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Thomas Neuburger ✍️

@thomasneuburger.bsky.social
635 followers 345 following 445 posts

Essayist, poet, novelist. Byline @ SF Chronicle, Common Dreams, Naked Capitalism, DownWithTyranny, others. God's Spies : neuburger.substack.com

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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 1h
If our government makes dollars, what is the 'national debt'? Does that even make sense? by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social h/t @doctorow.pluralistic.net @stephaniekelton.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/if-our-gov...
neuburger.substack.com
If Our Government Makes Dollars, What Is the ‘National Debt’?
Part 5 of a series. If we paid off the national ‘debt,’ we’d be in a different world.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“This is a perfect example of predators at work.” ⚡Quick Hits: McDonald’s Using AI to Price by ‘Customer Willingness to Pay’ - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/quick-hits...
neuburger.substack.com
⚡Quick Hits: McDonald’s Using AI to Price by ‘Customer Willingness to Pay’
The same sandwich could cost 20% more, depending on which store you go to
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
McDonald's using AI to set prices store-by-store. What could go wrong? By @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/quick-hits...
neuburger.substack.com
⚡Quick Hits: McDonald’s Using AI to Price by ‘Customer Willingness to Pay’
The same sandwich could cost 20% more, depending on which store you go to
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Treasuries market is not what you think it is. Not remotely. h/t @stephaniekelton.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/what-is-th...
neuburger.substack.com
What Is the Federal Bond Market Really?
Part 4 of a series. The bond market’s not what you think it is. Intrigued? Read on.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“If the litmus test of domestication for a plant or animal is that it cannot propagate itself without our assistance, then, by the same token, we have adapted so massively to fire that our species would have no future without it…” @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/fire-remak...
neuburger.substack.com
Fire: Remaking the World, Remaking Ourselves
We have not only domesticated fire; it has domesticated us. Part 2 of our look at James Scott's 'Against the Grain'
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Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 28/09/2026
@heinrich.senate.gov and @padilla.senate.gov are moving the Slaughter Our Sequoias Act forward tomorrow: S. 4103/H.R. 2709, the Save Our Sequoias Act, to expedite logging of giant sequoia groves in the name of “protecting” them.
hillheat.com
Markup of the Slaughter Our Sequoias Act, Permit Reform Bills, Light Bulb Inefficiency, and Other Legislation
Full committee markup of the following 54 pieces of legislation. Many of the bills were previously scheduled to be considered at the July 29 markup. Controversi...
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"technologies so advanced they make no demand on nature" — channeling Arthur C. Clarke, a technology that advanced would have to be magic.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“The crisis of nature might theoretically be resolved via development of technologies so advanced they make no demand on nature. However, in the here & now , ecological harm is inseparable from the crisis of capitalist relations of production & its class configurations.” #PostCapitalism
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Just as the political & techno-scientific bourgeois revolutions (American/industrial revolution) stopped short of true emancipation, so too does ecomodernism’s Promethean vision falter long before even considering revolutionary social transformation.” #degrowth www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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@GottaLaff @gottalaff.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Bibi Trump.
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Not all "oil" is oil. Things you should know. neuburger.substack.com/p/facts-abou...
neuburger.substack.com
Facts About Oil: A Reference Post
Types, use cases and producers in one easy chart
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Or a federal crime...
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
“& the people, the last obstacle? They’re outraged, true, but they don’t rush to the streets in a way that disrupts the state. Shades of our own non-reaction to Bush v. Gore—if we let it occur, we own it.” The Dilemma - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/the-dilemm...
neuburger.substack.com
The Dilemma: Do or Do Not
In the mind of our Stephen Millers, the time may be now
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Brad Friedman / The BRAD BLOG @thebradblog.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
2026: A Climate ‘You Are Here’ From the 'Super El Niño' series: Simple pictures to show where we are now... -- Guest blogged by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social FULL STORY: bradblog.com?p=18913
bradblog.com
2026: A Climate ‘You Are Here’
From the 'Super El Niño' series: Simple pictures to show where we are now...
