Matt Vanderwerff
@mavander.bsky.social
Senior Technical Advisor at IREX | focused on trust-building and civic engagement | Passionate about community | backpacker, dad of three, and veggie gardening enthusiast. 🥾🪴
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
To go along with that, we live in an era of low trust voters, and they're just going to keep voting out incumbents over and over because they're mad at "The System" and aren't traditional ideological actors. You can't heal America without making people trust the government more.
September 23, 2025 at 4:17 PM
To go along with that, we live in an era of low trust voters, and they're just going to keep voting out incumbents over and over because they're mad at "The System" and aren't traditional ideological actors. You can't heal America without making people trust the government more.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
among the issues with people not having any knowledge of hybrid regimes in the global South is the fact that everyone assumes contemporary authoritarian governance looks like 20th century totalitarianism
September 19, 2025 at 1:19 PM
among the issues with people not having any knowledge of hybrid regimes in the global South is the fact that everyone assumes contemporary authoritarian governance looks like 20th century totalitarianism
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
the city I live in is occupied by armed federal agents checking people's papers at random public transportation stops and people are still doing this
“The idea that all of this happened because, like, twelve professors at Berkeley used “Latinx” on their syllabi is just detached from reality, from my point of view.”
@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social In full form www.thedriftmag.com/politics-is-...
@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social In full form www.thedriftmag.com/politics-is-...
www.thedriftmag.com
August 22, 2025 at 11:25 PM
the city I live in is occupied by armed federal agents checking people's papers at random public transportation stops and people are still doing this
In DC today I watched masked secret police detain a brown-skinned man for simply walking on the sidewalk. No warrant. Refused to let him get his id. They shoved neighbors aside, threw him into an unmarked SUV, and vanished. Broad daylight. This is what our city is living with.
August 22, 2025 at 7:05 PM
In DC today I watched masked secret police detain a brown-skinned man for simply walking on the sidewalk. No warrant. Refused to let him get his id. They shoved neighbors aside, threw him into an unmarked SUV, and vanished. Broad daylight. This is what our city is living with.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
A Norwegian friend told me some months ago something to the effect of, look, American friend, you have never had to walk this dark path before. We have walked a very dark path ourselves. We understand. It will be very hard for you, but it is survivable. We are here when you are ready to rebuild.
July 30, 2025 at 2:55 AM
A Norwegian friend told me some months ago something to the effect of, look, American friend, you have never had to walk this dark path before. We have walked a very dark path ourselves. We understand. It will be very hard for you, but it is survivable. We are here when you are ready to rebuild.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
“.. The news on Israel’s main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: ‘Maybe it’s finally time to acknowledge that this isn’t a public relations failure, but a moral one.’”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
July 29, 2025 at 12:07 PM
“.. The news on Israel’s main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: ‘Maybe it’s finally time to acknowledge that this isn’t a public relations failure, but a moral one.’”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
As dangerous as canceling Colbert was for our democracy, it made him infinitely more powerful. I mean, who exactly was watching him before now? Firing him was a signal that what he has to say is REALLY important. I don’t care if he just starts a TikTok, he’ll become one of the key voices in America.
In the next ten months—while he’s still being broadcast—someone needs to get the Epstein list to Colbert so he can read it on the air
July 19, 2025 at 11:03 AM
As dangerous as canceling Colbert was for our democracy, it made him infinitely more powerful. I mean, who exactly was watching him before now? Firing him was a signal that what he has to say is REALLY important. I don’t care if he just starts a TikTok, he’ll become one of the key voices in America.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
“It took from the invention of the photovoltaic solar cell, in 1954, until 2022 for the world to install a terawatt of solar power; the second terawatt came just two years later, and the third will arrive either later this year or early next.”
Moore’s Law eat your heart out. Jesus.
Moore’s Law eat your heart out. Jesus.
“California is so far using forty per cent less natural gas to generate electricity than it did in 2023, which is the single most hopeful statistic I’ve seen in four decades of writing about the climate crisis.”
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment
In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.
www.newyorker.com
July 12, 2025 at 10:08 PM
“It took from the invention of the photovoltaic solar cell, in 1954, until 2022 for the world to install a terawatt of solar power; the second terawatt came just two years later, and the third will arrive either later this year or early next.”
Moore’s Law eat your heart out. Jesus.
Moore’s Law eat your heart out. Jesus.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
July 2, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
i can’t express how much i stan rick steves
I’m a hardworking, taxpaying, churchgoing, grandkid-raising American citizen. And if I work all day long and want to go home, smoke a joint & just stare at the fireplace for 3 hours…that’s my civil liberty.
@sarapayan.bsky.social reports on my mission to end America's prohibition on marijuana:
@sarapayan.bsky.social reports on my mission to end America's prohibition on marijuana:
Rick Steves Talks Travel, Cannabis and Freedom
The celebrated PBS television host’s plant advocacy is legendary as is his take on the current state of international cannabis.
cannabisnow.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:16 AM
i can’t express how much i stan rick steves
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
IDF soldiers spoke to Haaretz about the military directive to shoot Palestinians seeking food. The on-the-ground soldiers say they are murdering Gazans for no reason and that the Israeli govt and military are hiding behind the idea of a "threat" that doesn't exist." www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
June 27, 2025 at 12:03 PM
IDF soldiers spoke to Haaretz about the military directive to shoot Palestinians seeking food. The on-the-ground soldiers say they are murdering Gazans for no reason and that the Israeli govt and military are hiding behind the idea of a "threat" that doesn't exist." www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
This is Rhogena Nicholas & Dennis Tuttle.
