Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯

Publisher, #DemocracyLocal. fellow @berggrueninst Columnist @ThePublicSquare. Author 5 books @GlobalForumDD ex @thecrimson @latimes @WSJ BaltSun @NewAmerica

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

Democracy Local, a planetary publication devoted to everyday people governing themselves, is now available at Substack, by popular demand. https://t.co/gGCydDnRn9
You can continue to find us for free, in 8 languages, and without suscription, at https://t.co/g7c9AzrEYD , hosted by https://t.co/ZcbagPlyNI

[Zócalo Public Square @ThePublicSquare]

Columnist @joemmathews tries his hand at screenwriting this week with a cutting caper about California’s dying entertainment system. Unlike real life, this feature film gets a Hollywood ending.
https://t.co/QZxKosQetK

[Zócalo Public Square @ThePublicSquare]

Desperate to save her marriage, a state bureaucrat attempts to resuscitate a dying entertainment industry. A caper—and a love story—results. Read @joemmathews’ new feature film “Who Gets the Credit?”
https://t.co/QZxKosPGEc

[Colleen Chien @colleenchien.bsky.social @colleen_chien]

I wrote recently abt depression + imposter syndrome after landing my dream job @BerkeleyLaw, & what helped, to the point where I’m not only better now, but also stronger.
https://t.co/Ctpeu2uuFY

The TL;DR: community + time are healing. Also, community tennis!🎾

It’s one reason I’ve loved building the AI & Society community @UCBerkeley with @irenetrampoline, @rajiinio, and @alsuhr. (see next post)

[OIDP @oidp_org]

📍 #OIDP25

🌟 Assemblée Générale

À Porto-Novo comme à Cocody, un même message : la démocratie participative doit devenir une expérience vécue et une pratique permanente.

🙋‍♀️ Transparence, dialogue, participation des jeunes & des femmes : la confiance se construit par des actes.

[Democracy International @democracy_intl]

📣 SAVE THE DATE!

How can influencers & social media help your European Citizens’ Initiative?

Join our ECI Forum webinar to learn more!

📅 6 Oct | 12:30–13:30 CEST | 💻 Online
👉 Register: https://t.co/K3u8S4Uk0C
#ECI #EuropeanCitizensInitiative #EUTakeTheInitiative

[Marcos Breton @MarcosBreton]

Day 3 of Tom Philp's amazing series about a Sacramento woman who gave birth to her daughter behind a convenience store. This type of journalism is an endangered species.

https://t.co/GwxUk4QrDg

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

Drop whatever you are doing and read @JerryBrownGov essay in the new issue if the New York Review of Books. https://t.co/NPnmP9lLwI

[Zócalo Public Square @ThePublicSquare]

Missed our recent program “What Is the New World Order?,” co-presented with JLF Los Angeles, an international edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations? We've got you covered. Check out our recap:
https://t.co/hZhdKNrO7h

[MORI K. @hiro_m_bj8]

Our manuscript was featured in the @EAST_TRAUMA Monthly Literature Review – Education!

Thank you for highlighting our work on robotic surgery training needs among Acute Care Surgery fellows.

🔗 EAST Monthly Literature Review:
https://t.co/uaDo4wHH3Y

[United Cities @uclg_org]

📍#OIDP25

🌟 The Plenary Discussion on Local Governments in the Spotlight of Citizen Participation has just started!

👥 Mayors and elected leaders are discussing how strong local democracy and meaningful participation can strengthen trust, democratic resilience and more inclusive governance.

📺 Follow it on on YouTube channel: https://t.co/2XghMBgZjf

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

To borrow a line from another Joe, this is a big f--king deal.

[California Office of Data and Innovation @CaliforniaODI]

A new chapter for https://t.co/ddN1TVmX4p is here. @CAgovernor signed AB 2103, establishing Engaged California as a program within ODI. Nearly 20,000 Californians have taken part in conversations on issues across the state since 2025. Your voices make Engaged California possible.

[Hélène Landemore @landemore]

I'm obsessed with this topic :) Here is another attempt, this time with the brilliant @audreyt, to flesh out a concrete and actionable plan to pace AI while giving voice to the people most affected by it. We use a game-theoretic framework hard-nosed realists who don't trust the democracy argument can relate to. Let's make it happen before it's too late. Thank you @NoemaMag for supporting these ideas and for the fast turnaround. https://t.co/st7G8yCPAR

[Marcos Breton @MarcosBreton]

ICYMI This is Day 1 of Tom Philp's outstanding series about a homeless woman in Sacramento whose sad plight lays bare why California is failing on homelessness. This is heroic journalism that is becoming more endangered every day.

https://t.co/SvFq5izyzC

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

It's going to be one of hell of a 2028 in Exposition Park--well, if the AIs let us live that long.

[Los Angeles Times @latimes]

Jedi-themed protest outside Lucas Museum targets L.A. Olympics over worker rights

https://t.co/FuWmsOU8EM

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

The American system of government is the world's finest, and well worth preserving.

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

In other words, it makes the governments closest to the people--local governments--even weaker and less able to deliver, and further centralizes power in state government and the governor.... It's remarkable how, in California, right and left, Democrat and Republican, pretend to fight while both supporting highly centralized state power, and keeping your community weak.

[Susan Shelley @Susan_Shelley]

McClatchy's California Editorial Board, may it rest in peace, wrote that Proposition 43 "would make it much harder for citizen groups in California to pass tax increases."
Prop. 43 restores the 2/3 vote to raise all local special taxes. Closes the loophole courts created in 2017.

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

@jamescham So, what happens when you build up so much momentum that there's no brake that can stop you?

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

On the bright side, this shows that the HSR authority can actually get some people to their destinations. Something to build on, maybe.

[CalMatters @CalMatters]

California’s High Speed Rail Authority paid nearly $600,000 in unallowable travel expenses to “questionable locations that appear unrelated to state business,” including trips to gyms, a nightclub, an escape room, a tiki bar... https://t.co/6PyulCQqdT

📸 Larry Valenzuela

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

Tony Robbins & unregulated AI is an unbeatable, humanity-ending combination.

[Elex Michaelson @Elex_Michaelson]

"I'm not blindly optimistic about AI but I am cautiously optimistic about humanity."

@deangraziosi & @TonyRobbins wrote a new book called "The AI Advantage."

"AI won't replace you in most instances but someone using it effectively will."

He says there are advantages to the tech. For example, an AI agent helps his legally blind mother to carry out daily tasks.

"I can use AI to buy back time and do things that are more human."

@CNNTheStoryIs

[Joe Mathews 乔·马修斯 @joemmathews]

For those who need the reminder, the U.S. regime's mass deportation campaign is a crime against humanity, under the Rome Statute, the UN Refugee Protocol of 1967 (to which the US is a party) and America's own Refugee Act of 1980 (Thank you, Jimmy Carter). Americans and their leaders are not exempt from international law.

The world must bring the people behind the deportations to justice.
https://t.co/ThF7bGR7Q7