Kieran Healy
@kjhealy.co
Social science and other distractions. Old posts get deleted pretty quick.
https://kieranhealy.org /
https://theordinalsociety.com
https://kieranhealy.org /
https://theordinalsociety.com
Warm congratulations to the winners (France); sincere apologies to Latvia
Each Irish county has been paired with an EU member state for Ireland’s presidency of the European Council
January 17, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Warm congratulations to the winners (France); sincere apologies to Latvia
I don’t know the guy, have any particular view about him, or see his posts except via RTs, but I did just now find myself improvising a ballad that ended “But the cops crew in the morning / They crew both loud and shrill / And I woke in Minnesota / Many miles from Stancil Will”
January 16, 2026 at 11:32 PM
I don’t know the guy, have any particular view about him, or see his posts except via RTs, but I did just now find myself improvising a ballad that ended “But the cops crew in the morning / They crew both loud and shrill / And I woke in Minnesota / Many miles from Stancil Will”
Once again thinking of all those articles I read back in the day—about “amoral familism”, “transactionalism”, “crony capitalism”, etc—regarding the dysfunctions, depredations, and corruption suffered by those benighted countries who were not blessed with the Rule of Law and Rationalized Bureaucracy.
President Trump quietly issued clemency grants this week, including to a California woman he had pardoned once before and a man whose daughter had donated millions to a Trump super PAC.
Trump Sets Fraudster Free From Prison for a Second Time
The president issued a raft of clemency grants this week, including pardoning a woman he had given relief to once before and a man whose daughter had donated millions to a Trump super PAC.
nyti.ms
January 16, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Once again thinking of all those articles I read back in the day—about “amoral familism”, “transactionalism”, “crony capitalism”, etc—regarding the dysfunctions, depredations, and corruption suffered by those benighted countries who were not blessed with the Rule of Law and Rationalized Bureaucracy.
Reposted by Kieran Healy
I wrote an essay about platform complicity and other quiet kinds of self-loss: becoming legible, optimizable, successful while your inner compass goes quiet.
Don't get any on you
I am still what I meant to be
open.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 6:11 PM
I wrote an essay about platform complicity and other quiet kinds of self-loss: becoming legible, optimizable, successful while your inner compass goes quiet.
This story about UATX is pretty funny in several ways, ranging from its direct subject matter to the bathos of the prose style (“the elegant, former department store where UATX had made its home”) to the marble bust of Bari Weiss, to the various discreet omissions about who’s married to whom etc.
They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.
Inside the civil war at the anti-woke university backed by Bari Weiss.
www.politico.com
January 16, 2026 at 7:39 PM
This story about UATX is pretty funny in several ways, ranging from its direct subject matter to the bathos of the prose style (“the elegant, former department store where UATX had made its home”) to the marble bust of Bari Weiss, to the various discreet omissions about who’s married to whom etc.
Reposted by Kieran Healy
TD: None of this makes SENSE.
BW: Absolutely Tony, absolutely. Now, if we could just go back to what I was saying before the break about left-wing bias—
TD: No SENSE!
BW: —Biases that we see in the m—
TD: Things used to make SENSE, Barry.
BW: Bari. Liberals often s—
TD: My mother always resented me.
BW: Absolutely Tony, absolutely. Now, if we could just go back to what I was saying before the break about left-wing bias—
TD: No SENSE!
BW: —Biases that we see in the m—
TD: Things used to make SENSE, Barry.
BW: Bari. Liberals often s—
TD: My mother always resented me.
January 16, 2026 at 3:09 PM
TD: None of this makes SENSE.
BW: Absolutely Tony, absolutely. Now, if we could just go back to what I was saying before the break about left-wing bias—
TD: No SENSE!
BW: —Biases that we see in the m—
TD: Things used to make SENSE, Barry.
BW: Bari. Liberals often s—
TD: My mother always resented me.
BW: Absolutely Tony, absolutely. Now, if we could just go back to what I was saying before the break about left-wing bias—
TD: No SENSE!
