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

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!! open.substack.com/pub/ejeancar... Go, E. Jean!

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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?

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

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)

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

Losses in service jobs sparked the first negative job growth in two years.

SECDOD Hegseth stopped transfer of weapons based on belief disputed by U.S. Military leaders that it would lower U.S. weapons stockpile www.nbcnews.com/news/militar...

Texas’ immigration law is unconstitutional, appeals court rules www.texastribune.org/2025/07/04/t... via @texastribune.org

Charlie Watts never took a drum solo. A paradigm.

Listening to the great Harry James band, as I cook, after cocktail hour reading about Henry James the novelist, and brother William, in the great RWB Lewis family bio, "The Jameses." There's a weird pairing; Harry James musician and Henry James novelist. Love it.

Very good memory. Harper's Magazine, 2007. I've been incubating this book since then. Thanks, Derryl.

About the book? Sure: cancer as evolution.

2/2 Yesterday at the bank a young man said to me, "You're still working? I saw that you're 77!" Yeah but I have a non-job too fun to quit.

There is nothing more exciting and satisfying for a writer than writing the last sentence of a book. Especially if it goes, "click." Just finished my 19th, for Simon & Schuster. Titled "Speak of the Devil." To appear sometime next year. 1/2

"During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy assured lawmakers he would not take away anyone’s vaccines. But removing the vaccine from CDC’s recommended list will have a similar impact." thehill.com/policy/healt...

Is there anyone out there in Sydney Australia? Could you please repost this?

For all of us who love Americas public lands, those national, natural treasures held in public trust for now and forever, here’s some good news from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition today!

Salgado goes, may he travel onward in peace. An amazing photographer with a vast heart for humans and the world. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/a...

A sweet Saluki named Ossip, in Piazza del Duomo, Pistoia, Italy, makes one think of home.

Thank you, Dialoghi di Pistoia

Idiots.

Sorry to hear that, Roberto!

Gene Gaines. 1941-2025. An extraordinary man. Lost suddenly. Mourned by many. To learn more, please go to Betsy Gaines Quammen, Facebook.

Tobin, thanks but no thanks. For reading *about* Henry James I've already got better: RWB Lewis's great tome "The Jameses." No need for other secondaries. I'm asking about Henry.