial $3.9 Million to Spy on Federal Workers
prospect.org/2026/05/18/p...
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Palantir Gets an Initial $3.9 Million to Spy on Federal Workers - The American Prospect
The contract kicks off a Trump administration plan to track workers at the Social Security Administration and Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs.
https://prospect.org/2026/05/18/palantir-federal-workers-surveillance-usda-social-security-veterans-affairs/
3 days ago
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How CEOs Use a ‘Neutral’ Legislature Group to Indoctrinate State Lawmakers
prospect.org/2026/05/14/h...
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How CEOs Use a ‘Neutral’ Legislature Group to Indoctrinate State Lawmakers - The American Prospect
The National Conference of State Legislatures is a pay-to-play machine for business interests, critics say, not the disinterested policy organization it claims to be.
https://prospect.org/2026/05/14/how-ceos-use-neutral-legislature-group-indoctrinate-state-lawmakers-ncsl/
3 days ago
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