BW: —Biases that we see in the m—
TD: Things used to make SENSE, Barry.
BW: Bari. Liberals often s—
TD: My mother always resented me.
Too bad we won’t have Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil. I imagine it unfolding like a Mitchell & Webb sketch as he gradually becomes more belligerent in between ad breaks.
TD: And we’re back! Bari, you’re looking great.
BW: I want to talk about Pr—
TD: Drink up!
BW: Well, I—
TD: I SAID DRINK UP
TD: And we’re back! Bari, you’re looking great.
BW: I want to talk about Pr—
TD: Drink up!
BW: Well, I—
TD: I SAID DRINK UP
January 16, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Too bad we won’t have Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil. I imagine it unfolding like a Mitchell & Webb sketch as he gradually becomes more belligerent in between ad breaks.
TD: And we’re back! Bari, you’re looking great.
BW: I want to talk about Pr—
TD: Drink up!
BW: Well, I—
TD: I SAID DRINK UP
TD: And we’re back! Bari, you’re looking great.
BW: I want to talk about Pr—
TD: Drink up!
BW: Well, I—
TD: I SAID DRINK UP
The Zaprudering of Renee Good continues. It’s amazing, really—it’s as if the quality of the footage magically degrades each time it’s analyzed, in a sort of magical process of complicating something that was perfectly clear the first time around. Soon, satellite imagery, perhaps.
Newly available videos and existing footage synchronized and assessed by The New York Times provide a millisecond-by-millisecond look at the killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Watch our visual investigation.
Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments
Newly available videos and existing footage synchronized and assessed by The Times provide a millisecond-by-millisecond look at how an ICE officer ended up shooting and killing a motorist in Minneapolis.
nyti.ms
January 16, 2026 at 12:23 PM
The Zaprudering of Renee Good continues. It’s amazing, really—it’s as if the quality of the footage magically degrades each time it’s analyzed, in a sort of magical process of complicating something that was perfectly clear the first time around. Soon, satellite imagery, perhaps.
Look how pleased with himself he is.
January 16, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Look how pleased with himself he is.
Real “This action demeans us both” vibes
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado met President Donald Trump at the White House as part of her push for greater influence in the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s ouster
Venezuela’s Machado Gives Trump Her Nobel in Bid for His Favor
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado presented Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal in a meeting Thursday, a bid to gain his favor as the US determines her country’s future and move past an episode that rankled the president.
bloom.bg
January 16, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Real “This action demeans us both” vibes
I mean, they basically did conquer Ireland and Scotland? Strongbow and Aoife, the Davidian Revolution, etc etc.
There's also some clearly better world in which we have O'Nuggets.
COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mc
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mc
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:04 PM
I mean, they basically did conquer Ireland and Scotland? Strongbow and Aoife, the Davidian Revolution, etc etc.
Chat about this paper naturally focuses on the headline about AI being high “impact” but also narrowing science; a nice something-for-everyone (including the haters) story. Looking at Fig 2, you might ask “How can they have 30 yrs of impact data for AI?” Well, … www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 14, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Chat about this paper naturally focuses on the headline about AI being high “impact” but also narrowing science; a nice something-for-everyone (including the haters) story. Looking at Fig 2, you might ask “How can they have 30 yrs of impact data for AI?” Well, … www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Kieran Healy
"If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they coerce the individual to name names, steal their iPhone, dump them in a parking lot miles away bleeding, then they promptly let the individual go."--Justice Kavanaugh Stop.
We are so far beyond "show us your papers." They don't want to see the papers. We are now into the "give us the names" stage of the occupation.
January 14, 2026 at 7:08 PM
"If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they coerce the individual to name names, steal their iPhone, dump them in a parking lot miles away bleeding, then they promptly let the individual go."--Justice Kavanaugh Stop.
Reposted by Kieran Healy
This is not the language of the government of a free country.
January 14, 2026 at 1:16 PM
This is not the language of the government of a free country.
