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James Grimmelmann

@jtlg.bsky.social

5.3K followers 33 following 1.1K posts

I’m a professor at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School. One of "a number of very informative people." -WSJ

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Computer science 34%

Political science 21%

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 11h

That’s good, but how about “breadsticks and roses”?

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 11h

There was a time when these “assurances” were just … the law. But by blowing up law as a constraint, the Trump administration has made itself into a weaker negotiator, because it can’t make credible promises.

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 1d

Bad content drives out good.

kotaku.com/robin-willia...

Robin and Zelda Williams play on a DS together.

'You’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings'

kotaku.com

Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 1d

anyways

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Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 1d

Feels like more execs should have read Bruce Bueno de Mesquita & Alastair Smith's The Dictator's Handbook--there is currently competition to be a preferred crony, which means both instability and less revenue extraction for businesses trying to cozy up

Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 1d

"The invitation to the 'Future of Pharmaceuticals' summit prompted consternation among some drug-company representatives, who worried that the gathering signaled that the White House wants them to work with the little-known BlinkRx because of its ties to the president’s family"

Trump Wants to Overhaul Drug Sales. A Company Tied to His Son Stands to Benefit.

The family members of President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are poised to benefit from efforts to remake the pharmaceutical industry.

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by James Grimmelmann, Rebecca Tushnet

Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 1d

Trump Wants to Overhaul Drug Sales. A Company Tied to His Son Stands to Benefit.

The family members of President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are poised to benefit from efforts to remake the pharmaceutical industry.

www.wsj.com

5 19 38

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 1d

<general contractor slapping a rotting post> Well, there’s your problem right there. Whoever built this thing used Marbury v. Madison as a foundation. You’re lucky it lasted as long as it did.

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Day Two of the new Platformer format and I am really not digging it. The thing I wasn’t getting anywhere else (the curated link roundup) is gone, replaced with a thing I can get tons of other places (short takes on already widely-reposted stories).

Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · 2d

Wrote about fresh signs of an AI bubble (and why the industry says the worries are mostly overblown) www.platformer.news/ai-bubble-20...

We have entered the "weird financial tricks" phase of the bubble. A reliable indicator of bubbles is that companies concoct bizarre financial instruments and accounting measures to paper over their problems. In Fortune, Allie Garfinkel reports that venture capitalists are irked at some of the creative accounting going on in their portfolios. Some startups are reporting one-time sales as "recurring revenue." Others technically show "recurring revenue" for what are essentially trials.

And that's on the tame side. For crazy, you can look to Robinhood's suggestion that it might offer "tokenized" equity in OpenAI. By "tokenized," Business Insider reports, Robinhood means "blockchain-enabled representations of securities like stocks." In reality, they have no connection to OpenAI equity whatsoever. But that doesn't mean that consumers shouldn't be able to gamble on the mirage!

Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · 2d

Wrote about fresh signs of an AI bubble (and why the industry says the worries are mostly overblown) www.platformer.news/ai-bubble-20...

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

If, hypothetically speaking, one thought that the AI boom were a bubble, what asset classes would be most insulated from it?

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Bill Swerski’s Superfans deployed to Chicago

abcnews.go.com/US/texas-nat...

Texas National Guard arrives in Illinois, as Gov. Pritzker calls for end of Trump administration's 'authoritarian march'

abcnews.go.com

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

might of heard have

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Chaser.

Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 2d

Repeat after me: They don't care!

www.404media.co/sora-2-water...

Sora 2 Watermark Removers Flood the Web

Bypassing Sora 2's rudimentary safety features is easy and experts worry it'll lead to a new era of scams and disinformation.

www.404media.co

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Shot.

Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 2d

Repeat after me: They don't care!

www.404media.co/sora-2-water...

Sora 2 Watermark Removers Flood the Web

Bypassing Sora 2's rudimentary safety features is easy and experts worry it'll lead to a new era of scams and disinformation.

www.404media.co

2 4 9

Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Federalist Society Pitchbot @fedsocpitchbot.bsky.social · 2d

“Money shall be drawn from the Treasury” as a Grant of Executive Authority

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

It’s 1992 in Trump’s brain, and if there aren’t riots for him to send the National Guard against, he will manifest them.

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 2d

Trump wants to see troops in American cities. To him, the factual and legal rationale behind those deployments is unimportant.

Trump Is Destroying One of America’s Oldest Traditions

America has always had a strong aversion to seeing the military on the country’s streets. That is not stopping the current president.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 2d

Trump wants to see troops in American cities. To him, the factual and legal rationale behind those deployments is unimportant.

Trump Is Destroying One of America’s Oldest Traditions

America has always had a strong aversion to seeing the military on the country’s streets. That is not stopping the current president.

www.theatlantic.com

8 50 150

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, David Rothschild , and 9 more Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, David Rothschild, Jon Green, Robert Black, Daniel W. Drezner, James Grimmelmann, David R. Miller, Jacob T. Levy, Greg Linden, Aviel Roshwald, Brian Jm Quinn

George Pearkes @peark.es · 2d

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

No, the adjuncts are the potted plant in the background. If they're lucky, someone remembers they need water.

Reposted by James Grimmelmann

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 2d

Just so. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

A Compact for Control (opinion)

No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write.

www.insidehighered.com

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Reposted by Timothy Snyder, James Grimmelmann, Stephen I. Vladeck

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 2d

Very nice piece from my colleague @stevevladeck.bsky.social in today's Times on the illegality of Trump's troop deployments to American cities. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Opinion | No, Trump Can’t Deploy Troops to Wherever He Wants

www.nytimes.com

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Heck, they also rely on their own employees to submit original work. That too is in danger.

Reposted by Mark A. Lemley

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

“Maybe another sector AI is disrupting is the ability to "rely" on overcaffeinated and drugged up twenty-somethings to kill themselves on consulting assignments to squeeze a few more dollars out of the bottom line.”

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Is this a genuine difference between the "post-totalitarian system" of 1978 Czechoslovakia and the personalist system Trump wants to impose on the United States in 2025? And if so, how do his demands function? Or is this just a further spelling-out of ideas that are already present in Havel?

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Whereas I get the sense that if Brad Karp (Paul Weiss) or Claire Shipman (Columbia) said, "I am afraid and therefore unquestioningly obedient," it would be rejected as an insufficient demonstration of fealty. That kind of truth-telling allows them to retain _too much_ dignity.

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

Havel says that if the greengrocer hung a sign saying "I am afraid and therefore unquestioningly obedient," it wouldn't work. That would be too degrading and he couldn't "conceal from himself the low foundations of his obedience."

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

I've seen various people cite Havel over the last eight years for the way in which obedience is socially enforced through mandatory agreement to obvious lies, and for the power of "living within the truth" (great phrase!) challenges the entire system.

I'm after something different.

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 2d

I've been rereading Havel, as one does in times of need.

Has anyone written a careful comparison of the greengrocer in _The Power of the Powerless_ who hangs a "Workers of the World, Unite!" sign in his window with the displays of servile flattery that Trump and Trumpism demands?

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