Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 3m

Why won't Peter Thiel shut down Palantir?
open.substack.com/pub/carlbeij...

Why won't Peter Thiel shut down Palantir?

Seems like that is a more important question than "why do people work there."

open.substack.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 30m

As the world recognises Palestinian state, Israel’s E1 plan moves to bury it
www.972mag.com/palestinian-...

As the world recognizes Palestinian state, Israel's E1 plan moves to bury it

The long-frozen settlement project would sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank, fragment Palestinian communities, and advance permanent annexation.

www.972mag.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 51m

Israeli intelligence data: Militants account for only 1 in 4 #Gaza detainees
www.972mag.com/israeli-inte...

Israeli intelligence data: Militants account for only 1 in 4 Gaza detainees

A classified Israeli army database indicates that the vast majority of the 6,000 Palestinians who have been arrested in Gaza are civilians.

www.972mag.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 1h

The Missing Persons of Reconstruction
newrepublic.com/article/1890...

The Missing Persons of Reconstruction

Enslaved families were regularly separated. A new history chronicles the tenacious efforts of the emancipated to be reunited with their loved ones.

newrepublic.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 1h

Trump’s War on Wind Power Is a War on His Working-Class Voters
newrepublic.com/article/1997...

Trump’s War on Wind Power Is a War on His Working-Class Voters

The president’s cancelation of wind farms and other attacks on renewable energy are hiking Americans’ energy bills and destroying blue-collar jobs. “This isn’t what they voted for,” said one union hea...

newrepublic.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 1h

Trump’s Got Some Unconstitutional Ideas About Flag Burning
newrepublic.com/article/1995...

Trump’s Got Some Unconstitutional Ideas About Flag Burning

The president woke up today in an uproar about Old Glory. He then took it out on the First Amendment.

newrepublic.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 2h

Free Speech Is the Antidote to Political Violence
newrepublic.com/article/2008...

Free Speech Is the Antidote to Political Violence

The zealous safeguarding of individual expression is a recent innovation. What sparked it? The need to curb violent societal upheaval.

newrepublic.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 2h

How a Housing Skirmish in NYC Revealed a Secret Truth About NIMBYism
newrepublic.com/article/2007...

How a Housing Skirmish in NYC Revealed a Secret Truth About NIMBYism

Opponents of new housing are well known for weaponizing procedure to thwart development. But when the democratic system doesn’t benefit them, the knives come out.

newrepublic.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 2h

“With every book, every essay, every speech, Roy builds worlds that are revolutionary, made from darkness that she spins into purpose.”

For Arundhati Roy, Art and Politics Emerged from Her Mother’s Shadow newrepublic.com/article/1997... via @newrepublic.com

For Arundhati Roy, Art and Politics Emerged from Her Mother’s Shadow

The beloved author’s memoir recounts her relationship with the eccentric, abusive, protofeminist Mrs. Roy.

newrepublic.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 3h

“…Sigmon’s choice of death by firing squad reflects a sound assessment of the well-documented horrors of lethal injection.”

Botched by Design
thebaffler.com/latest/botch...

Botched by Design | Charlotte Rosen

“Secrets of the Killing State” ironically leaves openings for those who wish to salvage capital punishment.

thebaffler.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 3h

“Truly radical political theories are born from the lived experience of humans & only systematised by philosophers later.”

Fisher of Men
thebaffler.com/latest/fishe...

Fisher of Men | Ed Simon

A revolutionary of the marketplace, the fishmonger was great not because he led a crowd but because he was a member of it.

thebaffler.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 4h

Home City, USA
thebaffler.com/salvos/home-...

Home City, USA | Pooja Bhatia

The residents of Springfield, Ohio, have been terrorized by Donald Trump—and many now face the prospect of state-sponsored violence.

thebaffler.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 4h

Who’s Afraid of “Settler Colonialism“?
www.dissentmagazine.org/article/whos...

Who’s Afraid of “Settler Colonialism”? - Dissent Magazine

If we dismiss concepts because of particular examples of misuse, we encourage the repression of discomforting histories and ideas.

www.dissentmagazine.org

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 5h

“Global subsidies for oil & gas exceeded $1trillion in 2022.

