Matt Schrader
@mattschrader.bsky.social
Taco Bell stan account, Phoenician by choice. Mostly tweets about China stuff. Opinions are not my employer's.
Reposted by Matt Schrader
Writer in the top 1% of writerly success: "Can't wait to alienate myself from my peers and audience to work with literally the worst boss in the world for a cool 80k a year."
X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications
January 30, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Writer in the top 1% of writerly success: "Can't wait to alienate myself from my peers and audience to work with literally the worst boss in the world for a cool 80k a year."
No idea what Danny McBride is getting up to here a stone's throw away from Times Square but viral marketing campaign starts here I guess
January 31, 2026 at 12:29 AM
No idea what Danny McBride is getting up to here a stone's throw away from Times Square but viral marketing campaign starts here I guess
Reposted by Matt Schrader
I've been saying this for literal years, but American journalists desperately need training in how to report safely under authoritarianism because buddy it is here.
January 30, 2026 at 3:16 PM
I've been saying this for literal years, but American journalists desperately need training in how to report safely under authoritarianism because buddy it is here.
Reposted by Matt Schrader
OH heyyyy! Where’s Mike Benz? Where’s Shellenberger? Where are the “CiA CIa ciA” screamers who should be horrified by domestic action?
Tulsi is doing this so she can claim Venezuela etc helped rig the 2020 election. When you see her deployed, know she’s about to lie.
www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
Tulsi is doing this so she can claim Venezuela etc helped rig the 2020 election. When you see her deployed, know she’s about to lie.
www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
Exclusive | Spy Chief Tulsi Gabbard Is Hunting for 2020 Election Fraud
The director of national intelligence earlier this week joined the FBI search of an election center in Georgia.
www.wsj.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:36 AM
OH heyyyy! Where’s Mike Benz? Where’s Shellenberger? Where are the “CiA CIa ciA” screamers who should be horrified by domestic action?
Tulsi is doing this so she can claim Venezuela etc helped rig the 2020 election. When you see her deployed, know she’s about to lie.
www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
Tulsi is doing this so she can claim Venezuela etc helped rig the 2020 election. When you see her deployed, know she’s about to lie.
www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
For many years the work of Washington Post foreign correspondents has been essential to my work and to my ability to understand the world at large. Its loss would leave us all--Jeff Bezos included--so much the poorer.
For nearly a century, the @washingtonpost’s foreign correspondents have been on the ground for the world’s most pressing stories. Now, our desk is facing potential steep cuts. Washington needs us. The world needs us. If you read us and need us, please watch this video and share.
January 30, 2026 at 12:13 AM
For many years the work of Washington Post foreign correspondents has been essential to my work and to my ability to understand the world at large. Its loss would leave us all--Jeff Bezos included--so much the poorer.
NYC five days after snow is still pretty beautiful as long as you don't look down
January 30, 2026 at 12:06 AM
NYC five days after snow is still pretty beautiful as long as you don't look down
Reposted by Matt Schrader
Good news but keep your eyes on his case since "The Department of Homeland Security has the right to appeal the decision within 30 days so Guan remains in a New York detention center for now, said his lawyer, Chuangchuang Chen".
A federal immigration judge on Wednesday granted U.S. asylum to a Chinese citizen who fled his homeland after gathering evidence of alleged human-rights violations against China’s Uyghur population.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Population Is Granted U.S. Asylum
The citizen-journalist, Heng Guan, drew attention after he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
www.wsj.com
January 29, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Good news but keep your eyes on his case since "The Department of Homeland Security has the right to appeal the decision within 30 days so Guan remains in a New York detention center for now, said his lawyer, Chuangchuang Chen".
Reposted by Matt Schrader
Some good news, for a change. So happy to hear this. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/u...
Dissident Who Daringly Documented Uyghurs’ Repression Wins Asylum
www.nytimes.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:47 AM
Some good news, for a change. So happy to hear this. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/u...
"Explain [some complicated thing] like you were explaining it to your parents."
If you’re over 30, quote this with some life advice 🤌🏼
January 28, 2026 at 8:20 PM
"Explain [some complicated thing] like you were explaining it to your parents."
Reposted by Matt Schrader
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
ICE are alllll over Harlem right now, 116 & Frederick Douglass, checking IDs and targeting the area’s African community. Multiple people have been detained.
Community members are advising folks to carry citizenship documents - or stay away if they are at risk
Community members are advising folks to carry citizenship documents - or stay away if they are at risk
January 28, 2026 at 6:17 PM
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
People think China's internet censorship is like Xi Jinping pointing a wand and erasing posts or something but the reality is it's the big Chinese internet companies who do almost all the heavy lifting because they know if they don't they stop being rich and powerful.
we keep sort-of joking about the english-speaking internet going full chinese censorship meme mode so posts are all effulgent praise of trump and pics of winnie the pooh but when i see the consolidation of media and the collaboration of silicon valley, we're getting so close to winnie the pooh
January 28, 2026 at 2:08 AM
People think China's internet censorship is like Xi Jinping pointing a wand and erasing posts or something but the reality is it's the big Chinese internet companies who do almost all the heavy lifting because they know if they don't they stop being rich and powerful.
