In other "excellent news from religious bodies", the US Presbyterian General Assembly has formally voted to start the process to (correctly) declare white Christian nationalism a theological error incompatible with the teachings of Jesus: pres-outlook.org/2026/07/pcus...

Montana Supreme Court upholds state judge's landmark ruling in youth climate case - 2024 - landmark climate ruling - state was violating residents' constitutional right to a clean environment by permitting oil, gas and coal projects without regard for global warming .. www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...

No other city in the world was as eager or as successful in protecting its people from the dangers of smallpox. Of course, the procedure of inoculation had first been introduced in Boston some 50 years before by Onesimus, an African slave. By 1776, inoculation was demanded in Boston as a new freedom

On September 18, 1776, the selectmen called off the guards and reopened the city. It was a tremendous public health success. In a city of some 15,000 people only 304 “natural” cases of smallpox were reported, and of those 29 died (~10%). The city inoculated 4,988 people with just 28 deaths (~0.5%).

Today is the 250th anniversary of Boston’s mass inoculation against smallpox on July 3, 1776. The city was effectively closed to commerce from July through September 1776. The mass immunization effort was cheered as evidence of true independence. Here's how I described it in my book:

Mamdani: "Those who led through exclusion & isolation have tried to win power & enrich themselves by turning us against one another ... today, too many of our leaders do not believe in a vision of this nation as an asylum for the persecuted, but rather as one that persecutes those seeking asylum"

Clarence Thomas is not a biology expert Sex is bimodal - it's why intersex people exist Sex is mutable - it's why HRT works Transness is innate - it's why we have existed throughout human history and across cultures He and the court are the ones who lie

7/3 09z JTWC update: Typhoon #Bavi now at 105kt, an increase of 50kt in the last 18 hours. Microwave imagery from 2 hours earlier depicted an annular deep convective signature, portending continued strengthening. Acutely dangerous situation for #Tinian #Saipan #Guam #Marianas

Definitely applies to me. I'm looking for leaders who recognize the urgency and peril of our times, and what it's going to take rescue our democracy, humanity, and global civilization. Dealing with R's like they can be reasonable is burying your head in the sand.

absolute cinema

timeline cleanse

Via @rns.org: In separate votes this week, Presbyterian Church (USA) and the American Academy of Religion both called Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide. The PC(USA) also voted unanimously to divest from Palantir and General Electric Aerospace over tech used in Gaza. religionnews.com/2026/07/01/p...

Still in his mariachi attire, a detention facility worker taunted him: "If you sing me a song, I'll let you go." What was meant as mockery, mariachis across San Antonio have turned into an act of solidarity and are banding together to sing for his release.

Hebert Ibarra Castro is a 20-year-old mariachi from San Antonio who was detained by ICE on his way home from performing at a birthday party.

if you have feelings about SCOTUS after today, and after the last week, and after the last months and years, remember that at least you can vote for state supreme courts in many places this year, and those matter a ton too my state-by-state guide to every state supreme court contest:

NEW: In 2020, the Montana U.S. Atty cut a plea deal that let a tribal police officer who sexually abused a 6-year-old girl serve less than a year in prison + dodge the sex offender registry. That U.S. Atty is now Montana GOP Senate nominee Kurt Alme. www.huffpost.com/entry/montan...

Hey Kurt, why do we need to lower costs? What party is responsible for costs and inflation and the debt being so damned extra high? Who has made government even bigger and more intrusive? #mtpol

Vance says the midterms are big because Republicans are one SCOTUS seat from ending birthright citizenship

Here’s Why Weather Forecasts Have Seemed So Inaccurate Lately. Meteorologists simply aren't able to gather as much data as they used to, and you're suffering for it. gizmodo.com/heres-why-we...

Christ, Kavanaugh joined the judgement but dissented on the Constitutional question... meaning that the vote is only 5-4 that the 14th Amendment exists.

Argentine soccer player Lucas Trejo lost his wife and two young children in the powerful twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week.

🧵 The Alaska Supreme Court is delayed but should soon be getting underway with oral arguments on the Dan J. Sullivan ballot access lawsuit. Superior Court ruled on Friday that DoE was wrong to block the Petersburg man from challenging U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. The state appealed. #akleg

Tomorrow will be the last day of the Supreme Court term. So, trans, campaign finance, and birthright, all tomorrow.

