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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 5h

This should be obvious to anyone paying attention. I have. And it’s time I’m not getting back.

Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 5h

How does any reasonable person believe that Dinesh D’Souza is a serious person? I simply cannot imagine perceiving him that way.

He is a loathsome political entrepreneur. A snake oil salesman that sells candy to people’s worse angels. A joker. A demonic figure, really.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 18h

We haven’t entered unprecedented times—we’ve re-entered normal history, where freedom is never guaranteed.

The question is how to live well, love well, and resist well when fear wants to tear your attention apart.

From Fear to Fidelity: How to Live Well in the Return of Normal History

Yesterday I asked my subscribers a simple question: What are you most worried about in your life right now?

www.notesfromthecircus.com

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

Edward Goldstick @ejgoldstick.bsky.social · 20h

💯🤯

Earlier this morning, I read this well-written and well-argued persuasive essay on Substack that (imho) says essentially the same thing in a few more words.

www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/democracy-...

Thank you, @pbump.com and @brockm.bsky.social

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

I am very agitated that LA Mayor Karen Bass is lobbying Gavin Newsom to veto SB 79.

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 1d

Scoop, by @lorenzofb.bsky.social: A federal contract shows ICE spent $825,000 on vans equipped with fake cellphone towers known as cell-site simulators, which can be used to spy on nearby phones.

ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones | TechCrunch

The federal contract shows ICE spent $825,000 on vans equipped with “cell-site simulators” which allow the real-world location tracking of nearby phones and their owners.

techcrunch.com

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

If you think supporting raising taxes to support already-existing government programs is "socialist", you are politically and ideologically stupid.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

8/ So no, liberalism isn’t oligarchy.

It’s the philosophy that says government exists to secure the conditions for freedom—and freedom dies when wealth becomes power.

Read the full essay here →

Liberalism Is Not Oligarchy

Why Defending the Founders’ Republic Requires Taxing the Rich, Breaking Up Monopolies, and Calling the Bluff of Power

www.notesfromthecircus.com

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

7/ The right calls this socialism.
The left calls it centrism.
It’s actually the oldest American idea there is:

Self-government requires economic independence.

That’s why Jefferson, Madison, and Lincoln all fought concentrations of wealth.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

6/ If you think “defending capitalism” means defending billionaires who rig markets, capture regulators, and fund fascists, you’ve confused liberalism with feudalism.

We already fought that war.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

5/ The New Deal didn’t destroy capitalism. It saved it—by forcing capital to serve democracy, not the other way around.

That’s the liberal tradition worth defending.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

4/ I’m not arguing for socialism. I’m arguing for a liberalism that remembers what it’s for:

→ Dispersing power
→ Preventing monopoly
→ Preserving a republic of equals under law

That’s not anti-capitalist. It’s anti-oligarch.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

3/ When 10% of households drive 50% of all consumer spending, that’s not a “free market.”

That’s an extractive economy—where ownership and power concentrate until self-government itself breaks down.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

2/ Somewhere along the way, the political class redefined “the center” as “don’t threaten the rich.”

That’s not liberalism. That’s capture.

Liberal democracy is supposed to constrain wealth, not serve it.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 1d

1/ A lot of people read Call Their Bluff and said, “So you’re a socialist now?”

No. I’m a liberal. I just refuse to pretend that defending democracy and markets means defending oligarchy. f

Call The Wealthy's Bluff

The Fusion of Plutocracy and Fascism—And the Fight to Rebuild Democratic Capitalism Before It’s Too Late

www.notesfromthecircus.com

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 2d

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 2d

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 2d

Words.

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 2d

Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE

Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in

Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle

Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired

Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 2d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

hannah gais @hannahgais.bsky.social · 2d

Identifying public officials isn't "doxing." People have the right to know who is working for their government. Nor, for that matter, is it "radical left-wing terrorism." So it's frustrating to see platforms caving to these bad faith characterizations. www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/06/1...

Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline

People over Papers was removed by Padlet, the platform it was built on, yesterday.

www.technologyreview.com

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 2d

They buy up more income-bearing assets. That's what they do. And in so doing destroy socioeconomic mobility and entrench plutocracy.

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 2d

It’s important to flood social media and news channels with news about how ICE lies, so that potential jurors see it.

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 2d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 2d

Do you know what wealth effects are?

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Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸

Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 2d

Yes. Congress can rescind the emergency declaration under IEPA. The GOP passed a rules package to avoid having to vote on it by declaring the entire Congressional term to be one calendar day. I'm not kidding.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 2d

Yes. Congress can rescind the emergency declaration under IEPA. The GOP passed a rules package to avoid having to vote on it by declaring the entire Congressional term to be one calendar day. I'm not kidding.

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Mike Brock 🇺🇸 @brockm.bsky.social · 2d

How about cancelling the illegal tariffs?

Ro Khanna @rokhanna.bsky.social · 4d

What do people think about giving working class Americans a $2000 tariff relief check for the unfair tax that has driven their grocery and housing prices up?

Unusual Whales @unusualwhales.bsky.social · 4d

BREAKING: Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, is proposing $2,000 payments to Americans making under $100,000

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