Keith Head

I’m pro-freedom, pro-law and order, pro-limited government, and pro-the Declaration and the Constitution. And so today I’m a Democrat.

I read that WSJ piece about how Sweden is now a low-tax free market paradise and if conservatives are interested in compromising on this level of taxation rather than the old high-tax Sweden I think most Dems could live with that.

🚨🚨🗣️ Wayne Rooney on West Ham United vs Arsenal Game: 🤯 “People keep talking about individuals, moments, luck, referees and all the rest of it, but when I watch Arsenal, I see a proper football team. I see a side that is coached at the very highest level. Honestly, if you don’t rate this Arsenal team or you can’t understand the level of football they’re playing, then I’m sorry, you simply do not know football. And I’m saying that as someone who’s played the game at the top level for years. This Arsenal side are unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. They are so compact, so organised, so disciplined in everything they do. There are no gaps, no panic, no unnecessary risks. Every single player understands his role. When you watch them, you almost don’t even see individuals anymore, you see a programme. You see a machine. Everything is synchronised. It takes a very high football IQ and tactical understanding to truly appreciate the level this team operates at. People will watch them and say ‘they’re boring’ or ‘they’re robotic’, but do you know what I call it? Elite. I call it winning football. I call it a team that knows exactly who they are. There’s a reason they leave no lapses for opponents. There’s a reason teams struggle to break them down. There’s a reason they control matches the way they do. That doesn’t happen by accident. I backed Arsenal from the very beginning of the season to win this league and people laughed at me. People told me City would walk it, people said Arsenal would bottle it again, but look where we are now. Two games left and Arsenal are on the verge of becoming champions. And honestly, I’m delighted for them because they deserve it. The fans deserve it as well. Arsenal supporters have waited a long, long time for this feeling. They’ve gone through years of frustration, banter, disappointment, nearly moments, false dawns, all of it. But they stayed patient. They kept believing in the club, believing in the process, believing in the manager and the players. Now they’re finally about to get rewarded for that patience. I think Mikel Arteta deserves enormous credit because what he’s built is not just a good side, it’s a culture. There’s standards there now. Serious standards. Every player fights for each other, every player works, every player sacrifices. That’s why they’re champions in my eyes. And I’ll say this as a Manchester United man, this is the level I want Manchester United to get back to. This is the standard. Watching Arsenal now reminds me of what elite football clubs should look like. The control, the hunger, the mentality, the structure. When you get to this level, football becomes enjoyable again for the fans because they trust their team completely. Arsenal fans can finally smile again because this team has given them something to be proud of. And I genuinely believe this is only the beginning for them. I think they’re going to do great things over the next few years. So to everyone who laughed at my prediction earlier in the season, you’re not laughing now. Maybe it’s time people start respecting this Arsenal side properly because what they’re doing is special.”

@TradeDiversion @ChrisSeveren “Reject and resubmit” never made any sense to me.

@ChrisSeveren Revisions are handled by the editor giving them even after they finish their term. Reject and resubmit decisions should similarly stay with the deciding editor.

This is applied micro now: Editor gives you path to publication (Rej & Resub). You spend 9mo revising paper. 2 refs say accept, 1 says R&R. But, there's a new editor. They find a new ref that says reject. So, paper rejected. Everyone's time wasted.

Le @nytimes se penche à l’explosion des candidatures étrangères à @sciencespo : + 52 % pour les seuls candidats américains en première année et + 33 % sur l’ensemble du monde. Nos atouts : excellence, liberté, ouverture. nytimes.com/2026/04/29/wor…

@matthewstoller you are so stupid. por que no te callas?

Obama is one of the worst Presidents in American history, not quite as bad as Bush or Trump. But he destroyed our faith in democracy by offering amnesty for elite lawlessness. And when you look under every social crisis - opioids, gambling, big tech - it's often an Obama legacy.

PM Carney on the Americans calling the alcohol ban an irritant: "You know what's an irritant? 50% tariffs on steel. 50% tariffs on aluminum. 25% tariffs on automobiles. All the tariffs on forest products. Those are more than irritants, those are violations of our trade deal."

RFK Jr: "A Democratic senator claimed it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600%. I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings.'" Trump: "Right"

Voters when Trump is running for office: "He's different! He's entertaining! He's going to shake things up!" Voters when Trump actually is president: "This guy sucks! He is horrible at his job!"

@claudferraz @ubcVSE @PUCRioEconomia Sounds great! Enjoy

Final de ano acadêmico, sete anos completos na @ubcVSE. E em julho estarei de volta de sabático por um ano no Rio e na @PUCRioEconomia. Vai ser ótimo estar de volta ao Brasil por um ano acompanhando de perto o debate pré-eleições e começando novos projetos

Pete Hegseth quoting a Tarantino hit man while believing (or pretending) he was quoting the Bible is the most Pete Hegseth thing ever.

Magyar: I will not actively seek ties with Russia, but if Putin calls me, I will pick up the phone and ask him to end the war. Hungary is a free, independent European country, part of the EU and NATO, and that is how we will act in the world. 1/

JD Vance is on a historic roll: He campaigns for AfD in Germany - they lose. Invited the Pope to come to US for Trump’s big event - Pope refuses. Leads peace negotiations with Iran - fails miserably. Campaigns in Hungary for Orbán - who gets smoked.

Trump: We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country. We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things.

I guess I'll have to blog about this tomorrow, but "LOL, Trump TACO'ed out" is decidedly not the right reaction as compared to "that kind of brinkmanship is really fucking dangerous".

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK LIKE THIS” -Tucker Carlson to Donald Trump One of the most prominent right-wing voices has broken away from Trump, directly criticising him.

This is why members of Congress were entirely justified in producing the video warning military not to carry out illegal orders.

The assumption that current events are mostly noise around deeper trends is attractive methodologically. But I do not think it is right. A lot of what happens is hysteretic (one of my obsessions for a long time...). Trump is (largely) idiosyncratic noise. The legacy will be with us for a very long time.

@Afinetheorem How do you know what March 2029 AI will be like?

(Agree, and have seen exactly this pattern also. But coda, related to my thread earlier today: Mar 2026 AI will look to Mar 2029 AI like "Copilot and low end, old, ChatGPT" look like to GPT-5.4 Pro. Knowing this is useful for planning!)

A great example of price discrimination by needless complexity that infects airlines, credit cards, cable, internet, and taxes.