Mike Brock 🇺🇸
@brockm.bsky.social
Ex-tech exec. Deeply unfashionable. Penning dispatches from democracy's peril at notesfromthecircus.com. Unmasking the unholy alliance of Silicon Valley and aspiring despots. 2+2=4, even when power insists otherwise. For Frodo.
Pinned
Forrest Gump and America’s Return to Innocence
A Christmas Essay
www.notesfromthecircus.com
Every civilization tells itself a story about its innocence.
In the 1990s, ours wore a feathered hat and ran through history without understanding it.
This is a note about memory, myth, and why America keeps trying to go backward to feel clean.
In the 1990s, ours wore a feathered hat and ran through history without understanding it.
This is a note about memory, myth, and why America keeps trying to go backward to feel clean.
The Confederacy is ruling America.
Trump: The Anti-Lincoln
On emergency power, constitutional preservation, and the regime crisis now unfolding
www.notesfromthecircus.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:40 PM
The Confederacy is ruling America.
Maduro's case is going to end up before the Supreme Court very quickly. Because he's almost certainly going to claim sovereign immunity, which most legal scholars believe is a feature of US federal law through our common-law inheritance. This has been understood for 249 years.
January 4, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Maduro's case is going to end up before the Supreme Court very quickly. Because he's almost certainly going to claim sovereign immunity, which most legal scholars believe is a feature of US federal law through our common-law inheritance. This has been understood for 249 years.
I predicted that Machado would get thrown under the bus after working with Trump to depose Maduro two months ago! Sad!
When Liberation Becomes Imperial Adventure
The Venezuelan opposition is playing a game they think they understand.
www.notesfromthecircus.com
January 4, 2026 at 12:54 AM
I predicted that Machado would get thrown under the bus after working with Trump to depose Maduro two months ago! Sad!
I still want to see the Epstein files, by the way. I don't know about you. I'm more interested than ever.
January 3, 2026 at 11:51 PM
I still want to see the Epstein files, by the way. I don't know about you. I'm more interested than ever.
Saying "I don't support Trump, I just think he is the lesser evil" is the same thing as saying you support Trump. Just in case you didn't know. You're backing his political power without taking responsibility for it. And yes, your hands are covered in blood.
January 3, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Saying "I don't support Trump, I just think he is the lesser evil" is the same thing as saying you support Trump. Just in case you didn't know. You're backing his political power without taking responsibility for it. And yes, your hands are covered in blood.
The historical irony of the anti-empire warriors Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are helping build an American empire is really something. I, for one, always thought they were frauds.
January 3, 2026 at 8:22 PM
The historical irony of the anti-empire warriors Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are helping build an American empire is really something. I, for one, always thought they were frauds.
It's pretty fucking wild how the anti-imperialists—the people who said giving Ukraine weapons to defend itself was "imperialism"—were the actual real imperialists. Gaslighting at a historical scale.
January 3, 2026 at 7:39 PM
It's pretty fucking wild how the anti-imperialists—the people who said giving Ukraine weapons to defend itself was "imperialism"—were the actual real imperialists. Gaslighting at a historical scale.
If you are one of my former friends who thought I had TDS, that I was a neocon apologist and couldn’t see the truth through the mainstream lies, never reach out: our broken friendship is not repairable. In fact, fuck you.
January 3, 2026 at 6:53 PM
If you are one of my former friends who thought I had TDS, that I was a neocon apologist and couldn’t see the truth through the mainstream lies, never reach out: our broken friendship is not repairable. In fact, fuck you.
The chances of World War III just went up a lot. Expect the situation in Taiwan to become increasingly more dangerous in the coming weeks and months.
January 3, 2026 at 3:43 PM
The chances of World War III just went up a lot. Expect the situation in Taiwan to become increasingly more dangerous in the coming weeks and months.
You’d think they’d be happy. He’s not some Trotskyist looking to execute landowners in some communist maximum programme.
January 1, 2026 at 6:08 PM
You’d think they’d be happy. He’s not some Trotskyist looking to execute landowners in some communist maximum programme.
If you don't realize this is a reactionary psyop by the Trump Administration, you are a total a complete fool. If you would like to disagree with me on this, I challenge you to a public debate.
BREAKING
The Trump administration says it has frozen all childcare payments to Minnesota in the aftermath of allegations of fraud by some in the Somali community.
Important: allegations along these lines have existed for years, which has resulted in prosecutions starting with the Biden DOJ.
The Trump administration says it has frozen all childcare payments to Minnesota in the aftermath of allegations of fraud by some in the Somali community.
Important: allegations along these lines have existed for years, which has resulted in prosecutions starting with the Biden DOJ.
December 31, 2025 at 3:29 AM
If you don't realize this is a reactionary psyop by the Trump Administration, you are a total a complete fool. If you would like to disagree with me on this, I challenge you to a public debate.
This is fascism.
BREAKING
The Trump administration says it has frozen all childcare payments to Minnesota in the aftermath of allegations of fraud by some in the Somali community.
Important: allegations along these lines have existed for years, which has resulted in prosecutions starting with the Biden DOJ.
The Trump administration says it has frozen all childcare payments to Minnesota in the aftermath of allegations of fraud by some in the Somali community.
Important: allegations along these lines have existed for years, which has resulted in prosecutions starting with the Biden DOJ.
December 31, 2025 at 3:27 AM
This is fascism.
I mean, they're clearly mentally ill.
This is how Christopher Caldwell begins his essay on Zohran Mamdani for the Claremont Review of Books.
Why are these people such freaks?
Why are these people such freaks?
December 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I mean, they're clearly mentally ill.
