Matt Wright
@mattwright.bsky.social
Restaurant owner in Austin, dad, hoops fan. Main interests: #rstats, data viz, Power BI, cheaper housing, Wem-V-P. (Not a frequent poster.)
Pinned
Matt Wright
@mattwright.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Reposted by Matt Wright
All of it, every last bit of it, demands the built-in constitutional check: impeachment and removal.
January 21, 2026 at 2:20 PM
All of it, every last bit of it, demands the built-in constitutional check: impeachment and removal.
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Have seen many variations of this & broadly agree—but the part that struck me in the moment wasn’t “this is a microcosm for how America sucks” — it was “this is a microcosm for trying to behave democratically & respectfully of one another in a complex, evolving situation with things we can't know.”
i feel like the viral bus thread resonates because at every step of the way you're like "ok surely this will be resolved shortly, any second now," which seems like what all the passengers are also thinking. then the fact that the situation doesn't resolve and the bus just keeps going is an Allegory
January 21, 2026 at 12:17 AM
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Reposted by Matt Wright
Was just talking to someone about how the Greenland thing is uniquely inexplicable. All the rest of Trump's evil fits into a neat story basically of racism, red meat to the base, and megalomania. But the Greenland thing is so obviously self-destructive that it makes me think he really is a traitor
January 20, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Was just talking to someone about how the Greenland thing is uniquely inexplicable. All the rest of Trump's evil fits into a neat story basically of racism, red meat to the base, and megalomania. But the Greenland thing is so obviously self-destructive that it makes me think he really is a traitor
“just make it stop” is what my brain pleads with me each morning before I finally log off
This was the point in the bus thread where I started to wonder if it was a metaphor for this present moment in time.
January 20, 2026 at 6:58 PM
“just make it stop” is what my brain pleads with me each morning before I finally log off
Reposted by Matt Wright
school being canceled because the president sent armed thugs to harass and imprison the populace for voting against him should be the biggest domestic scandal in american history
January 20, 2026 at 4:10 PM
school being canceled because the president sent armed thugs to harass and imprison the populace for voting against him should be the biggest domestic scandal in american history
Today is a reminder that social media serving you the same psychologically damaging images over and over will likely be seen as a way we collectively harmed ourselves and our society. Cable news: same effect, less widely distributed
January 19, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Today is a reminder that social media serving you the same psychologically damaging images over and over will likely be seen as a way we collectively harmed ourselves and our society. Cable news: same effect, less widely distributed
This exact sentiment but it’s a diptych with this poor man and the mad king message screenshot. JFC
I have posted too much today, but cannot get this photo out of my head. This must stop.
Hmong man detained by ICE today in St. Paul, Minnesota.
(Photo via Reuters)
(Photo via Reuters)
January 19, 2026 at 7:09 AM
This exact sentiment but it’s a diptych with this poor man and the mad king message screenshot. JFC
A decentralized grid would defang some of the terror Putin is bringing upon Ukraine right now, as the pod points out
IMHO, you would enjoy listening to this pod about a guy who is trying to decentralize the electricity grid the same way telecom & internet infrastructure were decentralized.
Making the electricity grid work like the internet
Jonas Birgersson joins me to explain how "packet-switching" for electrons can lead to energy abundance and grid resilience.
www.volts.wtf
January 18, 2026 at 8:14 PM
A decentralized grid would defang some of the terror Putin is bringing upon Ukraine right now, as the pod points out
Reposted by Matt Wright
Gallego ("moderate" Dem) is going with "ICE needs to be totally torn down" (not "reform and retrain"). This is a pivot point for the country on immigration. You have been seeing this in the data for a while, and now officials are snapping to the public opinion www.gelliottmorris.com/p/ice-is-a-7...
January 18, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Gallego ("moderate" Dem) is going with "ICE needs to be totally torn down" (not "reform and retrain"). This is a pivot point for the country on immigration. You have been seeing this in the data for a while, and now officials are snapping to the public opinion www.gelliottmorris.com/p/ice-is-a-7...
Reposted by Matt Wright
This should concentrate some minds.
Will it?
Will it?
January 18, 2026 at 7:45 PM
This should concentrate some minds.
Will it?
Will it?
Reposted by Matt Wright
Something a little different. Some cartoonists put out a call for comics about local ICE experiences. This one happened a few months ago so it's a little older than current events, but it's a story that I never stopped thinking about. #ICEoutcomics
January 18, 2026 at 2:10 PM
Something a little different. Some cartoonists put out a call for comics about local ICE experiences. This one happened a few months ago so it's a little older than current events, but it's a story that I never stopped thinking about. #ICEoutcomics
January 18, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Matt Wright
If you read one thing today, it should be this
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
Witnesses tell of the brutality inflicted on those taking part in anti-regime protests
www.thetimes.com
January 18, 2026 at 10:04 AM
If you read one thing today, it should be this
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’
www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...
Reposted by Matt Wright
you know this guy is a FOR REAL photographer because he's telling the story of his brutal, unconditional arrest by federal goons and can't help but slip in a gear review
Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
January 17, 2026 at 3:37 PM
you know this guy is a FOR REAL photographer because he's telling the story of his brutal, unconditional arrest by federal goons and can't help but slip in a gear review
Reposted by Matt Wright
9/ In exchange for a norm for severely limiting what it does do with its military, the US gets to live on a planet where most countries operate on the assumption that the US military isn't a direct threat to them.
