John Matthews

Photographer, concert trekker, set jetter, social media observer and frequent participant. Aspiring woodturner. Passionate about common sense. IG:@johnmatthews

[Lucas Sanders 👊🏽🔥🇺🇸 @LucasSa56947288]

WOW! This officer in NYC arrested a ICE Nazis Agent!

Good job officer! Who ever who this officer is, I wanna give him a medal… 🏅

[John Matthews @johnmatthews]

@BoredElonMusk The app itself is dying. It takes almost 35 to 45 seconds for the app to load.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Buttigieg: This is about political revenge. The president has been very clear about that. And the really dangerous thing is the revenge is on you—on ordinary Americans and commuters who depend on these tunnels.

The president thinks he’s getting revenge against, I don’t know, Chuck Schumer, the way he puts it when he says he’s terminating this project. But this project wasn’t for the benefit of some elected official—it was for the benefit of the hundreds of thousands of commuters who depend on that tunnel being in good shape between New York and New Jersey.

If you’re a commuter counting on those tunnels, maybe you voted one way, maybe you voted the other. Either way, you don’t deserve to be treated this way by your president.

[John Matthews @johnmatthews]

So he knew about Project 2025 after all. Have never seen a president take so much glee in just burning the place down.

[Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar]

Oh, so NOW we’re talking about Project 2025!

[JP Lindsley | Journalist @JPLindsley]

i would like everyone to try a thought experiment: Imagine Ukrainians HAD NOT held the line these past years. Imagine they had agreed to be governed by Putin.

Now imagine Russian nastiness combined with Ukrainian ingenuity and resources conscripted into the Kremlin Zombie army.

A rather terrifying prospect?

As an American patriot under Russian hellfire right now in Kyiv, I say, Be thankful to Ukraine and its defenders for holding the line while you THOUGHT ABOUT STUFF.

[John Matthews @johnmatthews]

@RobertLusetich @atrupar Damn mail merge

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

The Trump Effect

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

As our nation girds for possible Iranian terrorist attacks, this is the person Trump put in charge of terrorism prevention.

22 years old. Recent work experience: landscaping/grocery clerk.

Never worked a day in counter-terrorism. But he’s a BIG Trump fan. So he got the job.

[DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics]

🚨🇺🇸 BREAKING!!!! TOPCT29 — U.S. NUCLEAR “SNIFFER” PLANE IS IN THE AIR

A WC-135R Constant Phoenix has just taken off from Omaha, home of U.S. Strategic Command, and is now flying unusual orbits over the northern U.S.

This is not routine.

The Constant Phoenix is used to detect nuclear detonations and track radioactive fallout in the atmosphere. It only flies under serious circumstances—like a nuclear test, reactor breach, or suspected atomic strike.

With:
• Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites
• Iran’s retaliation threats
• U.S. tanker surge to the region
• And now a nuclear detection aircraft airborne

We may be witnessing preparations for—or response to—a nuclear event.

ADD'L INFO: According to official fact sheets and flight logs, the last time a WC‑135 performed notably was in March 2022, when one deployed from RAF Mildenhall to monitor airborne radiation in response to the Ukraine invasion.

Rare deployment: Only three WC‑135Rs are active in the entire world, and flying one indicates the U.S. is seeking hard data on nuclear events.
Historical precedent: Previous operations have been linked directly to nuclear incidents—like North Korea’s 2006 tests and atmospheric sampling after bombs lost near Palomares, Spain in 1966.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

Amazing footage showing the launch of ballistic missiles earlier today by Iran against Israel, from the cockpit of a commercial aircraft flying over Dubai.

[WeRateDogs @dog_rates]

These rescuers attached a sausage to a drone to lure a stranded dog named Millie back to safety. 14/10 for everybody

[Tristan Snell @TristanSnell]

The Trump DOJ filed a letter in the case regarding NYC’s congestion pricing program

But they filed the wrong letter with the court

Instead they filed an INTERNAL letter

ADMITTING that the administration does not have a case. 😂

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Overall U.S. imports at -64% has got to be one of the most insane numbers in economic history.

I don't think people quite comprehend how disruptive that's going to be.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Absolutely incredible numbers.

As a reminder, tourism is about 9% of US GDP (https://t.co/x8XdThD8Tf)

As the saying goes "Empires are not murdered. They commit suicide."

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

It’s been a challenging week for everyone and I’ve done my best to give you a wide range of assessments because that’s my job now.

If you’re looking for a really good practical assessment this is the one. Scott Galloway on The View. He brings it down to no nonsense kitchen table impacts that everyone can understand.

🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/hIIohFreWI

[Mike Bird @Birdyword]

Astonishing chart from Goldman showing the slump in overseas passengers arriving to the US. Presumably not largely because of the tariffs but because of the horror stories about random incarceration.

[Mike Bird @Birdyword]

Regardless of what you made of Biden-era industrial policy, is an amazingly grim irony that US tariffs are being raised with the stated aim of reindustrialising America, ignoring an *actual generational boom in industrial investment* which the tariffs now pose a huge threat to.

[Art Candee 🍿🥤 @ArtCandee]

Lemme get this straight...

Howard Lutnick says that they put tariffs on the "Penguin Islands" (which isn't even a country) because Trump is worried about countries circumventing his tariffs by going through other countries.

But he didn't place any symbolic tariffs on Russia and only levied the minimal baseline 10% tariffs on countries like Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, and Georgia that Russia uses to circumvent sanctions.

Got it.

🙄

[Maine @TheMaineWonk]

Don’t worry guys.

In the new golden age of America, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says you’ll get a job putting the tiny screws in phones.

[Spencer Hakimian @SpencerHakimian]

"I mean, there's nothing about Taiwan that they should be making semiconductors”. - Lutnick

As he withholds CHIPS Act money from companies looking to make semiconductors here.