Reposted by Kieran Healy
In the last 4 days:
-- Elise Slotkin says she's being criminally investigated by DOJ
-- ICE illegally goes "door to door" in Minneapolis
-- FBI raids the home of a WP journalist
-- DHS illegally arrests, detains 100+ Somalians with legal refugee status
-- Elise Slotkin says she's being criminally investigated by DOJ
-- ICE illegally goes "door to door" in Minneapolis
-- FBI raids the home of a WP journalist
-- DHS illegally arrests, detains 100+ Somalians with legal refugee status
January 14, 2026 at 2:47 PM
In the last 4 days:
-- Elise Slotkin says she's being criminally investigated by DOJ
-- ICE illegally goes "door to door" in Minneapolis
-- FBI raids the home of a WP journalist
-- DHS illegally arrests, detains 100+ Somalians with legal refugee status
-- Elise Slotkin says she's being criminally investigated by DOJ
-- ICE illegally goes "door to door" in Minneapolis
-- FBI raids the home of a WP journalist
-- DHS illegally arrests, detains 100+ Somalians with legal refugee status
RIP Seán Ó’Sé.
Séan Ó Sé - Poc Ar Buille
YouTube video by FleadhTV
www.youtube.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:57 PM
RIP Seán Ó’Sé.
Professionals.
Six Prosecutors Quit Over Push to Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Professionals.
Phase 1: Show how late people will be based on meeting history
Phase 2: Add little histogram for each person based on other Google activity showing whether they’re “Not busy” “Busier than usual” or “As busy as they get”
Phase 3: Add star ratings and reviews for each person based on interactions
Phase 2: Add little histogram for each person based on other Google activity showing whether they’re “Not busy” “Busier than usual” or “As busy as they get”
Phase 3: Add star ratings and reviews for each person based on interactions
Google Meet show how late people will be based on meeting history
January 12, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Phase 1: Show how late people will be based on meeting history
Phase 2: Add little histogram for each person based on other Google activity showing whether they’re “Not busy” “Busier than usual” or “As busy as they get”
Phase 3: Add star ratings and reviews for each person based on interactions
Phase 2: Add little histogram for each person based on other Google activity showing whether they’re “Not busy” “Busier than usual” or “As busy as they get”
Phase 3: Add star ratings and reviews for each person based on interactions
I fail to see what attempting to shitcan the chair of the Fed has to do with kitchen table issues
January 12, 2026 at 1:36 AM
I fail to see what attempting to shitcan the chair of the Fed has to do with kitchen table issues
Deciding to take on Capital in general is perhaps the final boss of I’d Like To See Ole Donny Trump etc. His batting average so far is, you have to admit, pretty high.
January 12, 2026 at 1:29 AM
Deciding to take on Capital in general is perhaps the final boss of I’d Like To See Ole Donny Trump etc. His batting average so far is, you have to admit, pretty high.
“Jerome Powell was No Angel, associates say” — NYT, probably
January 12, 2026 at 1:17 AM
“Jerome Powell was No Angel, associates say” — NYT, probably
There are many ways to talk about this, but basically for the past year we’ve been in a steadily escalating constitutional crisis where the only thing that’s varying is who is getting literally or metaphorically shot in the face.
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 12:59 AM
There are many ways to talk about this, but basically for the past year we’ve been in a steadily escalating constitutional crisis where the only thing that’s varying is who is getting literally or metaphorically shot in the face.
TIL the French for “Stone Age” is “l’âge de pierre”, which upon a moment’s biblical reflection makes complete sense.
🚨FLASH : on a retrouvé une manette de l'âge de pierre, indiquant que nos ancêtres jouaient déjà aux jeux vidéos.
January 10, 2026 at 8:31 PM
TIL the French for “Stone Age” is “l’âge de pierre”, which upon a moment’s biblical reflection makes complete sense.
Do not buy copper from that crowd of absolute crooks in Ur.
Without revealing your actual age,what's something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?
January 9, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Do not buy copper from that crowd of absolute crooks in Ur.