The picture is clear: conservatives’ opposition to green energy isn’t because they want ‘free markets’… What they want is to keep coal & gas plants alive. At higher prices, if need be.”
www.currentaffairs.org/news/why-are...

Why Are We Still Subsidizing Fossil Fuels?

Subsidies can support nascent industries in need of a foothold or serve the public good. At this point, fossil fuels are neither.

www.currentaffairs.org

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 5h

Universities as Innovation Ecologies for Human & Planetary Flourishing
www.resilience.org/stories/2025...

Universities as Innovation Ecologies for Human & Planetary Flourishing

In an era of planetary crisis and a time when universities are increasingly under attack, an underlying question that has gradually moved to the center of attention is this: what is the role of univer...

www.resilience.org

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 6h

Is 100 years of cheap food coming to an end?
www.resilience.org/stories/2025...

Is 100 years of cheap food coming to an end?

There are multiple reasons for why food prices are on the rise. There are major similarities between the FAO food price index and energy prices. This is also quite natural as energy is a major input i...

www.resilience.org

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 6h

“Whether we call this #degrowth, steady state or circular economy… or something else, a society that focusses on wellbeing & the delivery of meaningful pursuits instead of this mindless zombie march of growth is the only kind that has a future.” #PostCapitalism #PostGrowth
iai.tv/articles/pro...

Progress is humanity's worst idea | Samuel Miller McDonald

iai.tv

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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 7h

“Although the movement’s actions are based on local struggles, it is part of a broader post-capitalist & post-development struggle. The movement aims to abolish the patriarchal, colonial, racist & extractivist growth regime…” #degrowth

- @degrowthinfo.bsky.social
degrowth.info/en/blog/we-i...

"We invent nothing, or only very little." A portrait of Les Soulèvements de la Terre and some reflections

In this article Myriam Best analyses the ongoing french movement Earth Uprisings which struggles for land and water commons and the dismantlement of the techno-industrial capitalist complex.

degrowth.info

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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 7h

“Wisdom is the ability to look forward & backward, to see both sides of life with no illusions.” - Dr. Alexander Lowen
open.substack.com/pub/poeticou...

Wisdom Is...

By: Dr. Alexander Lowen

open.substack.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 7h

Thousands of Palestinians Return to #GazaCity to Find a Wasteland of Rubble
open.substack.com/pub/dropsite...

Thousands of Palestinians Return to Gaza City to Find a Wasteland of Rubble

“There’s nothing left for them to destroy.”

open.substack.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 8h

“William Ophuls argues, industrial civilisation is inherently expansionary. It cannot simply ‘stabilise’ at a sustainable level. In thermodynamic terms, it has no steady state setting. Collapse is the inevitable outcome of a system whose survival depends on growth…” #PostCapitalism #Degrowth

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 8h

“William Catton called this temporary expansion ‘phantom carrying capacity’: the illusion the Earth can support more people than it actually can because we are drawing down stocks of oil, gas, coal, topsoil, forests & freshwater faster than they can regenerate.”
open.substack.com/pub/adrianla...

Collapse: A Framework for Understanding and Navigating the Decline of Industrial Civilisation

Global industrial civilisation is collapsing and there is nothing we can do to prevent it.

open.substack.com

1

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 8h

Against the Burden of Knowledge
open.substack.com/pub/theseeds...

Against the Burden of Knowledge

Why the most intuitive explanation for ideas getting harder to find is wrong

open.substack.com

Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 9h

Starvation is a war crime. So why is it so rarely prosecuted?
www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...

Starvation is a war crime. So why is it so rarely prosecuted?

From Bengal to Gaza, hunger is often used as a weapon of war but almost never punished.

www.aljazeera.com

Reposted by Phil Free

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

V good @matsmarquardt.bsky.social @newclimate.bsky.social piece here - detailing exactly how American fossil fuel suppliers are fighting like mad demons to fabricate demand for their deadly products

newclimate.org/news/the-gas...

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