That has a myraid of benefits far outweighing potential plunder or territorial gain.
That has a myraid of benefits far outweighing potential plunder or territorial gain.
January 17, 2026 at 10:24 AM
9/ In exchange for a norm for severely limiting what it does do with its military, the US gets to live on a planet where most countries operate on the assumption that the US military isn't a direct threat to them.
That has a myraid of benefits far outweighing potential plunder or territorial gain.
That has a myraid of benefits far outweighing potential plunder or territorial gain.
Reposted by Matt Wright
Wasow’s study supports the use of nonviolent direct action during the civil rights movement, a protest technique that King favored for both moral and STRATEGIC reasons.
Excerpt from a paper by me (currently under peer review):
Excerpt from a paper by me (currently under peer review):
January 17, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Wasow’s study supports the use of nonviolent direct action during the civil rights movement, a protest technique that King favored for both moral and STRATEGIC reasons.
Excerpt from a paper by me (currently under peer review):
Excerpt from a paper by me (currently under peer review):
Reposted by Matt Wright
Two white friends tail me home if it's outside the hours when people are out and about. I'm damn near third generation Minnesotan. It's not just "you're a citizen you'll be fine." I'm a black woman alone. Who knows what they will do.
I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.
January 16, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Two white friends tail me home if it's outside the hours when people are out and about. I'm damn near third generation Minnesotan. It's not just "you're a citizen you'll be fine." I'm a black woman alone. Who knows what they will do.
Lists in Bsky now show reposts - legit useful upgrade for me!
January 16, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Lists in Bsky now show reposts - legit useful upgrade for me!
Reposted by Matt Wright
Re-upping my strong, strong recommendation to listen to the pod linked above. It will get your imaginitive juices flowing.
Here's an academic paper where he lays out the vision in more detail:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08152
Here's an academic paper where he lays out the vision in more detail:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08152
arxiv.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Re-upping my strong, strong recommendation to listen to the pod linked above. It will get your imaginitive juices flowing.
Here's an academic paper where he lays out the vision in more detail:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08152
Here's an academic paper where he lays out the vision in more detail:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08152
This episode blew my damn mind 🤯
This is the most thrilling podcast I’ve listened to in quite a while: we are in the threshold of something truly transformative (in a good way!)
Today on Volts: Swedish tech entrepreneur Jonas Birgersson was once known in his country as "broadband Jesus" for his efforts in spreading decentralized, low-cost broadband access. Now, he wants to bring the same decentralized, peer-to-peer revolution to the electricity grid.
January 16, 2026 at 10:02 PM
This episode blew my damn mind 🤯
Reposted by Matt Wright
Yes, the DHS goons did damage, they grabbed people, they inflicted pain.
But the narrative that we want - and it is a true narrative - is that DHS tried to raid LA and were driven off, they tried to raid Chicago and were defeated, they tried to raid Minneapolis and will be forced to flee again.
But the narrative that we want - and it is a true narrative - is that DHS tried to raid LA and were driven off, they tried to raid Chicago and were defeated, they tried to raid Minneapolis and will be forced to flee again.
January 16, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Yes, the DHS goons did damage, they grabbed people, they inflicted pain.
But the narrative that we want - and it is a true narrative - is that DHS tried to raid LA and were driven off, they tried to raid Chicago and were defeated, they tried to raid Minneapolis and will be forced to flee again.
But the narrative that we want - and it is a true narrative - is that DHS tried to raid LA and were driven off, they tried to raid Chicago and were defeated, they tried to raid Minneapolis and will be forced to flee again.
Reposted by Matt Wright
This is your reminder that Hungarian-Jewish scientist George de Hevesy dissolved two Nobel Prizes in aqua regia to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis.
He then left the dissolved solution on his shelf and fled to Sweden.
(After the war he un-dissolved the gold and the prizes were re-cast.)
He then left the dissolved solution on his shelf and fled to Sweden.
(After the war he un-dissolved the gold and the prizes were re-cast.)
January 16, 2026 at 4:14 AM
This is your reminder that Hungarian-Jewish scientist George de Hevesy dissolved two Nobel Prizes in aqua regia to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis.
He then left the dissolved solution on his shelf and fled to Sweden.
(After the war he un-dissolved the gold and the prizes were re-cast.)
He then left the dissolved solution on his shelf and fled to Sweden.
(After the war he un-dissolved the gold and the prizes were re-cast.)
Reposted by Matt Wright
January 16, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Matt Wright
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I've seen some folks giving into doomerism by citing the US's history of paramilitary violence shutting down fair elections in the South, and I want to add some historical context to support Jamelle here (as an historian of Reconstruction paramilitary violence)
the question to ask about this is, okay, he wants to cancel the midterms. how does he get the VA state board of elections to cancel the midterms? how does he get the georgia board of elections to do it? how does he convince republican house members to quit their jobs and give up their paychecks?
January 15, 2026 at 8:56 PM
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