David Quammen

So, I heard about the world leader who got stuck on a sabotaged escalator at the UN. He was trapped for two hours, waiting for rescuers. Then his wife pointed out that a stuck escalator is still a stairway, and she walked away.

Chainsaw babe sighted at Tre Cime. @betsygainesquammen.bsky.social

Chainsaw Babe, sighted in Cortina d'Ampezzo

Ebola vaccination begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Vaccination of frontline health workers and contacts of people infected with Ebola virus disease has begun in Bulape health zone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai Province where an outbr...

We do not talk enough about how much vaccines have transformed Ebola outbreaks. The country stock pile of 2000 vaccines was immediately deployed to respond to the outbreak in the DRC and 45,000 additional doses have been approved for shipment to the DRC.
www.afro.who.int/countries/de...

These two hombres lay claim to Dave's chair when he's on the road. Partners in crime. @betsygainesquammen.bsky.social

Everyone parrots the line, “They’ll just replace Trump with another figurehead.”

Bullsh*t.

Later today in my latest JHN Newsletter I’ll break down why Trump is the one irreplaceable piece of this machine.
When he’s gone...the whole thing starts to crack.

One of the things that amazes me about the English Civil War (roughly 1642-1651), as I'm reading of it in David Hume's great history, vol. 5, is that this was essentially a ferocious, murderous, ruthless religious war—fought between Episcopalians and Presbyterians.

OH, DEAR!! .

OH, DEAR!!
open.substack.com/pub/ejeancar...

Go, E. Jean!

YouTube video by Jacob J. Watson-Howland Disease Expert: I Predicted COVID in 2010! Contagious Cancer & The Next Global Pandemic

I had a fine time talking with Jacob Watson-Howland for his podcast. We went deep into the weeds of zoonotics and much else.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0wW...

Good job, Jaju. Let's all not serve pierogi to Dershowitz.

What the DOJ Is Doing Behind the Scenes Read more here.

Please pay attention.👇

We cannot afford to leave our democracy in the hands of a process that requires this DOJ to act in good faith. We must act now to harden our election systems. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...

I love this. Who doesn't love walking-stick insects.
I've seen a huge one in New Guinea scare the bejeezus out of a local lady, on whose shoulder it alit. But, god bless and comfort her, it was harmless.

How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic The COVID pandemic likely began when the virus jumped from animals to humans, and didn’t start in a lab. But false narratives continue to circulate.

Our research has been engulfed by an endless torrent of lab leak conspiracy theories about the origin of the pandemic - even as the evidence for zoonosis has only grown stronger.

This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.

Now, we respond 👇

theconversation.com/how-conspira...

Her name was Diana. She was 23 years old and 7 months pregnant.

Russia murdered her today in an attack on the maternity hospital in Kamyanske.

We Are Not the Generation That Lets This Die After 250 years of sacrifice, we won’t let apathy be our legacy.

Some generations were asked to storm beaches. Ours is being asked to stay engaged. That’s not too much to ask.

I wrote this piece not just as a veteran or former congressman but as a dad. We are not the generation that lets this flame die. Not on my watch

adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/we-are-not...

ICE Agents Invade a Manhattan Little League Field Youman Wilder has coached local kids for twenty-one years—including four who have gone pro. When masked agents tried to interrogate his players, he told them, “You don’t have more rights than they do....

When ICE agents questioned a group of 11- to 14-year-olds who’d just finished batting practice, their coach, Youman Wilder, stepped in. “I’m willing to die to make sure these kids can get home,” he recounted afterward.

Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says A Korean citizen studying in Texas on a green card was detained in San Francisco after a trip overseas. His lawyer says authorities won’t give a reason.

A Korean-born researcher and longtime U.S. legal permanent resident has spent the past week detained by immigration officials at the San Francisco International Airport without explanation and has been denied access to an attorney, according to his lawyer.

As things get weirder, I keep expecting Trump's body to split open suddenly, like a character in "Men in Black," to reveal that there's nothing inside the skin but a tower of nibbling maggots. I say this with all due respect.

3/2 He gets some well-deserved outside time after the cleaning of his tank, Bootsville.

2/2

One guess what summer reading Boots has embraced.
1/2

I wrote this story as a young man in Montana, forty years ago, struggling to understand, struggling to survive, and I am very glad and grateful to see that it has legs.
We all have fathers. Mine was a wondrous man. This story is not about him. It's fiction.
Your father?

Watch Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan | Netflix Official Site Ed Sullivan broke barriers by booking Black artists on his Sunday night variety show. This documentary spotlights the TV pioneer's legacy of equality.

Who knew? This is edifying and good to see.

www.netflix.com/title/82048609

2/2 David Hume: I always pictured him as a sort of wiry, wry Barry Fitzgerald-type character, but Dennis Rasmussen ("The Infidel and the Professor") suggests he more closely resembled a Scottish Sydney Greenstreet.

It's very pleasant, if you have a week of down time in midsummer, to sit in the backyard in an Adirondack chair reading abt (and reading) the great David Hume. 1/2

Benny Davis Podcast Episode · The Bad Piano Player · 07/08/2025 · 35m

The days grow shorter by millimeters, but Fortnight Tuesday continues to bring us new episodes of The Bad Piano Player Podcast, and thank heaven for that! Today's delightful surprise: one Benny Davis, whose lyrics won me over after a hard-fought battle.

Get it while it's hot! (and it's always hot)

U.S. measles cases reach 33-year record high as outbreaks spread Johns Hopkins University data reflects the public health reversal in defeating the vaccine-preventable disease since measles was officially eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.

The United States has recorded its highest annual measles cases in 33 years. The milestone marks a public health reversal in defeating a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease as the anti-vaccine movement gains strength.

Freedom from kings.
Freedom from fascism.
Power to the people forever. ♥️

Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸

Regarding the flooding: GOP doesn’t want to fund the programs that predict these things, but they still want to blame the federal government for not predicting this. DOGE has consequences