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Deficit? What's this 'deficit' again? by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social h/t @stephaniekelton.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/what-is-th...
neuburger.substack.com
What Is This ‘Deficit’ We Hear So Much About?
Part 3 of a short series on dollars — what they are and how they’re used
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“While Digital ID is being sold to Republicans as protection from immigrants & their abuses, & to Democrats as safety & access to services, it actually, if taken to its end, is the worst of your dystopian dark-future sci-fi dreams.” @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/digital-id...
neuburger.substack.com
Digital ID: Gift or Key to Control?
Digital ID is envisioned as your gateway to everything
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Clonal Antibody 🌹 @clonalantibody.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The reason for the demise of US Public Housing stems from the passage of the Revenue Act of 1964. It put extra money into the pockets of the upper classes, who "invested" it in real estate. Over the next 15 years, it killed the lower middle class.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Tyson Shutters Illinois Meatpacking Plant & Fires 2,500 Workers Without Notice truthout.org/articles/tys...
truthout.org
Tyson Shutters Illinois Meatpacking Plant and Fires 2,500 Workers Without Notice
Workers say both the company and their own union, United Food and Commercial Workers, hung them out to dry.
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Purpose of Taxes: A List by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social h/t @stephaniekelton.bsky.social @sherryreson.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/why-govern...
neuburger.substack.com
The Purpose of Taxes: A List
Part 2 on what dollars are and how they’re used
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Alexei Karamazov @jrandomdude.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Plus, this article has such a good explanation of money
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
You're welcome, Alexei. Glad it helped. Seemed a perfect analogy to me.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
“It should be obvious from this that minions—the PMC, the professional management class—are the key to the whole operation. Without them, the state comes apart. With them, the muppets are managed, milked & controlled.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/masters-an...
neuburger.substack.com
Masters and Minions and Muppets, Oh My!
Who we are. Why we do what we do.
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Why 'Entitlement' Cuts May Succeed by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/why-entitl...
neuburger.substack.com
Why ‘Entitlement’ Cuts May Succeed
The lie that will keep you poor while they get rich
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Neither rain nor sleet nor Trump...
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@GottaLaff @gottalaff.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
static.klipy.com
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
“From murdered, impoverished & robbed Original Americans, to literal enslavement, to the jackboot heel of the rich through the 1920s, were a deadly, violent place. That state is returning, with muscular security.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/we-cant-op...
neuburger.substack.com
We Can't Oppose Violence Without Opposing State Violence
Is something in our nature wrong? Or does 'like create like'?
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
2026: A Climate 'You Are Here' by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/2026-a-cli...
neuburger.substack.com
2026: A Climate ‘You Are Here’
Last part of the ‘Super El Niño’ series: Simple pictures to show where we are now
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
“So free your mind of the counter-factual assumption that there’s a straight & necessary line from hunter-gatherer uncertainty to cozy state life. The line’s neither straight nor necessary, & the state was coercive, not cozy.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/what-are-s...
neuburger.substack.com
What Is a State? Why Do We Live in Them?
Part 1 of a series that looks at "Against the Grain" by James C. Scott
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
More on that Super El Niño ...plus advice on how to face what's down the road by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/more-on-th...
neuburger.substack.com
More on the Next ‘Super El Niño’
The good and the bad, the short-term and long-term effects
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
“The Walmart product, 100% grated Parmesan cheese, got sued for not being 100% because it was actually 8% wood pulp.” When Is Food Not Food? - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/when-is-fo...
neuburger.substack.com
When Is Food Is Not Food?
When it's an income stream
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The Biggest El Nino Ever. Again. By @thomasneuburger.bsky.social H/t @eliotjacobson.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/a-record-e...
neuburger.substack.com
A Record El Niño Is Coming
Yes, this again
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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
“This seems to have been a nexus of interconnected activities—money laundering, covert money transfers, service to various states for covert activities like Iran-Contra…” Under-Examined Aspects of the Epstein Story - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/under-exam...
neuburger.substack.com
Under-Examined Aspects of the Epstein Story
Why was he working with arms dealers? Was he involved in money laundering? What were his ties, if any, to organized crime?
