Having blogged David Brin’s worries about blackmail of today’s politicians, I can’t resist noting that the ‘Phantom Professor’ is worrying about the blackmail of today’s students when they become tomorrow’s politicians.
Recent Bluessky Posts- AI? August 30, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Look forward to similar article, almost word-for-word, substituting "Trump" for "Putin" and "Iran" for "Ukraine". www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/w... August 30, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Microsoft's summary of changes to its consumer services agreement refers repeatedly to "verbiage" as in "we added verbiage". Wonder why they couldn't say "wording"? Some weird TM fear relating to MS Word? Verbiage has negative connotations, why not "language"? www.microsoft.com/en-us/servic... August 30, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Not only are we cutting taxes on the 1%, we're not chasing big tax cheats: "the purposeful reduction in the enforcement of the tax code for the wealthy is both a symptom as a well as a cause of America’s rising oligarchy." - Krugman paulkrugman.substack.com/p/oligarchy-... August 30, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Ukraine captured "men from Somalia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Armenia and Uzbekistan ... Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America. ... Chinese ...North Korean". Russians won't exchange them to ensure they don't go home & discourage others. shaunpinner.substack.com/p/one-in-thr... August 30, 2026 Michael Froomkin
But I’ve already accepted that merely by blogging my opinions I’ve scotched my chances to Run the World! *SIGH* (*wink*)
At least you didn’t get naked at Yale, well I’m assuming. I was on Ezra Klein’s lengthy thread that engaged in an online savaging of Hitchens, some of it extremely funny. The lead entry on the thread included an excerpt from a dinner table rant by Hitch in the best vulgarian style that I assume was recorded on the fly. With gadgets everywhere these days talking and getting naked can be hazardous. Yes, we are entering the Age of Blackmail – enjoy.