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philfree.bsky.social
Phil Free
@philfree.bsky.social
870 followers 840 following 8.4K posts
Politics, economics, planet - I live in Essex, UK.
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philfree.bsky.social
Chris Kraus & the Art of the Landlord
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
Chris Kraus and the Art of the Landlord
Kraus’s novels revolve around real estate and the thorny questions of who owns, who rents, and how it shapes their art.
newrepublic.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:49 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“Reading Erpenbeck, you see how we must live through history to see the ruin anew. Or rather: by living through history, we see that every ruin has a ruiner.”

Idle Things
thebaffler.com/latest/idle-...
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:13 PM
philfree.bsky.social
In Poor Health
thebaffler.com/latest/in-po...
In Poor Health | Jess McAllen
Affiliation in New York City hospitals was meant to improve care—and lower costs. But that hasn’t quite worked out.
thebaffler.com
February 15, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Phil Free
ryangrim.bsky.social
A journalist in Cuba caught US embassy staff hoovering up insane amounts of gasoline while the island is blocked by the U.S. from importing oil.

The U.S. responded by sanctioning the journalist.

We are doing all this for freedom, of course.
El Necio @ElNecio_Cuba Translated from Spanish STATEMENT #1 ✍️ According to Miami media outlets, the US is imposing a sanction on me for practicing journalism. I am an ordinary young Cuban. Five years ago, I began doing my work through social media and collaborating with press outlets. I have no employment ties whatsoever to the Cuban government: currently, I do not work in press media or state institutions. In their report, they refer to my latest journalistic investigation as "harassment," in which I demonstrate the purchase of fuel (gasoline) by US diplomats in Havana: the very same fuel that they block from Cuba, only to consume it themselves afterward. The sanction is irrelevant to me. I have never had, nor have I ever requested, a visa to enter the US. It has never even crossed my mind to visit that country, with so much beauty in Latin America and so much humanism in the neighborhoods of my own country. But we do need to denounce this serious violation of press freedom. Because this is not a personal attack, but a precedent for censorship and coercion against every young Cuban who speaks out against the blockade on Cuba or who practices journalism that does not please the Trump administration. It is a clear attack on the practice of free and independent journalism that I carry out, guided by ethical principles, with source triangulation and verifications. My work is to spread the truth, not to please the power that sanctions me. From José Martí, I learned that "journalism is a sword, and its hilt is reason. Only the good should wield it, and it should not be for the extermination of men, but for the necessary triumph over those who oppose freedom and progress." Here I will remain, in Cuba, telling the truth of my circumstances, the harshness of these trying times, making the necessary critiques, and fighting for a better world. ✍️ Pedro Jorge Velázquez, Havana, February 14, 2026
February 15, 2026 at 7:29 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Reservoir Hogs
thebaffler.com/salvos/reser...
Reservoir Hogs | Christopher Ketcham
In France, new reservoirs are destroying ancient riparian systems. What form should resistance take?
thebaffler.com
February 15, 2026 at 7:33 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“Many neoliberal countries continue to celebrate incremental progress & emphasise market-driven solutions, concealing the real challenges by overstating, sometimes radically, their successes using World Bank data.”
aeon.co/essays/china...
China, the World Bank, and the truth about global poverty | Aeon Essays
The World Bank’s poverty line is inaccurate and out of date – an error that obscures the feebleness of market solutions
aeon.co
February 15, 2026 at 6:36 PM
philfree.bsky.social
How the Christian Right Betrays Everything Jesus Ever Said - @currentaffairs.bsky.social
www.currentaffairs.org/news/john-fu...
How the Christian Right Betrays Everything Jesus Ever Said
Author John Fugelsang explains how American conservatives have twisted Christianity into a tool of hatred and domination.
www.currentaffairs.org
February 15, 2026 at 6:03 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Systems Mindset
www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
Systems Mindset
A true systems thinker isn’t the one who makes elaborate diagrams of nodes connected by lines in impressive form, but the one who expresses epistemic humility in the face of intractable complexity and...
www.resilience.org
February 15, 2026 at 5:30 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Green Capitalism in the Americas: False Solutions, Real Threats
www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
Green Capitalism in the Americas: False Solutions, Real Threats
In this special issue of the NACLA Report, we critically examine the rise of green capitalism in the region in the lead-up to COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November.
www.resilience.org
February 15, 2026 at 5:15 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“Growth is based on the planned psychological failure of consumption & expanded efforts to recreate it.”