Among the grants today are a big voting case and a potentially big parental rights case relating to gender-affirming care. RNC v. Mi Familia Vota cert pet: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25... International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson cert pet: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

One prominent group has been totally silent about the Trump administration’s latest attempt to grab control of all federal science funding. That’s the biopharma companies, and their suddenly shy, quiet CEOs. Here’s the calculation they’re making:

Comment by June 29th: U.S. Forest Service announces emergency logging project over 5 million acres in Montana, Idaho Agency says windstorm damage needs immediate action, but conservation groups object. #Logging #MTPol #Montana #Idaho #USForestService dailymontanan.com/2026/06/25/u...

“I was being told outright that I wasn’t worth protecting," Flint Del Sol told me. The investigator wrote, “We are not permitted to conduct/continue any investigation regarding transgender cases, and that is coming from the chain of command.” www.advocate.com/politics/nat...

Fruit fly embryo development is wild! 1 nucleus clones into 6,000+ copies in just 2 hours. Perfectly synchronized. With built-in bumper system. And absolutely mesmerizing. I visualized the science behind it in a microscopy story 🔬👇 youtu.be/xyV9BhIVRjM #FluorescenceFriday #Microscopy #Drosophila

At NHGRI, 100% of our comms staff was cut.

NEW: A spokesperson for U.S. Health and Human Services confirmed to Stateline on Friday that the agency is canceling 53 out of 67 grants, worth about $68 million, under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, affecting grantees in more than two dozen states.

This week someone targeted my family for harm with a false report. We’re physically OK, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t harmed. I am beyond furious. Whatever your politics, this is awful, wrong, and can never become normal.

As everything started to go to heck in a hand basket, both in terms of support for science in the US, and support for scholarship as a whole at UNC, I realized that faculty advocacy, which i had ignored, was crucial. Joining the @aaup.org was a wise move--their leadership has been remarkable 1/2

Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 8th lowest on record (JAXA data)... • about 130,000 km² below the 2010s mean • about 800,000 km² below the 2000s mean • about 1,410,000 km² below the 1990s mean • about 2,020,000 km² below the 1980s mean More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Attn planetary/astro/other science folks: the Planetary Response Network has activated for Venezuela! This is a crowdsourced effort to analyze satellite pictures to ID damaged infrastructure & help rescuers and aid workers get help where it needs to go. So many of us are image analysts, let's do it!

just wanted to say this article has a good headline that informs much better than most of the others i’ve seen on news commentary sites

Her ruling came down to one sentence: “The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.”

If these people’s concerns are genuine (i.e. subjectively sincere, not objectively valid), then the study’s conclusion cannot hold. They want a white ethnostate. Unless Dems want to create one, they won’t get these votes. They’re not looking for concern, they’re looking for results

Based on a new NOA recieved this month, we are looking for a postdoctoral fellow with solid foundation of molecular skills, creativity, and translational passion to help us develop innovative CARs for targeting discrete subsets of T cells. DM or email me if interested

"Katie Phang ... brings this action against Todd Blanche ... claiming that he has improperly withheld information and failed to comply with other requirements in violation of the Epstein Act." "[T]he Court GRANTS Ms. Phang’s motion." 1/🧵

Celebrate our wins! Wonderful news.

Fascinating thread re Alaska Senate primary candidate Dan J. Sullivan disqualification by Alaska Div of Elections. How does the state determine a "sham" candidate, and what is the legal authority for disqualification?

#Evol2026 I’m launching a new research group at UNC Charlotte in January 2027. Prospective students, postdocs, and collaborators are welcome to get in touch: [email protected] More at jakeberv.com, lab website coming soon.

I wrote about the Prairieland defendants and the urgency of opposing the extreme sentences handed down on Tuesday. And they likely will not be the last.

Alito has forgotten that America called his kind dagos and wops and lynched them for breathing while Italian. I’ll never forget my 8th grade history teacher making self-deprecating jokes about being Italian, because parents didn’t want their children taught by his kind. It wasn’t that long ago.

These are the exact words she posted: “BREAKING: The ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in broad daylight has been identified as Jonathan Ross by the Minnesota Star Tribune. I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted!”

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/u... This guy should be Secretary of Defense, not some drunk Fox News hack.

Crew digging in my yard (& neighbors yards) today w/ no notice. Said they are laying Google fiber. Disturbed there was no advance notice or permission request. Would have gladly given such permission if requested.

The midterm's biggest political donors have already spent over $1 billion to influence the elections. Most of that money came from Republican-leaning donors. Smaller amounts flowed to Democrats and AI, crypto, and sports gambling interests. Meet the 50 top donors here: