Michael Caley
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michaelcaley.bsky.social
Michael Caley
@michaelcaley.bsky.social
I write the Expecting Goals newsletter (expectinggoals.com) and I'm gonna try to bring soccer analytics to bluesky. Let's see if it works. He/him.
Pinned
a new Expecting Goals newsletter!

a brand new team ratings system, Premier League power rankings, and all the details about how it works, why it works this way, and what I plan to do with it next
www.expectinggoals.com/p/expecting-...
Expecting Goals Premier League Team Ratings
A new method for evaluating soccer teams in the major European Leagues, and an opportunity to discover whether I am biased against your favorite team or not.
www.expectinggoals.com
when the only use case for your product is crime, you don't get to pick and choose only the more politically favored crimes
Billionaire Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, pardoned by Donald Trump, has been accused of facilitating millions of dollars’ worth of payments to Hamas in the wake of its attack on Israel on October 7 2023. Zhao also financed the Trump family's entrance into the cryptocurrency market.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao accused of facilitating payments to Hamas
Crypto tycoon pardoned by Donald Trump faces US court complaint from families of victims of October 7 attack
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
The way this ends/normalizes is these rights get gobbled up by international streamers.

The problem with it ending that way is they get gobbled up for pennies and leagues lose a (in some cases THE) major source of revenue.
the economics of league football outside a few large countries keep getting worse and worse
The news that Belgian football feared: as happened in France, DAZN is pulling out of its broadcasting deal with the ProLeague with immediate effect. Should no solution be found (which appears the likeliest scenario), the league's 16th round will not be broadcast in Belgium.
November 25, 2025 at 1:09 PM
the economics of league football outside a few large countries keep getting worse and worse
The news that Belgian football feared: as happened in France, DAZN is pulling out of its broadcasting deal with the ProLeague with immediate effect. Should no solution be found (which appears the likeliest scenario), the league's 16th round will not be broadcast in Belgium.
November 25, 2025 at 12:22 PM
these two paragraphs from @michellegoldberg.bsky.social really capture the profound, groundbreaking level of stupidity that ties together the different factions of the Trump administration escalating toward war with Venezuela

every one of these ideas is so dumb

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
November 25, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Reposted by Michael Caley
There's a non-zero chance that Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba could play the last cup final of their careers on San Diego State's football field and I think that's beautiful
Compared to what we've had in the past here at Snapdragon, this isn't the worst, but we'll still have some college football lines here for SDFC v Minnesota
November 25, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by Michael Caley
Morale at Manchester United is worse than we thought
November 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
<labour post election meeting>

-ok guys we won and the economy is a basket case but we promised not to raise taxes and that puts us in a real bind with a low growth medium inflation economy
-what if we just keep coming up with stupider and stupider ideas until we're not in charge anymore
Trevor Phillips proposes banning "remittances" (ie: imposing currency/exchange controls on international cash transfers by foreign nationals from Britain). He says this would disincentivise immigration, in a Times piece saying the Home Secretary needs to go [much] further

archive.ph/RlXPj
November 24, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
damn new organized crime revenue stream just dropped
Trevor Phillips proposes banning "remittances" (ie: imposing currency/exchange controls on international cash transfers by foreign nationals from Britain). He says this would disincentivise immigration, in a Times piece saying the Home Secretary needs to go [much] further

archive.ph/RlXPj
November 24, 2025 at 10:31 PM
it makes sense that the violent conduct rule is not written to carve out "but violent conduct toward your teammates is ok" because that seems insane but also it's very very funny and also feels slightly insane to get sent off for slapping your teammate
November 24, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
this is an electorate practically crying out for Ayanna Pressley lol
UNH poll | 11/13-11/17 LV

Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary

Ed Markey 34% (incumbent)
Seth Moulton 25%
Alex Rikleen 2%
Write in someone else 3%
Don’t know/undecided 35%

scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcont...
November 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
which Premier League team has -- by far -- completed the most crosses into the penalty area this season
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
ding ding ding
November 24, 2025 at 8:11 PM
I don't know if I've even seen a bankshot strategy in politics work as well as the "healthcare shutdown" the Dems came up with / accidentally backed into as the only way to unify their conference

somehow we've now got Republicans debating healthcare bills it's crazy www.ms.now/news/trump-a...
Trump wanted to extend Obamacare health care subsidies. Some congressional Republicans are upset.
It looks like the president may have to go back and tinker with his plan.
www.ms.now
November 24, 2025 at 8:05 PM
it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Labour is managing the macroeconomy via individual policy polling
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%

Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%

yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 24, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
this dumb shit is what i mean when i say this is a purely aesthetic “politics.” yeah man, why can’t we have a fusion of cosmopolitan social democracy and revanchist hierarchies of wealth and privilege? tough question.
Matt Stoller: “..Trump & Mamdani defeated establishment in their own way, representing hunger of voters on the right & left who want something different. If those sides cd come together.. that would be a sea change in how we organize our political economy”.

www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
Monopoly Round-Up: Why the Establishment Freaked Out Over a Mamdani-Trump Press Conference
Meta wins its antitrust case, there are now two fire truck antitrust claims, the stock market got wobbly, and Larry Summers was exiled from the establishment, at least for now.
www.thebignewsletter.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
Like the Afghanistan pullout it also came at the same time people started getting mad about the economy and was the moment people who weakly supported him were like well I didn't vote for this.
it's very fitting that in retrospect, Trump's failure to oust Jimmy Kimmel was the point that his administration turned. It's been all losses ever since
November 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
Are you a Democrat in Brooklyn who wants to help build a more ambitious, more effective party?

One concrete thing you can do in 2026 is run for County Committee with @repyourblock.bsky.social!

Sign up for updates and key info here:
Rep Your Block
A campaign to elect everyday Brooklynites to the Kings County Democratic Party
www.repyourblock.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:37 PM
this Anthropic research is explicitly about "AI safety" but I'm fascinated by what it says about language

there seem to be massive, broad correlations between different anti-social language uses, and a LLM that begins doing one anti-social thing will do many more www.anthropic.com/research/eme...
From shortcuts to sabotage: natural emergent misalignment from reward hacking
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Michael Caley
A simpler and more plausible explanation for the meeting is tactical: The federal government can make things difficult for NYC in many ways, and if the new mayor is going to deliver on his agenda he needs to try to limit how much Trump is actively trying to wreck it.
Matt Stoller: “..Trump & Mamdani defeated establishment in their own way, representing hunger of voters on the right & left who want something different. If those sides cd come together.. that would be a sea change in how we organize our political economy”.

www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
Monopoly Round-Up: Why the Establishment Freaked Out Over a Mamdani-Trump Press Conference
Meta wins its antitrust case, there are now two fire truck antitrust claims, the stock market got wobbly, and Larry Summers was exiled from the establishment, at least for now.
www.thebignewsletter.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:53 PM
this front sure seems popular
SMC is pleased that the reso DSA Against Authoritarianism, which commits DSA to participating in anti-authoritarian mobilizations across the US, passed the NPC.

It was authored/introduced by SMC members and lightly amended by the full NPC.

Read below:
www.socialistmajority.com/theagitator/...
NPC Resolution: DSA Against Authoritarianism
This resolution commits DSA to participating in mobilizations against authoritarianism that are happening on multiple levels across our society, including anti-ICE organizing, preparing for May Day 20...
www.socialistmajority.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
the core of 2025 politics in the US has been an attempt, however often incoherent and contradictory, to establish a personalist hybrid regime centered on Trump

the last few weeks we've seen pushback on this from within the GOP coalition for the first time punchbowl.news/article/hous...
What MTG got right
MTG’s four-page note was stinging for House Republicans. Why? Because the message rang true to so many in the House GOP.
punchbowl.news
November 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Hello Ron this is your lawer speaking. I am advising you today to please keep saying this shit.
Ron Johnson: "We've basically driven free market competition out of healthcare. The way you return it? Consumerism."
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 PM
it is very funny how predictable this was -- the attempt to modernize Real Madrid with structured press and possess tactics will more or less inevitably lead to some players being forced into roles which do not let them express their talents to the full www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...
Vinicius Jr tells Madrid he won't renew while Alonso relationship remains difficult
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:49 PM
very noisy series but it certainly seems plausible that the "no hire / no fire" labor market of the last few years would start to drive up unemployment among people who just entered the labor market in the last few years

(important to distinguish this from "young people" or "zoomers"!)
GOLDMAN has some tough words about the young college-grad unemployment rate rising to 8.5%. 👀

“.. A further deterioration in employment opportunities .. perhaps reflecting AI and other efficiency-enhancing measures .. could have a disproportionate negative impact on consumer spending ..”
November 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM
this article, which is deeply bizarre, strikes me as a symptom of the times in education policy

right now, education policy debate is significantly non-polarized and incoherently ideological, with broadly left- or right-wing ideas floating free from any grounding in a larger ideological project
I don't think I've ever disagreed and agreed more strongly with a piece, seesawing from one paragraph to the next.

Will come back to dissect.

#GiftLink #GiftArticle
America’s Children Are Unwell. Are Schools Part of the Problem?
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:49 PM