Can someone very rich buy a bunch of these so the industry keeps pushing the tech forward and we get the price down to where Average Schlub Matt can afford it? gizmodo.com/samsung-gala...
Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold U.S. Price Is Not at All Surprising
You already knew the foldable phone was going to be really expensive.
gizmodo.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Can someone very rich buy a bunch of these so the industry keeps pushing the tech forward and we get the price down to where Average Schlub Matt can afford it? gizmodo.com/samsung-gala...
Over in China-land, we're all still just guessing why Xi Jinping purged his top general and has effectively decapitated the PLA. This is the best guess I've seen so far: jamestown.org/zhang-youxia...
Zhang Youxia’s Differences with Xi Jinping Led to His Purge - Jamestown
Executive Summary: At 3:00 p.m. Beijing time on Saturday, January 24, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced that Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (张又侠) and Chief...
jamestown.org
January 27, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Over in China-land, we're all still just guessing why Xi Jinping purged his top general and has effectively decapitated the PLA. This is the best guess I've seen so far: jamestown.org/zhang-youxia...
Reposted by Matt Schrader
🚨🚨 NEWS: I'm urgently asking governments and global #HumanRights leaders to forcefully condemn Alex Pretti's murder and demand a transparent, impartial investigation so that those responsible can be brought to justice.
January 27, 2026 at 12:59 AM
🚨🚨 NEWS: I'm urgently asking governments and global #HumanRights leaders to forcefully condemn Alex Pretti's murder and demand a transparent, impartial investigation so that those responsible can be brought to justice.
Reposted by Matt Schrader
Spoke to @nytimes.com about the Xi-Zhang family connections, but I had to be frank that we actually know little about the Xi Jinping/Zhang Youxia relationship. (brief thread)
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/w...
January 26, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Spoke to @nytimes.com about the Xi-Zhang family connections, but I had to be frank that we actually know little about the Xi Jinping/Zhang Youxia relationship. (brief thread)
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/w...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/w...
Reposted by Matt Schrader
Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.
January 25, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.
Reposted by Matt Schrader
hey everybody lifelong tech expert here
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
And what is happening inside ICE detention centers? 404 Media also learned that the federal government claimed that the day after it was sued for allegedly abusing detainees at an ICE detention center, a “system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility.
ICE Says Critical Evidence In Abuse Case Was Lost In 'System Crash' a Day After It Was Sued
The government also said "we don't have resources" to retain all footage and that plaintiffs could supply "endless hard drives that we could save things to."
www.404media.co
January 25, 2026 at 5:26 PM
hey everybody lifelong tech expert here
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility
that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
I know no one is looking for scorching hot PLA takes on Bluesky rn, but I would caution against thinking the unprecedented purge we're seeing materially lowers the risk for Taiwan.
January 25, 2026 at 4:35 PM
I know no one is looking for scorching hot PLA takes on Bluesky rn, but I would caution against thinking the unprecedented purge we're seeing materially lowers the risk for Taiwan.
Even on the freaking Silksong subreddit 😂😂
January 25, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Even on the freaking Silksong subreddit 😂😂
Reposted by Matt Schrader
Protests happen, but most of what is happening in Minneapolis isn’t protesting.
More accurate terms:
- observers
- witnesses
- volunteers
- neighbors
- residents
- people
More accurate terms:
- observers
- witnesses
- volunteers
- neighbors
- residents
- people
One thing that irks me: people keep calling the folks on the streets in Minneapolis protestors. They are not generally there to protest, they are there to observe and document. This is the product of organizing and mutual aid. It is telling that these acts of citizenship are seen as protest!
January 25, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Protests happen, but most of what is happening in Minneapolis isn’t protesting.
More accurate terms:
- observers
- witnesses
- volunteers
- neighbors
- residents
- people
More accurate terms:
- observers
- witnesses
- volunteers
- neighbors
- residents
- people
Reposted by Matt Schrader
I urge leaders of democracies worldwide to step forward and stand with Americans fighting on the ground.
January 23, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I urge leaders of democracies worldwide to step forward and stand with Americans fighting on the ground.
It's going to be the biggest blizzard in a decade in New York tomorrow but if there's a protest I'm going
January 25, 2026 at 4:14 AM
It's going to be the biggest blizzard in a decade in New York tomorrow but if there's a protest I'm going
Reposted by Matt Schrader
The news coming out of Minneapolis right now reminds me of nothing so much as the central government crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2020. Not a coincidence that Trump and Xi get along.
Please read and share.
There is also widely-circulating video of the unlawful arrests of these Minnesota activists (and U.S. citizens).
There is also widely-circulating video of the unlawful arrests of these Minnesota activists (and U.S. citizens).
January 13, 2026 at 3:30 AM
The news coming out of Minneapolis right now reminds me of nothing so much as the central government crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2020. Not a coincidence that Trump and Xi get along.
If I were federal agents in one of the world's most heavily armed countries I probably wouldn't walk around conducting summary executions but that's just me.
January 25, 2026 at 3:32 AM
If I were federal agents in one of the world's most heavily armed countries I probably wouldn't walk around conducting summary executions but that's just me.