The Macavity of #Degrowth – Waste, the Empire that isn’t there…
www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
The Macavity of Degrowth – Waste, the Empire that isn’t there…
If a theoretical economy relies on the exchange of intended things, a profitable economy relies on the waste produced by the production, distribution and sale of those things.
www.resilience.org
February 15, 2026 at 4:57 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“It requires behavioural changes & a more radical overhaul of economies: demand reduction is a crucial part of the mix.” #PostCapitalism #Degrowth #PostGrowth

Is an energy & resource transition possible with growth?
open.substack.com/pub/hanssteg...
Is an energy and resource transition possible with growth?
I doubt it
open.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 4:21 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Into the Dark: Fascist Capture of Information & the Unwinding of the Enlightenment
open.substack.com/pub/jaredyat...
Into the Dark: Fascist Capture of Information and the Unwinding of the Enlightenment
There's a reason we're watching science and research and awareness systematically demolished
open.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 3:39 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Memories of Misrule
open.substack.com/pub/chrisdix...
Memories of Misrule.
The Late, Great Steve Read, Permaculture Designer and Systems Engineer.
open.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 3:19 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“These pools of capital produce the very conditions of our disposability—stripping companies into assets & selling them for profit, but more fundamentally, stripping our people of the capacity to inhabit futures that are not already mortgaged to finance capital.”
open.substack.com/pub/radicalt...
Private Equity and the Global South's Subordination
How finance capital turns our futures into investable assets
open.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:53 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“The hospital lacks the fuel & essential spare parts needed to keep the generators going.” #Barbarism

ICU patients’ lives at risk in Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital amid Israel’s war
www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/...
ICU patients’ lives at risk in Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital amid Israel’s war
The hospital may be forced in the coming hours to ration electricity so that certain wards can be prioritised.
www.aljazeera.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:03 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“Dissatisfied with its progress in eliminating Gaza’s people, their mosques, their schools & universities, their cultural institutions, economy & land, Israel & its Christian-Zionist allies like Pompeo have now embarked upon the erasure of memory & martyrdom.”
www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
The next stage of the Gaza genocide has begun
Recent remarks by former US State Secretary Mike Pompeo herald the next phase of Israel’s genocidal project: erasure.
www.aljazeera.com
February 15, 2026 at 1:49 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“What is essential in the Global North, then, is not simply #degrowth in the negative, purely quantitative sense, but also in a positive sense: the creation of a society of substantive equality & ecological sustainability.” #PostCapitalism #PostGrowth
monthlyreview.org/articles/eco...
Ecological Marxism in the Anthropocene - Monthly Review
monthlyreview.org
February 15, 2026 at 1:06 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“Finally, capitalist, market-based institutions instil a growth imperative which makes climate mitigation exceedingly unlikely to meet the Paris Agreement.” #PostCapitalism #Degrowth #PostGrowth

The energy commons: A systematic review, paradoxes & ways forward
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The energy commons: A systematic review, paradoxes, and ways forward
The growing literature on energy commons suggests that reimagining energy as a common resource is critical for transitioning away from fossil fuel-bas…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 15, 2026 at 12:27 PM
philfree.bsky.social
What happens to ecosystems when bees disappear?
mronline.org/2026/02/12/w...
What happens to ecosystems when bees disappear? - MR Online
Losing bees means more than just having fewer flowers in our gardens – it will result in a chain reaction felt through entire ecosystems and food chains, including our own. Responsible for a third of ...
mronline.org
February 14, 2026 at 11:51 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Ron Wyden Only Talks Like This When The Spies Do Something *Real* Bad
www.forever-wars.com/ron-wyden-on...
Ron Wyden Only Talks Like This When The Spies Do Something *Real* Bad
No, I don't know what they did. But I have a lot of experience with the senator
www.forever-wars.com
February 14, 2026 at 11:27 PM
philfree.bsky.social
The ADL Tried to Appease MAGA. The FBI Cut Ties With Them Anyway
jewishcurrents.org/the-adl-trie...
The ADL Tried to Appease MAGA. The FBI Cut Ties with Them Anyway.
The Jewish defense group—whose partnership with federal law enforcement goes back decades—has never been more isolated.
jewishcurrents.org
February 14, 2026 at 10:58 PM
philfree.bsky.social
How Trump Weaponized the Department of Transportation
newrepublic.com/article/2051...
How Trump Weaponized the Department of Transportation
The policies that govern how we get from place to place are usually immune to partisanship. This administration is using them to advance Trump’s authoritarian agenda.
newrepublic.com
February 14, 2026 at 10:24 PM
philfree.bsky.social
“This appropriation is not accidental.

It allows political leaders to reassure the public that something recognisably civic is being built, even as the material reality points in the opposite direction.”

Data Centers Are Not “Campuses”
newrepublic.com/article/2055...
Data Centers Are Not “Campuses”
Big Tech has been appropriating this term for years. But with AI, it’s especially inappropriate.
newrepublic.com
February 14, 2026 at 10:03 PM
philfree.bsky.social
America Is at Its Wits’ End. What We Do Now Matters
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
America Is at Its Wits’ End. What We Do Now Matters.
Well, it has happened here. The “hysterical” f-word brandishers were right.
newrepublic.com
February 14, 2026 at 9:37 PM
philfree.bsky.social
Welcome to Trump’s Remake of Argentina’s Dirty War
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
Welcome to Trump’s Remake of Argentina’s Dirty War
The administration is speedrunning the worst abuses of the Latin American nation’s checkered history on the streets of American cities.
newrepublic.com
February 14, 2026 at 9:15 PM