I'm starting to worry that Sam Altman's brain is running the same software as Elizabeth Holmes. It's just that the apologia circuits are capable of one or two more rounds of division.
this dude is incapable of shutting the fuck up
and the garbage U.S. press is pathologically compelled to parrot and stenograph every last brain fart he has until we've all gone mad and tapped out
and the garbage U.S. press is pathologically compelled to parrot and stenograph every last brain fart he has until we've all gone mad and tapped out
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman says in 10 years time college graduates will be working 'some completely new, exciting, super well-paid' job in space | Fortune
While Bill Gates has said the 2-day workweek could come within the next decade, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says Gen Alpha college graduates will be too busy planet-hopping.
fortune.com
December 29, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I'm starting to worry that Sam Altman's brain is running the same software as Elizabeth Holmes. It's just that the apologia circuits are capable of one or two more rounds of division.
“We need a strongman to set us free” has to be the dumbest self-own that a polity can do to itself.
December 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
“We need a strongman to set us free” has to be the dumbest self-own that a polity can do to itself.
Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸
I never understood the criticism of “Forrest Gump.” This perfectly expresses why I’ve always liked that movie.
Forrest Gump is already well-known. What’s less acknowledged is that it’s one of the sharpest commentaries on American civilization ever made. I wrote about why it still matters—and why we may need to look at it more carefully now.
Forrest Gump and America’s Return to Innocence
A Christmas Essay
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 29, 2025 at 2:36 AM
I never understood the criticism of “Forrest Gump.” This perfectly expresses why I’ve always liked that movie.
Citizenship is scalable. You don’t need to be a policy expert to weaken capture. This is a New Year manifesto for a republic of citizens: break cross-sectoral coordination, restore constitutional enforcement, protect the information commons.
A New Year and a Manifesto for America
A New Year's Message from the Circus.
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 28, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Citizenship is scalable. You don’t need to be a policy expert to weaken capture. This is a New Year manifesto for a republic of citizens: break cross-sectoral coordination, restore constitutional enforcement, protect the information commons.
Forrest Gump is already well-known. What’s less acknowledged is that it’s one of the sharpest commentaries on American civilization ever made. I wrote about why it still matters—and why we may need to look at it more carefully now.
Forrest Gump and America’s Return to Innocence
A Christmas Essay
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Forrest Gump is already well-known. What’s less acknowledged is that it’s one of the sharpest commentaries on American civilization ever made. I wrote about why it still matters—and why we may need to look at it more carefully now.
The thing about right-wing reactionaries that one must understand is they are not arguing from a place of moral reasoning. They have a picture of their ideal world in their head—a cultural aesthetic—and they want to impose that on us, without taking any responsibility for themselves. They're sick.
“Woman Enjoying Career Literally Made Possible by Feminism Declares Feminism a Failure”
December 28, 2025 at 1:53 AM
The thing about right-wing reactionaries that one must understand is they are not arguing from a place of moral reasoning. They have a picture of their ideal world in their head—a cultural aesthetic—and they want to impose that on us, without taking any responsibility for themselves. They're sick.
Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸
My end of year message: Now is the time to act.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Stop Calculating and Do What's Right
History's moral dimensions, Trump's abandonment of democratic alliances, and the fight ahead
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
My end of year message: Now is the time to act.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
The Epstein scandal is beyond insane.
December 27, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The Epstein scandal is beyond insane.
My end of year message: Now is the time to act.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Stop Calculating and Do What's Right
History's moral dimensions, Trump's abandonment of democratic alliances, and the fight ahead
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
My end of year message: Now is the time to act.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Not to calculate whether you have the right subject position to speak up. Not to wait for threat level midnight.
Point at evil. Call it evil. Do what's right.
Marc Andreessen doesn’t just have wealth. He has coordinating power across capital, media, tech, and politics. That’s the problem.
A Dodd-Frank for capital markets: limit cross-sector control without killing innovation.
A Dodd-Frank for capital markets: limit cross-sector control without killing innovation.
A Dodd-Frank for Capital Markets
An Incomplete Lesson Learned from History
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 26, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Marc Andreessen doesn’t just have wealth. He has coordinating power across capital, media, tech, and politics. That’s the problem.
A Dodd-Frank for capital markets: limit cross-sector control without killing innovation.
A Dodd-Frank for capital markets: limit cross-sector control without killing innovation.
Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸
“Under democratic constraint, these tools can serve the public. Under capture, they become instruments of extraction because the same thing that makes them useful—continuous data flows and dependency—also makes them governable by whoever controls them.”
December 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
“Under democratic constraint, these tools can serve the public. Under capture, they become instruments of extraction because the same thing that makes them useful—continuous data flows and dependency—also makes them governable by whoever controls them.”
Reposted by Mike Brock 🇺🇸
As the Sun Sets on Sand Hill Road, Andreessen Awaits His Caesar
This is not about technology.
It’s about power, capital, and the slow removal of democratic constraint.
Web3 was the rehearsal.
AI infrastructure is the stage.
Read carefully.
This is not about technology.
It’s about power, capital, and the slow removal of democratic constraint.
Web3 was the rehearsal.
AI infrastructure is the stage.
Read carefully.
As the Sun Sets on Sand Hill Road, Andreessen Awaits His Caesar
The Architecture of a Tyranny
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 26, 2025 at 5:53 PM
As the Sun Sets on Sand Hill Road, Andreessen Awaits His Caesar
This is not about technology.
It’s about power, capital, and the slow removal of democratic constraint.
Web3 was the rehearsal.
AI infrastructure is the stage.
Read carefully.
This is not about technology.
It’s about power, capital, and the slow removal of democratic constraint.
Web3 was the rehearsal.
AI infrastructure is the stage.
Read carefully.