Recent Bluessky Posts- Finding myself irritated at terms "influencer" and "thought leader". Sign I'm getting old, or just naturally grumpy? Yes, not necessarily disjoint sets.... April 1, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Jotwell T&E: Michael Yu, A Proposal for a 529 End-of-Life Plan for Death Care Expenses, JOTWELL (April 1, 2026) (reviewing Victoria J. Haneman, Tax Sheltering Death Care, 2025 Wisc. L. Rev. 623 (2025)), trustest.jotwell.com/a-proposal-f.... April 1, 2026 Jotwell
- I'm didn't think that's exactly what Andres likely said..... April 1, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- And consent? March 31, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- I imagine that students are asked, at least optionally, as part of the application process. I would bet that patients in the medical system are asked, but I imagine that is covered by HIPAA. March 31, 2026 Michael Froomkin
Author Archives: Michael Froomkin
Coral Gables Candidate Issues Round-up Coming Real Soon Now
Posted in Coral Gables
Comments Off on Coral Gables Candidate Issues Round-up Coming Real Soon Now
SFDB Calls Time Out
Over at South Florida Daily Blog, Rick says it is Closing Time for his local blog aggregator and regional lens.
This is a shame — SFDB was a great asset to the South Florida blogging community of which I am only a very peripheral part. But I’m sure it was an awful lot of work, and he sounds if not burnt out then at least a little toasty.
I’ll miss SFDB. Only consolation is that Rick hung up on a a really successful local blog once before, then come back for a great second act. So can we hope for a third?
Posted in Blogs
5 Comments
Giant Mosquitoes Coming My Way
Mosquitoes love me. In a crowd, I’m the one who gets bitten. So imagine my joy when I read about Gallinippers! Monster mosquitoes poised to strike Florida. I added the boldfacing in the quote from the NBC Science report that follows:
One of the most ferocious insects you’ve ever heard of — it’s the size of a quarter and its painful bite has been compared to being knifed — is set to invade Florida this summer.
The Sunshine State, already home to man-eating sinkholes, invading Burmese pythons, swarming sharks, tropical storms and other disasters, can expect to see an explosion of shaggy-haired gallinippers (Psorophora ciliata), a type of giant mosquito, according to entomologist Phil Kaufman of the University of Florida.
…
And as adults, the voracious pests feed day and night (unlike everyday mosquitoes, which generally feed only at dawn and dusk). Their bodies are strong enough to bite through clothing, and they’re known to go after pets, wild animals and even fish, MyFoxOrlando.com reports.
“It’s about 20 times bigger than the sort of typical, Florida mosquito that you find,” Anthony Pelaez of Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry told Fox Orlando. “And it’s mean, and it goes after people, and it bites, and it hurts.”
Pelaez described the gallinipper’s bite as so painful it “feels like you’re being stabbed.”
Although the article says they can be as big as a quarter, judging from photos Gallinippers are often only the size of a nickel. Even so …
Posted in Florida, Science/Medicine
Comments Off on Giant Mosquitoes Coming My Way
The Facts Have a Liberal Bias
While I’m away, enjoy this video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
Remember this the next time we debate inheritance taxes and progressive taxation.
Posted in Econ & Money
1 Comment
Off to New York
I’m off to New York early tomorrow to attend a conference on Differential Privacy being held at Cardozo on Thursday. I hope to learn enough more about Differential Privacy to overcome my skepticism about whether it is actually workable in real life.
Meanwhile, I hear it’s even colder in New York than it is in South Florida. It got down to 45º (7ºC) last night, and the high was only 69º (18º C), although it felt warmer in the sun at lunch. Surely it can’t be much colder than that … although I’m taking a parka just in case.
Posted in Talks & Conferences
Comments Off on Off to New York
Military Entanglement With Religion
The Center for Inquiry has produced a report called For God and Country: Religious Fundamentalism in the U.S. Military. It collects recent stories of breakdowns in the armed forces regarding the church/state wall of separation and makes some seemingly sensible recommendations:
Over the past decade there have been multiple news reports highlighting an intensified tension regarding what constitutes proper religious expression in the United States Armed Forces. However, there has been a scarce amount of thorough research examining the connection between these reports and, going further, proposing possible solutions. As a result, there has been a lack of information with which to stoke social and political will for change.
In this position paper, James Parco provides compelling evidence there has been a disturbing expansion and entrenchment of Christian fundamentalism in the U.S. military, a cultural force which remains at times both tacitly and overtly endorsed by senior military leaders. Parco supports his claim by presenting a number of case studies demonstrating a clear pattern of unconstitutional religiously sectarian behavior. He then analyzes the merits of the competing philosophical perspectives on the proper role of religious expression by men and women in uniform.
Parco concludes the report with recommendations that those in power should implement immediately in order to fully protect the U.S. military’s necessarily secular foundation and the religious freedom of all who volunteer to serve.
I would be shocked — pleased and shocked — if many of these recommendations were actually implemented any time soon. This is a problem that isn’t going away quickly.
(The report’s author, by the way, is a retired Lt. Colonel.)
Posted in Civil Liberties
Comments Off on Military Entanglement With Religion