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
“The counter-revolutionary response to the New Deal Constitution started immediately, with the failed 1933 plot to depose Franklin Roosevelt & establish a dictatorship by the titans of wealth.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/neuburge...
open.substack.com
Preamble to the Fourth American Constitution
'We the People of the United States, in order to form a government...'
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Have AI Movies Gotten Too Good? by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/have-ai-mo...
neuburger.substack.com
Have AI Movies Gotten Too Good?
Or are they just uncomfortably close?
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
It's he-e-e-re.
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Have AI Movies Gotten Too Good? by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social neuburger.substack.com/p/have-ai-mo...
neuburger.substack.com
Have AI Movies Gotten Too Good?
Or are they just uncomfortably close?
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
China and War by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social China couldn't be more obvious about what waits for our masters of war. They're being both quiet and clear. Our leaders are mad. neuburger.substack.com/p/china-and-...
neuburger.substack.com
China and War
What awaits our well-funded generals
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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Oh FFS! Instead of worrying about your summer holidays, you should be worrying about a 2.8°C to 3°C hotter southern Europe in 2050 and where all those millions of displaced people are going to be living? And what a 4°C Europe is going to do to your children? 🤷‍♂️
news.sky.com
How will wildfires in Europe affect your summer holiday?
Travel expert Simon Calder shares his advice for those travelling to France and Spain this summer as devastating wildfires ravage western Europe.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Lindsey Graham Is One Of The Reasons Guantanamo Is Open www.forever-wars.com/lindsey-grah...
forever-wars.com
Lindsey Graham Is One Of The Reasons Guantanamo Is Open
The late South Carolina Republican, known for his warmongering, helped preserve an extrajudicial cage that is still swallowing people
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
'Open the Gates of Hell' - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/neuburge...
open.substack.com
'Open the Gates of Hell'
The child could stand down. Or not. Let's look at the 'not'
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Susan Pennington @spennington.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Heat dome expands across the central United States, creating dangerous conditions for millions Source: The Associated Press share.newsbreak.com/j3zbqnof
share.newsbreak.com
​
The best local & breaking news source in the US, featuring local weather, alerts, deals, events and more.
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Ian Welsh: America’s Losing the AI Race Hard @ianwelsh.bsky.social www.ianwelsh.net/americas-los...
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
“The Court has just ‘endorse[d] the creation of a zone of lawlessness within which the Executive has the prerogative to take or leave the law as it wishes’. A ‘zone of lawlessness’, enshrined by the law. A new world, indeed.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/neuburge...
open.substack.com
Our Lawless Elites
The Rubicon is behind us when it comes to elite immunity
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
“The fight for control of Asia’s Pacific coast is six centuries old, & it will not end until the West has finally failed, or the inevitable chaos of climate makes mincemeat pie of everyone’s empire dreams.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/neuburge...
open.substack.com
Alfred McCoy: Controlling the 'World Island'
Using sea power to dominate Asia — Part Five of a series on McCoy's 'To Govern the Globe'
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
I wonder which insider journalists are currently sitting on explosive, damning information so they can sell books a year from now.
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Thomas Neuburger ✍️ @thomasneuburger.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The Complex Platner Affair by @thomasneuburger.bsky.social h/t @ianwelsh.bsky.social @howieklein neuburger.substack.com/p/the-graham...
neuburger.substack.com
The Graham Platner Affair
Personal tragedies. A national tale.
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
“The state & early civilisations were often seen as attractive magnets, drawing people in by virtue of their luxury, culture, & opportunities. In fact, the early states had to capture & hold their populations by forms of bondage.” - @thomasneuburger.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/neuburge...
open.substack.com
Was 'Preserving the Union' an Error?
Sometimes it's better for people if nations dissolve
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