Police shot & killed them—and their dog—during a no-knock raid on their home. A Texas officer claimed an informant had bought heroin there.
The problem? That cop lied. The couple hadn’t sold heroin—and there was no informant. A thread.
Police shot & killed them—and their dog—during a no-knock raid on their home. A Texas officer claimed an informant had bought heroin there.
The problem? That cop lied. The couple hadn’t sold heroin—and there was no informant. A thread.
June 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
This is Rhogena Nicholas & Dennis Tuttle.
Police shot & killed them—and their dog—during a no-knock raid on their home. A Texas officer claimed an informant had bought heroin there.
The problem? That cop lied. The couple hadn’t sold heroin—and there was no informant. A thread.
Police shot & killed them—and their dog—during a no-knock raid on their home. A Texas officer claimed an informant had bought heroin there.
The problem? That cop lied. The couple hadn’t sold heroin—and there was no informant. A thread.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
The Trump administration said on Monday that it would open up 58 million acres of back country in national forests to road construction and development, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century. https://trib.al/VQXR96o
June 24, 2025 at 12:25 PM
The Trump administration said on Monday that it would open up 58 million acres of back country in national forests to road construction and development, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century. https://trib.al/VQXR96o
If we are to do this, we will need very different systems of evaluating and understanding impact
The future of aid has to lie in working with country governments, as flawed as all governments are. We have to build and strengthen what people in those countries want or need. Not impose stand-alone, unsustainable solutions on them ssir.org/articles/ent...
Big Aid Is Over (SSIR)
We need to design for what African governments can do and will pay for.
ssir.org
June 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
If we are to do this, we will need very different systems of evaluating and understanding impact
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
A man with a green card said ICE agents arrested him in #Lynn, Mass then took him to a detention facility—but first made a detour to a cemetery, where they took him out of their vehicle and beat him.
#mapoli #Massachusetts
#mapoli #Massachusetts
Worker arrested by ICE in Lynn, later released, says agents beat him in cemetery
A Massachusetts man said he told immigration agents multiple times that he's a legal resident and that he was brought to a cemetery where they assaulted him.
www.nbcboston.com
June 12, 2025 at 11:27 PM
A man with a green card said ICE agents arrested him in #Lynn, Mass then took him to a detention facility—but first made a detour to a cemetery, where they took him out of their vehicle and beat him.
#mapoli #Massachusetts
#mapoli #Massachusetts
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
San Diego neighborhood makes ICE agents retreat
June 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
San Diego neighborhood makes ICE agents retreat
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
"Roughly 1,500 babies have been born HIV-positive every day since January 21, because Musk cut off their mothers’ medication." prospect.org/power/2025-0...
Go, Elon, and Never Darken Our Doors Again
The worst ultra-billionaire on Earth says he’s leaving government. Let’s hope he actually does it.
prospect.org
May 30, 2025 at 1:15 PM
"Roughly 1,500 babies have been born HIV-positive every day since January 21, because Musk cut off their mothers’ medication." prospect.org/power/2025-0...
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
did they just pick the guy most easily able to yell at JD Vance
May 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
did they just pick the guy most easily able to yell at JD Vance
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
April 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
Hi, I'm the guy who used to oversee the federal government's agency IT telecommunications contracts. This is extremely bad. There is absolutely no need for this. Not only is it a huge security exposure, but the simplest explanation for this is that it is meant to be a security exposure.
Elon Musk’s Starlink Expands Across White House Complex
Trump administration officials said the company donated the internet service, saying the gift had been vetted by the lawyer overseeing ethics issues in the White House Counsel’s Office.
www.nytimes.com
March 18, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Hi, I'm the guy who used to oversee the federal government's agency IT telecommunications contracts. This is extremely bad. There is absolutely no need for this. Not only is it a huge security exposure, but the simplest explanation for this is that it is meant to be a security exposure.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
The number of “I will never get rich but I will like what I’m doing and it’s meaningful work” jobs under attack right now is staggering.
March 12, 2025 at 11:20 PM
The number of “I will never get rich but I will like what I’m doing and it’s meaningful work” jobs under attack right now is staggering.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
Evangelicalism is like if you told someone about Christianity and then they got hammered and told someone else.
I mean, yes, Christians have done many very bad things over the past 2000 years. But every opinion poll of Evangelicals is like “negative three percent of Evangelicals think Jesus is the son of God, eighty-seven percent think Donald Trump cures cancer with his tears.”
March 12, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Evangelicalism is like if you told someone about Christianity and then they got hammered and told someone else.
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
Sadly, it's pain. Literally, humans remember painful moments more clearly. The generations that survived the Great Depression, WWII are gone. Their fears have been replaced by today's follies. America's elite are so bored they chose this degeneracy. (Immigrants and refugees would never, but…)
March 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Sadly, it's pain. Literally, humans remember painful moments more clearly. The generations that survived the Great Depression, WWII are gone. Their fears have been replaced by today's follies. America's elite are so bored they chose this degeneracy. (Immigrants and refugees would never, but…)
Reposted by Matt Vanderwerff
Does anyone have suggestions for a gentle de-radicalization along these lines? I wish I had more books, podcasts and YouTubers to send people drifting into the Rogan-verse
February 25, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Does anyone have suggestions for a gentle de-radicalization along these lines? I wish I had more books, podcasts and YouTubers to send people drifting into the Rogan-verse